Melbourne to Byron: RR

[ontic]

Hi again,
thanks everyone.
doing some relaxing at my Mums place in old Suffolk Park right now, getting ready to get back on the bike tomorrow afternoon for a short run down to my Aunties place in Grafton.

Since the wedding and NYE time has flown and up here I have achieved little of what I was planning. Not sure if I can manage to meet up with Sibbo this time- aside from my bike with the single seat and my one helmet, my partner Krista (who flew up after the wedding) and I don't have transport as we were hoping we might, so we are pretty much reliant upon others and are just staying local. Sorry Sibbo, next time mate (and there will be a next time).

To answer individual posts,

Jeff: indeed. Great to meet again and a very mean pizza.

Future: Sure, go for it.

Charlie,
Excellent mate! I do hope to make it to the Island yet. Plans after Bellingen are little bit indeterminate but I will probably be swinging back your way late Jan sometime. I'll let you know as soon as the dates become more solid.

Steve78RS: thanks for the route recommendations. I've just written them down and when it comes to route planning I'll see how they fit in. A friend from Sydney has recommended the Thunderbolt Way south of Walcha and then Old Putty Road as 'must do's'. South of Sydney I am not quite sure where I am going aside from ending up in Tathra before (probably) heading west.

SteveD: Thanks mate. John has been in contact with Ross G. and he seems pretty confident that just about everything he needs will be arriving in the mail any time soon. We'll probably be going in different directions tomorrow, him North, me South, maybe to meet up again before Melbourne, maybe not. Essentially he needs both left and right levers and the whole control assemblies they bolt onto- I think. If there is anything else needed that he couldn't get from Ross or elswhere I'll be sure to pass it on here and see what the airhead braintrust can come up with. We both have a copy of some Airhead contacts that Charlie put together for us (excellent work Charlie), so there might always be a call or two going through that route.


More later.
Today I think I will go try to bother some fish. It never quite feels like a holiday until I start throwing some bait into the sea.

Cheers,
Hans.

[Airbear]

Gidday Hans. Good to know that John's bike is getting back together.
Island life is idling along nicely, with quite a few visitors. We had 9 souls sleeping over a couple of nights ago.
Keep in touch about when you are returning south. I check emails and texts whenever I'm home, typically every two days.
Ride safe - hi to Krista.

[The Bigfella]

Damn... lost another post to that draft "feature"

Must do... Oxley Highway - either way between Wauchope and Walcha. It is brilliant. I did part of it coming home on the KTM recently... fun even with knobbies. One of the best roads in Australia

If you need a bed in Sidernee, give me a holler

[ontic]

Cheers Charlie and Ian.
Wet wet wet. Wet ride from Byron to Grafton finishing on some cattle tracks and flooded causeways in the dark. Hung out for a couple of days of pissing rain and then got a break in the weather for a run to Bellingen. Went over the East Dorrigo way and back down waterfall way, very nice roads, some dirt, not too wet. Since then it has been pissing down almost constantly. River in flood and bridges around the place under.
Bike is safe and dry under house and I am sitting it out.
More later.

[Airbear]

G'day Hans. Ah, adventure! Probably more than you ever wanted. It looks like the rain is easing in the Bellinger catchment now. I've abandoned the island after 3 weeks of near perfect weather - there's a lot of rain and big winds predicted for the next few days down here so Michael and I are comfortably set up at home again. I hope you find a suitable weather window for the trip south. If you still intend coming over the mountains from the south coast, give me a yell and I might come and meet you on the road somewhere, weather permitting. Stay dry.

[The Bigfella]

I got a call from Hans on Saturday... he was coming to stay. Bedded him down for the night in a fold-out next to the Asian Cup soccer match that my young bloke was watching till about 3am... then got him up early to take him for an "easy" ride in the Blue Mountains

Here's the first stop, at Kurrajong. Hans may have been smelling a rat by now...



... but first, he had some tinkering to do...



Hans' understanding of why all the other bikes had "funny" tyres was improving...



His bike was looking a tad low next to mine



Hans "tinkering" again. Note the bike and rider behind him. Its a KTM on a two-up RTW ride. An American couple. David was operated on for a broken scaphoid bone today. He did the full 12 hour ride yesterday on that broken bone.... and was a tad sore by the end of it.



Hans "escaped" at Bell... and headed for Oberon via Jenolan Caves. He missed the really interesting bits... the mud, the big hills (up and down), the aboriginal art, etc. One BMW was left to tough it out with the KTMs...

[dougie]

Last picture -
That's quite a sturdy centre stand.

[Garnet]

Last picture -
That's quite a sturdy centre stand.

Yep, it would be tough to do a full service on that stand.

[Airbear]

I got a call from Hans on Saturday... he was coming to stay. Bedded him down for the night in a fold-out next to the Asian Cup soccer match that my young bloke was watching till about 3am... then got him up early to take him for an "easy" ride in the Blue Mountains

Here's the first stop, at Kurrajong. Hans may have been smelling a rat by now...

... but first, he had some tinkering to do...

Hans' understanding of why all the other bikes had "funny" tyres was improving...

His bike was looking a tad low next to mine ...

Hans "escaped" at Bell... and headed for Oberon via Jenolan Caves. He missed the really interesting bits... the mud, the big hills (up and down), the aboriginal art, etc.

You bastard!

I'll be catching up with Hans at Nariel tomorrow for a few daze of fish-bothering.

One BMW was left to tough it out with the KTMs...

I guess it's a good thing that it has a lot of handles. It looks like he's got a few LED spotlights too.

[Ross]

Cheers ontic I will post it up soon.