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The 1st Ride of 2009 - Brisbane to Gloucester OZ
- Thread starter Mike.C
- Start date
Anyway set off up the Pacific freeway to sample one of Australia's best motorcycle roads, IMO of course.
The Oxley Highway, which runs from Wauchope to Walcha.
But 1st I needed a dirt fix, so found a bit such as it was, much to the Minister's horror. Actually it was a nice road, good surface and wound it's way up into the state forest North of Taree.
The Oxley Highway, which runs from Wauchope to Walcha.
But 1st I needed a dirt fix, so found a bit such as it was, much to the Minister's horror. Actually it was a nice road, good surface and wound it's way up into the state forest North of Taree.
What a spot, which turned out to be a favourite haunt of the local bikers and must have been on the way to or from somewhere as there was a steady stream of every kind of bike calling in and then roaring off while we partook of a lunch to be remembered.
But now the fun really started,
The Oxley Highway is an amazing road, with a seemingly endless series of tight switch backs connected by fast climbing sweepers that culminate in another series of tight 25-35km/hr twisties a sequence that repeats over and over and over again for more than 65 km - :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:
The Oxley Highway is an amazing road, with a seemingly endless series of tight switch backs connected by fast climbing sweepers that culminate in another series of tight 25-35km/hr twisties a sequence that repeats over and over and over again for more than 65 km - :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:
And it requires careful riding, although even I let loose over some of them. Rarely have I ever been so "in the zone" as I was that day, the bike was humming, the road was just perfect and there was no traffic at all... in fact we saw about 5 cars and a smattering of bikes the whole way up.....
Car drivers are the same the world over me thinks - but it's nice to see that the RTA is concerned for our safety. :S
And that brings us to Ebor and our accomodation at the half way point home. Where I am sorry to say the Breva and I had to have a little discussion about which one of us was in charge, stay tuned!
And that brings us to Ebor and our accomodation at the half way point home. Where I am sorry to say the Breva and I had to have a little discussion about which one of us was in charge, stay tuned!
Now several times over the last couple of days the owner of the Yarandoo Eco Lodge near Ebor that we were booked to stay at for two nights had called, unfortunately both times I was on the bike and being a male and totally unable to do more than one thing at a time, the conversation was a dead loss - ever tried to SMS while driving a car - not that you would would you it's illegal, well holding a phone conversation while piloting a bike is just a disaster - the conversation comes a distant second in the attention stakes and as a consequence any message that the caller was trying to relay becomes a bit like a case of very bad Chinese whispers, which was never truer than in this case.
What she was trying to give me was directions to get the lodge, and the only bit I was sure of was that it involved a short dirt track after a left hand turn off the highway.
So nearing the area where we should have spied a turnoff, I saw a gate and a track just after a sign that said Yarandoo. Beauty, must be the one....... but we were quickly confronted with what turned out to be a "long" bush track. No problem I thought, we're experts (?) on the dirt so a bit of fun on a bush tack should be no worries - right? Well actually - WRONG!!!
After deciding that in actual fact this was not the track she had carefully described, we decided to turn around...:blink: Now as you can see the track was reasonably soft, but this had not presented any problems when just motoring forward. In fact it was quite fun and the back end had been squirreling around nicely with a bit of roost here and there as I lost control and had to power through a soft spot.
But doing a U turn with a fully laiden road bike on a narrow dry sandy track was a different matter altogether, and the Breva decided that he would divest himself of the ungainly lump that was sitting astride him and have a bit of a rest and a lie down. At which point I was pitched off the bike sideways in a graceful arc that any olympic high board diver would have been proud off and landed flat on my face beside the now resting Breva. Whoever said that riding a bike is about control got it totally wrong - it's about negotating nicely with your steed and hoping that he agrees with you and doesn't spit you off like sack of potatoes, which is what happened. In fact I recon that he was just not very happy about being asked to go down a sandy dirt track after a long day giving me a cheap thrill in the twisties and decided enough was enough and that he would just have rest for a while until I saw sense.....
Anyway, The Minister made me take the photo with her bike in the background, just to prove that she wasn't the one that dropped it in the dirt....:huh:
Now if your wondering, pickin up a downed Breva is surprisingly easy. At this point he had a full load of kit and a nearly full fuel tank and so I recon he would have weighed in at about 350Kg, and I was concerned about getting him up again.
But surprise surprise it was in fact relatively easy, file this away if you've never seen it done. Place your back to the bike and your bum on the seat, in this case with the bike on its' left hand side with your right hand grab the left hand grip and with left hand on the now lower LHS passenger grab rail, push into the bike with your legs while lifting with your arms. It will slowly and with a bit of pig grunting bring it upright - don't let it overbalance and fall over the other way.
The Minister had been laughing so hard she nearly burst a blood vessel and was no bloody help at all, but as I was the one who was "situationally embarrassed" I really couldn't blame her, but she did offer a helping hand so she tells me - I don't actually recall the details and so will have to just sit quietly when she gets to that bit of the story which she no doubt will many times for many years to come and with ever increasing embellishment, and say "yes dear"....
And we did get to the Lodge eventually.
What she was trying to give me was directions to get the lodge, and the only bit I was sure of was that it involved a short dirt track after a left hand turn off the highway.
So nearing the area where we should have spied a turnoff, I saw a gate and a track just after a sign that said Yarandoo. Beauty, must be the one....... but we were quickly confronted with what turned out to be a "long" bush track. No problem I thought, we're experts (?) on the dirt so a bit of fun on a bush tack should be no worries - right? Well actually - WRONG!!!
After deciding that in actual fact this was not the track she had carefully described, we decided to turn around...:blink: Now as you can see the track was reasonably soft, but this had not presented any problems when just motoring forward. In fact it was quite fun and the back end had been squirreling around nicely with a bit of roost here and there as I lost control and had to power through a soft spot.
But doing a U turn with a fully laiden road bike on a narrow dry sandy track was a different matter altogether, and the Breva decided that he would divest himself of the ungainly lump that was sitting astride him and have a bit of a rest and a lie down. At which point I was pitched off the bike sideways in a graceful arc that any olympic high board diver would have been proud off and landed flat on my face beside the now resting Breva. Whoever said that riding a bike is about control got it totally wrong - it's about negotating nicely with your steed and hoping that he agrees with you and doesn't spit you off like sack of potatoes, which is what happened. In fact I recon that he was just not very happy about being asked to go down a sandy dirt track after a long day giving me a cheap thrill in the twisties and decided enough was enough and that he would just have rest for a while until I saw sense.....
Anyway, The Minister made me take the photo with her bike in the background, just to prove that she wasn't the one that dropped it in the dirt....:huh:
Now if your wondering, pickin up a downed Breva is surprisingly easy. At this point he had a full load of kit and a nearly full fuel tank and so I recon he would have weighed in at about 350Kg, and I was concerned about getting him up again.
But surprise surprise it was in fact relatively easy, file this away if you've never seen it done. Place your back to the bike and your bum on the seat, in this case with the bike on its' left hand side with your right hand grab the left hand grip and with left hand on the now lower LHS passenger grab rail, push into the bike with your legs while lifting with your arms. It will slowly and with a bit of pig grunting bring it upright - don't let it overbalance and fall over the other way.
The Minister had been laughing so hard she nearly burst a blood vessel and was no bloody help at all, but as I was the one who was "situationally embarrassed" I really couldn't blame her, but she did offer a helping hand so she tells me - I don't actually recall the details and so will have to just sit quietly when she gets to that bit of the story which she no doubt will many times for many years to come and with ever increasing embellishment, and say "yes dear"....
And we did get to the Lodge eventually.
Roblatt
High Miler
Tough one Mike. I actually gasped when I saw the pick before reading the notes. Hopefully a little polish will restore your stead to its former glory.
ps I note you referred to it as male gender. I thought all bikes were female.
ps I note you referred to it as male gender. I thought all bikes were female.
Next day we decided we liked Dorrigo so much we hightailed it the 45km there and spent a great day communing with nature at the Rainforest Centre. There are quiet a few boring photos on the HDD of tree ferns and the like but here are a few of the better ones.
If you are ever in the area I can recomend taking a walk in the rainforest - it is a remnant of the vast tracts that occured naturally in the area and have mostly been cleared for farming and what remains has been heavily degraded by logging but there are still some fantastic areas to enjoy.
If you are ever in the area I can recomend taking a walk in the rainforest - it is a remnant of the vast tracts that occured naturally in the area and have mostly been cleared for farming and what remains has been heavily degraded by logging but there are still some fantastic areas to enjoy.