Return to the Stories Page   Trip to Mallabloodycoota By Greg Barber from March 2001 No motorcycle trip is complete without a few minor mishaps or breakdowns. They usually happen at inopportune times (is there an opportune time to have a flat battery) and are always frustrating. The Mallacoota trip was to have its fair share of these minor mishaps but thankfully they didn’t spoil the weekend for anyone, and they were far outweighed by the great weather, roads and company. A fine morning greeted the 10 or so bikes (and people) that turned at the Rolfe Classic meeting point. No matter how many times I see a line up of bikes like this at the start of a run it never fails to get the heart beating just that little bit faster. What a great sight it is!! Some others had travelled to Mallacoota the previous day (Martin -R1100GS- and Alison -R80RT-, Peter and Sue -R1100RT- and Tom -R1200C) and we would join them later in the day. I am not sure who can lay claim to having the first of the weekend’s incidents. Perhaps it was Warren and Fran whose K100LT’s battery decided to die when they were refuelling at the servo next to Rolfe, or was it Jeanette Hahn (R65) who “forgot” her mobile phone and rode home to retrieve it, only then to realise that the phone had actually been in the pocket of her riding jacket all the time. In any event it was a case of inconvenience versus embarrassment. The inconvenience cost Warren and Fran a few hours as they waited for a suitable battery to be charged up, the embarrassment for Jeanette will last much longer. Although she got off rather lightly over the weekend, I am sure she will not be allowed to forget this one. The run down to Cooma was boring as usual. The scenery was a bit more inviting this time, as the recent rain seems to have greened up the countryside a bit, but it was still frustrating maintaining a watchful eye on the speedo and on the horizon just to ensure that the legislative enforcers didn’t spoil our weekend before it had commenced. As we approached Cooma the weather deteriorated with the customary low cloud/fog and drop in temperatures occurring. A pie and a coffee at the bakery at Nimmitabel and the return of the sun warmed us all up and we headed off towards Bombala with Claire and her R850R with new screen fitted, leading the way. Claire claims she was just testing out the screen but I think this is a case of closet speed demon finally getting a machine to match her temperament. Bombala was a fuel stop for those with smaller tanks or those who hadn’t had filled their tanks prior to departure. Nigel (R100GSPD) hadn’t started with a full tank but felt sure that he had enough to get through to Cann River. But he soon had problems just the other side of Bombala when he had to change to reserve and then suffered a fuel blockage (mishap No 3). It was quickly cleared but he headed back to Bombala to fill up just to make sure. Whilst stopped at the servo in Bombala I had a quick chat with a group of Pommy bikers. They had brought their own bikes with them and had been in Oz for three weeks. There was a Triumph Tiger, a cruiser of some description and a couple of sports bikes. I had visions of a quick three week circumnavigation of Oz and was bit in awe of them, but it turned out they had only travelled from Melbourne to Mildura then through the Snowy Mountains and were now on their way back to Melbourne. It was not a big trip for three weeks riding. But there are some good roads in that part of the country, and I guess it would take a few weeks to get over most of them. They seemed well prepared as they also had a two tonne pantech with them, which I assume was carrying all their gear. As I got back onto the road after stopping to see if Nigel was okay the English contingent rode past. “Great” I thought a chance to play with some Europeans on the way to Cann River. I wanted to see just how good these guys could ride. After all they had to be pretty serious to bring their bikes all this way for just three weeks. But as I quickly caught up to them I realised that all the bikes were faithfully following trailing the back up vehicle, which was only travelling at 90kph. No wonder they hadn’t travelled far in three weeks. I always thought pommies were strange and this did nothing to change my opinion. Fancy bringing you bike over from England only to ride down the Cann Valley Highway behind a slow moving truck. Very strange. Cann River arrived on the horizon far too quickly. The distance and time just flew by as we all enjoyed the scenery and the bike friendly road. A fuel stop at Cann River for those that needed it and then up the highway before turning off at Genoa for Mallacoota. The road in is about 40 kilometres long and a large proportion of it is tight corners. It can be a real challenge as a fair proportion of them are pretty tight and not sign posted. The surface in some places makes it an additional challenge. There was no loose gravel but some bits were corrugated and it certainly gave the tyres and suspension a work out if you were travelling a bit fast side. Once at Mallacoota Gary (R1100RT) discovered that the scraping sound he had been experiencing on the road into Mallacoota was not the foot pegs or side-stand after all but was in fact a rock that had lodged between the swing arm and the tyre (Mishap No 4). It had done a nice job of gouging out half of the sidewall on his recently fitted tyre. Not the most comforting thing to happen especially two up with a trailer. In all the excitement Gary managed to lose his bike keys (Mishap No 5). Nigel then promptly lost his glasses as a gesture of solidarity (Mishap No 6). Gary’s keys were found by some kind soul who handed them in to the local police station. The officer on duty returning them later in the night. Nigel’s glasses were found in the storage compartment of his PD. Was it poor eyesight or old timers disease??? Once settled in the afternoon was spent either sleeping and relaxing or taking in the local attractions (inlet, beaches, bushwalking trails etc). We all met again for dinner at the pub where a nice meal was had, a few drinks consumed and quite a few lies were told. Sunday morning dawned with even better weather than Saturday. If that is possible?. There was not a cloud in the sky and the last thing we wanted to do was return back to Canberra and then on to work the next day. This was one of those days that make you seriously consider buying some land on the coast and taking early retirement. Tom Csanki certainly had this in mind and spent half of Saturday checking out the land sales all around town. He was last seen preparing for an early morning ocean cruise on Sunday and has not been seen since. Perhaps he has purchased one of those blocks of land as is building his new abode as we speak? Sunday morning saw a few more of the minor mishaps. Claire picked up a bad coffee which resulted in an upset digestive system (Mishap No 6) that would make the timing of her departure very tricky whilst Martin managed get stung after allowing a bee a free ride in his helmet (Mishap No 7). They both had to spend time at Genoa recovering before heading home. As is usual on these club trips the free spirits of motor cycling took over and varying routes home were taken by the participants. Gary, Tanya, Ian, Jeanette, Fran and Warren took the Imlay Road back to the Cann Valley Highway whilst Warwick returned to Cann River before heading north. Nigel and Paul Krebs headed up to Tuross and then home over the Clyde whilst the rest of us headed up the coast and then up Brown Mountain. Claire and I had a particularly nice run through Candelo to Bemboka. The road is narrow but there are no nasty corners and not too much traffic to worry you. The road runs along a bit of a ridge and the views onto the surrounding rolling hills and the near by Brown Mountain are spectacular. Well worth a look. Whilst stopped for lunch at Bemboka we saw two bikes with very interesting paint job. The first was mid 70’s Ducati 750 in pristine condition with a purple coloured paint job. A strange colour but the bike looked great and sounded even better. The second bike was an old shaft drive Suzuki GS750 with a homemade “Telecom Orange” paint job complete with matching coloured upholstery on the seat. It looked strange, but no stranger than the owner did. But he was on two wheels and he was having fun – who can argue with that?? The remainder of the trip home was uneventful and we made it into Canberra at around 4pm a little tired but extremely happy and ready to do it all again in March on the Bright trip. Top of Page © ACTBMWMCC 2001 - not to be reproduced in whole or part without permission. Write to the Editor