Ride home from Dalby

jeffrey gebler

Premier Member
IBR Finisher
#1
After recently attending the IBA muster in Dalby Qld and being that I do not generally get to the east coast it gave me an opportunity to do a ride that I have been wanting to do for some time. My ride out east was an uneventful SS2000 except for the run in with a couple of roos near Yunta that left me with one LED light missing and a very bent crash bar.

After the Muster I had the opportunity to meet up with Tabledrain who took some time to explain some routing questions that I had for some riding in the future. I also got a chance to see Smugly and to catch up with Russel and Phil. I spent the night with a mate in Logan Village before my ride back was to start the next morning
A 04:00 alarm had me up and at the local petrol station at Logan Village 04:30. With both tanks filled I was soon on the Pacific Highway heading south and with very little traffic and perfect weather the kilometers seemed to roll by very quickly. As the following day's ride was going to be fairly long I decided to take the quickest and most direct route today but once the sun was beginning to rise I took the opportunity to get a photo of the sunrise over the Richmond River.

I continued south and had the first petrol stop in Taree. It is great to have the extra tank as this leg was 590 km and I still had almost half the main tank left. I had a slight detour after this to make up some needed kilometres so I got on the Hunter Expy outside of Newcastle and made my next stop in Greta. With a fill up of both tanks and a quick drink it was back on the road with 570 km to finish the day. I continued south towards Sydney before getting on the Hume for a short while before the Federal Hwy took me towards Canberra where the peak hour traffic slowed things down. I am not sure if lane splitting is legal here but decided to take the chance and a short time later the majority of the traffic was left behind.
The sun was now beginning to set and the scenery was beginning to change as I began to head towards Cooma (1343 Km.) for the end of today’s ride.
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DAY 2
A quiet night in Cooma in a very quirky motel had me back filling both tanks by 06:20. A quick look around the town as the sun was rising and shortly after that onto the Snowy Mountain Hwy.

The views along here are spectacular and reminded me of the last time my wife and I were riding the back roads of northern Wyoming. I arrived in Adaminaby just as the local petrol station was opening. No fuel was needed but an ice coffee certainly went down well.

Heading back south the sky was beginning to get quite grey and the rain that was forecast for a later on that day was going to come much sooner. The road took me through Berridale and into Jindabyne where I stopped for the first of many times for the roads works being done in this area.

I reached Jindabyne and decided to wait for the tourist information centre to open to get some more information on the Snowy Mountain Hydro Scheme.
The rain was now falling and as I made my way Kosciusko National Park and while I really like my Mitas E-07 tyres they were not the best choice for riding these mountain roads in the wet. By the time I made it to Murray 1 & 2 the sky was beginning to clear and would remain that way for most of the day.


After Khancoban I made my way to Tumut 1 which you can not see from the road before another receipt was needed from the company town of Cabramurra.

A short ride took me to Tumut 2 and another 83 km of some incredible roads took me to Tumut 3.


My plan was to fill up in Talbingo but it was Tuesday and the local station was not open today. So a sausage roll and another iced coffee from the general store and I made my way to Tumut to fill up both tanks before I made my way down towards Melbourne on the Hume.
The rest of the ride was very uneventful, just putting in the mileage and not too much to see as I have done this road many times before. With fuel stops in Kalkallo and Horsham I was soon back into South Australia and riding among all the heavy truck traffic. By the time I reached Keith the fog was so bad I was mostly riding by the GPS and following the trucks tail lights in front of me which made the next 130 km quite slow going. The fog cleared by Tailem Bend and it was just a matter of time until I was home in the Adelaide Hills (3034 km ) and getting ready for work the following day.
 
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Skidoo

Premier Member
#5
Loved the read Jeff, great to catch up and loved the 'Power to the People. on the way home, well done mate. Loved the pic of the 'Paddle Pop Man"!!! I have also noticed that the trout has changed it's colour over the years lol.
I also have had no issues with the E07 tyres and recently gave them a royal floggin.
 

Biggles

Premier Member
#10
Plenty of top pix to illustrate an enviable ride. I love power stations, especially hydro ones, and marvel at the force the water must exert after coming down those steep pipelines of that diameter.