Tom and Waz recently hatched up a plan for a get together at the Casper Rally due to Waz not being on call this last weekend and twisted my arm to force me to go along with them since we hadn't been for a decent ride this month.

The Casper Rally is held at a very picturesque campground at the bottom of the Abercrombie River gorge about halfway between Oberon and Goulburn. Tom and I were to meet Waz at the campground with a planned rendezvous for 3.00pm Saturday afternoon so we needed to depart our usual meeting point near Branxton at 7:30am, which might be a bit brisk as it is winter in Oz.

As we were heading inland to higher altitudes where it would likely be colder than at home base I layered up big time and dragged out the winter riding gear. We were away on time heading for our first coffee stop at the little store in the Bylong Valley. As predicted, the further we went the colder it got and even with heated grips on (poor Tom didn't have heated grips on his mount of choice - his boxer) my finger tips were burning and toes getting numb by the time we arrived at Bylong to be greeted by the news that it was -7 degC there and the water pipes were frozen. The lady manning the store was hopeful that there was enough water in the coffee machine to crank out a couple of mugs for us. Thankfully there was!

Having warmed up a bit we were on the road again but still in sub-zero temperatures until we reached our fuel stop at Rylstone. Thankfully from Rylstone on the day was warming up into positive single figure temperatures for the next leg down to Bowenfels for lunch and a quick top up of the tanks to ensure we could comfortably make the remaining distance into the campsite and back to Oberon on Sunday morning.

The afternoon run down past Hampton on the Jenolan Caves Road, through the Duckmaloi area and south down the Shooters Hill road to the rally campsite was very enjoyable as the country through this part of the Blue Mountains is very scenic with most of it in the 1200 to 1350 metres altitude range.

On arrival the smiling face of Waz greeted us. He had chosen to ride his GS this weekend so it was a mixed bag with Tom on his Boxer and me on my G650GS. Our bikes along with a couple of interlopers.


We had arrived on time so had plenty of daylight left to get the tents up. Naturally since Waz is the largest of we three he had the smallest tent, carefully camouflaged in front of the tree, and the converse for Tom. I'm just stuck in the middle.


Having got some less than gourmet food into us before it got too dark we joined a friendly bunch of other rally enthusiasts around the campfire to sip on a range of alcoholic brews, purely in the interest of keeping warm, and whiled away a few hours listening to the yarns of riding adventures past. Once the booze runs out or it gets too cold to continue we all wandered off to the hopefully relative comfort of our sleeping bags, making sure of a comfort stop on the way as there was no way I was wanting to have to get up during the night.

Daylight greeted us with a heavy layer of frost over everything left outside and a sight rarely seen in Oz with the waterhole being completely frozen over and some playful participants skidding stones across the ice.




Breakfast was had with the same bunch from around the campfire the night before. Tom looks fairly pleased to have just survived the night.


With the frost showing no sign of disappearing we faced up to packing the tents with their coating of ice as we had about 450-500km between us and home and we needed to get on the road. Once goodbyes were completed we three got away about 9:45am, Waz heading back south and Tom and I turning north. It was a cool to cold ride up to Oberon for our fuel stop and then north up through Tarana to the Great Western Highway, then after only 5 km back off onto minor roads at Meadow Flat, through Portland, Cullen Bullen and onto Rylstone again for our lunch and final fuel stop.

As always the run through the Bylong Valley was enjoyable save for one P plater in a 4WD thinking he was on a race track  pulling off a ridiculous passing move on a very tight winding section. As we got closer to the coast the clouds built up and we were into rain showers as it got dark making the last section difficult riding.

Here's a map of the round trip for Tom and I. Thanks to Tom and Waz for the company - always good to catch up.


Cheers

Thanks for your report. Winter is not the best time to ride, although, it may just equal an English/Scottish summer.

Great write up Gaz.. It was a good weekend to catch up with Waz and enjoy the cold. I reckon everyone should have a good freezeup a year... Arrived home about 6.30 in time to have a hot shower, clean up and enjoy the football. 
A great weekend.
Cheers Tom

Thanks Gaz and Tom. It was a pleasure as usual. I followed the rain all the way home, wet road all the way but no rain, snow or ice on the way.
Apollo 19/7.

A good writeup.

The upcoming Apollo is guaranteed sub zero, usually lower than Alpine or Casper. Will be there next weekend.

Al

Sorry Gaz - missed your ride report first time around, but thanks to Al pulling back into the "new posts" section, I got to see it! Great stuff, but there is something fundamentally wrong with reports of frost and ice in Australia. My entire life has been spent believing the myth that Australia is always hot.

Stan - you're not far wrong with your comments; the perks of living in a temperate climate, or is that temperamental climate?

Good to hear of the krew getting out and about, even if the poor ol' Ks were conspicuous by their absence on this occasion.

Is their any other owners of K's in Cumbria / West Cumbria and what have you got?