Post by kuri77 on May 13, 2015 9:58:58 GMT 10
Well it's been a heck of a trip. Finally at a place where I can use my computer and everything is moving faster than a snail's pace.
Where to start? At the AGM of course. This event and ride set up by Ray was very well organized and Ray has set a high standard for future AGM rallies to come. Met a lot of people I could put faces to names finally. Some of my most frequent forum-question repliers were there from Ray to Spinal to Azza to George and others. Sorry if my bad memory has caused me to miss someone. Ray and his wife Trish were gracious enough to let me stay in their cabin and Wolf was in with George and Helen.
The next day we went on a run up to Noosa Head along the beach road which meant pretty slow speeds but it was fun to ride in what I heard was the biggest Shadow run in Oz history. Around 30 or so bikes made for a nice procession. At one point Wolf was riding with his horned-helmet which was pretty interesting for a lot of people. Luckily no police were around so he didn't have any problems.
After taking a ferry on which all the bikes just fit, we went to the AGM. Admirably conducted by George it gave me a better understanding of the "club that's not a club" Whatever you call it the members have done themselves proud.
When we left, George, Helen and their group from Victoria had us accompany them down to Byron Bay. Going through Brisbane on the freeway reminded me unpleasantly of home so we were glad to be thru and out the other side. I lost a bolt out of my shifter but fortunately George had one that worked with the extra spacers I had so that saved the day, especially since we were on the side of a busy highway. We had a final lunch together and they branched off west as we continued on down south.
The coast road was nice for bikes with lots of turns and hills but scenically not what I expected. Very few views of the ocean unless you went in on one of the brown-signed tourist roads that led to beach towns. We did almost all that came up and they were great especially since most of them involved relatively steep approaches to the water from the highlands.
Nearing Sydney I was prepared for the same as in Brisbane. Unfortunately way worse as the gps led us down 12 kms of city streets in order to get to the Opera House. We lane-split a lot though and it was worth it. The place where all the tourists go had no parking so we jumped the bikes up on the sidewalk and took some pretty close up pics. Awesome views of the bldg with the sun reflecting off the roofs. Then an Aussie told us about a different view site so we rode around to it and got some good side view pics. We stopped at a Harley shop and then we were out of there as fast as possible. I know we missed a lot of great cultural stuff there and in many spots of Oz but this was a riding tour and both of us were eager to get out of town.
Took the tourist road down to our motel in Shell Harbor. Great road and weather still treating us well.
Next was the tourist road down to Bateman's Bay. Another fabulous ride. From there we took the inland road to Canberra and saw the architecturally magnificent Parliament building complete with Burundian free-speech protesters out front. Cops were nice and let us stay in a no-parking zone for 5 minutes to get pics. The Kings Hwy was so good that we decided to backtrack to Batemans Bay just to ride it again.
The Bermagui tourist road was our favorite with lots of one-lane bridges, swamps, lakes, rivers, ponds, bazillions of different birds all on a road with panoramic views. Stayed in Bega and Wolf found a church while I went to the famous cheese factory. Bit of a letdown compared to all the hype but still fun.
I had an ADV rider contact in Sale so we rode the longest day well into dark to get to his house. I called him several times along the way to tell him the state of weather and where we were in relation to darkness but when he said to hurry up because his wife had a roast on I felt we better make the attempt. I was expecting a kangaroo to jump out from every tree and it was light drizzling which would've made an emergency front-wheel stop out of the question. Michael and his wife Ruth treated us to a delicious dinner and hospitality. We got up to light drizzle still and started off in the rain suits. The last riding day of our tour was the only one we actually experienced what I would call rain since cars had their wipers on continuously for the 2 storm fronts we went through. But they only lasted about 30 min each and were not a total downpour anyway. So about an hour of rain and maybe 8 hrs of drizzle in 7 wks makes us two of the luckiest motorcycle tourers ever for this time of year and considering the regions we went through.
George met us coming into eastern Melbourne near where he lives in Croydon area and went with us to the biggest mc dealer in southern hemisphere I think he said. Then he told us he'd take us to the Victoria Market the next day. That was really a tourist experience. With the range of souvenirs that large you could buy all you needed from all over Oz without actually leaving Vic and no one would be the wiser. Actually Wolf is a little wiser now because he sadly saw boomerangs for half what he paid near where they actually make them. But for those of you who met him you know it didn't faze him a bit. He soldiered on and had presents for a horde of his friends and relatives by the end of the day. I found enough hats and t-shirts to keep me Aussified for some years to come. Thanks for the day George.
Put ads on ebay and gumtree as well as here but only one bite so far. Taking them back to the dealer tomorrow if they don't sell but we fully expected it to go that way anyhow so no big deal.
Decided to try buying tickets here and we lucked out because of the weak $AU. Saved a bunch of $.
Just got one serious enquiry about the bike so keeping my fingers crossed.
George is going to meet us at the dealer tomorrow and give us a ride back here and then it's just waiting for the plane to take off.
Needless to say this has been a trip of a lifetime for both of us. We owe many people, especially here on this forum, and our thanks go out to all of you for making this such a great trip. Becoming a member of this forum was the smartest thing I've done in a long time. Got a lot of great advice and met a lot of good people either by forum or in person. Aussies know how to show a foreign tourist a good time that's for sure. I hope at least some of you take me up on visiting some day and we can do some riding together.
I especially want to give a final thanks to Ian (Traversing2) and his wife in Hobart, Tasmania and to Mark (Langers) and his wife in Adelaide for their hospitality and the good times with had with them.
Last, but definitely not least, George here in Melbourne who couldn't have been a better Aussie biker host. He's gone out of his way a number of times to help us out and be a friend to us and we'll never forget it.
Thanks again to all and here's hoping we see some of you in the States.
Where to start? At the AGM of course. This event and ride set up by Ray was very well organized and Ray has set a high standard for future AGM rallies to come. Met a lot of people I could put faces to names finally. Some of my most frequent forum-question repliers were there from Ray to Spinal to Azza to George and others. Sorry if my bad memory has caused me to miss someone. Ray and his wife Trish were gracious enough to let me stay in their cabin and Wolf was in with George and Helen.
The next day we went on a run up to Noosa Head along the beach road which meant pretty slow speeds but it was fun to ride in what I heard was the biggest Shadow run in Oz history. Around 30 or so bikes made for a nice procession. At one point Wolf was riding with his horned-helmet which was pretty interesting for a lot of people. Luckily no police were around so he didn't have any problems.
After taking a ferry on which all the bikes just fit, we went to the AGM. Admirably conducted by George it gave me a better understanding of the "club that's not a club" Whatever you call it the members have done themselves proud.
When we left, George, Helen and their group from Victoria had us accompany them down to Byron Bay. Going through Brisbane on the freeway reminded me unpleasantly of home so we were glad to be thru and out the other side. I lost a bolt out of my shifter but fortunately George had one that worked with the extra spacers I had so that saved the day, especially since we were on the side of a busy highway. We had a final lunch together and they branched off west as we continued on down south.
The coast road was nice for bikes with lots of turns and hills but scenically not what I expected. Very few views of the ocean unless you went in on one of the brown-signed tourist roads that led to beach towns. We did almost all that came up and they were great especially since most of them involved relatively steep approaches to the water from the highlands.
Nearing Sydney I was prepared for the same as in Brisbane. Unfortunately way worse as the gps led us down 12 kms of city streets in order to get to the Opera House. We lane-split a lot though and it was worth it. The place where all the tourists go had no parking so we jumped the bikes up on the sidewalk and took some pretty close up pics. Awesome views of the bldg with the sun reflecting off the roofs. Then an Aussie told us about a different view site so we rode around to it and got some good side view pics. We stopped at a Harley shop and then we were out of there as fast as possible. I know we missed a lot of great cultural stuff there and in many spots of Oz but this was a riding tour and both of us were eager to get out of town.
Took the tourist road down to our motel in Shell Harbor. Great road and weather still treating us well.
Next was the tourist road down to Bateman's Bay. Another fabulous ride. From there we took the inland road to Canberra and saw the architecturally magnificent Parliament building complete with Burundian free-speech protesters out front. Cops were nice and let us stay in a no-parking zone for 5 minutes to get pics. The Kings Hwy was so good that we decided to backtrack to Batemans Bay just to ride it again.
The Bermagui tourist road was our favorite with lots of one-lane bridges, swamps, lakes, rivers, ponds, bazillions of different birds all on a road with panoramic views. Stayed in Bega and Wolf found a church while I went to the famous cheese factory. Bit of a letdown compared to all the hype but still fun.
I had an ADV rider contact in Sale so we rode the longest day well into dark to get to his house. I called him several times along the way to tell him the state of weather and where we were in relation to darkness but when he said to hurry up because his wife had a roast on I felt we better make the attempt. I was expecting a kangaroo to jump out from every tree and it was light drizzling which would've made an emergency front-wheel stop out of the question. Michael and his wife Ruth treated us to a delicious dinner and hospitality. We got up to light drizzle still and started off in the rain suits. The last riding day of our tour was the only one we actually experienced what I would call rain since cars had their wipers on continuously for the 2 storm fronts we went through. But they only lasted about 30 min each and were not a total downpour anyway. So about an hour of rain and maybe 8 hrs of drizzle in 7 wks makes us two of the luckiest motorcycle tourers ever for this time of year and considering the regions we went through.
George met us coming into eastern Melbourne near where he lives in Croydon area and went with us to the biggest mc dealer in southern hemisphere I think he said. Then he told us he'd take us to the Victoria Market the next day. That was really a tourist experience. With the range of souvenirs that large you could buy all you needed from all over Oz without actually leaving Vic and no one would be the wiser. Actually Wolf is a little wiser now because he sadly saw boomerangs for half what he paid near where they actually make them. But for those of you who met him you know it didn't faze him a bit. He soldiered on and had presents for a horde of his friends and relatives by the end of the day. I found enough hats and t-shirts to keep me Aussified for some years to come. Thanks for the day George.
Put ads on ebay and gumtree as well as here but only one bite so far. Taking them back to the dealer tomorrow if they don't sell but we fully expected it to go that way anyhow so no big deal.
Decided to try buying tickets here and we lucked out because of the weak $AU. Saved a bunch of $.
Just got one serious enquiry about the bike so keeping my fingers crossed.
George is going to meet us at the dealer tomorrow and give us a ride back here and then it's just waiting for the plane to take off.
Needless to say this has been a trip of a lifetime for both of us. We owe many people, especially here on this forum, and our thanks go out to all of you for making this such a great trip. Becoming a member of this forum was the smartest thing I've done in a long time. Got a lot of great advice and met a lot of good people either by forum or in person. Aussies know how to show a foreign tourist a good time that's for sure. I hope at least some of you take me up on visiting some day and we can do some riding together.
I especially want to give a final thanks to Ian (Traversing2) and his wife in Hobart, Tasmania and to Mark (Langers) and his wife in Adelaide for their hospitality and the good times with had with them.
Last, but definitely not least, George here in Melbourne who couldn't have been a better Aussie biker host. He's gone out of his way a number of times to help us out and be a friend to us and we'll never forget it.
Thanks again to all and here's hoping we see some of you in the States.