Saturday, December 11, 2010

Wild Hogs Road Trip - 4th to 6th dec 2010


Well, our bags were packed, bikes polished and fuel tanks filled...the tree amigo's (Paul,Dave & Ken) were ready for our 1,200km road trip. So it was off to Beaudesert to Macca's for brekky and to try and get all our headset talking together

It rained for most of the way to Bellingen so it was great to arrive at the Federal Hotel and find our room and have a nice hot shower. We were there to catchup up with an old mate and had a great night.With our bellies full of a healthy food we headed of to Kyogle via the "Lions Road" ,one of our favorite ( in the dry).... as you guessed, the rain started to fall as we made our way into the mountains. As we crossed one of those rickety old bridges it was really pouring and unfortunately the mighty green machin
e's front wheel hit a bad part of the road.... and , well it proceed to buck me off ( amazing how your life can flash before your eyes in a split second),thankfully the big crash bars protected the key bits and with the help of Dave (never ride alone) and a passing phone,we were able to get it up and running. A quick check and we felt we could make it to Kyogle for a full check ( despite a few scrapes,bruises and sprains).....well it survived another 1,000km, the engine never running better but the rest of bike has a lot of scrapes & dents.


The fun began we were working who was going to share the queen size bed that nigh
t, having pleaded injury privileges fo
r the single bed...so Dave and Ken were the lucky couple. It hardly seem I had put my he
ad onto the pillow,stuffed in the earplugs (you will know if you have ever heard Dave snore)...when there was stiring from the queen size bed..with bleary eyes I asked what time it was ..4:30am was the reply, I promptly rolled over and tried to go back to sleep.

Finally in Bellingen we found the tru faith....thats "ecofaith"?


So having had an early wakeup and a hint clearing weather we loaded the bikes
up again and continued on our roadtrip...along Waterfall Way up to Dorrigo ...so off we went climbing through the mist, landslides,pass the water fall to emerge up on the amazing plateau to Dorrigo and the "the worlds smallest bike museum" for on of Juan's great breakfasts.

From Dorrigo we journey through some amazing landscape, 14 deg C, mist, was something out of something out of the "Lord of the rings" and down to Ebor to check out the road conditions on our way to Inverell then onto our overnight stop at Emmerville.

What a fantastic trip through Ebor, Guyra, Tingha (home of some good leag
ue players) and Inverell. First time to Inverell , not sure the fact that the sun was out it seeme
d a very pretty town, we caught lunch at the riverwalk cafe.

We left Inverell ,down to Glen Innes before going of the main track for Emmerville, a former mining town of 400 people. A great ride...one of the highlights of the trip. We stayed at the Club Hotel ..a pub built in the late 1800's... three separate rooms, we were there for "pizza" Sunday...and could walk around the town in 30 min, fly's and all.


check out some pics HERE

After a great night we left for home, through Deep Water, morning tea at Tenterfield....off the beaten track at Tabulam, weaving our way along narrow country roads with a little drizzle along the way. A final fill up at Woodenbong and off down the range, a bit slippery for my liking but a great ride in the dry. It was magic bursting out of the rainforest's onto the plains...a closure to our trip...we had a fantastic time, great memories ..... hope to see you next on next years Wild Hog road trip.

You can check out this great trip on Google Maps HERE


Paul Cav