Weekend ride---long

After years of group-rides it was finally time to get back to where it all
started, Goodie and I
going for a ride....just the 2 of us.
Last weekend's forecast promised the best weather for the Sun/Mon, so it was
work for Sat, then
taking the next 2 days off.

We didn't really set a target until Sun morning, bags packed at the last
minute, taking a sleeping
bag just in case....which turned out to be a wise move.
Still under grey skies it was off to yarra Junction, Powelltown and Noojee
where we saw a 15-strong
group already stopping over for a cuppa at the Red Parrot Cafe.
Roads were a bit gravelly, the twisty bit from Powelltown up to the ridge
was slow, rather than fun.
Out the back of Noojee to Icy Creek and heading into a group-drive of an
MG-Owners-Group coming the
other way, to Willow Grove and the T-junction at the end of the road. Turn
north towards Erica for a
fuel-up, then on to Thompson dam. The sun broke through in patches, giving
the wooded sections some
eerie shadows. After a wander-around on the dam-wall, it was back to Rawson
and onto the
now-fixed-with-smooth-stuff-road to Walhalla for lunch.
Great twisties along here, the carpark of the rebuilt steam-railway was
fairly packed and Walhalla
is decidedly going places nowadays, plenty of building going on, the old
miners-cottages sparkling
with fresh coats of paint...

After finally getting to the power-grid only a few years ago, the place is
now making up for decades
of deep economic slumber.
While munching on burgers and cuppacinos, who comes trundling down the
street but Marty_H and his
partner...spending the last 2 days of a 2-week Brisbane trip (by cage) in
Walhalla.
So we stayed a bit longer than originally intended and had a good old
yack...

One of the roads that always irked me and we'd never done before leaves the
top-end of town (where
it turns to dirt), for the 78km to Woods Point, a road where some friends
had come to grieve with
their car some 15 years ago.
Well, after the first few kilometeres it started to get rough... then rough
and narrow...and then
rough, really narrow and STEEP. Speeds dropped to below 20km/h in places,
Goodie doing better on the
Peg than me on the Strom, which proved that the extra 40kg ARE a burden
under those conditions.
To those of the 6_peaks who've done the Dargo High-Plains-Rd.....yep, way
rougher than that, not as
dusty, but coming around some of those bends staring straight ahead into the
sky...was breathtaking.
No armcos, no fencing, just plain nothing, and some bends had a fairly
noticable camber...off the
side of the mountain, that is.
And STRICTLY single-lane, not even enough space in places to get past a car.

Taking out all preload on both ends at the rickety, semi-rotten Aberfeldy
River Bridge turned out
too little, too late, the lower arms were starting to knot-up and cramp
continuously...and we were
only 28km into it.
The rocky road continued, now with the added spice of hurrying 4-WDs coming
the other way, on their
way home after the weekend.
In between though, the views were stunning, the layered mountain-ridges in
the background coupled
with the narrow band of dirt and rocks (road) in the foreground making for
some exhilarating views,
as long as one didn't look down past the edge of the road that is....then
reality hit.
Cautiously creeping and bumping my way around the hard inside of a blind
uphill-lefthander I stared
a white Landcruiser right into the grille...thankfully he took evasive
action using whatever little
road he had on his left and so did I, wobbling along the very edge of a
shallow, rocky drainage
channel at the bottom of the bank. A quick twist of the grip and some
acrobatics bought me a foot of
flat road, enough to prevent sinking the Strom into the ditch.

He was way too fast and I was lucky...his following 2 mates slowed down in
time after watching the
show...
Calculations about fuel range, day-light left, distances and times swirled
in my head, things not
looking too bright.
We finally hit the main road 7km short of Woods Point at the intersection at
Matlock.
Glad to be "outta there", we turned towards Woods Point on the wider,
smoother hard-packed
clay....until we hit the wooded section where the road drops steeply into
the valley. Still as wide
and smooth as before, now the clay turned to greasy mush, just deep enough
to clog up any profile
after a few meters of road, then to begin the 6km slip-an'-slide down the
mountain-side. Again the
going turned REAL slow, now aided by both feet skimming the ground
continuously.

Scanning the road frantically for any lighter patches indicating some more
stable surface we slid
our way into Woods Point just after 4 in the afternoon, 1.5 hrs of daylight
left, 2 hrs. max.
At least we'd built-up enough sweat over the last 30 mins. to not feel the
rapidly dropping temps as
much....the place didn't look inviting and with a bit more luck than before,
we should make the 56km
of dirt to Jamieson just before dark, hoping that the road would be
smoother, straighter, flatter
and not as slippery as the last bit.

It turned out rough and twisty enough to make 26km of it in the first hour,
the onsetting darkness
amplified by the dense bush and narrow, steepsided valley.
Past the A1 mine and Gaffney's Creek, things smoothed out somewhat to do
speeds of around 50-60 (on
the straight bits) with the ever-present danger of wildlife getting activ
and having it's own say
about our progress.
We finally hit the asphalt 10km out of Jamieson, rolling into town 15mins
before pitch-dark...
It had also started to get really cold, fingertips numb despite the
heatgrips and we were somewhat
desperate for a break, some warmth, drink and food and a roof-over-the-head.
Some enquiries at the pub yielded some cabins in town, the Twin River
Cabins.
Nice, natural garden setting...the directions were to "grab cabin 4,
no-ensuite, toilet-block is up
there, firewood behind the laundry, key's in the lock, welcome and
$50"....no big choice in
Jamieson, we guessed (right).
60's style worker's huts, cozy AC-sheeting everywhere and showers/toilets
that the wind whistled
through due to missing doors/ glass in the windows...
We couldn't care anymore, walked into town for a pub-meal before we braved
the freezing temps for a
quick (very quick) shower, and as Goodie said: after you close your eyes,
it's dark anyway,
everywhere !!
The Milky Way was bright and clear on the way back from the pub, stars
everywhere and looking like
painted onto a ceiling.
The open fire spluttered and crackled us into sleep by about 8.30;... being
oh so glad we brought
the sleeping-bags along...

6.00am, pitch dark and FREEZING.
Goodie just couldn't bring herself to abandon the sleeping bag, so I finally
got up, lit the fire
again, then the 4-cooker gas-stove, with 3 flames going for heat and the
4th for the kettle.
The seats of the bikes had an icy crust, the grass around the cabin frozen
white.
The open fire proved as uneffective as the night before unless the bum was
stuck into it; only then
some warmth was noticable, barely short of setting the rear-end alight.
We packed up and got some hot, brewed coffee into us as the day dawned, the
last stars disappeared
and the sky turned a faultless blue.
5km out of town and we wished we'd stayed in the sleeping bags for another
hour or 3..... despite
the heatgrips on "high", fingertips turned numb, then sore, then vanished
from the sensory system
altogether, until one let go of the handlebars and slapped that thigh
vigorously, then the pain
returned again....for some seconds.

Speeds between 70-80 were the most we could stand, anything above was just
too much.
And that despite the T-shirt, sweatshirt, jacket liner and DriRider
Arctic...leathers and nylon-wets
over the top.
All paddocks were white-frozen, Mt. Buller and Stirling to the right, the
air crystal-clear and
searing-cold on intake, the nose couldn't run as fast under the helmet as
any dribbles froze...
Man, it was COLD on the way to Mansfield, but the sun was out and it just
HAD to get warmer
sometime...
It did, with the help of a cooked breakfast and some mugs of hot stuff,
thanks to the Top End
MilkBar.
Up the highway then to Bonnie Doon and into the fog through the twisties
along the shore of the
dried-out Lake Eildon towards Peppin Point.
Missing a turn-off I quickly switched-on and we returned to the last
intersection for the crawl up
the hill, another 25 km or so of dirt and the first 8km are steeply uphill,
a repeat of yesterdays
road-conditions. Rough and narrow. And steep. The views over the fog-filled
valleys was worth every effort though, the ridges and
mountain in the distance seemingly floating on cotton wool with the bright
blue skies topping it all
off....magnificent.

The colours of deciduous trees in autumn mixed amongst the sea-of-green was
fantastic, Jamieson in
particular looked awash in a sea of colours.
Up the top and the road widened, the rocks stopped and the going got a bit
quicker, past a multitude
of lookouts facing the Alps, hard to not stop and gawk and take some pics.
Buller, Stirling, Mt. Samaria, Strathbogie Ranges...plenty more we didn't
know the names of.
The road finally joined at the Skyline Rd. roundabout (sealed again from
here), turning down the
mountain to Alexandra or staying on the ridge overlooking Lake Eildon and
the Ranges beyond on the
way to Eildon, which is what we did.
As usual, quite a few fallen rocks on the upper section (crumbling
embankment), hard to see in the
shadow/ light play; with the sun peeking through the shrubbery...
Into Eildon, the backroad to Thornton being framed by tall poplar-trees
turned yellow, through
Thornton, Taggerty and Buxton to Marysville, another alleyway of tall
poplars-in-colour and a break
for fuel-up and munch-ups at the bakery.
Up Lake Mountain and turning off towards the carpark at the top, the 10km
from the turn-off are
COVERED in gravel, edge to edge for the whole stretch. An otherwise great
road full of twisties and
we had to plod-along, straight-lining bends as much as possible, bummer!!

At the carpark it became clear as to why...the big, old BBQ-shelter has been
dozed and is getting
replaced with a brandnew and HUGE amenities building, which will include
ski-school offices,
restaurant, snack-bar, ski-hire, conference-facilities etc etc.
A new resort-admin building not far off is already operational.
Now, who-the f&^* needs all this garbage on a mountain that has 8 weeks of
cross-country skiing per
season, if that...in a bumper season ??
Anyway, it was cold again, the wind whistling around the ridge, back through
the gravel and along
the ridge to Cumberland Junction, then down the Reefton Spur and up to the
Upper Yarra Reservoir,
just for a look.
Back home with the first clouds for the day showing, taking the back-way up
Mt. Dandenong and down
Mountain Hwy (never one to resist a handful of good bends ).

What a 2-dayer it was, great stuff, good weather, good memories.
For the Walhalla-Woods Points stretch (and some other roads encountered)...
they'll have to get us into a 4WD to do it again, or....the XT6 would've
done really well there
Into the garage now to wind up the pre-load again, completely forgot about
it....makes it obvious it
wasn't a quick ride, I guess )

Goodie, thanks for another 2 great days, couldn't wish for a better
riding-mate, wife, friend, assistant greasemonkey...

cheers
pete

 

Hmmm.... great read. Just my kinda trip - you gotta earn the views and
experiences.

Now I ask, when are you releasing the piccies on the web? Could be enough
for me to get out'a here and head that way - leaving my troubles (and work)
behind, taking my own "goodie" with me of course (she'd kill me otherwise).

Thanks for the picturesque journey.

Cheers,
Dave ZZR600 => ST2 (stolen) => '03 XX
P.S. I was glad to get to the end and not read about any disaster... it
almost seemed like you were building to something so relief there! Always
good to get home in one piece.

 

Pete

Great read, except for one thing, how the hell did the Woods Point pub not
look inviting??
Stayed there a couple of times, no complaints. A room would have been about
the same price as your esky cabin!

Stuart T

 

You ever gonna get around to writing a book of your travels?
some of your stuff is priceless
Well done Pete.

Snip most excellent story.

 

With the 4-wheel-bushies out by Sun night, the pub looked totally deserted,
no lights, no cars parked around the side, looked dead...didn't stop for
long enough to actually knock on the door.
In hindsight, should've done it, but then we would've missed out on drifting
into sleep by a crackling fire (and still freezing our bums off), hehe.

cheers
pete

 

Great read mate. Those pig ugly Stroms are obviously good for something!

I agree with Smee. Write a book.

--
Cheers
Dave (Mojo67)
FZR600 >> ZX6R Brisbane
http://users.bigpond.net.au/mojo67/mojo67.htm
I used to never be able to finish anything but now I

 

Yo, some really good stuff out there, but Christ, haven't frozen like that
Jamieson-morning in years...

Ah, umm, were a bit too busy on the dirt to think about pics, not a lot of
places to park the bike safely without it falling over or getting
shot-off-the-road by a 4WD...on the piece into Woods Point you'd be lucky
even getting off the bike without the whole shebang going arse-up, on the
stretch into Jamieson it was getting a bit dark...there you go, plenty of
excuses for NOT getting pics. Got a few from Jamieson, ice on seat, Skyline
Rd.

No disasters this time, Suzie coming off on the 6_peaks #3 with ruptured
spleen filled the quota for this year (I bloody hope so, anyway).

cheers
pete

 

Which means the rest of it is shit, right ;-)

cheers mate
pete

 

Excellent read, makes me wish my missus had a bike and an aptitude towards riding like that
*ponders a road-trip in the near future regardless*

Mike.S

 

30 days till the Wintersun Run.

Nev..
'03 ZX12R

 

Talking about photos Dave...
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~baud/images/MtSkene.jpg

Only saw one car on that run from Licola to Jamieson, Pete. Bit smokey tho'.