Bungendore March 2009
1693 kilometres home
To Bungendore and back.
I had arranged with Norm and Ant to meet at the Kalkallo Hotel at 3pm on Friday the 6th. Ant rang me at work around 2pm to say he was running a bit late but knew that Norm would stay at the pub till 4 so wasn't stressed. That took the pressure off me to leave work by 2.30 so I could finish off some stuff, get down to the supermarket and buy some floss, forgot to pack it, and then get on the road. At this early stage you are probably thinking biker/floss, who the hell is this guy - to use an Antism "a milkee coffee", well don't worry it gets worse, later.
The weather has improved and while not warm the drizzle/rain has stopped. I get to Kalkallo at 3.30, Norm is pleased to see me as he was a little late in getting there himself and was mildly concerned we had already left. Norm kindly bought me a lemon squash (see I told you it gets worse). Norm had had a change of heart and decided not to bring the Interceptor, which was a wise decision as even with the ride to Kalkallo Norm thought the Interceptor would not have coped, heavy traffic everywhere on a Friday leading into a long weekend. Ant rolled in around 4pm we proceeded to fuel up and check our oil. My odometer read 27406 kms and I was ready to go. Norm and Ant said I should get going and they would catch up so I pulled out of the petrol station, I crossed the inward bound traffic to the median strip and looked at the outward bound traffic which was pretty much bumper to bumper and immediately dreaded trying to pull into the right hand lane. A gap of around 200 metres opened and I bit the bullet (so to speak) and took off as hard as I could, I surprised myself that I was able to get up to speed quickly enough so as not to cause massive traffic chaos. Ok that hurdle negotiated now find a gap to get into the left hand lane a claim a space to putt up the Hume. Of course immediately after Kalkallo the Hume goes to 110kph. My speedo is classic Indian, it flaps all over the place I have no idea what speed I am doing, I am cracking on but of course I am being passed. I come to one of those speed indicator devices and with my needle bouncing around 100kph the lights flash up that I am rolling at 89kph, as I suspected it appears that my speedo is about 10kph out. I was starting to feel a bit more comfortable in the heavy traffic and the bike felt good so I opened up the throttle some more. The plan was to stop at Euroa and fuel as we weren't certain that we could ride all the way to Albury, our destination for that night. Ant and Norm caught up with me after about 55 kms, somewhere around Seymour and we stayed together to Euroa. Fuel and check oil, back on the road and an uneventful ride to Albury, it is the Hume of course. We pull into the Railway Hotel and my bill for the accommodation was a debilitating $30. I can not believe how well my Deluxe ran didn’t miss a beat, I think we got in around 7, so pretty good time really. Those of you who know about my altercation with a utility on the Eastern Fwy in early Feb will know that I had bruised my hand, and the vibrations from the ride had aggravated the bruise with the result that the knuckles at the base of my 4th and 5th fingers were swollen and stiff. Off to the supermarket again to get some anti-inflammatories.
Back at the hotel and just as we were putting our bikes in the lock-up a member who lives in Albury, Bryce, rocks up. While Bryce doesn’t eat with us he joins us for a couple of hours. Norm hits that sack around 11, and I end up crapping on with Ant until midnight, both of us having consumed a bottle of red and quite a few beers and the end result is obvious. A slow rise to consciousness and I realise there is a party going on in the hallway, if I wasn’t feeling so ordinary I would have got out of bed and told them to shut up but I didn’t want to stir from my slumbering state. After a while I realised it was light in my room and I rolled over and looked at the time on my mobile, it was about 7.30 and the noise was coming from a bunch of blokes attending a Rotary swimming carnival. Stumbling out of bed I headed off to the showers and all the mens showers were occupied, I went into the womens to use a shower there and Ant had already beaten me to it.
I had arranged with Norm and Ant to meet at the Kalkallo Hotel at 3pm on Friday the 6th. Ant rang me at work around 2pm to say he was running a bit late but knew that Norm would stay at the pub till 4 so wasn't stressed. That took the pressure off me to leave work by 2.30 so I could finish off some stuff, get down to the supermarket and buy some floss, forgot to pack it, and then get on the road. At this early stage you are probably thinking biker/floss, who the hell is this guy - to use an Antism "a milkee coffee", well don't worry it gets worse, later.
The weather has improved and while not warm the drizzle/rain has stopped. I get to Kalkallo at 3.30, Norm is pleased to see me as he was a little late in getting there himself and was mildly concerned we had already left. Norm kindly bought me a lemon squash (see I told you it gets worse). Norm had had a change of heart and decided not to bring the Interceptor, which was a wise decision as even with the ride to Kalkallo Norm thought the Interceptor would not have coped, heavy traffic everywhere on a Friday leading into a long weekend. Ant rolled in around 4pm we proceeded to fuel up and check our oil. My odometer read 27406 kms and I was ready to go. Norm and Ant said I should get going and they would catch up so I pulled out of the petrol station, I crossed the inward bound traffic to the median strip and looked at the outward bound traffic which was pretty much bumper to bumper and immediately dreaded trying to pull into the right hand lane. A gap of around 200 metres opened and I bit the bullet (so to speak) and took off as hard as I could, I surprised myself that I was able to get up to speed quickly enough so as not to cause massive traffic chaos. Ok that hurdle negotiated now find a gap to get into the left hand lane a claim a space to putt up the Hume. Of course immediately after Kalkallo the Hume goes to 110kph. My speedo is classic Indian, it flaps all over the place I have no idea what speed I am doing, I am cracking on but of course I am being passed. I come to one of those speed indicator devices and with my needle bouncing around 100kph the lights flash up that I am rolling at 89kph, as I suspected it appears that my speedo is about 10kph out. I was starting to feel a bit more comfortable in the heavy traffic and the bike felt good so I opened up the throttle some more. The plan was to stop at Euroa and fuel as we weren't certain that we could ride all the way to Albury, our destination for that night. Ant and Norm caught up with me after about 55 kms, somewhere around Seymour and we stayed together to Euroa. Fuel and check oil, back on the road and an uneventful ride to Albury, it is the Hume of course. We pull into the Railway Hotel and my bill for the accommodation was a debilitating $30. I can not believe how well my Deluxe ran didn’t miss a beat, I think we got in around 7, so pretty good time really. Those of you who know about my altercation with a utility on the Eastern Fwy in early Feb will know that I had bruised my hand, and the vibrations from the ride had aggravated the bruise with the result that the knuckles at the base of my 4th and 5th fingers were swollen and stiff. Off to the supermarket again to get some anti-inflammatories.
Back at the hotel and just as we were putting our bikes in the lock-up a member who lives in Albury, Bryce, rocks up. While Bryce doesn’t eat with us he joins us for a couple of hours. Norm hits that sack around 11, and I end up crapping on with Ant until midnight, both of us having consumed a bottle of red and quite a few beers and the end result is obvious. A slow rise to consciousness and I realise there is a party going on in the hallway, if I wasn’t feeling so ordinary I would have got out of bed and told them to shut up but I didn’t want to stir from my slumbering state. After a while I realised it was light in my room and I rolled over and looked at the time on my mobile, it was about 7.30 and the noise was coming from a bunch of blokes attending a Rotary swimming carnival. Stumbling out of bed I headed off to the showers and all the mens showers were occupied, I went into the womens to use a shower there and Ant had already beaten me to it.
To Bungendore and back.
I had arranged with Norm and Ant to meet at the Kalkallo Hotel at 3pm on Friday the 6th. Ant rang me at work around 2pm to say he was running a bit late but knew that Norm would stay at the pub till 4 so wasn't stressed. That took the pressure off me to leave work by 2.30 so I could finish off some stuff, get down to the supermarket and buy some floss, forgot to pack it, and then get on the road. At this early stage you are probably thinking biker/floss, who the hell is this guy - to use an Antism "a milkee coffee", well don't worry it gets worse, later.
The weather has improved and while not warm the drizzle/rain has stopped. I get to Kalkallo at 3.30, Norm is pleased to see me as he was a little late in getting there himself and was mildly concerned we had already left. Norm kindly bought me a lemon squash (see I told you it gets worse). Norm had had a change of heart and decided not to bring the Interceptor, which was a wise decision as even with the ride to Kalkallo Norm thought the Interceptor would not have coped, heavy traffic everywhere on a Friday leading into a long weekend. Ant rolled in around 4pm we proceeded to fuel up and check our oil. My odometer read 27406 kms and I was ready to go. Norm and Ant said I should get going and they would catch up so I pulled out of the petrol station, I crossed the inward bound traffic to the median strip and looked at the outward bound traffic which was pretty much bumper to bumper and immediately dreaded trying to pull into the right hand lane. A gap of around 200 metres opened and I bit the bullet (so to speak) and took off as hard as I could, I surprised myself that I was able to get up to speed quickly enough so as not to cause massive traffic chaos. Ok that hurdle negotiated now find a gap to get into the left hand lane a claim a space to putt up the Hume. Of course immediately after Kalkallo the Hume goes to 110kph. My speedo is classic Indian, it flaps all over the place I have no idea what speed I am doing, I am cracking on but of course I am being passed. I come to one of those speed indicator devices and with my needle bouncing around 100kph the lights flash up that I am rolling at 89kph, as I suspected it appears that my speedo is about 10kph out. I was starting to feel a bit more comfortable in the heavy traffic and the motorcycle felt good so I opened up the throttle some more. The plan was to stop at Euroa and fuel as we weren't certain that we could ride all the way to Albury, our destination for that night. Ant and Norm caught up with me after about 55 kms, somewhere around Seymour and we stayed together to Euroa. Fuel and check oil, back on the road and an uneventful ride to Albury, it is the Hume of course. We pull into the Railway Hotel and my bill for the accommodation was a debilitating $30. I can not believe how well my Deluxe ran didn’t miss a beat, I think we got in around 7, so pretty good time really.
Back at the hotel and just as we were putting our bikes in the lock-up a member who lives in Albury, Bryce, rocks up. While Bryce doesn’t eat with us he joins us for a couple of ales. Norm hits that sack around 11, and I end up crapping on with Ant until midnight, both of us having consumed a bottle of red and quite a few beers and the end result is obvious. A slow rise to consciousness and I realise there is a party going on in the hallway, if I wasn’t feeling so ordinary I would have got out of bed and told them to shut up but I didn’t want to stir from my slumbering state. After a while I realised it was light in my room and I rolled over and looked at the time on my mobile, it was about 7.30 and the noise was coming from a bunch of blokes attending a Rotary swimming carnival. Stumbling out of bed I headed off to the showers and all the mens showers were occupied, I went into the womens to use a shower there and Ant had already beaten me to it.
I had arranged with Norm and Ant to meet at the Kalkallo Hotel at 3pm on Friday the 6th. Ant rang me at work around 2pm to say he was running a bit late but knew that Norm would stay at the pub till 4 so wasn't stressed. That took the pressure off me to leave work by 2.30 so I could finish off some stuff, get down to the supermarket and buy some floss, forgot to pack it, and then get on the road. At this early stage you are probably thinking biker/floss, who the hell is this guy - to use an Antism "a milkee coffee", well don't worry it gets worse, later.
The weather has improved and while not warm the drizzle/rain has stopped. I get to Kalkallo at 3.30, Norm is pleased to see me as he was a little late in getting there himself and was mildly concerned we had already left. Norm kindly bought me a lemon squash (see I told you it gets worse). Norm had had a change of heart and decided not to bring the Interceptor, which was a wise decision as even with the ride to Kalkallo Norm thought the Interceptor would not have coped, heavy traffic everywhere on a Friday leading into a long weekend. Ant rolled in around 4pm we proceeded to fuel up and check our oil. My odometer read 27406 kms and I was ready to go. Norm and Ant said I should get going and they would catch up so I pulled out of the petrol station, I crossed the inward bound traffic to the median strip and looked at the outward bound traffic which was pretty much bumper to bumper and immediately dreaded trying to pull into the right hand lane. A gap of around 200 metres opened and I bit the bullet (so to speak) and took off as hard as I could, I surprised myself that I was able to get up to speed quickly enough so as not to cause massive traffic chaos. Ok that hurdle negotiated now find a gap to get into the left hand lane a claim a space to putt up the Hume. Of course immediately after Kalkallo the Hume goes to 110kph. My speedo is classic Indian, it flaps all over the place I have no idea what speed I am doing, I am cracking on but of course I am being passed. I come to one of those speed indicator devices and with my needle bouncing around 100kph the lights flash up that I am rolling at 89kph, as I suspected it appears that my speedo is about 10kph out. I was starting to feel a bit more comfortable in the heavy traffic and the motorcycle felt good so I opened up the throttle some more. The plan was to stop at Euroa and fuel as we weren't certain that we could ride all the way to Albury, our destination for that night. Ant and Norm caught up with me after about 55 kms, somewhere around Seymour and we stayed together to Euroa. Fuel and check oil, back on the road and an uneventful ride to Albury, it is the Hume of course. We pull into the Railway Hotel and my bill for the accommodation was a debilitating $30. I can not believe how well my Deluxe ran didn’t miss a beat, I think we got in around 7, so pretty good time really.
Back at the hotel and just as we were putting our bikes in the lock-up a member who lives in Albury, Bryce, rocks up. While Bryce doesn’t eat with us he joins us for a couple of ales. Norm hits that sack around 11, and I end up crapping on with Ant until midnight, both of us having consumed a bottle of red and quite a few beers and the end result is obvious. A slow rise to consciousness and I realise there is a party going on in the hallway, if I wasn’t feeling so ordinary I would have got out of bed and told them to shut up but I didn’t want to stir from my slumbering state. After a while I realised it was light in my room and I rolled over and looked at the time on my mobile, it was about 7.30 and the noise was coming from a bunch of blokes attending a Rotary swimming carnival. Stumbling out of bed I headed off to the showers and all the mens showers were occupied, I went into the womens to use a shower there and Ant had already beaten me to it.
Ant looks like how I feel.
After breakfasting we took our motorcycles out of the lock-up and made our way to the nearest petrol station. I had asked someone at the pub for directions to the road that follows the Murray River as we wanted to go over the Snowy Mountains to Bungendore. I was given directions but my brain was a little addled and what was said did not sink in too well. We fuelled up and checked oil. The day was a beautiful clear blue sky and looked perfect for our assault on the mountains. We turned on to the Riverina Hwy to begin our journey and after a short while we found nice sweeping bends. We crossed over Lake Hume at Bethanga Bridge and in my still hazy state took the wrong turn in to Bellbridge instead of staying on the Murray River Rd. I was contemplating turning around when Ant zoomed passed me and there was little for me to do but follow, after all it was an adventure. Dry country side but the road was great, then it narrowed a bit becoming a classic country secondary road. Then my worst nightmare, it turned to dirt. I couldn’t believe it we had only just begun the days ride really and already we had found dirt, I mean I hate dirt. Not only am I not very confident on it, having only held my motorcycle license for around 6 months, but it makes a mess of everything. Slowly creeping along this dirt road reassuring myself that every metre is a metre nearer the end, and sure enough it did end and developed into a great ride until we hit the Murray Valley Hwy with mountains to our left and Tallangatta to our right. We turned left to continue on our ride.
As we were winding our way through Koetong we were starting to build up a coterie of banked up traffic behind us so we turned on to a road that we assumed would take us to the Murray River Rd, and it did. But not without discovering more dirt, I couldn’t believe it within an hour we had already been on 2 dirt roads, I was starting to have my reservations about what I was in for. Made it to Walwa and it was already 11, we needed a stop though so we had a break long enough to consume a pie and hot drinks. The plans were to fuel up in Towong and if not there Khancoban and then come back the 6 kms to the road to Cabramurra. I took off by myself and zoomed along to Towong and found no petrol station. We turned left and headed for Khancoban, however when we got to the Cabramurra turn off and saw it was only 59 kms we decided to push on instead.
As we were winding our way through Koetong we were starting to build up a coterie of banked up traffic behind us so we turned on to a road that we assumed would take us to the Murray River Rd, and it did. But not without discovering more dirt, I couldn’t believe it within an hour we had already been on 2 dirt roads, I was starting to have my reservations about what I was in for. Made it to Walwa and it was already 11, we needed a stop though so we had a break long enough to consume a pie and hot drinks. The plans were to fuel up in Towong and if not there Khancoban and then come back the 6 kms to the road to Cabramurra. I took off by myself and zoomed along to Towong and found no petrol station. We turned left and headed for Khancoban, however when we got to the Cabramurra turn off and saw it was only 59 kms we decided to push on instead.
Mountains.
Relaxing at Walwa
I began this ride with a little trepidation as not being particularly experienced I knew that my skills would be tested let alone riding a bike that has pretty poor brakes and I had only just managed to get the clutch/gear box adjusted so that gear selection would hopefully not be a problem. Ant tore off up the road and I followed, Norm always considerately bringing up the rear. Then we started to climb and the bush was beautiful then we travelled with powerlines for a while and numerous bikes were coming the other way. Then we climbed some more and rode through a number of very tight cuttings, so tight that I could hear my exhaust bouncing off the sides, it sounded bloody good. Lots of bends, lots of gear changes, stay to the left not sure if there is any traffic coming the other way. Climbing, bends, dips, bends, climbing, blue sky, spectacular scenery, eerie scenery as the effects from the 2003 fires become apparent. We are on top of the mountains. We got caught up with some cars around Tooma Dam and managed to get passed them and just this superb run of bends, up and down, bright blue sky, vivid green regrowth supporting the stags, the burnt trees, and motorcycles powering on. Then somewhere near Round Mtn my bike just dies, fortunately it is on a crest with an easy spot to pull over. Oh bugger what can it be, no bang or indication of anything catastrophic, I had power and then none. Of course Ant has hared off, but Norm is with me. I tell Norm what happened and we break out my tools and realise that my shifter isn’t big enough to undo the spark plug, so Norm checks the points and all seems fine. Then a bloke heading the other way in a Nissan Navara stops to offer assistance and he does have a shifter that will fit. Spark plug is a little dirty but not too bad, and sparks fine just the same a new spark plug goes in. I finally check the petrol tank and of course I have run out of fuel. By this time Ant has come back and we are all making jokes about how silly the situation is, well Norm and Ant are cracking jokes at my expense. Switch to reserve, motorcycle fires up, bloke in Nissan shoots through (thanks mate), I head off hoping to make Cabramurra before I really run out of fuel. Beautiful run down into Tumut Dam and then up and out to Cabramurra and fill up with petrol. Should have stopped at Khancoban though.
Nissan guy doing a jig as the Enfield starts
Again I set off on my own, and this time I settled into bikers nirvana. Crystal clear day, bends, both sweeping and hard turns, power, plenty of power then open plains as I headed down to the Snowy Mountains Hwy. Turning right towards Cooma and I was flying along, I must admit to going into one or two corners a bit too fast and that was clearly a concentration thing so I decided to just wind it back a bit so that I could relax into the ride. I had been going for a while and was getting close to Cooma with no sign of Norm or Ant and I had slowed to 100kph on my speedo with about 30 kms to Cooma. Soon enough though I saw Ant and Norm in my mirror and then we were pelting into Cooma. Fuel and oil check and we were ready for our last push to Bungendore. The Monaro Hwy from Cooma to Queanbeyan is a really boring road made worse by bot rot. It is about 100 kms and I reckon I counted nearly every one of them. I may be being unkind here but it was getting towards the end of a long day in the saddle and I think we all wanted it to be over just as soon as possible. However, the kilometres did wind down and we finally hit the outskirts of Canberra before getting to Queanbeyan. I noticed that my breather pipe had come off and so I pulled over. The rubber hose had hardened and was like hard plastic, it was difficult to get it to purchase on the breather nipple. Norm rigged up a couple of cable ties to help hold the hose clamp in place, one behind the clamp and one looped through that cable tie pulling it forward and tied to the horn bracket. Ant had called ahead to let Mick know we were not far away. Finally at 5.45 we arrived at the Royal Hotel in Bungendore to a cheer and smiles from those already consuming beer. Lots of hellos and shaking of hands and heads as well as sage nodding and uproarious laughter. The beer went down well. It was a big day and we had made it to Bungendore. I couldn’t believe how well my motorcycle had run, it didn’t miss a beat, provided it had fuel that is.
Can't believe we made it
I was staying at the motel a couple of doors down from the Royal where most were staying and where we were having dinner that night. The locals called it Fawlty Towers I found out later and not without reason when you met the proprietor. My accommodation was free courtesy of the Royal as they accidentally made a double booking. I dumped my gear in my room and made a couple of calls to let loved ones know I had made it safely to Bungendore. Garry Eyles had kindly packed some RECOA gear I had been wanting to get, a t-shirt, cap and wallet, now all secured in my room. I was ready for dinner and lubrication of the human kind. There were around 20 of us for dinner and it proceeded along the usual lines of when a bunch of people who get together with a common passion, plenty of laughter becoming slowly louder as the alcohol flowed. At the end of dinner Bruce (the club prez) made a fine speech and then handed out trophies to a number of worthy winners.
Deserved trophy winners
The alcohol continued to flow and conversations moved on from Enfields as I discovered other things in common with my new compadres. Floydy started a Hare Krishna chant clanging the lid of the trophy he had won and John joined in with an attempted Hare Krishna dance that was more akin to a monkey doing a jig (no offence John but it was very funny). Eventually the bar shut and I staggered back to my room at around midnight. Waking on Sunday wasn’t too bad considering. We had an optional ride to Captains Flat for a cooked breakfast which I had signed up for the night before. Fuelled and oil checked I was ready to go. Finally the stragglers rose and we were on our way after a group photo. If I had been breathalysed I would have been in trouble. It was a refreshing cruisy ride to Captains Flat, it was cool and overcast, just what you need when you are a bit hungover. Upon arriving at Captains Flat, Steve had the beroccas out and I gladly took one and dropped it in a glass of water. The proprietor came around to take our orders, I asked for a ‘Big Breakfast’ and a peppermint tea, he immediately guffawed and proclaimed the end of the world must be nigh ‘when bikers order peppermint tea’. I was clearly worse than one of Ant’s ‘milkee coffees’, I did tell you it got worse. The breaky was great, just what was required. Everyone prepared to go, and after saying our goodbyes Norm, Ant and I headed off to Queanbeyan to start our trip home.
Various cycles, mine top right
We moved along to Queanbeyan pretty sharply, my bike was running great and sounding just so good, burbling along. More fuel in Queanbeyan as the next stop was to be Bombala. We cracked on towards Cooma, unfortunately the road is pretty straight (as it was yesterday) and I was starting to get a bit of bot rot happening again. Through Cooma and on to Bombala. The countryside is so dry, I know the Monaro Plains are in a rain shadow but there is hardly a blade of grass anywhere. The road becomes a bit more interesting with nice long sweeping bends, not enough to help with the bot rot though. We arrive in Nimmitabel and thankfully Ant wants to stop as I definitely did. There is a motorcycle gear shop which we had a poke around in, I bought a long sleeve shirt. Ant met a bloke who owned a 250 Enfield back in the 60’s, he came over to have a look at our motorcycles as we suited up again to move on, as it was around 3pm and we wanted to get to Orbost that night via the Bonang Hwy. The sun had come out and the road became more interesting again, more undulations and curves. Soon we were in Bombala where we fuelled and oiled, both engine and chain. A quick snack and we were away. The Bonang Hwy has dirt from Delegate to the Vic border and then from Bonang to half way to Goongerah, more bloody dirt. We choofed off and my Deluxe was flying along. Really nice sweeping bends and undulating road, I was winding out my Deluxe and seemed to be catching Ant. About 15 kms out of Bombala I ran over something, I hadn’t seen anything on the road so I thought something had fallen off my motorcycle. I backed off the accelerator, but everything seemed fine and Norm had not stopped, so I opened my motorcycle up again and continued on. Since Cooma the riding had been just getting better and better, but that was about to change as we struck dirt after Delegate and back to 50kph (60kph on my bike), and corrugations. I just had to be patient and concentrate and not get ahead off myself. Once we hit the border there was bitumen again and it was as if heaven had become open to us as this stretch of road to Bonang was simply sensational, multiple sweeping curves, hard bends that you can drive out of, and my Enfield was handling it superbly, really responsive, really growling. After Bonang we once again struck dirt the last 8 kms of dirt I hope to ever see again. I must admit this trip was quite pleasant as the scenery was beautiful, riding through a forest of large stringy barks interspersed with tree ferns set off by the dappled sunlight breaking through the tree tops giving an almost translucent effect. But I couldn’t relax, more concentration and gritting of teeth. I cleared the dirt with a great sense of relief, and a nice run into Goongerah where we stopped for a break and a photo opp outside the local school.
No more dirt!!
If I thought I had already found motorcycle heaven, then I was clearly mistaken for as we left Goongerah a rather extraordinary sign loomed up in front of us, it was yellow with a squiggly line down the middle with 65 km in bold black indicating 65 kms of winding road. Then all of a sudden the fun began. I honestly do not know how to justly describe this section of road, other than to say we had the road to ourselves. Ant pushed on ahead as is his want, I took on these curves of sheer delight with a smile and an inner joy. My motorcycle hummed up down and around, moving easily from 4th to 3rd and back, occasionally dropping down to 2nd. It didn’t stop either kilometre after kilometre of sensational winding road through forest of no doubt a certain beauty but this road demand my full attention. There was one moment around Sardine Crk, where I let my concentration wander and before I knew it I was heading into a sharp left that I knew I could not make. Emergency brake, front brake pulled all the way in, almost standing on the rear brake, hit the gravel wheels starting to skid, a little sideways shimmer and the bike came to a halt. Struth that was close, Norm pulled up behind me “Are you ok”. If he could have seen my eyes behind my sunnies he would have seen to big saucers, I nodded and headed off. Don’t do that again blockhead! Ok, calmed down and back into the this most extraordinary relationship between motorcycle, rider and road. I still had more than 30 kms of sheer delight to soak in. Whatever the road threw at me, my Enfield and I were up for it burbling through the forest, sweeping around bends, dipping into corners and powering on, kilometre after kilometre. Eventually the forest gave way to paddocks and a few more kms and we were in Orbost. No Ant at the first pub we passed, but there was his Electra at the second, 25 bucks a night. At the debrief session, aka beers at the bar, Norm was gob smacked at how well the Deluxe had run. We did some hard riding today and the Deluxe was there all the way.
Fueling up
There was a light mist lying over the Snowy River, a cool crisp morning was the start to a gloriously sunny day. A short walk down the road for breakfast and back to the hotel to pack up. Our bikes had a reasonable amount of moisture on them from the previous nights dew, it had clearly been cold overnight. I wheeled my bike out of the lock up and stood it on some flat ground to kick it over. A few kicks and the engine gently began to warm to the task ahead. Apart from the need to get fuel, we wanted to crack on to meet up with Kevin, from Moe, at 11am in Maffra and he was going to take us on some back roads to Noojee. Just out of Orbost at Newmerella, we fuelled and checked oil and headed off to Bairnsdale. With a nice refreshing chill to the air the ride to Bairnsdale was superb, a series of sweeping bends and fortunately not too much traffic. Once we left Bairnsdale though, the road became a bit boring and to make matters worse there were a few caravans on the road slowing things down a bit. After 40 kms we went through Stratford and then turned off to Maffra and once again back on unencumbered roads. We got to Maffra at 11.05.
Made it to Maffra on time
Kevin took us through the irrigation area around Maffra/Rosedale and while it was a series of blocks it was also carefree country road riding. Things picked up after Glengarry and the last 15 minutes in to Moe was a hoot. Fuel, oil and lunch at Moe. We left Moe around 1pm and took the Moe-Walhalla Rd, then after a little over a kilometre we turned left on to the Moe-Willow Grove Rd. The riding improved again, sweeping bends although there was an annoying car amongst our company who fortunately turned off at Willow Grove. After Willow Grove we were travelling on scenic country roads, delightful really. A few kms of road works, not dirt though but a very narrow bitumen with gravel encroaching as the road was being upgraded. Then about 20 kms of superb winding forest roads reminiscent of the Bonang Hwy. Again dappled light penetrated to the forest floor and at times making the assessment of the road ahead a tad tricky. Great road though, coming into a corner back off the throttle look at the white line to see how sharply it disappears around the bend, drop down to 3rd leaning over bring the power on a little see the end of the corner power on up to 4th, sweep around next bend, back off throttle, sweep through power on, back off throttle sharp turn a touch of rear brake down to 3rd lean over a little power, a little power, end of corner in sight, power on up to 4th, great fun absolutely great fun. At Noojee we stopped at the pub for refreshment, mine was a lemon squash. We thanked Kevin for being our ride guide and agreed we should do it again.
Noojee pub, an excellent oasis
Sadly, the triumvirate split up after Noojee, Norm took the road South to Neerim and then on to the Freeway and home. Ant and I took the road to Yarra Junction, which gave us the opportunity to stop in and see Paul Carberry at nearby Launching Place. There was a bit of traffic as we made our way to the Yarra Ranges from Noojee. Fortunately we were able to blow it off before we got to the real fun stuff. This was the last of the mountain roads, conditions were fantastic and we powered on up through the hills. More tight corners, thrilling changes in power and gears. Before we new it we were in Powelltown and my trip was nearly over. We turned off towards Launching Place, and found our way to Paul’s place. The road in to Paul’s place was dirt, I just couldn’t believe it, here I was travelling on bloody dirt roads again! I found the road in to Paul’s a little tricky to negotiate, needless to say Ant was out of sight when I came to a fork and was not sure which way to go, then I saw a bunch of blokes waving at me from the doorway of a large shed and with a sense of relief I dropped in to 1st and stopped just outside the shed. After a bit of a relax, a chat and a few laughs (particularly when Ant and Paul had a bit of 4 by 2 each trying to clobber a couple of mice in some shelving), we headed off for the final run home.
Ant knows this part of the world well. We took the Healesville Koo Wee Rup Rd then turned right and left on to Macclesfield Rd on to the Belgrave Gembrook Rd and veered left on to Wellington Rd. We rode hard along these roads and they were a hoot, fortunately not too much traffic. However once we were on Wellington Rd traffic built and we had to suppress our desires for speed and fun to something more sedate and safe. Wellington Rd straightens out as we make our way through the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne. At Dandenong Rd, Ant and I eventually part ways, Ant on to Sheriff’s for an ale and me I turned right in to Dandenong Rd heading for St Kilda and home. I pulled in to my drive and parked at the side of the house. I looked at my motorcycle covered in dirt and oil with the panniers on the back. It was looking so agricultural, so rustic. I looked at it with a sense of pride, of what I had achieved and the fact that this motorcycle had completed an extraordinary road trip with no major mishaps. I was so happy as I looked at the odometer, which read 29099. Which of course is not a true reading as my odometer under measures the real kilometres travelled, but here I was 1693 kms home.
Check out the map
http://www.motowhere.com/maps/route/Bungendore-and-back
Ant knows this part of the world well. We took the Healesville Koo Wee Rup Rd then turned right and left on to Macclesfield Rd on to the Belgrave Gembrook Rd and veered left on to Wellington Rd. We rode hard along these roads and they were a hoot, fortunately not too much traffic. However once we were on Wellington Rd traffic built and we had to suppress our desires for speed and fun to something more sedate and safe. Wellington Rd straightens out as we make our way through the Eastern suburbs of Melbourne. At Dandenong Rd, Ant and I eventually part ways, Ant on to Sheriff’s for an ale and me I turned right in to Dandenong Rd heading for St Kilda and home. I pulled in to my drive and parked at the side of the house. I looked at my motorcycle covered in dirt and oil with the panniers on the back. It was looking so agricultural, so rustic. I looked at it with a sense of pride, of what I had achieved and the fact that this motorcycle had completed an extraordinary road trip with no major mishaps. I was so happy as I looked at the odometer, which read 29099. Which of course is not a true reading as my odometer under measures the real kilometres travelled, but here I was 1693 kms home.
Check out the map
http://www.motowhere.com/maps/route/Bungendore-and-back