I arrived at Caltex EPIC and found a sizeable crew waiting for me. A dozen bikes including mine, keen to take a pleasurable ride to Kangaroo Valley. I suggested a diversion: Morning tea at Marulan, Robertson pie shop for lunch. Is everybody up for about 550km (turns out it was 524km!)? We’ll see when we get to the lunch stop if we do the whole route I was thinking: Tarago – Goulburn 1st exit – Hume to Maralun – Tallong – Bundanoon – Fitzroy Falls – Robertson – Kiama – Gerringong – Nowra – Kangaroo Valley – Marulan (via Bundanoon again) – Hume and Federal home. One of our number (Jan Hausfeld) is still on P’s and hasn’t done a lot of riding yet (500km+ is quite a big day on the cross-section of roads we were taking today).
I advised that the road from Robertson to Kiama (Jamberoo Mountain Road) is quite challenging – narrow, hairpins, and no centreline (I know some riders are not too sure on roads that are not marked, and some of the group I have not ridden with before). I put the democratic question out there: Does anyone want to be Tail-end Charlie. No takers. Because there were a dozen of us, I advised that I’ll put corner markers out, particularly on the bit from Tallong to Fitzroy Falls. I forgot to spell out that we will take the Hume to Marulan from the Goulburn 1st exit. I did put markers out on the road into Goulburn from Tarago, to get us in to the 1st exit service centre roundabout. However my vagueness caused a little confusion, with the marker at the 1st exit roundabout following the rest of us onto the Hume before all bikes came through, so some ended up going in to Goulburn and getting off track. What can I say? I left Dave Pinkerton, with Donna on the back, stranded in Goulburn. Not a welcome that I should have given our newcomers down from Brisbane and never been on a ride with us before. Of course I shouldn’t assume, and should have waited back on the 1st exit roundabout! So Dave and Donna headed back to Canberra, not happy campers and rightly so – as soon as I returned from the ride I sent Dave an apologetic email. Suzy also had to head back to Canberra as she had a call from her daughter. Down to 10 bikes.
So, after gathering up at Marulan, refuelling and having coffee, we headed out on the short stretch of boredom (Hume) and turned right to Tallong. The road through the highlands into Robertson is a nice pleasurable ride, though a bit cool initially (summer jacket, no liner and a T-shirt under), but by the time we reached Robertson it had warmed up and the occasional light moist mist had cleared. A very nice Chilli pie and banana flavoured milk, and we discussed the route ahead. Do we stick with the plan and ride down Jambaroo Mountain into Kiama? Yes, no objections. As usual, the pie shop was packed, with lots of bikes out front. One guy advised us that the police are actively patrolling this day on the road works Kiama-Gerringong stretch, so it will be strictly 60kmh. Nick Becker advised that beyond Nowra he would make his own way to check out his holiday place at Callala Beach. So we did the Mountain, made Kiama and peeled off into Gerringong. Refuelled in North Nowra/Bomaderry. Gary offered a suggestion. How about we stop at the crest of Cambewarra Mountain, before Kangaroo Valley; there is a lookout there. I know the spot: turn-off to the right on a sharp left hand hairpin. Caution was advised for this spot, before we headed off.
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| The Kangaroo Valley Ride Crew! |
Made the lookout, nice view, and a cafe! We decided that this place should go on the ride calendar in the future. Mick, please take note: Club ride to Cambewarra Mountain, sometime in the future during a fair weather time of year. At this point it was beyond 3PM, so one more of the number (was it Richard on the Explorer or Trevor on the BMW 1150GS) made his leave as he needs to get back home the quickest way, due home by 5PM. Down to 8 bikes. A quick photo opportunity, and then we all headed off.
I stopped again as I turned onto the Hume at Marulan to check all there, and we made our own way back home. Another great days’ ride with friends.
Chris Dietzel
- Chris Dietzel, Yamaha FJR1300 (Ride leader)
- Suzy Arnold – BMW R1150R
- Neil Becker – Honda VFR1200
- Rick Costan – Ducati Monster
- Steven Hausfeld – Honda ST1300
- Jan Hausfeld – Honda CB400 (on P’s – did Jamberoo and Kangaroo Valley well!)
- Richard Hay – Triumph Explorer
- Gary McCurley – Honda VFR1200
- David Pinkerton & Donna Woodward – Yamaha TDM900
- Trevor Prebble – BMW 1150GS
- John Terlich – Harley Davidson Road King (with his better half on back)
- Mark Walker – Honda Deauville NT700V (now a black one, the red one has expired!)
