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Meanders in Oz Motorcycle Adventures in Australia – The Land of Oz
Every ride is usually something of an adventure. Although my intention is to be selective in writing-up adventures, I’m sure this section will inevitably end up an eclectic mix of rides, stories and favourite routes. There’s also a lot that has happened in the few years before I started the Motorcycle Meanders site that I would like to record, but that may take some time. These are the pages so far under Meanders in Oz: This trip set out to trace and experience the first mail routes, both horseback and coach, that were used to bring the Adelaide mail along its last stages from Blanchetown in SA to Wentworth in NSW. It was also the first serious trek on my F800GS. This was my adventure to end all adventures. It was a solo effort of 14,000km up the middle of South Australia, including the sand and gravel of the Oodnadatta Track, through the Northern Territory, the Gulf Country, and Outback Queensland. And all on a road bike – the F800ST. This story seems a bit tame now – a few years on; but it was certainly ground-breaking for me at the time. Besides, it covers some great motorcycling country, totally manageable on a road bike. These rallies are a long-standing tradition in Broken Hill – about as far west you can go in NSW without crossing into South Australia. But, although in NSW, you enter into the phone and time zones of SA! All very confusing. I have drawn together a couple of visits to the Ghost Town Rallies from 2006 and 2007. This was a four day ride with mates just for the hell of it. In fact, its historical significance lies in the fact that it was the very first ride that followed getting set up with the where-with-all to publish a daiuly blog and then have a website to put it on.
I’ll say more about how I got inveigled into this at a later time. But it was fun. The first safari (2007) was through the NSW Alps and along parts of the south coast, though Gippsland in Victoria and through the Victorian Alps. The second safari (2008) was in Queensland from Hervey Bay to Cairns, alternating between coastal and hinterland roads. More To Come On These Trips
Ulysses AGMs: Coffs Harbour (2007) and Townsville (2008) Both these events entailed long rides and great times with close friends. More To Come On These Trips
Outback NSW and Queensland: 2008 Getting to the Townsville Ulysses AGM was at least a 2,200km trip, but, with some riding friends, we made it a 3,000km trip. It was instructive to draw a straight line from Canberra to Townsville and discover how far inland the straight line route took you. After carefully calculating the error factor from the Mercator projection influence...just kidding...I took it on faith that this would be the shortest route. This would have been the 2,200km route. This trip included going as far west as Walgett in outback NSW. I stopped there for a look-around and lunch. I thought it was a pretty nice place. Just as I was about to get back on my bike after lunch, a group of youngish women arrived in good spirits. One of them came over to look at the bike. Turns out she’s a biker and an organiser of a local group, with their own website, called the Wandering Walgett Wildcats. We chatted for a while. I asked her name. She replied with a straight face “Puss”. There were a couple of middle aged women within earshot, obviously half tuned into the conversation, who couldn’t resist smiling at Puss’ disclosure. Or was it at the bewildered look on my face as I struggled to say lamely, “Oh, I guess I’ll remember that?” This trip also included Lightning Ridge, St George, Roma, Emerald, Charters Towers, back inland through The Lynd Junction, Atherton, Cairns, and back down to Townsville. More To Come On This Trip
Between Canberra and Brisbane I’ve done this trip in both directions several times. I’ve identified five alternative routes; and tried four of them. I have them categorised in terms of convenience and biker-fun. Sadly the two don’t always coincide. More To Come On This NSW and Victorian Alps There is a great three day ride that several of us do at least twice a year. It takes us through Adaminaby, then over the NSW Alps through Cabramurra, down into Victoria’s sweeping Murray Valley Highway, and into Bright for a night. The second day takes us across Mount Hotham, which I think might be the only ski resort at the top of a mountain that is accessible by road. The northern access is steep and tight; the southern access is less steep and more sweepy. You need to alternate the directions. Two entirely different experiences. We usually then make our way to the east coast of Victoria for a second night in Mallacoota. The third day consists of more mountain runs at different parts of the escarpment that runs up the south eastern part of NSW. Three days in a row of mountain runs. What more could you want? One of our trips wasn’t without its drama, when my F800ST had the first of four (so far) “battery failures”. There’s still some imprecision from BMW as to whether they are battery failures or some underlying electronic problem yet to be identified. It’s a sad sight to see such a lovely bike having to resort to the best of towing to be found in Omeo, at the foot of the Victorian Alps. More To Come On These Trips The Darling River Run This run follows the Darling River between Wentworth and Bourke in outback NSW. Some would say that you can start or finish further north in Walgett, if you include the main source river of the Darling. There are roads on both sides, with lots of tracks going to the banks in places where the road wanders away from the river. You can cross the river at a few places, change sides as you progress, drop into to pubs in small hamlets, and stay-over on some of the multi-square mile stations that offer camping and other accommodation. The roads are mostly dirt. While one site described the run as entry level 4 wheel drive, it sounds like the thickness of the fine red dirt and the corrugations might make it more than entry level for a two wheeler. My great grandfather used to run wool barges up and down the Darling between Wentworth and Bourke. So, there’s a bit of nostalgia on my part to follow the meandering of the river between the two centres. On one of my trips to Broken Hill, a mate and I took a ride to Menindee, a bit over 100km back in an easterly direction and sitting on the banks of the Darling. I discovered a park there named after my great grandfather in recognition of his business presence on the river and probably also at the river wharves that would have been plentiful in Menindee. I need to get my GS bike for this trip. More To Come On This Trip |
