After a great nights sleep and healthy breakfast provided by Rob and Jeannie, we set off on a a days ride that I have been looking forward to for a long time as it would take us to our next destination along the Alpine way and the notorious biker road, the Omeo Highway. 

It was still lovely and cool as we descended along the Alpine Way through the Kosciusko National Park with spectacular mountain views, Kangaroos, wild horses and many hairpin bends. The heat started to build reaching 32c as we turned off on the start of the Omeo Highway a notorious road of 163 km with an amazing 80% bends through gum forest and mountain passes. Absolutely breathtaking and quite exhausting. We found a great place to have a coffee and sandwich for lunch in Eskdale run by a friendly chap who we chatted to.

We carried on down the hill and stopped off at a lay-by for a drink and rest, and waved to a fellow biker passing by who was on his way down the hill. (see biker down post). 

Carrying on our way down the mountain after scene of the accident we pondered our options for the night and found a listed government campsite by a river at Swifts Creek where we pulled into at 5:30pm and set up our first camp on the trip. Very pleased by the facilities: Hot showers and clean toilets. Supper was prepared, beverages consumed before heading to our thin camp mattresses for the night. It had been a long day with challenging roads - I could not estimate the number of bends but it would have been many hundreds so we were very tired and I for one was out like a light.

On day 3, we were travelling on one of the best biking roads in Australia between Eskdale and Omeo. We stopped for a drink and a guy on a VFR800 rides past and waves – we came across this same guy a few miles on with his bike smashed up in a ditch and him walking up the road with a very badly broken collar bone! He was lucky, as with many bends before, he could have just sailed off a vertical drop into the forest where he’d never been seen. We had previously past 2 cars like this but they were wrapped in blue Police tape, so we knew they hadn’t just happened.

Having an ex firefighter and nurse in the team, we quickly assessed the situation - we protected ourselves and the rider, while Jude administered some pain relief and made him as comfortable as she could. Petrol was pouring out of his bike, so we righted that and cleared the road.

There was no phone signal, so Richard used the SOS call feature on his iPhone, which uses a satellite signal, to call for an ambulance. He then linked his phone to his Garmin Inreach Mini 2, to text a friend of the rider to recover his bike - sorted. It was over an hour before any other car passed by, so this guy was pretty lucky.

Learnings: A lot of you will already know a lot of this but it’s worth mentioning.
1. ‘Who you gonna call’? Richard and Jude live in Australia but knew to call 000, the equivalent of 999 in the UK. Make sure you know the emergency numbers for any country you’re travelling through.

2. We had no telephone signal but the SOS feature on the iPhone could literally be a life saver. The rider had an EPIRB (a Personal Radio Beacon) but had forgotten to take it with him.
3. Coincidentally, we are booked in for a Bikers 1st Aid course when we reach Adelaide in 4 days time. We already had a lot of knowledge between us but this could have been a lot worse than a broken collarbone – would you know what to do?
​
Don’t wait to get this knowledge, you can come across emergencies anywhere and in any circumstance.

Day 2. Moruya to Thredbo

We all enjoyed our morning showers and started our Yoga regime for the trip on the deck, again spoilt in the amazing surroundings and accommodation provided by Steve and Helen. A dark sky provided a light drizzle which soon cleared as we packed the bikes and headed off down Princes Highway 1 for our Next destination: Thredbo. 

We stoped in the historic town of Tilba for coffee and met up with some fellow bikers for a chat and exchange of road notes before peeling off the Princes Highway to take the beautiful and winding Snowy Mountain Highway which climbs up to about 1,300m through changing scenery and climate.

We stopped off for lunch at the wonderful and historic Buckleys Crossing Hotel in Dalgety, on the Snowy River before carrying on to Thredbo, a ski resort in Winter (Yes we have snow in Australia) and mountain bike centre in summer, where we met our good friends Rob and Jeanie who again kindly provided us with much appreciated accommodation and generous hospitality and a few beers and a meal at the local pub. Thanks guys!