After getting my a^% kicked by the mods for linking to another site (gee, it's like being at Netrider 
) I've extracted the digit, got myself a free photobucket account and put this together. Let's see how long a free site holds it together before it bandwidths my pictures :roll:
2 weeks of leave were booked in, at last, a holiday! Even better, we managed to work it out so we both got a bit of what we want. We did it all on the bike and stayed some nice places to kick back and relax. It’s not the dirtiest or most scenic of ride reports, it’s just 2 weeks of being on holiday, with my wife, on my bike. It doesn’t get much better than that.
But even holidays can have some work in them and the first day was a 700km run to put some previously well travelled countryside behind us. Left Melbourne, out via the Hume but headed off at Chiltern to backroad it across to Culcairn. It was a windy day, which made for a bit of extra work keeping the whole plot heading North but we made good time. Had a quick sticky beak around Junee. It has a certain heritage appeal, especially the square outside the station.
Kept the throttle on though and made Cowra just before dark.
The morning after we were into holiday mode. We had to be in Mudgee that evening, only 250km away and had all day to get there. So off to the Japanese Gardens at Cowra for a look see. Pretty impressive gardens, not something you expect to see in regional Australia.
Made it to Bathurst for lunch, where we met up briefly with a group of riders heading south to the Moto GP at Philip Island. After lunch, it was off to Mt Panorama for the obligatory lap of the race track. There was a large growing memorial at the top of the mountain to Brocky.
Off the mountain and into the hills we went, heading for the hamlet of Sofala. This was all new roads to me, so life was good. Sofala was described as a quaint reminder of the gold rush era, I dunno about that. Once the sun went down, I reckon the banjos would be out and the streets deserted. All it was missing was a tumbleweed blowing down the street.
Out of Sofala and on towards Hill End. Pretty, twisting dirt route up through the hills. I was really enjoying myself and getting some rhythm going until I briefly caught up with the local school bus which had just dropped off a couple of kids at their farm. I didn’t quite have time to scoot past it and thought I was in for a slow dust eating ride into Hill End. I never saw the bus again, his local knowledge and the dust in my face ensured I had neither the ability to see or the speed to get past him. It’s only slightly embarrassing to get beaten by the school bus, but we were on holidays and I didn’t really care. A prowl through Hill End showed that the town had lots to offer the historically minded but the day was vanishing fast so we made tracks for Mudgee. The road north of Hill end is certainly faster than the road in from the south, but it made for one wide eyed moment where we had to thread the needle between the school bus now on its way back and a deceased kangaroo on the road at about 100km/h. Found out that our accom at Mudgee, which we’d assumed was reasonably classy, was actually very classy. Luckily we were on a BMW so could blend in seamlessly.
No riding the day after, off on a winery tour. The only motorcycle content was that Robert Stein winery has a nice little display of vintage, mostly British, motorbikes. Managed 10 wineries, so the morning after was not pretty. Luckily, I was feeling much better by the afternoon so we headed off to Wellington to have a sticky at the caves. When we got there though, we found that their cave tour times were pretty crappy and we didn’t fancy a 1 ½ hour tour at 4pm then a 120km dodge the ‘roo ride back to Mudgee in the twilight. Luckily we found a decent place for a coffee and turned the day into a 240km ride for a coffee.
The day after we broke camp and headed north. Headed across to Bylong, the road a mixture of good gravel and bitumen.
The valley is stunning scenery, great vistas everywhere, then over to the Upper Hunter valley, the run down the escarpment was a blast. Cruised in to Muswellbrook then up the New England Hwy towards Tamworth but a peruse of the map revealed that a side trip to Nundle was in order. Great road running out to Nundle and we eventually made it back onto the Hwy the other side of Tamworth. The thought of all that country music is enough to make me shudder at the thought of actually going there (sorry Tamworth). After a chat with the girl at the servo, we decided to head to Bendeemer for the night. On a weeknight you’re usually pretty right to find accom, but a golf group had descended on the town and the pub was booked out. Luckily the caravan park had a small cabin available. Dunno about being a cabin, but it was cheap and it was a bed and so we found ourselves in the ‘purple cupboard’ for the night. A redeeming view though.
Luckily the food at the pub was good.
The day after we kept on the New England Hwy and headed to Armidale in search of a decent coffee. Armidale looked to be a fairly decent town, I could think of worse places to live. It also had coffee, decent coffee. After a quick poke around town, we were off again, but as always, there was plenty to stop at. We headed in to Woolomombi falls, quite spectacular.
A look at the guide maps showed a road off the Kempsey Rd that headed towards Mt lookout then another road that came back onto the Waterfall way at the Trout hatcheries. Out we went, nice condition forest road, the loaded GS handled it very well.
On the return, we got to the intersection of the road we were planning to use as the return back to Waterfall way and not only was it marked 4WD only, but also had a notice about a bridge being out and that it was 4WD in dry weather only. A bit concerning. I got Liz to hop off and I rode down the track for a short distance. It was definitely a different condition track, mostly red clay studded with large rocks. I knew from the map earlier that it crossed a number of streams so figured it would be steeper than the track we had come out on. There were also no tyre marks on it since recent rain so discretion became the better part of valour and we took the ‘safe’ route out. But it’s been bugging me ever since. Was I being woosey? Would we have made it through on a loaded GS 2 up or would it have been a struggle. It’s a little thing but it feels like unfinished business to me.
Made good progress onto Coffs, the road out of Dorrigo was fantasic, superb twisties. My brain was fighting the confusion of wanting to take in the view, look at the scenery and ride like a maniac down this twisting nirvana. I had a good run for a short while but got stuck behind a car. I was kind a glad, we just took in the scenery instead, so was slightly surprised when the car actually pulled over to let us through.
Made it to Coffs, we were there for 3 nights. The seafood co-op at the jetty quickly became our favorite place, so much fresh seafood, so little time. Yum.
) I've extracted the digit, got myself a free photobucket account and put this together. Let's see how long a free site holds it together before it bandwidths my pictures :roll: 2 weeks of leave were booked in, at last, a holiday! Even better, we managed to work it out so we both got a bit of what we want. We did it all on the bike and stayed some nice places to kick back and relax. It’s not the dirtiest or most scenic of ride reports, it’s just 2 weeks of being on holiday, with my wife, on my bike. It doesn’t get much better than that.
But even holidays can have some work in them and the first day was a 700km run to put some previously well travelled countryside behind us. Left Melbourne, out via the Hume but headed off at Chiltern to backroad it across to Culcairn. It was a windy day, which made for a bit of extra work keeping the whole plot heading North but we made good time. Had a quick sticky beak around Junee. It has a certain heritage appeal, especially the square outside the station.
Kept the throttle on though and made Cowra just before dark.
The morning after we were into holiday mode. We had to be in Mudgee that evening, only 250km away and had all day to get there. So off to the Japanese Gardens at Cowra for a look see. Pretty impressive gardens, not something you expect to see in regional Australia.
Made it to Bathurst for lunch, where we met up briefly with a group of riders heading south to the Moto GP at Philip Island. After lunch, it was off to Mt Panorama for the obligatory lap of the race track. There was a large growing memorial at the top of the mountain to Brocky.
Off the mountain and into the hills we went, heading for the hamlet of Sofala. This was all new roads to me, so life was good. Sofala was described as a quaint reminder of the gold rush era, I dunno about that. Once the sun went down, I reckon the banjos would be out and the streets deserted. All it was missing was a tumbleweed blowing down the street.
Out of Sofala and on towards Hill End. Pretty, twisting dirt route up through the hills. I was really enjoying myself and getting some rhythm going until I briefly caught up with the local school bus which had just dropped off a couple of kids at their farm. I didn’t quite have time to scoot past it and thought I was in for a slow dust eating ride into Hill End. I never saw the bus again, his local knowledge and the dust in my face ensured I had neither the ability to see or the speed to get past him. It’s only slightly embarrassing to get beaten by the school bus, but we were on holidays and I didn’t really care. A prowl through Hill End showed that the town had lots to offer the historically minded but the day was vanishing fast so we made tracks for Mudgee. The road north of Hill end is certainly faster than the road in from the south, but it made for one wide eyed moment where we had to thread the needle between the school bus now on its way back and a deceased kangaroo on the road at about 100km/h. Found out that our accom at Mudgee, which we’d assumed was reasonably classy, was actually very classy. Luckily we were on a BMW so could blend in seamlessly.
No riding the day after, off on a winery tour. The only motorcycle content was that Robert Stein winery has a nice little display of vintage, mostly British, motorbikes. Managed 10 wineries, so the morning after was not pretty. Luckily, I was feeling much better by the afternoon so we headed off to Wellington to have a sticky at the caves. When we got there though, we found that their cave tour times were pretty crappy and we didn’t fancy a 1 ½ hour tour at 4pm then a 120km dodge the ‘roo ride back to Mudgee in the twilight. Luckily we found a decent place for a coffee and turned the day into a 240km ride for a coffee.
The day after we broke camp and headed north. Headed across to Bylong, the road a mixture of good gravel and bitumen.
The valley is stunning scenery, great vistas everywhere, then over to the Upper Hunter valley, the run down the escarpment was a blast. Cruised in to Muswellbrook then up the New England Hwy towards Tamworth but a peruse of the map revealed that a side trip to Nundle was in order. Great road running out to Nundle and we eventually made it back onto the Hwy the other side of Tamworth. The thought of all that country music is enough to make me shudder at the thought of actually going there (sorry Tamworth). After a chat with the girl at the servo, we decided to head to Bendeemer for the night. On a weeknight you’re usually pretty right to find accom, but a golf group had descended on the town and the pub was booked out. Luckily the caravan park had a small cabin available. Dunno about being a cabin, but it was cheap and it was a bed and so we found ourselves in the ‘purple cupboard’ for the night. A redeeming view though.
Luckily the food at the pub was good.
The day after we kept on the New England Hwy and headed to Armidale in search of a decent coffee. Armidale looked to be a fairly decent town, I could think of worse places to live. It also had coffee, decent coffee. After a quick poke around town, we were off again, but as always, there was plenty to stop at. We headed in to Woolomombi falls, quite spectacular.
A look at the guide maps showed a road off the Kempsey Rd that headed towards Mt lookout then another road that came back onto the Waterfall way at the Trout hatcheries. Out we went, nice condition forest road, the loaded GS handled it very well.
On the return, we got to the intersection of the road we were planning to use as the return back to Waterfall way and not only was it marked 4WD only, but also had a notice about a bridge being out and that it was 4WD in dry weather only. A bit concerning. I got Liz to hop off and I rode down the track for a short distance. It was definitely a different condition track, mostly red clay studded with large rocks. I knew from the map earlier that it crossed a number of streams so figured it would be steeper than the track we had come out on. There were also no tyre marks on it since recent rain so discretion became the better part of valour and we took the ‘safe’ route out. But it’s been bugging me ever since. Was I being woosey? Would we have made it through on a loaded GS 2 up or would it have been a struggle. It’s a little thing but it feels like unfinished business to me.
Made good progress onto Coffs, the road out of Dorrigo was fantasic, superb twisties. My brain was fighting the confusion of wanting to take in the view, look at the scenery and ride like a maniac down this twisting nirvana. I had a good run for a short while but got stuck behind a car. I was kind a glad, we just took in the scenery instead, so was slightly surprised when the car actually pulled over to let us through.
Made it to Coffs, we were there for 3 nights. The seafood co-op at the jetty quickly became our favorite place, so much fresh seafood, so little time. Yum.
