I knew something big was heading my way when Wendy Raditz from the Winding Road Riders Chapter in Pennsylvania contacted me and requested a ride through Australia in two years time. Together with Patt from Melbourne/Australia, I run Towanda Women Motorcycle Tours – specialising in tours through New Zealand and Australia. The tour for Wendy’s group was tailor made to suit their time frame of 14 days, relatively small budget and preferred weather – “not too hot”!
More from Australia? Be sure to check out tripatlas.com/new’s Top 10 Natural Highlights and Sights to Discover in Australia, from Great Ocean Road and the Twelve Apostles to Ayers Rock, the Gold Coast, the Outback, the Great Barrier Reef, and more!
Six Pennsylvania Chicks Take to Australia’s Great Ocean Road
156 Emails later, six excited “girlz” from Pennsylvania arrived in Sydney for their big Down Under Adventure: The Winding Road Riders ride the Great Ocean Road. Our route would lead from from Sydney (New South Wales) along the stunning coastal route to Melbourne (provincial capitol city of Victoria) and further onto the famous Great Ocean Road. From here we would take all the inland backroads and would ride via the Blue Mountains Nationalpark back to Sydney.
The deal had been that Pat and I would suggest the itinerary and all attractions along the way, book all accommodation and organise the rental bikes. Marci, Wendy, Fran, Anna, Cindy and Kathy (aka as “the girlz” aged between 34 and 55 years) would just have to hop on their rented Yamaha XVS1100, V-Star 650, Triumph Bonneville, FZS Faser and Honda CB250s and follow their trusty tour guides on the left side of the road all around Australia, the big unknown continent, terra incognita.
From Sydney to Melbourne and Beyond!
On a quiet morning we sat out to leave Sydney. This beautiful metropolis is a multi million inhabitants town just like any other and traffic is frantic. But as soon as we got out of Sydney, we well and truly arrived in Australia: riding along a beautiful gum-tree lined backroad leading through the Royal National Park (named after the visit of Queen Elizabeth II in the 1950s).
The 800 miles coastal road between Sydney and Melbourne is almost equally spectacular and breathtaking like her famous continuation south of Melbourne, the Great Ocean Road. The next couple of days we stayed at beautiful coastal holiday hubs and enjoyed tranquil and picturesque beaches. One of our highlights on these days was to meet Koala bears and Kangaroos and other native but less known Australians: the Wombat, the Echidna and the Platypus.
We visited the Blowholes at Kiama, went through historic Tilba-Tilba, a town that went back on the time warp to the year 1879 and saw a giant whale at a paradise-like place called Eden. We also visited a cultural Aborigines Centre where we had great fun throwing boomerangs around. Most of them did not come back to us, which meant that we did not throw them correctly. Our teacher was a fun-loving Aborigine of few words. After he thought we had embarrassed ourselves enough, he collected the boomerangs and left without a word… it was a true cultural experience!
Phillips Island and Fairy Penguins
Just before Melbourne we reached Phillips Island – famous to many because of its Superbike Race Circuit and to others because of its big population of fairy penguins – the smallest penguin in the world and unique to the Southern Oceans. Of course we visited both and we got the photos to prove it!
After our encounter with the cute Fairy Penguins we landed in Melbourne for two days – including a rest day without riding. Patt had great pleasure to show off her hometown to us. It turned out the girlz were a little bit deprived of shopping and they all made up for it in Melbourne! That night at the restaurant everybody showed off their goodies and the entire restaurant took great interest. A handbag formed like a high-heeled shoe was so incredible that it became everybody’s favorite and a man at the next table insisted to get one for his daughter.
To keep cost of the trip within the budget and to be as close to nature as possible, we chose accommodation in comfortable apartments on holiday parks. It was wonderful to sit on the balcony for a meal, enjoy the sea views and share some great and also some sad stories. The girlz talked about their husbands (and ex-husbands), conquering breast cancer and other heroic (heroinic) stories.
Riding the Great Ocean Road, the Twelve Apostles and Three Sisters, a Night in the Blue Mountains
Riding the Great Ocean Road was of course the highlight for everybody. We had a day out of the picture book and really, really enjoyed the ride, the road and the many attractions on the way. The rock formation of the Twelve Apostles are most famous and a hallmark of Australia. Next day we arrived in Hepburn Springs which is a best kept secret spa resort. Nothing better than a hot soak after a long day of riding! Then we arrived in Ballarat, an amazing place celebrating, portraying and sharing the history of Australia. The girlz and Patt spend hours there and couldn’t get enough.
Two weeks are not long when you enjoy yourself. We spend our last night in the Blue Mountains – famous for their blue haze which is due to evaporating oil from the many gum trees. We visited the Three Sisters, a once again famous rock formation and I tried to kill the girlz by suggesting to go down the Giant Staircase for a “little” walk.
Getting back into the hustle and bustle of Sydney the next day was a shock that came with the realisation that we all had to go home from here. Patt had already left for Melbourne in the early morning hours. There is only one consolation on the last day of 14 fun filled days – that we all had a great time and that we could do it again any time.
Go for your own adventure! Get more information about Towanda Women Motorcycle Tours here: www.towanda.org.