A story of Bikes, a Brewery and Australia's best Motorcycle Road

Currently we are in one of the biggest droughts in recent years, sounds great for riding motorcycles but not so much for our struggling farmers. We had a little ride organized to one of Australia best motorcycle roads, the Oxley Highway some 4 hours north of Sydney. We had 2 coming down from Brisbane, one coming up from Nowra and the rest from Sydney and Newcastle.

Day 1

So the morning of the ride what do you think happened? Yep you guessed it the largest amount of rain we've had in months poured down for 2 days in Sydney. There was talk of pulling out of the ride from the naysayers(not me, I wanted it). Some even delayed leaving until the next day(soft cocks). Their loss for not riding some great roads.

Here is the weather map once I got up in the morning. All that green rain is right over Sydney and extending 2-3 hours north. Well the good news was that it was only raining over Sydney. The bad news was it was torrential with over 100mm in some spots.

So armed with this intel I used the kids to help me do up my wet weather gear properly before heading off into the gloom and that worked quite well as hardly any water got in.

Meeting up with Dave and Stu we quickly ditched plans of riding the Putty road in the heavy rain as it would not be any fun and just a slow painful process of wet crotched misery. So we decided to take the main highway up to Maitland and try and get through the wet as quickly as we could as out the other side and on to Gloucester was all dry, and that's where the fun starts anyway. I think that's the first time in as long as I can remember wanting to take the straight highway over a twisty back road.

So we met with Jason and Troy near Hexham at the servo, but alas Troys bike was running rough so they returned home to try and fix it so we continued along in the rain until it finally broke and the sun started shining somewhere near Stroud.

Out of the rain and getting sunburnt

 The run up from Gloucester was a good one but a few bikes and cars flashed us warning of rozzers ahead. Now I'm all for the heads up about the boys in blue but not when they are like 50-60 kms up the road ffs. You got about a 10km warning area before stopping the warning flashes. Droning along at the limit for that many kms on that road is downright absurd.

We had pulled up in Walcha no more than 2 minutes before Rick and Andrew motored into view, how was the timing. They had been down the oxley today and were returning to Brisbane tomorrow, unfortunately flyboy couldn't make it with them. Something about packing his panty draw or something.

I had a nice pumpkin soup for late lunch before we hit the back roads via Kentucky on the way to Uralla and Geoff's famous culvert of 'DOOM' on our way to the Top Pub for the night.

Arriving earlyish at the top pub we noticed that the New England brewery was still open, it would be real shame to not let them take our cash. It's been closed every time we've been here so today was a good day.

We tried a sampler plate of beers, my favourite was the Hop Canon IPA, it went down well and we found this delicious local smoked BBQ beef jerky. Fabulous so we stayed until about 7pm when our table was booked for diner at the pub.

The boys that stayed behind today to miss the rain really missed out, as tomorrow's rain was actually worse than today's so we got an extra days riding in.

Stu trying some of the New Englands Breweries finest Ale

Top Pub Uralla

DAY 2

Discussions over diner the night before surrounding today's route which were we either just do the Oxley a few times and await the remaining boys from Sydney to catch up or to head up north through Ebor and do the Waterfall way as Rick and Andrew had to be home for work on Sunday. We took the long option and decided on the Waterfall way with the Queenslanders. First stop was in Armidale for a splash of fuel and then towards Ebor.

Beautiful country scenery along here but it is so dry. The drought is clearly evident everywhere you look and go up here. I've not seen so much road kill in a long time with dead roos every few hundred metres. It was the first day of spring with beautiful blue Sky's with a flowing road ahead coming into Dorrigo, there was even some late snow on the side of the road. Sorry didn't stop to take a photos, so 2 years in a row failed to photo bikes and snow.

Coming down the twisties east of Dorrigo we got caught behind a slow moving car, I pulled over to let them all go rather than let this great section of track er road go to waste.

Patience isn't my strong point

We stopped in Bellingen for a coffee but nobody seemed to be hungry after a big breakfast so we said our goodbyes to Rick and Andrew here. They continued on north to Brisbane whilst we turned south towards Wauchope.






Motoring down the freeway for 150kms on an R1 sure is a chore, these are the killer sections of any trip for me and usually my right wrist begins to ache due to lack of any movement. A cruise control would be bloody good here but alas maybe my next bike. I rode along for a while using my left hand to control the throttle, that's an awkward feeling trying to turn.






Arriving in Wauchope we fueled up and made our way to the cafe in timbertown, I forgot its name but motorcycle friendly but their service is so slow. About 1/2 hour later Doug, Craig, Troy and Jason arrived. They ordered big lunches, I still wasn't hungry and only had more coffee but regretted that about 1 hour later when the hunger pains kicked in half way along the Oxley.



We didn't stop at gingers creek today as it was getting late in the arvo so pushed on to get to Uralla, the brewery was calling again.

I must say the meals at the Top pub in Uralla are absolutely fantastic top notch pub grub. The spicy African lamb back strap was delicious as was the steak the night before. Discussions arose around adding an extra day to the trip, which to my surprise 5 out of 7 decided to do another night. That meant laps of Australia's best motorcycle road tomorrow yippee.

DAY 3

We tried a new cafe for breakfast this morning but I couldn't eat all my scrambled eggs on the sourdough toast. It wasn't quite right, the toast was too doughy in taste and texture.

We back tracked in through Kentucky and back roads down to the Oxley where we hung a right turn and continued on to Bendameer and took a right onto the New England Hwy down to Tamworth again taking a left towards Nundle. It was a cracking day for a bike ride too.

Doug must have been enjoying his new S1000R as he disappeared into the distance once we ascended the Port Stephens cutting. There was actual quite a bit of traffic out this morning including a truck on the cutting which surprised everyone due to the road being so narrow and blind along there.

We stopped again on the thunderbolts way where Craig and Jason left heading for home.

We fueled up back in Walcha before tackling the 54kms of twisty road that is the famous Oxley highway. I chased Dave down the mountain until the Mt Seaview turn off were I stopped for a break. Its hard work riding down hill fast on a sports bike, much easier on the wrists going up the hill.

So that's exactly what we did. We turned around and raced er rode carefully up the mountain and stopped in a Gingers Creek road house. I was dying to have one of their famous burgers for lunch and it didn't disappoint.

Bikes at Gingers Creek

The road house owner joked that our wife's let us out to ride for the afternoon on fathers day. When I told him we've been riding all day on a 4 day ride he almost cried.

After a fantastic lunch we got straight back into it and fanged it down the mountain for the 4th and last time. I think this is the best condition I've ever seen the Oxley Hwy in for many years. Billiard smooth, no potholes or bumps to speak of, no gravel on the corners.

We refueled again in Wauchope before droning down the freeway to our over nighter at the Coopernook hotel, another regular cheap but cheerful haunt.

We spent most of the night on the balcony with a few ales and some fireball whiskey to top it off with washed down with some pizzas.

Day 4

Today we were up early for the commute home. Being a Monday the roads were pretty much empty especially the back roads that we would be riding on. The chains were looking thirstier than we were the night before so they go a well deserved lube.

A continental breakfast was included in the cost of the hotel which is always good. We were ready to roll out at 8am, which is pretty good going seeing how late we were up.

More back roads this time out to Lansdowne and onto the road by Taree airport, where we slipped up more back roads to Wyndham and then on into Gloucester.

This wouldn't be a real bike ride if we didn't stop in at a bakery at least once on the trip. So Hebbys bakery in Gloucester was our morning tea stop of choice. The pies here are excellent by the way washed down with a cappuccino hits the spot. It's a wonder how I can still fit in these leathers.

Bakery Goodness

We then fueled up at the servo and it was here that we got a call that Doug's bike wouldn't go. Now that's strange being a brand new BMW so we headed back down to the shops. True to its word the beemer wouldn't start. Eventually it fired after the tank was opened. It must have had a fuel pressure lock in the tank or something. Very strange to say the least.

Doug and Troy headed back from Stroud via the Buckets Way and the freeway but Stu, Dave and I turned off towards the Gresford goat track via Dungog and on to Singleton where we would tackle the Putty road during a week day.

We stopped for fuel in Singleton before heading down the putty, stopping in briefly at the rest stop at the start of the 10 mile for a break and drink.

It was perfect conditions for a ride through the 10 mile today with very little traffic. 

We even managed to get home by 3pm and beat all the peak hour traffic so that was a bonus.

It was a fantastic 4 days away riding with da boys. Thanks heaps lads and can't wait for the next one in November. Right after Motogp.

Cheers

Gingers Creek

I had an invitation to ride on an overnighter to the Oxley Highway and Gingers Creek in Northern NSW as one of the guys is going overseas for 6 months and this was his last opportunity to get out for a ride until he gets back. It didn't take much arm twisting for me to say 'YES' to get me on the ride when Gingers Creek is named as the destination. Its one of Australia's best riding roads.

DAY 1
I put in the key and and pressed the start button to be met by the sounds of a dying battery. Damn. I had to jump the R1 from the car battery to get going. Its been 2 months since the last ride and 2 months before that one so unless I get in some more riding or buy a trickle charger this battery won't last long.

This mornings departure was a little different than the others and we were to meet up at the Old Rd cafe for breakfast. The Old road is another iconic Aussie bike road which I've covered numerous times on this blog. I noticed that there were a couple of new MV Augusta parked out the front. Turns out it was Boris from Motorcycle new was having breaky at the cafe.

After a quick breakfast we headed off up the old road and turned off towards Peats Ridge and on up to Wollombi. I noticed that the famous lemming corner has been hot mixed on both the left and right handers. Apparently this is one of the most dangerous corners in the whole state. Explains how it got the name.

We then side tracked around to Dungog and kept away from the Gresford goat track. After the last ride through there I got hammered from the rough road. We went through a couple of light rain showers along the way not heavy enough to warrant stopping and putting wets on though. We stopped in at Dungog and had a bit of lunch at a cafe and continued up to Gloucester and across to Taree where we made our way to Harrington and had a beer on the waterfront waiting for Geoff to arrive. Turns out he went straight to the Coopernook pub instead so we made a beeline for our digs for the night.

DAY 2
I'd slept in a bit this morning and the guys were just about ready to go by the time I got up. We got underway soon after and took the Pacific Hwy to slab it up to Wauchope were we stopped for a coffee and  fuel for the bikes. The road coming up was a little damp but drying. The weather today was perfect for riding, sunny and about 25°C.

Coopernook Pub

The ride up from long flat to gingers creek was just about perfect. The road on the bottom end near Mt Seaview is some of the smoothest road you can find anywhere. There was a little bit of traffic but easily dispatched when you have a R1 and lunatic aboard.

Arriving at Gingers Creek store I noticed how busy it was here today, there were bikes everywhere. We stopped in for lunch and I wanted to try one of their massive hamburgers that I saw Rick get last time we were here. The hamburger was good. I highly recommend it! 😈

After a spot of lunch we took the bags off our bikes so we could ride back down the hill unencumbered. Its amazing the difference in the handling of the bike without the bag on. I followed Bushpig down the hill on his new MT10 and he wasn't going slow even though he was still running it in. This part of the Oxley highway is one of the best riding roads in Australia with 300+ bends in 54kms.

We stopped down near the mount seaview end at a picnic shelter and took a break and watched bikes going up and down the mountain.  Soon after it was time to head back up to meet Doug who was waiting for us at Gingers minding our bags.

I put the gopro on for the trip down and up and got some footage of the road following bushpig on the way down then with me leading on the way back up. Back up at Gingers i topped up the bike with 5 litres of fuel as i knew it wouldn't make it to Walcha for fuel. The mostly first gear riding along here on the R1 really sucks the fuel quickly.

Here is a short video of the twisty fun to be had on the Oxley. Warning it's just 5 boring minutes of me riding the bends, no cut scenes or story just riding. If you've never been here and are thinking of going and want to know what its like its worth a watch.

Gingers Creek Store

As it turns out i was right i used 17 litres (17l tank) just as i got to the 50kmh zone coming into walcha.

We continued along to Bendemeer where we stopped at the pub for a quick beer. What a great little place this was having a nice cold one in the beer garden by the river. Rick had also arrived 2 minutes after we got here. Beautiful spot but the pub had been booked out by another motorcycle group so we couldn't stay. We made the short 40km trip to Tamworth where we stayed at the Courthouse Hotel another good find with cheap clean accommodation with plenty of secure parking out the back for the bikes.

Cheers boys

DAY 3

Getting ready to ride to breakfast I wasn't surprised to see Dr Kwok with the tools out adjusting the suspension on Craig's triumph. 

We stopped in at a local cafe for coffee and breakfast. Doug got the big breakfast and it was indeed big, with half a loaf of bread, half a kilo of mushrooms. We said goodbye to Rick here as he headed back north to Brisbane as we were then heading south to Sydney.

We first took the nundle road out through the hills. I really liked this ride with the road flowing along the foothills with a river and valley on one side and hills on the other. The road is one of those open sweeping flowing roads one of my favourite types. There is a short twisting section called Port Stephens cutting that rises quickly up the side of huge hill.

Thunderbolts Way

We stopped off in Gloucester for fuel for both man and machine. I was still full from the breakfast so I just had a coffee for lunch. Craig also left us here as he was heading down to Newcastle. We turned off buckets way before Stroud and took the road to Dungog then on out towards Gresford. I wasn't looking forward to this part of the ride but lucky for us they had actually fixed a lot of the road and it was in fairly good condition compared to last time.

Fueling up for the last time in Singleton we rode back down the Putty road and back home. There was an unusual high amount of traffic on the putty road today and we stopped for a break to let the traffic go so we could have a good run. All up a great weekend away with the boys. This is my first trip out since the new zealand ride. I noticed that whilst we have some fantastic riding roads here in NSW there are so many straight boring long sections of road to actually get to the good bits. Those kiwis are spoilt with their multitude of choices.