Escaping winter 2023

[nev]

It's getting cold again, and we haven't had a proper ride for along time. A flick back through ride reports reveals our last ride which lasted over a week was almost 5 years ago, in 2018. So we packed the bikes and headed off this morning. Heading north. A plan to check in with relatives in Brisbane, but aside from that, no other concrete plans, and 2 weeks off work.

Day 1. Melbourne to Jindera NSW

We were greeted with clear skies and sunshine this rmorning. We shot through to Yarck for morning tea, then through Whitfield, and stopped for lunch at the Milewa Cheese Factory. The ground around Whitfield was saturated with rain, and there was a lot of standing water in the paddocks. The campground at Edi Cutting was half consumed by the river. In Oxley, water flooded both sides of the road, and there was a strong current where the water was flowing through stormwater pipes under the road.



I had a plan to stop at the Woolshed Falls, just north of Beechworth, but on entry to the town, I scanned around and from the road outside the petrol station I spotted a gorge on the left side. I'd never looked down there before, but I figured where there was a lot of water, and a deep gorge, there must be something interesting to see.. and sure enough...










We made our way through Beechworth to Woolpack Falls, which were equally in full flow






A couple of buildings in the Jindera township. St Pauls Church



and an old Blacksmith shop



We happened to be in town on movie night, and after a meal at the pub, we went to the old hall in town, and watched Back to the Future III.

 

[glitch]

Beechworth Gorge Rd....isn't there some park along the way, too?
Gosh, it's been so long. Only ever seen it when bone-dry.

Lucky to catch the main annual social event at Jindera, too

Great stuff...and Happy Miles!

 

[Williamson]

Beechworth Gorge Rd....isn't there some park along the way, too?
Gosh, it's been so long. Only ever seen it when bone-dry.

Lucky to catch the main annual social event at Jindera, too

Great stuff...and Happy Miles!

Yeah, and a nice little bicycle ride too. Takes you past the powder magazine and a few different views (like Nev's pics). Stayed at Beechworth a month, Gorge Road was closed, and landslip or the like.

 

[nev]

Day 2. Jindera NSW to Cargo NSW

We were loaded up and ready to go at 08:30am just as planned. Destination, Cargo NSW, a little town with a pub, a general store and little else about 15 minutes ride NE of Canowindra on the road to Orange. I fired up the Super Tenere and Jo cranked her GS disappointingly. The dreaded curse of a 7 year old battery mixed with overnight temps of low single digits. After unsuccessfully trying to jumpstart it from my Lithium Ion battery (I think I had drained too much of the litle jump starter keeping my phone charged up overnight). The only person around the pub where we were staying didn't own a car so there was no easy jumpstart, and there were no hills to push it down for an easy roll start, and noone willing to push it on the flat.

About 45 minutes later the NRMA bloke from Albury arrived with his jump starter, and got the bike going. While we were waiting I'd already called Blacklock BMW in Albury who didn't have a battery, and Marshall Batteries in Lavington, who did have a suitable battery, and we had a destination to aim for. When we arrived and I'd compared the physical battery in the BMW to the one on his shelf which the manual suggested the bloke filled it up with acid and we waited around 30 mins till it was fully charged then started to fit it back in the bike. It turns out the BMW lugs connect a bit differently to the generic battery lugs, but after a bit of coaxing the terminals were connected and the bike was restarted. For a 15yo bike it's only the 2nd replacement battery. The first lasted a smidge over 8 years, and of course also failed on the morning of an overnight ride.

Not too many photos today as we aimed to make up time to cover the planned distance after almost a 3 hour delay. Fortunately for this trip, I have not been planning substantial days, so we still had time to cover 380km today within daylight hours.

Lunch was at Bunnings, Wagga Wagga



Spotted a Bills Trough I'm not sure I'd seen before in Cootamundra



Some sort of art installation in Wallendbeen to celebrate the wheat industry



4 hot air balloons flying low over Canowindra



The pub at Cargo has some brand new cabins out the back, which are modern and comfortable. The skies here are very clear. After dinner I used the astrophotography function on my phone which captures 4 minute exposures (and allows for 4 minutes of sky rotation) and got the following shots (to bulk out this report since I didn't stop for many photos today).

 

[Williamson]

Day 2. Jindera NSW to Cargo NSW
... Jo cranked her GS disappointingly. The dreaded curse of a 7 year old battery mixed with overnight temps of low single digits. After unsuccessfully trying to jumpstart it from my Lithium Ion battery ....

Yes, one time I really needed the jump starter battery, it failed me, I figured I have some Murphy in my ancestry. Fortunately, the RAV4 was parked on a slight slope and a roll start was relatively easy.

Four, hot air balloons?

 

[nev]

Day 3. Cargo NSW to Gunnedah NSW

After waiting for the temperature to rise above freezing, we head out into another gorgeous sunny day. First stop was in Molong, at a scrapyard I have stopped at and taken photos several times over the years. Some things stay the same. This frog on a bicycle has been here for many years.



this old fashioned motorcycle is new



and a bee in a flower too



Next stop was a short detour down to Wellington Caves. We have been in the caves before, which was just as well, because all of the tours for today had been booked out.



Near the caves is a japanese garden.







North of Wellington we turned off onto a back road, which was showing some signs of earlier flood damage on this bridge which had been reduced to a wavy lane. There was a ford down to the right hand side for larger vehicles, but as we found out, entry to this section of road was blocked off from every direction except the one we'd come down.


Dunedoo adds to the list of towns with a painted silo





Leadville has gone posh.



There was a polo carnival on the go at Coolah



After lunch at the Coolah Bakery we continued north. to Gunnedah for the night.

a Miners memorial in the main street



Another town, another painted silo



onwards and northwards tomorrow...

 

[Zuckerbaron]

Love that! Five road menue: first one as a starter, second one for dessert!

 

[glitch]

Following by Google maps....
and hoping everything's on-track, it's been a bit quiet.

 

[nev]

Following by Google maps....
and hoping everything's on-track, it's been a bit quiet.

no problems at our end. Just a spot of laziness on my part.

Day 4 Gunnedah to Coutts Crossing

First stop was the lookout above Gunnedah.



we headed west, on the Oxley Hwy, took some shortcuts which avoided Tamworth completely and dropped us on the New England Highway at Moonbi. We stopped at the Moonbi Lookout to see the view down the valley. Tamworth is hidden behind the mountain range on the right.



The Lookout at Moonbi is build atop a large rock.



and has some graffiti almost 70 years old in the concrete.


There wasn't a lot more to see or photograph that I haven't seen or photographed on numerous trips along the road here. We followed the New England to Armidale, the turned east, stopped at Ebor for lunch at a cafe, then continued up through Nymboida to Coutts Crossing, about 20km south of Grafton, where we stayed the night in a donga behind the pub.

 

[nev]

Day 5 Coutts Crossing to Brisbane

Another day without much camera work. At Grafton we followed the Clarence River for a while, stopping for a photo at Maclean where there was a fog hanging in the sky a few metres above the ground.



We headed inland through Nimbin where we stopped for lunch, and the usual freakshow which this place is. Noone offered me drugs on this occasion, but the locals asked me for "a couple of bucks" and then later "ten bucks" donation, presumably to the ciggie fund.



From Murwillumbah we headed north, through Natural bridge. Everything north of Grafton had pretty much been a short run between roadsworks, and there are still plenty of damaged roads and ongoing roadworks resulting from the floods last year.



We arrived in Brisbane western suburbs at what will be our home for the next few nights. Naturally the bikes are parked inside the house, as bikes should.