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QLD & NSW Clubs Bendemeer Bash - Oz

Mike.C

Mike.C

High Miler
Joined
Oct 27, 2008
Messages
982
Location
Brisbane
The New South Wales and Queensland Guzzi clubs were organising a social gathering of the minds at the Bendemeer pub on saturday/Sunday February 13th and 14th 2009. Located just north of Tamworth in NSW, this pub is a commonly used meeting place for bike clubs as it is a good distance from both Sydney and Brisbane for travelers from each city to have both a good ride and still arrive at a decent time.

Info on the Pub is HERE

Now I am not a member of any Guzzi club, but got word of the event via AIGOR, the email list that I have previously described, when the El Presidente's decided to invite any AIGORITES that might wish to attend.

So hatched a plan - organised to get some new tyres fitted. Called up Brisbane Motorcycle Tyres in Moss street, asking if he could fit some Dunlop Roadsmarts because I remember RacerX had recommended in some post ages ago that Dunlops and Guzzis are like peas in a pod. Didn't I cop an earfull, told in no uncertain terms that roadsmarts were crap, now smelling a rat I questioned him further but the logic seemed sound. He said that if you only do about 5-10,000km a year like I do then a longer lasting tyre is wasted as after twelve months it is starting to go hard, so answer is to fit a more sporty tyre and enjoy the extra grip - trouble is they WILL wear out and need replacing roughly every year - I think he did a snow job on me, but I agreed and rode away in the pouring rain on Friday morning wiith a brand new set of Metzler Sportec M3's and $480 poorer. Best bit was it was still pissing down, so I proceeded to scrub them in on the ride back to the office. :eek:hmy:

Holy cow, have they got grip! I have never been so confident on the bike and am a definite convert to sporty tyres, although I might change my mind when it comes time to replace them after a few months.

The tread looks cool, makes the Breva look like a real sport bike:
 
The forecast was for rain increasing on Saturday and maybe easing Sunday, but even before we set off things started to break on the bikes - 1st was my Moto Lights, switching them on instantly blew the fuse, so it was obvious a short had developed. Nevertheless, we set off about 3pm Friday with a goal of reaching Tenterfield for the night, but it was pissing down like there was no tomorrow and water was gettin into everything and I was worrying about teh legendary Guzzi Electrics, and sure enough half way up Cunninghams gap the bike to bike intercom packed it in, and as the daylight faded it was obvoius that Tenterfiled was going to be a bridge too far, so we called a halt in Warwick and overnighted.

Next morning I tried to see what had happened to the intercom, but it seemed that a lot of water had gotten in and with limited tools and time marching on, I gave up.
 
Saturday morning the forecast had changed to rain with heavy rain periods for the entire route, but after a brief flirtation with abandoning the trip and heading home, we decided to carry on.

We suited up, and The Minister did a passable impression of the Michelin Man.
 
The route down was a fairly simple one with some stops along the way for significant land marks

ROUTE MAP CLICK HERE

Mid morning we made Tenterfield and stoppped for a break at a great little cafe - coffee and a deep fried banana - Yummeeeee!

While there, a gaggle of Guzzis roared past down the main street, it was the Qld contingent on a mission for Bendemeer and with not even gear change they roared past and off into the gathering storm clouds to the south, we were content on the other hand to stop and smell the coffee and look around the town for a while.
 
Tenterfield is a nice town, and is famous for it's saddler.... Famous because of the Peter Allen song Tenterfield Saddler about his Grandfather George Woolnough who ran the Tenterfield saddlery from 1908 until his retirement in 1960.

Music video - CLICK HERE

And here is the building that housed the bloke that the song was written about.
 
Listed by the National Trust in 1972 the building is now assured of preservation for perpetuity. For fifty years this quaint blue-granite Saddlery on High Street was the meeting place for those who enjoyed discussions on a wide variety of topics. Saddler George Woolnough continued to ply his trade, listening but undisturbed by the chatter and opinions of his many friends who wandered in. It was the compassion of George Woolnough that attracted so many to the High Street Saddlery from 1908 until his retirement in 1960.
 
Next stop Glenn Innes, where I was born and lived as a wee tacker.

The servo stands on the spot where our house was, and the building behind is the doctors surgery where my dad practiced in the early sixties. I was excited to find that it is still a doctor's surgery to this day! Dad sold the house to Caltex for a small profit and they bulldozed it, but apparently it was a dump of a house so no great loss!

And as you can see in the pic, it was STILL pissing down!
 
From there a beeline to Inverell for lunch and then on to Bendemeer.

No pics of this leg, it was raining so hard we just put our heads down and pushed on.

Met some great people at Bendemeer, but Mr. Roper was conspicuous by his absence - wimp :unsure:

Great pub, even if their fire alarm is a bit, shall we say - keen! Woke us all up about 3:30am - I just put my ear plugs in and went back to sleep....

Next morning we lined the bikes up, it was getting late and still raining so the Minister and I were keen to get away. I did fire off a couple of pics of the line up, although now regrett that I didn't take more.
 
The Vetter Vindicator fairing was something I lusted after for my Kwaka 750 a long time ago, but could never afford. I have never seen one in the flesh, until I saw this one on a Guzzi 1000 something or other - you know one of them old bikes....
 
The planned route home was similar to our route home from Gloucester at Christmas. Armidale then Ebor, and up the waterfall way to Casino (great road) and then Kyogle and home via The Lions Road.

ROUTE MAP - CLICK HERE

It was pissing down when we left and stayed that way for pretty much the whole way..

And we took the RTA's advice and took it easy - better to get home safely than not at all. Although half way home we were nearly nocked off our bikes by a gaggle of Guzzis roaring past at breakneck speed in the pouring rain, must have been that Queensland mob again. :huh:
 
Up over The Lions Road it rained so hard that visibilty was down to about 50 feet. At the top of the road we crossed back into Queensland. As the advertising jingle goes, Queensland - perfect one day raining the next! (well sort off).

We seriously don't like rabbits in Qld!
 
It was gettin on for 5:30pm as we descended over the range, and guess what - it's milking time!!!!!!!!

Problem was that the cows had been eating all day in the paddock on the right, and the dairy was in the paddok on the left. Now dairy cows seem to like shitting when they cross over a road, they must like the sound of it hitting the tarmac.

The pic is of the aftermath, oh well shit happens :laugh: but remember that this is after another 1.5hours of riding in the rain - what it looked like just after the said shit crossing I will leave to your imagination and no there are no pics - it was raining too hard.
 
And Bear was just as bad, a nice green tinge against the colour of the engine don't you think!
 
Washed and tidied up the bikes ready for a run down to the Gold Coast Bike Show tomorrow - Baked on cow shit - mmmmmmm!




In the end despite the rain - a great trip. Good roads and no roos, met some great people and had a ball. So till next time we venture out into this big land of ours by Guzzi, keep the rubber side down.
 
Thanks Mike,

Nice report.

The "black old guzzi" was a G5 owned and ridden by an ex pat American and his lady. Not many of them in Australia. I'm not sure if they were a model officially imported here. The only ones I know of are individual imports.

I was one of the gaggle there and wandering around the halls at 3.30 am listening to the lulling sounds of the fire alarm.

If you ever get stuck in Warwick again, O'Mahoneys pub is fairly cheap, cheerful and bike friendly. Over the bridge, around to the left, down towards the traffic lights and its on the first road parallel to the highway on your left towards the railway line. 35 Grafton St. Joan is the publican. (07) 4661 1146. She let me park the bike behind the gates under the roof in the beer garden. :cheer:

cheers
 
Hey Mike,

Great report and pics......really feeding my interest in getting to Oz, and riding.

Can you elaborate on the rabbit thing.....is the max penalty of $30,000 because you kept them in a penthouse suite with a free mini-bar, or because you kept one in your pocket???? I don't get it...aside from the obvious problem of them not doing math, and forgetting how many kids they have.
 
Hi Sarg,

Well you are welcome anytime. If you look at "the line up pic" in the posts above, the bloke with the white check shirt on back to camera is "El Presidente" - we discussed your predilection for Aboriiginals in tights over a beer ;)

Anyway - the rabbit thing.

The history is a story of naive stupidity. In 1859, twelve imported wild rabbits were released on Thomas Austin's property at Barwon Park, Victoria so that wealthy English aristorcrats could persue their old traditions of hunting rabbits for sport. However, by 1880 they had covered half the Australian continent and reached plague proportions. They were not native to Australia so they had few predators. There were reports of farmers wading knee deep in rabbits, bashing them to death with sticks. In fact my dad vividly recalls going out "rabbit bashing" - basically they were herded into a fenced off corner in a paddock and then clubbed to death - literally thousands would be destroyed this way until the Myxomatosis virus was introduced by the CSIRO and the population crashed.

Story CLICK HERE

Each state has it's own laws controlling rabbit keeping and breeding - fines vary between the states but Queensland does indeed have a maximum $30,000 fine for offences under the rabbit control act.
 
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