3 states and more ride report 2011

Yeh! same as Dusty! I’v enjoyed folowing the trip and seeing the great places and the action shots of the water crossings. Pretty sure that I would be a bit woried bout the depth and running curent.
Good stuff.
Cheers Teza.

Day three – departure from Dargo

With the end of daylight saving brought another glorious day for adventure riding and what a day it would be!!!

A bit of a late start as the general store did not open till 8.00am, so after refuelling, all the bikes lined up in front of the Dargo pub for the obligatory photo session. Nickj & Motodude had done repairs to their broken racks (amazing what you can do with zip ties and straps) in readiness for the Haunted Stream Track that we had missed the previous day. :woohoo:

I took the lead again this morning (I think because I was the only one with a map) and lead the boys on forest roads down to Dawson City (a grassed clearing at the start of the Haunted Stream Track).

The last 2km of track winding down to the start of the Haunted Stream Track was a snotty overgrown and washed out single vehicle trail which was hard work. When we pulled up TB asked why I had lead them down that shitty track and my reply was ‘that is the track you had plotted in the GPS’ with that he apologized – thankyou TB.
There was a dodgy looking group of Vic 4WD’ers with large knives at hand camped at the clearing giving us evil stares but I think we out numbered them so one decided to show us how tough he was by tearing backwards and forwards through the creek as fast as he could in his 4wd. :angry:

Lotsa lead us down the Haunted Stream Track which was a single vehicle trail which was pretty rutted in places with rocky creek beds and approaches. I don’t think anyone got photos of the track as we were all having such a great ride. We stopped and regrouped after about 10km , which is about half way along the Haunted Stream Track. Nick commented that he counted 54 crossings in that distance!!! Fark
We then pulled off the Haunted Stream Track up the Stirling Track which was another great blast winding uphill for about 7km before we come out on a main forest rd, the Angora Range Rd.

The rest of the ride into Omeo was a good mix of Forest rds with a few Kms of tar at the end. Just in time for a counter lunch at Omeo pub. With bikes refueled and full bellies we headed to Benambra with as much dirt rd we could. Turning off the Limestone rd onto Beloka Rd which we followed for a while before turning onto some rocky mountain trails leading us to the top of Mt. Pinnibar. :cheer:

The dust on these tracks and roads was worse than we experienced on the Corner ride as there was very little wind and some of it was like bulldust which just stayed suspended in the air making visibility very poor back in the pack.

Motodude had a low speed drop while we were turning about on the track which put a crack in the tank of his 640 adventure. Boulder came to the rescue with some 2 part epoxy repair goop. :unsure: We waited for about 20 minutes for the epoxy to set and we were on our way again but it was not the end of Motodudes trouble. As we gained altitude Moto’s bike started coughing and farting and ended with the power of a peewee 50 (I think a PW50 would have been faster). He could not make the top of MT. Pinibar which we had to cross over to head out towards Corryong. :ohmy:

The ascent of Mt. Pinnibar was harrowing as it was getting late and we were heading up hill into the setting sun, with dust stirred by the lead bikes and dirty visors / goggles it was a challenge to even see where the track was let alone navigate the rocky ledges with loaded bikes. Nickj was powering up behind TB and had a big off when blinded by the sun which caused a bottleneck on the upward climb.
The view from the top of Pinnibar was fantastic with clear blue skies visibility went for miles. :woohoo:
Motodude could not get up the Mt. as his bike was running so badly. So plans were changed and we headed back down to him and would head back to Tom Groggin as we wanted to be out of the mountains before dark.
Moto pulled out his airfilter which was laden with dust and bashed it on some trees to shake some dust off. His bike ran much better after that but daylight was fast disappearing so we headed down the steep Mt Pinnibar track.
It was challenging to keep the back wheel from trying to overtake the front wheel on the steep skatey track as there were very few flatter sections where you could slow down or pull up.
On one of the less steep sections we pulled up behind TB who was pooring water on his overheated rear brake. You could have brewed a cup of tea with the water that did not boil off as his brakes were that hot. 😆
While we waited our sweeps Moose and Kram pulled up behind us only to be told Kram had an over the bars incident on the way down one of the steep sections. :sick: He kept his arms tucked in as he landed and hit the ground with his head so there was no damage to himself. The bikes forks were a bit twisted with superficial damage to blinkers & bits but Kram did not seem to notice so we proceeded down to the Murray river and onto the Alpine Way.

With the light quickly disappearing we headed up over Dead Horse Gap and into Thredbo village with a stop at the Alpine Hotel for a quick drink. A vote was had (I think) to continue on in the dark to Jindabyne and stay the night at Jindy hotel.
We arrived at 7.30pm, booked our rooms, purchased take aways then headed to our rooms for well earned hot showers.
A short time later most of us were sitting around out the back of the rooms having an ale while Lotsa had a fire going to cook his dinner (gas burner).
Later in the evening I think it was Kram came back out of his room saying the Moto GP was on TV which had the crowd quickly disperse to the comfort of their rooms to watch the GP race. :woohoo:

End of day three

Just a message to say Moose and Kram made it safely to Wauchope at 7.30pm tonight and Kram is headed for home.

Mrs Moose
PS Hope his chain doesn’t come off or he is on his own.

mickp wrote:

I was driving back from Tamworth to the central Coast this afternoon about 2pm heading through Walabadar and saw 2 adventure riders heading towards Tamworth, reminding me of the great ride we had earlier in the week then realised it was Moose and Kram on their way home

Mick

that wouldn’t be right mick :ohmy:
all these old bulls passing through Tamworth and none of us knowing about it ?
we would have lined the roads with rose petals :cheer:

welcome home lads…great reports

Bol :woohoo:

Wow what a ride,First of all I’d like to thank TB for a magic ride also nick J for leading us through some great tracks. The haunted dream track was just fantastic so many water crossings,Mt Pinnaroo !! what a climb to the top the sun was setting in the west dust everywhere couldn’t see a thing but yet we all managed to ride the mighty hill.My hat goes off to Kram who rode his mighty machine everywhere we went with ease and the biggest smile once his helmet was removed.Moose for sweeping most of the ride and never complained once and was always there to help out if needed.This ride took me back to the sidetrack days and a big thanks to you all for wetting my appetite in adventure riding once again.The highlight for me was watching the big black Titanic sink on her 1st and 2nd water crossing:laugh:
The low was not getting a photo once I’d dropped TB’s pants and accidently pulled his undies down as well in front of the folk singers at St Alburns pub, Nick J and I couldn’t stop laughing for at least two Bundys. 👿 Apparently the folk singers didn’t see much either ??:blush:
Thanks once again to all you guys for a great trip.Also Boulder for all your help thanks BRO.
Cheers Fish