The ride is dedicated to a fantastic friend from the Board who has re-ignited my interest in photographing my trips - Thank you. I only wish you were here to help clean my bike!
Total time out with the bike was nine and a half hours, departing at sunrise of course. Total distance covered was a shade over 750 klms. This wasn't a bad outcome considering the roads were a mix of dirt, gravel, mud and tarmac. They were also either dry, damp, wet, very wet, tight, very tight, extra tight, flowing, or any combination of these. There were around eight changes from sealed to unsealed road, but the dirt and gravel stretches were only about five to eight klms long each time. I knew this in advance by the way - I'm not completely stupid!
The weather was interesting. I left in a heavy overcast, and spent the whole morning riding in and out of a very low cloud base. This was accompanied by light drizzle of course - and the occasional bit of actual hard rain. The ride temperature stayed at 10 degrees until lunchtime, after which it slowly staggered to about 16 degrees. That's degrees C - It was COLD.
Heading down the highway from Canberra to Goulburn. This is the empty Lake George. Seven people have drowned here in past years. It's been empty for over 15 years. Rises and falls with the water table. Spooky!
We seem to have BIG things all over Australia - This is the Big Merino at Goulburn. It will soon be moving to a new home as the highway has bypassed the town.
It was here that I broke out the heated vest. It resides in a padded bag in the pannier. I was freezing after travelling 90 kms without it!
We have our share of old churches from days past. This deserted one near Taralga was particularly pretty.
Note the low cloud base - I knew it would be an interesting trip!
First stretch of 'mud' down, and several more to go! It was so clean when I started! Bike was good up to about 80 kph on the dirt, but I was happier at about 60 kph.
This is the Taralga pub. Great lunch stop on some rides, but way too early today. Lovely old stone building. Have had many an enjoyable meal here.
Autumn leaves always make a beautiful picture. This was really nice. Still at Taralga. Only a small village.
There is the occasional tricky corner on an otherwise very fast road.
Another stretch of wet dirt gone - This was a black gravel. Very corrugated as well. Wasn't impressed at all the little rocks thrown up by the front wheel either. Must have been sticky stuff!
Some of it was deep enough to make handling 'interesting' to put it mildly. Maybe it's time for that KTM 990 Adventure I've been thinking about!
Lovely corners on the way to Black Springs - When it's dry of course! The damp bits were ok, but my speed was way down on the usual for this run.
This is the Abercrombie River. Used to be full of small trout in this stretch of the river, but the drought has killed them with water temps too hot, creating a lack of oxygen.
I wonder if there is something about this corner we need to know?
Sweeping roads and very fast riding, wet or dry! Lovely country for touring. Very flowing part of the trip. Damned nuisance to stop for photos!
More fast roads - Almost at Oberon now. Only light drizzle to contend with, but still very cold.
The sign said 'Little River' - It was perfectly correct. It is little.
The sign said 'Running Stream' - It was a lie! No water running here, even with the rain!
Oberon is a pretty little timber town. Not the best view from the lookout!
I did the loop to the western 'wing', then headed down the very tight and twisty right wing, before heading on the O'Connell for lunch. More interesting pics in PART TWO coming up.
