Snowy Mountains Loop - 25 January 2015

Ian Paterson GL1800
Darryl Cullen 1250S Bandit
Peter Arday ST1300
Steven Hausfeld ST1300
Jan Hausfeld CB400
Alan & Lyn Munday FJR1300
Andy & Irene Ruffy Harley Ultra
Chris Dietzel GTR1400
John Storn FJR1300
John Barratt BMW F800GS

I awoke to a beautiful morning, which was a relief after the previous night’s storm which blacked out a swath of country from Eaglehawk to Goulburn.

Our merry little band left Hume right on 8:30am and headed down the Monaro Highway and straight through Cooma before turning north onto the Snowy Mountains Highway. First stop was the bakery in Adaminaby for coffee and a pie. It was a mince pie rather than a steak one but it wasn’t too bad. At the suggestion of Al and Lyn, we sat at the picnic tables in the park opposite. One of our number got into trouble for ordering coffee ‘to drink here’ when she should have ordered it ‘to take away’. Despite this unbelievable faux pas she was allowed to take the china mug across the road and it was dutifully returned afterwards.

The Monaro was beautiful and green after an unusually wet January. It typically looks like a desert at this time of year but there is so much feed at the moment that livestock are being brought in on agistment.

The Snowy Mountains Highway north of Adaminaby is a fantastic road, with plenty of wonderful sweeping bends, a few tight ones to keep us on our toes, and a mostly smooth and wrinkle-free surface. There wasn’t a lot of traffic, which made it even more enjoyable. Despite all the signs warning us of mobs of wild horses, kangaroos, wombats, emus and park rangers, the nearest we came to disaster was a single roo that had a couple of our riders slam on the brakes.

We got stuck behind a slow boat-tower on the twisty-turnies coming down Talbingo Mountain but that was the only real obstacle to our otherwise
speedy progress and considering the other possible impediments we could have faced – tornadoes, witches, nuclear war – it wasn’t too bad. We
made an unscheduled stop at Tumut 3 Power Station, just below Talbingo Dam, for a photo shoot and continued on to Tumut.
 

After getting fuel and some culinary advice from the servo sheila, we headed for the Royal Hotel in Wynyard Street for lunch. Alas, it was closed. Al and Lyn came up with Plan B, which was to dine at the Woolpack Hotel, 50 metres down the street. The food was a bit slow in coming but we were sitting at a big al fresco table (outside on
the footpath, for all you who think al fresco might be al munday’s dad) in the shade of a big generous tree, so we didn’t suffer unduly.

After lunch we continued a couple of blocks north on the highway before turning right onto the Wee Jasper Road.This took us over the fast-flowing Tumut River, through the avenue of Lombardy poplars for which Tumut is justifiably famous, and past the airport, after which we turned left onto the Brungle Road.

This road starts out as a series of straights and easy curves but plunges down some steep, tight, exciting bends to Killimikat Station before meandering north to the 60 km/h zone at the small village of Brungle, situated close to the Tumut River. About 3 km past Brungle you can take a left turn to Gundagai but we continued straight ahead on the Darbalara Road.

This is a fun road but it’s so long and narrow and winding that even if you’ve ridden it plenty of times before you still start to wonder if you have somehow gotten lost. It’s pretty simple though – there’s one very obvious left turn at the locality of Darbalara and another when you hit the Gobarralong Road just near the Murrumbidgee River.

Turn left here, ride across the river on a bridge that’s little more than a long, bone-jarring cattle grid and keep going until you reach the Hume Freeway at the nondescript non-metropolis of Pettit. To avoid finishing up in Melbourne, we made a left in Pettit, turned right under the freeway and right again on the old Hume Highway, rejoining the freeway a few kilometres north at Coolac.

At the suggestion of Al and Lyn, we had a drinks break in the park at Jugiong before making our way home. My tripmeter registered 550 km for the day. Many thanks to Peter Arday for going tail-end Charlie and to Al and Lyn for all the suggestions.

Ian Paterson

Monthly meeting Venue update - please consider

Hi Everyone

The RUC has advised us that they have a paying customer who wants Tuesday night at Turner but they do not know for how long. As we are not paying customer we have to find another place for our meetings. The RUC has advised me that they still value our relationship and they have suggested two options.  I would like our branch members to make a decision on the merits of each option.

First option: is to keep our meetings on the third Tuesday of the month - we can return to Barton for the rest of the year.

Concerns: Limited parking, smaller meeting area, no bowling greens and confusion for some members because of the change of address again.

Second option: is to stay where we are but to change our meeting date to the third Thursday of every month for the rest of the year.

Concerns: The third Tuesday night of every month has been the night the Canberra branch has met for a long time now and you may not want to change.It is not as central as Barton

Another option is to start looking around for somewhere more permanent and central to hold our meetings.

Could you please reply to me via email as I would like your thoughts on this issue.

Regards

Mick


Keep safe until we meet

Michael Winters    59095

President

Ulysses Club Canberra Branch

michaelianwinters@gmail.com

(02) 62381049

0412 134376

Chomp & Chat and Rusty Riders to Lake Bathurst - Sunday 18th January 2015

The riders were: 

• Garry Mc Curley - VFR 1200
• Mick and Kipper – Victory XC
• Maritta Heiler – Kawasaki 900 Vulcan
• Darren Loffler – Hyosung 650
• Bob Muir - Yamaha XJS 1300 
• Mike Kelly – Suzuki DL 650
• Andy and Irene Ruffy - Harley Ultra
• Ian and Janene Brown – BMW 1200RS
• Steve Alford – Moto Guzzi V7
• Rob Clarke – FJR 1300
• Karen Clarke – XJ 1900
• Janet Mulgrue – Suzuki AN 650
• Kerry Mulgrue – Honda ST 1300
• Kris Jirasek – Suzuki GSXR1300
• Genelle Mills – Triumph Bonneville
• Mark and Cathy Walker – NT 700
• Sandy Fisk – NT650
• Mick and Tracey Winters – Triumph Trophy

We woke to a marvellous day with sunshine and blue skies all around and arrived at the BP at Watson to find a few riders waiting for a new adventure. 
We welcomed new riders to our group and then after a timely ride brief, left the service station at the designated departure time. 

We travelled up the Federal Hwy turning right down Macs Reef Rd and on to Bungendore. 

Thankfully the outriders chased all the feral animals from the road and fields as the main group followed.  Turning left at Bungendore we headed towards Tarago taking the Currawang loop past the Woodlawn Mine to Wakefield Park. We headed back to Lake Bathurst along the Braidwood Rd pulling up in the Roselea Café car park. 

Fortunately before leaving Watson I had called ahead to advise numbers and time of arrival – the owner was on her own to look after our group.  We were greeted with a smile and an area set aside with tables waiting so we could sit and share some time chatting while our lunch was being prepared.

Roast was the order of the day with a choice of lamb, pork or chicken served with generous portions of baked vegies - some even found room for cherry pie and ice cream. As we headed back to the bikes in preparation to head home everyone commented that it was a great day spent amongst friends.

A thankyou to our corner markers (the brave rabbit chasers) and tail end Charlie who ensured all arrived safely at our destination.

Mick

Club Ride to Crookwell 4 Jan 2015

This was to be Trevor’s ride, but since Trevor is without bike still for a while, I agreed to take it. We met at Caltex Nicholls for an 0830 start (who wrote this into the ride calendar, OMG it’s early!), and despite it still being at the height of Christmas holidays, a surprisingly large number of riders turned out.

The day promised to be a warm one, so it’s a good thing we got away early… I had a friend (Melissa) tag along. Mel, although not a Ulyssian, is close to the joining age and has ridden with us before on some Chomp’n’Chat rides (eg, Captains Flat last year). Catch is, she’s always late so we had to hang around for a bit – and then I found myself being asked to give her ‘bike a little TLC – check the tyre pressures, lube the chain... So we eventually got away at 0850, with me not leading (I suspect some of our number may have been frustrated with the late start!).

Some advised early that a shorter ride is best (work begins tomorrow, so domestic issues have to be sorted out). We rode the standard route on Barton Hwy through to Hume Hwy, turning off on the road to Boorowa, stopping at the Bakery for coffee and a chat.

At Boorowa we decided that it would be too early to lunch at Crookwell, so we’ll lunch at Gunning instead. At this point, the short-route riders left for home, while the remainder of us did the Boorowa - Rugby - Crookwell – Gunning – Gundaroo run, at our own pace. We met again at Gunning (albeit lunching at different locations – some at the Gunning pub, some at the Old Hume Café).

Importantly, we all enjoyed our ride, and Mel and I ended the day over a beer at the George Harcourt Inn (what happened Andrew, I thought you were going to join us?).

Thanks for a lovely day.

Chris

Riders -

    Chris Dietzel: GTR1400
    Suzy Arnold: BMW F700GS
    Ron Leslie: BMW F800GS
    Kathy Leslie: BMW F650GS
    Mick Beltrame: Victory XC (no Kipper today – it would have been too warm on the poor dog)
    Peter Arday: Honda ST1300
    Gary McCurley: Honda VFR1200
    Terry Mills: Honda VT750
    Robert McNeilly: Honda VFR800
    Michael Winters: Triumph Trophy SE
    Adam Kral: Suzuki GSXR1100
    Andrew Cmpbell: Kawasaki ZX14R
    Marilyn Starick: Ducati Multistrada 1100
    Melissa Wilson: Honda Hornet 600

My Bike and Me is back!!

By popular demand (?) the world famous (in the ACT and region at least), "My Bike and Me" web page is back!

 Check it out in all its historic glory!

If you have upgraded your ride and want to change, update or remove your entry pleas send a missive to your humble webmaster.

Jindabyne – New Year’s Eve with the Yarra Ranges Branch - a pillion’s view

Canberra Riders  - Mick and Tracey Winters, Maritta and Jeff Heiler, Leo Farrelly, Jen Woods, Lyn and Al Munday, Chris Dietzel, Karen and Rob Clarke, Peter Thomas and Michael Kelly

Yarra Ranges Branch - so many I lost count

Mick and I had looked forward to this trip after the fabulous, friendly dinner with the Yarra Ranges  Branch members at Walsh’s Hotel in Queanbeyan on the preceding Monday night. We all assembled at Hume on a glorious sunshiny New Year’s Eve. The weather forecast was excellent and made for good riding – not too hot, not too cold….just right. Bob the ride leader gave his brief, and after a local joke about not being too concerned with corner markers for the run to Cooma, we were off.

We had morning tea at the Snowy Hydro Information Centre – and even though the thoroughly organised Bob had warned them to expect us it took quite some time for everyone to be served owing to our vast numbers, and only one barista, but it was fun to sit in the sun and chat and we didn’t have a long ride so there was no hurry.

To extend the trip and show our hosts some great riding roads, at Chris’ suggestion we left the Snowy Mountains Highway just south of Cooma and travelled along the scenic Slacks Creek and Middlingbank Roads  joining Jindabyne Road at Berridale. We arrived at the Jindabyne Hotel to find that for most, their rooms weren’t ready – Mick and I were amongst the lucky few and we could check in straight away.

We all had lunch at the Hotel Bistro sitting on the deck overlooking the Lake – I could have sat there all day just enjoying the view. I’ve never been to Lake Jindabyne before – it is truly stunning. That the Hotel is a popular destination for bikers was proven by the number of other groups coming in for the night. Walking outside our room but what should be staying next door? – a later model Trophy – twins!!

Through the afternoon a few of us had a leisurely walk along the lake with a stop at local shops for coffee/milkshake/ice creams. Later we met up with members of the YR Branch for pre-dinner drinks and munchies again overlooking the lake on the grass at the back of the Hotel.

Dinner had been arranged for 8pm with the Hotel opening up a part of their restaurant for us. The same menu as for lunch was presented but everyone seemed happy with what was on offer. More socialising, eating and drinking was followed by (groan) karaoke. Some of the YR members were not shrinking violets – but we oldies were outnumbered by younger locals singing songs (post 1990?) that we couldn’t truly appreciate. So one by one we adjourned back to outside the room of one of the YR Branch on the grass by the lake for our own private and impromptu New Year’s Eve party as she had been clever enough to bring her own selection of 60s and 70s music for us to welcome in the New Year.

The Angels came on – Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again? – and you know the refrain!! Lots of fun and light-hearted buffoonery till it was midnight – but none of our phones could agree on the exact time so we did our own countdown – who knew if it was still 2014 or we were late for 2015? The locals were too quiet for us to hear when it might be midnight. All needing our beauty sleep we staggered off back to our rooms soon after.

A good night’s sleep was followed by a morning walk along the lake and breakfast in the shared dining room – usual fare of cereals, toast, bacon, sausage and eggs washed down with  juice and coffee.

It took some time for we  Canberrans to bid farewell as we were loathe to leave newly made friends with lots of chatting still to be had. But the road and sunshine beckoned so finally we made our farewells and turned the bikes northwards. All riders (yours truly excepted) were breathalysed at Berridale kindly stopping for the lone policeman even though he had only indicated that two of us should pull over. Being respectable law abiding citizens everyone passed and we were soon on our way to Cooma for petrol, hoping to find somewhere, anywhere, open for a decent coffee. Parched, we continued on to Bredbo on the lookout for a café with an Open sign, but we were out of luck. After a quick stop and farewell to each other at Williamsdale, we, with Maritta and Jeff left the group at Old Cooma Road to travel past Googong to Queanbeyan and Bungendore.

I would like to finish with a big thank you to the members of the Yarra Ranges Branch who made us feel so welcome by inviting us to join them in their annual New Year’s trip.  The dinner at Walsh’s was amazing and the ride to Jindabyne to celebrate New Year’s topped off a marvellous few days. Everyone was very friendly – we feel like we’ve known you for years - and we made some new friends that we hope to catch up with at the Wodonga AGM.

Tracey Winters

New Year’s ride 2014/2015 with Yarra Ranges Branch – Jindabyne

Thanks must go to Maritta Heiler and Jen Woods for putting up this ride invitation...... 

The Yarra Ranges (Victoria) Ulysses Club Branch decided to hit the Snowies for their main once-in-a-year ‘Odyssey’. It began with a few nights in Queanbeyan, where we were invited to attend dinner at Walshes Hotel in Queanbeyan on 29 Dec. 

I’ll leave it to Maritta to talk more about this night, but those of us that attended (including Chas & Jen Towie) had a great night. While at the dinner, Bob McArthur as the ride leader of the trip, asked who of us will be attending their ride on New Year’s Eve to Jindabyne (see flyer in RO2 December), and a good number of our Canberra Branch jumped at the chance (I got the last room reserved by the Rangers). 

The Yarra Ranges Branch were keen for an early start (0830), and with the local knowledge of how close Jindabyne is to Canberra, the flyer in RO2 advised a 1030 start from Caltex Hume. So a democratic vote was had at the 29th dinner, we will meet at Hume at 0915 for an 0930 start.



 

I arrived at Hume right on time (unusually) to a formidable sight – some 29 bikes from Yarra Ranges (with 8 pillions); one thing I noticed is that most of the Yarra Ranger’s crew are Cruiser riders, with more than a few Harley’s. Joining them were about a dozen of us from Canberra Branch as well. Most of us were intending to stay overnight at the Lake Jindabyne Hotel, with a couple of guys as day trippers. The weather was great, so it’s going to be a nice ride (every day is, some just more so).... Eventually Bob got all of our attention (herding cats is an understatement) for the Riders briefing. Bob advised us that he will corner-mark to our first stop at Cooma (the Snowy Hydro Visitors Centre) for coffee. We locals offered a little advice that the corner markers would struggle to find something to do on this very boring stretch of the Monaro Highway. 

We eventually got away at about 0945, and arrived for coffee at the appointed place. I parked the bike and made a bee-line to get to the front of the queue to warn the place that they’re about to be overrun by a bunch of disgraceful senior motorcyclists (actually, just to be a bit on the selfish side and not be waiting at the back of the line – I’d finished my coffee by the time some had just received theirs). 

I had a quick discussion with Bob to suggest a bit of a detour off his planned route of the Snowy Mountains Highway through Berridale. I suggested the short detour (adds about 20 minutes to the trip), re-joining the Snowy at Berridale. We took a right turn just south of Cooma toward Adaminaby, and almost immediately took a left onto Slacks Creek Road, which runs almost parallel to the Snowy, meandering along (you guessed it, Slacks Creek) on some very pleasant gentle rolling landscape. Some 20km along this road, there is a cross road (caution here, it sneaks up on you!), where we turned left onto Middlingbank Road toward Berridale (if you go right here, you’ll get to Lake Eucumbene). At Berridale I gave the lead back to Bob, who gave me a ‘thanks’ thumbs-up for the detour as he passed. Little more than an hour later (maybe not even that long) saw us all arriving at the Lake Jindabyne Hotel. Being a very casual-paced ride, I was able to soak in the beautiful sight of Lake Jindabyne’s approach.

Lunch was in order – a few refreshing ales at the Pub with lunch (seafood platter for me), and many decided to sculk off for a bit of a nanny nap – after all, it’s New Years Eve and we want to have the energy to see it!. 

At this point (or was it before lunch?) our two Canberra Branch Day Trippers (Peter Thomas and Mike Kelly) headed for home, and while I tried to have a snooze, a call from my brother in Melbourne with the news that my mum has been rushed to hospital and may not make it. No snooze for me! I momentarily thought about chucking it in and going back to Canberra to load the family back into the car for the return trip to Melbourne (we only got back about an hour before the dinner on the 29th) but common sense prevailed – what would it achieve, after all I’ve already had 4 schooners and I shouldn’t be hopping on a bike any more this afternoon. I’m going to enjoy this New Years Eve, and if tomorrow sees me needing to go to Melbourne again so soon, so be it (even if I’m not driving!).

About 3PM and we began to gather outside the rooms on the lakeside frontage – Beautiful setting for some snacks, more beverages, and before long it was time to head back to the pub for dinner, more beers and just talking bull. The entertainment was some pretty average sound system accompanying some Karaoke. A few of the Yarra Branch gave it a shot, but not being Karaoke fans, most of us disappeared outside to see in New Year along the lake front. What a nice way to see out 2014!

0800 on New Years’ Day – Breakfast at the hotel, we from the Canberra Branch bade our farewells to the Yarra Ranges Branch at about 1000 for the ride home. With absolutely nothing open, (my) only stop on the way home was to refuel at Cooma, where we said our goodbyes.

  
An absolutely great weekend (or should I say Wednesday/Thursday?) with fantastic people. Thank you, Yarra Ranges Branch. And the great news is that mum pulled through (so far, anyway). 

Chris 

Riders:

Yarra Ranges Branch:
Bob McAthur (BMW K1600GTL) and spouse
28 other bikes, 7 with pillions
 
Canberra Branch:
Chris Dietzel: Kawasaki GTR1400
Michael and Tracey Winters: Triumph Trophy
Jen Woods: VStar
Leo Farrely: BMW GS1150
Karen Clarke: Yamaha Roadliner
Rob Clarke: Yamaha FJR1300
Alan Munday: Suzuki DR650
Lyn Munday: Suzuki 250 (yes, Lyn decided to take her bike for a ride!)
Jeff Heiler: Triumph Rocket III.
Maritta Heiler: Cruiser (can’t recall if it’s a Triumph or a Yamaha).
 
Day riders –
Mike Kelly: BMW RT1200
Peter Thomas: BMW F800GS

South Australia - Ian and Sally on the Wing 7-21 December 2014

Riders: Ian and Sally Paterson  GL1800

One of the things I love doing most on a motorcycle is getting out on the road by myself for an extended trip. No-one else to please, no real schedule to keep to, catch up with friends here and there, play it pretty much by ear.
I do this every December, for about two weeks, but this year’s trip was a little different. I decided to let the bride in on it. She’d never been to South Australia so that became the destination. I rode there and back, she flew, we spent six days riding together in the middle of the trip, and everyone was happy.

I took a fairly direct but lazy route on the way over, stopping at a friend’s place in Wagga Wagga for lunch on the first day and staying the night at Jerilderie, for the simple reason that I’d never stayed there. The second day I had coffee and a pie at the Moulamein bakery, lunch at Boundary Bend and spent the night at the 7th Street Motel in Mildura. 

On day 3, rather than taking the highway to Adelaide, I turned off before Renmark and travelled a beaut road south-east through Loxton (coffee and pie at the bakery) to Tailem Bend on the Murray River, where I had lunch, did a loop ride via the Jervois and Wellington car ferries and checked into the Riverbend Motel. My room, room 11, had twin rocking chairs to watch telly in. I had dinner at the Riverside Hotel, atop a cliff overlooking the Murray – a 400g porterhouse, the smallest steak they had.

 

On the road between Loxton and Tailem Bend.

Day 4 was cool and showery as I rode into Adelaide via the South-East Freeway, stopping on the way for a coffee at Mt Lofty Summit (warning: no pies). I continued into Adelaide and got a shock to see petrol for $1.22 a litre when it was still $1.50 in Canberra (it was down to $1.18 a week later). Stayed at the O’Connell Inn in North Adelaide. Sally arrived that night.





 

A great find in Adelaide.

We spent the next night at Nuriootpa in the Barossa Valley, the following three at an Airbnb at Aldgate, in the Adelaide Hills between Hahndorf and Stirling, and the next (Sally’s last) at an Airbnb in downtown Adelaide. The Barossa is remarkable for the total dominance of grapevines, which seem to stretch from horizon to horizon. The hills are a joyous infestation of great motorbike roads and even if you get totally lost you won’t be disappointed. However, a lot of them are narrow and infested with cyclists so you have to stay very alert.


 

Lunch at Maggie Beer’s Farm Shop in the Barossa.

There are plenty of fantastic roads in the region, but best we did included:
•    The Gorge Road, which follows the River Torrens gorge from suburban Athelstone to Birdwood (warning: don’t stop at the first bakery, it has crappy pies and poor coffee).
•    Birdwood to Tanunda via Williamstown.
•    Tanunda to Angaston via the Mengler Hill Road, which has a great lookout and sculpture park.
•    Angaston to Hahndorf via Mt Pleasant and Woodside.
•    Aldinga to Cape Jervis, then across to Victor Harbor and Goolwa, and back to Aldgate via Meadows.


 

Roughing it at Nuriootpa.

 

Sally doing the Kangarilla dance.

 
We spent a day exploring Adelaide on foot and by free bus, then Sally headed for the airport and I rode out to Tailem Bend, where I had good old room 11 again.

Next day I headed south on the Princes Highway along the Coorong, turning off at Kingston SE to follow the Southern Port Highway to Robe, a beautiful little crayfishing port, and continuing on to Mt Gambier for the night. I stayed at the Mid City Motel, which is owned by a Ulysses member. The speed limit for most of the day’s ride was a very pleasant 110 km/h.

The weather on day 12 was a bit dodgy but I explored Blue Lake and other sinkholes (Umpherston Sinkhole with its sunken garden is amazing!) before riding south to Port Macdonnell for fish & chips. A few dirt roads took me to Ewens Ponds and Piccaninnie Ponds, innocent looking wetlands that conceal deep sinkholes. The coast road from there through Nelson to Portland is a real joy, with lovely sweeping bends and the odd logging truck.

Santa and elf at Port Macdonnell.

I stayed the night at the Atwood Motor Inn in Warrnambool and if I recommend only one motel on the entire trip, this is it. It was great value, the hosts, Brendan and Helen Rix, couldn’t do enough to look after me, and it was only a few minutes walk into town for dinner. Like every other motel I stayed in, it had free WiFi.

Day 13 demonstrated why I like to do a road trip just before Christmas, when everyone else is shopping. From Warrnambool along the Great Ocean Road to Lavers Hill and north on another wonderful road through the Otway forests to Colac I only had to overtake three cars, and two of those were polite enough to pull over in slow vehicle bays to let me past. It was a real joy!

I spent a couple of nights with friends at Colac, an interesting town if only because Victoria’s largest natural freshwater lake (Lake Colac) and its largest salt lake (Lake Corangamite) are only a stone’s throw apart. 

On day 15 I rode around the shore of Lake Corangamite and headed north to Ballarat. From there I took some beautiful roads through Daylesford, Woodend and Kilmore (passing Hanging Rock on the way) and joined the Hume Freeway at Broadford. I was prepared to stop somewhere for the night but kept going and arrived home at 7pm after an 872 km day, my longest on a bike. I covered 4092 km on the trip, averaging 6.0 L/100km.
Ian Paterson

 

An excellent pie at Lake Breeze Winery, Langhorne Creek.

At Lake Breeze Winery, Langhorne Creek.

Hordes of bus tourists at Twelve Apostles.

Ride with Yarra Glen Branch

Here's a snap of the rider briefing for the joint ride with Yarra Glen Branch for the New Year celebrations.

Well briefed riders!

And the ride report is here!