Cormanus hits the road

[Cormanus]

Some time in the late 18th or early 19th century, Charles Caleb Colton wrote "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery". So, in homage to EmptySea's excellent work, I was going to produce a post describing the lead up to what would become the minutes of a meeting of the New South Wales/Queensland Chapter of the Australian Division of the CB1100 Forum. But it would be just that: imitation. It's true there was a meeting. But there was no agenda. Nor were there structured proceedings or even minutes. Indeed, there is considerable evidence that much has already been forgotten.

Readers will recall that the Pterodactyl hit the road on his way northward to visit his son and, subsequently, to meet me in downtown Kyogle. His excellent report may be found [url=http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=3700]here.

On the morning of the [url=http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=3700&pid=55774#pid55774]second part of his report, I set out from my home in Pomona, Queensland bound for Kyogle to meet the Pterodactyl. The map of the route is [url=http://goo.gl/maps/LP3sl]here. It took me inland, away from the highway, and through some lovely roads. The Eumundi Range Road, a few minute south of my home is a great warm up for the magnificent climb from Nambour to the top of the Blackall Ranges. At the back of Maleny, I stopped at the Mary Cairncross Scenic Reserve to deal with an ageing man issue and met my very first Valkyrie in the wild. Note the admiring glances being cast at the CB. Turned out he was a returning rider who had just got back into riding on a BMW. "Best thing I ever did," he told me.


It was a cool day, so I took no more photos for a bit as I simply haven't figured out how to turn the camera on while wearing thick gloves.

I've told before of the Maleny-Stanley River Road. It remains one of my favourite local roads with magnificent twisties on the final descent onto the Kilcoy-Beerwah Road. As usual it was good and, because it was a Sunday, there were lots of other bikes enjoying it—most going the other way.

Shortly after Kilcoy, I turned left so as to ride along the Esk-Kilcoy Road. The final section beside Lake Somerset is also biker paradise—pretty, relatively quiet and twisty. As I flashed past the lookout for the dam I saw a very rare sight: a white CB1100 in the wild. Indeed, it remains the first unidentified one I've seen. I'm still kicking myself for not going back and saying g'day, but there was no easy place to turn and I was more focussed on whether I'd make the next petrol station.

Dude, if you're a forum member or lurker, identify yourself. It would be great to add you to the chapter.

From the southern end of Lake Somerset, the Wivenhoe-Somerset Road is fast and quiet and I made very good time to the petrol station where the gauge was showing 229.9 kms (I start getting a bit nervous at 200 kms). In fact the tank took 12.24 litres which meant I had another 2.36 litres remaining. After petrol and a quick lunch, I headed through easy but not very interesting roads to Boonah.

In this picture you can see the Border Ranges which I was going to cross to meet Pterodactyl.


Here they are again. You can see how horribly dry the country is.


On approach to Boonah.


The [url=http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=2378]first meetup of Queensland members of this forum passed through Boonah. Enzo and I partook of coffee before he introduced me to the very pretty Boonah-Rathdowney Road. This time I kept going through Boonah and took a cup of tea at [url=http://www.rathlogangrove.com.au/index.html]Rathlogan Grove, an olive farm with a café set in lovely surrounds. In my opinion, the view was augmented by a certain black motorcycle.


After my cup of tea, I headed through Rathdowney and onto the Lions Road—see my earlier report on that road [url=http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=3443]here.

Leaving Rathdowney on the approach to the Lions Road


Stray cows were to be a recurring theme on this ride




The northern end of the Lions Road


One of a series of about three dips that, if taken quickly enough, feels a lot like a roller coaster


There's more, but I've reached my limit of 10 pictures.
Continuing ...

This is the Queensland New South Wales border on the Lions Road looking south. The transition from one state to another is amazing. Queensland has been cleared for farmland and, as you have seen from earlier pictures, is open and—for the moment at least—terribly dry; NSW, on the other, remains bush and is anything but open. Both are lovely.

The device you can see above the guidepost to the right of the bike is what looks a lot like a standing speed camera but is actually one of two similar cameras allegedy to monitor stock movement across the border. In theory cattle shouldn't cross as there is a grate in the road.


There is also a collection box in the middle of the road to help to raise money for the maintenance of the road.

It's very different scenery in NSW




Pterodactyl refers to a sign like this in [url=http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=3758&pid=55325#pid55325]this post of his splendid rant on the essence of motorcycling. It makes a lot of sense on this road where there is often no centreline, the corners are blind, the surface is erratic to bad and the quality of the camber varies.



This is Australia's north-south railway







One of the narrow bridges


Approaching Kyogle where there's been fire since I was last there in July


The top nut on my steering worked loose recently and I thought I'd tightened it; but I noticed on the Lions Road that it had worked it's way loose again and I rode through Kyogle looking for a hardware store where I could acquire a 30 mm spanner to tighten it. It was Sunday afternoon and, Kyogle being a small country town, everything was shut. I reached the far end of town and headed back to get petrol before heading to the hotel to meet Pterodactyl. As I rode past the hotel there he was riding into town from Nimbin. Exquisite timing.

Within 30 minutes or so, I had fuel and we were installed in the bar of the Commercial Hotel, bikes under cover, beer in hand, talking about the CB1100, motorcycles in general, the vagaries of the CB1100 Forum and all sorts of other things. A few more beers, a pizza and a bottle of red later, I slid peacefully into a dreamless sleep.

 

[emptysea]

It's 4:45am here and the thunderstorms rolling through the area woke me. After dealing with my own "aging man issue", I popped onto the forum to see what's what and discovered this gem of a post. Perfect for opening my mind to early morning dreams of rides in beautiful country. Thanks

Now back to those dreams......

 

[CIP57_imp]

Those pic's remind me of upstate New York, cows and all. Looked like a beautiful day for riding.

 

[the Ferret]

Cool pics and report. That appears to be some pretty desolate territory. How hard is it to find petrol there?

 

[The Spaceman_imp]

To paraphrase Jack Nicholson: "You make me want to be a better rider."

Very cool post Cormanus. It makes me wish it wasn't so damn hot here...yesterday was the hottest day of the year, and it's not fun to ride in at all. Especially with ATGATT.

 

[Guth_imp]

Great post, wonderful photos. Even an unidentified CB1100 in the wild. Awesome.

 

[redbirds_imp]

Simply lovely post Cormanus. Nice blend of pics and lively written word. The roads remind me of my rides in the Texas Hill Country. Splendid!

 

[Novice_imp]

Great post, wonderful photos. Even an unidentified CB1100 in the wild. Awesome.

+1

As I sit stuck in a suburban hell, your post makes me want to pack a vegemite sandwich and head for the outback.

 

[ClassicVW_imp]

There is also a collection box in the middle of the road to help to raise money for the maintenance of the road.

I had a chuckle at that one. I sincerely hope the road camera also covers the collection box. Here in Joisey the misguided youth block off the coin slots on the exact change tollbooths that are on the highway entrance ramps so the coins don't drop in, and they come back several hours later and get more coins than they can carry away.

 

[Razor]

Thanks Cormanus! Great write up. Love the photos!

 

[Pterodactyl_imp]

Good one mate.

Cheers

 

[Cormanus]

Thanks for all the kind words. Glad you enjoyed it.

Ferret, it looks desolate mostly because it's as dry as chips. At least I hope that's 'was' as we've had some reasonable rain since I got home. It's not actually all that far from civilisation and petrol stations. I got from home to Kyogle on two tanks easily and the only reason I ran it close to the limit was because I chose to take a bit of a risk. I could easily have filled up some way earlier. From Rathdowney in Queensland to Kyogle in NSW across the Lions Rd is a mere 68 kms and there a petrol stations in both places. It passes through cleared farming land on the Queensland side and then passes into forested national park on the NSW side of the border. It then drops into more farming land. Later on in the trip, distances between drinks meant a bit of finesse was required to make sure we weren't left freezing in the middle of nowhere wondering why we weren't carrying an extra tank. But it was only planning; we were never seriously out of reach of petrol.

ClassicVW, here's a picture of the 'collection box' from an earlier post. You may be able to see the little 'ears' a bit below the top. There's a grate on top and you put the cash in there. I suspect it plummets to the very bottom of the can. I had to get off the bike to put money in it and there was no sign that enterprising youth had done anything to block it. I'm sure if it were in a built-up area there would be more enthusiasm for raiding it.



The news—and it's up to you whether it's good or bad—will continue in a new post.

 

[Rick Froscheiser_imp]

Very cool pictures and write up. Thanks for sharing with us.

 

[Elipten_imp]

In USA the money would not last a day sad to say.


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[Cormanus]

Yeah. That's sad indeed.

 

[emptysea]

Sad, but not true. LOL. While I don't know of any voluntary toll roads in the US, I do know of plenty of unattended lock boxes at parks, parking lots, roadside farm stands, and other places here in the US of A. Incidents of theft are relatively rare at most of these. What I'm most intrigued by is that the Lions Club figured out a way to build this road. That is truly amazing to me.

 

[Cormanus]

I don't know the details, EmptySea, but both local governments wanted it and I suspect they provided a fair bit of assistance but not actual cas. Good few farmers about the place too with plenty of gear. It's an achievement and one now enjoyed by many people,

Subject to the agreement of the Police, they've got approval to shut the road for a couple of days in October for the LionsTT for motorcycles. That should be a bit of fun.

Oh, and good it's not true about collection boxes always being raised.

 

[Elipten_imp]

Remote cash boxes for campsites are safe from the group that does those activities for the most part, but I've seen a few hit.


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[cb400four_imp]

Really great post, Cormanus! Thanks.

 

[OldF7Guy_imp]

Thanks for the pics Cormanus. I love seeing Australia. It always messes with my head on how you guys drive on the left side of the road.