Nowra Shed Day

[Sparky84]

Ray, What's your planned route to pass Sydney and what day will that be?

We are planning to leave Thursday Alan, so far I think going down the shortest (coast road) way and arrive at Troys estate sometime Fri Arvo. We are driving down as we will be towing a bike trailer behind us........empty on the way down, and hopefully loaded on the way home.  

Probably camp overnight somewhere before Sydney and then do the 3-4 hour run to Troys on Friday.

Well that's a bit disappointing,
SO,,,,,,,,,How many bikes are you buying?  

[fj-f3a]

After five weeks sick leave, asking for the Friday off would not go down well so, it will be an "Early Satdee Mornen" arrival for me.
I can bring my swag and a tent if necessary.

This time, I must hijack Pete, Alf and Noel to get the low down on some or the best roads in the Victorian High Country, so be prepared.

Noel, you still have not answered my earlier question!

Gavin

[Bozo]

Can't leave until Friday so it's a 1000km day (ETA Fri PM, in time for drinks). With short daylight this time of the year the question is, do I play roo roulette in the morning or the evening? Can't squeeze that many kms in between dawn and dusk.

Noel

Noel,

Whats the concern, you don;t have to do any dawn or duck riding for this trip?

By looking at this daylight schedule for Sept 27, you will have more than 12 hours of sunlight on that day. https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/@3923533?month=9&year=2019

At 1000km and traveling at the 100km, you have a 10 hour ride. Add an hour or two for stops & fuel and you have still arrived at your destination within the daylight hours and no dawn or dusk riding required.

You have already set a goal of being there for drinks Friday evening, so if you leave at 6:00am (which is 5 minutes after sunrise) you should be there around 6:00pm (7 minutes before sunset), the perfect time for dinner & drinks.

We all have faith you you can do it.

Randy - RPM

Randy unlike U.S wild animals our poor Kangas/ Wombats don't have watches or night vision goggles, so the norm is after 7am and start being careful 4.30 pm. I forgot the Drop Bears get out of the trees at 5pm, as you know these are the most dangerous for overseas visitors

[Troyskie]

Bozo is right.

Noel, I'd risk the early roo/deer run as I know for sure they like to play 'Surprise' most in the evenings at my place, although it could be different down your way.

Randy, the chart is right, however the roos like to move around most in hours just before and after sunrise, and the same for sunset. The next issue is they are invisible until they hop right out in-front of you, no matter how much light you throw down the road. Why do I say they are invisible? They are camouflaged to blend into their native environment, so unless you see the glow of their eyes, they really are invisible. Plus, if you can see one, it is a certainty you can't see the other 20 lurking as they'll likely have their heads down in the grass munching away.
They are also completely unable to comprehend cars. On my street if I see a roo just standing beside the road, watching me approach they often hop out literally as I pass them. My wife and I have had a number of dents in the side of the car as the silly thing has literally started trying to cross the road while the car is next to them! I'm not kidding. This is a daily risk just going to work.
Another factor is how dry it is here at the moment. Due to roads having ditches either side there is often more green grass beside the road than in the bush. Hmmm, good tucker the roos think.

A lesser, but equally dangerous aspect for Noel is he'll be coming through an area where there are six species of deer; fallow, red, chital, hog, rusa and sambar. These suckers don't tend to be moving as much as the roos during dawn/dusk, but there are enough carcases beside the road to give me pause. They are nearly in plague proportions, but no where near as common as roos.

Then there are wombats. It eats roots and leaves  . These critters are SOLID, 20-25kg (44-77lbs), and not as small as they might seem. A local valley has the most I've ever seen. It is not uncommon for cars to have the front wheel ripped off by these low slung bush bull-dozers.

[Urban_Legend]

Wombats are considered as slow (sometimes not that slow either) moving speed  bumbs. However a normal speed bump has more give and is softer. Hitting a roo is like hitting a light pole, that then laughs at you and hops away.
I tagged a wallaby 2 weeks ago on the bike. Luckily I saw it coming (most unusual) and was able to slow down before I hit it. Did didn't throw me off but had a sore foot for a day OT two.

[Troyskie]

This is the acrobat version....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ9clCHGkaQ

[ribbert]

Noel, you still have not answered my earlier question!

Gavin

For a number of reasons, probably not. However, if the Bermagui Manshed Weekend happens this year, for sure.

Noel

[ribbert]

Ray, What's your planned route to pass Sydney and what day will that be?

We are planning to leave Thursday Alan, so far I think going down the shortest (coast road) way and arrive at Troys estate sometime Fri Arvo. We are driving down as we will be towing a bike trailer behind us........empty on the way down, and hopefully loaded on the way home.  

Probably camp overnight somewhere before Sydney and then do the 3-4 hour run to Troys on Friday.

Well that's a bit disappointing,
SO,,,,,,,,,How many bikes are you buying?  

Alan, he doesn't mention bikes, it could be a lounge suite they bought on eBay.

Noel

[X-Ray]

Thats correct Noel, the trailer could be for furniture, ( I like the more logical conclusion though  ), but I won't count my chickies before they hatch.
Yeah I couldn't ride down and make Alena drive all the way Al, so we will drive down in one car towing a trailer.

Looking forward to catching up with everyone like you wouldn't believe.

[ribbert]

Yeah I couldn't ride down and make Alena drive all the way Al, so we will drive down in one car towing a trailer.

You're a good man Ray.

Noel

[Sparky84]

Thats correct Noel, the trailer could be for furniture, ( I like the more logical conclusion though  ), but I won't count my chickies before they hatch.
Yeah I couldn't ride down and make Alena drive all the way Al, so we will drive down in one car towing a trailer.

Looking forward to catching up with everyone like you wouldn't believe.

So Ray,,,,,,logically,,,,,how many bikes are you picking up? 
Again thinking logically, If it's a 3 or 2 bike trailer and you're only getting 1 there's room for your bike but you say it's "Empty on the way down", so it must be more than 1   

Ps, I don't have FB so I can't tell anyone else, it'll just be between You and Me. 

[X-Ray]

No, just picking up the one Alan. Theres a great fella we know from Nowra who was talking to me while I was having a couple of ports one night, and I said, I really would like to have a nice, clean original 1100 in the shed one day. Next thing I know I am heading to a Manshed Weekend, and will be leaving (hopefully) with a nice 1100 securely tied down on a trailer.    Really looking forward to having this bike in my shed keeping the other 2 company, and the Historic Rego in Qld is actually not too bad, so I think it will work out just fine. Still trying to work out a bike trailer actually for the trip down/back.    Getting excited now  

[fj-f3a]

However, if the Bermagui Manshed Weekend happens this year, for sure.

Noel

Well, let's just hope we can replace the "if" in the above statement with "When".

Looking forward to a great weekend and catching up with every one.


Gavin

[racerrad8]

Randy unlike U.S wild animals our poor Kangas/ Wombats don't have watches or night vision goggles, so the norm is after 7am and start being careful 4.30 pm. I forgot the Drop Bears get out of the trees at 5pm, as you know these are the most dangerous for overseas visitors

John,

Oh, I remember seeing them all. I also recall traveling at all hours to and from the 2014 rally. I do know that we did ride slower after dark for all of the reasons you mention.

Hell, my wife and I completed 1400+ km trip from Jindabyne back to Brissie in two days. We left Jindabyne in the late morning/early afternoon hours and arrived in Sydney during the evening commute time. I don't recall where we stopped for the night, but it was early in the wee hours of the morning. After sleeping to the late morning again, we started off again for Brissie. During that trip, we saw plenty of roos, wombats and got a ton of rain. So much rain we had to stop under overpasses to let it pass as it was unsafe to continue.

We stopped at some tourist stops on the second day to see some of the aussie things: Koala's, wombats in captivity, petted some roos, etc. We definitely did not split it up evenly, because of the late start on the second day, we were ready to be off the road. So, we pushed through the night that second day.

I remember stopping at a McD's in the gold coast area for a wifi signal as we were thinking of bedding down there. They were closed by the wifi still worked.  Brissie was just over an hour away, we were not stopping and continued on.

We stopped at the Novotel at the brissie airport and I walked in to check for a room. The staff was dressed to the 9's and they told this dirty, tired and worn out from the road American, sorry we are full. I did ask him, if there was a room available, how much and I seem to recall $300.00.  From there we pulled into the Brissie airport ring road looking for wifi to find a place to stay. It wasn't but a couple of minutes we were surrounded by the police and escorted off the property.

Now keep in mind, my wife has never in her life ridden for more than three or four hours and never any distance riding. The most miles she has ever put on at one ride was probably 200 miles (321km). We head up to the mountains and tool around up there with leisurely riding. One more thing, my wife rides a FJ1200 and a V-Star 650 at home.

Since we were going to be over there, she wanted a little smaller bike. Well somehow, we settled on a Yamaha Zeal 250. This thing could not push its way through the air wake coming off the front of a diesel truck. Climbing the hills, now that was another steep learning curve. Downshift to 2nd or 3rd, get it spun up to redline was the only way she could maintain some speed. She learned how to speed shift, draft and use the low-pressure areas beside of diesel truck to make these passes. It was a long trip, but we pushed through. She was a trooper hustling that Zeal like she had been doing it for years. She adapted to get to where we needed to be. We arrived in Brissie more than a full day before we were scheduled to and that gave us some time to recover before heading up to Cairns.

As we look back now, we can see some of the enjoyment, but at the time the riding portion of the trip was not pleasant.

So, since Noel mentioned highway travel, I figured it would be easy for him since he is accustomed to distance riding.

I understand that wildlife, regardless of where you live wants to kill you as they like to jump out when you get there. Just look at Dan (Giantkiller) and Ron (Cap N Ron) both recently taking on deer across the chest. Hell, that is Dan's second that I am aware of. I saw many dead carcasses and torn up cars in both countries whether roos & wombats or deer or raccoon.

Randy - RPM

[oldktmdude]

However, if the Bermagui Manshed Weekend happens this year, for sure.

Noel

Well, let's just hope we can replace the "if" in the above statement with "When".

Looking forward to a great weekend and catching up with every one.


Gavin

No if's about it , it's on. Just got to workout the dates.