2011 High Country Pizzup

penguineer

just luscious
It's raining and cold outside, so I'm going back through the archives......

A bit of a write-up of a trip I did last year with a group of Kawasaki riders from another forum to Jindabyne in the Snowy Mountains.

I really needed this trip due to problems at work and so long since I had done a good long ride......

FWIW - IBEM == "I've Been everywhere, Man", a song written by Ted Mack many years ago that lists 94 Aussie town names. The game is to visit all the towns and have some proof of it(photo of you/bike and something with the town name). When looking at longer trips I've started looking at the IBEM towns and using those to suggest routes....

This has been posted on several forums that may be interested, so if you feel you're not up on some of the references you may not be alone - it will make sense to someone.


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17 March 2011 - Mount Tamborine to Sydney

Did a lot of messing about, packing the bike and cleaning up around the house.

Didn't feel right, not prepared, my passing idea of trying an SS1600 had been abandoned several days ago and just could not feel settled with the ride.

A break at a roadside stop wasn't auspicious - the toilets were being repaired.

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Roadwork delays didn't help - a stop for a fruit and nut bar at Woolooga seemed to help a little.

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Nothing seemed to click until it started raining, and suddenly I just got into the ride. Funny.....

On the way, I stopped in Taree (IBEM town) - already done by Popeye, but now I have my own:
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Another stop at a servo in Gosford for a fruit juice and then on to Sydney and spend the night at Brownis' Mums' place.


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18 March 2011 - Sydney to Jindabyne

Got moving from Browni' Mum' place and headed out for the short leg to Jindabyne. Managed to catch only the tail end of the morning "school rush" and made good time to Mittagong to meet up with some friends and had a look at a house renovation they were doing.

As Mittagong is in the Wollondilly area and both are IBEM locations, I managed a few photos.

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By now the sky had really dropped on us and I was glad to have the wet gear on. Although it didn't rain too hard the rain gear kept the drizzle off and the cold out.

Once we arrived we had the usual meetups and discussion of where everyone had gotten lost and Hans' problems - either a bearing or drive belt. Not a good way to start a holiday!

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Dinner at the pub up the hill and we were good for bed ready for another day!


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19 March 2011 - Jindabyne to Gundagai, Snowy Mountain Highway

After a late start we went for a quick ride around the area with no real plan. Most of the group stopped at Adaminiby for a break and photos with the big trout.

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The plan was a run past Mount Selwyn, Khankoban, Thredbo and back to Jindabyne. I left the smoko at Adaminiby and headed north, meeting up with Adam, Bruce, Bazz and Fossil at a hut further up the road.

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Everyone was raving about the road and taking a few moments to look at the scenery or watch another bike come wizzing around the corner.....

Pretty soon I choofed off on my own towards Tumut - stopping a few moments at Black Perry lookout on the northern slope of the range......

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before heading for Gundagai and Adelong (two more IBEM towns for the collection)

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I left Gundagai at about 1630(local), which meant I would be riding back after critter time.

The lady in the Gundagai info centre had told me that the brumbies weren't likely to come up to the road as there was plenty of food elsewhere, but the roos would be out. If the piles of horse manure I had seen on the road were anything to go by these brumbies mus be the size of a small elephant. Although she had told me the road via Tumbarumba was good and I dislike retracing myself I decided to go with the known road (which was fun anyway) and reduce speed where neccessary.

No photos, but riding over the range as the sunset coloured the mountains in orange-red hues was magical!

Only saw one skippy that made himself known after I used the horn to scare some birds off the road - I'd like to recommend the fine equipment manufactured by Stebel of Italy at this point as he was a big 'un!!!!

I cut the corner to Berridale in the darkness - the LEDs acquited themselves well - and I arrived just in time for a BBQ dinner!

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The others had gone over Mount Selwyn, through Khankoban and back via Thredbo enjoying the twisties until Adam hit a pothole that ended up doing in his rear tyre tube in - he managed to limp home after reinflating from the local servo, but had lost about half pressure by the time he got in.

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20 March 2011 - Rest day, Jindabyne sightseeing

We didn't do much this day as the weather was a bit iffy and we could do with a day off, so we just mooched around the town having a look at the place.

This chappie seems to have an idea of where we should go!

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Of course we had to do a bike lineup, but some smart bugger added a ring-in amongst the Kwakas.....

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Everyone tried for a good photo

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various hooligans made some noise.....

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and BlueDog Princess was introduced to the world!

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A BBQ was followed by a wombat-spotting expedition that resulted in a bazillion rabbits, loads of deer a few roos and only two wombat. By the time we arrived home the rest of the group had retired early (0100h!!) so they could watch Stoner win the MotoGP.

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21 March 2011 - Rain, Thredbo swimming expedition

Adam headed for Canberra, slime compressor at the ready to see if his tube could be replaced at any of the bike shops there, but after being told a tube would come in on Wednesday ended up heading home and getting it sorted there.

The weather was crap. Low cloud, rain, cold. This put the plans to visit Thredbo and Kosiosko on hold - until I said stuff it, nobody else visits the mountains in the rain, so I'll do it!

Wore most of my wet gear to the mountain top on the chair lift and thoroughly enjoyed it - quiet, nowhere as much human traffic as on a clear day (only met four other walkers), but the views weren't all that great.

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The chair lift was amazing - just floating in the cloud over the hillside with the cable disappearing into the mist!

The experience was so refreshing - even if I did have to dry everything out - waterproof bike gloves do a good job on bikes, but don't handle chair lifts too well apparently....

On the way back I did the Jindabyne(IBEM) sign:
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22 March 2011 - Depart Jindabyne to Dubbo

To mock us the weather gods sent us what seemed a clear day, although the weather reports said it was raining to the east and south, leaving many of us to adjust our plans for the trip home.

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And small groups departed on our way home:

Kwaka
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Amenuensis
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Fairy
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Popeye
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Tas
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MickDundee
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AussieBruce
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Once again, I headed over the hills towards Tumut
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Then turned off towards Selwyn and north via Tumbarumba to Tumut.

What a ripper! After the turn north the road started descending into mountain valleys, constant low speed hairpin turns and amazing views. None of my photos did this justice.

By this stage I was starting to get conscious of time and my camera was running out of space for photos so I had to force myself not to stop. Fortunately(?) by the time I got to Tumbarumba the amazing mountains had gone and the road was less photogenic.....

Refuel at Tumut, skip across to Gundagai and I see Bruce going the wrong way! Passed Adrian, Phil and Charlie and the said they would wait at the dog on the tuckerbox for him....I continued on as I had IBEM plans.....

Stockinbingal:
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I just *had* to stop in Wombat!!!

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Jeff Thomas likes some of the old town architecture, so here's a few shots of one of the historic towns along the way:

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Then Off to Molong(IBEM):

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From there it was Dubbo for the night in a motel by the river.

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23 March 2011 - Dubbo to Mount Tamborine via Newell and Cunningham highways

Noted the tyre pressures were slightly down this morning(one or two PSI) and hoped to add a bit of air at a servo somewhere when fuelling. Well - stopped at or passed through about 5 servos between Dubbo and Moree and they either didn't have an air hose marked or the end piece was missing. What's the go? Even the bloody truck stops!!!

Had to clean out the caked on bugs from the LEDs - they must have figured they were the brightest part of the bike as I came into town the night before.....

Made a late start on what I knew was my last day, and more basic slab than any other day so far and no photos.

Took one photo at Narrabri(IBEM, already covered by olbitz) and kept going.
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Actually thought about stopping in Gilgandra but since I had only just gotten moving I wanted to get some distance under my belt. (Sorry Rob, maybe next time!)

Didn't really stop until just past Moree(another IBEM I got on a previous trip) where I had bit of a sit down break.

The Newell highway is boring. Bloody boring. I think everyone should ride the length of it once to find out what boring is.

Dunno what the go is with the 100kph speed limit - nearly nobody bothers with it(except me apparently), signs everywhere and after forcing you to spend more time on the road of boring the speed signs are interspersed with signs about falling asleep. What idiots come up with this nonsense?

Next significant stop was at the Warwick truck stop where I had a spring roll and a fruit juice before the last stretch home.

Cunninghams Gap is pretty messed up - when I passed through there were about three controlled sections of roadworks and about another three or four areas that would have been controlled if there were people working there. Frustrating, but neccessary, I suppose.

Finally got home at about 2000h local time and then off to bed.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

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Summary

7 days away (one day walking, one day mostly walking, 5 days mostly riding)
~172L of petrol (72L 95 octane, 100L 91 octane)
3698km ridden
~1900m elevation
8 IBEM locations(Taree, Mittagong, Wollondilly, Gundagai, Adelong, Jindabyne, Stockingbingal, Narrabri)
2 wombats sighted(not counting the town)
24 cans of beer and who knows how many barbequed sausages
Lots of laughs and plenty of fun!

Spot track of the trip: http://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=27d24d8042489790f
 
A

aj1249

Guest
Just what i needed mate another dose from memory lane.
Although the trip home with the puncture drove me nuts

Aj
 

CamStrom

Tear along dotted line!
Great read and pics mate.
I soooo need to get up around the Snowies again, will have to wait till November!

Cheers,

Cam
 
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