The Wild Geese

Tip To The Grand Prix
In mid August, Roost Goose and I plus a crew of the BMW club guys headed to Cairns to do the run to the tip of the Cape on the GS Safari (see the Roost Goose report at B M W Safari To Cape York 2006). I spent the time trying to stay shiny side up while keeping Roost in sight. I had more success at staying shiny side up (the red girl and I met the ground a few times but managed to escape with minor grazing only) than keeping Neil and the HP 2 in sight. We had a good run, lots of laughs, new roads and new mates. Ran back from the safari with Ray and Rick from Morgan and Wacker, then back to work for a week or so and off to the GP at Phillip Island.

My brother lives at Taree and is a regular GP goer and had suggested that since he and his mate Ian were intending to go down that I should join them with the comment that “all bike riders need to ride to the GP once in their life it’s motorcycling Mecca”. Someone had to go to keep an eye on them plus you can’t let someone riding a 900 monster and an F4 MV Augusta head off on their own. I felt that they needed a real bike along in case something broke on the Italian connection. So purely because I’m a nice bloke I took the mighty 1200GS along (this also allowed me to ride to the top and bottom of the mainland within the month).

The GS - The Ducati 900 - The beautiful F4 MV

I left home and headed to Brisvegas to drop some photos in to Rick at Morgans. It poured rain and blew like a banshee on the way down so I arrived with a bad case of “ink hand” from the gloves and a wet crutch from my waterproof? Pants. Rick convinced me that the gloves were crap and I bought a pair of BMW summer gloves which I must admit didn’t leak ink and were a good investment. Left Briso and headed to Grafton via Mt Lindsay in the wet, this eased as I went and was only showers by the time I arrived. Stayed with a mate there the night and headed off the next day somewhat slowly (thinking back it was probably that big decision about the next bottle of wine that was solved when we picked the one with the screw cap because it was easy to open that caused the slowness – not old age at all). Rode down through Glenreigh to Coffs and then down the highway to Taree where I stayed with my brother Mike. His wife had lent him her 900 Monster for the run to the GP (he’s got a 74 roundcase 750 Ducati which is a tad uncomfortable as a tourer) so after a bit of packing (well a lot really since his mate Ian that we were meeting south of Sydney rides an MV Augusta and we had to carry all his gear) and a few laughs at Ian’s expense we hit the sack.

Up early we headed for Sydney, lunch with some rellies and then to Canberra down the Hume dieway (at the speed limit) picking up Ian and the MV at Pheasants Nest. As usual everything takes longer than you think and we arrived late and found a Caravan park in the dark where we hired the deviant house (see pics) for the night.

Yep that's my bedroom windows on 3 sides - weird eh

Off through the mountains to Cooma chasing other GP goers and then after a coffee and several muffins we headed to Bombala and then through a really nice windy road from Rockton coming out at the coast south of Eden. Steady run down to Genoa then a really great twisty blast in to Malacoota for lunch. Back on the bikes and with the GS and the Duc trying to keep that bloody MV in sight (fat chance) we shot back out to the highway (at the speed limit of course!). Toddled down the highway with lots of other GP goers and spent the night at a really friendly caravan park at Marlo on the coast at the mouth of the Snowy river. One thing I noticed on this trip was that I really feel that there has been a change of attitude to touring bikes over the past 25 years, everywhere we went people were chatty, friendly and really helpful which is a change from some of the receptions we received years ago (I put it down to my distinguished good looks). At the pub Mike ran into a heap of Vic Ducati club members who were on a run from Melbourne to the GP via the Snowy Mountains. They noticed his NSW club sweatshirt and came over for a chat and told us of a heap of good highway avoiding roads that would get us to Inverloch where we were staying. We ran down through Yarram (following our instructions) in a random sort of way to the bottom of Wilsons Prom. This diversion was for me since I had wanted to ride from the tip of Cape York on the GS Safari to the bottom of the mainland within the month. We arrived that evening at our house at Inverloch (on the coast about 50ks from the GP but much cheaper) which was really swish. A mate from Melbourne (William) that I’d ridden with at the GS safari came down and stayed for the racing as well (now there were two GS’s so the odds were much better).

At Wilsons Prom parks gate - Tidal River - A killer parrot forced Ian to give up his apple core at beak point

Practice day was a bit of an eye opener for me since I’d never been to a GP before - the speed is something else. We wandered about and eventually settled on a good spot to sit for the race (between corners 11 and 12 just where they come onto the main straight), watched some really impressive trials riders (that’s when you realise you have limited throttle control and general ability).

Race day and we rode in with thousands of riders, the ride in and out with that huge number of bikes is worth the trip just as an experience. The racing was great and the excitement and noise was unreal, something that I’ll remember for a long time. We were all wearing the Stoner T-shirts (Mike is a bit of a fan of his local boy) and cheered the lad on, trading insults a little with some Rossi supporters in a good natured fashion. Leaving the race was chaos with mega bikes filing past either side of the almost stopped cars. We ignored the signs like “start mono here” and “rev that shit” on the side of the road and headed back to Inverloch where William headed back to work having told us of the most interesting way to head home via the best roads.

Action on corner 11 - Ian tries his hand at trials - The lads on main straight

Heading off we zig zagged through Victoria via famous roads like the Black Spur (where we arrived just after some poor bugger sent his bike off the side of the road – he was shaken but ok, luckily). There is some really great country through central Vic and up into the ranges. I haven’t ridden down there since the late 1980’s and I’m keen to head back and spend some more time there. That day we ended up in Junee in NSW since we couldn’t find accommodation in Wagga. By now Ian’s arse was like a board since the MV really is not intended to be ridden any distance that doesn’t involve a heap of corners. Mike and I were feeling a touch smug at this point - teach the bugger to whip us on the ranges, even though I did manage to sneak up on him on the inside a couple of times and show him a wheel.

Up through central NSW we went through Lithgow to get us onto the Bells Line of road which we thoroughly enjoyed. Ian left us there and we cut across onto the Puttee road which is another great ride and since it was midweek we saw few other people. It was getting later and we were keen to make Taree so we pressed on through Singleton to Dungog riding the narrow windy Booral road in the dark. Few interesting incidents in the dark on this bit of road; there was the kangaroo with a death wish that was running down the centre of the road towards us, there was the turtle that was in the middle of nowhere trying to get run over and there was the other bike that was coming towards us down the road in the dark that turned out to be a farmer on a quad closely followed by his dogs that were also running down the road and caused a few heart stopping moments. Arrived late at Mikes place much to our relief.

Countryside - I think we get the message - The touring trio

I headed off the next day and basically followed my outgoing journey, Coffs, Grafton, Brisbane then Gympie and I must say while it’s great to be travelling it’s always nice to get back home as well. I’d done 11,000 Ks in the 6 weeks and had travelled top to bottom of the mainland and had a great time. The bike was great and didn’t miss a beat throughout the whole trip.

Now what about east west????

Dave Osborne AKA Grey Goose

Category Rides ~ Category Long Distance