Byron Navigates Nyora (and other places)

Byron Navigates Nyora

by Byron

This ride report was originally published in the July 2010 issue of the Motorcycle Tourers club magazine, ‘Chain Lube’.


First let me state, I should have done this within 24 hours of getting home… ~groans~ not just for Brett or for the club magazine… But it was such a relaxing and pleasant run that all I can remember with out trying are these points –

  1. Apparently H was on the ride, but there was no MV Augusta
  2. More people like trains than I realised
  3. I lost my nerve on the first corner!!!!
  4. I love those valleys down in southwest Gippsland
  5. Don’t do your pre ride one way and the actual ride the other!

Sitting down and thinking about it I guess it’s fair to start it like this.

It all started on a fairly standard and reasonably gray autumn morning in April, on a day when most people were up early for the Anzac Day dawn service, we were gathering at the south yarra cafe’s where MMCT meet. I wasn’t expecting a big turn out, I mean bikes and trains don’t mix much. So I was pleasantly surprised when we had 12 people on 11 bikes.

After a hasty amendment to our route out of South Yarra, we took off for the freeway to Dandenong where we met up with David W at the Macca’s/servo on Princes Hwy. Lesson number one – when looking for 2nd pick up points – Make sure there is a toilet on site!!

So off we went for the ultimate destination of Korrumburra, running down the rest of the freeway to the South Gippsland Highway. Passing through Cranbourne saw the Anzac Day parade going the opposite way. After Cranbourne there was some moisture surrounding us but by the time we hit Lang Lang it was all but dry. We had a wee stop in Lang Lang but I don’t think anyone was brave enough to go for a coffee.

Departing Lang Lang we headed out on McDonalds Track for Nyora. This is an interesting little road, many a pot hole with a pot hole in side. I think it’s a good alternate route to the highway. If you look closely on the right hand side you can even see the old GMH proving ground.

After skirting the edge Nyora we started into the really interesting roads and found our first corners for the day. Where I also remembered that I hadn’t packed any confidence for my riding skills for the day. On the Lang Lang – Poowong rd. the road starts climbing into the western edge of the Strzelecki ranges. There are some sweeping views to the west of the flat flood plains…

Continuing on through the very lovely Drouin – Korumburra rd from Poowong, through to, you guessed it Korumburra. This is a great road and should be better ridden than I can, but then I feel a lot of the little roads in this area are never done justice by my riding.

At Korumburra we made our way to the station then proceeded to walk to the cafe for lunch. Lunch was at the Green Door Cafe. It would have been a great lunch if only the owner had bothered to let the staff know that we were coming… Still I think most of us were satisfied with the meal served. On the pre-ride it had been a good breakfast spot!!

After lunch we sauntered back to the station where we lost H and JC to family commitments. The rest of us piled onto the train for a leisurely jaunt to Nyora and back. The train we were riding (for those of you who are fond of said transport), was a ‘red hen’ that saw prior service in SA as a suburban commuter. Travel was restricted to 40kph which was only marginally slower than my speed for the day. A few of us had a little chat with the guard about the condition of the line, cost’s and any future enhancements.

On return to Korumburra we resumed the riding portion of our trip. First heading out to Leongatha, on to Wild Dog Valley Rd. Now I know that many of you thought I had made a wrong turn, but I’m sure I didn’t! Turning off WDV Rd on to Harvey Rd saw us hitting a little bit of dirt for a while. At the corner of Harvey Rd and WDV Rd we had our one very minor incident of Ken’s Duc having an alarm malfunction.

As we rode down Harvey Rd, I had the worst feeling I’d turned off the track to early. This was confirmed by the end of Harvey Rd. We got to a made road, when I knew we weren’t meant to for another couple of kilometers. Mind you this new road was MUCH nicer than the one I had planned on. Sadly the view was not a great as the original road. Anyway back to the story. We eventually rejoined the road we were supposed to be on – Fairbank Rd. (You can see the similarity of the road names can’t you?)

Heading west along the ridge that is Fairbank Rd provided some vistas that I don’t think are found through out the rest of the state. Most of the land down there is farming, but the steep sides to the mountains just make for stunning vista’s in the right weather, which we were lucky enough to have.

Our route home then took us from Fairbank back onto Korumburra -Drouin Rd and then a quick right heading up to Poowong East, (yeah it’s my last chance to say POOWONG!) This road has 4 different names as you travel along it. Eventually it ends up at the east end of Invermay Rd East. We followed Invermay along it’s undulating path through to Ripplebrook, turned right on to the Westernport Rd and then a little past Ripplebrook a left on to the ‘long hill’ or Coster Rd. I mention this road as it is just one long straight run down to the floodplains below. It’s not the greatest road in the world but it certainly is fun.

We then headed back towards Cranbourne Via the tortuously boring Longwarry – Kooweerup rd and Ballarto Rd. This road is nothing but bouncy on 15 inch wheels. It’s one of the few roads that make me wish for a bigger bike so I can have the luxury of missing a good 1/2 of the pot holes and crappy road surface’s. By this stage the sun was really shining into our eyes under the clouds and this road is NOT ideal to be traveling west on at sunset as it points directly into the sun. We had a wee stop in Bayles along the way, then arrived in Cranbourne about 45 minutes later than I thought we would.

I’d like to thank the people who came along – John, Brett, David W, Peter & Linda, Doug, JC, H, Ken B, Paul & Mike. (Mike had suffered through the numerous trips I’d been making down that way on the back of the Burger.. but now he can suffer it on the GS instead!)

Cheers, (and apologies to Brett for not doing this months ago..)

Ride Photos:

Skills

Posted on

25 April 2010

Pin It on Pinterest