Northern NSW Jaunt

[stuartho]

A mate and I did a ride around northern New South Wales on the weekend.
Troy rode from Dalby on the Friday night and stayed with some mutual friends in the Gold Coast hinterland. I rode down from Brisbane on Saturday morning and met there for a 6am breakfast before we headed off for Nimbin.
It was a beautiful morning but the roads were wet and slippery so we took our time riding through the spectacular country past the Natural Bridge and down through Tyalgum. Then a group of cyclists flagged us down. One of their number had been hit and knocked off their bike by an erratic driver in a Camry. Fortunately the rider wasn’t too badly injured but they asked us to keep a watch out for the vehicle. We didn’t see any Camrys where we rode next! In what was to be a theme for day one, we decided to take some back roads and ended up on a gravel track through the Wollumbin State
Conservation Area and Mebbin National Park. The Z is a well balanced machine and handles gravel tracks fine - particularly with the Road 6 “Nobby” tyres 😝- but I couldn’t help wishing I was on an ADV bike. We rejoined the bitumen and rode to Nimbin where we filled up.





From there we tried to head to The Channon but the road was out so we went straight to Lismore for breakfast. After eating we decided to follow the river south and stay off the highway. This again took us on a lot of gravel track through state forests. We skirted around the west of Grafton and then took the Old Glen Innes Road west. Though the road was pockmarked with pot holes from the recent flooding rains, it was a fun ride and we stopped at Adam’s Crossing for a rest beside the river.




From there the road turned into gravel as we followed the Boyd River west for around 50km. It’s a beautiful part of the world and there were many people making use of the camping spots along the river banks. I was starting to get sick of gravel roads even though it was worth it to see the old convict built road tunnel and the spectacular countryside. But the main concern was fuel. We hadn’t filled up since Lismore and when the fuel light in the Z started flashing with 70km to go I knew we were in trouble. Even Troy on his GS1200 wouldn’t have the range to make it. Thank goodness for the kindness of strangers. When we stopped to ask a local how far to the nearest fuel, he took pity on us and we followed him back to his farm where he gave us enough petrol to make it to Glen Innes. The Z didn’t like the 91 octane and I had to make sure I didn’t lug the bike as we made our way up and over the range but it was much better than being stuck on the side of the road.
We stayed the night in the historic Great Central Hotel and retired soon after dinner, it’d been a big day!
 

[stuartho]

On day two we decided to stick to the tarmac. We fuelled up around 6am and left Glen Innes heading for Tenterfield along the New England Highway. As main roads go it’s a mostly picturesque and interesting stretch with a lot of easy overtaking opportunities.



We arrived in Tenterfield and stopped for Breakfast then pointed the bikes east over the ranges. The Bruxner Highway is an excellent route. It has everything from tight 30km corners to flat out sweepers, and the surface is good.



We arrived in Casino, deciding to fuel up again just to be safe, before heading north through some back roads and joining the Summerland Way and riding through Kyogle and Mt Lindsey, stopping for an early lunch at Rathdowney. That stretch of the Summerland Way and Mt Lindsey Highway provided excellent riding and we had fun blasting over the mountain.



After we’d eaten, Troy headed west for Dalby and I continued along the highway back to Brisbane.
What a great way to spend a couple days! Catching up with a good mate and riding some of the best roads in the top end of NSW.