Monday 15 to Saturday 20 - the AGMHelen returned to Melbourne via Jetstar, and then six days melded into one. Could've been the heat and the humidty (28C & 99%), could've been the beer - yep.
Mick off-the-leash. Whoo! Hoo!I suspect many of you know about Ulysses and the AGM? I f not, check this:
http://www.ulyssesclub.org/
We are a social club for motorcyclists over the age of 40. We are the largest organisation of this kind in Australia.
Membership of the Club is open to any person, subject to the National Committee approval, who has attained the age of 40 years and who holds a current motorcycle licence. There were around 3,500 to 4,000 attending the AGM at Maryborough. In 2007 there was 6,118.
Anyway back to the report ......... I only got drunk once, stayed that way for the six days. Double dose heart and blood pressure pills are precious.
The Piazza & Beer Hall:
Bruce & Burkey
Burkey (right) is a mate of a mate of a mate, and good bloke too.
Bruce (left) we met at the AGM, and is a champ. He is 85 yo, rode his '48 BSA from Gunnedah (around 850km). BSA conked out late on day two of the ride, rather than leave the bike on the side of the road or the bush, "some prick might have pinched it", he rolled out his swagged and slept with it, next morning he called for a maxi-taxi with a rear lift ramp, with bike in back of taxi he was delivered to the AGM some $300.00 lighter.
We said,"... bull shit Bruce", so he took out his iPhone and showed us the pics.
An 85 yo, '48 BSA and an iPhone - go figure!!!
Bruce went on with the iPhone a Googled some photos of him and his son in the Sydney Skinny Swim. He assured us that he kept his kit on for the 900m swim - I hope so. Otherwise, it may not have been too pretty.
At times the BAC got low enough, there were plenty of test rides, like Bandit 1250, DL650, FJR1300, GTR1400, ST1300.
I gave the Suzuki boys a good marketing idea and suggested they put up a sign out the front:
Kawasaki GTR1400They weren't impressed. I said let me finish, the sign should read:
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Kawasaki GTR1400 = Suzuki Bandit 1250 plus DL650.I think it'll catch-on.
Stats for the week - too blurry.
Saturday 20 April Maryborough to Clifton went something like this:
http://goo.gl/maps/zpxC5
Late start for Mal (my riding buddy for the trip home) and me after drying and packing tents and squeezing gear in the trailer.
Early lunch at Tiaro.
Then secondary roads, Bauple - Woolooga Road very nice, Wide Bay Highway, via Kilkivan (nice little town), Goomeri, Burnett Highway, Nanango, Yarraman, start of the New England Highway, through Toowoomba and overnight at Clifton.
Clifton is a town a mate moved to in 70's. George (the mate) called, wrote, called - "you gotta come up a visit". So I did, he was long gone.
We stayed at the Clifton Arms Hotel - twin motel style cabin out the back, under cover parking - $60.00.
Dinner at O'Shanley's Irish Pub was another highlight. Cold pints of Guinness served up by Paddy (true) and Bridie (not true) and Lisa (true), and a genuine Irish Stew (true).
I take Mal's word on this. He is a chef, worked the world over in hi & lo class establishments. He knows his tucker, and he reckoned this was the real thing. In addition to the stew we got to re-fill the plate as many times as we liked, all for $16.00 a plate. Top value!!!
Did I mention the Guinness? In case you forgot.
Mal's the bloke in the grey T-shirt. I'm not sure about the "other bloke" though. Mmmmm, errrrr, that's me.
Mal's a good bloke, he looked after the "other bloke" when he got drunk and cheeky, and stopped him getting into to trouble with some of the locals.
And a genuine Iris Pub in SEQ? Apparently there was/is a big Irish community in the area. Although Killarney is a fair bit further south .
Today's distance = 369km.
Sunday 21 April Clifton to Maclean went something like this:
http://goo.gl/maps/tAQCl
Early (8:00am) start today, first stop Warwick for breakfast, found a cafe with six bikes out the front, this must be the place.
Got chatting, "where are yuse guys from?"
"Melbourne".
"Wadabout yuse?"
"Lismore, Casino, Kyogle, etc ....."
Ah! Some locals, they'll some good roads.
"Well, head out of town for Killarney, then via Mt Lindsay Highway to Legume, Woddenbong and Rathdowney, then Running Creek Road and Lions Road to Kyogle."
They finished their break and took off. By the time we finished we were around 45 minutes behind them, but caught them (here-in-after called the LIARS) at the Woodenbong pub. Why the LIARS? Because they lead us over the worst bit of road ever called highway. The Mount Lindsay Highway (MLH) may have been a grand road at some time, but would've been many, many years & tears ago, now it was rough, bouncy, patchy, shitty, crappy - and they're all good words for it.
We see six bikes at the pub, go inside to look for the LIARS, outside to the beer garden and get a roaring group, "Sorry fellas, we didn't know".
So much for local knowledge - WTF?
In better days the MLH would've / could've been one of the great roads, at least some of the scenery was good.
Two pics of Mt Lindsay:
Between Woodenbong and Rathdowney the MLH was first class, good sweeping corners, tight corners, tighter corners and the sccenery even better.
Rathdowney to Kyogle. Did I say the last section of MLH was first class? I did not leave much room to improve as Running Creek Road and Lions Road were even better.
Fast, tight, slow, sweeping, uphill 19% grade (handled superbly by the Mighty CB with trailer), down dale, farm land, along side a creek (Running Creek?), forest. Oh boy, this one had it all.
Kyogle to Casino via Summerland Way, Woodburn to Maclean via Coraki and through farmland, sugar cane fields, old almost forgotten villages and hamlets - flat, fast and quiet.
Woodburn to Maclean via the Pacific Highway - fast, busy, crowded and to be avoided unless you wanna find a pub before it's too dark.
At Maclean we checked into the Argyle Hotel ($70.00 for twin room with ensuite A+) and Ireland to Scotland in a day. A few cold schooners of Tooheys Old and then a short walk to the RSL for the $15.00 per head Sunday Chinese smorgasboard.
Was that Ireland, Scotland, China and Sweden, all in one day? No wonder I was so tired!
Today's distance = 372km.The best is yet to come, and it's tomorrow.
