Majors Creek Adventure Ride

Another South Coast adventure ride was on the cards. It was meant to happen a month or two earlier but half of the people came down with covid so it was cancelled. But here we are in the middle of winter ready to freeze our asses off for your entertainment.

We rode down friday arvo and stayed with our gracious hosts Brett & Marjo, naturally a few too many drinks occured. Meeting up just south of Nowra the next morning we picked up our tour guide extraordinaire Dave and the immaculate GPS of wayfinding.

Brett assured Scotty we'd start out on some easy gravel riding. Just like tar road, without the tar he said. Nek minute, we are descending a steep rutted road with a big drop off a bolder, just like a road, without the tar or the road for that matter. I wasn't too thrilled with this and thought to myself if we have to turn around and go back up I probably won't get back out again. But it was only 100m of hard stuff before going back to normal gravel road. We then stopped in Milton for the obligatory bakery stop. It wouldn't be a real bike ride without one.

Scotty decided to head down the coast and do the Araluen road. It's one I'd very much like to do and I almost went with him. I was wondering how difficult this ride might become but thought I'd stick with it and see what happens, but unlike last time I was going to bail out if the riding got too tough. I'm here for a social ride and a good time, not for a punish and hurt myself and break my bike.

We took the Clyde Ridge road up into the great dividing range, which then turned into Mares Hill Rd. There was one slippery hill climb along here that had me slipping about with a bit of trepidation, but managed to get up without incident. This then turned on to the Western Distributor. It was fairly well maintain gravel riding. I was enjoying this section. Then I saw Stewie coming back my way, I slowed then saw a side track go down into a gully then into a steep rutted hill. Dave was at the top. I took a look at it and thought, fuck that. I'll continue on the road I'm on, no need to put myself at that much risk on a 250kg adventure bike whilst they are all riding enduro bikes 100kg lighter. Stewie asked me what I thought, based off that comment I knew he didn't want to ride it either. I said I'm not riding up that and I'll continue on or turn back. Dave looked at the GPS and said the road we are on goes to the same place the other road was going to go anyway. So we continued on.

A short distance later I saw a road closed sign then Dave came riding back the other way saying the bridge is out. F*ck it, I thought now they are going to want me to ride up the difficult hill.

Brett stopped and I stopped next to him and then saw some steam followed by what looked like coolant leaking under his bike. KTM down......

It was 12:23 when I took this photo above, here in Dingo Piss Creek. Brett started striping it down to try and find the leak. I was looking on the right, Brett looked to the left. Then Stu says 'hey the coolant is leaking out the back'. WTF?

Yep the radiator sprung a leak on the back on the second row from the top. Looks like it split the core. Stewie says no problem I've got this Knead it stick. I've had it for about 20 years, now it will come in useful. Yeah about as useful as a boat anchor. It was as hard as a rock. So Dave took off for Batemans Bay to find a radiator repair kit. And we waited.........

And waited,,,,,,,,,, 

We waited some more............

Brett took Stewie's Tuareg for a bit of a spin up the road for a few minutes.

We ate some frogs and waited a bit longer. I could see the shadows getting longer and the sun getting lower. About 2 o'clock I said did anyone see this bridge out? Everyone said no it was Dave. Well we got nothing better to do, let's go take a look. I thought it strange the sign said road closed but nothing to actually block the road. So we walked down the hill the 500m or so and yep the bridge was definitely out, it was completely washed away by floods.

But as luck would have it there was a newly graded track down into each side of the river and it looked crossable. We saw bike tracks in the mud near the bottom. I would be much happier riding through the river than attempting the hill climb of doom. I moved aside some of the larger rocks on the descent into the river to make it easier. You can see the remains of the bridge in the photo on the right hand side behind the tree.

We walked back up to the bikes and did some more waiting and faffing around. Ate a few more frogs. Then we heard a bike approaching quickly. Dave was back and he wasn't mucking about. It was about 3:15pm by now. He had the required radiator JB weld mixture. Brett got straight to it. It was taking longer than anticipated to cure as it was probably only about 15°C out today.

Finally starting the bike up and adding some fluids we got underway about 3:50pm, 2 and a half hours later. Well it is an adventure ride right. So lucky that the JB weld fixed the leak.

So down we went into the river crossing. It's steeper than the photo makes it look, the photo flattens everything out. I was pretty nervous for sure, especially watching Stu struggle and nearly tip jamming his leg into the water. My turn came and the first bit was the hardest then I managed it across and up the steep incline. Wooh that was an adrenaline rush.

Everyone made it across without an incident and we kept going, this would now shorten the day considerably, especially when I thought we would have to ride back and around. That would have been a huge day ending in darkness.

There were a couple more diversions on the Western Explorer with another road closure. We followed this small one lane road along for some time before we eventually popped out in the middle of the Kings Highway. I was happy to see this as I knew we would soon be at our accomodation for the night. The sun was about to set in the next 30 minutes and we are about 30 minutes out, we arrived in Majors Creek just after sunset. Perfect as I'd seen a few roo's in the paddocks. All up only 135km for the day.

Majors Creek is 18kms south of Braidwood. She's a rustic little pub that's for sure, but the locals were friendly enough. It was going to be around -1°C overnight tonight. There were many beers partaken. The night ended in a bottle of fireball........

Sunday morning was cold and frosty, and it was also hung over, no wait..... that was me. Went out the check out the bike. The bike looked like it had been through the ringer, no wait that was me again. The bike was just a little dusty, no....... me again. The bike was fine. Shouldn't have drunk all that Fireball last night I think.

A quick stroll up the street, the pub has a rail carriage full of beds that they hire out for $500 per night. Looking through the window I'd say it way over priced. Better to camp across the street for free. We rode into Braidwood for Fuel and the bakery. I was hoping for bacon & eggs but it was a pie instead. Yeah I probably should have left and went home with Scotty.

We rode back out through Majors Creek and Wallace's Gap Rd to Captains Flat Rd. Along here somewhere Dave turned into the Tallaganda Forest. I was going ok, until he decided to turn down a side track. I looked at the erosion mounds filled with water. I could see the last one was just a bog hole, I watched Stu go through nearly coming unstuck. I don't want to ride down there. The area looks wet, could get worse. Some encouragement from Brett against my better judgement and down the hill I went into the bog hole and almost stacked it. Went along a little more climbing back up came to a wet sand pit on the trail, nearly stacked it in that that about 100m later came to the main road we were just on, FFS.

The others rode across and up some small overgrown track that looked like it hadn't had traffic in months. I'm done. Punting the Africa through bog holes isn't my idea of a good time, and with a hangover even less so. I told Brett I'd meet them in Braidwood at lunch time and I'd ride my own ride.

I quite enjoyed the main roads, through the forest. I came out in Captains Flat a little while later and went out the Queanbeyan Rd, but decided to turn around and go back. On the Captains flat road I saw snow on the side of the road, had to stop for photos or it didn't happen. 

I had to stop for a break along the roadside here. The countryside up here in the highlands is always spectacular. I always love riding through the snowy mountains area. It was a nice day for it, pity I wasn't really feeling it today. 

I stopped in Braidwood for fuel and the bakery for some lunch, but no pie. I got a salad roll. Yeah I think I'm not well. I waited awhile then decided I'd head up to Nerriga, so messaged Brett again.

I took the dirt out to Nerriga, it's a quite enjoyable ride on an empty country road. I received a message from Brett they were in Braidwood, and would meet me at Nerriga.

Pity I was full from that salad roll about an hour ago, there was a mobile italian pizza van at the Nerriga pub. That would have went nice with my beer. I'd never stopped here before and it's actually a great little pub. Very welcoming and the fire roaring inside was inviting.

That beer didn't get rid of my headache...but it sure tasted good.

The others arrived about a minute after I finished my beer so we kept on riding. The temp dropped to around 11°C. We split in our seperate directions at Nowra and Stu and I rode home via the coast in the dark. 

Snowy Ride Part 1

 It's that time of year again when we venture into the NSW Snowy Mountains for our annual bike trip away with the boys (and girls). As luck would have it Victoria opened up the week before so we could venture further this year. So I packed all my stuff onto the big twin and headed to Stu's. Weather predictions were dire this year with up to 30mm of rain for saturday and sunday.

I don't think Geoff knew which bike was his.......

I decided to take my textile suit this year instead of leathers with rain suit. Less to pack but its untested in the rain so this could be disaster if it gets cold and wet. Dry rider gear is renowned for not being dry.

Next stop was Marulan for breakfast and wait to pick up the crew from Nowra. Yep you guessed it another bakery stop but I opted for a sausage roll instead of a pie, because that's how I roll.

Then it was back to the bikes and head out through Bungonia and down to Tarago. There was lots of roads works and 60 zones through this bit.

The ride down through the King's Highway was a bit of a car park. The road surface was better than its ever been. I would have been angry if I got here on the R1 only to find it filled with slow moving cars but on the AT I didn't really care and just admired the scenery.  The temperature rose sharply as we came down the mountain to about 30°C, I was starting to swelter in my gear. I had to take off my thermal top, far to hot for that. Lunch stop was in Nelligen and we picked up another 3 riders here.

With my gourmet chiko roll dispatched it was time to mount up again, it was here I noticed Doug tapping his foot. Yep the cat herding has commenced. Next stop for fuel in Batemans Bay before heading down the south coast.

 

After fueling the big twin I was surprised at how little it was using compared to my R1. I'm starting to like this bike. I more on this later. We stopped at the usual pub in Narooma for a beverage before continuing on down the coast to Tathra.

The scenery on the south coast is spectacular and not that much traffic, although it is busier now than it was years ago.

Our destination for tonight was the Tathra Hotel. It was quite windy with lots of white caps out on the ocean and the temp also quickly plummeted with the sea breeze and we were back into jumpers.

It was good to catch up with everyone over a few well deserved beers and just chat about things in general after the year we've just had. Tathra pub makes it own beers and a few taster plates were sampled.

Day 1 Map

Day 2

Lucky for us the pub closes early on Thursday at 9pm so we didn't have too sore heads in the morning. To my absolute horror we had breakfast at the bakery again this morning. Loading up the bike is a breeze with the SW Motech drybag. 4 Clips and it clicks on and pulls down tight in no time. Super easy and I'm sure it has more space than 30 litres. Scottys bag was 50 Litres and they looked the same size. Nice and easy to oil the chain by myself with the centre stand now away on trips.

Breakfast bakery stop

The more thirsty sports bikes stopped for fuel here but I thought I'd wait until Bombala and see how it went. I swapped bikes with Brett as he was interested to see how the AT went. As I was putting my gloves on and getting ready to mount his MT10 I saw the AT on the back wheel going up over the hill. I think he liked it.

As we went down through the twisty hills near Myrtle Mountain I was following both Dave and Brett on the MT10 and Tuono. As it was my first ride in the twisties I was riding quite conservatively, however they didn't get that far in front I could still see them. The big AT is heavy to throw around in the twisties but as this is my first real ride on the thing I want to know how it handles before pushing it too hard.

Fueling up in Bombala I'd used just under 12 litres for 260kms. So I had a third of a tank left and could have ridden another 120kms and in comfort. I'm really starting to like this bike now. From here the group split as the nancy boys er sportsbike riders took the Cahn Valley way and the rest of us took the Bonang Highway. The dirt section in the middle is down to 9kms now. This was the first time I could keep up in the dirt doing a modest 85kmh. The rain that came through before us had kept the dust down to a minimum. 

The Givi tank bag is another great purchase for this bike. Fits in heaps of stuff and its out of the way, I've got somewhere now with easy access for my camera and a drink.

I am really starting to love the engine on the AT as I could just put it in 3rd and ride the torque curve up and down, it would still punch out of the bends and the brakes are so good to pull this heavy bike up, you don't actually notice how good they are because they just work. Between 35kmh bends it requires a fair effort to get it turned but it's quite rewarding actually. It soaks up just about every bump with its long suspension travel. I notice when hard on the brakes the front suspension dives quite heavily with all that travel. 

Next stop was in Orbost for lunch and to meet up with the soft cocks er non dirt riding fellows. The bikers special toasted ham/cheese/tomato sammich was excellent together with a flat white. Not to heavy. I decided I didn't need fuel here either, gee I'm filling up a hell of a lot less times on this trip.

I was going to stop somewhere on the Buchan road to take some photos but was having so much fun leading the group into town I just couldn't stop. You can't see it but there's a huge grin on my face.

Next stop was for fuel in Bruthen, probably could have made it to Omeo that night without filling up, but it would be easier to do it here then we can get to Tallangatta on one tank. 

As we turned at Swift's Creek Geoff lead the others up the garden path so to speak so I used this opportunity to get out the front and find somewhere on the road I can stop for a couple of pics. There were several good spots of which I choose none. Still got to do 2 of my hobbies in the one day and get some pics of the boys and girls at play.

The 24-70mm F2.8 lense I find limited at the track so it gets used for pitlane duties and not much else, but it is actually very useful on this bike trip. Still an extra 50mm reach would have been nice but it got the job done and I'm reasonably happy how the images turned out seeing as I was only ever going to get one chance at getting them on one pass. No practising out here.

It was time to put away the camera's as it was now beer o'clock and time to get into Omeo for a ice cold refreshing ale or two. 

Omeo Main Street

Looks like we beat the weather again today, with only a bit of wet road so no testing of the dry bag or my wet rider gear. I'm content with that.

Emperor Palpatine - These aren't the beers you're looking for

Cheers

Day 2 Map