February, 2013
Well, it's confession time. I have traded in the Thunderbird. Yes, I know what I said. and don't get me wrong. I have loved every minute I have spent on the Thunderbird. 2 years and 36,000 Kms.
Last November when I did a 4 day tour of Country NSW I started to think that I might be better off with a touring bike rather than a cruiser. I really enjoyed the long distance touring and the Thunderbird was not really the bike for that application.
Almost immediately after that trip, with touring still fresh in my mind, I read that Triumph were releasing a new touring model. The 2013 Triumph Trophy SE. I started to read reviews about the bike and every one was glowing. The bike was 1200 cc triple with fairing, adjustable screen, panniers, top box, shaft drive, ABS breakes, linked brakes, traction control, electronic suspension adjustment, electronic tyre pressure monitoring and even a stereo. All the gear that you need to make up a bike that you can jump on and ride 1,000 kms without giving it a second thought. Perfect.
It took til late January 2013 before my local dealer had one that I could take for a test ride. I did and I ordered it immediately I had a weeks wait and on Friday 8th February I bid farewell to the faithful Thunderbird and rode home on the new Trophy.
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| The Trophy Se - 2013 |
Friday 8th March 2013
Sydney Nowra Bungendore Cooma
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| Click to enlarge |
I had received some emails from an old school pal suggesting a school reunion at Yass on 9th March, 2013. We had gone to boarding school in Sydney and a few of the guys lived in the Yass district and they threw out the invitation for a night of reminiscing at Yass.
I had had the Trophy just long enough to have completed the break in period (1600 kms) and had the first service completed and picked up the optional extra top box. A trip to Yass sounded perfect. Better still, I decided to take the Friday off work and go via Cooma and the snowy mountains.
When the Friday morning arrived, I had the panniers and top box packed. More than enough space. I even took an alternate jacket and still had space left.
The few weekends previous had been raining, but this weekend was looking great. I headed straight down the Princes Highway to Nowra. I had been thinking about riding the back way from Nowra for some time and this was the prefect opportunity.
From Nowra I took Albatross road which heads south West out of Nowra and wraps around the outside of the Nowra airport where you turn on to Braidwood road. 56 kms along Braidwood road. This is a good road through interesting country with very little traffic. Great riding conditions. After 56 kms you go through the tiny town of Nerriga and then you are on to Nerriga Rd for another 8 kms before turning onto Oallen Ford Rd, then Sandy Point Rd and finally Cullulla Rd which takes you into Tarago. All these turns are signposted to Tarago so it is not a complicated route.
Before reaching Tarago, I went over about 3kms of unsealed road. I knew from my research that that would be the case and if there had been any serious rain in the area for a few days before I would not have risked it.
Tarago is an interesting little town with a huge wind farm on the hills to the south west. This is the capital wind farm which has 67 turbines each with an 88 meter blade diameter. Even from a distance they look spectacular. I passed an old looking Hotel in town and didn't realise until later that it was the 1848 Loaded Dog Hotel. I'm sorry I didn't drop in.
From Tarago it is about 30 kms to Bumgendore where I did stop at the Bungendore bakehouse for coffee and a steak and mushroom pie that I can highly recommend. While I was there a fellow pulled up on a Royal Enfield with a strange looking motor and making a terrible noise. After a quick chat I learned that it had been converted to diesel in England and he had shipped it out to Australia and ridden all over Australia. When I asked him how far he got on a tank of fuel his answer was "I don't really know. I just stop when the other guys stop for fuel. I've never run out".
From Bungendore it's about 30 kms to Queanbeyan where you turn on to the Monaro highway and head south for 100 kms to Cooma. Long straight sections of road through wide valleys surrounded by green hills. cattle, sheep and few goats in the surrounding paddocks. A good road but but fairly solid traffic. Although the traffic was moving quickly. Every vehicle seemed pretty well over the speed limit. The long straight sections where you could see a kilometre or 2 in front made overtaking a breeze.
Finally into Cooma. A lovely town and my wife met me there for a beautiful Lebanese meal and a quiet night before the next days ride.
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| Cooma at 5.30am |
Saturday 9th March
Cooma Berridale Jindabyne Thredbo Khancoban Tumbarumba Batlow Tumut Gundagai Yass
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| Click to enlarge |
I left Cooma about 8.30 am and headed south west on the Snowy Mountains Highway for 7 kms before turning on to the Alpine Way. This was wide open rolling country. pastures with cattle and sheep about. I'll have to come back and have a look at this country in the snow. But that will be in the car. There was an eerie feeling to this countryside. A bit like the English moors. A bit gloomy. Even on a sunny day.
Once through the small town of Berridale the hills get a little bigger until you start to wind around the edge of Lake Jindabyne as you come into the the town of Jindabyne. This is beautiful country and the town on the side of the lake is picturesque. Absolute postcard material.
Leaving Jindabyne, the valley becomes a steeper, the hills become higher and road becomes windier. Spectacular country. Many of these slopes were covered in dead trees. Thousands of them. Apparently this happens after a fire, but the trees will sprout again. The eerie feeling was back.
I entered the Mt Kosciusko National Park. There was a national parks staffer in the booth, but she just waved me through. I imagine all the bikers get the same treatment.
Next civilisation was Thredbo. A strange village clinging for dear life to the side of the valley. On a warm Saturday, outside school holidays I thought the place would be quiet. But there were people everywhere, wandering around. Lots of kids.
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| Trophy - Near Kosciusko |
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| Some of those dead trees |
After Thredbo, the road got windier and narrower. Some very tight bends started to appear and it was time to slow right down. The road itself wasn't really a problem. It was the toyota Landcruisers with 30ft caravans that you didn't see until you were half way round a very tight corner on a very narrow road that scared the bejesus out of me.
The forest became quite dense and lush at this point and I stopped at a small rest area with a beautiful mountain stream babbling under a small bridge There was an older rider rolling a smoke beside his MV Augusta. He said he lived locally and liked to ride the Alpine Way most weekends. He had a good bitch anout the 4 wheel drives and caravans. He said they had been increasing in numbers over the last few years, despite signs at each end of the park saying road not suitable for caravans and articulated vehicles.
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| Babbling...... |
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| brook. |
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| Rest area on Alpine Way between Thredbo an Khancoban |
I pushed on towards Khancoban. this was the most tiring part of the 3 day trip. In this section of the park I passed 3 different groups of bikes heading in the opposite direction. They were almost all BMW R1200gs and they were moving quickly. Really pushing it in fact. I hate to think how long you would wait for an ambulance to arrive up here.
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| Looking back towards Kosciusko - near Khancoban |
Not far out of Khancoban, I turned onto Tooma Rd. More wide open valley, surrounded by a ring of hills, with eruptions of boulders throughout the landscape. Another eerie place, so different from the western country that I was used to. Plenty of stock looking happy in the sunshine. I'm sure it's a different picture in the winter. Homesteads seemed to be few and far between in this are, and most of the time you can see the road one or two kilometres head.
I eventually arrived at Tumbarumba and stopped to check the map, because I didn't think I was going to Tumbarumba. As it turned out it was a good route. Good roads, very little traffic and I got tot see Tumbarumba, Batlow and Tumut before heading up to Gundagai. A quick stop in a pub for a light beer and on the highway to Yass. I was starting to feel like I had ridden 450 kms by then, which I had, and was looking forward to a shower and a little lie down. Yass was my destination for the night and I was very happy to get there. The night ahead involved catching up with 25 old class mates, some of whom I hadn't seen for a very long time. But that's another story.
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| Gundagai |
Sunday 10th March
Yass Goulurn Bundanoon, Robertson Albion Park Sydney
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| Click to enlarge |
I then took a practised route through Exeter, Fitzroy falls, Robertson and down to Albion Park and along the Woollongong express way towards home. All in all a very successful 3 day trip. The Trophy had performed superbly and and really proved it's worth for long distance touring. Already thinking about the next trip.
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| Full trip - click to enlarge |
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