Ride to Apple Blossom Festival, Batlow – 19 October 2013

The Riders were:

•  Ian Paterson            GL1800
• Arthur McGlynn            Vulcan 1700 Kawasaki
• Darryl Cullen            1250S Bandit
• Ron MacPherson        SV1000
• Chas Towie            ST1300
• Michael & Tracey Winters    Triumph Trophy     SE

I was up early as we had an earlier than usual start for this ride to see a red sun rising in the east caused by the fires around the state. The smoky haze was to be with us all day. Other than this the weather conditions were perfect - a good day to take the new bike on a long run and see if it really was as comfortable as I remembered.

We got to Nicholls to meet five others and by 8.30 we were on our way travelling the well ridden path to Jugiong via Harden. After some nourishment at the Long Track Pantry we rode down the Hume and stopped at Gundagai for fuel.  At Tumblong we left the highway to follow the beautiful Adelong Creek through Adelong and thence to Batlow.  We rode past the Cow and Calf Picnic Ground but there was only a horse in attendance.

Batlow Apple Blossom Festival seemed well patronised by locals – the weather was sunny and we had some fun looking at all the (usual) stalls. There was an apple pie eating competition, vintage cars and fire-trucks, local craft in the form of quilts, paintings and photography, and the largest collection of old cutlery I’ve ever seen. Ian had to ask what one of these was:-

                                                                                               
The return trip was through Tumut and along the Wee Jasper Road to riding through Killimicat and Brungle to South Gundagai. The countryside was beautiful and the road through Killimicat had lots of twisties to enjoy as we rode past very pretty paddocks full of Pattersons Curse. On our prairie ride we even saw what looked like a small herd of Buffalo in a paddock.

Our last stop was for coffee at the Tuckerbox where the local eatery has finally succumbed to the boring sameness offered by franchises such as Subway, Guru Coffee, KFC etc attached to the Shell station. Where will Gary McCurly find his ice-cream with two scoops? By now the weather had warmed up quite a bit and cold weather gear spent the remainder of the trip in top boxes and panniers.

As usual we two turned off the Barton Highway at Murrumbateman to head home via Sutton – and despite the fact that this day was the first of the Annual Murrumbateman Field Days for 2013, traffic was quite good. Living in Canberra’s eastern suburbs the 570 kms trip was perhaps longer for us than the others, but I can report that the bike was as comfortable as I remember it.

Tracey Winters

"Running of the Sheep" 6 Oct 2013 Boorowa

Riders:

The Sheep Run!

• Garry McCurley - VFR1200
• Mick Beltrame - Victory XC
• Peter Arday - ST1300
• Leo Farrelly - BMW 1200GS
• Arthur McGlynn - Vulcan 1700;
• Jeff Jarvis - Triumph America;
• Jen Woods - XVS 1100;
• Terry Mills - Shadow VT750;
• Peter Fenwick - Guzzi V750;
• Andrew Campbell - Kawa 1400.

Sunday 6 Oct 2013, was a beautiful day weather wise for motor bike riding & the day over at the Boorowa Irish Wool Festival was simply a fantastic fun day.

The ride over to Boorowa was good as we had warm fine sunny crystal blue sky weather, nil breeze, rolling green hills dotted with live stock along the way, a few road kill on the side of the road just to contrast the perfect picturesque scenery :-) & bright yellow paddocks of Canola flowers emitting a pretty smell from the flowers in full bloom, as we rode by.

The organisers of the Boorowa "Running of the Sheep Irish Wool Festival" need to be congratulated for putting on such an enjoyable, entertaining & very well organised day.

There was a lots to see & do at the festival before the actual running of the sheep event.

It was very enjoyable walking along the main street looking at all the exhibits, stalls & shops including chatting with the very friendly locals.

The running of the sheep event was then followed by a street parade, lead by very pretty ladies displaying woollen fashions in a fashion parade.

The street parade also had numerous floats, pipe band, and a variety of other fun & interesting things, including just to name a few things - trained Flyball dogs, a working shearing shed on the back of a semi with shearers shearing sheep with sheep dogs watching on, colonial day's uniformed police officers on horse back riding up the main street carrying antique rifles & pistols, old fashion tractors, the world's longest push bike, bouncing kangaroos, trucks  & lots of other great things to see.  

Just before the sheep ran, Peter Fenwick & I both were asked to be part of the group who were riding the world's longest push bike in the parade.

A very long cycle

We both agreed to help out & help ride this very long push bike the full length of the main street of Boorowa as part of the parade - it was a fun thing to do.

After the parade some of us had lunch & then rode home via Young.

In summary the whole day was very enjoyable, entertaining and a great taste of Australian culture.

Garry

Ride Leader for the day.

Griffith 28 to 30 September 2013

Riders:
Trevor McLeod – Ride Leader – Yamaha FJR1300
Peter Arday – Tail-end Charlie – Honda ST1300
Mick & Tracey Winters – Corner Markers – Triumph Sprint 1050

Saturday – It’s always a good ride with Trevor as ride leader – you see parts of the country and roads you didn’t know existed. 
Six of us met at McDonalds at Nicholls with Ian and Sally planning a trip to Carcoar. We four (Trevor, Peter, Mick and Tracey) left Nicholls shortly after 9am riding along the Hume Highway before turning off at Burley Griffin Way to travel through Binalong and Harden leaving this road at Wallendbeen to ride along the Wombat Road to Young. 

The joys of spring riding are many – the weather is warmer, there are lambs in the paddocks, there are yellow acres of canola and the pong from unseen road-kill warming beside the road hidden in the long grass is that much stronger.

We stopped at Young for morning tea at the Bakery – hot coffee and tea, savoury and cherry pies with Peter buying a fruitcake for later. We left Young to travel along back roads with marvellous scenery through Thuddungra and Quandialla where the unfortunately named Bland Hotel is – we weren’t tempted to stop (although internet reviews rank this pub as very good so perhaps a destination for another day?)

At West Wyalong we had lunch where Trevor and Tracey amused themselves bemoaning the inconsistent use of apostrophes on shop signs in the main street. Leaving West Wyalong we rode along the Mid Western Highway to Rankin Springs giving one snake a bit of a hurry up and passing what looked like baby goannas beside the road near Weethalle, entering Griffith from the north.

After checking in we had afternoon tea outside our rooms with a table, plates and cutlery kindly donated by our hosts. Another Triumph rider, Robert, joined us – he was moving from Griffith to Orange and was retrieving the last of the household valuables.

We had dinner at the Il Corso Cafe in the main street with the usual superb food served very quickly. 

Sunday – we decided that as the designated driver was the only one without a bike licence we might try to rent a car for the day to do our own winery tour. The lovely lady at the Information Centre kindly knocked back Peter’s practical suggestion we borrow her car for the day after neither Thrifty nor Avis answered their phones. We then thought that Peter, being an ex-local, could stay and do her shift at the Centre, and she would drive us around the town. So we were back on the bikes.

With Peter as our tour guide we first visited the Pioneer Park Museum created to highlight the Italian influence on the area. After a quick lunch at Bertoldo’s bakery we rode south to Darlington Point along Kidman Way. 

The benefit of taking a local with you is that he knows all the interesting things to see – we stopped at Darlington Point for an ice-cream and a walk over the bridge on the Murrumbidgee River. 

Rules rules rules!

Trevor was very pleased at the availability of peppermint Magnums in the shop at Darlington Point where he and Peter played their own version of Poohsticks with their ice-cream sticks on the bridge – Trevor’s landed upright in the mud (very impressive) while there wasn’t enough current for Peter’s stick to move. Tracey and Mick chose not to litter.

We then rode to Coleambally to see the Bucyrus Class Dragline. A kindly motorist warned us of policeman waiting at side of the road and we saw him again as we sat in the Lions Park admiring the dragline. After drinks and lollies at Coleambally we rode back to Griffith, seeing our persistent policemen for the third time.

Afternoon munchies at the motel

We again had afternoon tea outside our rooms at the Motel, this time joined by the owners Gavin and Irene who bought with them a chicken terrine and a cheese and fruit platter. This combined with the Young fruitcake, and other cheeses and savoury biscuits ensured there was no walk up the street looking for dinner that night.

Monday – we had a light breakfast at the local Maccas watching the RBT in operation outside the Motel as we returned. The day started off a little windy as we rode towards Leeton with a police car doing a U-turn further up the road in front of us thereby leading us into Leeton.  We stopped at the Narrandera bakery for morning tea then rode along the Newell Highway through Grong Grong, Matong, Ganmain, Coolamon, Marrar, Old Junee, Junee, Illabo, Bethungra, to Cootamundra for lunch. During this trip we were again warned by a kindly motorist of a waiting policemen but the 4WD was empty as we rode past.

Lunch at Cootamundra was highlighted with an offer to buy the Triumph by the café’s proprietor whose husband owned a black Sprint – but how would we get home? The ride home after lunch was back through Harden with us peeling off at Murrumbateman for Bungendore.

The trip was interesting for the high number of police that we encountered and the lack of wine purchased – we never even went near a winery! 

Many thanks to Trevor for arranging a marvellous long weekend trip with glorious weather.

Honeysuckle Creek Chomp 'n Chat 29 Sept

The Riders were:

Jeff Jarvis          Triumph America
Garry McCurley   VFR1200
Adam Kral         GSXR 1100
John Ellison       Triumph RS Sprint
Gary McDonald   BMWR100S
Darryl Cullen      1250 Bandit and 
Mike Kelly          BMWR100RS

Six riders left Nichols a little after 10am and proceeded out on the usual route to reach the Cotter. Well usual if you don't count the minor diversion introduced by the ride leader who is still unfamiliar with the wilds of Canberra's northside (as averse to the wilds of Canberra's southside) - at least it did not involve an early exit from a roundabout ... ah but thats an old tale for another time.

A quick regroup and a recovery path executed and we travelled steadily through to the Cotter turnoff and hence to Uriarra Road. We did see a small group of sportsbikes at Uriarra Village preparing for some impromptue time trials, perhaps held in some check by the presence of two ACT Police persuit 4x4's - good luck with that one boys.

Onward to Paddy's River Road through Tharwa, then south past the model aircraft flyers to a right at the Apollo Road turnoff and then on to our destination of the old tracking station site at Honeysuckle Creek.The campground was busy,but the BBQ's were free. We soon found out why when after some repeated attempts to make fire in the modern way with buttons and beeps we realised the BBQ's were out of gas. Not to be deterred we engaged Plan B - further south to Orroral.

Just as we exited Honeysuckle Ck Mike Kelly turned up on his gold BMWR100RS so we were seven riders heading south to Orroral valley and the old Orroral tracking station site. We took a steady approach on the ride in as the roos can be very active here at any time of day.

Plan B was a success. The BBQ's at Orraral were operational, and despite some perstant wind at this relatively exposed site the cooking began in earnest. Snags and onions on bread was the order of the day. Chomping and Chatting continued under the watchful eyes of a mob of kangaroos who largely kept their distance. Nevertheless the simple fare proved popular and not much was left to the disappointment no doubt of the watching crow and currawong.

Although the valley is somewhat exposed if the wind is strong the surrounding hills with gum and rocky outcrops are a pretty sight no matter what the season. The roo cropped grassland and the european tree plantings combine with the remnants of the tracking site to give the appearance of a slightly run down but nevertheless exotic park. Several cars in the carpark gave further testament to the attractions of walking and climbing in the area.

Despite being a sunny day the wind did take the edge off things so we did not stay to explore after our feast. We took a brief pause leaving the grounds to allow a small mob of young roos to cross the road. The roos were in a mild panic and struggling to find gaps in the fencing, so our caution was rewarded with both riders and hoppers being able to cross paths without incident.

We were unable to pass Tharwa successfuly however, with most of us joining Mr McCurley for a traditional farewell icecream at the Tharwa store, chomping and chatting yet again before taking our leave. Some elected to head back the way we had came, and the rest took the alternate route to the east.

A pleasant ride in very good company! Thank you all!

Cheers

Gary Mac