2020 Aussie FJ Rally - Dartmouth Victoria

[racerrad8]

Hmmmm. Oiling clutch plates. Who'd have thought it?
I'll let my mate in on that little secret, he owns a Ducati. 

Also make sure you tell all the ute owners too.

Randy - RPM

[FJ1200W]

Keep politics out of it

[krusty]

Hmmmm. Oiling clutch plates. Who'd have thought it?
I'll let my mate in on that little secret, he owns a Ducati. 

Also make sure you tell all the ute owners too.

Randy - RPM

The one's with the HDs in the back?

BTW. Have a great weekend everyone. Sorry I can't make it this year, a few medical appointments (had one last night that involved a lot of lemon(?) cordial and not eating for two days) as well as a close friends significant birthday

[Troyskie]

Ready! Set, .....













OK, Ill o tomorrow....

[Troyskie]

On the waaaaay!

[Troyskie]

And........that's a wrap, back home now....

[oldktmdude]

   Alf, Greg and I arrived home yesterday at around 4 o'clock. Had an absolute ball riding some of the best roads in Australia.
We covered 2,647 kms, seems that we took the long way round as Bermagui is only 496 kms from Dartmouth. I'll have to look into getting my GPS fixed!
Thanks to all who made the considerable effort to attend, it was a fantastic weekend. Those who didn't attend, make a bigger effort next year, you won't be disappointed!
   How many sleeps until the next one?
   Regards, Pete. 

[fj-f3a]

   I arrived back home safe and, well, not so sound, at 23:30hrs Monday evening.

   The rally started for Alan (Sparky84) and I Wednesday morning, with a departure from our usual meeting place in Casula. From there it was via Razorback and Picton, then via West Pde through Hill Top and Colo Vale. We then proceeded to Bundanoon where we topped up before proceeding via the back road through Windellama and the Kings Hwy to Braidwood and on to Batemans Bay, then the coast road to Bermi.
   Conditions on the first day can be summed up in one word, wet. Non stop light to moderate rain all day. Still, unlike some other brands of motorcycles, an FJ will not melt in the rain, and nor will their riders.
   Alf and his wife Gail were once again gracious in offering Alan and myself a lovely dinner of spaghetti bolognese and a bed for the night.

   Thursday saw Pete, Alf, Steve, Greg, Alan and I (6, that's right) set off for Tumbarumba via Bombala, Jindabyne and Khancoban. Wet weather was once again the order of the day which, combined with debris all over the road from the recent fires, required a slight lowering of our terminal cornering velocity.
   We arrived at Tumbarumba wet, but no dampened (our spirits, that is.) I dread to think what the electricity bill was like for the hotel that evening with all of us running fan heaters trying to remove the bulk of water ingress in our riding gear.
   After dinner and few (too many) ales, we headed to bed to recharge ready for the next mornings assault.

   Friday morning the weather was looking on the brighter side and a very important decision hade to be made, the short 45min route to Jingellic or the long route. I shall leave the answer to that question to ones imagination.
   Travelling back towards Khancoban, we turned right when we hit the Alpine Way and headed for Corryong. From Corryong we proceeded west and turned right into Cudgewa Rd to explore the back road.
   Arriving at Shelly, we turned right towards Jingellic, a road Alf and Pete informed us they had never travelled. It turns out that the Shelly end of this road had recently been resurfaced and was billiard table smooth making for some fantastic sweeping corners along with a few "bump free" 30km and 45km corners.
   The township of Jingellic was idyllic, with a fantastic camping ground. From Jingellic, it was on to Tallangatta for some lunch.
   After lunch, the final leg of the days journey was completed which took in the towns of Sandy Creek and Eskdale, then onwards to Dartmouth.

   Saturday was rally day. The day started with the obligatory Lineup Photograph. This year saw 24 FJ's (I think) line up.
   After the photo shoot, it was a short ride for some to Mitta Mitta for a fuel top up, then it was all go.
   The route was a large loop which took in the towns of Sandy Creek, Kiewa, Mount Beauty, Falls Creek, The Blue Duck Inn, then via Mitta Mitta Road to Mitta Mitta then onto the Dartmouth dam wall for a look see, then back to the motel. A depiction of the route was posted above by Troyskie.
   I have herd from lots of my fellow motorcyclists that the Mitta Mitta Road is an absolute must to do and it certainly lived up to all expectations.

   Sunday saw the majority of the group depart for home, but seeing as though I had the Monday off, I could not possibly refuse a couple of day riding on undoubtably some of the best motorcycling roads in the country.
   At dinner the previous night, Pete and Alf suggested that Mansfield would be a good destination for Sundays ride. However, upon enquiries at their usual Mansfield accommodation location, they were informed that, due to the Victorian Public Holiday, no accommodation was available. Panic.
   With the assistance of Arnie's local knowledge, a few motels around the area were contacted and a motel in Yea was fount to be able to provide accommodation. So Yea it was.
   A soon to be discovered, not so good decision was made not to take a short diversion to Mitta Mitta to refuel and we set off north along the Mitta Mitta road with the intentions of refuelling at Eskdale. As (rotten) luck would have it, no fuel was available at Eskdale. After some quick calculations, it was decided to continue to Yackandandah where we were assured  that fuel would be available.
   All would have been fine except for the fact that we turned left at Kiewa (the long way to Yackandandah) instead of right. As a consequence, Pete was the first to run out of fuel. Luckily, Alf and Greg had near full tanks so, with the aid of Pete's syphoning hose and a one litre oil bottle, we syphoned about three litres of fuel from Alf's bike to Pete's and I took one litre.
   Approaching Yackandandah, just when we thought all was good, Arnie's bike also ran out of fuel. I told Arnie to wait here and I will return with some fuel. What could be simpler. Just use ones Sat Nav to locate the service station. What a joke. The Sat Nav said the servo was right in the middle of the main street, right. Wrong. After about three circuits, I decided it was time to ask a local. Turn right here, ride to the end of the street, turn left and ride to the top of the hill. Thanks mate.
   Having found the servo, I refuelled, filled a five litre fuel container and returned to Arnie. Once the dust had settled, we set off to ride to Yea.

   The following morning, after filling up to the brim this time, we set off for Eildon. Upon arrival at Eildon, Pete checked his phone and advised us that he had received a message from Noel informing us to consider riding the Eildon to Jamieson road, which he said was a beauty. As (good) luck would have it this time, a local overheard us talking about this road and he informed us that it was indeed a beauty, having been completely sealed in about the past two years. Armed with this information, it was a no-brainer, so off we rode. This road turned out to be about sixty six clicks of shear riding pleasure. Fantastic.
   We had lunch at Jamieson, then checked out the local camping ground. Well, what can I say. This is one thing that the Victorians do very well indeed, caravan and camping areas. We here in NSW could certainly learn something from our Victorian counterparts in this regard.
   Pete and Alf asked if I would like to ride to Mount Buller, as I did have a long ride home. I informed the that with the aid of the M31 and my electronic cruise control that the trip home would be no problem so, Mount Buller hear we come.
   We set off towards Mansfield, then just after Mansfield Airport chucked a right turn and headed for Mount Buller. The first thirty clicks or so were a little boring but the final section, anything but.
   After a short stay at Mount Buller, it was time to head to Mansfield again. Upon arrival, we fuelled and had us a well earned coffee.
   Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and seeing as though I had to return to work the following afternoon, it was time for me to depart for home. I set my Zumo for fastest route, pressed to go home button, waited for the calculations to finished, observed the statistics, 695 clicks, arrival 22:50hrs. Onward straight for home.
   The trip home was, well. Thank goodness for cruise control and handle bar risers.

   This has indeed been another fantastic FJ Rally. They just keep getting better. And to think all this came about for me by stumbling across the FJ Owners web site while looking for the answer to a simple problem. Long live the FJ, FJ Owners and most importantly, FJ Rallies and friendship.

   I have captures the entire trip on my helmet cam and will endeavour to edit and post some footage in the (not too distant) future.

        Below is the entire route traveled.
Gavin

[X-Ray]

Nice write up Gav, which reminds me I haven't put mine up here yet. Will do so today. Running out of fuel was a bit of an issue on this rally. When we left Dartmouth Sunday morning we thought we could fill up at Eskdale, nope, closed. Pressed on trying to reach Tallengatta, and Curzon spluttered to a stop 5kms out of town.  Luckily Dave Moore was in his van so went into town to get a 5ltr container of fuel for him.  It does take the fun out of a nice ride in the country while you are nervously watching your fuel gauge, the joys of outback towns and unpredictable fuel stops,  

[X-Ray]

AAAAaaaaannnndddd, thats a wrap, 2020 Dartmouth Rally has been run. We did 3398kms all up and stayed in some nice locations on the way down/back. Narrabri/Cowra/Holbrook/Dartmouth, and on the way back Cowra/Narrabri again. Great weekend for catching up, lots of happy faces, excellent food, great scenery, it had it all.

Very chuffed about winning the Ashes Trophy this year. My support vehicle driver (Alena Wise) did a great job on the way down and back, and on the ride on Saturday, although it is hard to point out and talk about scenery etc when you are in 2 different vehicles, will have to rethink that for the next long rally,

Had a good ride on the way back with Janet Moore David Moore Glenn Sully Curzon Dodd and Allan until Cowra, where we disbanded and stayed for the night. Got away early and went via Wellington to Narrabri, phew they had some rain there since we visited on the way down. Not putting up the swags in that rain so it was a cabin for the night, nibblies with some TV dinners and beer went down a treat.

We took a different route from Narrabri then and went via the back road (Killarney Gap Road) to Bingara, then Warialda, Yetman, Texas, Warwick, Aratula and home. The mountain range on the way to Bingara was amazing, all fantastic blues and greens as far as you could see, some gnarly washouts across the road, a couple of flooded causeways, it had it all. I won't be travelling the boring ol highway back that way ever again like we did on the way down to Narrabri, this backroad route was incredible, highly recommended.

I did have a minor oil leak on the way back, looks like valve cover gasket and possibly the RH crank bearing seal that is under the small cover, but easily fixed. Stopped at the Shell in Narrabri to top up the oil, all they had was Shell SX motorcycle oil, didn't realise till I arrived home that it was actually 2T oil, ooops. Due for an oil change so that will be dumped and refilled with the good oil. Wish we took lots more photos, but then thats a good reason to take more holidays and revisit these wonderful places at a more leisurley pace. (Sorry we could not make it to Melbourne and visit our mate Jeff Wahs, had to cut the trip short to be in Sydney on Thursday for work, grrrrrrrr).

PS, And again, a massive thank you to Doug McCarthy and Angela Brown for organising this years event, it doesn't happen overnight and it couldn't have been planned better. I hope everyone who ordered the rally shirts likes them as much as I do, they came out alright I reckon.

PPS, my back tyre is now looking like Janet Moore s tyre before it got changed, I just don't have steel bits showing

PS Found out why I had trouble posting earlier, when using smilies from another post on FB, anything you write after that smilie is deleted when posted here, don't know why. Have removed smilies and the whole post shows now.

[X-Ray]

A few more pics

[X-Ray]

few more, that big long piece of bark on the ground besides Alena and Janet in the last photo is what I dragged along for about 5kms apparantley  

[X-Ray]

Dartmouth Dam and Awards Night

[X-Ray]

The trip home was fantastic. The way the country has greened up after all the rains is incredible. As mentioned, for a totally different view on the countryside, skip the boring highway between Narrabri and Toowoomba if heading north or south, and go via Narrabri/Bingera/Warialda/Yetman/Texas/Warick etc. Killarney Gap Road just outside Narrabri is the road to take to enjoy this scenic route.  Highly Recommended!

[X-Ray]

These photos show Narrabri to home, a LOT of rain has been through there.