The Winter Gully Tour - 4th and last day

After a great nights sleeps, thanks to the electric blank and thick doona , we awoke to blue sky's and blow zero temperature... expectations rising for a great day that includes lots of twisites, beautiful national park, rivers and even a barge ride.

After a hearty breakfast ,gear loaded and fueled up we assembled for a final group photo in front of the Great Central....with a little drama thrown in from the Harley of course. Despite being on a charger overnight the cold temperatures meant the bike could kick over....soooo out came the push starters and with the help of a hill managed to get the big beast started.

-2deg C says Johns Oxford temp guage..but with a hot breakfast and Harley prayer we were ready to go

So we finally herded all the bikes together for the last family pic at the Grand Central before heading out on the final leg home.

Temp was a balmy zero when we left Glen Innes ,with no forecast of black ice after a clear night, we headed of with anticipation of a great roads and views. 

Jesus & dish-washing gloves

So heading into the clear, cold morning with the visor regularly fogging up I reflected on the T-Shirt that Leigh McQueeney kindly gave to each Band of Biker on the tour and hoped that "Mayhem Rising" wasn't a prophetic picture of the rest of the day....though maybe Leigh McQ did :) 
The road ahead of us moved from undulating open high country to forested twisties as we headed through the Gibraltar range with pack of Band of Bikers close behind .

Stopping at the wonderful Raspberry Lookout our we had another internal tank filling experience with more awesome vista's....the colours of blues go on forever in their shades....

and we took our last group shot of the tour ...great memories

Enough standing around we had more riding to do and some twisties to tackle down the mountain...and along the Mann river to a leg stretch at Jackadgery.

The bikes have done us proud with only a loose mirror and Harley starting issue. This was a great pic of the mighty steeds at our Jackadgery rest stop.

It was then onto Grafton for a fuel up then along the Clarence river to grab the ferry over to Lawrence and a great road up to Sumerland Highway and casino. 

Lawrence ferry that will take us to Pringles Way and onto the Summerland Way

Check out Steve G's video of the Band of Bikers coming off the ferry

So we enjoyed a great run on Pringles Way then up Summerland Way through to Casino


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From Casino it was a short run to Kyogle... with a few "where are the Keillars" issues but all sorted and though our planned cafe stop closed (seems all of Kyogle was closed) we pulled into the Kyogle pub for a late lunch , some technology catch up and some final laughs....was impressed with the Barhams food demolition capability :) 

poor Brett...no one wants to talk

With our bellies and bikes full the fun wasn't over as we headed off the 150km to Brisbane, enjoying more great sweeping corners then twisties up and  over "The Main Range" and down to Beaudesert via Rathdowney.

They say there isways a twist in the tail of any experience and for me it was a loud rubbing noise as I slowed for the Woodenbong intersection, with Leigh McQ ushering me to the side of the road my mind went to a broken belt drive....4 hours wait for RACQ... transport home ....a disasterous end to my amazing roadtrip  BUT it was only a broken bolt on my saddle bags and after much work from a number and Brett's Ocky straps we were back on the road...only my pride dented as I now took the "luggage" failure mantle from Des...and these stories last a Loonngg time :)

that is not going to fall off now!!

An uneventful run down the mountain, more twisities till near Rathdowney then rolling hills through to Beaudesert where we said our good byes and headed off in smaller groups to various parts of Brisbane.
The Winter Gully rightly takes its place with our list of other great tours... great roads, great locations and awesome community.

...and Commandment 10 fulfilled...we came home safe with very big smiles on our face:)

THANKS BAND OF BIKERS - WINTER GULLY TOUR 2016









check out our last day video below



....now to finalise our Tassie Tour...March 2017 . 

.. Leigh Keilar has been at it again...check out his great prose

. 

The Winter Gully Tour - Day 3

After great nights sleep we awoke to clear skies ,a cold morning and a little frost on the bikes ...but had a great breakfast and all ready for a departure at 8:30am for our 470km run to Glen Innes and the freezing temp on the granite belt.

On the previous night at the Bowls club we handed out B.o.B stickers tot he worthy roadtrippers. Tim earned his sticker from his stella support of bikers with punctures..came out the follow morning to find the sticker proudly displayed on....his arial ...not sure how long it will last but its the thought that counts.

Leaving in the morning is never without some issues...this morning was Paulette's Harley refusing to start so, while the rest of us were filling up a few boys were push starting her hard cranking bike...they certainly warmed up!
So it was Crusty's turn to lead us through to Glen Innes...with a leg stretch at Collarenebri, fuel and
morning tea at Moree...( and meeting up with with Steve G) then Inverell an onto Glen Innes. This was the the beginning of the Gwydir highway that ran all the way from sth -west QLD through to Grafton and the coast ...from the wide open farmland through the sweeping curves of New England area then onto the twisties of the Gibraltar national park....fantastic!!

Things were again going well I thought until a small encounter with an emu ....not helped by my pre-occupation with three camera remotes on my dash and prattling onto Ray on my Sena s20...this woke me up. Ironically my camera's were not running at the time :) 

picture only for illustration purposes only

Then on arriving at a stretch and fuel stop at Collarenebri we seem to have lost half the group ..... the mystery was resolved when stories of Leigh K's seat comforter that flew off down the road...Paulette came to the rescuse though. Leigh McQ wondered what was going on. So with all the crew back together we headed off the 140km to Moree ...but nearly an hour behind schedule. 

The landscape was flat with some huge broad acreage farming taking place with huge paddocks of green from crops growing contrasting with the barren, unattended landscapes just across the highway. 
Due to the late departure and delays along the way Moree turned into our Lunch and fuelstop with Steve G joining us on his Honda 1200 Crosstourer. We stumbled on this great little art gallery come cafe...they were a little overwhelmed as they were about to close early saturday afternoon and a bunch of hungry Band of Bikers stormed in...despite expected delays everyone got fed and fueled up as we knew the temp was going to fall as the afternoon rolled on towards Glen Innes.
We saw the rolling flat plains gradually develop into the rolling hills as we went through Inverell and into the granite belt. With a leg stretch at Inverell we were all keen to get on the road and get settle into the Great Central Hotel at Glen Innes and enjoyed the open fires and lamb shank cooked by Tony, our host and Steve G's good mate.

So as the sun began to set and the temperature drop we rolled into Glen Innes and headed straight for the Great Central Hotel where we were met by Tony, our host. After losing a few bikers ( thanks for rounding them up Ray)we all managed to fit the bikes snuggly under cover beside the hotel for what was going to be a very cold night!

What a great hotel the Great Central promised and proved to be...after a nice warm shower we met up in the bar around the fire for more tall stories and true. It was a great days riding with a transition to more interesting landscape, a blue sky and no rain the it was getting colder as promised. Tonight we enjoyed a great dinner and community , our spirits were high and with expectations rising with some trepidation of the last day's twisties through the Gibralter National park and the prospect of ice....Mondays forecast was for snow at Glen Innes!!!

After dinner we enjoyed a small self contained area with a fire, lounge and kitchenette, where we whiled away the night with a coffee and good conversation of bikes and life.Whilst we slept in on our electric blanketed and comfortable bed the temp dropped overnight to -6.7deg but we were lost in dream of more riding, beautiful landscapes with a few twisties thrown in....indeed more adventure...before dementure :)

check out our video of day 3 below...

The Winter Gully Tour - Day 2

We were blessed with later start on day 2 with our Black Hand mine tour pushed back to the afternoon so we had time for some bacon and eggs from the cook with lots of character and the obligatory video's and photo's of this iconic place in the world.

Strange things you see at Nindigully ....Harley riders on Kawasaki's, Honda riders on Harley's, MX5 drivers on a bike and even a gaggle of triumph's all gathered together. :)

Our puncture repair support vehicle (aka Tim in his MX5) also decided to get some cred  and mud by doing a lap of the water logged car park...and we didn't have to pull him out.

and so we managed to get our mandatory group photo outside the pub ....slightly different from our previous pic...what difference 4 years and 8"of rain make .

The 2012 summer tour crew...only 3 did it a gain but more than double the number of bikes

So it was a two and a half hour ride to Lightning Ridge via Thallon and a Dirranbandi where we had to fuel up and leg stretch. The road was recently fully upgraded and flat and smooth... green as and water laying everywhere.

4 turns and we were there...cruiser heaven

wonder if he was thinking...hey I was halfway across that road!

a herd of  Kangaroos charging through a paddock

The level of roadkill almost dropped to zero on this run after seeing carnage everywhere,particularly from Goondiwindi to the Gully (where road-trains run)....Kangaroo's the greatest level (most stupid?) then some wild pigs and the odd Emu ... and the most unusual of all was rescued from the middle of the road by our support crew. With all the rain the grass was green and will become even more lush...we wondered why the Kangaroos bothered dicing with death for feed next to the road...dumb or what, on a bike you can certainly smell the outcome.

The bikes were thirsty after 260km from last fuel stop...a traffic jam at Dirranbandi fuel station. Amazing what service those support vehicles get but BoB did clean my windscreen. John was wondering how he could one of those tyres on his Honda shadow...they would last awhile..
So it was on to Hebel for a leg stretch ....its amazing what you stumble upon as this little town on the "Great Inland Way" was on the route taken by Major Thomas Mitchel on his expedition to find a route from Sydney to Darwin.

We did notice a deterioration of the roads as we entered NSW and the wind did keep those tall triumph's on there toes...but we were soon at the Lighting Ridge turnoff and another photo opportunity at the cement mixer...as symbol of opal mining.

So we finally made it to the Wallangulla Motel ...parked up the bikes,unloaded our gear in our rooms and with Chambers of the Black Hand mine tour not till mid afternoon we headed to lunch at the local burger joint, then back for a rest...the town was full of great Nomads with winter being the peak season for western Qld.

An awesome Lightning ridge street graphic of its mining history

Now it was on to the Chambers of the black hand mine and a bit of fun on a bus.

We had done this tour on the 2012 summer tour....now it was three times the price and we had squeeze on the bus...but everyone had lots of fun, the place is full of characters and tall stories. Unlike last time we only had Ray put his hand in his pocket and buy his wife some lovely opal earrings (with a little prompting of course).

We saw everyone down the mine...Jesus and the disciples, the finger of God, a lost Band of Biker and who said Elvis was dead. The temp in the mine was a constant 22deg C, lovely.

Paulette checking out Rodney Rude or Ray blowing in the breath tester?

After a rest and regroup we headed across the road to the Lightning Ridge bowling club where we enjoyed some fabulous meals and lots of frivolity and story telling.
For many it was back for a quiet night...but for some hardy souls, thanks to Bob's first time driving of the the disco ,we made it to the Hot bore pool for a very warm swim and soak....it was a little bracing though getting out into the crisp night air.

enjoy our day 2 video below 

The Winter Gully Tour - Day 1

Well....after much anticipation I was finally heading off to our Winter Gully road-trip Gateway meetup ...in the dark...in the rain... with large trucks barreling down the road...praying I didn't have an accident before we start :) ...but we all made it to the beginning of epic Nindigully tour...this time in winter...not summer.

Rain was still drizzling as we made our way out into the early morning traffic (around 6:30am)...gingerly making our way around the lights and onto the Gateway Motorway heading for breakfast at Warrick, picking up Brett, John and Leigh along the way....that's 16 road-trippers in total , 13 bikes and 2 support vehicles ( Steve G joining us at Moree)

With Des on his triumph Tiger (part of the tiger pack) leading the way we headed off for a cold and drizzly/overcast day ..... traffic was busy right to Amberly airbase then thankfully clearl for some touring speeds....we had 520km to do and couldn't dawdle.

Our first stop was for a leg stretch at Aratula where we picked up John and Brett from the Gold Coast...the Harley girls were feeling the cold ...but thanks to the ladies toilette's blow heater Paulette's fingers finally defrosted :) 
 

the rain stopped but the clouds in the Mountains suggested we were in for more

Then up the "Main Range" and onto Warrick to fuel up our bikes and our bodies ....it was great to get some gear off and warm up as the cold rain set in outside. Its amazing what some warm food will do for you.

With the Harley girls still cold and a little wet our Tasmanian Leprechaun, Leigh McQ decided to redirect us to Bunnings to grab some yellow plastic pants to help keep the water out. As usual though things didn't all work out as the group got split up , compounded by Christa's mirror problem we all finally consolidated at out designated leg stretch stop at Inglewood.

notice the difference with Jodies pants...got shredded at the back

Then we headed for our planned Caltex truck stop at Goondiwindi ..we seem to have a fetish for these truck stops...but I can't help remember how hot it was in our 2012 summer tour.

Now for the final push to Nindigully  158km away ...straight, flat , road-trains and lots of roadkill, we are in the outback after all. Weather was ok..some drizzle...mostly cloudy ,but anytime on a motorbike is a good one :) 
We normally have a leg stretch after an hour and Des lead us accidentally to the same rest stop as we made in our 2012 summer tour ...the location notorious for the "Des rack malfunction".

 While we had no more bike malfunctions there was a surprising front tire pressure alert on the puncture support vehicle (Tim's MX5) ...the bikers of course all felt sorry for the car :)

Cowboy Bob supervising Tim's Tyre check

Everyone was keen to get away with the clock ticking towards Kangaroo happy hour..so we headed off the 60km to the NindiGully Pub ( oldest continuous operating Pub in Australia)What a difference it was as we rode in ....no dust but dodging the ground water accumulated after nearly 8 inches in the region over the previous 2 weeks....but unfortunately free beer was yesterday!

Priorities were to park up and unpack the bikes...get our room allocation and settle down ...the "honeymoon" couple (the Keilars)
, other ladies and snorers in their own room and the boys sharing 2 bunk rooms :) ...a few of us had the luxury suite in the XXXX building ...(aka old store) ....but I think there was a strange Tasmanian Leprechaun haunting the place :)

So with everyone settled in we enjoyed some cold beverages, great conversations,ordered dinner,Des had did a little offroading riding and we enjoyed(?) some impromptu entertainment from a travelling band of entertainers. 

With a little rain falling outside we took over the historic dinning room....surrounded by over a 100 years of memorabilia (even a letter written by Des's great grandmother (?) ...and had a great night of community consuming some very large meals. 

So off to bed...a little sleep in then off for a 230km short ride to Lightning Ridge on day 2 for a day of Mining and hot bores ie. springs.
THANK YOU NINDIGULLY PUB....you did not disappoint
lots of character, great food ....comfort ??:)

obligatory selfie and our commemorative hoodie that kept us nice and warm.

check out the video below