2013 Tony Kirby Memorial ride .

The trip started out with a meet and greet at a cafe in Warners Bay , I met the Canberrans that were new to my aquaintence and Mark Met all the Southerners for the first time , there was Mark from Cooranbong ( OBT , Mark 1957 ? ) , Steve from Numerella , Ray from Berridale , and Doug , Phil and Royce from Canberra .
We had Breaky at the cafe and hit the tar for the run to Raymond Terrace , then swung onto Newline rd through the usual run through to Black Camp and onto Stroud .

We negotiated Black Camp rd and found our way into Stroud , so the smaller tanked bikes ( DR’s 20 l Tenere 22 l ) could refuel for the haul through to Gingers Ck. After fuelling up we went down to the tip rd and out towards the forest , we made our way across to Jarrah rd and then onto Crawford rd and then Bulli rd through to Cabbage tree rd . The run along Cabbage Tree was great and it felt really good to be on the way after so long planning this ride . We turned off Cabbage Tree onto Little river Trail and the fun really began , Multiple creek crossings and 7 bikes all loaded up for a 2 week tour meant some apprehension for some of the less experienced guys , everyone got through OK and had a ball into the bargain .

Well , Little river trail popped us out onto Markwell rd and we went left and then right into Manning Hill rd following that through to Bunya . I waited in Bunya at the RFS shed for the others and at first there was only 2 of us , there was a problem with one of the DR’s . Eventually we regrouped at Bunya but one DR was having issues , we comenced a fuel system tear down and while some worked on filters others dismantled the carby . It took about an hour and a half to finally sort the issue amd then we were on our way . We went through to Firefly and onto Titatee rd through to Bakers creek rd and there on the slippery causeway I witnessed Doug , riding the DR that had been having issues earlier , go skating accross the causeway on his back , silly bugger had not been on the ball and had gone through the center of the crossing with the throttle wound on , instand dumping of rider on arse :silly: ! Luckily he was unhurt and the DR fired straight up . Once we arrived at the Tirri bridge we did another regroup and had a look at the time . Due to losing about 1 1/2 hour with issues , we decided to go straight up Knodingbull rd instead of the planned Cells River Rd to afford arrival at Gingers Ck before sunset .

We got a wriggle on and did the Knoddingbull run in double quick time , only incident was a timberjinker was using the whole road coming around a tighter corner and very nearly got me head on , I was doing my usual keeping to the far left on bends and corners to avoid a head on but the cowboy Jinker driver was trying a bit too hard to be home before dark , he locked it up momentarily and slid further onto my side then released his brakes and pulled tighter into the curve giving me just enough room to get around the truck without collision . It was scarey shit let me tell you .

We all got into Gingers just before or just on dusk . We had a great meal and a few beers at very reasonable prices and were in bed snoring by about 10 ish .

Tuesday morning was sunny but cold , ice on the bike seats etc . we fuelled up and went West on the Oxley before turning left into Myrtle Scrub Rd to do a nice little loop through the forest to come out almost opposite Tobins rd on which we headed North to join up with Race course trail and eventually Spokes Trail for the run through to Kookaburra . It was a great ride through to the Bridge over the Macleay river and we went into Willawarrin for fuel and lunch . After fuelling up we Headed West again on the Armidale rd through to Hickeys Ck rd and swung to the NW . we followed Hickeys Ck rd till the intersection with Kilprotay and then went Nth to Postmans Trail where we went left towards the west , postmans trail is a nice scenic ride through open farmland and forest .

Right at the end of the Postmans Trail I came to a creek crossing that looked rather deep , I waited for the next rider to arrive and took pics as they all came to a stop . Mark took a quick look at the crossing and went for it . He made it look easy so we all , one by one went across with me bringing up the rear as I wanted to remain on the East bank to assist anyone who had a problem , which didn’t happen .

Once through the water we went out the gate onto Five Day Creek rd and Headed South back to the Armidale rd .
At the junction with the Armidale rd we went right towards the West for a while enjoying the run along the river with its magnificent vistas.
At Lower Creek we went right into Lower Creek rd and wound our way out to the Petroi rd junction where we went left onto Petroi rd .
Petroi rd proved an elusive quantity , we went right to the end of Lower Creek rd without sighting an obvious road to the Left so I back tracked about 2 – 3 k’s to an un marked and what looked to be rarely used turn off into a paddock . By scrolling ahead on my GPS I worked out that his was indeed Petroi rd but my GPS mapping showed it as Unnamed track for the first 6 or 7 km , very strange that it then shows it as Petroi rd once crossing into the National park . I led away along Petroi and went merrily by the turn into Georges Trail right to the end of Petroi and onto a Management trail that had the gate wide open . Thinking they were not trying to keep us out I continued on until I came across a car and an excavator . The Excavator operator told me I’d missed the turn off to get through to Forest rd and as he had finished packing up would take us back and show us where to go . He also said that it was lucky that the NPWS orificer wasn’t around as they wouldn’t take kindly to going through the gate . I didn’t say anything but thought to myself ….. well you should have closed the gate behind you if there is a ban on vehicles entering the area when not authorised . I didn’t see the sign by the gate when first entering as I was moving at a reasonable pace and the gate covered part of the sign when open .

Anyhoo , we followed the Excavator guy in his 4×4 back to the junction of Georges Trail and he told us to follow it to the bottom of the hill , cross the creek ford and then another cause way and up the other side of the gorge to Forest rd . The trail down to the first crossing is about 5 km long and a thigh burner , steepish and follows the gorge contours North down to the creek , the crossing is not a walk in the park but it is not difficult either , a bit of a challenge without being sphincter puckering . The climb up the Western side of the gorge is similar to the Eastern side , Steepish and constantly twisting with the gorge contours . Once we arrived at the top on Forest rd we regrouped and put on our warmer riding gear as it was only about half an hour before dusk and quite cool . We slabbed it into Dorrigo from Point lookout rd and arrived about 7 pm at the Pub after fuelling up . We Stayed at the Dorrigo Heritage hotel in the Dorm room and while a bit crowded with all our gear and bodies , was not bad value and the food onsite was also good .

Wednesday Mark led us out of town heading North through the Forests through Lowana and across to Nymboida and through to the Old Glen Innes rd .
Here our party divided , Mark headed North to the Gold Coast via Grafton and the rest of us Swung West on the Glen Innes rd and rode through to the intersection with the Gwydir highway . We only went about 2 k’s along the Gwydir before turning Nth again along dirt rds and farm tracks through to Tenterfield , this was great but quite dusty going and there was at times some challenge to stay on the correct track . We did however , manage to get right to Tenterfield without using the New England hwy at all courtesy of Steve’s GPS planning , he uses a Garmin Montana 650 T and I was quite impressed with the Gizmo’s ability to keep us headed in the right direction .

Once in Tenterfield my bike stopped for no apparent reason , I tried restarting, but it wouldn’t fire , out came the tools and I pulled off the fuel pump feed from the tank , fuel ran out so that was reattached , next I unscrewed the face plate off the fuel pump and some ugly coloured liquid came out . I thought that that may be the problem and started the bike and it ran ok , I then went straight to the BP servo and filled up with 98 octane as I had mistakenly put 10 % ethanol fuel in it the night before in Dorrigo , the pump in Dorrigo was marked Ultimate , which I mistook for Premium until Ray pointed out that it was cheaper than 91 octane and by that stage I had already filled my tank with the shit :blush: .

Tenterfield is a bit of a dud place if you ask me , half the hotels have shut down and the place looked deserted at 7 pm . The only place we could find for a beer and a feed was the Tavern which was a half hour walk from our digs , oh well it’s not like the exercise would kill us

Thursday was cold but clear and we were on our way by 8 am as per the ride schedule , straight out of town to the West and into the dirt after 10 or so Km . The riding through Mole river and through to Glen Lyon dam was a blast and then we were in Queensland . We had to do a bit of tar to get to the next dirt stretch but it was interesting and unfenced cattle country so you had to be on your toes .After about 20 odd km of black top we turned East and onto dirt , this was a nice interesting run through stations along the Western slopes of the ranges , there were a few issues with vehicles not paying attention to the road through here , but hey , we were in Queensland …..Volvo station wagons and Landcruisers have right of way up there 👿 . No damage done , just some ire raised :whistle: .

We popped out on the tar and Backtracked a few k’s South to turn West on more tar for about 8 -10 km and then Turned right onto more Station tracks and ran through to almost Millmerran with only a quick dog leg onto the Cunningham Hwy . North of the Cunningham there was plenty of Forest riding that reminded me of the Pilliga scrub area in the terrain and soil type .

Millmerran Was our lunch stop and the pie shop beckoned me , dunno why , the pie was only average and the coffee instant :angry: . We got out of Millmerran quickly , ( school zones go all day there :S ) and found more tracks that linked up and followed them into the forest where we followed the Rabbit fence for many kilometers . Forest began to give way to Farms , black soil country and Cotton , flat and featureless except for the man made structures , about the last hour into Dalby was like going through a maze of Cotton plantations , zigging this way then zagging that way but all good if a tad boring because of the straightness of the tracks .

We arrived in Dalby about 3 pm and went straight to Dalby Moto , Craig Hartley’s bike shop , to tell him we were in town on schedule and would be riding with his group the next day across to Kenilworth , alas Mr Hartley was at home , so we got directions to Craig’s home and easily found our way there .

On arriving at Craig’s we were greeted and offered the run of the workshop for any needed repairs , I had broken my rack mount at the back so proceeded to set up the bench for welding it up , that took all of an hour or so and the other guys there did chain adjustments and suspension adjustments . Royce took the opportunity to have a suspension savvy person who knows and sells Teneres advise him of how to improve his front end and did a cut and shut on his spacers on the front to back off the spring pre load which after a quick fiddle with the clickers he was very happy with .

In Dalby we were in a van park right next to the Criterion Hotel , so we went there for a beer and a feed , feed was average and the beer was good , but the entertainment was Karaoke and not one of the feckers could sing a note :sick: .

We were all ready to go about 7 45 the next ( Friday ) morning and as the ride started from Dalby Moto HQ at 0900 we went into downtown Dalby for Breakfast , it was magnificent , Carma Cafe , big breakfast of Bacon , eggs , mushies , baked beans , toast and Coffee all for $18 , cheering .

The ride from Dalby was a cracker , through first the Cotton farms and then cattle country onto Forestry and only short runs along tar to join up the dirt , it was great . Lunch was in a little café run by Ma an Pa have a chat and the food was excellent , if a little slow to arrive . After lunch it was more Forestry trails and another stop at a servo to wait for the Boulder Bros who had to nick off to get a tyre issue sorted early in the day . After the Boulders caught up we again headed off into the back roads , mostly farm access roads and the like for about an hour and then due to time getting short we bypassed a planned route and did about half to three quarters of an hour of nice twisty tar on the Western side of the Ranges behind the Sunshine Coast and then Turned East onto the Main Forrest road through to Kenilworth . We arrived in Kenilworth just before dark and settled in to the pub rooms and got to the bar for a drink .
Saturday morning was a bit of a late start , 0900 at the Kenilworth Showgrounds for a rider briefing before the days ride . Craig Hartley did the intro and Hen did the ride talk , about 0930 we were away .

Bob Condon led the second half of the ride .

The ride wound it’s way through the hills to the West of Kenilworth and lasted all day Awesome fun .

Most were back in Kenilworth before dark with only a few stragglers coming in after the sun set . one of which was Rusty Coxall on the 1190 R who was towed in due to a no go situation with the 1190 .

Sunday morning we were back to an early start with a 0700 meet for departure North to do so slab to get far enough North to afford time to get to Kroombit tops and see the plane crash site .

We set off and did the corner man on the tar and had covered a couple of Hundred km in a couple of hours before my bike began coughing and spluttering about 100 km North of Gympie . I limped the bike into the first fuel stop and proceeded to pull off the face plate of the fuel pump and did the same checks I’d done a couple of days previous , alas the issue remained . Ray and Mark were helping me do what was needed and after about three quarters of an hour with no confirmed progress made Craig Hartley came over and said we had to get moving or miss out on Kroombit Tops , as the bike was still in bits and not working , Mark and Ray elected to stay and help me sort the issue and then we would do some riding to the Booked overnight accommodation at Mulgildie Pub While the remainder of the party ( 20 odd bikes ) went onto Kroombit and then back to Mulgildie.

It took us about another hour to remove and dismantle the carbs and refit them and replace all the components back on the bike , when I hit the starter it fired up fine and ran well . Ray Mark and I then had a squiz at the map and decided to go out to the North East via Mt Perry and have lunch at the pub there and make further plans from there .

Mt Perry Lookout

At lunch we decided to have a go at getting through from East to West across Bania National park , information was a bit thin on the ground from the locals with most having no idea if the road/ track actually went through or not , we had a large scale map that showed a road going through and got hold of a local map that showed a similar road link up so decided that we had plenty of time so we went for it . We more or less followed our noses North and into the park and turned onto the road we expected to take us West , this was a bit of a worry though as the road continued on to the North Nor West for many Kilometres before we came across a road junction on our Left Heading West . We stopped and had a brief discussion about which way to go and was decided to follow this side road as it went in the general direction that we required . This road meandered up hill and down hill , around peaks and valleys before my bike began to play up again , it was now about 3.30 pm and the sun was beginning to get low in the sky , I did a quick tank removal and drained the float bowls and then replaced the tank and it fired up and ran ok , about now we decided that I had picked up some water in the fuel , probably at the Dorrigo servo with the Ethanol rubbish fuel I had put in a couple of days before , it only became an issue when the tank became low on fuel or when I descended a steepish hill , We continued on riding on rarely used twin track type tracks though what appeared to be an abandoned cattle station , there was crumbling stock yards along the creek we were following every 5 or so kms . Eventually we came out onto a more used dirt rd and turned towards the West again ( the creek we had followed headed South ) this soon bought us to a gate Marked on the inside with the National Park sign.

We were quite relieved that we were coming out on the Western side of the park as darkness was only about an hour away and we still had at least an hour to ride to get to Mulgildie . About 10 minutes after coming out of the park we hit another bigger intersection , still without signs , and the maps we had could not be trusted , so we did a bit of a clue observing exercise and decided unanimously to go to our right . The decision was vindicated 6 or 7 k’s later when we came to another intersection , this time the signage pointed us in the Direction of Monto which we knew was 6 km North of Mulgildie , our Destination , the sign said 36 km to Monto so I figured about half an hour , how wrong can I be :unsure: , about 5 k’s up this road my bike spluttered and stopped , no starting at all this time , I was almost at the crest of a hill when it stopped and Mark suggested we push to the top and see how far we roll down the other side , as I hit level ground at the bottom of that hill Mark eased up to my right rear side and put his outstretched foot against my right pannier bag and pushed me to the top of the next rise , this continued for about 25 km on dirt rds and then about 15 km on tar rds , the last 5 km at 100 kph on the Main Hwy into Mulgildie , we arrived at the pub just as the twilight was turning to darkness . We ditched the bikes out the side of the pub and had a beer and a shower after booking in , then ordered a feed , Pizza was the special of the night and we ordered a large each when shown the approximate size of the pizzas by the Bar staff . A few beers later , the pizzas arrived . Only issue was , the barman had understated the size if the pizzas by about half , they were feckin’ huge . I duly consumed the lot as I had claimed I would , Ray and Mark made valiant efforts but were stopped by the last piece or two . We were starting to wonder at this stage where the rest of the original group had got to , the barman walked over to our table with the phone and asked for Mark , Mark took the call , it was Fish ringing to tell us to please order half a dozen pizzas and get a carton of beer for them as they would be late arriving . As it turned out , only six of the original 20 or so that left us that morning actually made it into Mulgildie that night , and they arrived around Midnight , we had not got the beer for them as we were not confident anyone would make it to the pub after subsequent phone calls from the Boulder bros and Steve . There was 6 staying in Calliope and another six or so at Ubobo , so the adventure had really been an adventure . Turns out that there had been a stuff up with the corner man system ( we were in Queensland after all :whistle: ) and Ross had got somewhat lost , Craig had gone looking for him and no one else knew were they really were , seems a bit of a disagreement was had about what to do , and some went to Calliope for fuel and others went to Ubobo for fuel , Ubobo had shut at dusk , as it is a little village like Kulnura so those guys had to get their swags out , the Guys in Calliope stayed in a motel . Everyone was in Mulgildie by 930 the next morning and by then I had pulled apart my bike again and drained all fuel and water remnants from the system , Ray and Mark went into Monto and filled up while I replaced all the components of my bike back into one package that I hoped would work . Ray also bought a litre bottle of Metho and once back at Mulgildie , put 5 litres out of his tank into mine and 5 litres out of Marks tank into mine and about 300 ml of Metho into my tank as well . My bike fired up and was running well after a few cranks and everyone else got their stuff together and we departed South down the Highway to Eidsvold . Most of us arrived in Eidsvold and went to the servo to fuel up , but one of the Dalby crew , big Scotty had had an issue back near Mulgildie and had to go into Monto for repairs , the group was split once more . I still did not trust my bike so I made an agreement with Glen from Uralla ( OBT GlenM ) to follow him back to Dalby down the Highway as his chain and sprockets were almost spent . It was a boring drone down that Hwy but we were back in Dalby by about 3 pm , We found where the Suzuki Dealer was and Glen purchased sprockets and then I took him back to Craig’s shed where we let ourselves in as per Craig’s instructions and I left him to replace his chain and sprockets . My bike had run faultlessly all day so I just parked it at the Caravan park and had a shower and a couple of beers .

That night we were invited to Craig Hartley’s home for a BBQ and a few ales to celebrate a great couple of days in TK’s memory . We had a good night and left before 11 pm to get some sleep for the ride the next day.

Tuesday morning we were up on the go by 0730 and went straight to the Carma Cafe in Dalby for one of their great Big breakfasts and Coffee :cheer: , then we went over to Craig’s to pick up Glenn who had been offered a bed there the previous day and accepted . Now there were 8 of us , Mark , Ray , Myself , Fish , Boulder , Scott Graham , Glenn and Robbie .

Glenn and Robbie were going to tag along with our group until Bendemeer or there abouts and Fish and Boulder were also going to travel with us for the 3 days we were expecting it to take us to get home .

We departed Dalby heading West on the Moonie hwy before taking a left turn to head South about 15 k’s out , about another 10 k’s later we were on dirt heading into forest . We wound our way south through forest and farm land for all of Tuesday morning and came out onto the Gore Hwy just to the West of Millmerran . We turned Left onto the Gore and rode into Millmerran and out to the South East down the Ingle wood rd and turned of that near the Power station and got onto the dirt headed to Mosquito Creek rd , we turned onto mosquito ck rd and headed South West down into Inglewood for a counter lunch and some fuel .

After lunch we headed South towards Texas before turning to the South East onto dirt about 20 km out of town , we followed the dirt rds down towards Glen Lyon dam until Robbie had a collision with a Roo and hit the deck , the damage of the bike was minor and Robbie was not too damaged , sore thumb and a bit of bark off , the Roo was dead . we straightened Robbie’s front end and got under way again with the decision that Glenn and Robbie were going to get back onto the slab and ride to Armidale that day in case Robbie’s Thumb was more than sore . We turned right onto the Mingoola rd and Headed South again , crossing the State border back into NSW about 3 in the Arvo . We hit the Bruxner at Mingoola and went Left towards Tenterfield and 6 of us , Minus Glenn and Robbie , then went right into Upper Mole river rd towards Silent Grove . we wound our way through Silent Grove and Torrington through to Emmaville and pulled into the Pub there , the two story Pub opposite the Mining Museum , The owner came straight out and opened his garage for bike storage overnight and we went upstairs for a shower and then some beers . We had a subdued but relaxing night with a few beers and a bit of a talk about the next days ride route .
We got a phone call about 8 pm telling us Robbie and Glenn were home and OK so all was good .

Wednesday morning was fecking cold , – 8 in Emmaville , the air was still though and the sun was slowly warming the land , made a late slow start after a hearty breakfast was cooked for us by the staff at the pub , Bacon eggs and tomato with lashings of toast and baked beans .
We got away about 9 am after Scott had left about 0830 for a slab run home due to having to deal with a custody issue with the child support agency the following day. Now there were 5 . We left Emmaville headed for Inverell and that road is a nice mostly dirt run , but was very dusty so we really needed to spread out , we got to Inverell and fuelled up and headed South again to wind our way through the back blocks on dirt to Barraba for lunch and then South East through some awesome farm roads to Bendemeer then through Bendemeer Station rd , on which we stoped to enjoy the amazing vista .

Kingstown area

Bendemeer Station rd Vistas

About 5 minutes after the above pic was taken Fish had a little off after not seeing a sharp rise in the road due to dust and the bike fell on him . He remounted and continued on , knowing something was not 100 % with his lower right leg .

I followed Fish for about 50 of the next 100 km noticing that his right foot was at a weird angle pointing out from the bike and he was not using it at all . WE turned South down the Limbri rd at Woolbrook and went down the rail line through sheep country , it was drier and dustier than I’d previously seen through there . At the Junction with the tar rd into kootingal , Fish said he was going into Tamworth Hospital as he thought something was broken in his lower leg . Boulder went with him . Mark Ray and I went into Kootingal and booked into the pub there with a room for us and a room for the Boulders .
We had a few beers and a shower and went down the Bowlo for a Chinese feed as that was the only restaurant in town that night and Mark got a call from Boulder telling us Fish had a broken ankle and Tibia :blink: , He is one tough mothertrucker though he rode over 100 km of dirt and tar with that injury and didn’t look to have any problem except the angle his foot stuck out at .We rang some OBT friends and organised some aid for the Boulders , Bollocks turned up at the pub to give Boulder a lift back to the Hospital to pick up Fish’s bike and follow him to a safe storage shed ( Boony’s ) where the big girl was left and then Bollocks gave Boulder a lift back to the pub via Maccas for a feed .

Thursday was again cold – 4 in Kootingal , but compared to the previous morning it felt almost balmy weather to us Thinking-thinking .

Then there were 4 . We went East towards Weabonga and around to the Niangala area and then through some great stock routes to the Nundle State Forest entry , through the Forest and out onto the Nundle Hanging Rock rd . At the Nundle Rd intersection Boulder asked for directions back to the tar as his chain was getting noisey and was very worn , he was going to slab it home , so I told him how to get onto the New England Hwy from there and he left us Headed for Nundle and Wallabadah . Mark Ray and I turned Left and rode past Sheba Dams and down the Barry Station rd .

20 odd creek crossings later we were at Moonan flat having a beer and some lunch , there has been some modifications happening at Moonan nice new veranda for the restaurant with cafe style seating .

After lunch we went towards Scone on the tar and then went Left into `Stewarts Brook rd and then right onto Carters rd and then right again onto Caneens gap Trail through to Upper Rouchel rd and back into Aberdeen , I left Mark and Ray on Upper Rouchel rd as my front tyre was looking very second hand and was not working very well at all on dirt and I slabbed it home from Aberdeen arriving right on dark . 4,250 km exactly according to my odometer and not any punctures on any of the bikes I rode with , Thinking back at the trip , I’d love to be getting on the bike and going again today , a damn pity money and life gets in the way of doing what we truly enjoy .

Cheers
Alan