Blue Waterholes weekend

Mal's Mad Meander through the Mud

May 31st - June 1st, 2003

TRIP REPORT BY RUSS DANIEL Another top w/e for the OAR, Mal Goode and I left Beautiful Downtown Lavington Sat 8am and followed the river on the NSW side to Jingellic and on past Mannus to Tumbarumba where we had a lovely morning repast at the Bakery while we toured out siting in the sunshine. From Tumba we motored on up the Elliot Way to Cabramurra where we stopped for lunch and then toured to Kiandra for a look around. Mindful of the fact that BB Blue had bet his left nut that we would beat Malster to BWH we headed off to Rules Point stopping for a squiz at Coolamine Homestead where the newly appointed catering officer for OAR met us in his Pajero back up vehicle. After a quick refreshing ale we headed off to BWH where Craig had selected Prime real estate on top of the hill. Half an hour later Mal and Chris and others blundered along but found a locked gate blocking their entry to the campsite, a jolly inconsiderate piece of work by the NP&W but being the intrepid m/c's that they are they bypassed the gate and came in to set up camp. Chris had had his usual day of blunders and the neither your arse nor your elbow Bavarian piece of crap was missing the gear lever and rear brake apparatus taxing Chris's not inconsiderable riding skills. An emergency meeting was held to discuss the non attendance of the Captain who has had a poor performance in this area lately and it was moved by Malster and seconded Wayne that the Captain should be asked to explain his lack of appearances of late and that further more his name should be changed to Captain "No Show" Although it was quite warm the temperature dropped rapidly with the sun and we huddled round the fire while Chris and Bazza organised a huge feast of potatoes, corn, huge T bone steaks topped with onion and mushroom gravy washed down with beer and Red Wine. The stress of his mechanical failures was too much for Chris who sat lonely by himself insisting that he was OK but it became apparent that he was unable to proceed in any direction and was helped off to bed by Mal. Sunday morning saw us up before the sun in minus 3 although most people reported that they had slept warm. Catering Officer Bazz cooked a stack of snags, bacon and toad in the hole for the hungry hoards. Most people got into their packing and after goodbyes we departed the scene. Mal and I struck the rain just north of Tumut and it rained on and off all the way back to Albury. TRIP REPORT BY BARRY WALLETT By all accounts the BWH gang all had a good time and made it home safe. Chris' new gearleverless semi-automatic right handed rope operated transmission and handlebar mounted one handed linked braking system he is working on for the BMW seems to be progressing through the prototype phase!! It was good to see that on my count, non-BMW bikes out numbered (just) the BMs on this occasion. This made for some interesting discussion on the various bike characteristics and owner profiles (facilitated by some bottles of red) of the two sides. However, Russ was noticed eating his dinner with his plate resting on Chris's BMW topbox at one stage, proving the point that BMs are only good to eat off?? The night was very enjoyable around the campfire (a little chilly) with a most sumptuous dinner brought in by B1 & B2 in the 4WD tuck truck. One again a big hand to Bazza. The Cowra mob and the Canberra mob enjoyed a very slick and very sideways ride out of the park on Sunday morning thanks to a decent shower of rain halfway out. We waited around a couple of times just so the track could get a little more slippery!! Most made it with a generous coating of mud only on their bikes?? Just to support the argument that nothing stops a convoy of OAR bikes, a large tree had fallen on the track during the night which promised to cause us a few problems actually getting out if we could not follow the current track. In true Blunder style, the tuck truck with B1 & B2 turned up, out came the axe and the snatch strap and the road was cleared. On we went. All in all, we had some riding fun, expressed our views on the meaning of life, sexual characteristics of kangaroos and women (I don't think I should have mentioned that!!) and generally had a good time.

TRIP REPORT BY CHRIS MCARDLE Home safe and sound on the K75GS, minus a few parts! A top weekend, complete with a couple of Character Building episodes thrown in for good measure. Bruce Bernhardt and I left Melbourne Friday afternoon, headed down the Princes Hwy to Bairnsdale, fuelled up and decided to stop for the night at Buchan. Awoke to find the thermometer reading -3C. Headed up the Barry Way in beautiful sunshine, stopped at Seldom Seen to show Bruce (his first foray into this part of Vic) what was left of the roadhouse after the bushfires had swept through. Encouragingly there is a sign saying "Reopening soon", lets hope so. 2 k's past there, the first Character Building episode occurred. The Gear lever snapped off, as I shifted into 5th at the start of the dirt. I suspect that the gear lever was cracked when it was totalled, (I bought it as a wreck). Walked back and found the lever, tried to expopxy it to the gearbox spline , but it wouldn't hold. Decided to clamp a Vise-Grip to it and tie a rope that Bruce just happen to be carrying, to the end of the grips, looped it through the tank bag and by yanking the rope, I could eventually change gears. Headed off up the Barry Way, found that 2nd gear was ideal for the tighter stuff, and 3rd for the more open dirt. Interesting changing gears. Set the throttle control, pull in the clutch, and with the right hand, yank the rope up twice, (it would always find a false neutral on the first pull). No drama's and met up with Mal, Wayne and Steven at Adaminaby for lunch, Headed of along the Snowy Mts Hwy till the the turnoff to the Tantangara dam, good dirt to the dam wall, beyond there was the first obstacle, a locked gate, no worries, we managed to walk the bikes around. Following the track was a bit difficult, but with good maps and Mal's fearlessness, we headed to BlueWater Holes, along the way retrieving Mal's rh pannier, will he never learn? You MUST strap BMW panniers on to the frames. Right at the end of the track was another locked track half way up a bloody slippery track, Mal managed to get around, next bike slipped over, I had trouble even walking on the mud, it was that slippery. We elected to take the other bikes over a dry creek crossing, where I promptly fell over and snapped the rh rear brake lever and rod off. Hmm!! No gear lever, no rear brake lever, this could be interesting. I decided to put those problems on the back burner, and proceeded to have a good time, in fact too much of a good time. Thanks Mal for putting me to bed!! I appreciated the tucking in and the kiss goodnight:):) Sunday morning, and it was cold, -4C was the reading. Most unusual sight was watching a big Eastern Grey kangaroo eating a corn on the cob, that some one had thrown away, with its 2 front paws, just like a human would. Amazing, hope the photo's turn out OK. Mal White lent me a smaller size of Vise-grips which made the changing of the gears easier, as my larger ones were fouling the motor. Bruce and I headed off, decided to give Cabramurra a miss due to a lack of brakes and make a beeline to the Hume Hwy, boring, but at least I can minimise gear changes, and not worry about the lack of a rear brake. Rain and showers followed us all the way down the Hume to Melbourne. Observations The new 21" Heideneau tyre is impressive. On all types of roads and in all condictions, it did its job. I'll measure tread depth tomorrow, but I reckon I'll get 10,000 kms plus. We did 1400 kms this weekend. And its cheap! About $80/90 Aus The rear Conti TKC80. Disappointing. On slippery mud, it just spun and slid slideways, no traction at all. Wore at least a third off a brand new tyre. Overpriced. But no complaints in both the dry and wet on the bitumen. Electrically heated vests and hand grips rule. K motors pull better than a male fourteen year old. I could start in 5th, provided the road was flat, and pull away, with a little bit of clucth slipping. In towns and suburbs I used 3rd gear as my only gear, with no problems what so ever.

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