Hi Guys,
Just got back 3 days ago from an 8 day ride by myself. I rode somewhere about 2600kms for the entire trip. The idea of the ride was to do as many roads as I could into the Snowy's that were listed in Peter Thoemings Australian Motorcycle Atlas that lists supposedly Australia's top 200 rides. In the 8 days I covered 11 of the routes listed, plus found a few of my own.
The trip started a day late as I was taken out on a round-a-bout by a stereo typical Sydney driver in a 4WD. Fortunately it was only fairing damage. Video link is in the Australia NZ section of the Forum with the thread "Is Frasers any good for Crash Repair".
First Day was home to the dealership to get the quote before I left. Then from there down to Bowral in the Southern Highlands, down to the Kangaroo Valley (an awesome bike road - ride number 22), then onto Batemans bay for the night. Stayed nice and cheap at the YHA - my evening meal cost more than the accommodation.
Day 2 - Spent the next morning around Batemans Bay area checking out the sights and beaches. Then up the Kings Hwy (ride number 19) to Canberra. Stopped in Braidwood, and exchanged stories with some guy well into his 60's who had flat spots on his rear on his R1 that he thought occurred from getting airborne a few times on a bumpy road - hmmmm. In Canberra stayed with mate.
Day 3 - spent the Saturday touristing up Canberra with my mate in his Renault Megane R26R. Then in the arvo, we went out on the bikes and did rides 144 and 143. Both these roads were okay, but really rough in patches, with grit on some corners. It was a nice trip into the country, but can't say I'd recommend going flat out on these roads unless you had been over them a few times - quite dangerous in spots.
Day 4 - Spent Sun morning having breakfast - literally - some useless Cafe in Woden that took an hr to serve us, and an hr to cook it. Then in the arvo went from Canberra to Cooma, to Jindabyne, to Thredbo. Just in time too before the rain set in. Canberra to Cooma is dead boring on a bike. It barely turns the entire way. Once almost into Jindabyne, the road starts to corner up, and between Jindabyne and Thredbo in the dry is quite a treat - and a start to ride number 15. Overnight in Thredbo, stayed at the YHA, as it was Sunday evening and off season (Thredbo's a ski village), I was one of 3 people staying there. Thredbo I think is still awesome in summer though, as there's plenty of Mountain biking to be done on the slopes, plus plenty of hiking and other mountain adventures...
Day 5 - What a bum of a ride. Rained all the way from Thredbo to Khancoban and the slick alpine surface was really skaty in the wet and proved to be really slow going. Stopped at the Murray Power station visitor centre for a break and a bit of a visit (for those that don't know the Snowy mountains hydro scheme is quite some engineering achievement -
quote from wikipedia -
"The Scheme was completed by 1974 after 25 years of construction and is the largest engineering project undertaken in Australia. [1][3] The Scheme's construction is seen by many "as a defining point in Australia's history, and an important symbol of Australia's identity as an independent, multicultural and resourceful country""
From there, onto the plains of Corryong and ride number 53 okay ride - but big sweepers tempt speed to get the most out of them, yet police patrol this road, so a good dose of self control is in order. Through Tallangatta and some lost time to be made up on ride 55 which is nothing more than an nice way to get some speed whilst avoiding the HWP on the way to Mt Beauty. Filled up with fuel, and up the mountain road into cloud and rain into Falls Creek. Down to a few metres visibility at times and picked up a TEK screw at carpark at the top. So spent the night in yet another Ski Area. The apartment was quite cheap for a 5 star night...
Day 6 - The weather clearedspent the morning getting the puncture rideable 60kms back down the mountain and over the Tawonga Gap into Bright. Unfortunately doing 60km/h over this road was painstaking. Anyone who gets a chance to do this ride the C536 (hwy number) - this is a short, but awesome road. After getting the tyre fixed, grabbed lunch at the local bakery. Whilst there, bumped into an old English couple (ie England) who had hired a Harley tourer of some model and had gone from Sydney to Adelaide, to Melbourne and everywhere between. After lunch headed for Anglers Rest near Omeo across Mt Hotham (ride number 47). Going up the mountain in the afternoon Sun didn't inspire confidence - constant broken shadows across the road meant that it was hard to see where the uneven road surfaces were mid corner, which meant corners couldn't be attacked. I'd never been up to Mt Hotham before and was very surprised by the Village being at the peak of the mountain and not the base where most Ski Villages exist. It was very high, with sections not having anything from stopping you going over the edge. Also did I mention cold? With only about an hr til sunset, the temperature was plummeting requiring an immediate toilet stop from the shrunken bladder. Coming down the other side towards Omeo was as an awesome ride, loved the road coming down the mountain.
The road from Omeo to Anglers Rest should be on the top rides list - this narrow piece of tight u-turn and chicane like corners are simply awesome. You could see the rubber strips from previous bikes who had obviously enjoyed it a lot...
Stayed the night at the Blue Duck Inn. Had a nice night there in the log cabin style rooms. I didn't expect to have to cook my own breakfast though - I haven't cooked eggs in years. The Blue Duck Inn runs off generated power, so they don't have power for appliances. So had to cook on this original 1970's stove (have no idea how old it really was, just looked like it). I could easily spend a couple of days here exploring the country side - they do rafting and kayaking on the river plus other stuff.
Into Day 7 - This was a big day. Went up over the back way to the top of Falls Creek for the 2nd time, in what was really spectacular scenery and down the mountain on the main road into Mt Beauty. The road between Mt Beauty and Falls is awesome too (IN THE DRY!!!). Back along ride number 55 and a quick run in the dry to Tallangatta, then another hidden gem of a road - the C546 - to Granya. A short but awesome piece of asphalt and corners. However on the approach to this road, I came very, very close to running over a brown snake, so close that for a few seconds I was looking down to see if had caught on the bike and went bit deep into the oncoming corner - not cool. It was to be the first of 4 snakes seen that day - the rest, I had plenty of warning to get out of the way (I've been back in Australia 15 years and not seen that many live snakes in all this time).
After going through Granya, onto ride number 52 a very nice back country road in great condition with nice flowing corners. More fuel in Corryong and onto Kiandra through ride number 23. What you would think would normally be an unpatrolled road was sneakily being watched by the NSW Hwy Patrol - which I would lay down to the fact that every bike was headed to Phillip Island for the Superbikes - I was the ONLY bike heading north. Fortunately with plenty of bikes heading south I was signalled the location that HWP was near - gotta love the bikies helping each other out
Past the Tumut Pond Reserve (More Snowy's hydro scheme) a couple of black snakes and up to Australia's highest town - Cabramurra. I love the air in these mountain ranges - the smell of the alpine eucalyptus with the cool air flowing into your vents is quite exhilarating. With the daylight fading (fortunately from behind so I wasn't riding into the Sun), took even more twisties into Cooma for the night...
...There I met two unfortunate fellow bikies trying to make it to the island. One had experienced an engine failure on his RZ500 at the top of Brown Mtn near Nimmitabel. So his Phillip Island adventure was over with a Bus ticket booked home the next day. The next unfortunate soul was a 64 year old who had fallen from his BMW GS1200 on some dirt back roads when his chain broke. His mate towed him to the nearest town, where they left the bike and he got doubled into Cooma - as it was dark, as typical luck would happen, a wallaby jumped into the side of the bike and hit the guy who fallen earlier in the leg (fortunately neither of them fell). Finally checked out at the hospital it was revealed the earlier fall had broken his AC joint (collarbone).
Just a tip to anyone outside of Australia - riding a bike on country roads near or after dark is definitely a DUMB idea. Wildlife taking you out is a HIGH probability.
Rode for 9hrs that day.
Day 8 - the trip home. Along wide open plains from Cooma that should be open speed limit on a bike, but when you know the Five-O are on patrol, speed limits were kept in check - sure enough, captain plod followed not long after. Hitting ride number 17 down Brown Mtn was okay, but once again, more uneven asphalt and leaves meant slower turn ins. I'm sure this road would be a cracker going uphill. Down the bottom and on the coast. A long but nice winding hwy up the coast, past Batemans Bay again, up the Kangaroo Valley again, and back home.
Photos link below - you shouldn't need to be a member of Facebook to view the photos - I made them publicly viewable.
http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=7670...=1095412241816
I have a lot of video too, but haven't had a chance to review it or edit it and upload yet - so video coming...
Craig
Linear Mode
