Into the mountains
We would have had an early start except I couldn't find my keys. I had put them in the fridge so that I wouldn't forget my water bottle - so I spent half an hour turning out all my bags in a mad panic to find my keys. Mum eventually found them and we were on our way. We met up with the others at the Tea Club in Berry St Nowra - a delightful little gem of a cafe with the most gorgeous back garden and serene atmosphere. It was a great way to start the day.
We had an uneventful run down to Narooma where we stopped for a late lunch and then headed further south to Bega.
The "bikes" decided that they didn't need a top-up of petrol before tackling Brown Mountain - leaving the "scooters" to detour into Bega. By the time we caught up with them at Nimmatibel, Jenny had all but run out of petrol and needed the 2 litre reserve from Peter's jerry can to make it into Cooma.
It started spitting with rain just before Cooma and having learnt our lesson from last year, we stopped and donned our wet weather gear before we got drowned. We regrouped and refueled in Cooma, then stocked up with grog and munchies in Jindabyne ready for the final asaault up into the mountains. The last stretch was gruelling - cold and wet and windy - but finally riding into Thredbo at 7pm was like coming home.