Work made me do it! 12 day OZ tour.

[mbazza]

I've been lucky, work said, " go to these two conferences". I jumped at the chance, attended two conferences in Australia over the last two weeks and linked them together with an entertaining hire bike ride. Great fun!
What follows is a quick report about the riding.
Picked up a Honda 650 Transalp in Sydney and was straight out onto Parramatta Rd in the thick of the traffic, thank heavens for the Garmin Sumo GPS, "stay left, keep right!". Didn't manage to get the Bluetooth attachment so it was reading not listening!
From the outset the 'tranny' was easy to pack with it's hard Givi luggage and easy to haul through the traffic. I made it out west to Windsor for a quick bite of lunch. Beyond Windsor I was trying to find an isolated spot to see a dog breeder with 15 pups! Brain fade no. 1. I ignored the GPS and got well and truely lost!
Eventually ended up at the Sackville Ferry, one of three 24 hr ferries on the Hawkesbury River. Brain fade No.2 didn't take long!
Couldn't start the Tranny! Had to push it off the ferry and spent about half an hour, bags off, seat off, check fuse, doing the man thing for a while with the encouraging cheek from the ferry staff, I gave in and rang the bike supplier. Didn't take her long to suggest I check the 'kill swith' ! Oh, darn!
Great roads through to Wiseman's Ferry, if a bit bumpy. Aussie doesn't seem to have pot holes as much as pot ridges of about 150mm - 200mm high. Fair lifts the front of the bike up!
Pity about the rediculously low speed limit, 60 - 70 kmph on roads which over here would still be 100k. Speed advisory signs were pretty right, 15km means darn slow.
Great weather and good roads including the Sydney - Newcastle, Pacific Highway. Trolling along at 110k with big trucks on either side. Great Fun.
Conference number 1 at Newcastle Uni. kept me busy with suburban riding. Thank heavens for the GPS again! More to come!

[FROSTY:Me]

ohh you lucky lucky b#$#$#$

[mbazza]

I managed to sneek off one morning to roll up the 'Bucketts Way' to Gloucester and on to the 'National Motorcycle Museum' at Nabiac.
'Buckets Way' is a work in progress, very much a tourist ride which is being done up in selected section, the other sections contain more of these Aussie 'pot ridges'. I got out on this road early and pretty much had the road to myself with only locals about who are obviously used to the road and bike tourists. Great rollong country, excellent for the bike, again the speed limit is controlling and mostly between 70 - 90 kph.
I managed to get through to Gloucester quickly and capture both a replica photo of the Perenti Cafe' 'ala' Peter 'Bear' Theomins Australia Motorcycle Atlas ride 18 and a good coffee.
The ride from Gloucester down to Nabiac was excellent, open hilly country mostly at 100kph with very littler traffic.
The museum at Nabiac is well worth the effort. Over 700 plus bikes of all sorts! I spent the most time in the 70's to 90's Jap era visiting my motorcycling history. Ah, remembering is great sport. Also managed to drool over a Four Sqaure Ariel like my Dad used to have. I remeber riding for miles on that bike perched on the tank, wrapped in his great coat. Probably where I caught the bike bug. Also on display was a BSA Bantam in orange just like my first real motorbike! Oh, the memories. An entertainment, a real entertainment! Well worth the visit.
The motorway run back to Newcastle at 110 kph was fun in light traffic. We don't have descent motorways down here. Work and play in one day! Yeeha!

[mbazza]

The Friday afternoon haul down the Pacific Highway was a pretty busy affair. Cars, trucks, vans and me on the little old 'Tranny' all going different speeds. Near Gosford we all came across a white Ford vehicle, male driver, doing 100k weaving from the slow left lane across to the right hand faster lane and then back again! I found it hard to get away from him, difficult to slow down and the 'Tranny' got the shakes after about 115kph. I kept ahead of him by a car or two for 20k and then he went bye and I stayed behind him for about the same distance as the volume of traffic contunued to build up.
I was in the centre lane and could see a bike headlight closing rapidly in the faster right lane. As`the bikecop ' flew past he lifted his hand in recognition. A couple of 'k's' later he and an unmarked cop car were shepherding the white Ford to the inside line as I snuck past. Good feeling to see the cops working professionally to keep the rest of us safe.
This motorway run has good open corners and hills so is fun to ride. Hills appear to be mostly limestone with plenty of dams for water and spillways.
I left the highway at Pennant Hills and rode through the four o'clock bumper to bumper traffic for which Sydney is famous. Close riding is the order of the day. I usually ride a car length or three behind other vehicle. You know, keep your space and be seen! Not here! Two meters spacing at the most at 80k!Need to be awake here boy! Other drivers very careful, slow deliberate lane changes which instill confidence. Able to switch the brain off waiting at the lights. Glad to reach the motel back in Windsor by about 4.30pm. Whew! Made it in one piece, now off to have a beer! For tomorrow I've got to find that dog breeder with the 15 pups.

[mbazza]

Windsor, the GPS and an early start saw me out cruising towards South Maroota finding frost in the bend of a river road. Being a boy from Balclutha I know about riding on frost. Being an Aussie bike no one had told the 'Tranny'! A bit of tail wagging and I was soon bumping my way down a flood gourged red dirt track to one of those western Sydney properties, 35 hectares, big shed, big house, mandatory swimming pool in an area that gets bush fires. None of these about in mud-July just a couple breeding Scottish deerhounds by the 15 per litter. To see these pups, which are my wife's favourites, I had to get past Geoffrey the horse and and a couple of very large Irish wolfhounds. Great people, excellent animals, great morning.
Just before lunch I was back in 'historic' Windsor buying a cheap sleeping bag and stuffing it into the hard 'Givi' side bag. The weather indicated that I could sleep out under the stars at the 'United Touring Clubs' winter rally at Nerriga about 60km inland from Nowra on the east coast and sort of on my route to the next conference in Canberra.
Had to get there first! Windsor to Penrith to Campbelltown was a confirmation ride through parts of suburban West Sydney and partly through the Sydney country side. Saturday sport, people in their gardens, coming and going to local shopping malls and because of the bright sunshine plenty of bikes. None of them going my way!
By the time I reached the Hume Highway south of Campbelltown I was sick of trafic and at Mittagong turned off onto local roads. The temperature steadily fell and by Moss Vale I was ready for fuel and soup 'n toast. Pleasant place with a few bikes moving through, only a few of which carrying gear. The others were leather clad sports riders intent on the road. About 6k south of Moss Vale one of those leather clad blokes was being lifted into an ambulance. I gave his mate the thumbs up as I slipped past. Roads were empty and in good condition, can't fathom why you'd want to park your bike there! Sober riding for the next few k's.
This didn't last too long as the roads became twisty through Sutton Forrest out to Exeter and back on the Hume for five minutes before crossing the highway off the list at Marulan and onto excellent, twisty, tree lined gravel roads for about 50k into the tiny T junction at Nerriga. Great roads, good speeds, watch the entry and exits of bridges. Other than that let the grin grow. I didn't see another bike until I reached the rally which was again up a soft red dirt water gouged track. Off the bike at the rally and Lester had to help me to hold it up until I got something solid under the side stand. Blokes, bikes, tents . . . . . . a rally!

[kerfufflez]

Wow, what do you do for work?
Great read, thanks.
(But the photos are tiny, even after I click on them- is it possible to make them bigger?).

[janno]

thanks for the write up - I'm very envious!

Bugger about the tiny photos, I can't see a thing!!

[Rotor]

been to the motor bike museum" sweet"
hope you try the kangaroo valley south of sydney near mossvale and the clyde near batemans bay and the brown mountain near bega if you go south
from sydney it takes about 9/10 hrs
Sydney to Canberra (motor way)
Canberra to Cooma (open road)
Cooma to Bega (the brown mountain) "sweet"
Bega to batemans bay (open road)
Batemans bay to Bradwood (Clyde mountain) "sweet:
Briad Wood to Goulburn (open road)
Goulgurn to Mossvale (motor way)
Mossvale to Wollongong (Kangeroo valley) "sweet"
Wollongong to Sydney (motor way)
hope you have a good time
PS its winter down south so "the best roads in Australia" are full of snow.

[Meanie]

You have definitly got a bloody good job
Great read Thanks

[mbazza]

Thanks for your comments.
Especially the heads up on the tiny photos! Yep, they are useless I'll try and find out how to post ones a bit larger which are of some use, sorry!
Yep, I did get down to some of the S. of Sydney locations - see next few posts.
As to what I do for a crust! You'll have to read on to find out. Cheers

[mbazza]

So, an Aussie winter rally. Infact an Aussie bike rally, what are they like? Pretty similar to most rallies I've been to in NZ. Mostly blokes, mostly bikes. At Nerriga cars / utes were allowed on site which I feel is strange. Blokes getting away from work, wives, famalies for a ride, drinking too much and telling good stories, mostly at their mates expense. Not too much different to any rally here.
Everyone was friendly, enjoyed talking about their bikes. A marked number of father and son riding teams on all sorts of bikes. Many sons as pillions. The old father son bonding activity. There bombf ire was 8 paces by 3 paces but still gave off great heat and burned all night. Must be those gum trees.
The entertainment was a good 4 piece band which started with modern stuff and by 1.00am were playing the tunes from our teen years. No other entertainment, no bike show a such, but there were the usual trophies available, best modern, best oldie, oldest bike rider combo, best hard luck story etc. But no, wet jocks / t-shirt competitions as at some of our rallies. They did hve an afternoon gymkana type event for which I (thank god) arrived too late.
It was good the meet Chris, one of the club organisers I'd e-mailed. Beer was of two types, food was barbecue, cooked on site. I can speak for the steak sandwiches and the bacon and egs in the morning. Just a friendly bunch of bike people who were interested in me the hire bike bloke.
Mostly NSW people from the Sydney area. The most travelled trophy went to 9 of the United Touring Club people who had ridden around Oz in 28 days to end up at the rally. I talked to 'Andy' who'd been in his Draggin Camo jeans for those 28 das he rode his Norton around. His only drama was dropping a timing chain 2 3'rds of the way across the Nullaba. He was a bit pissed off that his 'around OZ' had a gap in it as they had a chase van which picked his bike up and he missed 500km of riding. Still, as he said, "just have to try it again!"
Very glad I took the chance to go to this rally. Happy the Odyssian members adopted me, even if I wasn't on the necessary FJR. I made a number of friends and have e-mail address to reply to now that I'm back. An OZ rally, good value. Most rallies I've been to have been in grass paddocks. Interesting to be at one in the bush with red gravel under trhe sleeping bag.

[mbazza]

I was out of the rally site early, about 9.00am. Probably about 6th away which is unusual for me. Interesting to watch a bloke start a Kwaka triple (two stroke?) Wouldn't push start, so he left it and kicked it over easily about 15 min. later!
My route was Neriga to Braidwood, 50 km of gravel. The Tranny ate this up until I ran into the dark clouds with drizzle underneath. I stopped and ducked into the bush to get a dry spot to drop my boots off and climb into my 'Dririder' wet gear.
A good idea to keep the socks dry! Slow process getting the boots of and pulling the suit on as I stoop under the trees. Plenty of time to think about snakes and other creepy crawlies! No worries, mate. It's too cold for them! As a was putting my last boot on I watched a ute pull up and a bloke about my own age got out. "Anyone with this bike he called!" I sheepishly staggered down the bank and across the water table to claim the bike.
He was heading up towards the rally to check on his 18 year old son who hadn't been seen that morning. He described the car and I could assure him that he was alive and full of life at about 6.00am, but that he would probably have to sleep it off before he could come home! "Good on him"' was his laconic reply.
It hit a nerve by asking if the rain was any use for the land as clearly he was a farmer. "A bit useful", he replied. I followed him back to the second largest shed in the world about 5km down the now slippery gravel and climbed out of my riding gear. In his 'shack' as he called it, he had an excellent set up. Luxurious leather swivel chairs, about 5 t.v. / computer screens, electronic gear and video serviellance from the 17 dams on his farm. 23 000 acres! Shit thats big! A few key strokes and the rainfall of the previous 10 days is displayed for each dam. The graphs showed about a 7% increase in each dam. So the rain had been worth it! Great coffee, a chat and a look at some of the biggest, healthiest beef cattle I had seen for a while. "Not much of a profit, but enough to keep the bank happy".
You have to ask the right questions and be ready to listen to the answer in dry country when it's raining!
Back on the road, slippery into Braidwood and a bit of lunch. Could be in trouble here! The local garage is shut until Monday. No fuel! Only a problem for a few minutes, two local blokes pull up to eat with a couple of KTM dirty dirt bikes on the back. I approach them and they point out the 'servo' around the corner. Duo!
They warn me about the cops on the roads between here and Canberra 80km away. As many Canberraits escape the city every week end and hoon down to the coast! I enjoy this section at the regulation 100k and see three traffic cars in the Maniototo like (with trees) country. Rain stops as I cruise into Canberra and back to the work of being at another conference. Cheers

[paturoa]

Excellent write up, me thinks I'll have to join your profession too!

I was thinking about your trip last week when the big ice and cold was down south. How cold was Canberra?

... and what happened to the beemer upgrade?

[mbazza]

I like Canberra, it's something about the fact that this city is plonked into the middle of a stark environment. Others see it as cold and boring. I see it as another chance to see my nephew and my great nephew. I also like the way the city is laid out around Lake Burley Griffin. It's very easy to ride about with everything not much more than about 20min away. I really like the 300 degree roundabouts which enter or exit the main roads.
I was there four days and had to scrape frost off the bike seat every morning, just like home!Managed to revisit the Aussie war memorial museum again, both parliaments and the Aussie Mint. Interesting sign there suggesting visitors should be ready to have their bags searched as they enter. I'd have thought a bag search as we left would be more on the cards!
I also managed to get to each of the bike shops in Fyshwicke and Queanbean. Interesting places with masses of stock, both in bikes, helmets, boots and general accessories. Being on the road doesn't make me want to buy stuff, although there is plenty to buy. V-strom 650's were $2000Au less than they were at home! Very pleasant people.
After the conference I cruised back down to Braidwood, straight into the servo for fuel. Interesting chat here with a young OZ student who was fuelling a GPZ (?) 600 sports bike. He had plenty of stories about the lower ' Kings Highway' which I was about to travel. Including one of having to go slowly up into the hills this morning behind a marked cop car until the cop ran over an echidna which left him a cop free road for the best bits.
This road is magic and my whole run down to Batemans Bay was with the sun at my back. First time I wore the dayglow stuff. It worked though, into a motel on the river just at dusk. Magic roads and a great place to stay. Ended up having tea at the 'Soldiers Club' RSL a short walk away. Baramundi steak, great big crome palace, very happy to feed strangers and about 10 choices of beer. A big smile day.

[mbazza]

Excellent write up, me thinks I'll have to join your profession too!

I was thinking about your trip last week when the big ice and cold was down south. How cold was Canberra?

... and what happened to the beemer upgrade?

Hi Patu.
You'd be welcome in my profession, you ride a Suzuki!
The upgrade was going to cost $45 more a day. Work is geneous, but not theat generous. Cheers