2025 (Not The) Snowy Ride - Day 6

 DAY 6

I was up early to try to beat another hot day. I took a wander around town to find a coffee and to see what might have changed. The post office looked the same...

It was good to see that the old ambulance station was finally being rebuilt. It was firebombed about fifteen years ago and has sat burnt out, an eyesore right here in the centre of town for all that time. To see what it looked like in the early 2000s have a watch of the movie "The Dish". All of the town sequences were shot in Forbes, not Parkes.

Next on the agenda was a visit to Mum and Dad. I was pleased to see that the little conifer that Steve and I had planted when Dad was buried was still hanging on despite its less than idea conditions. I'm no floral arranger but I did my best at replacing the flowers as well.

It was warming up already and I had about three hours riding ahead to meet the others at the O'connell pub for lunch. Heading east to Eugowra I stopped briefly as the jackaranda trees in the centre of town looked very pretty.

They also had a replica stage coach in the park. 

What is the significance of this I hear you ask? Well, in 1862 it was the site of Australia's biggest gold robbery (and still is to this day) when the Frank Gardiner gang held up the stage coach carrying gold and cash from Forbes to Sydney.

From Eugowra it was across to Canowindra then a meandering back way through Mandurama, Neville, Barry, Newbridge and Perthville to O'Connell. I wasn't really sure where I was most of the time as I just plugged O'Connell into the gps and started to follow. I knew how to get to Mandurama but then the gps kept trying to take me through Bathurst - which I didn't want, it must have just been the quickest way -  so I followed signs for Neville and let the gps keep recalculating. I seemed to be taking a lot of turns on some sketchy little back roads but apart from the heat and now strong winds, it was pleasant riding.

Because of the heat I didn't stop for many photos. I arrived at the O'Connell hotel to find what looked like a closed up pub.

I stood in the shade of a tree for fifteen minutes and decided to call Steve. He reckoned the pub should be open so I went and pushed on the front door.....and it opened! Wandering in I asked if they were open to which they said "yes"! "Ahh, you looked closed up, what with your sign board tucked away and not on display out front" I replied. They said because it was so windy they kept it in as it just kept blowing over.

So I moved my bike into the shade closer to the beer garden and grabbed a Tooheys Old while waiting for the others. Apart from the wind kicking up pollen and activating my hay fever it was very pleasant and shady here.

The others rolled in about thirty minutes later. They had been slowed by a looong section of road that was signposted at 80km/h between Boorowa and Crookwell and was very well patrolled apparently.

After a quick drink and bite to eat we said our goodbyes as Stu, Dave, Thomas and Karen were heading south to Batemans Bay to stay with Stu. Rick, Speedy and I were headed for Sydney. Geoffrey had already taken a shorter route to Sydney - no doubt to make sure there was cold beer for when Rick and I arrived at his place. ;)

There were to be no more photos from today as we were in get-it-done mode as it was very hot and windy ahead of the frontal change that was charging up behind us. It got to 38C as we crossed the Blue Mountains. We just went the main Mt Victoria way as it would be a heap quicker once we hit the M4 on the other side. If we went the Bells Line of road we would be stuck in stop start traffic for near fifty kilometres in stifling heat. No, getting it done after six days on the bikes was what it was all about now.

Arriving at Geoffrey's place at about 4pm we stripped out of our hot riding gear and grabbed a beer on the deck. Steve showed up shortly after and we spent the evening eating pizza, drinking beer and reliving the ride. Does it get any better than this?

A nothing much day but it was still 365 kilometres on the bike.

All up I covered 2 445 kilometres with a large chunk of that being new to me roads. It was an awesome trip and I must thank Stu, the ride leader for organising the accomodation and route itinerary. Thanks mate, I hope I can make it again in 2026!

Cheers.

2025 (Not The) Snowy Ride - Day 4

 DAY 4

I woke a couple of times during the night as I could hear thunder rumbling overhead. Hmmm, it was going to be a wet one and the first road we would be doing today was the Omeo Highway across to Mitta Mitta. Now this road would have to be one of the, if not THE twistiest roads in Australia with a length of 107 kilometres. That is 107 kilometres of bend after bend after bend. This road is awesome in the dry but on a knobby tyre shod ADV bike it was going to be touchy, slow going.

I did discuss with Rick taking the Knocker Track that the local guy had mentioned yesterday. It would knock 40-odd kilometres of wet bends off this mornings ride. When I checked it on Ride With GPS the gradient was up to 13% in places. Fine in the dry but after a wet night we weren't sure how it would be on a big, loaded bike.

The Knocker Track marked in yellow.

So, I stuck with plan "A". And right out of the gate I could feel the twitchiness of the front end so I took it ridiculously slowly. I waved all of the others past and they past me like I was standing still - because I almost was! 

It took me well over two hours to cover that 107 kilometres. At least the scenery was stunning and while I had plenty of time to think I vowed to come back on a sports bike with my Will and show him how good these Victorian high country roads are. Hopefully in the dry though.

When I eventually got to Mitta Mitta the others were all standing around with coffees in hand, that is how long they had been there. FFS!

Mitta Mitta sure is a pretty little town though.

But no wonder.....that hard compound, knobby front tyre had exactly this much purchase on the wet tarmac.....I had brought nail scissors to a gun fight.....

From Mitta the road dried up and I was able to keep with the group, which pleased me no end! We bashed along with a quick fuel stop in Tallangatta. There was much discussion about fuel everywhere we went and I couldn't understand why it was such a big deal. Fill up when you have a known quantity ie at a town with a fuel station, not speculate what might be down the road in the Victoria back country. A bird in the hand, after all.

Out of Tallangatta we headed east along the Murray Valley highway before turning left into Granya Gap rd. Just as we were turning some random dude on a loud Harley cut into our group then pushed past all of us. 

WTF?!!

Dave immediately blasted back past him on his big KTM as he didn't want to be stuck behind this tool for the twisty section that we were about to hit. While the guy is probably a local hero and he punted the Harley along pretty quickly, Doug and Bruce were all over him trying to get by. Not easy on a narrow, twisting mountain climb. They did get past several corners later then it was Rick and myself lining up on our ADV bikes - mahogany rubber knobby front tyre and all.....

I was hoping Rick could gun it past the bloke as he was slowing us up quite a lot but the tool was using all of the right lane to tip into left hand corners. The only way past would be to dive up the inside of him and that would surely punt him into the embankment. So Rick and I had to frustratingly sit behind this plonker for the rest of the good stuff. Just reaffirms my view on Harley riders.

From here we didn't stop until Khancoban, which was quite a ways along. 127 kilometres further along actually. But the road was interesting enough for the most part. In Khancoban we stopped at the local "shopping centre". Khancoban is a funny little place as it was established as a Snowy Hydro Scheme workers town back in 1956, so it has a very different layout to most Aussie country towns (it feels like Twizel in New Zealand).

The cafe' was about to close when we arrived so we had to make to with things from their refrigerated cabinet. Still, it was the perfect late lunch.

It wasn't too far to our overnight accomodation in Jindabyne so everyone was pretty relaxed. I decided that I'd like to take some photos and video of various sections along the Alpine Way and didn't want to hold them up, so headed off alone.

Heading out the Alpine Way toward Thredbo.

I pulled into the camping area at Gheehi Flats for a look around. I have camped here in the past when on a mountainbiking trip, so know it to be a pretty special place. Located on the western side of the Main Range pretty much in the shadow of Mt Kosuiszko, it is a very beautiful spot - especially so today as it was so lush and green.

I rode over to Gheehi Hut for a look and had it all to myself. It was very quiet here today.

I thought I might cross the Swampy Plain River and go check out Keebles Hut, then loop back up Gheehi Walls trail as I had done on the mountain bike when I was last here. One look at the swollen river crossing put paid to that idea though. It is normally under knee deep like this but with last night's rain it was deep and swift. Scratch that idea as there was another ford to cross just the other side of Keebles Hut too.

So, it was back to the little airstrip on Gheehi Flats to get a photo of the Main Range rearing it's head into the cloud....not very imposing in the photo but very impressive in person.

Back onto the road and my next stop was at the entrance to Tom Groggin Station. The views across to the Victorian side and the greenery were amazing. That is the Murray River (and the NSW/Victoria border) down in that tree lined gully.

I was looking for the crossing point to the Tom Groggin Track so took a couple of off road excursions here. Looking back toward the Alpine Way from one of them I could see a large herd of brumbies up on the hillside, grazing peacefully.

There were sooo many kangaroos enjoying the lush, green grass here too!

The others had said they would stop at Dead Horse Gap so I slowed as I approached but with all of my faffing around they had clearly gone. No problem, the road only goes to one place from here and that is Jindabyne....right after it goes past Thredbo though! 

There was still quite a bit of ice on the upper slopes despite it being late November. The ski runs looked like green velvet today.

Got to stop for the Thredbo sign.

From Thredbo I beetled along down to Jindabyne. I stopped at the new BP servo for fuel and found Bruce having a stretch. He said the others were at the hotel, so I headed down there to join them.

We used to stay in Jindabyne regularly when the kids were little and it had been a few years since we had last visited. I was surprised to see quite a bit of new development. The hotel we were staying in was the Banjo Patterson Inn and it was FLASH! It was also very busy with an organised tour group staying here, as well as a few motley crews like ours. Motorcycle central it was!

The large group with the support vehicle was Damien Cudlin's Aussie Bike or Hike crew on a multi day ride into Victoria. What a coincidence as I had just booked one of their tours from Sydney to the Gold Coast for next February. You can find quite a few of their rides documented on the MotoRides YouTube channel (click the link to view). Vern does a great job with both the filming and narration of his videos.

So, afetr a quick shower we found some happy hour beers and a table out the front, overlooking Lake Jindabyne and settled in. It was pleasantly cool out here. Again, nice for late November.

Doug had dinner booked for 7pm. We headed downstairs to the restaurant and had a great evening bench racing todays ride over delicious food. Yes, there was plenty of wine and desert made an appearance tonight. Affogato again Steve - you missed out big time!

I was sharing a room with Geoffry tonight. The snorers room.....but I didn't hear a thing once my head hit the pillow. I.Was.Stuffed.

Another awesome day on awesome roads. In fact, some of the best in Oz, even if they were wet. Another 443 kilometres for me.

DAY 5 here.

Cheers.

2025 (Not The) Snowy Ride - Day 3

DAY 3

It was a bit of a dusty start this morning. Many beers and some very fine wines were consumed all in the name of spreading the wealth to these small Victorian towns.....but luckily it was just a short stagger across the road to one of the many cafe' that lined the main street. 

It looks like the mountain bike trails have really injected some sustainable life into Omeo.

 There were a number of bike hire shops in town now and I saw plenty of bikes getting around.

In fact, the Hunt 1000 was being run and we had passed many bikepacking riders yesterday and we would again today. The Hunt 1000 is a gruelling 1000 kilometre bikepacking route from Canberra to Melbourne via many, many very big hills in our alpine region. I spoke with these two guys yesterday at the Benambra hotel while they were taking a break and it sounded as if the ride was far tougher than they had been expecting. I had deduced that years ago and asked mates to slap me silly if I ever announced an intention to ride it!

After a slap up breakfast with the our group, we took a wander around town.

There was a good map at the information centre that I would have loved to score a copy of for future planning, however they were closed....on a Saturday morning......when most visitors would be likely seeking information....

Luckily, I bumped into a local bloke and his wife whom I had also seen at the Benambra pub yesterday. He owned a KTM 890 and had given me some ideas on trails to ride yesterday. Today he added a couple more to the list, including one that cut off a large number of the very tight and slow corners on this end of the Omeo Highway - The Knocker Track. It linked back on just the other side of Glen Valley, some 45 kilometres along the Omeo Highway. I was interested in checking it out but the point that it linked back on was a bit far (15km) past where we would be turning up Falls Creek road today. But it might work out tomorrow when we are heading to Mitta Mitta - so I filed it away for tomorrow.

Wandering back to the pub we got changed into our riding gear and prepared to head off for the day. It was a bit like herding cats this morning but we didn't have far to ride so it didn't really matter.

We snaked our way out the Omeo highway and the group settled into it's rhythm with the sports bikes picking their way through us ADV riders. We would be stopping at the Blue Duck in at Anglers Rest to regroup and give the legs a rest so there was no great rush.

I grabbed the drone out just as another large group of riders stopped on the other side of the road. One of their guys was fascinated with it. I let Doug fly it to show how simple it was to operate.

Mounting up again we charged off toward the Bogong High Plains Road. I waited at the turn for a moment to make sure the next rider didn't miss the turn, then chased Rick on the climb up the mountain. This road is a narrow and twisting one. Rick's Guzzi sounded awesome as he nailed it out of corners. I was giving my quick shifter and down blipper a thrashing too. It is amazing how well the 80/20 tyres on our bikes performed on the blacktop. We passed quite a few cyclists grinding up the hill and I gave them plenty of space as I know how it sucks to be buzzed by motorists who are just lazy or ignorant.

As we climbed right up to the base of the overcast I recognised the camping spot that we used to camp at with the kids over the summer break for a few years prior to Covid striking. I love this part of the world so I let Rick go and stopped for a couple of photos.

The cloud base was almost touching our heads here at 1640m (5380ft) above sea level. It was pleasantly cold, just like I remember it. In fact, that is why we camped at Langfords West - because it was cool to cold in the middle of a scorching Aussie summer.

"Speedy" zipping by.

I rode the rest of the way into Falls Creek by myself, enjoying the next thirteen kilometres of flowing tarmac while the cloud virtually touched the top of my helmet.

Riding into the fringes of Falls Creek the guys were parked up in the first carpark they came to, catching their breath.

Everyone was buzzing from the climb. I grabbed the drone out to get that shot, plus a few others.

I was a bit cheesed that we didn't stop at the main car park as that is where the mountain bike hub and more importantly, the cafe' is. When we rode past it became obvious that we made the right decision to stop where we did as there was a huge mountainbike event going on and the main carpark was the event centre and was blocked off.

We continued down the mountain and enjoyed the thirty kilometres of twisting goodness into Mt Beauty. There was a train of six of use punting it along pretty quickly and almost no traffic. It doesn't get any better than that.

Well, unless you add apple pie to it! That was the icing on the cake that was had in Mt Beauty!

I must come back here with the bicycle again. There is so much to explore in this neck of the woods. The Mt Beauty to Bright ride would be good on a mtb or the adv bike.

But today we were taking the Tawonga Gap road to Bright. This used to be one of the highlights for Steve and I when we rode to Phillip Island back in the '90s. It didn't disappoint too much today, apart from the many road bicycles and Saturday morning drivers who we had to watch out for. Some of the cyclists weren't giving us much room to pass, sitting in the middle of the lane. These are the ones that give all cyclists a bad rap.

Anyway, we had a ball across Tawonga gap, turning left immediately onto the Great Alpine road just south of Bright. No stopping, we didn't want any cars re-catching us....

Though, we did stop down the road at Harrietville as the pub looked so inviting with its leafy green beer garden out the front!

We only stopped long enough for one beer but there was some discussion about making this a base of operations on next year's ride, such was the ambiance.

Leaving Harrietville, Dave, Stu, Myself and Thomas formed into a train and attacked the climb up to Mt Hotham. This is a truely awesome bit of tarmac right from the edge of Harrietville until Hotham Village. Our bikes were making glorious music all the way up the mountain.....until I peeled off for a photo stop at Dannys Lookout.

 

Some of the most iconic Victorian High Country bends are right around here and it took some will power to drop out of the train for these photos, but I love this lookout, having stopped here so many times in the past.

1999.

2022.

The skies were a bit moodier today but that gave great contrast for the photos.

Rounding a few corners I stopped to get a photo with some remnants of this years snows in it.....

.....not realising this is the exact spot Steve and I stopped on our way back from P.I. in October '99.

I caught up with the others just up the road at Hotham Village where they were taking in the views from the main car park.

I recall Steve saying that the pub at Dinner Plain, just down the road, had craft beer on tap and I convinced Geoffrey (not a hard task there!), Rick and Karen to pull in for a cheeky pint as we only had 55 kilometres until we were back in Omeo and it was only 3pm.If we got back to The Golden Age too soon it would be carnage....

Google maps said the pub was open but when we pulled in the note on the front door disappointingly said "see you next year".

Oh well.

So, we chased Geoff down the hill to Omeo. I was chatting to Rick on the helmet comms and told him that I was going to go out to Parish Boundary road again for some more photos (and to stay away from the pub a bit longer, if I'm honest). He wasn't keen as he wanted to edit his GoPro footage from the day. That was fine. As I said, I don't mind looking around by myself.

I was so glad that I did go as it is a stunning little ride.

It was just as windy today but at least I could take my time and faff around.

Doing Parish Boundary road from west to east this time I came into Omeo on the Benambra road, where I spied a "scenic lookout". McMillan Lookout was worth a look I thought....but after today's views, it wasn't so much....

Moseying back into town I parked up at the pub and struggled to find a spot! The place was heaving with motorcyclists and mountain bikers. The publican later told me it is only us two groups that keep the pub going.

I hit the shower and was back down to join the lads and ladette, sitting in the biting sun out the front of the pub. Much bench racing occurred. Much fine beer drinking also occured. That dark amber fluid was a local drop and it was so good we drank the place dry of it!

We soon moved inside for dinner and I had that huge steak on my mind. It was so tender and well cooked I couldn't believe they were giving it away for $40! This would be a $70-$80 steak any day of the week in a city pub. All washed down with a very nice merlot....or two.

Today was an easy day, almost the "rest" day of the trip at just 269 kilometres. It was another great day on the bikes with a great bunch of people. I keep asking myself does it get any better than this?! Well, we find out tomorrow!

DAY 4 here.

Cheers.