The best laid schemes … gang aft agley

[Rocky_imp]

Wow, that was a rough one!
Wrestling a heavy bike in the dirt is no fun at all, but you are a man made of stern stuff.
My helmet is off to you

[curlyjoe]

Excellent prose and pics Cormanus!

You're a braver man than me, Cormanus. I don't go off pavement at all with my bikes and I'm glad you made it through without injury or damage to the CB. I think it was a good decision to replace the battery at the start of the ride because having it fail on that road would have been a very unpleasant experience to say the least.

[JustCruising_imp]

What a great read this thread is. Thank you Cormanus for taking the time to write it, and the photos really enhance the story

(I'm also left wanting to watch The Riddle of the Stinson now !)

[the Ferret]

Duck Creek Road... and now you know why I am a route rider rather than a wanderer

[Bosti]

Thanks for the story. I found myself in it many times.

[Django]

Thanks Cormanus, great writing! Enjoyed reading it.

A good story has a hero, who gets challanged, but then makes his way thru (and saves the world or at least his motorcycle and his butt).

[pdedse]

Part 2—In which Cormanus has a quick look around

Fortunately, the assumption made earlier about the acceptability of the toasted sandwich was correct. It wasn’t stellar; but ‘ acceptable’ is a suitable adjective. As I ate it and drank my coffee I observed people coming and going from the café. Amongst them was a group of tourists, nearly all of whom had the sort of cameras with lenses so big you wonder how they hold them up. They were talking and I heard snatches of conversation which referred to Tasmania, the state where I grew up. I was a bit intrigued, but kept to myself. As I made my way outside to the sitting area which contained any number of signs imploring visitors NOT to feed the birds, there they were flinging seed about with gay abandon, cameras click-clacking at the visiting parrots. To be fair, one of their number soon pointed to the signs and they stopped. I was grateful to them as I got this shot of a crimson rosella. Red birds: they’re everywhere!



O’Reilly’s is a resort in the middle of a national park. The family has been present there since the early 2oth Century engaged in forestry, tourism and, more recently, but not on this site, wine growing. I recall that, in a former life, I worked briefly with an O’Reilly who rode a Ducatti up and down the hill from here.

Sitting on the site above the café is this replica of a Stinson airliner.



Friday 19 February 1937 was stormy in the afternoon and an identical Stinson crashed in the McPherson Ranges killing four out of seven people aboard. A search failed to find any wreckage.

Seven days later Bernard O’Reilly set out on foot to find the wreckage. He was convinced the plane had gone down in the Lamington National Park. He was right and discovered the wreckage. Amazingly, he discovered two survivors who, not surprisingly, were in serious need of medical attention. Bernard did what he could to make them comfortable and set off for help. He returned the next morning with a doctor and a few of his farmer mates and the survivors were stretchered to safety 11 days after the plane went down.

Of course, this is the stuff of which movies are made and, in 1987 [url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0136490/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm]The Riddle of the Stinson was released. To make the movie, a similar Stinson was rescued from the soon-to-be-closed Wangaratta Air Museum and turned into a model of the missing aircraft. The O’Reilly family bought it in 2012 and relocated it to the resort.

The Riddle of the Stinson starred Jack Thompson, an Australian actor who also starred in Clint Eastwood’s Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil alongside the wonderful Kevin Spacey and John Cusak. Thomson’s co-star was Richard Roxburgh who has featured recently on the small screen in a wonderful comedy called Rake.

All this allows me to segue into a rant. While America is responsible for many an excellent movie and television series, it has saturated the world with millions upon millions of hours of television so crappy it’s hard to understand how anyone could watch it. And yet they appear incapable of watching anything of any quality made by anyone else. My visit to O’Reilly’s lead me to reflect on two recent examples: Rake a brilliant Australian series which the US found necessary to remake starring Greg Kinnear; and Kevin Spacey’s House of Cards, which, while very good, pales in comparison with the English original from which it was copied.

And why, oh why, oh why, did America find it necessary to remake Ricky Gervais’ The Office which for comic genius is comparable only with Cleese’s Fawlty Towers?

Is it because Americans think only they can do anything properly? I have no idea; but I wondered about it as I walked to the car park and the waiting CB, blissfully unaware of what awaited me during the afternoon.

RE U.S. television industry: I think the remakes deal with over-marketing. Powers that be assume the U.S. audience to be so juvenile that they can't appreciate other cultures' takes on themes, so they remake other work so that it will be palatable for the market. Ugh. So "properly" means made for U.S. taste. I've told my wife and kids that I simply won't watch the hero movies any more--it's the same script over, and over and over again. End of rant, enjoying the report!
I wasn't aware that the CB1100 was a dual purpose bike! Very happy to see you've made it one : )

[redbirds_imp]

Thanks George for another delightful write up. Don't know if I would have tried a road like that today but good on you for having the grit to give it a go.

[Cormanus]

Wow, that was a rough one!
Wrestling a heavy bike in the dirt is no fun at all, but you are a man made of stern stuff.
My helmet is off to you

Thank you Rocky. I can't say strongly enough that I'm not really made of all that stern a stuff. I was simply cornered, like the proverbial rat, and had to plug on to get myself out of trouble.

Excellent prose and pics Cormanus!

You're a braver man than me, Cormanus. I don't go off pavement at all with my bikes and I'm glad you made it through without injury or damage to the CB. I think it was a good decision to replace the battery at the start of the ride because having it fail on that road would have been a very unpleasant experience to say the least.

You're a wiser man than me, curlyjoe.

What a great read this thread is. Thank you Cormanus for taking the time to write it, and the photos really enhance the story

(I'm also left wanting to watch The Riddle of the Stinson now !)

Thanks JustCruising.

Duck Creek Road... and now you know why I am a route rider rather than a wanderer

I refuse to be deterred from wandering, although I'll be more circumspect in future.

Thanks for the story. I found myself in it many times.

Thank you, Bosti. Glad you enjoyed it.

Thanks Cormanus, great writing! Enjoyed reading it.

A good story has a hero, who gets challanged, but then makes his way thru (and saves the world or at least his motorcycle and his butt).

Your observation is food for thought Django. It's certainly easier to build a good yarn around an act of derring-do or one of arrant stupidity. As I hope I'll never be quite so stupid again, I may have to start making up stories to make them interesting. On the other hand, as my father used to say 'there's no fool like an old fool'.

Part 2—In which Cormanus has a quick look around

Fortunately, the assumption made earlier about the acceptability of the toasted sandwich was correct. It wasn’t stellar; but ‘ acceptable’ is a suitable adjective. As I ate it and drank my coffee I observed people coming and going from the café. Amongst them was a group of tourists, nearly all of whom had the sort of cameras with lenses so big you wonder how they hold them up. They were talking and I heard snatches of conversation which referred to Tasmania, the state where I grew up. I was a bit intrigued, but kept to myself. As I made my way outside to the sitting area which contained any number of signs imploring visitors NOT to feed the birds, there they were flinging seed about with gay abandon, cameras click-clacking at the visiting parrots. To be fair, one of their number soon pointed to the signs and they stopped. I was grateful to them as I got this shot of a crimson rosella. Red birds: they’re everywhere!



O’Reilly’s is a resort in the middle of a national park. The family has been present there since the early 2oth Century engaged in forestry, tourism and, more recently, but not on this site, wine growing. I recall that, in a former life, I worked briefly with an O’Reilly who rode a Ducatti up and down the hill from here.

Sitting on the site above the café is this replica of a Stinson airliner.



Friday 19 February 1937 was stormy in the afternoon and an identical Stinson crashed in the McPherson Ranges killing four out of seven people aboard. A search failed to find any wreckage.

Seven days later Bernard O’Reilly set out on foot to find the wreckage. He was convinced the plane had gone down in the Lamington National Park. He was right and discovered the wreckage. Amazingly, he discovered two survivors who, not surprisingly, were in serious need of medical attention. Bernard did what he could to make them comfortable and set off for help. He returned the next morning with a doctor and a few of his farmer mates and the survivors were stretchered to safety 11 days after the plane went down.

Of course, this is the stuff of which movies are made and, in 1987 [url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0136490/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm]The Riddle of the Stinson was released. To make the movie, a similar Stinson was rescued from the soon-to-be-closed Wangaratta Air Museum and turned into a model of the missing aircraft. The O’Reilly family bought it in 2012 and relocated it to the resort.

The Riddle of the Stinson starred Jack Thompson, an Australian actor who also starred in Clint Eastwood’s Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil alongside the wonderful Kevin Spacey and John Cusak. Thomson’s co-star was Richard Roxburgh who has featured recently on the small screen in a wonderful comedy called Rake.

All this allows me to segue into a rant. While America is responsible for many an excellent movie and television series, it has saturated the world with millions upon millions of hours of television so crappy it’s hard to understand how anyone could watch it. And yet they appear incapable of watching anything of any quality made by anyone else. My visit to O’Reilly’s lead me to reflect on two recent examples: Rake a brilliant Australian series which the US found necessary to remake starring Greg Kinnear; and Kevin Spacey’s House of Cards, which, while very good, pales in comparison with the English original from which it was copied.

And why, oh why, oh why, did America find it necessary to remake Ricky Gervais’ The Office which for comic genius is comparable only with Cleese’s Fawlty Towers?

Is it because Americans think only they can do anything properly? I have no idea; but I wondered about it as I walked to the car park and the waiting CB, blissfully unaware of what awaited me during the afternoon.

RE U.S. television industry: I think the remakes deal with over-marketing. Powers that be assume the U.S. audience to be so juvenile that they can't appreciate other cultures' takes on themes, so they remake other work so that it will be palatable for the market. Ugh. So "properly" means made for U.S. taste. I've told my wife and kids that I simply won't watch the hero movies any more--it's the same script over, and over and over again. End of rant, enjoying the report!
I wasn't aware that the CB1100 was a dual purpose bike! Very happy to see you've made it one : )

A wiser member than me—actually two I think—have dual purpose tyres on their CBs. I should learn from them.

Thanks George for another delightful write up. Don't know if I would have tried a road like that today but good on you for having the grit to give it a go.

redbirds, see my reply to Rocky. I fear it wasn't grit; just the doggedness of the foolhardy.

[emptysea]

Wow...now THAT was an adventure! I could feel my shoulders tensing as I read about that last stretch of the "do-it-yourself" road.

One thing that seemed to be missing (although maybe I just overlooked it) is any reference to your wine at the end of your ride. I noticed this, I think, because I had occasion to taste an Australian Shiraz that I enjoyed enough to buy a bottle. I wondered at the point of purchase if my Australian friend had ever tasted this and if so, what his opinion of it was.

[url=http://s1318.photobucket.com/user/emptysea43/media/CB1100%20Miscellaneous/0B802B8B-FC54-445B-AE7F-2DC92641FFA9_zpsaa44ftij.jpg.html]