Grace Lutheran Church Ride 17 November 2012

The day started a bit "wrong" for me, as I hadn't fully read the instructions for the ride and was down at the church with fellow rider Mark, whilst everyone else was waiting for us at Grace Lutheran College. Fortunately for us a quick trip home and a rescue call from Desley and we were on our way.

Pastor Chris lead us up through the Glass House Mountains, Maleny, Montville and Mapleton, down through Nambor, Cooroy and then Noosa. Lunch at Elvis' Rock and Roll Diner and then back along the coast to Caloundra before hitting the highway back home.

On the way back I did have a close call; entirely my fault and I'm grateful to the quick reflexes of the driver in the white van I pulled out in front off and promise to always double-check my mirrors and look over the shoulders as well.

All up though, a great day ride with the usual crowd and some great scenery.

Quick Trip to Bathurst 8-11 November 2012

The DR800 finally got the best of me. After many hours of cleaning and rebuilding the carbuettors, I thought I had it sorted. Indeed, it started on second go and then ... it stopped.

Out of despair I reached out to some of the guys on various Internet forums. Rob from Bathurst is a specialist; clearly a talented amateur from whom many professionals could learn from. Ron agreed to look at my bike and so arrangements were made for me to tow it down to him and leave it with him for a few months. I am so relieved.

On Thursday morning I set off.

On the way down, I stayed at Bingara. Fuelling up on Friday morning at the local BP I met Bim who has just upgraded to a Triumph Thunderbird and is planning to tour Queensland in the very near future. Bim told me that the road between Bingara and Narribri is a great bike road. "The whole way you will be wishing you were on your bike". How true that was. Here are some of the views:

What's wrong with these photographs? The bike should be on the road, not the trailer!. Hopefully that will be resolved soon enough.

Taken with Samsung Galaxy Note phone 2/3s along the way from Bingara to Narrabri.

On Friday afternoon I arrived at Rob's place. We stayed up Friday night talking bikes. On Saturday morning we spent hours in the shed ... talking bikes. Here's the punchline. Rob said, well, lets see what happens when we sturn it over and you've guessed it; the Widowmaker started and in fact ran well. Perhaps the bouncing around on the trailer had loosened the needles or some rubbish in the fuel lines. Nonetheless Rob could see other problems that needed attention and so I left the Widowmaker with Rob and set off on my way back up through to Narrabri and then Moree, letting the Garmin Montana have its way with me.

Here's a tip for those of us with a cush drive

Now I know that the more experienced amongst us would already know this and I'm pretty sure now that I was shown this back in 2010 at a Horizons Unlimited meeting but had forgotten about it.

If you are removing, working on, or re-inatlling a rear wheel with a cush drive, remember that the sprocket carrier comes away from the hub fairly easily. To avoid this being a problem, either wire or cable tie the sprocket to sokes on the wheel. Life will be some much easier. Trust me, another lesson learnt from making mistakes.

If you don't know what a cush drive is, here is the Wikipedia article on cush drives.  Here is a photo from a postie bike as I did not think to take photos of my hub. It is quite similar to the Suzuki one though.

Planning ahead - Horizons Unlimited Travellers Meeting, Cavendish Victoria, 11-13 October 2013

In 2013 we are planning two Horizons Unlimited Travellers Meetings. The first is in Dayboro, Queensland and the second is in Cavendish Victoria. Some details to hand at this point from the meeting organizers:

On behalf of the people of Cavendish we would like to invite all World Motorcycle Travellers (or those planning to travel) to our town next October.  This will be our first HUBB meeting and the first one in Western Victoria and we are planning to have a good time.

Date                Friday the 11th to Sunday the 13th, 2013
Place                Cavendish Recreational and Camping Ground
37°31’21.85”S. 142°02’35.76”E
Cost                $
Saturday night meal        Pay at time of ordering meal.
Camping fees        Pay caretaker on arrival (currently $6 per person per night)

Cavendish is a small town of about 150 people, we have a hotel called the Bunyip Hotel a Post Office and a hall;  the only shop closed down some time ago.  The people of Cavendish are a very friendly and helpful and in the past have hosted over 300 Ulysses members at the camping ground.

The Bunyip Hotel is open 7 days a week and serves amongst other things tea/coffee, light refreshments and meals on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

For food and fuel the nearest town is Hamilton (about 30km to the south).

There are plenty of things to see and do in the surrounding area. Cavendish has the Settler’s Walk which is well worth walking, including an old jail and a settler’s cottage (about 1.2 km total length) and is a short walk from the camping area.  Nearby are the Grampian Mountain Ranges and the Black Range.  At this time of the year many flowers and other fauna are to be found, many are only found in this area.  To the south is Port Fairy (stop on the wharf for fish and chips) and Portland.  The area to the south is also an old volcanic area featuring extinct volcanos, lava flows and lava tubes.

The camping area is a very large public camping ground with a limited number of powered sites.  As you enter the camping area it is fairly level with the powered sites nearby.  You can camp here or you can go over the cattle/sheep crossing and down the hill to a very picturesque area on the Wannon River and camp near the river (you may need mosquito nets).  The showers/toilets are at the top near the Cavendish Football Club rooms which we will be using for the forums etc.  There is also a camp kitchen consisting of a covered area with a bbq and dish washing facilities.

Local service clubs and associations will cater at the Football Club rooms from Friday morning to Sunday midday;  they will provide breakfast, lunch and tea and other light refreshments.

Itinerary for the weekend

Friday            meet and greet

Saturday        Forums (to be announced)

Saturday night    Social meal (at the Bunyip Hotel, short walk from the camping area).  We are planning on booking the hotel out, so please indicate when booking whether you want to have a meal (it is a good quality pub meal)

Sunday        Rides - 2 to pick from

Ride 1, Bitumen.  Byaduk caves or Mt Eccles National Park, explore the local volcanic places of interest.

Ride 2, Hard packed gravel and some sand.  Visit local native paintings and a short scenic walk in the Black Ranges.

We are looking forward to meeting everyone

Anthony and Janet Morrison
Organisers

And some photos of the area: