Riding Down Under on a VFR

First of all I'd like to say what a personal sacrifice it was to write this article.  Ok, better not start off by lying!  I took Friday off to go for a ride and to write this up.  It is honestly, though, a real pleasure to share my experiences of riding here in Sydney.  My only regret is that this is but one of many stories I'd like to tell!  Everyone thinks of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Opera house and cuddly Koalas when they think of Sydney.  I think Sydney is an amazing city and one which Sydney siders are justifiably proud of.  What people don't know is that the natural topography of New South Wales, in the area around Sydney, makes for both breathtaking natural scenery and some of the best biking roads known to mankind,  Yes, no shit.  I have pix to prove this statement!

I should point out by the way, that I am not from Sydney.  I was born in New Zealand, spent ten years living in the USA as a child.  More recently I became resident in Perth with a three year sojourn to olde blighty where I lived in Uxbridge not far from Heathrow. Last year I got a job with the same company that I'd been working for in London, here in North Sydney.  August here in Sydney has been very dry, courtesy of El Nino( a Mexican I think).  This has been good for motorcyclists but has left farmers wailing and gnashing their teeth.  The weather for the ride was 21 degrees down at sea level but got down to a slightly chillier although still pleasant 13 degrees, up in the Southern Tablelands.

A few thoughts on riding in Oz might be in order.  The best times to ride are spring and autumn in the south of oz.  Summer is too hot and in Sydney, it can be very wet too.  In the tropical north, it is bloody hot all year but winter is the time to go as the monsoons make it wet and sometimes downright impassable in the summer.  The other thing is choice of bike, if you have the ambition to spend months going long distances around Oz,  my choice would be an FJR1300.  You simply don't need to go off road anywhere in Australia, at least to get from A to B.  All the main roads are paved and are reasonable although a bit bumpy in some places.  Obviously, if you want to do a lot of gravel road riding it is a different story.  Mind you it is pretty uncomfortable inhaling bugs and dust on rough roads while sweltering in the heat.  A lot of people do this though, interestingly most are not Australians.  Australians being practical people would rather do this sort of thing in the comfort of a four wheel drive, equipped with an electric fridge filled with cold beer and steaks.  Just watch for these geezers coming the other way!

Petrol is about 90 cents/litre more or less.  It is probably up to $1.30/litre in remote areas or maybe even a bit more.  You will also notice plenty of BIG trucks called road trains.  Be careful!  The road rules are similar to England and the open road speed limit is 110kph(about 70mph). I started the ride by heading south from Mortdale(near the Georges River 20k south of the Sydney city center) to the Royal National Park.  The Royal National Park is one of the oldest National Parks in the world and was formed in 1879.  One of the unique things about Sydney is that it is surrounded, literally by National Parks in every direction.  The Royal is on the coast and is home to a host of precious fauna and flora.  Last Xmas fires destroyed about 60% of the park and did a huge amount of damage to areas, mainly to the south and west of Sydney.  We had burnt gum leaves falling in our backyard Xmas day.  A day or two later we had 500m visibility in the smoke.  I couldn't see the opera house from the bridge on my way to work! The park looks pretty good though.  Some of the trees which were burnt now have leaves growing up the trunks as the trees put out leaves to survive.  There is a $10 entrance fee if you care to stop in the park and use the amenities.  I was just passin' through though and so I just got waved through.  The road is generally very good and very windy.

After entry into the park the road winds down to Audley.  This is a lovely little spot.  The road crosses the waterway here and yachts come up to here from Botany Bay.  Beautiful area.  The road then winds back up onto the 'tops'.   I couldn't resist diverting to Wattamolla Beach.  This is quite a stunning place.  There is a sizeable lagoon area with a waterfall which people dive off.  It isn't unusual to see people swimming here even in the middle of winter.  The trip across the tops can be taken at some speed if you wish but there are some sizeable bumps on this stretch.  Fortunately the VFR is rough road friendly and copes admirably with bumps.  On a clear day looking back towards Sydney you can see the city skyline from the tops. I follow the road down towards the Waterfall turnoff as it descends through a series of tight corners with bush hugging the road.

The road winds along the Hacking River for a while going through  some dense rainforest on the way. The temperature in here drops from 20 degrees down to about 11 degrees in the steep shadows and tall gum trees.  You can smell the moss and deep damp in the air matching the chill. It is time to be careful too as the growth of moss extends to the road.  The road winds up past the river becoming drier and more open.  There are several scenic lookouts on the tops again but Bald Hill is the place, famous for it's hang gliding and a favourite place for motorcyclist to meet and swap lies. I get a Czech tourist who has pillioned up on the back of a VTR1000 to take my picture.  The view is fantastic and I spend a little while lying in the sun overlooking the ocean before moving on.  I go south again along the Old Princes Highway, ignoring the motorway until I have to use it to continue further south.  The damage to the trees is very noticeable still from the bush fires along the Old Princes Highway but the road and the riding is very easy and pleasant.  I almost manage to keep to the speed limit in fact.

The road past Bulli Pass is very open, two lanes and sweeping high speed corners.  This is sometimes where I am very bad and travel just a bit fast.  There is a cement barrier between the opposing traffic which is good for cars but I would not want to hit it.  Today I elect to travel slowly.  Probably just as well as some idiot in a ute finds the only opening in the cement median barrier for miles and shoots through it in front of me, across both lanes and onto the shoulder.  I have to break heavily.  I would love to be a cop sometimes.  Where are they when you need them.  Anyway, I'm OK, just slightly in awe of his breathtaking stupidity. The haul down the motorway is dull but leads eventually to the turn off to MacQuarie Pass.  This is a lovely bit of road and when you look towards the mountains it is like the edge of a table, vertical sides and flat on top.

I guess naming the area the southern tablelands was not such a great leap of imagination but it is an apt literal description of how it appears from below.  MacQuarie Pass is also a National Park area and the bush and road through here is stunning.  Remember the guys in the four wheel drive with the electric fridge full of beers and steaks?  He travels through here regularly.  He usually tows a caravan as a tent is murder to setup after a dozen tinnies.  I think he tried to kill me one day near here.  He was overtaking another caravan in his caravan and had to swerve suddenly when he saw me/us coming up the hill, nearly upending his caravan.  I didn't seem him today.  I wasn't disappointed though completely.  This time there was this huge roadtrain trying to get around an impossibly tight hairpin.  He was inching around the corner with his bumper nearly touching the rock wall on the other side of the road!  Mmmm.  Perhaps exercise some caution here.  Beautiful country though.  The road opens up at the top and I head towards the Famous Robertson Pie shop.

The shop is famous in Robertson, anyway, and is a well known place for bikers to refuel, release ballast and tell more terrible lies about impossible death defying deeds.  I enjoy my steak and kidney and a choccie milkshake.  I engage in conversation with a bloke sporting a pony tail and beard.  I figure Harley Davidson although he isn't riding a bike today. It turns out I'm right although his other bike is a Ducati, he tells me. It is only 13 degrees up here though, although still in my comfort zone.  I head up through Kangaloon on my way through to Picton and then Nettai and Lake Burragorang.  This is travelling west and then northwest.  I let out an obligatory Tra la la.  I mean this is where 'Babe' was filmed and probably later eaten.  Lovely country.  It always makes me think of roast pork and apple sauce.  Being born delicious can't be an easy burden to bear.
 

The country in and around Kangaloon is lovely although the roads are crap.  There is one bump in the road akin to the deformity on the back of the hunchback of Notre Dame.  It is twelve inches in height and sufficient to propel a motorcycle or car into the shrubbery even at the legal speed.  Not impressed. I go up the back way to Picton through some interesting little back roads.  I find a Wombat lying expired by the side of the road.  I photograph her, well she was lying upside down, her sex was hard to miss, although I'm no expert on this. I show this as an example of what you might hit at night!  50 good reasons, one for each pound of Wombat, not to drive at night!  The roads after Picton are pretty amazing.  Open farmland but hilly with long sweepers.  Yes, tempting to be naughty but this is not a race track, this is not a race track, this is not...  Shit, I just let myself enjoy this section of road.  The VFR loves this and seems to smile as we wind up through to Nettai. The last bit of road to the lookout is a bit rugged so go slow.  Lake Burragorang is the reservoir for Sydney and was formed when the Warragamba dam was built in 1959.  The lake is probably 40km long and is part of the Blue Mountains National Park.  The lookout would be a good 1000 feet or more above the lake.  While I am there gazing out at this awesome sight, a helicoptor comes overhead and dips and dives like a hawk hunting some unseen prey.  The whole experience is pretty special.  There are picnic tables here with people actually using them even though it is a weekday in the middle of winter.  I take a number of shots here and a few of the bike.  It is now getting late and what remains of the day is becoming yellow and orange.  I take one last shot of the barren and dry hills on the way down towards Picton.  I still have 100k to go to get home and it is getting dark.  I will have covered 400k by the time I get home.  It's been a great day.  I've got some great photos and I've got a story to tell.