So we had been watching the weather all week hoping that the forecast rain might slip a day or to as the 3 mountains and a Dam route contained lots of twisties and it could have been a health hazard in the rain BUT it didn't BUT....we will do this route in a couple of weeks time..SO for our biker fix it was to do breakfast at Springwood Suzuki ...and take the long way home :) SO with no sign of rain on the southside about 15 Band of Bikers turned up for some great community at Tony's Cafe.
So it was a number of first this morning...first time I got coffee and a meal before Des (helps to be early :) and sat astride 2 Motoguzi's ... in fact many bikes were tried out.
now we know Des loves the Guzzi....but we got our scooter boy Noel to jump on a Kawasaki 650 S
So as well as the bike oggling ...we enjoyed our usual great Band of biker community.
lots of great conversations...and tall stories
So after a great morning and the skies getting darker we decided to head for home ....the long way round.
After a great nights sleeps, thanks to the electric blank and thick doona , we awoke to blue sky's and blow zero temperature... expectations rising for a great day that includes lots of twisites, beautiful national park, rivers and even a barge ride.
After a hearty breakfast ,gear loaded and fueled up we assembled for a final group photo in front of the Great Central....with a little drama thrown in from the Harley of course. Despite being on a charger overnight the cold temperatures meant the bike could kick over....soooo out came the push starters and with the help of a hill managed to get the big beast started.
-2deg C says Johns Oxford temp guage..but with a hot breakfast and Harley prayer we were ready to go
So we finally herded all the bikes together for the last family pic at the Grand Central before heading out on the final leg home.
Temp was a balmy zero when we left Glen Innes ,with no forecast of black ice after a clear night, we headed of with anticipation of a great roads and views.
Jesus & dish-washing gloves
So heading into the clear, cold morning with the visor regularly fogging up I reflected on the T-Shirt that Leigh McQueeney kindly gave to each Band of Biker on the tour and hoped that "Mayhem Rising" wasn't a prophetic picture of the rest of the day....though maybe Leigh McQ did :) The road ahead of us moved from undulating open high country to forested twisties as we headed through the Gibraltar range with pack of Band of Bikers close behind .
Stopping at the wonderful Raspberry Lookout our we had another internal tank filling experience with more awesome vista's....the colours of blues go on forever in their shades....
and we took our last group shot of the tour ...great memories
Enough standing around we had more riding to do and some twisties to tackle down the mountain...and along the Mann river to a leg stretch at Jackadgery.
The bikes have done us proud with only a loose mirror and Harley starting issue. This was a great pic of the mighty steeds at our Jackadgery rest stop.
It was then onto Grafton for a fuel up then along the Clarence river to grab the ferry over to Lawrence and a great road up to Sumerland Highway and casino.
Lawrence ferry that will take us to Pringles Way and onto the Summerland Way
Check out Steve G's video of the Band of Bikers coming off the ferry So we enjoyed a great run on Pringles Way then up Summerland Way through to Casino
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From Casino it was a short run to Kyogle... with a few "where are the Keillars" issues but all sorted and though our planned cafe stop closed (seems all of Kyogle was closed) we pulled into the Kyogle pub for a late lunch , some technology catch up and some final laughs....was impressed with the Barhams food demolition capability :)
poor Brett...no one wants to talk
With our bellies and bikes full the fun wasn't over as we headed off the 150km to Brisbane, enjoying more great sweeping corners then twisties up and over "The Main Range" and down to Beaudesert via Rathdowney.
They say there isways a twist in the tail of any experience and for me it was a loud rubbing noise as I slowed for the Woodenbong intersection, with Leigh McQ ushering me to the side of the road my mind went to a broken belt drive....4 hours wait for RACQ... transport home ....a disasterous end to my amazing roadtrip BUT it was only a broken bolt on my saddle bags and after much work from a number and Brett's Ocky straps we were back on the road...only my pride dented as I now took the "luggage" failure mantle from Des...and these stories last a Loonngg time :)
that is not going to fall off now!!
An uneventful run down the mountain, more twisities till near Rathdowney then rolling hills through to Beaudesert where we said our good byes and headed off in smaller groups to various parts of Brisbane. The Winter Gully rightly takes its place with our list of other great tours... great roads, great locations and awesome community.
...and Commandment 10 fulfilled...we came home safe with very big smiles on our face:) THANKS BAND OF BIKERS - WINTER GULLY TOUR 2016
check out our last day video below
....now to finalise our Tassie Tour...March 2017 .
.. Leigh Keilar has been at it again...check out his great prose
After great nights sleep we awoke to clear skies ,a cold morning and a little frost on the bikes ...but had a great breakfast and all ready for a departure at 8:30am for our 470km run to Glen Innes and the freezing temp on the granite belt.
On the previous night at the Bowls club we handed out B.o.B stickers tot he worthy roadtrippers. Tim earned his sticker from his stella support of bikers with punctures..came out the follow morning to find the sticker proudly displayed on....his arial ...not sure how long it will last but its the thought that counts.
Leaving in the morning is never without some issues...this morning was Paulette's Harley refusing to start so, while the rest of us were filling up a few boys were push starting her hard cranking bike...they certainly warmed up! So it was Crusty's turn to lead us through to Glen Innes...with a leg stretch at Collarenebri, fuel and morning tea at Moree...( and meeting up with with Steve G) then Inverell an onto Glen Innes. This was the the beginning of the Gwydir highway that ran all the way from sth -west QLD through to Grafton and the coast ...from the wide open farmland through the sweeping curves of New England area then onto the twisties of the Gibraltar national park....fantastic!!
Things were again going well I thought until a small encounter with an emu ....not helped by my pre-occupation with three camera remotes on my dash and prattling onto Ray on my Sena s20...this woke me up. Ironically my camera's were not running at the time :)
picture only for illustration purposes only
Then on arriving at a stretch and fuel stop at Collarenebri we seem to have lost half the group ..... the mystery was resolved when stories of Leigh K's seat comforter that flew off down the road...Paulette came to the rescuse though. Leigh McQ wondered what was going on. So with all the crew back together we headed off the 140km to Moree ...but nearly an hour behind schedule.
The landscape was flat with some huge broad acreage farming taking place with huge paddocks of green from crops growing contrasting with the barren, unattended landscapes just across the highway. Due to the late departure and delays along the way Moree turned into our Lunch and fuelstop with Steve G joining us on his Honda 1200 Crosstourer. We stumbled on this great little art gallery come cafe...they were a little overwhelmed as they were about to close early saturday afternoon and a bunch of hungry Band of Bikers stormed in...despite expected delays everyone got fed and fueled up as we knew the temp was going to fall as the afternoon rolled on towards Glen Innes. We saw the rolling flat plains gradually develop into the rolling hills as we went through Inverell and into the granite belt. With a leg stretch at Inverell we were all keen to get on the road and get settle into the Great Central Hotel at Glen Innes and enjoyed the open fires and lamb shank cooked by Tony, our host and Steve G's good mate.
So as the sun began to set and the temperature drop we rolled into Glen Innes and headed straight for the Great Central Hotel where we were met by Tony, our host. After losing a few bikers ( thanks for rounding them up Ray)we all managed to fit the bikes snuggly under cover beside the hotel for what was going to be a very cold night!
What a great hotel the Great Central promised and proved to be...after a nice warm shower we met up in the bar around the fire for more tall stories and true. It was a great days riding with a transition to more interesting landscape, a blue sky and no rain the it was getting colder as promised. Tonight we enjoyed a great dinner and community , our spirits were high and with expectations rising with some trepidation of the last day's twisties through the Gibralter National park and the prospect of ice....Mondays forecast was for snow at Glen Innes!!!
After dinner we enjoyed a small self contained area with a fire, lounge and kitchenette, where we whiled away the night with a coffee and good conversation of bikes and life.Whilst we slept in on our electric blanketed and comfortable bed the temp dropped overnight to -6.7deg but we were lost in dream of more riding, beautiful landscapes with a few twisties thrown in....indeed more adventure...before dementure :)
We were blessed with later start on day 2 with our Black Hand mine tour pushed back to the afternoon so we had time for some bacon and eggs from the cook with lots of character and the obligatory video's and photo's of this iconic place in the world.
Strange things you see at Nindigully ....Harley riders on Kawasaki's, Honda riders on Harley's, MX5 drivers on a bike and even a gaggle of triumph's all gathered together. :)
Our puncture repair support vehicle (aka Tim in his MX5) also decided to get some cred and mud by doing a lap of the water logged car park...and we didn't have to pull him out.
and so we managed to get our mandatory group photo outside the pub ....slightly different from our previous pic...what difference 4 years and 8"of rain make .
The 2012 summer tour crew...only 3 did it a gain but more than double the number of bikes
So it was a two and a half hour ride to Lightning Ridge via Thallon and a Dirranbandi where we had to fuel up and leg stretch. The road was recently fully upgraded and flat and smooth... green as and water laying everywhere.
4 turns and we were there...cruiser heaven
wonder if he was thinking...hey I was halfway across that road!
a herd of Kangaroos charging through a paddock
The level of roadkill almost dropped to zero on this run after seeing carnage everywhere,particularly from Goondiwindi to the Gully (where road-trains run)....Kangaroo's the greatest level (most stupid?) then some wild pigs and the odd Emu ... and the most unusual of all was rescued from the middle of the road by our support crew. With all the rain the grass was green and will become even more lush...we wondered why the Kangaroos bothered dicing with death for feed next to the road...dumb or what, on a bike you can certainly smell the outcome.
The bikes were thirsty after 260km from last fuel stop...a traffic jam at Dirranbandi fuel station. Amazing what service those support vehicles get but BoB did clean my windscreen. John was wondering how he could one of those tyres on his Honda shadow...they would last awhile.. So it was on to Hebel for a leg stretch ....its amazing what you stumble upon as this little town on the "Great Inland Way" was on the route taken by Major Thomas Mitchel on his expedition to find a route from Sydney to Darwin.
We did notice a deterioration of the roads as we entered NSW and the wind did keep those tall triumph's on there toes...but we were soon at the Lighting Ridge turnoff and another photo opportunity at the cement mixer...as symbol of opal mining.
So we finally made it to the Wallangulla Motel ...parked up the bikes,unloaded our gear in our rooms and with Chambers of the Black Hand mine tour not till mid afternoon we headed to lunch at the local burger joint, then back for a rest...the town was full of great Nomads with winter being the peak season for western Qld.
An awesome Lightning ridge street graphic of its mining history
Now it was on to the Chambers of the black hand mine and a bit of fun on a bus.
We had done this tour on the 2012 summer tour....now it was three times the price and we had squeeze on the bus...but everyone had lots of fun, the place is full of characters and tall stories. Unlike last time we only had Ray put his hand in his pocket and buy his wife some lovely opal earrings (with a little prompting of course).
We saw everyone down the mine...Jesus and the disciples, the finger of God, a lost Band of Biker and who said Elvis was dead. The temp in the mine was a constant 22deg C, lovely.
Paulette checking out Rodney Rude or Ray blowing in the breath tester?
After a rest and regroup we headed across the road to the Lightning Ridge bowling club where we enjoyed some fabulous meals and lots of frivolity and story telling. For many it was back for a quiet night...but for some hardy souls, thanks to Bob's first time driving of the the disco ,we made it to the Hot bore pool for a very warm swim and soak....it was a little bracing though getting out into the crisp night air.
So we had been watching the weather all week hoping that the forecast rain might slip a day or to as the 3 mountains and a Dam route contained lots of twisties and it could have been a health hazard in the rain BUT it didn't 
