Thursday, October 1, 2015

September - a Kyogle day and Yamba o/night roadtrip



Finally it was back on the road again with our Band of Bikers Community now numbering over 300 when we include Gateway and Meetup subscriptions. Some 25 riders and 20 people joined us this monthly ride incorporated a trip to the Lions TT (at Kyogle)and our first 2 day roadtrip ...this time down to Yamba. 

Some 15 people came along on the 650km run down to Yamba, via Lions TT Kyogle and across the Clarence River on a barge at Lawrence. We dodged most of the rain on the way down but found some in the morning the following day as we headed home via Byron Bay, Murwillumbah and Numinbah Valley as the QLD dry weather kicked in.
I love finding roads that bring a smile to the face of an old cruiser ride...on this ride apart from the usual I loved "Pringle's Way" between Casino and Lawrence and "Tweed Valley Way" off the pacific highway up from Byron Bay to Murwillumbah....Luuuvvv it.


Keen to get to Kyogle to maximise Lions TT time we grabbed a quick coffee at Beaudesert Macca's then followed the new adventure biker rider , Steve G with his Honda Cross Tourer. We enjoyed the twisty run up Mt Lindsay Highway to the Summerland way turn-off and stretched our legs before enjoying the sweeping curves to Kyogle.




With bad weather around in the late weekend the TT at Kyogle was tailored back and though there were a lot more bikers around Kyogle it seemed a little disappointing with the biker carnival feel totally missing.


After a good lunch the dayriders headed off home via Lions road ...seems like they had a good time
lots of photo opportunities



So as half the Band the Bikers headed home the rest of us powered on to the Pacific Hotel Yamba with some suspect weather ahead....but apart from a few sprinkles we were able to navigate our way through to Lawrence, over the Clarence river and on through McLean to the coast.
we had all type of weather ...it was dry at the important times
 We enjoyed our time at the Pacific Hotel ...the bikes got some undercover parking, the views were spectacular and food great ...it was an early night though some of us didn't get much shut eye with "doof doof" music running till after mid-night ...those on the otherside of the hotel wondered what we were talking about...a trade off for an awesome location.

We awoke to some constant rain on Sunday morning but found a great spot for breakfast out of the weather ....it was then off to the obligatory group photo ..resplendent in wet weather gear.
I was a not impressed with the weather...
Our mood was a little down with the weather closing in but with a belly full of good food and rugged up against the weather we headed off on the coast road to Byron Bay...after an hour or so the rain stopped an we could enjoy some hood views...though the Byron Bay traffic bought us back to earth. A morning tea at the pub and we were ready to head off to Murwillumbah on the magic Tweed-Valley Way...great sweeping curves climbing and dropping through the country side. It was dissappointing that my bike camera's not only were set up wrong but also ran out of batter...so no video sorry but be assured...we had smiles on our face.
The greatest aspect of these roadtrips are the people and we had a great group who made the weekend memorable.