Day 1: Dural to Mount Royal National Park (near Singleton) via the Putty Road.

All day the bike had a mild cough. Bit of a flu perhaps. I ended up thinking it was Rosskkos shock playing tricks on me. But when I hit the dirt in the National Park the beast spluttered and died proper. Only took me about 45 seconds of swearing to figure out that I had not reinstalled the locking screw that holds the main ECU connector in place, under the seat. Plugged it back in a vroom vroom is all she wrote. 

The camp site in the National park and the Putty Road had something in common this last Monday....I had them all to my self. 







Day 2: Mt Royal NP to Woko NP via Thunderbolts Way.

Had a great ride through the National Park and then proceeded back to the main route - only to discover I had broken one of the studs/lower handle bar clamp thingy. Took it to an engineering shop in Singleton and was very lucky to have bumped in to the GS riding boss of the place who promptly dropped whatever he was doing and dedicated himself to getting me back on the road. Wish I took pictures at the time...but he drilled out the remaining stud, tapped it and it now uses a high tensile bolt screwed up into it rather than a nut to hold it through the top triple clamp. 

Also noticed 2 broken fins on my oil pan...damn....need a bash/stone plate and a radiator guard asap. 

Camped next to the Manning River in Woko National park and once again, had it all to my self

Cool!  
Where you heading to floyd?
Safe travelling mate.

Enjoy your travels Floyd, good pics mate.
Your welcome to drop in and say g'day if your traveling through Guyra, also plenty of space.

AHH !!! looks fantastic Floyd

just what the bike was made for I guess

good to hear the issues were  realised to small ones  with good folks being able to recognise the bmw in the beast


have fun ....and if you get up this far (or close byish ) give me a bell  , gerty is off the road at the moment ...looking for some shims to fit up on the weekend ,,,,but wont be long till back on the road

charlie99 wrote: ...looking for some shims to fit up on the weekend ,,,,but wont be long till back on the road

I bought 3 shims from Precision Shims. $9.90 each and you can buy singles. Freight overnight. The service was perfect.
Cheers

enjoy the adventure Floyd, aside from some minors , you look to be having fun . thanks for keeping us all along with you.
that pic in the causeway is a photo comp entry for sure.

Dang, I DO like that colour scheme Floyd. It reminds me of the Lyrics from that Beautiful South Song Rotterdam......"Battle Khaki personality with red underwear"

Hey Floyd, was the guy at the engineering shop in Singleton a real "handsome" fellow named Gerard? His shop is opposite the Aldi store down towards the railway station.

If it was him he's a mate of mine and I'll get the low down on your repair next Friday while he & I are having Chrissy drinks.

Enjoy those back roads and stay safe.

Cheers

nice song Will ...made my day   thanks

Thanks for reading, and all your replies guys.

Gaz, yep, that's him all right. Couldn't have been more helpful! Legend.

More pics and stories to come... But my laptop had decided to die enroute.

Having a great time and doing some sensational riding. Im loving the dirt sections in particular. Loving the bike!

Day 3: Woko NP to Cathedral Rock NP

Woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Spent the day signing Paul Kelly songs in my helmet and sipping coffee with a thousand yard stare. 

Found the busiest NP camp site so far (shared it with 2 caravans) and consoled my troubled soul with lamb chops cooked on a wood fire and beer.




Day 4: Cathedral Rock NP to Bundjalung NP

The best day in the saddle so far. The back roads from Dorrigo through to Coramba then onto Grenreigh and Nana Glen are Alot of fun, particularly the first section of dirt. Had an absolute ball! The bike was marvellous through here. 

Made it back to the coast in time for a skinny dip in the Pacific. Lovely.

Day 5: Bundjalung NP to Toonumbur NP via Nimbin & Kyogle

Woke up to the rainiest day of the trip so far and decided to sit out the worst of it in a WW2 bomb shelter from the RAAF bomber training. 
Headed back into the hills to Nimbin to errrr replenish my supplies lets say...Drank lots of coffee and got stoned chatting to an elderly couple from Belgium travelling around in a van. 

Headed to the lovely town of Kyogle (never been there before) before heading back into the bush for the night.

The campsite at Iron Pot Creek in the National Park was once again completely empty, and utterly gorgeous. The creek running by the camp was crystal clear and varied between worn, smooth stone and nice sandy bottom. I blissed out for several hours in the the stunning, flowing pools of the creek and my soul was certainly recharged. 

Good on ye!!

Those quiet camp sites look a joy and as for Lamb chops and beer cooked on the fire? Heaven!

Keep the ride reports coming Floyd.

Upside down camp fire - ala the Girl Guides I believe....




Lamb chops on the barbie...now with added carbonara

Day 6: Toonumbur NP to Stanthorpe (via a series of [slightly] unfortunate events...)

Woke to the day invigorated and ambitious. Lucky really or things could have been far worse....

I set out North from the camp site toward RickG's place in Stanthorpe . I was travelling on a newly reopened track through the NP that had been closed for many years prior. There was a bit of a drizzle that sometimes worked up the effort to be considered rain. I didnt mind, It added to the Jurrasic Park feel of the track...



As I was remounting my great steed after having snapped the above piccy, a softness through the bars told me something was amiss. Didnt take long to confirm my instant fears....the other (right) handle bar mount stud had decided that, upon consideration, it wanted to spend the rest of its days right there, on that particular track in Toonumbur National Park. 
Bugger.

Decision time.....continue on the track north, hit Summerland Way and head to the next town/Ricks place? Or head back the 60 odd kms through the NP to Kyogle...
I reckoned that I was closer to the bitumen to the north, in the direction I was heading. I nursed the old girl as easy as I could given the conditions. When you take these beasts into the mud and dirt and sand they like to move around in ways that makes the road rider feel rather sick to the stomach. All this movement was playing through the bars and into me and I had to be very careful to put as little force through the bars as possible. The worst is when you need to correct the bike when it moves in a direction (toward a sheer slope lets say) you dont want it to really be going....

So, nervous I was. Tense, indeed. Imagine if the other (already broken and repaired) stud sheared now too? Due to the forces of the bumps an the mud and the lifting and the standing...

But....I was making good progress, safe(ish) progress...And hey, its these rides that make the est stories right?

Then this.......



No way around. And no way through. The rainforest to either side was as thick as thick. The tree was immense and solid. 
Bugger...

Back to Kyogle then.....60-70kms of rough slopy rocky road and 20km of twisty potholed bitumen.

T.B.C

floyd wrote:Day 5: Bundjalung NP to Toonumbur NP via Nimbin & Kyogle

Woke up to the rainiest day of the trip so far and decided to sit out the worst of it in a WW2 bomb shelter from the RAAF bomber training. 
Headed back into the hills to Nimbin to errrr replenish my supplies lets say...Drank lots of coffee and got stoned chatting to an elderly couple from Belgium travelling around in a van. 

Headed to the lovely town of Kyogle (never been there before) before heading back into the bush for the night.

The campsite at Iron Pot Creek in the National Park was once again completely empty, and utterly gorgeous. The creek running by the camp was crystal clear and varied between worn, smooth stone and nice sandy bottom. I blissed out for several hours in the the stunning, flowing pools of the creek and my soul was certainly recharged. 

ah yes   toonumber ...and iron pot creek ...nice place... lived out there for a few years  Floyd ...some great tracks into the bush and connect up to many strange places ...further up there are amazing sights from the range ...little travelled by almost anyone
almost a requirement up in those hills is to carry a small chainsaw ...a few times I have met the same ...on one occasion the tree was ablaze  with a lightning hit and a localised forest fire ...and one particular tree across the road ....hmm back up  backwards up the road the road (lions road Kyogle to queensland ) found the bushy I remembered seeing working the rail line and a little off the road down a scarey steep slope   all the kidlings in the back amazed at the not normal road conditions and dad driving ....

yeah sure mate ...be up in a second ....five cars now were trapped behind that tree no way to turn around and no way forward


old bushy fronted in the 4 b  and parked on the side of the hill, wandered over to the burning tree ,,,we managed to put the fire out on the high (trunk side ) for a meter or so with bottled water we were carrying ...old bushy carved a slice through the 15 inches or so of the trunk this side with his 20 inch chain saw  ....then wandered down to the low side and cut off the top ..branches and all  a bit of chain and a rope attached to the old "prairie " (Nissan people carrier and ugly duckling ) tied to the tow point and we were able to pull the high side down to lay across the road in line ...another couple of cuts we just rolled the logs off to the side of the road ...whooeee ..and off we go again after thanks and a good handshake with old bushy   ( got his number an dropped off a carton some time later )

big experience for the young ones ...they will never see anything like it again ,,,but for the bush aware ...pretty standard stuff ....whole event ...just over half an hour
far better than taking the alternate route of more than 2- 3hours travelling time  and some friends (other cars caught behind the burning tree and old bushy ) gained along the road ...


your trip sounds great  ..travel well



pssst send me your contact details for the aussie nz and oceania contacts thread ....just in case !