Near the distillery

[Cormanus]

I got an invitation to visit a farm about 300 kms north of my home. The prospect of riding up Australia's main north-south highway was unappealing but there were a couple of back roads I was interested in exploring, so I loaded up the CB with my kit for a couple of agricultural days and set off to Rosedale (303 kms one way, Map).

I hit the hideous National Highway for about 40 kms before turning east in Gympie along a road I've ridden some of once before which took me to Widgee, Woolooga and Biggenden. I hadn't been past Woolooga and looked forward to that. The road passed through bush and farmland. It was drying out fast, but is still attractive country for a ride.





There was also about 6 or 7 kms of gravel which mercifully was in good condition and easy to ride on.



I was warned:



and there were plenty of them in what we call the long paddock in Australia. I just went more slowly and enjoyed the beautiful country side.



After Biggenden, the road was excellent and I had a very fast trip through sugar cane country until I rejoined the national highway briefly at Booyar.



I then headed east towards the coast north of Bundaberg before turning north again to my destination near Rosedale.



I had a lovely morning on the farm and in the surrounding countryside before heading home after lunch. I left later than I wanted and decided to bore myself senseless on the main road. I've no pictures of it.

I do have one picture just before I rejoined it, taken as I left Bundaberg, home to Australia's favourite rum distillery and distillers by appointment to our own Pterodactyl. We shared a nip or to in the Boorowa pub on another ride. I'm told there's a good tour to be done, but I didn't have time this trip.



Got home a bit after nightfall so had a chance to enjoy the night time instrument panel again.

 

[Pterodactyl_imp]

Well done mate.

Cheers

 

[Rocky_imp]

Lovely country. Very nice

 

[the Ferret]

Agree with Ptero.. Well done mate.

Always enjoy your pics. Is the road surface on the hard roads rough? Not bumpy, just a surface that would tend to eat tires? We have ( and Im sure you do as well) black top, asphalt, and tar and chip surfaces. The tar and chip surfaces are hard on tires.

 

[emptysea]

Very nice

 

[CA200_imp]

Great pictures!

 

[Cormanus]

Thanks all.

Ferret, yes the surface on some of the roads is pretty rough, and I imagine it is hard on tyres. I've just put the second set on at 15,600 kms which is just under 10,000 miles. Not sure how that compares with others.

 

[Tortuga_imp]

I thought you were doing a ton (mph) for a second, whilst taking a picture! Then I saw your speedo went up further than mine and remembered it's kph, derp.

 

[redbirds_imp]

Great pics as usual Cormanus. Lovely country.

 

[Cormanus]

I thought you were doing a ton (mph) for a second, whilst taking a picture! Then I saw your speedo went up further than mine and remembered it's kph, derp.

Mate, in the unlikely event I was pulling a ton in MPH and tried that trick with the camera, the dear little point and click and me would quickly be sitting in the road either watching the CB to see how long it could get along unaided or waiting for the terminal thunk from the truck coming up behind.

 

[Elipten_imp]

Wow that sky is blue! I had an older friend when in graduate school (faculty member's wife going back to school when kids were grown). She went on a conference to Moscow and was all impressed with communism. This was in 1982. Wha impressed her was how the taxi travelled from the airport at speeds of 100 mph or more. I told her she was confused as the speedo was in km/hr. Metric conversion gets some North Americans confused.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Pterodactyl_imp]

Agree with Ptero.. Well done mate.

Always enjoy your pics. Is the road surface on the hard roads rough? Not bumpy, just a surface that would tend to eat tires? We have ( and Im sure you do as well) black top, asphalt, and tar and chip surfaces. The tar and chip surfaces are hard on tires.

Mate, that is Open Graded Asphalt (see below). Good for water dissipation but hard on tyres and very hard on skin.


Quote:Open Graded (OG) Asphalt
Open Graded Asphalt will easily achieve good texture depth and could be considered as the second best surface type with respect to texture. Open graded asphalt also allows some water flow within the pavement due to the voids within the mix (refer Figure 11.3.3.1).
Some specialists consider that for vehicle speeds up to 110 km/h it would be unlikely that there will be much of a film of water under vehicle tyres as the water will be forced into the pores of the OG asphalt and come out elsewhere. Furthermore, anecdotal evidence exists that shows OG asphalt surfaces produce significantly less spray than other asphalt surfaces. This is thought to be as a result of the surface being able to better ‘absorb’ and dissipate surface flows from under the tyre. More research is required to quantify the use of the asphalt.
Cheers

 

[the Ferret]

Interesting..good for rain dispersal..bad for tire and skin wear.. Kind of a catch 22

 

[Cormanus]

It rains properly here, , so when it's coming down you often think seriously about stopping while it's happening as visibility is not good. So asphalt that helps reduce spray is a wonderful thing. That's on the positive side; on the other side is that it's pretty noisy to drive on, although that's more of an issue when in a car.