So around this time last year, I decided to take Fat Max to Melbourne and home via the Snowy Mountains. But it rained, and rained and rained.. so no Snowy Mountains.
You can read about it here!
Anyhow.. time passed, the weather Gods promised better weather so I saddled up Fat Max for his farewell tour. You see Fat Max is for sale and is looking for a new owner. For nearly six years we have had adventures together and it is time I moved on..... all will be revealed in the fullness of time.
So the plan is simple, ride the big Yamaha to Cooma in the Snowy Mountains and base myself there for a few nights. This would allow me to have a couple of day trips around the area. And in sunshine if the forecasters had it right too!
The end of day 1 finds me in Armidale at a motel.
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| I can recommend this place... excellent service and good room! |
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| And right next door.. was dinner and breakfast! |
An early start on day two and eventually we pull up in Dubbo for the night. What can you say about Dubbo.. except I spent a week there one night.
But along the way I decided to visit the Sidings Springs Observatory. In my teenage years, school mate Rob Fysh and I would sit out all night on the front lawn at Clayfield and gander at the stars with my telescope. And I still am fascinated by all of this.... so off to the observatory we go. And while sitting outside their tourist centre, an old car pulls up and a young lady hops out with a tray of cakes that she takes inside. I looked at the old bloke next to me.. "Now that could be a scene from The Dish."
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| An imposing sight as you come up the hill. |
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| Now that's a telescope. Took 2 years to get the wave right on the mirror. |
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| Their second smaller observatory! |
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| The views up here are good too! |
Now if you have read other episodes in my blog, you would know about my years spent at Hendra High School. It really was staffed by demented people.. and I hated the place. But I did make some good friends there. One of whom is Tor Fromhyr who is now a lecturer at the ANU School of Music. A very talented concert violinist, Tor has worked with Frank Sinatra, The Bee Gees, John Denver, Cat Stevens etc etc. We both had the same violin teacher 50 years ago.... sadly I lost interest.
Anyhow.. I haven't seen Tor for over 50 years, so as he lives in the country outside Yass... well it was a time for a catch up and to discuss what the past 50 years had been like for both of us.
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| After 50 years it was though we had only been apart a week! |
Tor lives on this amazing block of land. He and Leanne and their 3 children made me feel so very welcome. They have built their own home, planted a thousand trees, built a barn with a granny flat.. for granny and have the most eclectic mix of things to see.
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| The amazing home with yard space for Rosie the pooch. |
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| Rosie with Max and Tor's amazing Mercedes! |
The Friday night I arrived, Tor took me into Canberra to collect his son Gabriel from high school and drop him off at the ANU for his cello lessons. Like his dad he is a gifted player. The ANU music school is amazing right down to the piano stools in the lift!
Saturday dawned really foggy... but I enjoyed it all.
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| Poor old Max lost in the fog! |
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| Such a magic spot to live! |
On Saturdays young Gabe makes coffees in Yass at the amazing little cafe. But the Chinese cafe next door tickles my fancy.
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| Well.. Fook Me! |
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| The Court Hose in Yass is impressive. Like a Masonic Lodge! |
Saturday afternoon finds me punching out ZZZZeds and relaxing totally. Right on dusk I wake up so go out to have look at Gabe's home-made bike. Take one bicycle, add a $90 Ebay petrol engine and away you go. Just fabulous.. would have loved one when I was a kid.
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| What a talented young man! |
All too soon it was Sunday morning and time to head into Canberra to see the War Museum and the incredible Cheryl.
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| G for George. What an aeroplane. If only it could talk. |
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| G for George after the last mission with air and ground crew at Binbrook Lincolnshire |
The Lancaster "G for George" was the main thing that attracted me to the museum. I have always been interested in war birds, but this particular aeroplane is something else. With nearly 90 missions over occupied Europe, that is a record in itself. Over 220 men crewed George with 70 of them later being killed in action. Hard to imagine the odds of surviving as air crew in WW2. My late friend Allan Gay who Captained Halifax heavy bombers out of Pocklington in Yorkshire in WW2, told me that when he finished his tour of duty, he was the only one left from his multi engine conversion course in Canada prior to serving in the RAF. He like the men who crewed G for George were heroes in every sense of the word. Talk about the right stuff!
The other thing I like is the view back to Capitol Hill and Parliament House from here.
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| One of the great views in Oz! |
After a quick brunch at the Museum, it was time to catch up with Cheryl. Now Cheryl and Debra were childhood buddies and they lost contact over the years. But by an absolutely amazing chance, they were able to reconnect about 10 years ago. A diary left in our studio contained a photograph of Cheryl and the diary's owner. Amazing stuff and so it was all sorted there and then. Cheryl has worked in all media; print, radio and TV and also as chief of staff in Political offices. What a talented lady. She took me to Old Parliament House in her Mustang and gave me a tour. The stories are amazing. Cheryl has a Mustang GT for an every day drive and and HSV for her Sunday muscle car drive experience. After a tour we went to the local sports club to see her football team win. And had a magic dinner later. Many thanks for putting me up Cheryl.. or perhaps I should say putting up with me?
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| Cheryl standing where her desk was when this was Malcom Fraser's office. |
Monday Morning dawns fine and clear... so off to Cooma go Max and me to see the Snowy Mountains.. again.
Sans rain thank you!
Arriving at Cooma I rent an apartment as the motel rooms are all booked for bus loads of pensioners.... awesome!
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| Max in the car park. Waiting....... |
I decided today is a day to explore Cooma in detail so Max is locked down and shank's pony takes me around town. They have an amazing bakery here.. but I am good and only visit once. Otherwise I wouldn't fit in my bike pants and jacket. Cooma is a lovely town and a special place to visit.
So the next day finds me up early and away on Max to discover Lake Eucumbene. This lake can hold 9 times the volume of water as Sydney Harbour. That is a lot! At 1160 metres elevation, it certainly is an alpine lake. I rode around and across the dam wall past a coach load of pensioners who alighted from the coach.. and then blocked the road. They just strung out like cattle on the long paddock and watched as I approached. Like rabbits blinded by the lights! Except it was daylight. Don't know if they thought I was some sort of sideshow.. but eventually the driver had to point out to them they were standing in the middle of a road. If I get like that in another 20 years.. please shoot me.
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| Max on the dam wall at Eucumbene. |
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| Drive across the dam wall... or not if the pensioners are there! |
On the way along one of the many roads of the high plains, I came across this old church literally in the middle of nowhere. Just had to stop for a gander. Located on a rise, the view from the front door must be amazing when the snow is falling in winter.
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| Just so beautiful in the middle of nowhere. |
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| Part of the Uniting Church flock. |
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| The road going past the church! |
The road going past has this amazing right hand sweeping bend.. just the place to give the big Yamaha the berries.. until an errant wombat wandered out onto the road. Ended up with one surviving wombat, one undamaged bike and the rider left over. Bonus!
So along the road I go until I come to a Snowy Mountains History Museum. First time in my life I have used my Senior's Card. Saved $1 off the $6 admission cost. Awesome! Lots of interesting stuff in there. The men and women who built this entire thing must have been amazing people. Cannot see it being done again. For a start Sarah Hyhpen-Young and her crew would object to blasting tunnels through mountains. Upset the spirit or similar I reckon.
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| Think it stopped here when it broke an axle. |
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| This EK ute was restored. Part of the original motor pool. |
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| All wheel drive fire engine! |
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| Learnt tech drawing using stuff like these from Mr Miller in 1966 |
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| Remember overhauling a CA45 starter from one of these back in 72. |
So after this wander around it was back to Cooma, a fill up on fuel for tomorrow for a big day out. A Chinese meal for dinner and and early night.
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| This shows my next trip, a loop from Cooma to Khancoban and then back. |
Thursday morning and I am awake very early. A quick breakfast at McDonalds (try their BLT McMuffin with an egg) and away we go. Riding in the mornings is cold, so I bought a long sleeved top the day before at Target to wear over my T shirt under my jacket. Seemed to help a lot. Now the destination for today is Murray 2 hydro station. It is the only one open to visitors. Murray 1 is normally open, but the individual turbines are being overhauled. And the figures.. $10,000,000 per unit to overhaul and one year in time. And.. there are 10 units at Murray 1. Murray one feeds its water post power generation down to Murray 2 after which the water goes into the Murray River.
The road to Jindabyne is easy going but as I leave Jindabyne, the GPS goes nuts and turns me towards the coast. Then it gives me an error message. Pull over, reboot the stupid thing and away we go. The ride goes through the National Park and there is an admittance charge, $7 per day for bikes. But if you are going through as I was.. no charge. The country here is stunning. Really beautiful alpine scenery and once past the turn off to Thredbo does the road become "interesting".
Lots of steep climbs, steep descents and very tight corners. I think I am riding sensibly but a lot of corners have light up "Slow Down" signs that I manage to activate as Max powers up and down those alpine roads. I need to be at Murray 2 by 11:00 for the tour. GPS says ETA is 10:30 but all the signs I see say I have more time needed and will arrive just after 11:00. There are no cars going in my direction but less than 10 pass me coming the other way.. including a Winibago... climbing the hills like a slug!
Eventually I am down out of the hills and there is the turn off to Murray 2.
This place s amazing. The facts that were spelled out during the tour are as follows:
1. Snowy was designed as an inland irrigation project. The power generation part was to raise money to pay for it all.
2. Snowy 2.0 is not a new idea. Has been kicking around for years.. not viable before, perhaps now with final figures to be released later this year. Snowy 2 will require electricity to pump the water back up.. and they have to buy it from the grid, just like us. So if it happens.. only when power is cheap.
3. Lake Eucumbene is around only 30% full. Never been this low. Snowy Hydro was built to supply power when needed at peak times. A hot summer combined with the closure of Hazelwood power station led to high demands on the Hydro over XMAS. Once the water has passed through the turbines.. it's gone. It might be renewable but until the next winter and the following snow melt... water is low.
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| These pipe walls are 15mm thick at the top and 35mm at the bottom. |
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| Temporary Visitor Centre while Murray 1 is closed. |
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| Where the water exits post power generation. |
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| Like a scene from Dr No. The unit nearest the camera has been upgraded. |
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| This water is Murray bound. |
Tour over and the next stop is Cabrumurra.. the highest town in Australia. A Snowy Hydro town, there is no visitor accomodation but it does have a nice cafe... apparently. I pointed Max at the hills again and twisted the throttle. Always love the power of a 1200. Light blue touch paper and stand well back. I wanted to get up there and then back down and across to Cooma before the light started to fade. Too many wallabies and roos out and about. I just missed two very small scrub wallabies the day before coming back from the lake.
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| Highest town in Australia gets a visit from Fat Max! |
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| Lots of dead bugs on the screen now! |
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| Talk about a well laid out town... or village perhaps! |
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| Possibly the highest helipad in Oz too! |
So after visiting this wonderful world of alpine intrigue... it was off back to Cooma. Refuelled Max and then worked out my homeward journey for the next day. Debra was having internet dramas at the boutique and as the account is in my name, I had to get to an Optus shop and sort the mess out. The next morning I left Cooma at 07:00 hours and headed into Canberra just in time to join the peak hour traffic. From there to Sydney and the M7 crawl to Pennant Hills I was so hot that I stopped in an emergency lane and took my long sleeved top off. Pacific Motorway was next and finally Newcastle appears on the GPS map. Refuel here and push on to Port Macquarie for the night. By the time I arrived I could hardly walk.
Checked into a motel, had an Italian meal and hit the sack early. Friday early I am on the road again and on towards Hendra. I needed two refuelling stops to get home.. but around 13:45 I pulled up in the drive at Grant Street.
I was stuffed, Max was filthy.. but ready to do it all again! Shame I couldn't! What a bike.
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| Final trip details. |
Hi lights of the trip were spending time with old school mate Tor and meeting his family. And also chatting with Cheryl and learning more of her time in the media when based in the Old Parliament House. Thank you to both.
And.. the Snowy Mountains. What a place. Just something magical about those alpine areas and the magic of that scheme. Blasting tunnels through rock to divert rivers. No pipes in there... water just flows through the rock tunnels.
At primary school we were taught a lot about the Snowy Scheme... to actually see it all working is something else. I just wish Australia could be that great again instead of all of our politicians getting caught up in every day rubbish that doesn't do anything to advance our great country.
And Fat Max....
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| At home.. post trip and covered in bugs and crap. |
Considering he is just a machine (and a better one according to Yamaha) I am really attached to this motorcycle. I will be sad to see him go but I have plans for Max 2.0 in July. In the meantime I have to catch up on paper work at the shop and the studio and then give Max a rub and tub and prepare him for his new owner.
And what a deal he/she will get. All set up for touring with GPS, factory panniers, Staintune exhaust, crash bars and sump guard, LED driving lamps plus a whole mess of extra farkles I have fitted over the years to make touring a pleasure on this bike.
Bitumen or dirt.. Max doesn't care... he just goes... and quickly too.
Stay tuned for another instalment on my blog when I get myself back together after this amazing trip.
