Nambour to Melbourne

[Harvy]

I've been off the air for the past few weeks......took a ride down to Melbourne. Glen, Arnie........sorry we didn't get anywhere near either of you.
Took mainly back roads as much as possible.....all up 4570.1 Kms. FJ ran fine for the trip.....only problem was development of a clutch slave leak half way down to Melbourne      ....took care of that by bleeding each morning,,, and a rear blowout 40Km from anywhere. Purchased a Conti Attack and fitted it on the side of the road the next morning.....no further problems.   
Now to catch up with what's been happening for all you folk.

Harvy

[waricle]

Sound like a great ride.
Which way did you go?
How was the heat?
I spent today polishing the rear rim of the fj and masking ready to paint the inside section red.
Most of the bike is now undercoat grey.
Spooky day-  dust storm turned everything a weird colour.

[Ratchet_72]

Pictures, pictures, pictures

[FJSpringy]

next time your past Sydney, drop in  

[rossco]

Took mainly back roads as much as possible
------------------------------------------
Good decision except for the bugs

[Harvy]

A quick rundown on the route we took going down.

The Route.....
First day from home (Dulong) to Goonellabah.
Slab day. Took the quickest run down the Pacific Highway then over the Gateway Bridge to re-join the Highway south to Bangalow, then
30Kms of country road riding thru Clunes, Bexhill and Richmond Hill to Goonellabah.

Now I am joined by my mate Graeme on his '09 Triumph Bonny.

Day 2... Goonellabah to Gunnedah.
We headed out in the morning with the main object of the day to get used to riding distances again, and to enjoy the very pleasant
riding weather (a fine cool day around 17-18 * C). Heading off down the Goonellabah to Woodburn road, then the Pacific Highway to
South Grafton and the start of the Waterfall Way. Stopped after the first 100Km for lunch at Ebor, Then for the next 80 Km on over
The Great Dividing Range and into Armidale to join the New England Highway to Tamworth. We called into the Motorcycle Museum (some
shots in the gallery soon). Had a cuppa with the guy doing door/management duty (ie. he was the only other person in the place),
then joined the Oxley Highway bound for Gunnedah, arriving around 4:30. Motel overnight after a meal at the local Indian restaurant.

Day 3... Gunnedah to Wagga Wagga.
This morning I have no cluch.....the slave has decided to let air in....just have to ride without a clutch till I can get some fluid
and bleed it.....not nice on a cold motor. Deciding that the major highways were too crowded, we planned a route to take us via more
obscure back roads.So we headed west for 30 more Kms then turned to the south at Mullaley, thru Tambar Springs, over the
Warrumbungle Range. Then about 3Ks outside Coolah Graeme runs out of fuel......luckily its down hill all the way and we pull into
the only servo in town. So we now know that the Triumph will be bone dry before the FJ is even on reserve. We bleed the FJ clutch
and head on down the Coolaburragundy River flats, crossing the Golden Highway down 86 to Gulgong. At Gulgong we take the road west
to Wellington and then turn south down the Mitchell Highway to Molong. Onto the back roads again to Cudal, Canowindra and into Cowra
for a late lunch. Now we join the Olympic Highway south thru Young, Cootamundra and Junee. 10Km out of Junee, the rear Pilot Power
is holed by I am guessing a stone. So we re-organise luggage on the Bonny, leave the FJ on the side of the road and head the last
40km 2 up. Spent that night at our mate Doug's place in Wagga Wagga.

Day 4 ..... Wagga Wagga to Melbourne
Spent the morning getting a new tyre, going back to the FJ, removing the old tyre and fitting the new one. As an aside, we didn't
balance it and have had no out of balance but I'm going to install the Dyna Beads just the same when I next check pressures. I have
not been riding for the past week due to the dust storms here.....have to install the clutch kit too.
New tyre is a Conti Road Attack. I like it!
We finally left Wagga Wagga at midday, and as we were behind schedule, decided to hit the Hume Freeway from Albury to Melbourne. We
got the only rain in the last 100km from Seymour to Melbourne. Arrived at Greg's place around 7:30 after stopping for a while to don
rain gear and take a final breather at Seymour.

...........

The next 6 days were spent in and around Melbourne visiting old riding buddies, including a get together on Saturday night where
some of the old crew who had not seen each other for 30 years all got together to "relive past glories". We did manage a run down to
Phillip Island, but didn't bother to go to the race track as the V8 Supercars were on that weekend and it was a good place to stay
away from.

...........

More to come.

[rossco]

Sounds lke someone did the Ocean road?via the ferry.As you would

[Arnie]

Harvy,

Sorry to have missed you.  I knew our schedules were out of sync and it was unlikely on this trip of yours and mine.  I saw some pics of the dust storms - On (US TV) Whew!, I'm glad I wasn't riding in that.
I'm now in western NC and some of the best motorcycling roads I've seen anywhere.  Real shame is that I don't have a bike to use. :-(
Will be glad to get back to my 2-wheelers in a couple of weeks.  Might just have to take a ride North.

Cheers,
Arnie