FIinders Ranges Trip 2025 - What Happened Next

 

I was up early next morning for the three kilometre walk to the caravan park to pick up the car. It was quite cool this morning but being rugged up I enjoyed the early morning peace and quiet.

We loaded the bikes, grabbed some breakfast from the local IGA supermarket and hit the road. 753km of goat dodging to Dubbo today. It was much greener along here after all the rain we drove through on the way out. Again, there were ten thousand goats lining the sides of the road but they were all smart enough to walk the other way as we drove by. Not so the hundreds of squashed kangaroos.

We arrived in Dubbo late afternoon and checked into the same motel as they had good off street parking for the car and trailer. Important in Dubbo! A quick dash to the supermarket for some supplies and we picked up a couple of pizzas on the walk back.

Now, with another four days off for me we needed a plan for some more riding. I suggested to Steve that we drive over to Scone (only 258km) first thing in the morning, find somewhere to leave the car then ride up over Barrington Tops via some roads I knew would be fun, then swing back north via Glenrock and Barry Station and the Twenty Creek Crossings track to Nundle for the night.

That decided on we were up at sparrows and on the road. We arrived in Scone about 0930 and set about finding a place to leave the car. There was a huge car park behind what would have once been a pub on the corner of the main street and Liverpool street. 

Perfect!

We quickly unloaded and hit the road. Out the Gundy road, through Moonan Flat without even stopping and we soon began the twisting climb up onto Barrington Tops. We were in for a surprise because the whole climb was sealed! It seems the local shire is trying to create a tourist loop and I guess they want it to be "all" car friendly. Anyway, we stopped towards the top when we were back on the dirt to take in the views. We also noted some showers to the north - where we were planning on heading for Nundle later on...

As we neared the dingo gate at the top it began to spit rain. The forecast was good so I was a bit surprised at this. It was clear there had been recent rain as the ground was sodden but I knew the main road across the Tops was a good rock base.

Steve was starting to look worried......and wouldn't ride his bike to the view point for the must-do photo opportunity to the west, thinking it might be slippery. It wasn't. Oh well.

Through the gate and we made a quick stop in the spooky feeling stand of pine trees. It was a bit busy with picnic-ers so we didn't stay long.

Initially we hooked along quickly as it is a wide, well surfaced road but as we climbed it began to rain. Just lightly but the road surface was getting slicker and slicker looking. I knew we would be turning left at some point soon so tried to put off donning my wet weather gear. 

After a  while I thought "this is stupid, just put your wets on" so I stopped and wrestled myself into my new rain jacket and overpants. I had decided that the wet liners that come with the RST suit just aren't practical to put on mid-ride, especially the pants liner. Stripping off on the side of the road is too much of a pain in the arse. Steve's new Klim gear is waterproof so he didn't need to stop. So, suitably encased, we pressed on

We soon came to the turn I was looking for. Pheasant Creek rd would take us to Tomalla road and back towards Ellerston.

I hadn't done this road before but this was another good, rock based road which quickly dropped us out of the cloud and the misty rain. We didn't stop along here until we got to the bottom of the hill at Backwater Creek.

It wasn't much further to the northern entrance to the park. It was all up hill which is much more fun on these big bikes. 

Tomalla road was only a few hundred metres away and we stopped there for a minute. We were going to have lunch but I suggested to Steve that we ride along Tomalla road for a bit as I knew where there was an awesome outlook where we could stop for a while.

Yeah, this was much better.

We spent quite a while here as I broke the drone out and tried to get some video. 

Unfortunately, I think I locked the exposure on the ultra high vis of my massive 3XL rain jacket and it completely blew out the colours and the poor little drone couldn't compensate! 

This one is a little better.

Moving along we enjoyed the ride off of The Tops along Tomalla road. We turned north towards Ellerston and Glenrock Station. 

The riding got more picturesque the closer we got to Glenrock.

Glenrock was where the twenty creek crossings track proper (on Hunter road) began. We avoided the first concrete crossing by riding around the side of it. It is ice-like slippery and we have seen dozens of instances of riders going down on it so it was nice to see that someone had actually graded a track around the left side of it. 

I can't fathom these stupid councils that concrete these crossings and leave them smooth. All they need to do it broom them once the concrete has nearly set and it will give the crossing some texture for motorcyclists to grip onto....

The next creek crossing was soon upon us and it was like the next eighteen were going to be - natural rock and sandy gravel. I rode through and it wasn't too bad. So I jumped off to give Steve some tips (he has no experience with water crossings). He ploughed through easily though. 

Sweet!

 Or so I thought. 

This will be easy. These crossings come thick and fast so not 200m metres further we came to the next crossing. It was a bit rockier than the first and I paddled across. Steve didn't wait and dived in - almost literally! I was in the process of jumping off to come back and coach him when I heard "help" in the helmet comms. He has done the cardinal sin of creek crossings by going too slow and not keeping his eyes up. Looking at your front tyre and then hitting a largish rock causes one to loose momentum and balance. I'm bummed that the Action 4 battery has just gone flat because I would have loved to have had that footage as I ran back and Steve was ever so sloooowly lowering the big Twin into the creek as he couldn't hold it any longer.

Picking it up I could see that it sat on one of his panniers and water hadn't got down the exhaust. The Twin's air intakes are waaay up high too so we could see that water hadn't got near them. 

Good-o!

But it wouldn't start. Puffing hard I told Steve to take his helmet off to cool down then unclip his luggage as we couldn't push it out of the creek as it was. Once that was done we took a moment to think. I asked if he had turned the key off and back on or was just trying to start it. It was the latter, so I cycled the key off then on and the big girl fired straight up! (The Twins have a tilt kill switch that stops them when falling over and that just needed resetting.)

Whew!

We took a few moments to catch our breath then headed off again. I decided to ride across each crossing, then walk back to point out the best line (it didn't help that Steve's helmet comms had gone flat now - just when we really need them!) As you would expect his confidence was shot so he approached the crossings with no momentum and head down. I eventually got him to hit them with a bit of speed and standing up and he began flying through them like a pro. This was good as I was getting knackered from jumping on and off my bike and wading across creeks. My boots were full of water, but at least it was warm.

After the last crossing, which was a tiny one, the road began to climb. As I sort of remembered where it went from my ride last April I gave the DX it's head. Jumping water bars uphill and power sliding out of corners was a hoot. I stopped high up to let Steve catch up and to get a photo. All the stress of the creek crossing was sooo worth it. This would also be a great point to point mountain bike ride if one had a support vehicle to meet at the other end.

Leaving Glenrock Station we were back on a forest road and soon close to Nundle. I turned into the Hanging Rock lookout area and while neither of us were that keen, I am glad we took the time as the view across Nundle is a stunner.

Rolling into town we checked into the Peel Inn. It was pumping as they had just had a big dog show in town. It was nice to get out of those wet boots and into dry clothes. We enjoyed a couple of New England Pale Ales (the Uralla brewery) then a very nice dinner and desert again. This wasn't a pie and chicken parmigana fueled trip!

There was no rush to get going the next morning as we only needed to roll back to Scone, a mere 100km away. The Peel Inn provided a cooked breakfast as part of it's accomodation package so we partook of that before loading up. My boots were surprisingly dry today, which was rather pleasing and surprising.

We took the road less travelled and went via Crawney Pass. This is the area where the DC-3 crashed back in the 1950s. It is rugged but beautiful country.

The cloud was low on the hills this morning making for some dramatic scenery.

It didn't take long, even when we were slowed by fog in the valleys, before we were in Scone. We decided to get a coffee in the main street before loading my bike up.

Steve was riding home to Sydney and I was driving back to Brisbane. It had been an awesome ten days or so on the bikes and this Barrington Tops ride had been the icing on the cake with its stark contrast of greenery and creek crossings to the Flinders harsh, barren dryness. It was also awesome to ride with Steve again as we don't get to do it that often these days. Perhaps once his kids are finished with school we might have more opportunities......when we can work on his "walk like an Egyptian" skills....

The epilogue route from Scone to Scone.

All up we covered 2 315km on the bikes. The Desert X was faultless and I'm really happy with how it is set up. The Africa Twin did well and could be better with a couple of small accessory modifications that would make Steve's ride easier. We did notice as I loaded my bike in Scone that the AT had oil around the bottom of the shock. On closer inspection we could see the seal had failed and he just had a big pogo stick for the last day or so. He has since spent some money and had it rebuilt, along with the forks. I will bet money that it is a far better handling bike now (not that it wasn't decent from the short ride I had on it in the Flinders) with properly weighted springs.

I did another 3300km in the car.

Cheers.

April Fools ADV Ride - Part 2

 

Thankfully when I rose the following morning the skies had cleared and it looked like I would get a great days riding in. I had a fair amount of dirt track planned so was a bit worried how wet/slippery it might be.

Wandering down for the "all-included-in-the-room-cost-breakfast" I chatted to the publican and two of his mates who were on kitchen duties. They reckoned that we had only had about 4mm (16 points in the old scale) of rain and the route through Barry and Glenrock stations would be fine. More importantly, the 20 creek crossings on this route would still be at a low level.

I was sceptical but decided I could take a look and if the first crossing was up, I could just turn around and backtrack. The last thing I wanted to do was drown my bike out there on my own.

Loading up I eventually got going at about 9am. The publican and his mates were a chatty bunch and I really had to tear myself away. I could probably still be there talking to them! Yes, I highly recommend the Peel Inn Hotel.

The climb out of town is on smooth, twisty tarmac and a fun way to warm up...but that soon ends at the intersection with Forest Way. Then it is dirt to the east or south. It was going to be south for me today where I would tackle the famous 20 creek crossings track through Barry and Glenrock stations.

I was apprehensive about the creeks, especially the two most southerly ones. Those last two crossings were the only two to be improved by being fully concrete constructions - which one would think is a huge improvement over the other 18 natural rock crossings. 

Not so!

I have seen numerous videos on YouTube of riders binning it while riding these crossings. Due to the slime build up with the crossings constantly being wet, they are as slippery as ice. Riders go down so fast while just crawling across that it looks almost impossible to get across unscathed. This was playing on my mind big time, seeing that I was alone on a heavily loaded bike. I rationalised that I would just deal with it when I got to the problem area and so, pressed on....

The road was actually quite dry this morning. I mean, I could see that it was moist but it wasn't wet or muddy. Moisture laden dirt is grippy which equals Awesome! The road out of Nundle very pleasantly winds through farmland and isn't very high speed at all. Still, someone managed to clean this poor bugger up last night. It must have been like hitting a buffalo! They are SOLID critters.

Unfortunately Wombats don't seem to be very road-wise.

Pressing on I really enjoyed the ride along here. There was a bit of everything. Open countryside and tree covered twisty stuff. I had a couple of slides on the western side of tree covered hillsides as I hit some wet clay patches. That got my attention and while I wasn't riding quickly at all, it further reduced my pace.

Looking forward.....

Looking back......to where I had some slips under the trees, dropping off that hill.

I was soon at the entrance to Barry station and was yet to encounter a creek crossing. It was actually going to be quite a way back if I got there and decided to turn back.

The road along here was very pretty as I followed the creek along, sometime climbing away from it then descending back down to it's level. I was soon at the Glenrock Station gate and if you didn't know it was a public access road, one might turn around and go back. I think the intent of the sign is to suggest that you don't venture off the road. Fair enough too I reckon.

A few hundred metres past the gate the road winds it way down another hill into the valley. The view down the valley from here was breathtaking. The rain yesterday had scrubbed the sky clean and it was so crisp and clear.

It felt so isolated as well. There hadn't been another vehicle along here since yesterday and looking at the bark litter on the trail, it didn't look like it got much traffic at the best of times. Yep, I was on my own out here!

Once I dropped off the hill I finally came to the first creek crossing. It was a loooong way from Nundle so I was hoping I wouldn't have to backtrack out of here. This first one was pleasingly very shallow and gave me confidence to continue. Sorry for the hazy GoPro image. My lens has a small crack and it had let moisture in yesterday and the sun was playing on that weakness this morning.

And then the crossings came thick and fast! The track would climb out of one crossing, rise over the bank, maybe twist around a bend and then very quickly drop into another......

....then another.

Thankfully none were very deep. Most were less than six inches (15cm) but a couple were closer to 12 inches(30cm). All of them were easily ridden across. I think the number of 4WDs that the track sees keep the rocks pretty well compacted in the crossings making for predictable riding. It might not be the same after a large downpour where the creek gets a decent flush. That would certainly roll the rocks around and might be a bit more exciting. 

I bumped into three guys on dirt bikes about mid way along and had a quick chat. They said they could hear me coming for ages. They also warned me that the last (the paved one) crossing was very slippery.  And to post a photo on the Shithouse ADV Riders page on Facebook when I dropped the bike.

Great!!

Here is a super short video of what the last couple of rocky crossings looked like.

And a still of the second crossing from the above video. Totally doable by this creek crossing numpty!

The road opened out again and I made some decent progress. Unless, I was stopping to take photos of shearing sheds or shearer's quarters in the middle of nowhere that is.

Passing Glenrock Station homestead I encountered the first concrete creek crossing. It only had a small amount of water flowing over it and the total width was only about two metres (6ft) so I managed to cross without issue....but I did feel the tyres lose some traction. How would that last crossing go?!

Before getting there however, I passed though Ellerston. Now, I'm not sure if this was originally just a property or if it was a locality or even a very small town. Ellerston's claim to fame is that Australian media tycoon Kerry Packer made it his country getaway in the '80s or '90s. He was a mad keen polo player so turned the area into a huge equestrian complex. It is even said that he had the polo fields heated so that they didn't brown off during the winter frosts.

Anyway, I have looked down on Ellerston on many a flight between Brisbane and Sydney and wondered what it looked like from the ground. Well, today I got to see it and it is a vast expanse of buildings, polo fields, equestrian fields etc etc. I stopped at the main entrance to get a photo and the security guard was straight out of his office to see what I was doing. I said g'day and told him the story above and once he could see I wasn't up to any mischief we had a good chat. I asked if it was ok to get a photo. He said "be quick", so I was.

I thanked him and he wished me a safe ride. He looked like he might actually be a rider himself.

Riding out of Ellerston there was a very shiny looking helicopter taking off from the side of the road. Yes, there is some money here still even though Kerry is long gone!(he was actually buried here when he passed on)

I stopped at the top of the first hill out of town to get a photo back over Ellerston. What a picturesque valley! If only I had the billions that Kerry had. It could all be mine!

Just south of Ellerston I came to the Tomalla road on the left. This is where Shane and I turned back east during the inaugural Thunderbolts Adventure mountain bike ride. 

Read about that EPIC day here.

Anyway, stopping for a photo I suddenly had the idea that I would like to see what that second half of the ride was like again. On that day back in 2017 we had covered about 110 kilometres already and Shane was about to have a nasty crash, so everything was kind of blurred in my mind. Today could be the day to refresh my memory....

Yeah, great idea, so I turned east. In doing so I think I missed that last greasy creek crossing which must be closer to Moonan Flat which meant no sketchy moment and my yet-to-be-dropped Desert X survived to be dropped another day!

Tomalla road sure had some elevation changes right off the bat! I had forgotten how much climbing we did on our mountain bikes that day! Quite quickly I came to the spot where Shane had his off and broke his elbow while crossing a small causeway. It was such an idyllic little spot today but back then it was a huuuge "oh shit" moment because we were on bicycles, in the middle of nowhere with 98 kilometres (and MUCH climbing) still to ride to get back to Gloucester. To think he powered on and completed that ride shows mind blowing determination and grit

And we did climb some BIG hills. You can actually see the green speck of Ellerston in the far distance.

The blackboys grow in abundance along here too. (I think they are technically called Grasstrees these days.)

They covered both side of the slope along here.

I stopped briefly at the intersection of Pheasants Creek rd and Tomalla road and contemplated going up onto The Tops as I had never done that road. In the end I decided to stick to the route we did during Thunderbolt's. I wanted to see what the bit looked like after it got dark on us that day.

Interestingly, there is a wildlife sanctuary along here that is dedicated to breeding Tasmanian Devils. A few decades back a facial disease was afflicting and killing Tassie Devils in Tasmania and there were grave fears that the little terrors might actually go extinct. So, they set up an "Arc" here on the north side of Barrington Tops. I guess it does look a bit like Tassie around here with the elevation changing the climate somewhat, so is conducive to Tassie Devils feeling right at home..

I didn't stop for photos for quite a while now. The road was narrow and windy and there wasn't much to see. I eventually dropped off the hills and wound my way through more open countryside. I can't believe Shane rode all of this with a busted elbow. Even on the motorcycle it seemed to go on and on and on.

I didn't see another soul for hours and there wasn't any evidence of recent traffic either. It was slow going.

Up, then down, then up again. 

Did we really pedal all this?!

Yeah, it was dark but I do remember relentless hills. 

I remember stopping at this corner, just after dark and trying to talk Shane into getting into a car. I was shattered, he was physically busted but he wasn't going to quit. At the time I didn't see the sign but seeing it today - fcuk me! - it was still 58 kilometres to Gloucester! With a shite load of climbing to come too.

I was wanting it to be over on the moto today. I had been crawling along for hours! I decided not to go all the way into Gloucester, instead stopping at Barrington for fuel and something to eat. The forecast for tomorrow was for heavy rain so I didn't want to go any further east nor to ride up the coast as it was supposed to get the worst of the rain.

While sitting here a flight of four F-18s or F-35s went over, heading north in finger formation at high altitude. Too high to make out the model but definitely military.

So, I decided to follow them and head back north, well north west, up the Thunderbolt Way to Walcha then on as far as I could go toward home. The forecast for rain seemed to be weakest in northern NSW.

This was the first time I had ever ridden up the Thunderbolt Way and it is an interesting road. It is quite unpredictable, with potholed, fast sections broken up with random slooow (like 25km/h) corners here and there that could really catch you out! The climb up the range on new, smooth hotmix is pretty sweet and I had the DX singing along here!

I stopped for fuel in Glenn Innes but that was it. Oh, I did stop briefly in Deepwater as the sun was getting low and I liked the way the light played on the old theatre.

I made Tenterfield just on dark and found it to be very booked up, accomdation wise. No luck at the Bowling Club nor the Tavern. I eventually found a room at the Tenterfield motel. I just had to wait until they put a bed into it, put a new shower rose on the outlet, put a t.v. into it etc etc. They hadn't used the room for a couple of years and I get they were doing me a favour but it was frustratingly slow. I just wanted to get out of my riding gear, have a shower, get a feed and then sleep. I was shagged after a long day of hard concentration in the saddle.

Settled in, I walked down to the Telegraph Hotel for a pretty average (if I'm honest) chicken parmy dinner. Walking back I stopped briefly to read some plaques on the buildings. Tenterfield holds a special place in Australian political history as it was the location of much debate about how to form this rag tag collection of states into a united Commonwealth. The seeds of Federation were sown here.

Yeah, it was a big day today with all of that slow dirt.

Day 4 

I woke to the sound of rain on the roof. Bugger. The BOM actually got it right for a change! I wandered down to the United petrol station for a breakfast of champions meat pie and coffee. As I was packed light I only had thongs to wear which are possibly not the best choice in wet, hilly terrain...but I wasn't going to put up with the squeaking of my Tech 7 boots. They are great boots on the bike but deafening when off the bike!

I was in no rush this morning. I only had to retrace day 1's route to get home and I had all day. I would wait for the rain to ease before heading out. At this point I was right under some of the heaviest on the radar. I needed to get to a point just slightly north of the "G" in Logan, near the centre of the crosshair.

 

Add to that my next door neighbour last night was another motorcyclist, from Cairns, who was on a ride back there from Tassie. He said he had waited 52 years to get this, his first bike and was loving the experience. I nodded knowingly as he told me about the mistakes/discoveries he had made of what not to do when touring by bike and I felt a little sad that it had taken him half a century to experience these occurrances that I had the pleasure of learning about in the early '90s. Better late than never, I guess!

We finally decided to hit the road around 9am. I wished old mate a safe ride and watched as he tried to coax that old BMW into life. It sounded very much in need of mechanical attention. I wonder if he made it back to Cairns before it totally let him down?

No such issue with the might DX! She fired straight up and I splashed my way down to the United servo to put some air into my slowly leaking front Motoz Rallz. I had started with 25 psi in the front which was fine as I planned on doing plenty of dirt roads. Checking the pressure each morning it seemed to be losing about 2psi per day. This morning it was down at 19psi. As I was going to be doing all sealed road today, I put it back to 27 psi so as to generate a bit of heat in the wet. Normally it'd be 30psi.

Of course I had all my rain liners in today. It was going to be wet.......and it was! I took it steady, not knowing how hard to push in the wet on a knobby front tyre. I only had what felt like one front end slip which was strangely on a positively cambered right hand bend. Maybe there was something on the surface there? Either way, I took it easy and enjoyed the challenging conditions. Light rain, heavy rain, low cloud and fog. I had it all. 

I had never seen so much water in the creeks around Koreelah either. In fact, I had never even noticed these creeks along here before. It turns out that we had had a massive amount of rain the previous evening on the coast side of the ranges. So much so that people had lost homes and we had lost people!

On the twisty section from Woodenbong to Palen Creek it absolutely HOSED down! The water was running in huge, deep sheets across the road as I negotiated the bumpy mess that is the Mt Lindsay highway as it passes in front of Mt Lindsay. I could feel the water infiltrate my suit but I was thankfully nice and warm. Possibly what peeing your pants feels like?

I decided to stop at Rathdowny for a bite to eat and a rest from the concentration. 

The little store is always a great place to stop.

Back on the bike and the last bit to home is always the bit I hate. That first hour away or towards home simply sucks. The down side to living in a city I guess.

I was extra surprised today by how aggressively people were driving in this weather. No wonder we have so many accidents when the roads get wet. People drive like total tools with no regard for anyone else OR even themselves. Are cars too safe today? Hmmmm....

Anyway, another awesome trip away on the Desert X. I am loving this bike and while I didn't get to camp and stare blankly into a campfire for hours on end, I still had a great time exploring some more new-to-me roads. The beauty of these ADV bikes isn't the rugged good looks or trying to ride them like a motocross bike. It is the new country they allow access to due to their versatility. Tapping into people's inquisitive nature, the bike manufacturers have slightly changed the formula of the drug they have always been pedalling...... and it is keeping us hooked.

Cheers and thanks for reading.