Events

For those who like old things mechanical, stoke up your boilers, gather a full head of steam, we're off to the 102nd Lake Goldsmith Steam Rally.

West of Ballarat and a nice ride via Skipton, the Lake Goldsmith Steam Preservation Association has a permanent site to display a large collection of oil and steam engines, tractors, historic agricultural machinery, vintage cars and motorcycles. It is also home to Australia’s largest  fully operational steam shovel. Established in the late 1950s the rally now attracts international recognition. It features a Grand Parade of working machinery at 2pm on both days. I was amazed at the number of motorcycles that visited the rally last year including a splendid gaggle of 1970-80s road bikes all on club plates riding as a group. This is what we will see on Sunday at our destination:
http://www.lakegoldsmithsteamrally.org.au/

Lake Goldsmith is approximately 170km direct from Melbourne. However the planned route avoids the Western Freeway and takes in several attractive townships as well as a fantastic wooden trestle bridge on the former Ballarat-Skipton rail line. The ride will be led by an old classic scooter so we'll be traveling at a sedate speed while enjoying the scenery and stopping along the way for photos. If you have an itchy throttle hand, please read a book on meditation beforehand. This was planned as a two day ride. However the majority of riders are able to stay in the Pryenees region on Sunday night and ride back to Melbourne on Monday. The map and itinerary have been revised for this change. 

Ride Start:
The ride starts at 9am sharp from Kensington. Park beneath the trees next to Kensington Railway Station in Bellair Street. Cafes along the street open at 8am so come earlier if you need coffee and breakfast beforehand.

This ride will be led by an old classic scooter so we'll be traveling at a sedate speed while enjoying the scenery and stopping along the way for photos and sight-seeing. If you have an itchy throttle hand, please read a book on the benefits of meditation beforehand. 

Our Route:
https://www.motowhere.com/explore/route/Lake-Goldsmith-Steam-Rally-VCoM

LAKE GOLDSMITH STEAM RALLY ITINERARY

Day 1:
We will ride through the dry rock wall country around Exford and then along the pretty Pawan Valley West of Bacchus Marsh. At the end of the valley there's an exciting 200 metre climb up the escarpment onto the basalt plateau surrounding Ballarat. Apparently these geological glacial scars were once part of the shoreline of our continent. Hey, let's all descend again so we can appreciate the views on the way down!! Perhaps we'll do some club shots here.

A further 24 kms along is another great descent into the Moorabool River valley. The Elaine General Store is real cute as is Elaine's small Railway Hotel built in 1862. It still provides accommodation. We'll pause for photos beneath "Blue Bridge", an historic heritage-listed bluestone bridge built in 1859 that carries the railway over our road. We'll zip up Mount Buninyong for views to the east over farmland and to the north of Mount Warrenheip. Both mountains are the remnants of ancient volcanic activity. 

Lunch will be in the historic town of Buninyong (127kms from Melbourne) at about 12:30pm. Buninyong was the first inland town to be proclaimed in Victoria, even before gold was discovered at Ballarat. We have one hour here for lunch and to explore the town's many splendid buildings, some 150 years old. Please fuel up before we leave. 

We'll ride through some pretty farmland to join the Glenelg Highway at Smythesdale then detour to Newtown to see a fantastic wooden trestle rail bridge that was once part of the Ballarat-Skipton railway, now a rail trail. We'll pop over to Piggoreet and wobble down to the Woady Yaloak River gorge and dilly dally in the "Devil's Kitchen". A short ride will take us to the pretty little town of Linton where we'll stop for a break and a lemon-lime and bitters or beer at the Railway Hotel. Check fuel again at Skipton then ride the last 30kms to Beaufort. We should arrive there around 4.30pm. (Beaufort is 222kms from Melbourne via our route). Check into the Golden Age Hotel and try to come to terms with our little rooms. Counseling available. A beer, wine and chat will help. A pub meal in the evening is our reward.

Day 2:
Get up early and explore the town of Beaufort or wait in line to take turns for the shared showers. Breakfast at a nearby cafe in the main street then check out of our hotel, fuel up and head off at 10:30am for the 16km ride to the Lake Goldsmith Steam Rally site. We'll be here from 11am until 3pm. Some club members may join us on the day. Lots to see, do and photograph. The rally seems to get a lot of support from the motorcycle fraternity too. We'll lunch at the rally. There is a grand parade of steam traction engines at 2pm so we will leave shortly after this. If it's a sunny afternoon, we'll have time to take an indirect route to Lexton, otherwise we'll ride straight there and check into The Pryenees Family Hotel and meet our hosts, Margaret and Brett. We'll have the whole hotel to ourselves. The chef is 'off' but Margaret said that she would prepare something for our evening meal. However Remo has volunteered to commandeer the kitchen. Let's see....

Day 3:
Our hotel provides a complimentary breakfast - tea, coffee, cereal and no doubt some very white bread with spreads. We can leave Lexton anytime before 10am. As today's route back to Melbourne is 211kms, there is time to ride a 45km loop to Avoca and back to Beaufort if we feel like it. Fuel up at Beaufort. Some may wish to top up their stomachs with something more substantial. From Beaufort we head along back roads towards Snake Valley then across to Smythesdale. We can take a short break here. Then its off to Haddon and a route around the outskirts of Ballarat. Enjoy the smell of Ballarat's Cattle Sale Yards as we sail on past and take a meaty quizz at the Spanish Mission style Cattle Yards Inn hotel opposite. Ballarat's main streets are full of grand mansions and churches, but observe the humbler homes and quaint miner's cottages of ordinary folk as we ride out of the city along Eureka Street. Soon we'll be out in the countryside again riding along pretty Navigators Road.

At Navigators we'll stop to photograph an old bluestone bridge with Mount Warrenheip as the backdrop. Of similar construction and age to the bridge we saw on Saturday, this one carries a road over the Ballarat-Melbourne railway line. Its a cutie. Further along at Yendon we have the option to divert 12kms to see Lal Lal Falls and river gorge. Worth a look if the weather is kind to us. Next is the long climb up to Mount Egerton. After another 15kms and we arrive in Ballan for our lunch break and fuel check. Ballan was once a significant town on the main road to Ballarat. Lots of wonderful old buildings here to enjoy.

Those who wish to get back to Melbourne quickly can divert to the Western Freeway. For the more adventurous, I intend riding along Ingliston and Ironbark Roads. These parallel the main railway line to Ballarat. There are several short patches of dirt road totaling 7.5kms but we'll get to see a wonderful high steel girder bridge and enjoy the fantastic descent off the plateau surrounding Ballarat down into Bacchus Marsh. Once past the Marsh, our route rejoins the one we took on Saturday for the final push into Melbourne. We should be home between 2.30 to 4.00pm depending on the options mentioned.