Diesel's and Streak's "Lap of the Ox"

Streak and I often talk about getting away on the bikes for a quick tour. It is mainly opportunity and responsibilities, that keep us from doing this a lot more often than we'd like. You ALL know what I'm talking about there.

Anyway, we had a rare moment where the stars aligned and were able to do an overnight ride somewhere.

I haven't been to Winton or Longreach yet and am keen to see those two places one day, but they are over 9 hours from BrizVegas and straight roads to get there - we were looking for more of a challenge this time - particularly as Streak had just taken delivery of his new White ST1300 Pan European Police Special!

And what a fine specimen ...

We initially me up at the Outpost Cafe in Canungra for brekky - along with another fine OzSTOC Member - Sean and his lovely '04 Blue ST1300.

This was Anzac day in Australia and towns and cities all over Australia get together in remembering our fighting heroes from wars Australia has fought in. Veterans proudly March through the towns' closed off streets, and they are cheered on by admiring citizens and the general population. Canungra is no exception, and was setting up for their own Anzac Day celebrations as we enjoyed our breakfast and coffee.

Upon leaving Canungra - we turn to the south and head into the Numinbah Valley, Natural Bridge and Beechmont areas of the Gold Coast Hinterland and Lamington National Park. Here is a map of this section...


Plenty of fantastic riding roads and villages dotted throughout the valley.

Here are some pics of the region as we zipped through it...

Fantastic in the fresh morning air.

Then on to Casino for lunch...


A classic moment in all rides with groups or mates happened next...

"Hmmm... I wonder if this is the turn - yep - let's take it!"

Then this...

Yep! Straight down a dirt road!   

Anyways - we soon fixed the predicament. Makes me wish there was a "Road Bike" option on Navigators which won't allow dirt roads in the routes!

Made it to Casino for some motion lotion and our own go go juice...

Streak took great pleasure from telling EVERYONE about how his last bike (ST1100) drank less than mine after riding the together and fuelling up side by side, and how it did so as a much older model with carburettors (as opposed to my computer controlled fuel injection - etc etc etc). He didn't say too much when he put in 3 quarters of a litre more than I into his new white 13!!!                        

Guess I must have ridden better lines and apexes!       

After lunch was a transport stage down to one of my fave areas to ride in called Pringles Way, which goes to the friendly little riverside hamlet of Lawrence. You then follow the Clarence River bank to Grafton through some premier livestock countryside - just marvellous...

The fun doesn't stop there..... All the rest of the way is some of the most picturesque scenery I had ridden in. The landscape changes from lush green river irrigated meadows, to semi arid wheat paddocks with mountains in the background, to magnificent lush green valleys and hills.

But the weather had something to say about this, so we donned the wets and avoided most of the deluge - for NOW!

The road from Tyringham through Dorrigo and down Waterfall Way is somewhat how I imagine beautiful England and Ireland to be like - except that it's 25 degrees C here!

The rain well and truly caught up with us eventually, and by Dorrigo, it was belting down - so much so, that we decided to call it stumps for the night instead of pushing on to Bellingen - which was down the beautiful, but winding, Waterfall Way.

Guess what? No room at the Inn - so we had to push on regardless. It wasn't as daunting as we had predicted, but plenty of care was still needed...

Here is a link to a video I made of Waterfall Way on another trip...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr5jWWoGrWw

We ended up pulling in to Bellingen, and the loudest pub in the history of pubs! Anzac Day is the only day of the year you are allowed to play "Two Up" and the locals were extremely rowdy from spending most of the day here.

Anyway - the room was AWESOME! They gave us a whole dorm to ourselves!

We knew we'd have to blend in as quickly as possible, and assumed the "covert tourists" position...

Well anyways - it beat putting up the tent and swag in the pouring rain!!!

Next day:


As we gained permission to park our bikes in the locked drive through section of the pub overnight (for security), we had to wait until the publican was out and about to unlock the doors for us, so we made the most of looking around the lovely and quaint little town of Bellingen...

Streak on the 'Boulevarde of Broken Dreams...

Brekky at a creat little cafe. John, the owner was quite a friendly character - we will enjoy his company and cuisine again...

This parkland was just near the cafe strip - another great day to be alive...

We were told to go a very entertaining little back way from Bellingen to Urunga via South Arm Road and Brierfield - very nice. Road surface was a little rough, but quite an entertaining ride.

More shenanigans...

 After Urunga and Nambucca Heads is Macksville...

In the name of spontaneity, I decided to take the Coral Coast turn off to bring us down to Crescent Head along the coastline, instead of the boring old slab of freeway we were on. And it was lovely... for a while...

But the road got narrower and narrower until petering out to dirt - so a backtrack was on the cards (of about 25kms!                          
But you take these things in your stride when touring - right mate?         

This is me getting 'THE LOOK!'

Anyways, it cost time that we would have to make up later.

We entered Wauchope, cleaned the visors, checked the bikes over and prepared for attack mode of the Oxley Hwy. Dun Dun Daaaaarn!! The Oxley is like a bike Mecca - especially on weekends. It echos to the roar of in-line four 'crotch rockets' whom shatter the silence of the otherwise peaceful, serene forest. You can see it marked on the map from Wauchope - Bendemeer (we turned off at Walcha).

What a BLAST! Plenty of hairpin turns, tight turns, and flowing curves to satisfy every riding style.

I waited for Streak at our turn off into Gingers Creek Roadhouse after being advised it was a 'must do' by my good friend Kimmie.     

Coffee and a scone? I'm going soft! At least there was a ginger beer too!    

Back on the bikes and headed off to see some great friends in Guyra - so this meant riding through Walcha.

 Nice and colourful in Autumn...

Had a lovely coffee with Jean, Chris (two of the new Admins of OzSTOC) and their great kids Courtney and Jayden. Chatted for a while, but then it was time to hit the road again, so farewells were said...

We rode off into the evening, with no particular plan of where to stop for the night.... love it!


Got through Glen Innes, arrived at Tenterfield and thought "thistle doo!"

Set up camp in the dark, and got the grub ready, after stopping for supplies at the local grocer/bottlo...

Yep... stuff that legends are made of. Streak burnt his can soooo badly that it had to be thrown into the bushes - but MY can was scrumdidllyumscious! We gobbled it all up - and it was good!                  

You can see by Streak's plate in the pic, I had to cut his food into small triangles and do the 'choo choo' thing so he would eat the food.

Anyways - that about covers the trip. We said our goodbyes and continued to our respective homes, safe in the knowledge that we were dead right when we thought.. "This should be fun!"

Last pic of STella as I opened the gates to home....

Thanks Streak for a great weekend - and letting me use a few of your pics for this blog.  

Thanks for reading. Hopefully, more to come real soon.    

Cheers, Diesel