Not A Mid Life Crisis - Honest

 

Ever since I bought the BMW F800 a few years ago I have entertained the idea of riding it around Australia. The only problem is that I don't have enough time off work to make it happen without it being a somewhat rushed trip (Australia is a BIG place you know!). Now owning the even more capable Africa Twin, the thought has stayed with me and perhaps grown stronger throughout this Covid debacle.

 How to manage it though? 

We have a part time policy at work where one can nominate to go roster on/roster off - so essentially one month on then the next one off. A few guys have used this to good effect in the past, essentially taking a year or so to drive around Australia, leaving their car at various locations and flying home to go back to work for their month "on". Not as difficult as you might think, working for a airline. 

A motorcycle though is very different to a car in that you can't just leave it at an airport. My answer to this is that we have bases in all of the capital cities (apart from Darwin) and I have mates/colleagues in all of those bases - I just need to sweet talk them into garaging an Africa Twin for a few weeks at a time. 😎

Now, I am not in a position to go onto 50% pay but we do get a generous number of days off per roster which, if I can string them together would give me a fair shot at making a trip like this sort of work. The real kicker to spur me along was a few weeks back when a work mate bought an Africa Twin , in of all places, Tasmania. Now he decided to hire a storage shed and keep it there for a while. "Would I like to ride down and join him?"  he asked. 

"WOULD I !!" This was just the push I needed. I had a string of days off and some reserve days that if I wasn't called into work on, well, they would just add to the days off!

I was like a dog with two dicks! I had a week to get as far as Sydney where I could leave the bike with it's first temporary custodian, my Bro, Chillertek. It was a bit showery here in Brisbane as I left but that didn't put a dampner on the morning. I loaded up and was off reasonably early (well, better than the midday starts of late) and sort of made my mind up on the go.

Rathdowny was a good place to stop for a bite to eat and a think about the route.

 I hadn't been straight through Woodenbong for about 15 years and couldn't remember what the road was like, so that would do! I made a quick photo stop at Mt Lindsay - this is now a tradition - before getting into the really bumpy, tight and now, after a shower, wet bit of road to the border. 

Cloud streaming off the leeward side of Mt Lindsay. Cool!

I was hoping that the section of road just across the border would be dry as it is sublime. It was not to be. The shower that I had watched roll across my route as I ate lunch had wet all of the fun sections of corners. Bugger.

I kept rolling through Woodenbong on toward Koreelah and Legume. The road along here used to be SUPER BUMPY but there are large sections of roadworks taking place. The road looks like it will become a sportsbike haven as the new road will be wide, smooth and with well surveyed constant radius, positive camber bends - all in the middle of nowhere (through semi rainforest) meaning the fun stoppers in blue won't likely frequent the area.

I stopped at the Koreelah Creek bridge for a quick photo. Quick because I had just got around a long cattle truck on the windy approach road and didn't want to have to do it again.

I pretty much didn't stop again until Tenterfield as I have ridden the Killarney/Tenterfield road quite a few times now. I will just repeat how underrated this bit of road is. Great scenery, great surface and layout. Yes, there is about 11 kilometres of dirt (in two sections) on it but it is excellent crushed granite, very smooth and from the look of it soon to be sealed. Don't let the little bit of dirt put you off, The road is 100 times better than the New England highway just to the west and as far as motorcycle travel goes, 1000 times more interesting.

Stopping quickly in Tenterfield, I snapped a photo outside Stannum House, a very prominent local property with a bit of history to it.  As does the town itself. Being perched on top of the hill and painted pink, it is hard to miss!

Again, I decided to just put my head down and get some distance covered as I planned on doing some new to me roads in the next few days. I endured a few showers but stayed mostly dry behind the big Givi screen on the Twin, turning the heated grips on too as it was down to 19C - cold for a Queenslander! This is the only time I really like having that screen on the bike. Any other time I'd happily have a low screen to avoid the constant helmet buffeting I get off the Givi. 

I rolled into Uralla at about 5pm and decided the Top Pub was going to be home for the night. No camping tonight, I was in for some good beers and some great food! 

Day one done and dusted at 474km. Ride With GPS now shows sealed AND gravel road. The gravel is the red and whites hashed bits. Bloody handy feature!! Also, if you click on the red track line it will highlight that spot on the distance/elevation scale. If you click, hold and then drag across on the elevation scale you will have a readout of the distance and climbing/descent for the section of track you just highlighted. 😎

DAY 2

I didn't get rolling super early today. Something to do with some nice beers and great red wine. 😄 I headed south along the New England highway and decided to stop at "Thunderbolt's Rock", having never done so before. A quick photo and I was on my way again.

A few kilometres down the road I hung a left and went out through Kentucky, toward Walcha. I stopped at the Kentucky public school for a photo of their church. I'm sort of collecting photos of churches and cenotaphs from around Australia.....nothing serious but when I remember, I stop.

The road from Wollun to Walcha was a new one for me and turned out to be quite pleasant. Once in Walcha I refuelled the bike, then myself at the Moto themed Walcha Royal cafe'. 

Eggs on toast, coffee and a chat with a Multistrada rider from the Gold Coast made for a pleasant stop. I must try the accomodation element of their offering. Being that much closer to The Oxley would be nice but I don't hear great things about The Apsley Hotel in town, which puts me off staying in Walcha. Yep, must try the Royal cafe in future.

Now, those familiar with me, my blog and the location of Walcha will not need telling where I was headed next! There is only one way to go from here - East along the Oxley Highway. The first 55km or so out of town are fairly standard for central New South Wales, just rolling hills and open vistas. Then you get to the Great Dividing Range and the road disappears into the forest. 😋

Purportedly there are 300 bends in this section. They are all between 75km/h down to 25km/h. The road surface is mostly excellent (apart from the couple of land slip repairs from wild weather earlier in 2021). I didn't actually manage to stop for the obligatory photo by the "45km of winding road" sign so I had to turn around and come back. 😁

I had a dry, traffic free run down the Oxley this morning. To say it doesn't get any better than this is a bit of a cliche'....but "IT DOESN'T GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS"!

Even once you exit the 45km of bends you are still in very hilly back country where the road still challenges you. Part of that challenge is to keep your eyes on the road and not gawk at the scenery! 

I decided to stop in Long Flat for a drink because I have never stopped in Long Flat before, ever. I pulled up outside the pub - too early for beer - and took a photo. I could hear a din from across the road and it sounded like a few people having a fairly loud argument in one of the houses. Hmmm, might get going....

Not far east of Long Flat I turned south on Bagnoo rd. This was gravel and wound it's way through farmland to Comboyne road and was very pretty - also my first taste of dirt this trip. Being well loaded up and running manufacturer recommended tyre pressures, I took it gently, hearing the rocks "pinging" off my highly inflated tyres.. 

The tyre pressure thing is a trial after watching several ADV rider YouTube videos of "experts" who recommend using full pressure on the tyres (to avoid pinch flat punctures/denting rims I think - but I ride gently on dirt, feeling my way along to look after my bike). I have always run 30psi each end which to my mind gives better grip and compliance. We do this low pressure thing on our tubeless mountain bike tyres and it works well. I will give it a few more sections of gravel to try to get a feel for which is better/suits me.

Anyway, the ride into Comboyne was surprisingly beautiful! The road was windy and the scenery stunning. Once in town I felt like a coffee so pulled up in the shade on the lawn outside The Udder Cow cafe'. Unfortunately, it was closed and nothing else looked appealing so I decided to press on. I think I may have carved a furrow in the soft lawn as I got the supertanker underway....😐

I kept heading south toward Wingham. This took me through the Killabakh State forest and 20km of winding dirt road.  I was a bit apprehensive as the road narrowed more and more the further I went. It didn't get too narrow but these types of roads worry me because I have zero confidence in Aussie drivers to keep left on blind, narrow roads. Even plenty of motorcyclists ride these types of roads like nobody is coming! Luckily, once again I actually did have the forest to myself. 😁

I finally popped out onto sealed road and rolled into Killabakh. Not much here but the hall was perched up on a hilltop with views if the surrounding countryside.

It was quite hot by now so I just went straight through Wingham. Nothing much to see as I went through and out the road to Gloucester. At Burrell Creek I got onto the infamous Bucketts Way. My bro had told me this was a rough bit of road and he wasn't wrong! There were plenty of newly repaired sections so it was probably better than it had been. Yikes!

Arriving in Gloucester I fuelled up then wandered over to the supermarket for a sandwich, coffee milk and big bottle of water. I then retired to dangle my legs in the local skate bowl while I ate a late lunch and planned the next stage of the ride.

Lunch stop, Gloucester.

I had to get across to Singleton so that I could then do the Bylong Valley Way to Rylestone. Yeah, Rylestone would be a good target for the day. It was after 2pm now and that left me ~330km to go.....fark! I'd better pull my finger out as there was a lot of bumpy, low speed limited road between me and that first cold beer!

But, fark me! This Bucketts Way and the road across to Gresford, through Dungog would have to be the roughest sealed road I have ever ridden in Australia! Plenty of outback dirt roads are far smoother! The main street of Dungog was nothing but small patch, upon patch, upon patch.... have the locals no civic pride?! I was so many times going to stop to photograph the appalling surface but I just wanted the pounding to be over, so kept going!

I should say though that IF the surface was good the road traverses some amazing country. Country that would be Number 1 bike roads - if the surface was decent. There was one section of newly laid tar up and over a hill. it was sublime and I DID stop to take a photo. It may have been just prior to Gresford but I honestly can't remember now.

Rolling into Singleton at peak hour was fun. 😕 I didn't stop, using the great range of the AT to get me to Sandy Hollow, where I hoped to god they had fuel as I had bypassed Denman, having just blasted past some slow traffic..... For context, there are a massive amount of road works going on around Australia presently and I was constantly getting stopped and hence stuck in a conga line of drivers who think they are doing 100km/h. Because of Australian Design Regulation (ADR) 18/03 they are actually doing about 90km/h.(yes, Australia is a nanny state) 

As I use my GPS for speed reference (yes, the AT is 10km/h out too with the gearing I have) I can see this and it kills my average speed and causes much frustration. I needed to get to Rylestone before the kangaroos arose from their siesta!

Sandy hollow fuel and food.

Finally, turning into the Bylong Valley Way I relaxed a bit. The sun was getting a bit low and was in my eyes somewhat but at least there was very little traffic. This road, if you haven't ridden it, is a must do. It has a great mix of open country roads, sphincter clenching escarpment climbs and amazing sanstone escarpments. It circles to the west of Wollemi National Park where the prehistoric Wollemi Pine was discovered in 1994.

Low sun makes for dramatic contrasts. If you can, earlier morning or mid afternoon (subject to roos) is the best time. Either way. Ride.It.

Rolling into Rylestone late afternoon I took a look at the showgrounds. They were lush and inviting for my tent. But I resisted and checked into the Globe hotel.

 It had been a hot day. I wanted a shower and some comforts. I had come to the right place! Cold beer, an inviting beer garden to wind down, clean showers and great food at the bistro next door.

After dinner I went for a stroll around town. Rylestone is another remnant of our settler past with many historic buildings remaining, pretty much untouched. 

It had been a long day and the mosquitos were starting to attack me so I beat a hasty retreat to the pub for one last ale. Lucky I hadn't camped.....

It had been a big day indeed, with 656km of windy, bumpy, hot roads. I needed an early start tomorrow but it didn't take long to fall asleep.

Cheers.