Nowra Three-day

This entry is part 6 of 18 in the series Adventure Rider Issue #52

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Hopper scored an invite to a three-day ride on the NSW south coast.

Two close calls.

Gary (Eyebrows) and I were to meet Ron and Peter in Penrith, and they were to lead us via backroads to Nowra. Scott and Bruce were to make their own way after work.

I’d knocked off at 11.30am for lunch with She Who Must Be Obeyed and had started packing when a phone call came in from Gary.

His bike wouldn’t start due to a flat battery caused by leaving the GPS on all night (that’s why mine is wired through the ignition). The one-hour delay meant making our own way to Nowra, leaving Freemans Waterhole at 2.20pm in the rain for a good run to Sydney and through the new NorthConnex tunnel, but finding the M2 totally gridlocked. Many clicks of lane splitting finally cleared us of the traffic and we left the highway at Mittagong for what’s usually an awesome ride through Kangaroo Valley. But not on this day. The cold, heavy rain, fog and near zero visibility made the tight hairpins not enjoyable.

We’d planned to detour through the much better Bugong Gap trail to Nowra, but conditions kept us on the blacktop.

At that night’s accommodation we found Ron and Peter had arrived just before us with Bruce and Scott not far behind, and it was a bit of a drama finding a feed.

In the end we had to settle for KFC, but we enjoyed a good catch up before turning in after a chat from the owner (the other guys were making too much noise).

Author Hopper now carries a small bush saw. Although ridiculed by the others due to the saw’s size, it cut its way through.

Nowra to Batemans Bay

Heavy rain fell all night and continued as we loaded the bikes.

My vote was to head straight to Batemans Bay, believing it far too wet to head bush, but everyone else was more hardcore and keen to stay with the planned ride. It was a good selection of capable bikes and riders. Scott was on a 1090, Bruce a 690, Gary and I on 890s, Ron a Triumph 900 Rally Pro and Pete on his T7, so tough going shouldn’t have been a problem.

A few clicks of tar took us out of town before we headed towards the HMAS Albatross navy base and onto the slippery clay tracks.

A pecking order was soon established, and it was awesome, but also a wee bit frustrating. Everyone passed me with ease, sliding round the slippery corners with full control.Down through Yalwal State Forest we charged, then along Deans Gap Road to the first major challenge: a large tree down and the track totally washed away.

Thankfully we’d taken a wrong turn, but it turned out the original route wasn’t much better. Gary was out in front and had managed to get down a nasty muddy drop and was waiting on top of a steep, slippery, snotty climb. Ron and Peter were next, and they managed to get down the muddy descent, but we all realised it would be quite a challenge to get up the other side. With difficulty we got the three bikes back out and detoured to our lunch stop at Milton, having covered just 110km in 3.5 hours.

Teamwork was the watchword of the ride.

Dry break

As usual, the food at the bakery was awesome, but it was card only, so thank-fully one of the flash, credit-card-carrying riders paid for mine.

As I was the slowest rider it was suggested I head off first, and that meant I arrived at a decent crossing of the Clyde River before everyone else (maybe I was set up?). I had a quick look then rode straight across, keeping my feet dry. Gary was next and very lucky to keep it upright.

Peter followed but stalled in the middle,only just managing to stay on, but propped at an angle. As I was the only one off my bike I had to run in to assist, filling my boots in the process.

After that incident we walked the other bikes across.

Onto Cattlemans Firetrail we roared, crossing the Bimberamala River, which was deeper and flowing faster than the Clyde, so all bikes were walked across.

We then had a challenging climb up from the river, and several steep, slippery hills kept us focused.

At 6.00pm we still had plenty of challenges ahead, so a sensible call was made to detour to the bitumen and make a beeline for Batemans Bay. We were all soaked through and soon after arriving at the accommodation had the air con cranking and boots stuffed with newspapers.

At the start of the day a few had commented, “What? Only 230km for the day? We’ll be there before lunch!”

How wrong they were.

It was a big day but a good day in the rain, and the local Soldiers Club provided a top feed and refreshments plus the mandatory war stories.

As we bunked down for the night the rain finally stopped.

A three-metre-wide section of the whole road was missing with no way around.

Batemans to Cooma

We woke to clear skies, a positive forecast and a respectable 8.30am start. Ron and Peter opted for an easy day on the tar and agreed to meet us in Cooma.

We were soon on a good dirt road heading towards Moruya and onto Larrys Mountain Road, a nice loop coming outat Kiora. It was amazing how much every-thing had dried out overnight, and the terrain ranged from open, flowing, well-formed tracks to unused overgrown trails with plenty of debris. It was at the bottom of one such we encountered our only river crossing for the day.

It was wide, deepish and very rocky. Scott, our fearless trip leader, was on a mission to avoid getting his feet wet again and ploughed straight in. With several unplanned directional changes and anxious looks from us onlookers he managed to keep the bike upright and his feet dry, but it wasn’t pretty. Bruce, Gary and I walked our steeds across, figuring wet feet were better than a drowned bike.

More great riding followed on a big loop southwards, passing several small tourist towns and stopping at Cobargo for fuel with lunch at the bakery where it was my turn to pay.

Ron and his Triumph 900 Rally Pro and Pete with his T7 at Nowra.

We pressed on, all having fun with everyone having a go at leading and sweeping, until the small township of Nerrigundah, when Gary had a big off and was mildly concussed. Thankfully he tumbled right opposite where an emergency nurse was having a day off.

She was super helpful and professional, an ambulance was called, and two-and-a-half hours later Gary was on his way, trying to get another ‘green stick’.

Thankfully he was all good except for a broken wrist, and he hopes to be back riding soon.

The three of us pressed on at a more subdued pace. There was great scenery, plenty of switchbacks, and after about 50km a ‘road closed’ sign, and it definitely was. There was a three-metre-wide section of the whole road missing with no way around, and our trip leader found another option which obviously hadn’t been used in a long time. A huge tree across the road meant there was no going through that way either, and it meant a very long ride to backtrack out.

Fortunately, following a recent experience I now carried a small bush saw. Although I was ridiculed by Scott and Bruce due to the saw’s size, we were able to cut our way through and join Baja Forest Track to return to the purple line.

After a big 350km day we rolled into Cooma at 8.00pm, just on dark, fuelled up, and sorted accommodation. The only food option was a bottle shop and delivered pizza, but that got us through a good debrief with Peter and Ron.

Several steep, slippery hills kept everyone focused.

Cooma to Sydney

We enjoyed a really good sleep due to the accommodation being off the beaten track with no trucks going past – it had nothing to do with the large spend at the bottle shop the night before.

Breakfast was in Cooma along with many other bikers, and we were away at 9.00am. Ron and Peter again took the blacktop, keen to get home at a respectable hour.

Great backroads took us to Shannons Flat then Boboyan Road and onto Angle Crossing Road, but the long crossing of the Murrumbidgee River was closed and looking quite scary. That meant a detour into the outskirts of Canberra, and we missed a turn to Michelago, so continued on the Kings Highway toward Braidwood, picking up the route at Mayfield Road.

There was plenty of water on the roadside and the normally dry crossings of Sandy Creek Road were the deepest I’d seen them.

We blasted on to Bungonia then Marulan for fuel in both bodies and bikes, then covered more backroads and dirt to Sutton Forest.

That was where we said our goodbyes and joined the Hume Highway. Scott and Bruce headed to Sydney while I lit out for Newcastle. All up it was 1505km and three days of solid adventure.

Tough going shouldn’t have been a problem.