Riding The Great Dividing Range

Ok, so I eventually got away.....

(The prelude to this post - you can catch up here.) 

...with the intent to roughly follow this route. I would make variations to the route if the weather wasn't playing nicely but at this stage the forecast looked promising.

You can zoom and pan the Ride With GPS map . You can also download the route!

I actually altered the route pretty much right away by cutting out the ride up to O'Reilley's and down Duck Creek rd. Being a few hours late would have put me in the middle of nowhere come nightfall and despite having all the gear to deal with that, I didn't want to deal with that on Day 1.

So, I just took the main route out past Mt Lindsay to Woodenbong, then Urbenville. 

Mt Lindsay

I didn't even stop in Urbenville at the Crown Hotel, which is an almost unforgivable sin, preferring to keep heading for the "new to me" Paddy's Flat rd. The road out of town to the Paddy's Flat turnoff had been resealed and was a very pleasant ride, not the butt clenching pounding that it was a few years ago when Steve and I rode last rode it.

Lets try some real dirt.

Paddy's Flat road started out sealed for a few kilometres, then turned to good dirt, then turned to not so great dirt, then to pretty ordinary dirt. If it gets any worse I am turning around and re-routing via the sealed stuff! I wasn't enjoying the big heavy rig on the tight, corrugated, rocky trail. I had Mr Honda's ride mode set to "Gravel". This cuts the power level, sets a much lower traction threshold and reduces the engine braking. Hmmm.

I eventually reached the Clarence River crossing and could see evidence of the huge volume of water that had passed through just a few months back. I was surprised the bridge hadn't been washed away.

On the other side of the crossing were these triangular concrete blocks. Legend has it that they are a part of the long denied Brisbane Line from World War II. There are also the "tank traps" at a gap in the Great Dividing Range just outside Tenterfield on the Killarney road that I have previously visited here. There may have been no "official" policy but the fact is that the evidence is still there on the ground.

I had a fair climb out from the river with some steep, rutted switchback corners. The "Gravel" mode on the bike was just all wrong though. As I tried to power around corners or use power to pick the front end up in a corner it would lose traction and cut power!! WTF?!

I reverted to my "User" mode of maximum power, minimum traction control and maximum engine braking. 

BAM!

Suddenly I was riding a motorcycle again!! If the front tucked, I could use power to pick it up. If I wasn't turning like I wanted, I could use power to steer the rear! I have come to the conclusion that the three stupid "set" modes are just there to try to make you crash! They stop the bike from behaving like every bike I have ridden for the last 35 years and I simply can't see the point of them. Simply gimmicks that reinforce my theory that the Yamaha T700's simplicity IS the way to go. ABS is all you need in the form of electrical gadgetry. (and you don't need that until you NEED it)

It sprinkled on and off along here and I had some exciting front end slides on the clay. Nothing too scary but enough to make me thankful it didn't tip down with rain. The close fitting front guard might have caused some problems if it had. Best I see to a raised guard/fender kit sooner rather than later.

I was soon on the black stuff again and heading west. I decided to pull into the Lunatic Hotel in Drake for a beer and to look at the camping options further up the range.

I sat outside sipping my beer and trying to look at a map. An older gentleman was also sitting there,  rolling a smoke and was keen for a chat. Turns out he is the guy who bought the Rider's Rest accommodation venue just back down the road, a year or two back. I thought it was closed as the sign had been taken down but no, he had taken it down because too many people wanted to stay there and he was retired FFS.....!! 

Good problem to have I guess? 

I had inadvertently left the GoPro running on time lapse photo mode and it was funny to see what it captured while I was inside getting a beer.

Yep, Big Brother is watching mate....

I didn't like the look of the camping options up the road as it was almost dark by now, so I asked the bar maid if they would mind me camping on the grass behind the pub? Absolutely not, go for it was the answer!

Well, that was that problem solved. 

Now to quickly set up the tent and grab a spot at the bar. 

We were in for a big night as the local's team - the South Sydney Rabbittohs - were playing tonight. I enjoyed a huge chicken parmy and a few beers as I chatted to two guys from Toowoomba who were on the last day of their own 7 day motorcycle trip.

In bed fairly early tonight and that was Day 1 done and dusted at just 230km for the day.

Day  2

I had a sleep in until 0730 this morning. There was no rush as I didn't have a big day, distance wise planned. I slowly packed up and dried the dew from the tent. Breakfast and fuel in Tenterfield would be a nice way to spend the morning.

But first came the twistys up the range! The Bruxner highway is a great ride up the range. The road surface seems in better condition that it has been in the last decade so I enjoyed a nice dry run up the hill. It always amazes me how much lean you can push on these 50/50 tyres, especially with such a heavily laden bike!

It cooled off as I climbed the range but nothing too uncomfortable. I found a cafe' in the main street of Tenterfield and proceeded to "breakfast". I chatted on the phone to Steve for a while as he was on a flexi day from work then I thought I had better get organised as far as the camping went. It was a Friday morning so camping would be at a premium over the weekend - first in, best dressed - as they say.

These seats were actually pretty comfortable and I was enjoying watching the world roll by in this historic little town. Tenterfield was the meeting place where Sir Henry Parkes pinned the states down and got them to sign up to the formation of a Commonwealth ie The Commonwealth of Australia.

Initially heading south out of town, I turned right and wandered out west from Deepwater to check out Emmaville. I had never been there before and though it a good day to check it off the list. The road from Deepwater to Emmaville was actually pretty good. Plenty of bends and not too bad a surface.

As expected, there wasn't much to the Emmaville. The usual pub, post office, rural supplies place, a coffee shop or two and plenty of empty buildings. Oh, there was a mining heritage museum but I didn't bother going in. Too early in the day....

I made my way back east via a couple of dirt roads. Back on the New England Highway I thought I would try a road that the Sydney crew had taken a few weeks earlier which would cut out Glenn Innes. Bald Knob Rd was said to be rough but those bloke were on sports bikes so painted lines on the road would feel like speed bumps to them...right?

Well, Bald Knob road turned out to be an arse kicker! I had to dial it back to 90 in a few places as I was getting smacked that hard!

Shhh...never...mention...that....name...again....

Heading toward Grafton for 10 kilometres I intended to take the Old Grafton road turn. This was the road that I did my last bikepacking shakedown/training ride prior to the 2018 Arizona Trail Race 750. I had turned back toward Grafton at the base of the climb up the range that time and was now keen to see what I missed.

And mist was the operative word this morning as it began to lightly rain as I got to the turn off. Oh well, on with the heated grips and off we go!

The road was sealed for quite a few kilometres. It was very narrow but thankfully there was no traffic coming the other way. As I descended the range, the rain eased and soon stopped. I took it pretty gingerly as the road was still wet. Bottoming out I passed the Mann River campground - well, I actually didn't pass it, I pulled in as it looked awesome! I wish I had pedalled on a little further back in 2018 as it wasn't much more of a climb and it was about a 1000% better camping area than where I did camp that trip!

Pushing on, the road was very good quality decomposed granite. Smooth but a little slippery in the corners. No problem today though as I got the elbows out, weighted the outside peg and powered through the bends like I was on a chook chaser. Woo hoo, I had this big chooky sorted!!

The Old Grafton road is a cracker. It is in great condition for the most part and is about 140km long from the turn off outside Glenn Innes to South Grafton.

I crossed the bridge where I had filtered water in 2018 and stopped to the Cenotaph at Newton Boyd, which is just a small collection of farm houses these days. 

Built in memory of the local boys who heeded the call over 100 years ago, it is a vivid reminder of the sacrifice made by so many young men, men from such a remote location in country Australia, so far from the troubles of Europe, who gave up everything to "help out". No doubt for most it would have been seen as an escape from the drudgery of everyday life and as an adventure. For many, it would end their life. It is hard to imagine the sadness that must have tainted every family's lives from that point forward.

After some varied road conditions where I passed a group of ADV bikes coming the other way, I came to the section of road that runs alongside the Boyd River. It is a huge, wide river bed but today it was quietly within it's banks. I could see where it had scoured the road in places during the flood a few months back. To see it at those levels would have been breathtaking. 

I came around one bend in the road and thought there was a stick lying across the trail. As I rapidly approached it I saw it wasn't a stick but a snake! I zigged to go around it's head-end but decided that was taking me too close to the wall so I tried to zag around it's tail-end. This all happened in a split second or two and in the end all I did was run right over it's head.....bugger. That wasn't intended....

I didn't have time to look in the mirror as another bend was coming up but I sort of hope it's head fell between the knobs on both tyres....

Shortly after my wildlife encounter I came to the road tunnel. This must have been a bastard to build back in the day (1800s) and the engineers must have cursed this one rock spur that jutted out into the river, thereby blocking an otherwise fairly straight forward road building exercise. (I have some video of this but am unable to edit it at this time so a screen grab of me going back the way I had just come will have to do for now.)

Not long after this encounter I came to the old township of Dalmorton, just as it was starting to rain. I thought I would shelter under the old butcher shop awning and eat the sandwich I had purchased back in Tenterfield this morning.

I had a bit of a wander around the ghost town hoping that the rain would blow through. It didn't so I sort of reluctantly saddled up and got back on the road.

The road was pretty wet in places now and I was on the lookout for clay sections. One, for the slipperyness and Two, for the possibility of locking the front tyre with mud build up. Luckily the road is mostly a rocky gravel surface and was quite grippy. The rain did put a damper (no pun intended) on me stopping to look around much more. A super-quick stop at the Nymboida River crossing for a photo and I was off again.

 The last 30ish kilometres into Grafton is sealed and I ticked that off at a solid clip. I wanted to hit the shops for some food for the camp tonight. 

Into South Grafton and I was straight into Coles for some water, bread rolls, HP sauce and some crackers. Next door was a butcher for two sausages and a can of ginger beer. Food sorted for less than $15. Tick.

Then it was across the road for fuel and two cans of beer at the attached bottlo. The young girl in the bottlo was pretty cheeky, giving me some lip about my RST suit, asking if I had just parachuted in.....

Then I turned west again. I had told Steve I needed to head back up the range before mid afternoon, lest I have the sun in my eyes for the climb...like I had a few years ago on the R1.....well, damn.

As I rode west the clouds looked threatening on the ranges. In a small stroke of good luck, the cloud blocked the sun and I didn't need to squint for long. In a stroke of bad luck, those same clouds started to weep just as I got to the twisty part of the climb. So, there I was, just on dark, in the cold, on wet roads and stuck behind a slow climbing truck and racing last light to get to my booked camp ground at Boundry Falls in Gibraltar Range National Park. Grrr.

I ended up getting to the camp ground after dark and putted around in the dark looking for my campsite. The Africa Twin has outstanding LED driving lights so it wasn't as much of a chore as one might think. The main problem was that the only site left was a sodden mud pit - fine if you are in a camper trailer but not if you are looking to pitch a tent!

Thinking outside the square, I went to take a look at the Falls picnic area. 

Score!

While technically not a camping area, it had relatively dry, grassy spots next to picnic tables and fire places. Screw camping in the mud, I was staying here!

I quickly set the tent up between showers and proceeded to light a fire with wet wood. To say it was a struggle is an understatement as it kept showering on and off during the process. Just as I thought I had a decent fire established a huge downpour came through. I almost gave up then and there!

Not wanting to let it beat me though, I saw that there were some good coals still glowing and I got back at it, all the while sipping on some beer. I added some Sailor Jerrys to the ginger beer to get me through.

Slowly but surely!

It took about 90 minutes to get some decent heat and another 45 minutes to cook my snags but it was worth it! This was livin'!!

The fire eventually got too hot as I added all of my wood to it (well, I had paid for it so why not?) so I tottered off to bed at about 2130 with the sound of the nearby falls providing the background ambiance to fall asleep to. 

It had been another good day in the saddle with about 560km under the wheels.

I wondered what tomorrow would bring, weather wise as it was supposed to be clear weather all week.

Stay tuned for Day 3 and more......

Cheers.