Being the sometimes adventures of Clint and Charleen Lovell, motorcyclists
of Brisbane, Australia

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CnC’s Christmas 2009 break

by Charleen (click any photo to enlarge)

I had two weeks away from work and it was time to visit our son Adam in Melbourne. This time we were taking the two little bikes – Clint on the CBF1000 (Biffer) and me on the CB1300S (CeeBee). We left Brisbane on Monday 21 Dec a little before 8am. It was the usual steady ride out along Ipswich Road and up to Stanthorpe for our first stop. Refuel the bikes and coffee for us at the Caltex/Maccas.

Starting Out

Leaving a FarTH at Mingoola

Rather than travel the main highways, Clint has a bit of a zigzag run though to Gunnedah. It’s a little longer but it is so much more enjoyable. The constant pressure of always watching the speedo and wondering whether the next car along will be a patrol car is lifted. Also it was a good opportunity for me to get some practice at the big sweeper type corners. This is my riding weakness. I love tight twisties and the CeeBee will hold its own on the highway but when it comes to the big sweepers especially ones that I can’t see through, I chicken out and wash off quite a bit of speed, which means having to catch up somewhere.

We head off from Stanthorpe to Coolatai and Warialda. It was around the back of Sundown National Park that a reasonably sized roo decided it wanted to cross the road at about the same time Clint was passing. What I saw at first didn’t make sense. I saw the roo coming out from the right and into Clint’s path, but Clint wasn’t braking. The roo was then a little out of control as it bounced away behind the Biffer and into the bushes at the left. It was still making its way into the scrub as I passed. I was on the alert for the second roo which didn’t eventuate. A little way down the road Clint pulled over and was rubbing his right lower leg just above his boot top. It turns out that Clint decided to accelerate when he worked out the trajectory of the roo. If he had braked it would have been a rather serious collision, instead Clint only had a slight bruise to his leg and the roo most likely had a sore nose and a headache.

At Mingoola, a very small settlement west of Tenterfield, we stopped to drop off a Treasure Hunt item for the FarRiders. Called the FarTH, we record its location and post that on FarRiders site. It is then up to another FarRider to go pick it up and take it elsewhere. One of a few motorcycling "games" the FarRiders play.

At Bingara we picked up the Fossickers Way and onto the Oxley Highway to Gunnedah for the night. There were a few cattle along the way. As usual there were a few on one side of the road away from the herd. One beast challenged Clint for a share of the road and another late runner decided he would take me on. Clint slowed and braked for his and I had slowed enough for the crossing to be a safe one.
Set ourselves up in a motel room in Gunnedah around 5:30pm – 688km for the day. An hour lost due to Daylight Savings Time.

Next morning we set out around 8am. Again the back roads called us, on through Tambar Springs, Gulgong, Mudgee and Bathurst. The ambient temperatures were starting to climb. We certainly were riding in summer. On arriving in Bathurst we naturally had to do a lap of Mt Panorama. Clint led the way to the top where we stopped for a couple of photos. I lead the way through the dipper and down the straight. We pulled into the museum and spent about an hour looking at the displays and videos. Back on the bikes past Lake Wyangala.

Atop Mt Panorama

Wyangala Dam is still empty

We pulled up at a T intersection to decide where next – Yass or Gundagai. I chose Yass. Not having any maps I was a little disoriented as to which way we were travelling and didn’t realise that we would have to back track in the morning. I was feeling tired and the closer option was more appealing. There had been a few corners that almost caught me off guard. Most of the corners were good sweepers and I was almost keeping up with Clint. The ones that tightened up unexpectedly spooked me and I think this contributed to my tiredness.

By 6pm we had found a motel room, cleaned the bikes and checked on the split that was in the Biffer’s rear tyre. The split was widening so we decided to check with Jeffrey Honda in Melbourne in the morning to see if they could fit a new tyre. 642km for the day.

Tyre Split

Wednesday 8:30am we were on our way to Melbourne. Back onto the Hume Highway for a while and then turn off to run through Yarra Valley was the plan. We pulled into the service centre at Gundagai to refuel and grab some breakfast. While Clint was in paying for fuel a ute driver decided he couldn’t wait for us to move so he pushed his vehicle between our bikes and the car opposite. The squeeze was so tight that he pushed on the Biffer’s mirror. Words were exchanged and it seemed that he was in such a hurry that he couldn’t wait. In my helmet I wished his passenger a safe trip because if he behaved the same way out on the roads ...

The day was warming up and the Hume is so uninspiring. We refuelled and had a cool drink near Glenrowan. It was close to 40 degrees and we were feeling the heat. Clint listens to podcasts while travelling. I prefer not to – but the boredom of the Hume was getting to me. I was pushing the little button on the instrument panel far too frequently, to check the telemetry – Trip 1, Trip 2, Air temp, Bike temp, Odometer.

Jeffrey Honda is at Ferntree Gully which is east of Melbourne. Clint noticed a turn off near Euroa that would take us in the general direction. What a relief!! The road was narrow, tree lined and had corners. Yiippeee!! Instantly the temperature dropped by about 10 degrees physically as well as mentally. We snaked our way through the back roads until we reached Yarra Glen and onto the M1. I asked Clint how much further – only 15 minutes – I can manage that. Well that’s 15 minutes of free flowing traffic with no red lights etc. At one set of traffic lights we were delayed for what felt like an age. The heat rising from the CeeBee was starting to burn my legs. I was getting headachy and really needed to stop.

We made it to Jeffrey’s by 3:30pm. I parked my bike and went straight to the 7Eleven next door to get some water and some electrolyte drink. Clint had found the water cooler inside while it was worked out what to do about his tyre. We just kept drinking. It’s a long time since I had felt the effects of dehydration and I was in a similar state again. About an hour later, with a new tyre on the Biffer, we battled our way through the traffic to Adam’s place at Elsternwick. Stopped for the day at 5:30pm – 630km.

Bikes cleaned, gear stowed in our room – Elsternwick was our base for the next few days.

Thursday, Christmas Eve was spent catching up. Clint had bought some motorcycle windscreens at auction and had carried them to Melbourne in the hopes that one might fit Adam’s Revere. There were a couple of possibilities which meant Clint had to get some brackets at a hardware store. So there was some time on the bike for him. Adam was working a half day, so I kept myself amused with doing a few things around the house and doing the shopping for our Christmas celebrations.

We exchanged gifts on Christmas Eve as well as feasting on Atlantic salmon, scallops, prawns and salad. Adam was in need of some method of carrying gear on his bike. He had tried a backpack but found that tiring. While we were at Jeffrey’s we noticed a tail bag that would suit – excellent gift. Adam’s gift to us was an assortment of foods that we could make into a picnic – great for taking with us on our ride of the Great Ocean Road tomorrow.

Christmas morning arrived with a cloudy outlook. Checked the weather maps and the impression was that the weather wasn’t all that bad. Around 9am all three of us were on the road. Clint leading the way, Adam in the middle and me as tail-end Charlie. There was a fair bit of traffic through Melbourne, a few folk going slowly along the freeways but generally it was all good.

	Three on G.O.R.
Adam on the Revere

Along the Geelong bypass road the temperature dropped. It was cold especially for us having been so hot only two days before. We stopped at the Great Ocean Road archway for the obligatory pics.

On we travelled. I was carrying my big camera in the hopes of getting some good shots of Clint and Adam hooking into the corners. I saw a couple of terrific locations, but being at the tail it was pointless. Next stop I suggested that Clint and Adam wait a while for me to get ahead. I found a spot – nowhere near as good as the ones I’d seen earlier but I wanted to capture the day. We tried again and this time instead of the boys pulling up and waiting for me to stow my gear, I waved them on. It was great fun catching them up. It wasn’t too hard as they were soon caught behind some slow cars.

Next stop was Apollo Bay. The one and only cafe that was open was doing a roaring trade. We only wanted coffee and there was a queue to get to the register to order. Adam and I left Clint to the coffee and we found an available picnic table and set up our Christmas present picnic.

Warmed by our coffee and snacks, we pushed on with the traffic through the forested area. Here I got stuck behind a car whose driver was trying to be helpful (I think). With oncoming traffic and double white lines, he would indicate to the right once and then pull over to the far left of the lane and then some. I don’t like this kind of helpfulness. The car obscures any vision of what may be lying at the edge of the road for instance road kill. If the driver decides to pull back in suddenly while I’m passing in the lane, I have nowhere to go. Also it leaves me vulnerable to the constabulary who would take delight in booking me for passing in the lane.

Eventually I passed Mr Helpful and caught up with the boys. We reached the Apostles/Colac intersection and turned for Colac. We’d had enough of tourists. The road to Colac was fun. Clint let the Biffer have its head, Adam tried to keep up but not for long and I was bringing up the rear. It was along this road that the Revere ran out of fuel. Switched over to reserve and had a steady run into Colac to the first available fuel point. It was only a bit after 3 in the afternoon. Adam wasn’t fussed with staying in Colac so we turned for home. As this was Adam’s first long ride, he was feeling it and asked for a few stops on the run back to Melbourne.

The breeze had increased and was coming at us from the right and almost head on (1 o’clock-ish). Adam did well to keep hold of the Revere. He didn’t have the luxury of any fairing or windscreen. We stopped at Grovedale servo. Arrived at Elsternwick at 5:30pm. A tidy 458km for the day. What a great way to spend Christmas Day!

Saturday and Sunday were spent around the house. Saturday night Adam went to a party at a friend’s place. Clint and I met up with Phil and Kate (RoadBandit and FazerKate) for dinner at Glen Waverley. We had a great time chatting about all sorts of stuff. Eventually the staff at the establishment told us they were closing up for the night. The night air was crisp which made for a cold ride home.

Adam had to fly to Brisbane unexpectedly on Monday and we had made arrangements to stay with friends in Greensborough on Tuesday night. We took the opportunity to visit Wilson’s Promontory. This would be some new roads for Clint and me. The run to the Prom was mostly highway, all very familiar as far as the Phillip Island turnoff.

Two at Wilsons Promontory

Distant Rock Island

The road to the Prom is rather nice. We stopped about halfway down one hill to take a pic of the bikes with a bay background. That was our only opportunity to get a photo without a tourist in it. At the village at Tidal River we rode around the carpark and couldn’t find anywhere to park the bikes. In the end we parked at the shoulder of the entrance, bought some lunch and had a picnic on the grass. We decided to call into one of the bays to have a look at the beach. Good thing we’re on bikes as we managed to park in a space that was just the right size for two bikes. We walked to the beach in all our riding gear – must’ve been a sight – naively hoping to see the local landscape with minimum humans. Got that wrong didn’t we. Oh well there will be another opportunity some day, just not peak holiday season.

Time to start heading back and look for our accommodation for the night. Once off the promontory, we turned generally east to travel along the Foster Promontory Road and found ourselves at the historic township of Toura, oops Toora. Did you know they have a wind farm? Travel for the day 290km.

Tuesday we were expected at our friends’ place for lunch. We left Toora via the post office and headed back in along the highway. Clint had plotted a way through. It was marked as a tourist route. We rode under some large pines that were providing breakfast for about twenty yellow tailed black cockatoos. Wonderful to see so many in one place. Our tourist drive soon ended as the road turned to gravel. Not my idea of fun. We backtracked to the highway and stopped for a coffee in Leongatha. More highway running when Clint turned off at petrol station. Wondering why as we weren’t due for a fuel stop it soon became clear. Somewhere along the way a bird took a disliking to the colour of his jacket. All cleaned up and we continued on to use the East Link. Toll roads aren’t a worry for us especially after some of the tolls we’d paid in USA. What I’m yet to find out is whether I get a speeding fine. I was stuck behind a van hogging the right lane and a sedan in the lane to my left. There was a bit of a gap so I wound the CeeBee up a bit and was about to squeeze through when my better judgement pulled me up. The gap was closing, there were the overhead structures and painted marks on the road. Not sure if this was a speed camera. I’d slowed but maybe too late. I guess I’ll find out through the mail.

We arrived at Greensborough at 11:30am as arranged. Our friends Andy and Marilyn were impressed with our “punctuality of Kings”. We made ourselves comfortable inside with a drink and some conversation. Where to for lunch was the next question? It was decided that we should head up to Yea. This would take us through some of the bushfire affected areas. Turns out we were travelling on Andy’s favourite local road. I was travelling a little slower than Andy and Clint because I wanted to have a bit of a look and take in how the area was coping. Marilyn kept an eye out for me to make sure Andy didn’t get too far in front. At Yea we enjoyed a light lunch and headed for our home for the night. We rode the Black Spur at very sedate speeds as there was a lot of traffic. That’s OK, got to have another bit of a look around. We were planning to ride another twisty road, don’t know the name but Marilyn needed a break from helping Andy ride the VFR so we stopped for ice cream near Healesville then headed for home.

Andy tries out the Biffer

Clint samples a classic VFR750

Back at Greensborough Clint and Andy swapped bikes - Andy on the Biffer and Clint on the VFR 750. They went out for a short ride just to get a feel for the differences in the machines. On their return we shuffled bikes and car around so that the garage was full of bikes and the car parked outside for the night. The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent telling stories and talking about just about everything. I think we headed for bed around midnight. All up 422km for the day.

Wednesday morning Andy prepared a cooked breakfast and we packed the bikes. More chat and we eventually were underway. Our destination for the day was Cann River. Clint plotted a way east that would mean we wouldn’t use the East Link again. We turned onto a road that was more like a roller coaster track. It became narrower, had speed humps and turned to gravel. Not just gravel but boulders and washouts. Not happy Clint!! We turned around and found our way out onto the main roads. Seems the GPS took umbrage at us not following the route so it was ignoring Clint’s way points and was taking us back to the East Link and highway.

We pulled up in a carpark and Clint sorted out the way to go. We wanted to go through Warrandyte. We found some rather suburban roads but they were interesting. Somewhere along the Yarra Junction Noojee Road another CB1300S rider pulled in front of us from the right. We were again heading in for some interesting road. The CB rider took off. Clint sat back for a little while then decided he couldn’t let a CB get away from him. He sat back at about 200m. The two of them enjoying the road. Eventually they pulled up at an intersection to Warragul. They had been chatting for about 3 minutes when I turned up. It was then that we were able to put faces to names. The other CB rider is Mark whom we met at the SuperBikes last year. I know Mark from the CB1300 forum. We chatted for a while and took piccies of the twins. Mark went his way and we continued on ours. We pulled up at Yarragon for a break – had a snack and a drink in the shade sitting on cool grass. That’s a really nice town to stop. I bought Clint some lollies. They’re called Shocking Lemon. They lived up to their name – not sure what the compound is but it is bitter/sour/salty – real face puckering stuff.

CB1300S Twins

Time to press on again. At Traralgon we stopped for fuel and then followed the Traralgon Maffra Road to Stratford and back onto the Princes Highway. I love the road into Cann River. I had some good fun there. One big right hander really had me with the bike set and just gliding through the corner. By 6 o’clock we were settled into our motel room at Cann River. Turns out we got the last one. We had passed a number of construction/mining type LandCruisers that were headed back towards Melbourne. They had booked out the motel and at last minute cancelled their bookings. 498km for the day. Not bad considering it was a late-ish start and some socialising.

Thursday – New Year’s Eve. We got underway around 7:30 to travel the Monaro Highway. Again a bit of new road for us. We had been travelling well. There were the usually cautionary wildlife signs. Before Bombala we stopped for a photo of an encounter between a rather large roo and a little car. It was very recent. The fluids from the little car were still wet and slippery on the road. There were no people around, so we guessed they had been taken to a safe place. By Nimmitabel we were ready for something to eat and a coffee. Refreshed we headed on through Cooma, bypassed Queanbeyan and Canberra and arrived at Goulburn to refuel. The weather was starting to look stormy. We had been travelling with a storm to the west of the highway. The main activity seemed to be north of Canberra and that we were travelling around the top of the storm.

Ouch!

We made our way along to Taralga where we stopped for a cool drink. Another couple on bikes pulled in for a break. They told us that they had just come through some light rain but it wasn’t much. It was hot enough not to worry about some light rain so we didn’t bother putting on the wet weather gear. About ten minutes down the road it started to rain, not the light stuff either. Stopped at the edge of the narrow road we put the wets on. For the remainder of the Taralga and Abercrombie Roads we were in reasonably heavy rains. The rains eased but the weather was still threatening as we made our way along the Jenolan Caves Road.

We headed for the Bells Line of Road and the Putty Road. The temperature was warming up and Clint’s GPS seemed to understand his aversion to riding through towns. Just as I thought we would pull into Windsor to get fuel, we turned away to make a track to the Putty Road. I ended up stopping in the driveway of someone’s home to take the wets off and generally just have a stretch. The non-physical bungy cord between Clint and me twanged taut and Clint turned back to join me. The whole time we were stopped there was a little dog loudly defending his home from the potential intruders. As we rode away I thought “Sorry” to the home/dog owner “but your driveway was just the place to pull up. Hope we didn’t cause you to worry”. Clint wasn’t sure where the next available fuel would be so we turned towards Windsor and pulled into the first place that was open.

OK! Fully fuelled – the Putty was calling. This was the first time I rode the Putty. Being New Years Eve we travelled at reasonable rate not wanting to draw the attention of the law. What a terrific road!! It seemed that a bit of a storm had been through before us as in places there was quite a bit of vegetation on the wet roads.

We were out in the open country, just near the first lot of tailings a roo bounded up to the roadside. He saw the guard rail and Clint and turned away. As I passed him, I had the horn wailing to make sure the rather large beastie turned away. I checked with Clint later. He hadn’t seen the roo, he was checking the GPS for motel information.

Our stop for the night was in a plush motel in Singleton. Even with a significant discount, this was our most expensive bed for the night. As we were unloading the bikes, a couple staying in a nearby room started up a conversation. They had come along the Putty also. We told them of the storm evidence. No they hadn’t seen any storm. They were only about 40 minutes in front of us. After 822km for the day, we were ready for a walk and a beer. Walked almost to the other end of town to find a hole in the wall and then back to the pub for a cold beer. Our New Years Eve was spent having red wine and pizza and watching Dirty Deeds movie on Austar. We were asleep long before the year changed over.

Friday, a new day, a new year saw us travelling the New England Highway through Muswellbrook, Tamworth, Uralla and Armidale. It was raining in parts again. We were catching up to the wet weather that had been around this part of the country since about Boxing Day. I had prepped my visor with anti-fogging and rain repellent stuff. Very happy with the way it all worked. The rain slid off the outside of the visor nicely and there wasn’t any fogging. At Armidale we turned onto Grafton Road to make our way down Waterfall Way. Dorrigo saw us pull up to pack away the wets again and call ahead to let our hosts for the night know an approximate time to expect us.

We had been making good time until we were caught by the traffic lights to allow one direction of traffic at a time. There were two cars in front of us and a push bike rider wheeled to the front of the pack. When the lights changed the push bike rider pedalled hard but he was keeping the traffic slow. Eventually we rounded up the traffic to be stopped at the next set of lights. Sigh! That pushed out our ETA by forty minutes. Travel through Bellingen was reasonable for a 40kph speed limit – not a lot of foot traffic. Finally out onto the Pacific Highway for a run to Coffs Harbour. Here we turned inland to Nana Glen and our stay for the night. Don and Kath welcomed us into their home. The distance for the day 522km.

Before we left Nana Glen we checked the weather – nothing too threatening. Summerland Way and Mt Lindesay Highway here we come! We refuelled in Grafton and stopped for coffee in Kyogle where we reset our clocks to Eastern Standard Time. After Grevillia I could smell fuel. I was sure it wasn’t my bike and pretty sure it wasn’t Clint’s. We caught up to a ute towing a boat, a car and a LandCruiser towing a pop top caravan. The lines changed and the way was clear for some passing. Trouble was both Clint and the LandCruiser driver thought this was their chance. Clint was halfway along the caravan by the time the driver had started to pull out (without indicating) - too late for the Landcruiser. Clint was as far to the right as he could be and the driver pulled back in. I waited a second or two to check the driver wasn’t coming out again and went passed ever watchful for this guy. I worked out what the fuel smell was – it was the LandCruiser! He must’ve had his foot flat to the floor and back a couple of gears. Hate to think what his fuel consumption would have been.

The run along Mt Lindesay Highway was reasonable although there was another caravan to slow us. Clint got by fairly easily but I had to wait until there was a clear opportunity. Clint waited for me at the border gate. We then had a good run through the twisties on the Qld side. From here it was plain sailing even on the Gateway Motorway. We were home by about 2pm having done 384km for the day. All up 5440km for the trip.

The bikes were unpacked and cleaned. Although we generally give the bikes a wipe over each night, there’s always a lot more grime to remove.

When we decided on this trip as it was the Christmas break we would be mindful of the presence on the roads. We saw at least one patrol car each day. Thankfully their attention was given to other road users and never concerned themselves with us.

I’m happier with handling the CeeBee through the sweepers. Clint’s happier now that I’m travelling well on the big bike and he’s having a ball on the Biffer.