RTE - Sat 2nd May 2015 - Elz Bistro, Bunya Mountains

[Barry and Marissa]

Glad your bike survived Gary. Good work Shiney for offering to help out. 

We were really surprised to wake to blue skies on Saturday as the rain hammered down Friday night. Marissa, John and myself left home at 8am and met up with friends Brian and Nat just down the road a bit. I was surprised that the roads were mostly dry and free of debris. We were meant to head over Mt G but after teh rain last night decided that wasn't a good idea, so we took the Logan Mwy to Ipswich rd and then headed out to Blacksoil and on up to Esk for a morning tea.

At Esk the clouds were looking ominous again so I added a liner to my jacket and put my wet weather pants on as it was pretty chilly and I was expecting it to get cooler going up the Hampton range. It did get cooler but there was no rain beyond the occasional spit. A little detour at Ravenborne took us around Lake Cressbrook and into Crows Nest where we picked up the New England Hwy to Cooyer.

Leaving Cooyer we caught two cattle trucks just before the start of the only nice sweepers on that section of road and the trucks were seriously on the nose. A left at the top of the range and we rolled into Maidenwell for lunch. After a hearty meal we refueled and headed out to the Bunya hwy at Kumbia along some lovely back roads and then made our way into the Bunya's.

The new restuarant at the Bunya's is fabulous and just what that area needed. We opted for take away meals as we couldn't get into the restuarant till 8pm. Brina stoked a wonderful fire and we settled in for a great night.

The following morning was clear so after another hearty breakfast we headed for home again via Maidenwell, but this time via the Maidenwell - Bunya Mtns road which has a short 4k section of easy dirt. We waved goodbye to John at the turn off and headed down the range. The views heading east along this section of road are brilliant.

Back at Maidenwell we headed out to the New England hwy again and this time turned left and rode into Yarraman, and then road back to Kilcoy and around Neuram into Woodford for a coffee stop before a nice run down Mt Mee to Dayboro and onto the Gateway to home.

We had a great time and good weather. It was nice to catch up with John again and enjoy the company of friends. The Bunya's is a great destination for an overnight RTE and I'd recommend doing it again.

Cheers

Barry and Marissa   
       

[Sabie]

Unfortunately Gaz people are ignoring the that slogan "if it's flooded forget it"....but the fact of the matter is you don't enter flood waters, and as we've seen on the news there are those who have lost there lives because it didn't look that bad and because they thought they knew the road because they travel over it daily.

There's 2 safety points to remember with regard to flooded roads.

1. If you can't see the white line from one side to the other you don't enter the water

2. If the water is moving (flowing).... You don't enter the water

In your situation if you hadn't entered the floodwater then

- you wouldn't have had to contend with the oncoming bow waves
- your engine wouldn't of stopped
- you wouldn't hve had to be rescued
- it wouldn't have cost you the price of a tow
- you wouldn't have had to pull off the Tupperware
- you wouldn't have had to clear the water out of your bike
- you wouldn't have risked damaging your beautiful Blue ST

I understand it is tempting so you can get home, but the situation is just so unpredicable and the waters so unreliable and unstable.

Kinda reminds me of a saying.....

"If it's flooded forget it"

Heard it somewhere ....... But glad your safe and well Gadget

It wasn't flooded until the bow waves combined. Small cars were getting through. The impatient ones in the 4WD were the biggest problem.

But it does show it doesn't take much to change from OK to Shiiiiit!!!!!

[Gadget]

Sabie,

With my Army training I'm well aware of the rules of water crossings and have done dozens of water crossings.  On the night I could see the white lines and like a lot of people was caught out by how quick conditions changed.

On the Gateway where we got caught, there was no obvious river crossing, so it looked like it was just blocked drains and therfore just standing water.

I am also all too aware of the IFs and have duely chastised myself for impatience, stupidity and a touch of complacency, arrogance and self delusion.

I can tell you no one regrets my situation now than me and I too believe "if it's flooded, forget it!"

[Diesel]

... After a hearty meal we refueled and headed out to the Bunya hwy at Kumbia along some lovely back roads and then made our way into the Bunya's.

.. we headed for home again via Maidenwell, but this time via the Maidenwell - Bunya Mtns road which has a short 4k section of easy dirt.

Thanks for the great read Baz - I've wondered many times about doing the Maidenwell-Bunya Rd (with its dirt section) - sounds like a no brainer.     


Great riding out that way - looked like you guys had a terrific time - well done!   


Cheers, Diesel

[Diesel]

PS - how painful is it having to do 60km/h down the Blackall Range on that racetrack ... nice piece of meandering road?!!     

[Barry and Marissa]

PS - how painful is it having to do 60km/h down the Blackall Range on that racetrack ... nice piece of meandering road?!!     

Oh ... was that a 60k zone? ... Pardon my mistake!

Yes definitely do the Bunya to Maidenwell Rd. The dirt probably varies from time to time, but there's only 4k's of it.  It would be a better ride heading east than west as you can see the views coming down the range. 

[saaz]

The road on to Dalby from the top is all bitumen, nice road with good views. But then any road where it is not bucketing down rain is great, so I may be biased in any reports on non-rain riding back from Queensland.

[Sabie]

Hey Gadget

Sorry Mate didn't mean to come across as having a go at you and I'm sorry if it appeared that way.

The message is clear, and I think we all need to be aware that our actions through and due our former training gives us a higher level of skill and ability, however the down side is that the public may witness our actions and try to replicate them.  In floodwater, stormwater situation people will do just that and follow the person in front.

So we and I'm including myself in this, need to be aware that what we do can and does influence people to make decisions which can have a detrimental effect. Your training is through Military Defence and mine is through Civil Defence or Public Safety as it's known in Australia and the emphasis may differ in some area's.

But again, sorry for any confusion.

See you on an RTE and we'll pick up from where we left off last time we saw each other.

Sab

[Gadget]

No problems

[saaz]

I took two days to get up to Brisbane, and the weather got worse the closer I got. 950kms from Canberra to Urunga for Thursday night sounded fine when I first planned the ride, but riding in the dark through fog, mist and pouring rain from Ebor down the Waterfall Way was not the best of fun. The next day saw walls of rain and wind all the way from Urunga to Brisbane. I arrived around 3pm, having to go through a bit of water around Mount Cotton, but the rain got even worse after I parked the bike.  I can definitely say Pirelli Angel GTs can handle the wet.

The ride back was uneventful. I came back inland through Dalby, stayed in Coonabarabran for the night, then home via Dubbo, Cowra, Boorowa. After the trip up less exciting and a bit of sun was just great.

At Maidenwell, the group



Barry was one of the original riders who went to Bunya Mountains back in the yahoo list days, about 10 years ago



The revised bar was really great


And a European fire place that really put out some heat


Some charcoal must be good for the diet





Darwin is a bit far for a quick detour this time, have to be home Tuesday night at the latest

[Gadget]

So do we put Bunya down for next year?

[Barry and Marissa]

So do we put Bunya down for next year?

Yep. Great spot for an RTE. And makes for an excellent over nighter.