Bushpigs & Sunrises__ 00_Prologue

[glitch]

Prologue https://www.austouring.com/index.php?threads/bushpigs-sunrises__-00_prologue.7196/


Day1 https://www.austouring.com/index.php?threads/bushpigs-sunrises_01_mirboo-to-bruthen.7197/

Day2 https://www.austouring.com/index.php?threads/bushpigs-sunrises_02_-bruthen-to-marlo.7198/

Day3 https://www.austouring.com/index.php?threads/bushpigs-sunrises_03_marlo-to-cann-river.7200/

Day 4 https://www.austouring.com/index.php?threads/bushpigs-sunrises_04_cann-river-to-jindabyne.7201/

Day5 https://austouring.com/index.php?threads/bushpigs-sunrises_05_jindabyne-to-jingellic.7202/

Day6 https://austouring.com/index.php?threads/bushpigs-sunrises_06_jingellic-to-eskdale.7203/

Day7 https://austouring.com/index.php?threads/bushpigs-sunrises_07_eskdale-to-mansfield.7204/

Day8 https://www.austouring.com/index.ph...rises_08_mansfield-buller-sterling-loop.7205/

 

[glitch]

9 days of Gippsland's finest gravel, new routes dreamed about for years but never ridden or driven before, a little chunk of the Snowies and some of the Victorian High Country on the way back home, just to finish off what we had started a few months ago when some heavy rains got in the way.

~2500km with well over half on gravel, National Parks and State Parks, Forestry tracks and interconnecting twisties.

And boy, did LADY LUCK play along in a big way or what?
Despite the massive rain fronts hanging threatening, the only rain encountered were maybe 20 minutes of very sparse drizzle within sight of home on the last day.
Overcast mornings or afternoons, but no rain. All good for touring off the tarmac then.

No shortage of thrills or spills, Squizzy with his bag of bolts (bag of nuts sounds a bit tacky, eh?) kept the circus moving more often than not.

The Yoyo of the bunch was the Hima, the little Indian stoically refusing to drop its guts despite the bags of daily punishment and a continuous shedding of parts and bits, lost in the scenery along the way.
More hits than Elvis, more lay-downs than a crew of drunken sailors and rapidly approaching "ideal weight" towards the end of the bash, the "Mighty Weakling" climbed the steep, rocky and washed out tracks and trenches up to Mt. Benambra Firetower, ripped half its bashplate off the mounts somewhere else, kept going without functioning brake/ gear/ clutch levers and handlebars bent to poke the grey clouds above.
Big kudos to the little Enfield and its punter, they put up one hell of a fight... and WON! YEAH!!

Not really keen on dragging all the camping stuff along on the first longer ride after the 2 CoVid years, it was B+B's, pubs, motels and caravan park cabins,...packing a sleeping bag just in case (not needed, in the end).

Best place (and most exxy), the B+B in Bruthen, what a cracker! Great to see Stretch still running the Bruthen Pub.
Cheapest place (with some GREAT motorcycling hosts) turned out the Eskdale Pub.
Most quirky was probably the first night at Mirboo North.
"Coldest"/ least inviting place was Jindabyne (to me), nothing wrong with it, just "commercial plastics" all over.


Time to get going then....

Friday afternoon route to Mirboo, the meet-up with Ant and the stay at Strathmore Farm B+B (a place I'll be back to, bringing the walking boots for a Grand Ridge Weekend of the "slow variety".

No traffic on the backroads around Neerim East, but a school-bus and garbage truck? for some sudden heart-stoppers at McDonalds Track and the dirt-roads south of Yarragon.

Looking back across the Latrobe Valley from the hills above Yarragon

Strathmore Farm Welcome....

Squiz's new ADV-slippers....

Accom: generous 2br. cabin, 3km south of Mirboo North, B+B, https://bit.ly/3DJvWBd

Strathmore Farm Home Page

strathmorefarm.com.au

 

[Hytram]

Squizzy with his bag of bolts (bag of nuts sounds a bit tacky, eh?)

calling it the bag of nuts would have been one of the more tame things spoken on this trip....

 

[glitch]

...ain't that the truth!!

 

[glipschitz]

Looks unreal!

 

[asphalt]

Strathmore Farm is the very lucky place ever!

 

[glitch]

Strathmore Farm is the very lucky place ever!

Mate, you would have thoroughly enjoyed that place.... a little quirky but by Gosh, Squiz loved the ADV-slippers enough to take them along to Bruthen and beyond

 

[asphalt]

Mate, you would have thoroughly enjoyed that place.... a little quirky but by Gosh, Squiz loved the ADV-slippers enough to take them along to Bruthen and beyond

love accommodations like this. .... of course!
Squizzy knows what helps to relax his feet after a long track

 

[goodie]

I'm subscribed.... Can't wait for the next bit