Four lookouts in the Watagan National Park

A Saturday Afternoon Bushwalk

6th of April 2013: A Saturday afternoon bush walk in Lane Cove National Park

Porters Bridge - Built by unskilled labour in the depression years

Walking along the bush tracks and roads, there is a significant amount of remnant heritage stone work in the walls, road edging, bridges and steps. It got me thinking about how materials and workmanship has changed from the past to today.

The oval road island now covered in bush but once was a BBQ area. Well made sandstone wall

Most of the heritage elements are built from sandstone and have been there for more than 80 years. I think quarried nearby. The stone is squared and in some cases such as the walls and bridges its very neat and ashlar coursed and finished. The stone along the trails is squared and used where stairs are required. Similar stone was used to edge the road, which till recently was mostly visible until it was covered by re-asphalting works. In most case these stone elements are still functioning as the design intended in the day. I enjoy viewing the history that the sandstone elements provide me on the walk. I wonder who used these, how long they have been here and what the area in the past would have looked like.

Sandstone Road Edging

These days for at least the last 20 years, path elements such as signs and stairs are built from treated pine. They have a much shorter life span and are generally more susceptible to vandalism. The timber steps showing signs of decay probably will not see another 5 years. I wonder whether in 50 years we are going to see anything from today, replaced by new. The sandstone in its enduring ways will still be here, evidence of past enduring design.

bush track

Then again maybe its just today's thinking in minimising man's (humankind's) intrusion into the bush?

An Angophora growing in a between two large bush rocks 

flush stone edging to road

Stone edging covered by asphalt

Former stone entry gates to park

Easter Weekend - Hill End - Sofala

Easter Weekend 29th of March to the 1st of April 2013:

The Royal Hotel at Hill End

Hill End, a gold mining town of the 1900's. Three friends and I decided to head to Hill End and Sofala for a camping weekend over Easter. We left Sydney on Friday morning and we were at Hill End just after lunchtime. We setup camp after investigating the two paid town camp grounds choosing the Town Camp ground over the bush orientated ground. Both were almost full by the time we got there. We would have camped along the Turon River down the Bridle Track but not all our cars would have made it down due to clearance issues.

Hill End is a heritage site and maintained by National Parks.

A lone heritage building in the setting sun

Hosies Bed Breakfast at Hill End

 

Weeping Willow with a lone bench as the sunset.

 

We spent Friday afternoon setting up tents, collecting and cutting up fallen trees for firewood along the Bridle Track, a little site seeing around Hill End and a then Beer at the pub. We tried to get a few beers to go but apparently not available on Good Friday.....who new? We spent Saturday Gold Panning down on the Turon River finding a few specks proving there is still a gold for the casual fossicker with a some work. We all had pans, showels, small picks etc at our disposal. We also had two home made hand crevicing pumps and a home made sluice. We were all quite sore at the end.

Sofala main street and a Nissan CUBE (there seemed to be a lot of these in the area.)

Sunday, we headed towards Sofala and stopped at a creek along the way. We did a little panning but we were suffering from the day before and were a less energetic.  A few more gold specks were found and then we packed it in and headed for sight seeing at Sofala. While we were finding the spot a dog ran off from its owners we tried to stop it further up the road but it ran in another direction. We told the owners but they returned multiple times during the day asking if we had seen at all again during the day. We don't know if it was found. The owners were from Canberra so maybe the dog was trying to find its way back?

Sofala with looming dark clouds

St Pauls in the morning at Hill End

 We headed back early on Monday to miss traffic returning to Sydney.

Kulnura to Yarramalong along the Forest Road.

Red Hill Forest Road Sunday the 24th of March 2013:

A friend and I set off from Sydney at a fairly civilised 10 am and headed towards Kulnura, NSW. I was on the Suzuki DR650 and he was on the V-Strom. During the week I had been doing some investigative work on the NSW maps SIX viewer for some fire trails through the national parks around Sydney. The fire road - named 'Red Hill Forest Road' runs through Ourimbah State Forest and is also noted as a easy route on the Transaustraliatrail website. I thought it would a good starting point to build our confidence on dirt some more, without heading all the way to farm in the Hunter Valley.

So on to the ride. From George Downs Drive at the Kulnura shops we turned right and headed down Greta Road. About 4km down the road we took another right turn at Forest Road. At this point the roads are still Tar but narrow a little. Another 3.7km's down Forest Road it turns to dirt and becomes Red Hill Forest Road, maybe named after the red clay soil on the road and soil mine on the ridge on the right as we headed down the road?

Red Hill Forest Road is an easy ride with a mix of light sand, reddish clay, gravel and exposed rock sections. The only issue is that you don't always see the sand until you are in it as a result of the tree shadows. It is a fire Road and would be accessible by a car with some good height clearance. A few large berms  and ruts along the road might pose problems for low vehicles. The weather was perfect and was a good short ride. It was also nice to find out how comfortable I was starting to feel on the dr650. It was definitely confidence inspiring on all the road surfaces. Red Hill Forest Road took us all the way to Yarramalong road where we headed towards Yarramalong and then home.

The video below shows the route.

My New Suzuki DR650

Late last year in October I sold the Honda VTR250 so I could upgrade to a larger motorcycle. I enjoyed the motorcycle tour back in March 2012 and hope I will be able to do a few more of these. I also had fun on the off-road parts of the tour so my next bike had to be more capable of doing these kinds of rides. I was looking at adventure tourers and the Honda Transalp and BMW 650gs were possible upgrades. My problem is my height and adventurer tourers are not low due to there nature of be able to go off the beaten track. I looked at wide variety of bikes and the Suzuki DR650 seemed the most capable offroad bike compared to the others and was very cost effective  It had a high seat height compared to the 650GS but the seat is narrow which allowed me to just touch the ground. The suspension also sags a little when sitting on it. The DR650 is also relatively lite for 650cc bike and compares similarly to the old vtr250 in weight. This provided me some assurance as a shorter rider. So in the end after taking a few for test rides I made up my mind and bought a second hand 2008 model with 710km on the clock.

The video above is the first long distance ride on the bike with some dirt roads. I really like the upright seating position which is especially good when commuting. It feels competent off road, which currently not the case for the rider! but that will come.

Motor Cycle Tour Video Part 4 - Final

This video is the final video of the tour and includes Day 10 and Day 11 of the trip. Its starts in Port Campbell where we had stayed the night. We first head to the Arch/ London Bridge and then head up to Wodonga via Ballarat and Bendigo (no footage of these places though). From Wodonga we head over the Snowy Mountains and then up through Cooma and back to Sydney

Below are the blog posts for the corresponding days

Motorbike touring day 10

Motorbike touring day 11

Kayaking down at the Roseville Bridge, Sydney

A few weeks ago I took the Kayak out down to Roseville Bridge and paddled my way up towards the Suburb of Davidson. I have done this journey many times before but thought I would take the Go Pro with me this time. It turned out to be an excellent day for it as we have been having a very wet but hot summer here in Sydney. The water is a lot muddier than usual as a result of the heavy rains and there is a great deal of leaf litter floating close to the surface washed down from beneath the trees and from the creeks.

It was almost high tide which allowed me to paddle through mangroves and easily up some of the narrower creeks but as a result hid many of the little river beaches that reside along this stretch of water. The water was very still and reflective almost mirror like in places, which can be seen in parts of the video.

View Larger Map

Motor Cycle Tour Video Part 3

This video covers Day 8 and 9 of the trip which took us from Lakes Entrance west to Noojee just above Melbourne in the mountains where we camped for a very cold night. The next day headed on early to the Great Ocean Road staying in Port Campbell in a motel for the night. 

Below are the blog posts for the corresponding days

Day 8, Day 9

Motorcycle Tour Part 2 Video

This video covers Day 6 and 7 of the trip which took us from Sydney down to Eden where we camped for the night and the next day on to Lakes Entrance in Victoria. The bog posts that cover this video are below.

Motorcycle Touring Day 6 and Motorcycle Touring Day 7

Motorcycle Tour Part 1 Video

I mentioned in the previous post that I had only just started getting the video together for that trip last year. This is mainly because I didn't have any video editing software to do it. After almost a year I bought Cyberlink Powerdirector 11, after using the evaluation edition for a week. So now the boring raw videos that you might watch once or twice, now look hopefully a little more entertaining.

MotorCycle Tour Part one covers the following blog posts

Motor Cycle Tour Day 1 and Motor Cycle Day Tour 2

Finally some video

I have finally put together some videos of the tour which I will add as they are finished. Below is a short snippet of the trip near Tamworth, NSW on a forest trail/road. This was just after some heavy down pours the day before which had made the track quite slippery. The road was near the location from this blog post, Motorcycle Touring Day 3

Airhawk Cushion Review

I bought the Airhawk cushion for a motorcycle tour which I have blogged about previously. The ride was going to be considerably longer than what I had undertaken in the past. The longest previous ride being 200-250 km in one hit with generally no riding the next day. I usually felt sore after that, so I was rather getting worried about the 4000 km ride that was fast approaching. With this in mind I did a bit of digging on the net in the motorbike touring scene and the Airhawk seat appeared. There were only a handful of reviews at the time but it looked it promising. The Airhawk has been used by pilots of long flights which who it was originally designed for.

Anyway, to the seat review. The Airhawk seat arrived. I purchased the standard shape seat, this being the cheapest in case I wasn't happy with the purchase. The ‘Shaped’ version may  have been a better option for my bike. The next step was to install the cushion which involves attaching it to the bike as per the instructions and then filling it with air. Then sit on the cushion and slowly let the air out to basically empty. I followed the instructions for installation to get it right but in the end you will adjust it quite a few times till it actually feels ok to ride with. What I found was that it tended to move around while riding and cause more discomfort. It took a few rides and tests to get it fitted right. This might have been as a result of the standard cushion I bought over the shaped one i could have got. 

Airhawk Cushion Attached to the bike

The first initial tests were short rides of no more than 1 hour and in a city environment. I found the cushion to be comfortable but would move around and then cause some discomfort for the male crown jewels ;). The cushion isn't designed for this sort of riding; that being stop starting, tight cornering, and getting on and off. What I did find from the longer tests on more open roads that it was very effective in keeping you quite comfortable in the saddle. By comfortable I mean it it keeps your bottom cooler by allowing air flow under and also minimises soreness but providing an air gap between you and the seat. As a result this gave me confidence that it would be fine for the upcoming ride.

The serious test for me with the Airhawk cushion was on the 4200km touring holiday, which was basically all on tarmac. The average daily km’s ranging from 350 to 750km on winding back roads to long stretches of freeway. I realised after the first day that the cushion was very effective. There is no negative thought about getting back in the saddle of the bike at all. This continued for the rest of the trip which was great because you could focus on the road and scenery passing by. I found that you still did wriggle around a little from time to time especially when you would get back on after a stop, as the cushion might move or get caught on your clothing. 

To sum up I think they are really effective on all day rides and touring. You may want to take them off when on a dirt roads and around town but that's a personal preference.

Link to the Airhawk Seats below.

http://www.airhawk.com.au/

Motorcycle Touring Day 11 - Wodonga to Sydney

We decided to leave fairly early on Wednesday morning from Wodonga so we could get to Sydney some time in the arvo or evening. We were a little over freeway riding so we took a mostly scenic route over the Snowy Mountains along the Alpine Way to Cooma, then Canberra, Goulbourn and then on to Sydney.

The Kosciuszko National Park landscape is beautiful and sometimes eery in the higher areas where there are areas of dead Eucalupts covering the mountains. I'm not sure what has caused this.The Alpine Way winds its way up through heavily timbered forests past the turbine power stations. Temperatures drop fairly quickly 5 to 10 degrees. Steep cliffs on one side and near vertical hills rising from the road on the other. There was evidence of recent rock falls and small subsidence from recent rains which had closed part of the road.

The road starts to open up as you approach the winter ski fields, sweeping down through grassy valleys and over bridges spanning flowing rocky rivers. There were alot of photo opportunities but not always the space to pull over. I had the GoPro going for most of it on 1080 video so when I have time I will edit it.

We decided to skip lunch at Cooma and head onto Canberra and Goulbourn. We had a late lunch / early dinner at 4.30pm in Goulbourn before heading to Sydney. It was a long 750km ride and we were quite tired and sore when we got home.

This first motorcycle trip was a great learning experience. There is something really special about touring on bikes. You feel closer to everything and feel more connected to the journey, places and landscapes you experience along the way. I think this will be the start of many.

:)

Motorcycle Touring Day 10 - Port Campbell to Wodonga

Port Campbell is a little sea side town on on the Great Ocean Road between the Apostles and The Arch. It lies in a bay that has been cut out over time by the severe waves and winds. The cliffs are made of the same soft limestone rock as the Apostles and The Arch.  

Port Campbell - Wharf

 

Now that we were almost at the end of the Great Ocean Road, we were wondering where to go next and what to see. We didn't really want to go west any further at this stage as it just meant a longer trip home. We mapped out a route to Wodonga via Ballarat, Bendigo and Seymour. It would be a long ride but it would get us half way back to Sydney in one trip. It also bypassed Shepparton which was flooding.

The bikes at the Arch

We took a quick detour to the Arch and then headed north to Cobden and then stopped for lunch in Ballarat. We then headed on to Bendigo via the historic towns of Dalesford and Castlemaine. I haven't been to this area of the country in probably 15 to 20 years and was very suprised at how beautiful it is. These towns were built around gold rushes and show the wealth that this brought at the time through the historic buildings. I will certainly be returning soon to spend a little more time in the area.

We arrived in Wodonga in the evening about 6pm, after a long day on the bikes. We had travelled about 650km a mix of major back roads a freeways. We stayed in another motel because they are just so much more comfortable then camping! 

The Arch - Great Ocean Road

The lime stone

A small lookout near Daylesford

The lime stone

Motorcycle Touring Day 9 - Noojee to Port Campbell

Lighthouse at Airey's Inlet

After a very cold Sunday night camping at a free camp ground in the woods near the small historic timber town of Noojee we headed off early at around 7.30am. We headed for Melbourne and then on to Torquay and the Great Ocean Road.We managed to get through Melbourne without paying tolls using my Tom Tom.

A river exiting to the ocean.

Field Burning or backburning in the distance

View East over the Apostles

View West from lookout over Apostles

View West over the Apostles

We arrived at Torquay just before midday. We had lunch, before heading off in the direction of the Great Ocean Road. We stopped at the south end of Bells beach for a bit before heading of to Aireys Inlet lighthouse. We stopped a few times at the various lookouts and took in the sights and sounds of the bustling Lorne town on this public holiday.  We arrived at the Apostles late in the afternoon lit by the setting sun.

We arrived at Port Campbell after a long day riding and decided a motel might be a more comfortable option that night.

Motorcycle Touring Day 8 Lakes Entrance to Noojee

We were aiming to reach the Great Ocean Road today. We thought it might be wise to book a night at one of the camping grounds along the Great Ocean Road, so I started calling. First placed was all booked out, second place was all booked. We were getting concerned as it was a Sunday night and were wondering why these places were fully booked on a night that everyone should be heading back to Melbourne. I called a camp ground run by Victoria Parks and they mentioned it was Labour Day long weekend which suddenly made sense as to why everything was booked. Researching the public holidays in other states was not something we thought to do.

The Camp ground at Noojee

We left Lakes Entrance about 11am and made it to Traralgon which is just past Sale by 1.30pm. We had lunch and took the scenic route up around Melbourne through a place called Tyers. The roads were very scenic, winding through tall forests with ferns below and open hilly grazing landscapes but progress was slow. We hadn’t travelled as far as we could have. It was now about 4.30 and we needed to start looking for a place to sleep for the night. We finally found a camp site nestled in a valley in amongst towering the Eucalypts 10kms outside a small town called Noojee at about 6pm. The camp site cost was free and busy with campers cutting wood, sitting around fires and shouting at rampent children. Total Kilometres travelled was about 300.

Motorcycle Touring Day 7 - Eden to Lakes Entrance Victoria.

Boydtown Church

We left at about 11 am on Saturday morning after a quick stop at this old church ruin on a hill in Boydtown, Eden. Apparently the Church was built as part of Ben Boyd’s plans to build a new city at Eden to rival Sydney Town at the time. He went bankrupt 5 years later and reminant buildings of his dream are scattered around the area.

We were heading to Lakes Entrance today but as it was only a short trip we detoured off for a more scenic tourist route to Mallacoota. Mallacoota seems to be a holiday town and mostly a very large caravan park! We had lunch and continued on to Orbust via the tourist route and ended up being cut off because flooding. This meant heading all the way back about 40kms which was rather annoying.

View from lookout at Mallacoota

 We made it to Lakes Entrance by 5.30pm and setup the Tent. By days end we had done 380kms to get to Lakes Entrance which should have only been about 250km.

View from Cape Conran

View from Cape Conran

Stone Face ;)

View from the camping ground at Lakes Entrance