Vic High Country ride Nov 05

A small gathering was being organised in the victorian part of the Oz high country, it's one of my favourite parts of the country so I organised a day off work either side of the weekend and I was on my way, 2 others joined in for the 1000km trip to Victoria so there was me - 750 Africa twin, Tom - transalp and Alf - 640 Adventure.

We headed down the motorway and then took the dirt from Marulan to tarago, a nice road, some more tar to braidwood and then the dirt through Countegany to Nimmatabel, this is a great dirt road, a few hills and corners then some great open stuff with just enough loose surface for some great sliding.

Tom and his TA



My AT at Countegany

We had a feed at the Nimmatabel bakery, highly recomended !!!

Some more tar and we had done 600km for the day and we overnighted at the Delegate River tavern, right on the border of NSW and Victoria, excellent cabins and a very bike friendly host.




beautifull scenery just outside our cabin

Sat AM , we were in for a treat !!!, the 120km of great windy tar to Orbost along the Bonang Hwy. Its a hoot of a road, with great forest scenery if you can take your eyes off the road. If you are in Oz you must ride this road, the best one I have ever ridden I think :evil

A coffee in Orbost to settle the nerves after the Bonang, then along the Hwy to Bairnsdale then a turn nth into the mountains again heading for Dargo, this is another great tar road, not as good as the Bonang but still a hoot, the sides of the tyres certainly got a workout today !!!.

Finally at Dargo Pub, some lunch and the Victorian riders roll in.





The beer wagon on the Vic boys ride to the site, Chris gets the sidecar along some amazing tracks !!!.

After catching up we headed out to the campsite at Talbotville, an old gold mining area, an absolutely stunning campsite, a grassy clearing surrounded by hills and a crystal clear river



There were 11 of us camped out, 2 AT 750's, 2 KLR 650's , 1 660 Rallye , a NX650 , 1200GS, 80GS, XT600, Transalp, 1100GS and a K1100 side car- the beer wagon.



Peter's 2005 KTM 660 Rallye is an amazing bike, It makes the most amazing noise, wish I could post a recording of it hear !!!!



Drool, Drool, Drool,

After setting up camp and dropping the gear, Peter and Paul who are locals took us for ride up to the Blue Rag mountain, it was an interesting ride. 40km up the good dirt of the High plains Rd then it was onto the Blue rag track for some fun.

The start of the track


It was 10km out to the top and there was lots of steep up and down with a bit of level ridge top riding in between.

It was mostly in 1st gear on my AT and a bit interesting as I dont do a lot of this type of thing, dirt roads - easy tracks and desert riding is my usual thing , lots of rocks, loose loamy track and erosion humps, I had a couple of sphincter puckers on some steep downhills, still havent got the knack. Paul tells me to ride steep downhills just like they are flat, havent got my head around that one yet, ??? ??? ???

The views were fantastic



The last pinch to the top was incredibly steep and rough, the piccies dont do it justice.

Paul went 1st to show us how it was done, fark , that looked hard. Joe on the KLR650 went next and made it, impressive. Liam gave it a go and got a quarter of the way up.

Liam waiting to try


I was next and last to try, the other deciding not to give it a go, Peter leaned over and said "COMMITMENT is the key" give it heaps. Well I tried but with the AT bucking everywhere I lost to much speed and toppled over about 2/3 rds of the way to the top, it was fun though.

Then it was time to be really shown how to do it, Ive got a great video of it, Peter on his rallye hit it so fast and he was in such control he went over the top on the back wheel, it was amazing. Peter is a very good rider and ex A grade Enduro rider the weekend before this trip he had spent time riding in the Victorian desert with Andy Caldecott (6th in the 2005 Dakar). Apart from being a good rider Peter is a great bloke and spent a lot of time sweeping the ride and workshopping riding techniques with us.

The rest of us walked up to the summit, the views were worth it !!.

Back to camp just before dark, a meal and some drinks, lots of bullshit round the campfire and a well earned sleep.

Peters sermon




The Vic boys Leaving talbotville the interesting way on sunday AM



Sunday, Tom and I had 2 days for the 1000km back to Sydney, we decided to go via the Dog's Grave rd to Omeo.






In the middle of nowhere in the forest is a memorial to a blokes Dog, must have been a great dog !!!.


Then the Nariel Creek rd to Corryong where we crashed for the night.