It has been a while since I have been on here. It’s not because I haven’t been doing anything - quite the opposite. Between work, riding motorcycles, mountain biking and general upkeep around home I have been pretty busy.
No, the reason for no posts is that I just haven’t felt like sitting at the computer to pound anything out. I need to sit at it to do my income tax return but haven’t been able to muster the enthusiasm to see how much more I owe our spendthrift government on top of what I have already foregone.
But being stuck in a hotel room on an unscheduled overnight for work I have a few hours to try to record a ride from about a month ago.
A couple of my brothers mates have retired to south east Queensland and are keen riders. I suggested a return (for me) to the Kroombit Tops ride I did two years ago. The riding wouldn't be too difficult but the guys weren’t keen on camping so we modified the schedule slightly to try to make it work with pub accomodation.
I had some new riding kit to try this trip, the Klim Carlsbad suit that Steve had talked me into buying way back in April when we were in Broken Hill, on the way to The Flinders Ranges.
Setting off from Brisbane early, Rick and I slabbed it up the Bruce Highway to meet Dave, who was riding down from his new home in Barbara (near Bundaberg). We planned to meet in Pomona for breakfast at 0900. Arriving in the Main Street of Pomona Dave was just getting off of his new CF Moto MT800X, so our timing was perfect.
After a leisurely breakfast soaking in the sun, we mounted up and headed north through Kin Kin to our jumping off point for our first dirt section. This was through Toolara state forest, which is great, easy riding through huge stands of pine trees.
The gps track that we were following was the same as I followed two years ago and I warned the guys it would take us through a couple of very small creek crossings that would be no problem at all to ride.
This didn’t ease Dave’s concerns as he stopped at each crossing, pacing up and down while fretting about riding them - even though he had just watched Rick and I ride them with no issues whatsoever. This is ok but it dramatically slows the progress and not having camping gear, makes it more imperative that we stick to the loose schedule. This would become very evident tomorrow.
After we had crossed one swampy pit.
Anyway, once Dave decided he wasn’t going to turn back he effortlessly rode each crossing and we pressed on!
Crossing Tin Can Bay road we were into the western section of Tairo State Forest with its mega highway dirt roads.
This was fast and fun riding, with one turn off onto a less used road that was great fun to blast along. We did come to a road closure that had been pulled aside. Passing the fencing, then the concrete bollards that had been pulled aside we found a brand new bridge over a creek. No sign of road works in progress, this was a brand new, completed bridge. Obviously locals had decided it needed to be opened as this was the main road through the forest. I can only think that some vital piece of paperwork was yet to be completed to allow the public to use it. Anyway, it seemed to hold three adv bikes quite easily!
Rolling into Tairo we fuelled up and grabbed a sandwich from the petrol station then rode around the corner to take a lunch break in the local park.
Last time I rode this route I rolled into Tairo late in the afternoon. I decided that time to just stick to the sealed main highway to my overnight stop in Biggenden. Today we were nice and early so would be able to follow the gpx route through St Mary State Forest. We were soon on the dirt enjoying a well surfaced gravel road that soared and swooped, twisted and turned its way through the forest. Popping out the western side of the forest we had some narrow sealed road that took us north toward Wongi State Park. We crossed the main highway I took last time at Aramara where we took a quick stop for me to get a photo of the lads riding under the railway trestle. Rick must have thought I was videoing as he shot through like a rat up a drainpipe! 😂
I stopped at North Aramara to get a photo of the old sawmill then set off after the others, who were waiting at the next turn into Wongi forest area.
We decided it was Dave’s turn to lead and be out of the dust for a while, so headed off. Shortly after, Rick saw Dave disappear up a track to the left when the route went around a bend to the right. We waited a bit to see if he would come back. When he didn’t I rode up to take a look for him. What I found was a big open area that was used as a gravel quarry. No sign of Dave, just a herd of cattle looking at me and a road disappearing to the south. Figuring Dave must have taken that trail, I returned to Rick and we waited fifteen minutes. Still no Dave, Rick said “he has the route on his phone, let’s press on and we will see him in Biggenden “.
So, we rode on. The trail became rougher and rougher, clearly seeing little traffic. Turning down Old Coach Road the track became little more than single track in places.
We took it carefully with Rick picking his way across some rocky, dry creek crossings. At one point we had some phone signal so Rick called Dave and he answered! After some tooing and froing, we deduced that Dave was in fact up the road in front of us! He was standing on a “snotty, rocky, steep hill”. Soon enough I bounced the Ducati up this steep climb, telling myself to keep the power on and let the suspension soak up the many rock ledges on the way up. Stopping at the top I walked back to join Dave in watching Rick bounce his Moto Guzzi into the ditch on the side of the climb. 😂
The calm after the stormy climb (just over the edge).
Once we got to the top we discussed how Dave became separated. Apparently the track he went off on had a little turn to the right which brought him back onto the route not far along our route - so he was actually in front of us the whole time!
Anyway, back on the bikes and we estimated that it was only about thirty kilometres to Biggenden. Easy peasy!
Yeah, that thirty odd kilometres took us about an hour and the track alternated between loose rock and deep sandy sections. Rick had a major brown undies moment in a long section of sand and I was sure he was going down as his bike was almost swapping ends! He managed to hold onto it and apparently Dave had the same experience behind me. I was thankful for my knobby tyres. It WAS bloody good riding through here though and I was very glad we did it.
Arriving at the Grand Hotel in Biggenden, we parked up and headed in for a well earned cold beer.
They had some great craft IPA on tap and we hooked into a round to wash the dust down.
Emerging just on dark to move the bikes around the back of the pub the light of the setting sun lit the bikes in a subtle glow. How good is moto touring?! 😎
We grabbed a few takeaways for later (it was MotoGP Sunday tonight) before wandering to the other pub, the Commercial, for dinner.
The Commercial Hotel was busy and the publican didn’t seem very happy to see us. We ordered food nonetheless and enjoyed a pretty tasty meal.
Buying another post dinner beer we plonked down at the bar and the publican was like another person, being chatty and quite happy. Apparently they had served nearly 500 meals over the weekend and he was a bit cooked from the rush. He could see the light at the end of the tunnel now so was much happier!
Returning to our pub we tuned in the t.v. to watch the three races from the Red Bull Ring and re-live today’s riding over a couple of Jamieson cans.
(I can't seem to embed these Ride With GPS maps to allow them to be zoomable this time. I might need a paid account for that these days?)
DAY 2
Today was going to be a big day and we had agreed to be up at 0630 and on the road at 0700. We finally hit the road at 0830…….I was noting that time management isn’t the strong point of these retired gents……at least it gave time for a pie and a walk around.
First stop today was the Chowey railway bridge which was a three kilometre ride off the main road. Well worth a look though and I put my new drone up to grab a few screenshots.
We then followed alternating sealed and dirt roads to Mt Perry. No stopping today though, we kept going north with another diversion off route to ride through the Boolboonda rail tunnel.
An hour up the road we took a breather to strip some layers off and chat.
Rick trying to hijack my drone by posing as a landing pad!
Coming in for a landing.
We then headed north for Kalpower, Mungungo and on to Monto for lunch.
We were meant to be staying in the pub here tonight and Rick suggested we leave our gear here now. I countered that we still had a lot of riding to do and we best keep our gear on the bikes in case we didn’t make it back here. With the “loose” time management at each stop I couldn’t see us getting back to Monto after going up, over Kroombit Tops.
Fuelling up we headed out of town via some narrow back lanes at saw little to no traffic. One short, steep, badly rutted climb saw us lose the better part of fifteen minutes as Dave stopped at the bottom to ponder riding it - even though Rick and I had just scampered up it no problem. A new bike and not being sure what it was capable of was knocking Dave’s confidence again today. In the end he just got on and rode it up the hill. Crisis averted!
We had a couple of gates to open on this track and we had a giggle when Rick stopped but couldn’t reach the ground and “leant” his Guzzi against the ground for a minute.
I tried to keep the lads moving as we climbed Mahoon Creek road. There were a heap of creek crossings along here. Most were dry but eight or ten had shallow water in them that was easily forded. We stopped at the split of Mahoon Creek Rd and Clommel road.
It had taken an hour or so to get here and it was now early afternoon. I assured the guys that the climb up Kroombit was steep but the road was in good condition when I last rode it (2 years ago) and would be no problem.
Entering the National park the road immediately deteriorated with large puddles and pot holes. Hmmmmm.
Once we started the climb it was clear that a lot of erosion had occurred in the last two years! It was steep and rocky! I had no problem on the Ducati with my knobby tyres but I was wondering how the other two were going on their road oriented Pirelli Scorpion STRs. I wasn’t stopping to find out as stopping would have been a big mistake on this steep climb.
Once we got to where it flattened out a bit I did stop to check if the guys were doing ok. They were and were enjoying the ride. It was noticeably cooler up here and the vegetation had changed to be lush and very much had a rainforest feel.
We made good time despite a challenging track until we stopped at The Lookout for a break and to take in the view. We were going to do The Bomber Loop and Rick did suggest that we give it a miss as it was getting late. No way was I not doing the bomber walk though. It was only a twenty kilometre, easy ride……well, it was last time.
Once on the bomber loop it became apparent it was a lot rougher than last time I did it. The last kilometre or so down to The Wall day use area was very steep and eroded. I rode down, thinking “FCUK, the boys aren’t going to like this”. Arriving at the day use parking area I took a drink of water and waited. And waited…and waited. Shit, better ride back up and see what is going on.
Riding up I soon found the guys at the top of one of the snotty downhill sections saying they weren’t going to ride it, they were going to turn back. I eventually convinced them it was really just this one hundred-odd metre section, then the riding was easy. Clutching their bikes down with the engines off we were soon in the parking area, considering our options.
It was clear there wasn’t time to walk the 1.6 kilometres into the bomber crash site in moto boots, then get out of the forest before dark. The guys were getting knackered so we decided to just get riding again. The bomber track out was much better than I remembered it from two years ago - funny, the good stuff two years ago was all hard work this time and the hard stuff last time was easy this time. 🤔 Off road conditions are so changeable which makes it hard to estimate travel times. As we passed Griffiths Creek camp ground I was ruing the decision not to bring camping gear. It was about 4pm, the perfect time to stop and set up camp - yet we had a least three hours of demanding riding before we would be back to our accomodation in Monto.
The boys were pretty slow coming down off the Tops. The road was loose, dry crushed granite gravel that felt like ball bearings under my knobby tyres. It must have been horrible on their road oriented tyres. I waited a few times until I could see them winding down the hill above me, then would press on.
I had a big brown pants moment along a very straight, wide section of gravel that was climbing and dropping down over several sharp rises. Cresting one I noted a herd of cattle of the right side of the road and a calf sitting on the left side. The calf stood up and made for the herd at top speed. There was simply no stopping on the ball bearing gravel but I managed to wash some speed off before I almost T-boned 😜 the calf. I actually hit its back legs but managed to stay upright! Whew!! (Not sure about the calf though)
We kept following Tablelands Rd as the sun sunk behind the towering Kroombit Tops. It was clear we weren’t going to get back to Monto tonight as we weren’t even sure of where we were! We eventually came to a major looking, sealed road. We stopped here to gain our bearings and noticed that we weren’t far out of Calliope (pronounced Cal-I-O-Pee). Having phone service again I quickly began looking for accommodation. Calliope doesn’t have much but after a few calls I located a motel with on room left - a family room with three beds. I booked it immediately without even asking the price - they could have named their price by this stage!
The Parklands Motel was on the far side of Calliope and looked very strange. It looked like an old hospital or nursing home which was a bit icky feeling to be honest. But it was the only place with a room and it had a small buffet dining area which was filled with Aurizon rail workers (as was the car park full of their utes) but the kitchen had beer and plenty of food. They also had one of the best trifle deserts I have tasted in quite a few years.
I ate waaaay too much! 😊
We were one hundred and forty kilometres from Monto, our originally booked accomodation but after dodging so many kangaroos in the last thirty minutes of riding today, the guys were happy to be off the bikes.
I think they were getting used to the need for flexibility in adapting to the situation you find yourself in at any given time. It made me realise how I am very flexible about making decisions on the fly to fit the current situation and not being hell bent on stressing about how our plans don't match our current situation. Glad we didn’t leave our gear at the pub in Monto!
DAY 3
Today was always meant to have rain but we surfaced to sunny skies. Looking at the radar I could see rain bearing down upon us from the north east. As we were heading west I used this information to light a fire under the lads to get going and race the rain to Biloela (pron Bill-O-Wheela). Unfortunately we only got about thirty kilometres along the road before the heavens opened. No problem though, the new Klim gear seemed to be keeping the water out.
Arriving in Biloela we fuelled up then went in search of a cafe’ for breakfast. We soon found a great little cafe’ that served a great cooked breakfast and a very tasty coffee. The Rabbit Hole Coffee Cafe’ - give it a try next time you are in Bilo.
We headed south along the main highway toward Monto as it was still raining on and off, with wet roads. Wet roads aren’t fun on my knobby tyres. ☹️
Rick suggested via the comms that we take the Cania Gorge turn off to take a look at Cania Dam. I wasn’t very keen at the idea of looking at a dam, in the rain. But they had followed me on my hare brained ride so I said “yep, let’s take a look”. I’m glad I did as the ride in to the dam was a cracker - even in the wet.
The dam had a well manicured picnic area or areas with public toilets, boat ramps etc. Well worth the look!
Rolling back into Monto we fuelled up and Dave made plans to peel off soon and head back to Bargara. We took a quick photo stop at the Three Moons Silos.
Not long after we turned east on Monto - Mt Perry road until the intersection of Mungy road. Dave left us here for home as Rick and I hit the dirt southbound.
We soon had a dozen adv bikes come the other way clearly indicating this road was a good choice! After the bikes went by we didn’t see another soul, just some cattle. The ride was interesting and fun - a must ride if you are in the area.
From here we just put our heads down - I have to actually put my head down as the buffeting from my screen is very annoying and gives me a headache after a couple of hours of highway speeds - and made for Kingaroy. Traffic got heavier and slower with the temperature getting colder as we approached Kingaroy which was a bit frustrating. Searching for a room there seemed to be nothing available in town.
Bugger.
So we looked at accommodation options in Nanango, a much smaller town just down the road. Luckily there was a room at the Fitzroy Motel and even better, there was a pub right next door! Checking in we grabbed a nice, hot shower to warm up before wandering next door for a beer and dinner.
The pub was quiet tonight and didn’t have much of an atmosphere to be honest. But the beer was icy cold and the food hot and tasty. What more could a bloke want?!
Welllll...... actually..... some Fireball. "Someone" decided we needed a bottle of cinnamon whiskey - seemed like a good idea at the time.... until we couldn't unscrew the cap and stripped it in the process. Uh - oh. 😆
Day 4
Surprisingly, we weren't too shabby the next morning but we did wake to the sound of rain. With Nanango being up in the Great Dividing Range at an elevation of 355m (1164ft) it was cold. We tip-toed our way down the twisty road off the range and rode in alternating wet/dry conditions until Fernvale where we decided to stop for a big cooked breakfast and a bucket of coffee. Yes, we needed warming up this morning.
Reflecting on the last few days of riding over breakfast we realised that both Rick and I had really enjoyed the ride. Rick is a very capable dirt bike rider (and road racer as well) and only his Moto Guzzi Stelvio's limitations (or its tyres) hold him back from doing more difficult stuff off road. The bike is a necessary evil as Rick is a bit vertically challenged and the Guzzi has a low seat height. Having said that, it is actually a bloody awesome bike, while more at home on the road than on the dirt, Rick makes it sing. As for Dave's CF Moto MT800X, it is an amazing adv bike for very few dollars. It is basically a KTM 790 with its low slung fuel tank, 21 inch front wheel and clever design.
All at an amazing sub $15k in Australia!
The only thing it lacks is the ability to change modes in the fly- you need to stop to turn the ABS etc off. I'm sure that will change in a year or two to be like the Africa Twin or the Desert X etc. If I was thinking of getting into adv bike riding I would not hesitate to leap on a CF Moto 800X. It is unbelievably great value!
As for the Klim suit? It was comfortable and definitely kept the water out on the rainy Day 3 and 4. Is it worth the money? Well, I guess only time will tell.
I had a great ride in ideal temperatures with a great pair of blokes. I think we chose just the right time to ride. Hopefully we can do it again, maybe heading south next time.
Cheers.
