Australia Day ‘Brokebike Mountain’ Ride
by Darren B
This ride report was originally published in the February 2009 issue of the Motorcycle Tourers club magazine, ‘Chain Lube’.
Actually no bikes broke, but it sounded like a good name for Mitta Mitta after the bike club buy the entire town and rename it. Nearly everything there is for sale.
What an awesome trip we had, to the place where two rivers meet. Me and Brett met up with David at Yea on Saturday, and Michael was there to farewell us after a filling breakfast. We cruised along to Mansfield and whisked our way to Whitfield, before some straight roads to Myrtleford. It was warming up but we tracked south toward Bright to do Tawonga Gap, and then winded our way up towards Tallangatta. Along the way people were camping by the river that the road followed, and I nearly stopped for a case of eye strain after some model just got out of the water glistening in the sun! We fuelled the bikes, and riders with a couple of ales, before our last new bit of road to Mitta Mitta, which was very good and scenic.
Our accommodation at the pub was superb having booked the cabin at the back. We had our own back yard looking down to the local water hole. It was perfect, and the smell of Australian Eucalypt was beautiful. Ahhhh… followed by a visit to the bar, we also managed a short walk around town while Brett tried his luck with the fishing rod. Rolf joined us not too long after arriving. What a paradise after a long hot ride! In fact it was so good that by the time it was dark, we had decided to stay an extra night.
Sunday, now our day trip day, was a good excuse for going back up to Tallangatta via a different road, and then taking the Granya Gap rd and back, to Jingellic for lunch. David reminisced, while the rest of us just checked out the array of campers and caravans there.
Sunday night was a little more interesting. Michael joined us for the night, after hearing of our new find, and Brett managed to catch one fish and then finish the night off with some free beer. The publican was a little bemused at us drinking lemonade at the bar but I am sure we will see Chaddy again.
It was time to travel home Monday, so being adventurous, we headed south to Omeo across the most awesome countryside including about 30 km of gravel. It was well made for cars, but very loose. After that though, the twisty road into Omeo was just amazing and it was a joy that the Predator can do 100 in first, as I roared and braked hard corner after corner. Brett and Rolf gained significant ground on the gravel bit but I did manage to regain some ground once on the bitumen. I must say though, Rolf’s 999 must be the singularly fastest Ducati ever seen on a dirt road! We continued homeward via Mt Hotham, Myrtleford, Whitfield, Mansfield, etc. Brett’s number plate was hanging by one bolt so there was nothing else to do but remove it completely of course.
All round an excellent trip with some new roads, a new town, and a great place to stay!
Australia Day weekend tour: the deluxe 5 day version
by Rolf
Wanting to make the most of my dwindling holidays, my Australia Day weekend started the previous Thursday morning, the mind-numbing ride east to Orbost made entertaining by the incredibly strong, hot northerly blowing me all over the place. Got adventurous from there and took the road less travelled from Orbost to Bombala via Delegate River, which included 2 dirt sections of about 12km each. A great ride, almost no traffic, with hundreds of km of good to excellent twisty stuff, mostly moderately fast (45 to 85km/h signed corners). A rickety old wooden bridge and more gravel road greeted me at the NSW border, then a fast sweeping finish into Bombala by mid afternoon. I pulled up at the appealing Globe Hotel (appealing from the outside, anyway), and was just contemplating a second drink when the first fat raindrops thumped down outside. Within minutes, a fully-fledged mountain storm was raging, 100km/h winds, constant lightning and thunder, rain absolutely bucketing down. Hail reported from outlying farms. Hmm. Yes, a room was available upstairs, $25 including breakfast. My neighbour was a chatty 17 year-old, the publican’s son it turned out, in the last days of his school holidays, bored out of his mind and keen to return to school in Sydney. Of all places.
The next day saw me take some back-roads with more gravel (in the process of being sealed) en-route to Jindabyne, Thredbo and the gorgeous Snowy Mountains alpine triangle to Khancoban, Kiandra, and Cooma. Probably some of the best motorcycling roads in Australia, and my fiddling with the 999’s rear shock seemed to be paying off. The day of bliss was only interrupted by some bizarre aggression from the owner of the Adaminaby BP. Seems to have some issues with motorcyclists. We traded some free advice and I left. He still owes me $1 in change.
Friday night in Canberra and I linked up with Keegan, on his way home to Melbourne at the end of a 5,000kms megatrip on the trusty ZZR. We checked out the local scene, suitably attired in patriotic Aussie Bogan Pride gear, good enough to get in without paying the cover anyway! As for the club, well, think Perth or Newcastle…
The other reason I’d ducked up to Canberra, I was expecting to be looking for a new rear tyre by then, but “she’ll be right” and we met up in town for an early 10am start south, as I’d convinced Keegan to avoid the Hume for as long as possible and transit the Snowys with me. Seemed like a good idea until we crossed into NSW and the 80km/h learners limit came into play. What followed needs investigation by the Geneva Convention. ‘Nuff said.
I cheered up at Adaminaby when we caught up with a group of Italian exotica who had left us in their exhaust fumes hours earlier. The riders were outside the pub, clustered around a tasty new 1098. Dead. Yup, you guessed it, first day of the first major outing for a $40,000 bike, and electrical problems. Ruined the whole weekend for four. Ducatis. Definitely a love-hate relationship!
Speed limits became less relevant as we worked our way north then west along superb roads, along and down the main range then finally crossing into Victoria. Learner’s Purgatory was over! We barrelled west to Tallangatta where we fuelled and split, Keegan to Melbourne (by 9:30pm, long day, sorry!) and myself to double back for the short run south to Mitta Mitta, where all sorts of delights lay in store. The Snowys, truly the perfect three-day start to a five day weekend! (total distance for me ex Melbourne was 2,520km, of which 1,680km was to Mitta Mitta)
Ride Photos:
