A decade of bliss...Yarns From Australia

[glitch_oz]

2008...Beef'n Reef #2, Australia

Another Melbourne Cup Weekend (November), might as well make a week of it.


Only Nev (on the Buell Uly now).... Jo on the new BM650GS twin just after an offroad-course... Marty on the "Toothy"-Strom and the 2 WTFs with Goodie and I signed in for this one.
The mission: turn north for an hour out of Melbourne, then try to find all sorts of gravel and backroads to head east through the Australian Alps until you hit the coast.

Things got a bit dusty sometimes

Busted belt on the Buell in the bush around Tolmie

Rode the Whitfield-Lake Buffalo Rd, Trappers Track across to Mitta Mitta and enjoyed the hospitality, bumfluff included

Crunchy mornings before hitting the Namadgi National Park and some old Apollo13 tracking stations in the Australian Capitol Territory/ Canberra.

Captains Flat area...looking towards the coast

Bermagui...Tathra and cutting back via some choice tracks to Jindabyne

The Bonang, The Barry Way, Mc Killops and the Dargo High Plains....

....whoohoo, what a cracker of a week!!

C'mon....go and have a look at the whole lot!!
http://www.austouring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1975

 

[glitch_oz]

2009...Merrijig, Victoria, Australia

January

The new year kicked off with an overnighter in late January.

7 V-Stroms showed up.
Richard (K1W1) ...Doug (Dougman1)...Jeremy (aussieflicker)...Marty...Adrian....Goodie and yours-truly pounded the tar+ dust from Mt. Baw Baw, across Mt. Skene, some backroads to Merrijig and up Mt. Buller, cruising home via an east-west crossing of the Strathbogie Ranges to Highland.


Marty cracked a sump

Somebody lost a chain ....and some chasing down was done to catch a couple of wayward pilots on the wrong track.

Goodie was still punting the 1000 around

Doug had a lot of fun

...and some locals just watched the show at Highlands, where the Primary School still had a row of huge, old pine-trees in front.

More?? :chug:

Here !!

http://www.austouring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2075

 

[Butch]

Must read...

 

[glitch_oz]

2009...Strathbogie Ranges...again!

March...
....and we just had to re-run that Strathbogies crossing from January.
Barely 60miles north of Melbourne, it's prime riding (and farming) country.


Only Adrian (Adrianox) and Pete (Vtwin) showed up for this one...Goodie giving the 650 "Shrek" its maiden-run...and oneself.



Penny's Pinch above Lake Eildon

Pete going AWOL at Polly McQuinns

Between Ruffy and Highlands

GREAT DAY!!!:glu

Thread and pics:
http://www.austouring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2256

 

[glitch_oz]

2009...Bayles , Victoria, Australia

!! THE !! Sunday in May!!
No posters, no advertising...but eavery year, first Sunday in May, the vintage and custom mob meets at a tiny hamlet 50 miles east of Melbourne.

Bike-Mekka for restorers, ratbags and freaks....

Where the hell is Bayles? Google for it...and try to keep it near KooWeeRup :wink:

More:

http://www.austouring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2344

 

[glitch_oz]

2009...Cairns/ North Queensland, Australia

Late May...and the wait for the Tornanti-2 Euro-Alps ride proved to be way too long.


When flights are cheap and a camper even cheaper....


A snap decision to get out of the cold to join the rest of the southern clan counting crocodiles and mosquitos in North Queensland.

Granite Gorge/ Atherton Tablelands

Undara Lava Tubes

Inland route to Cooktown, 20k's south of Lakeland...crossing the Great Divide.

Cooktown Estuary

Nothing much about bikes but some usable info about places to go and things to see....and some nice shots :chug:

http://www.austouring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2364

 

[glitch_oz]

2009...Tornanti #2 Euro-Alps

September/ October

3 weeks and a bit.

The one, the only!

T1 had switched things from bad to worse...there was a yearning for those alpine roads and places that'll just never let us go for the rest of our lives, the hook was in.

And had been in good and solid ever since the very first Euro-Alps ride back in 2001.

Same time of year again.... the only time of year the real afficionado will ride the Alps. Temps are down, tourists are out, autumn colours and low-season prices are in, roads are empty.
Lots of blue skies and occasionally some fresh snow overnight for the perfect dream-finish of the whole package.


This time the bikes came from Switzerland, the main targets were any roads and tracks of the Eastern Alps that didn't exceed a lane-and-a-half in width.
Or had gravel.... and/or led to some spectacular places waaaayyyy up there. DROOL!!


Met some of the Alpenbikers in southern Austria and "the Flying Dutchmen" in Arraba/ Dolomites for some sensational and unforgettable scratching up and down the passes.

From the Old Town of Aarau/ Switzerland....

...to the cobblestones of the Grossglockner/ Austria...

....meeting up with Hans (Asphalt), Elisabeth and Michael (Castle-of-Teck) in Southern Austria.

Rode the Vrsic Saddle and Mangart in Slovenia (amongst a few others...)

Dined like kings/ Slovenia

Rode the Radovna Rd., gawked at Lake Bohinjsko / Slovenia


Took the Slovenian Border Ridge Rd. / Slovenia

Casson di Lanza, a night at Granny's at Paularo in the Friuli...Italy

Saw wild horses on The Panoramica delle Vette ...Italy

Many others in between that brought tears of pleasure to minds and souls, before the quirky San Boldo appeared from no where...Italy

Spent a day climbing around the Piz Laguzoi and WW1 trenches and dug-outs before getting jelly-kneed on the descent to the Falzarego-Saddle ...Italy
/ Dolomites

Passo de Manghen on the way south ...Italy

The Kaiserjaegerstrasse above Lake Caldonazzo makes you stammer and stutter......Italy
/ Trento

The little town of Storo at night......Italy/ Trento

Passo Maniva....and the Vivione, slobber...Italy

Passo di Gavia...Italy

I better quit here, I'm gettin' the shakes again...


For the whole yarn and the rest of the ~1600 pics, most of it quite exceptional

http://www.austouring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2645

 

[glitch_oz]

Flipping back through the pages here, it might be best to give things a couple of days or so to settle.
Some of the rides really need a few days to leaf-through while others are just a quick-scan over the pics.

No worries, plenty more to come ...that's, if you're up to it

 

[Nemo Brinker]

Yay, more Slovenia pics!

 

[Cycle61]

Inspiring.

Do continue.

 

[glitch_oz]

Yay, more Slovenia pics!

Only a few of them (just edited the T2 post and added a country designation to the pics).

...but I can go through the Tornanti-2 yarn and start another pic-thread here, only with the Slovenian stuff.
Don't know if folks would be interested, though??

 

[glitch_oz]

Inspiring.

Do continue.

Will do, no sweat.
But will give it a little break, perhaps for the one or other to go back in the thread and possibly look at a few bits a little more thoroughly?

 

[glitch_oz]

2009...Strathbogie Ranges... Backwards

Another local Sunday ride not far from Melbourne


Back home after Europe and it was another major effort to find our home-feet again.


Some great gravel roads, brilliant views from Mt. Wombat and a bucketload of laughs.

All the bits and yarns:
http://www.austouring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2753

 

[glitch_oz]

2009...Xmas, Victorian High-Country

Seeing out the year was a tootle along old favourites.

December

5 days, 1500k's/ a lazy ~1000mi , more than a third of that on dirt.


With only a few days on our hands, it was yet again back to the High Country and hopefully cooler temps than staying along the coast.

Gippsland fog...from the South Face Rd.

The Walhalla-Cowwarr Rd. through the plantations...the lesser-travelled parallel-roads to Briagolong...a brilliant Dargo-morning promising a great day to come.

Meeting Nev and Jo along the Dargo High Plains Rd.,

Omeo Hwy

Also met Tim and his mate in Myrtleford...

Lookout above Myrrhee

The steep descent from Mt. Samaria State Park

All of it, pics and story:
http://www.austouring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2779

 

[glitch_oz]

2010....AusTouring Forum Rally, Khancoban

Into the heart of the Snowy Mountains, New South Wales

Late January.


Australia Day weekend saw the 2010 AusTouring Rally in Khancoban and boy, they came from everywhere.

Around 35 all up, all with their own pics and stories in the ride-report (check for link below!)


Rode the hills and high loops, went past Dogs Grave, dipped into Dargo, the WTF's jumped with joy

The way it ought to be

Steel-Belt-Stewy on day1!

Seldom Seen, the Barry Way...

Michael, as always swarmed by the girls

Jindabyne

Some "Dirty Money" around, too

Man, what a party!! :clap::clap:

All the goss and all the pics here:
http://www.austouring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2812

 

[glitch_oz]

2010...Gippsland -Cruise

Late August....and a perfect winter day!!

And did Pete (Vtwin) show us some of Gippy, or what?:slobb

More sweet pics :
http://www.austouring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3132

 

[glitch_oz]

2010....Yankee Tootle Dandy

September ....and we'd finally listened to Jimbo in Medford/ Oregon and yielded to his endless invites, packed our bags and rags and winged it across the pond.


Holy Christ, were we up for one hell of a surprise!!



Some of the byways of the Great NorthWest, the National Parks and Natural Reserves and wonders of Southern Oregon and Northern California.

There's also a V-Strom to fix after I tried to skirt the issue for years !!! ...the bike's proven a basket case, shunted quickly out the backdoor of various dealers ...for years!

Those 3 weeks would turn out fatefull...and throw a lot of misconceptions out the window.

California, here we come....dusk creeping up the slopes of Mt. Ashland, views into Northern California/ Mt. Shasta.

Giant coastal Redwoods

Mt. Shasta

Rogue River near Hellgate Canyon

Oh man.....
the Bear Camp Rd., a crappy single-laner through the coastal mountains....
the rugged, rock-strewn Oregon Coast...
an old bridge across the Smith River .

Mt. Hood near the Washington border

Stunning Lava fields in the Willamette NP

Awesome local hospitality....and ER beds

Heated pear-orchards

Gobsmacking Crater Lake

Sawyers Bar, Salmon River and BigFoot in the NorCal forests

What a ripper of a place....and...what a screamer of a ride
WHOOHOOO!!!


For another bible-sized yarn with a lousy 550 pics, clickety-here
Oh....better get a box of tissues, yer dribbling already !:so

http://www.austouring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3211

 

[glitch_oz]

2010...Noojee, Victoria, Australia

Just back from Oregon, we couldn't let this one slide.
Another ride barely 100mi from Melbourne.


The Loch Valley out of Noojee, cutting through to the Woods Point Rd.

More....pics near the end of the thread.
http://www.austouring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3214

 

[glitch_oz]

2010...Victoria HighCountry Flood-Out

The usual Melbourne Cup-Day weekend fitted perfectly and made a 4-day weekend.
The previous heavy rain had flooded the High Country to the east and the weatherfrog promised more of the same across the whole weekend.

Everyone pulled out, we got weak-kneed as well...and took the cage.


Still turned out a GREAT weekend!!

Let the pics tell the story.

Discovered the "other Ensay Pub"

More pics, some nice stuff
http://www.austouring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3285

 

[glitch_oz]

2010....Oakleigh Trials

Early December....and Richard (K1W1) had called around for a Sunday at the Trials.

Those guys are UN_BE_LIEVABLE!!

For some brilliant pics here:
http://www.austouring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3304