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Details of
the ride are here.
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| February 18th-20th 2000 |
| Friday |
| Friday morning was a perfect example of the mild summer Sydney was having. A clear sky and not too hot. Perfect riding weather. Nick, Richard and I headed together out to Narellen where we would ‘officially’ start our trip. After fighting Sydney morning traffic for more than an hour, we arrived at Narellan at about 9:45am, half an hour after we wanted to be leaving there. As we all settled into holiday mode, we started to not care what the time was. So after a refuel, some coffee and a phone call ahead to let Peter know we were on our way. We left Narellan at about 10:15am and headed for Moss Vale via Picton, Thirlmere and a short run on the freeway to the Mittagong turn-off to meet Peter. |
| A quick stop at Peter’s house saved some of the time we lost in the Sydney traffic, a check of the map which Richard kindly had copies for us all, to ensure we all knew where the remainder of the days ride was to take us, and we headed for Sutton Forrest and then on to Kangaroo Valley. For some of us, this was our first experience with the Kangaroo Valley, if it were not for the traffic, I would rate it higher that the ‘Old’ Pacific Hwy or perhaps Wisemans Ferry north of Sydney. (Link to Pacific Hwy and Wisemans page) Despite the traffic we seemed to be able to get ahead of the slow ones just as each set of hair pins started, leaving us to choose our own speed and lean angle for each corner. The Kangaroo Valley was also our first few experiences with the stupid people in the ‘cage on wheels’. These included near misses with F100’s and combi-vans. What a buzz! |
| Heading down the Princes Hwy we had on a good word that the petrol stations on the south side of Nowra was sure to have Premium Unleaded (PULP). So, passing through town following Peter, under the impression he knew what he was talking about, we missed all but the last two of the three petrol stations at the end of town, just to find that neither of them had PULP. A quick vote and a decision was made that rather than turn back to find the right station, we would all make it to Ulladulla for PULP and to refuel our stomachs too. (no hard feeling Peter.) |
| Arriving at Ulladulla at about 1:10pm and 205K’s since Narellen, we were all hot and sweaty and ready for lunch. It was becoming a boys weekend away. No one has told the local fish and chip shop that a serve of chips does not need to enough to feed an army, so we ended up feeding half our lunches to the seagulls while the strong sea breeze cooled us all down very quickly. |
| On the road again, we followed the Princes Hwy south, stoping for the occasional leg stretch and coffee stop. One of the stops was near Bodalla, for a much needed liquid in-take, we found all the drinks having little doilies and plates under them including the water! It was decided we should introduce the idea to the hotel’s we were going to stay at! I don’t think beer off a doily and saucer would take off anywhere except maybe in Darlinghurst or Oxford street. We also stoped at a lookout coming into Bega that gave a great view of the town. We pulled into Bega at about 5:30pm for a re-fuel of the bikes and some liquid replacement before heading towards Cooma. |
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| Heading up the Snowy Mountains Hwy, Brown Mountain caught us a little unprepared for what should have been a good bunch of twisty bits. Unfortunately the quality of the road was pathetic with ripples through the corners and ridges between the patches that had been put in to fix pot holes. Being late in the afternoon, my intelligence was showing when I thought it would be a good idea, after a quick stop for a regroup, to play chicken with an on coming van. For some reason I had a fleeting thought that we had two lanes to choose from, I just chose the right hand lane! Back on the left side of the road and the possibly needed to change my underwear, we continued to Nimmitabel for one last stop of the day before beer o’clock. |
| A silly speed blat between Cooma and Berridale had us to our first night’s rest, by 7:30pm. The Berridale Inn is on the right hand side of the road beyond a car park. The front porch was filled with locals, it was one of those times where bikes stop people’s conversations to look at the machinery. Finding a very friendly man behind the bar we check-in. If you ask really nicely when you ring to book, the hotel manager, Jason, has a garage which he may have room to store your bikes over night. Security is not the real issue around there, it just keeps the dew off them so we could sleep that much more soundly. |
| Friday night has some foggy memories
of Richard and his guiness, the barman pointing out that we should
order food from the lady with the big jugs, a great meal and lots
of good yarns about bikes, cars and other ‘boy’ stuff. Three
bottles of red after a few beers put us away for the evening.
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| Saturday |
| Nick set his alarm early to try and do some work on his bike, being a rather small room, he managed to wake all of us within minutes. He also had a few problems trying to get to the bikes as the garage door was jammed shut. As we all slowly came to life, the words ‘that second bottle of wine was probably not needed’ was uttered. The reply said ‘what about the third bottle?’ So we were a little fragile for the first few hours of Saturday morning. |
| Leaving Berridale at about 9:15am, we headed to Jindabyne for some PULP from the BP station. Along the way we saw our first plod for the ride, the report was that he was in plain clothes in a marked car, so all assumed that we were safe from him turning around to give chase. After the petrol stop, Charlotte Pass was the destination. We paid our $6- to use a road that is currently being ripped up to make it better. The finished patches were great but the colour changes in the bitumen had us guessing every time as to weather we were on gravel, new road or both! The view to Kozciusko from Charlotte Pass at about 10:30am was very nice, but none of us had any thoughts of walking to the top as that would sound too much like exercise! We stoped on the way back to Jindabyne at the water tower for a few phone calls and photo’s. |
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| Knowing that it was going to be a long distance before the next chance to find good petrol, we toped up the tanks at the turn off to the Alpine Way at 11:40am. Again, much of this road was ruined by road works. The short section of dirt road was the hardest for us all being on road bikes and we had to dodge the trucks that were taking up two thirds of the road and were travelling at about 60km/h while we were doing about 20km/h! Fortunately, the road quality improved once we past the last of the dirt road. I took off trying to get the slow dirt trip out of my mind. What a road! Lots of room for passing on coming traffic, some tight twists, some fast bends to get the adrenalin running. We stoped at the Geehi River for a leg stretch and a regroup all bouncing with foot wide smiles after a good bit of road. |
| On the bike’s again, heading for a late lunch at Kancoban, we were stoped again by more road work! We had to wait for 15 minutes for them to let us through and by this time a couple of Harley rider’s caught up to us. Coming down from the heights through the bends, one of the Harley riders gave chase, following too close for comfort considering the Harleys are not known for their braking ability. Just outside of Kancoban, we hit a wall of heat which made the lunch stop all that more rewarding. The Kancoban stop was a little petrol station road stop, where it seemed was a regular stop for the local riders. The hamburgers were huge and worth the wait. The initial route plan was changed over lunch, the extra stops and slow speed on the dirt had pushed the time back some what. So we decided to cut out the Tumut and Kiandra loop as we would be doing most of that on Sunday anyway. |
| Leaving Kiandra at 2:30pm, the troops followed the turn to Corryong, then to Tumbarumba. The roads did lots of long rolling hills and fast bends. The leader stoped at each turn off to see the rest of the group. One particularly fast stretch I thought we might have lost Peter. It turned out that the vibration of the TRX 850 V-twin had managed to completely undo the screws holding the front brake-fluid to the bars. Nothing a little duct-tape won’t fix… We rolled into Tumbarumba with bikes thirsty for some PULP. A quick scout around the town found nothing except the entire population taking up the main street with country music on stages and people everywhere. An unusual site in a little country town. We bit the bullet and had to settle for standard unleaded petrol that really had some bad consequences on some of the machines. Nick, on his CBR 250cc had the most noticeable difference, he complained of a drop in power leaving him struggling to keep up where he would normally have been able. Richards CBR900 gave a big back fire later in the day that was also put down to the different fuel. |
| Late in the day at 4pm we left Tumbarumba the way we had arrived, to take Elliott’s Way to Cabramurra via Tumut 2 power station. The road is smooth as you like, starting with rolling hills followed by a steep decent with tight corners and some faster corners. Very little traffic, and great fun was had by all. A short stop by the river at the bottom to cool down and rest the mind before the climb up the other side that was more of the same type of road, with a few narrow bridges, and still no traffic! Turning right near the top we were back on The Alpine Way, heading south. We had another close encounter with a speeding truck who didn’t feel it was necessary to move over for four bikes. I would hate to have been in a car as there wouldn’t have been enough room between the cliff face and the truck for even a small car! Shortly after this we came across an eyrie forest of dead snow gum trees sticking out above the rest of the trees. It was very strange. |
| Riding over some fresh road work slowed us all down for a while coming down some bends that will be great once the last of the gravel is removed. Unfortunately the gravel did catch one of the party out. Being late in the day and the concentration levels diminishing, Nick had a close encounter with the armco barriers and was headed for a vertical wall of stone. While he didn’t come off the bike altogether, he did lose an indicator and a perhaps a little confidence. I was next into the corner and had a little trouble with some front wheel movement then I saw Nick stoped in the middle of the road! We sent Peter to go and find Richard, found the cover for the indicator and brushed the dust off before continuing. |
| Having faith in Richard’s sense of direction, we all followed him towards the Tintaldra Hotel. Perhaps his concentration levels were also dropping, as we ended up in Corryong before we let him know the error in his path. We pulled in to the Tintaldra Hotel at 7pm. All completely exausted, the pub had a very busy day and they were still dealing with the last of the crowd. (we heard they had 30-40 people in at lunch time!) So we sat out side with a beer while we waited for someone to sign us in and show us our rooms. |
| While we were moving our bikes around the back, I managed to drop my CBR600 by putting it on it’s stand while on a slight down hill. It was on dirt and I didn’t put it in gear so it ever so slowly rolled off the stand split seconds before I could get back to catch it. I was not a happy boy. There was no major damage albeit a slightly bent clutch and scratch on the faring. |
| The people at the hotel were very
nice, again we were able to put our bikes undercover and out of sight
in the beer garden out the back of the hotel. The night was much more
quiet than the previous, with only a few beers and an excellent dinner.
We talked and played pool and lost against the staff before we all
had a reasonably early night after an amasing days ride.
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| Sunday |
| We were all much more alive and ready this morning. After a big breakfast, and some photo’s we were ready to go by 8:45am. Heading first, back to Corryong to look for some PULP which we could not find, so we decided to try our luck at Tumbarumba again. The day was overcast and not too hot. Another good riding day. Over the hills that we past on Saturday, we made it in to Tumbarumba at about 10:20am. There was still no PULP so we decided to buy two bottles of octane boost to counter any possibility of more bad fuel. Heading north, through Batlow towards Tumut, I really wanted to stop for an apple, I think it was a bit early in the season for them. With the knowledge that today was going to be a long day, we keep a fast pace through to Tumut for a quick leg stretch before the bolt down the Snowy Mountains Road. |
| What a great piece of road! Just out side of Tumut the climb starts, with sign posted 25-35km/h corners. Then it opens up a little when the lines on the road turn yellow. The road is in good condition and the view of the road is unobstructed, perfect for opening up the throttle to where ever you are comfortable… We stoped by the side of the road (see photo) just outside of Kiandra, for a leg stretch and to watch the view. Past Kiandra there were some more tight corners on a good road surface. There seemed to be more cars around too, but they did not get in the way for long. Another short stop at Adaminaby with a reminder that we were getting close to the range for the ‘Cooma cops’ and those who may have been exceeding the signposted limits might want to continue at a licence preserving speed. |
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| After 190 K’s from Tumut, we stoped to refill the petrol tanks and prepare our bodies for the boring (in comparison to the past few days) trip back to civilization. We filled our stomachs with Macca’s and set off towards Camberra up the Monarro Hwy at about 2pm. It was somewhere along that road that I lost count of the ’road kill’ we had seen, it was somewhere in the fourties at that time! |
| Before we made it to Canberra we turned and headed for Goulburn via Queanbeyan and Bungendore. Coming to the end of a long straight, we saw a un-marked cop car just finished dealing with a Mercedes who promptly put out in front of us and continued at about 130Km/h! Some people never learn. The plan was to spend a short distance on the Hume Freeway to Moss Vale to leave Peter then continue via Mittagong, Bargo, Picton and Narrellen. Instead, once we hit the freeway Peter and Richard slowly got further ahead while Nick and myself managed to miss the exit which was to take us off the boring freeway. So a wave from the express way to the overpass was as close and Nick and I got to taking an interesting ride home. |
| The weekend was loved by all, thanks to everyone who came. |
| If you want to see more photo’s and larger versions of the ones on this page, please go to the Photo’s page. |
| Brendan Byrne |
| CBR 600F |
