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The Cormanus Chronicles: While the cat's away ... - Printable Version

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RE: The Cormanus Chronicles: While the cat's away ... - Cormanus - 02-28-2019

Day 10

[url=https://postimages.org/][Image: be292b8f8a9bd30687b89297497d1513.png]
[url=https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_mAJ21GQ4TSB5ZeNKD5XAhcrSiJPRQUX&usp=sharing]Link to online map. It's the same deal as the map for the outward journey: the entire second part of the ride is on the map and individual days can be toggled on and off.

Time to move on.

A visit to noroomtomove and his wife in Gippsland, Victoria would be a good first stop on the way home. My plan to ride via Walhalla was thwarted by one of the bushfires burning in a number of places in Australia.

I headed south to visit Berwick where I was born.
[url=https://postimg.cc/hJCwth25][Image: cb8ffb01ae22b83a17c9088d6e334353.jpg]

Then there was a brief stretch on the freeway. The haze is smoke.
[url=https://postimg.cc/bDJ7x1GP][Image: 39cee47aabb1887a4de7d8208536faaa.jpg]

Then I headed south, almost to Phillip Island, before turning left to run along the coast to Inverloch where I parked next to this Kawasaki. The owner told me he’d thought about buying a CB1100.
[url=https://postimg.cc/MnSgsCcd][Image: 7ff373a3665a129d335f6cb340399a56.jpg]

I decided to go to Wilson’s Promontory as I’d never really visited it and rode as far as the road would allow before stopping for lunch at Tidal River where there is a memorial to Australia’s Commandos.
[url=https://postimg.cc/dhjpg5rv][Image: 544a7d0c072c09c10fd49fe06d7928c2.jpg]

[url=https://postimg.cc/GB3VRvxD][Image: 7720f0c2aa2ecc7a77c4fe9a107178eb.jpg]

The remaining photos are of parts of Wilson’s Promontory. I rode to the top of Mount Oberon, but any views were limited by the smoke haze.
[url=https://postimg.cc/1njLJ46q][Image: 5a3ede448fc89a8a774e12e7c922e02b.jpg]

[url=https://postimg.cc/1f6Lrmz8][Image: 290ecfcd8b56033c2f61e7e97ef54806.jpg]

[url=https://postimg.cc/SYYH5q7t][Image: ad37058208ef7e56b95dab80e44666ec.jpg]

Maybe you can just make out an island in the picture below. It’s very close to the shore, but the smoke haze was such that it was hard to see.[url=https://postimg.cc/NLyhL7q7][Image: afa8ea61b88fc6829bc62fa1bf54ba41.jpg]

[url=https://postimg.cc/F1wMSdht][Image: 59624a759526a255ee5e204466fd0709.jpg]

noroomtomove and his wife provided an excellent meal, a very entertaining evening, and a very comfortable bed. Thank you both very much. It was appreciated.
Day 11

[url=https://postimages.org/][Image: bcae0e7211c0f15e47107b6c1e2ba90f.png]
[url=https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_mAJ21GQ4TSB5ZeNKD5XAhcrSiJPRQUX&usp=sharing]Link to online map.

It was overcast with occasional showers which one could not begrudge because of the help they were giving firefighters who have had a long, hard summer in Australia in 2018-19, so noroomtomove and I drank tea, shot the breeze and then I did a bit of bike maintenance. I was a bit worried about an occasional clunking noise emanating from the region of the chain and checked it over, tightened it, and squirted on some lube.

Thanks, noroomtomove, for the use of the tools and the workshop. Great people CB1100 owners.

NRTM then led me up a very pretty road to Licola. It drizzled a bit of the way so I didn’t take any photos.

[url=https://postimg.cc/VSqZvbRc][Image: f1805d2ae4e8f7ab5dfe2adb0fd5e667.jpg]

This shot is taken at Licola. The road behind NRTM, leading to Jamieson, looks interesting on the map but is dirt for much of the way. Still, might be worth a ride someday.
[url=https://postimg.cc/sQ36hD6G][Image: a05552b4e8cf499f0e6ee57393bbfde6.jpg]

NRTM and I parted company at Stratford and I made my way to the Grand Terminus Hotel in Bairnsdale with a view to seeking out the Honda dealer in the morning. My chain was still making an unhappy noise.
Day 12

[url=https://postimg.cc/47JKkryT][Image: 16ddfabd2e4a03afa5052dd70860fd3d.png]
[url=https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_mAJ21GQ4TSB5ZeNKD5XAhcrSiJPRQUX&usp=sharing]Link to online map.

The mechanic at the bike shop put the bike on the centre stand—complaining because of the weight of the luggage—had a good look at the chain and interrogated me about lubning the chain. I told him I’d done it the day before with Belray lube.

“That dry stuff?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said.

He grunted in the way of mechanics, wheeled the bike inside onto a hoist, got his offsider to help him oik it onto the centre stand again, had a good look at the chain and then gave it a mighty bath in some other lubricant.

“Should be right now.”

I didn’t think he liked me very much, but he gave me a friendly wave as I rode off.

The day started cool and overcast and got progressively hotter as it progressed. I had a fabulous ride to Mitta Mitta along some of the roads I’d ridden on the way down and finally up the Alpine Way which takes one over the Snowy Mountains. By then it was quite late and it was cooling down quickly.

Some pictures of the southern end of the Omeo Valley Highway, one of my all time favourite rides.
[url=https://postimg.cc/CdS8kBwK][Image: e363f7de29886ae14d752e55b83ddb6e.jpg]

[url=https://postimg.cc/RqdHRS0L][Image: f5cc138d741f0175dbdbb2700fc03ac4.jpg]

You know it’s going to be fun when you see a sign like this.
[url=https://postimg.cc/4mFHDWVK][Image: 8d410c472f814714038df84f6a58d284.jpg]

After an excellent new road recommended by noroomtomove, I took breakfast at a café in Omeo where I was confronted by the infuriating view below.
[url=https://postimg.cc/4m3h2D7k][Image: 404bcdea50b98d8f81152b9c4f4466fe.jpg]

The road immediately to the north of Omeo passes through open country for a time. Some farmer had his herd in the ‘long paddock’. I tried—I really did—to pass by quietly, but one of the Hereford cows simply did not want to be passed and took off at a gallop up the road. Cows look awkward when they gallop and I feel guilty about making them do it so I proceeded as slowly as I could until I was able to pass it.
[url=https://postimg.cc/bZDSp19m][Image: 6b763bb412fcc943aca768367b05293c.jpg]

Further up the road, above the snow line, in an unprecedented act of generosity, I stopped to clear some debris from the road in the hope that a fellow motorcyclist wouldn’t be undone by it.
[url=https://postimg.cc/G9DsWFzz][Image: 550efc976047052b0d8d4382e6887713.jpg]

[url=https://postimg.cc/3dHDYkch][Image: 47ac6205f625dad6e8638b1bc056eb05.jpg]

It really is a glorious ride.
[url=https://postimg.cc/Lgk5nVbp][Image: de9baa1718999df9158e9ae34b322689.jpg]

[url=https://postimg.cc/t17s2WY3][Image: 90c7c40027757f9e2129e5d3036bb8cc.jpg]

[url=https://postimg.cc/p97p7rFg][Image: a2f7e7dcc4e2226a56905917a8a775af.jpg]

Further up the road, beside the banks of Lake Hume, there’s a memorial to Murray Grey. Without stopping, one could be forgiven for thinking Murray Grey was a farmer or dam builder; but, no, it is a breed of cattle.
[url=https://postimg.cc/MfJX6Lt5][Image: 2004b2c84d527ac1129ce4f811219f65.jpg]

Even further along, on the Alpine Highway, there is a good view of the Murray No.1 hydro-electric power scheme’s water race.
[url=https://postimg.cc/4Hp7pGnj][Image: 024a08b608c9b94570799556327078ae.jpg]
A little further along [url=https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Scammell's+Lookout/@-36.3236584,148.2003341,3a,125y,90t/data=!3m8!1e2!3m6!1shttps:%2F%2Fwww.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au%2F-%2Fmedia%2Fnpws%2Fimages%2Fparks%2Fkosciuszko-national-park%2Fkhancoban-area%2Fscammells-lookout%2Fscammells-lookout-03.jpg!2e7!3e27!6s%2F%2Flh6.googleusercontent.com%2Fproxy%2FFtSEuyfXiD4jDMIRRWe7​i5AruUMcu0jX-EDpG6dUsRzmVPxzkvuLpTyNGdCiIeUZbqcYwbu-patTY48XKPKhi1KqV1DflLAUTP9MK7soko2NWTNd9Wfzsb9UeA3pl7XOlbMOuJ3RbLcmV3g2GPVBWLUR​9BbnSQ%3Dw146-h86-k-no!7i767!8i450!4m8!1m2!2m1!1stumut+power+station!3m4!1s0x6b2330a34be2c6af:0x3949​e016d16c59ae!8m2!3d-36.3236584!4d148.2003334?hl=en]Scammell’s Lookout gives a good view of the western face of the Snowy Mountains. There was no snow, but the cloud gathered ominously warning me of a possible dousing later in the ride.
[url=https://postimg.cc/7fMJ6qF2][Image: e81b081840977594c77a223f7930c732.jpg]

[url=https://postimg.cc/WFkhPVmt][Image: 3ef9b281df227d095392835176b4c19e.jpg]

[url=https://postimg.cc/VJKSqDLs][Image: b457fa5823f1f1cdd6789fd1fe881cdc.jpg]

[url=https://postimg.cc/Wt0hW2bH][Image: ab29f363a372e07f1a11e930aa77bd37.jpg]

Sadly, this Siberia is not the area adjacent to the Phillip Island race circuit, but a cold spot near the highest point of the Alpine Way.
[url=https://postimg.cc/4mZnjrYN][Image: 07a06b76e603bf1e46e494c96934b0fd.jpg]

A little further along, this sign marks a high point just before Dead Horse Gap …
[url=https://postimg.cc/RWZhZK1k][Image: d1736bb36bb0cfd75e624df603c50aa6.jpg]

From where one gets a pleasant view down the valley towards the Threadbo Ski Village.
[url=https://postimg.cc/tY57b26d][Image: 8d638e19f41a8c73e65a01f97cadaa22.jpg]

From here it’s an agreeable and quick ride to Jindabyne where I decided to stop for the night. I tried two pubs. The first was full; the second was too expensive. The third turned out to be largely deserted as it was summer and I collected my key from a machine. It was a way to walk to get anything to eat and drink so I decided to ride out and pick up a pizza and a beer or two, but the rain started to fall. Seriously. The pizza place offered delivery, but not this night because the driver hadn’t turned up for work.

In the end I made do with some porridge from my camping supplies and copious cups of tea.

RE: The Cormanus Chronicles: While the cat's away ... - the Ferret - 03-01-2019

These reports just amaze me Cormanus. So good. BTW your bike looks great.

RE: The Cormanus Chronicles: While the cat's away ... - GoldOxide_imp - 03-01-2019

Great journalling Cormanus.

RE: The Cormanus Chronicles: While the cat's away ... - redbirds_imp - 03-03-2019

Thanks for another adventure well told and photographed George. You're the man!

RE: The Cormanus Chronicles: While the cat's away ... - Cormanus - 03-03-2019

Thank you all for the kind words.

As they say on the TV commercials, 'But, wait. There's more!"

RE: The Cormanus Chronicles: While the cat's away ... - GoldOxide_imp - 03-03-2019

... lol, but too bad you can't say, "For a limited time only, we won't just send one, but two (2) for the same low price of $19.95. Just pay separate shipping and handling." Smile

RE: The Cormanus Chronicles: While the cat's away ... - Cormanus - 03-04-2019

[url=https://postimg.cc/K3vF2PPz][Image: 3a5fe846eab35bcf7f48d0771066a32e.jpg]

RE: The Cormanus Chronicles: While the cat's away ... - peterbaron - 03-04-2019

(03-04-2019, 09:41 AM)Cormanus_imp Wrote: [url=https://postimg.cc/K3vF2PPz][Image: 3a5fe846eab35bcf7f48d0771066a32e.jpg]

Thumbs Up ROFL

RE: The Cormanus Chronicles: While the cat's away ... - GoldOxide_imp - 03-04-2019

(03-04-2019, 09:41 AM)Cormanus_imp Wrote: [url=https://postimg.cc/K3vF2PPz][Image: 3a5fe846eab35bcf7f48d0771066a32e.jpg]

Did you get the free one?

RE: The Cormanus Chronicles: While the cat's away ... - Cormanus - 03-04-2019

Day 13

[url=https://postimages.org/][Image: a386dbb0442c7bf48cc654294621b306.png]
[url=https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_mAJ21GQ4TSB5ZeNKD5XAhcrSiJPRQUX&usp=sharing]Link to online map.

My destination was Cowra to visit my wife’s sister.

My route took me across the high country to Adaminiby …
[url=https://postimg.cc/qgcD61Sh][Image: db126e5f17d652564f739b9e95d518a2.jpg]

… where I stopped for breakfast and was pleased to see the Big Trout was still in residence. Mindful of my mechanic friend in Bairnsdale, I also oiled the chain in honour of the bath it had received.
[url=https://postimg.cc/gxjg5mJ8][Image: f8b7bcfacc5a41be8b6abd49f551cf7c.jpg]

Then it was off across the slightly higher country …
[url=https://postimg.cc/NLvP03Jv][Image: c80b7cf30023eb6cacd02d0002247600.jpg]

[url=https://postimg.cc/jnhfqw82][Image: f1c80b11a0f2860cb33e9e2bed031a43.jpg]

… and into the wooded area near Cabramurra …
[url=https://postimg.cc/CZfmh7bK][Image: 6763abd5619dda96356b937992b58ff2.jpg]

… where I stopped to take a photo or two from the lookout of one of Australia’s highest towns.
[url=https://postimg.cc/GHqMqHcb][Image: 027bf0ab359dfc49bc3a259a686e0fc3.jpg]

The crud was accumulating well on the bottom of the bike.
[url=https://postimg.cc/JsFpCvDg][Image: e0b5c3aedaca1ba1fa2fe3c6ddd3ef44.jpg]

The view north from Cabramurra.
[url=https://postimg.cc/JG16NbCT][Image: 71882a9dec718840beb2323d757aed76.jpg]

After turning onto the Tooma Road, I stopped to put on my waterproofs and catch a picture of this milestone. The GPS data for this photo recorded by my phone is just plain wrong. By about 17 kilometres.
[url=https://postimg.cc/3459dGZF][Image: 6880837377b84dc67764dfe35178487d.jpg]

And that was it for photos as my camera was tucked away to avoid the rain which came and went all day. I did stop once to take this photo which completely fails to show what I wanted it to: the point where the eastern mountains end and the flat of Australia’s centre begins. Suffice it to say that, to the left of the hills you see in the distance, it is very flat indeed.
[url=https://postimg.cc/N96DT0Jq][Image: dad0503e98b0a385a6a3abde035d7dba.jpg]
Day 14
[url=https://postimages.org/][Image: 4dedcb0d67215f5eb356adb58629f2aa.png]
[url=https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_mAJ21GQ4TSB5ZeNKD5XAhcrSiJPRQUX&usp=sharing]Link to online map.

It was a pretty nice morning, although rain was forecast. For the sake of my in-laws, I hoped I’d get a good soaking, because gee they needed it, but it was not to be.

The GPS took me on a road through Cowra that led me over an old bridge and under the new one on the other side.
[url=https://postimg.cc/zbwmB8T3][Image: 37a89a93ec500350de03563f3b86ab1b.jpg]

I was quickly in the country on a road I’d not ridden before, past a wee church …
[url=https://postimg.cc/gngW8zQZ][Image: da4413863c1efb9c4b76655b2e5c893b.jpg]

… and plenty of rocky hills.
[url=https://postimg.cc/68TN0sx1][Image: 7570db918ee1b5cb66e5cdea9bb013dc.jpg]

[url=https://postimg.cc/rdrXBSm1][Image: 504b201230fcd2e1fa9e3de2f14862f1.jpg]

I spent a little time on a road I have ridden in the past before turning off into new country. Not a great road surface, but a great ride along a largely deserted road through the country on a lovely day. Aside from the fact that it was getting gradually hotter, what could be better.
[url=https://postimg.cc/w1PY4W6x][Image: b07717870fc402595a69b9da6583f761.jpg]

Somewhere in the bush I swept around a corner and saw a very large lizard on the road. Before I could get a photograph, it was off up a tree and I got only this poor shot of its tail. I can assure you I wouldn’t want one running up me!
[url=https://postimg.cc/xcxwqsNG][Image: 8c5b027a1af738e08d371171fd773b1c.jpg]

On the main Boorowa-Crookwell Road I met a large herd of cattle grazing the long paddock and it took me longer than I expected to work my way quietly through it. At least I didn’t cause a stampede this time.
[url=https://postimg.cc/8fT2f9b4][Image: 11f2c123fabdb761267b40bc20b3f7d3.jpg]

Shortly afterwards I ran into one of the largest swarms of jumping insects I’ve ever come across. They were a sort of grasshopper and were thoroughtly unnerving when I first saw them as I thought they were small pebbles on the road.

If you click on the next photo and then magnify it, you can make out the spots I mean.
[url=https://postimg.cc/vDzFw8QN][Image: 89c92730c7b4a9ccf5cadd32a59c7574.jpg]

In this next picture, you can see what they look like close up.
[url=https://postimg.cc/qNWWxzLz][Image: 55ed5f78e4b126e1e4a768315927ce4f.jpg]

Then, in this next one, I fluked a shot of one of them jumping. Again, follow the link to the photo, blow it up and you can see a yellow spot to the left of centre. That’s a grasshopper. Probably moments before I hit it and it became an ex-grasshopper.
[url=https://postimg.cc/FYY2Sj0M][Image: 51d355271507ebdee0cf258200aa63b0.jpg]

In the 60 or so kilometres from when I first encountered them until I got to Crookwell, I was constantly bombarded by them and must have dispatched several hundred thousand to bug heaven.
[url=https://postimg.cc/KKLwqxqQ][Image: ff96506b027bba92999f07e79e7568f8.jpg]
That’s a fine collection of grasshopper internals on my boots

[url=https://postimg.cc/TL6SBFBx][Image: cc213c9623971a0a1c48a19c4458cfff.jpg]
I picked this one off the bike at Crookwell

[url=https://postimg.cc/gn29z9jk][Image: 192a91f089634ac7f4b222308ee90635.jpg]
Blow this picture up and you can see the CB’s wheel and engine covered with them. A bit overcooked, they weren’t good eating.
For some reason I didn’t bother too much with photographs for the remainder of the trip to Robertson. Riding towards it, I was chasing a large black cloud and the road was getting wet. I stopped for a pie (See Day 5) and, while I was eating it, the mist descended.
[url=https://postimg.cc/mhRfn1G9][Image: 70821aa8687eae04e347168775240228.jpg]

I found a place to stay at the bottom of the Jamberoo Mountain Road (a wonderful ride) because, although it was isolated it offered a restaurant and was cheap.

Ha! When I got there, I found the restaurant was open only for functions and there wasn’t one; nor was there a bar. A quick ride to Jamberoo remedied those deficiencies and I passed a pleasant evening—first with a swim, then watching a most excellent storm rage about me as I drank a beer or two and ate my dinner.
Day 15

[url=https://postimg.cc/pyTSnfQP][Image: f2cf6d5a0af582987c75e403791420c5.png]
[url=https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_mAJ21GQ4TSB5ZeNKD5XAhcrSiJPRQUX&usp=sharing]Link to online map.

As I loaded the bike in the morning, I heard the exquisite music of a Staintune powered by Honda’s CB1100 motor. Moments later, debonair as always, Pterodactyl pulled in with his bike set up for day touring. We had a cup of tea and hit the road—a pretty circular one really, but good fun.

We started by searching for the Belmore Falls which involved a bit of pretty dirt road. I think I saw a turn off, but I didn’t see the falls.
[url=https://postimg.cc/cgYy1S6F][Image: 99a0bbbea8393a34c25bbd2dbfd93a33.jpg]

Then we took a ride down Kangaroo Valley. It was memorable for the white Mitsubishi station wagon that appeared on my tail somewhere on the Berry road and wouldn’t let go. I shook him off by overtaking a car, but he reappeared. He was a tail-gater so I let him past. Pterodactyl did too and he soon vanished into the distance. He certainly knew what he was doing on a reasonably difficult road.

Then it was some freeway work before a ride back up the escarpment for another pie at Robertson.
[url=https://postimg.cc/3ykQ6ph5][Image: 38c553ceb696f6aa008ffa7b6898aee5.jpg]

Some pretty back roads …
[url=https://postimg.cc/dZmbdj2d][Image: 019bd5141b52aead45b6d09dddfb1b38.jpg]

… passing by a lovely dry stone wall before we reached Mittagong.
[url=https://postimg.cc/Lgpdnb12][Image: a215c3e081a8718b6ca51adcf555389a.jpg]

More freeway work heading into the afternoon build up…
[url=https://postimg.cc/gw1bPJcw][Image: 59aec09a564c4ad4e75b1cbeb5c79f3d.jpg]

… before a brief sortie into the southern reaches of the Royal National Park and thence to Sydney.