Moto Guzzi Club of Queensland Forum

Dragging myself out of bad just after dawn I checked the weather. Looked good, just as well as this was the day of the much anticipated Ride To Nundle. Why go to Nundle? No idea, it doesn’t matter really, the point was to get together with fellow Guzzisti and just ride. Maybe Spoon knows, after all he planned the ride. Anyway, after the obligatory coffee I woke the neighbors with the Staintune and set off for the meeting point at the BP Yatala.

By the time of departure we had eight bikes, seven Guzzis and a stray Honda. Naturally we set off a bit late, as you do. We decided to head South on the Pacific Highway as it would be a quick run and we had a fair distance to cover. Somewhere just over the border we had our first stop, we had lost Murray. We chilled, took pictures of the bikes and soon enough he trundled in. Bike trouble? No, nature had called and Murray had answered. We set off again into the dark depths of cockroach country.


Wheres Murray?

We got to Grafton and refueled the bikes and ourselves. Energy drinks and Mars bars are the riders friends. It was here we realized that we had not considered the one hour time difference due to daylight saving. This meant that suddenly our cunning plan looked a bit shaky. Bloody hell, don’t these southerners realize their cows are confused and their curtains are fading? Oh well, ever onward.

Leaving the highway behind we headed South west through Nymboda, Tyringham, and to the pub at Ebor for lunch. This is a great road with lots of lovely twisty bits. Just take care as some corners had a bit of loose gravel in places. This made it quite exciting when I tore past a caravan (why do these bloody caravan people have to travel on our damn bike roads?) going uphill and had to wash off speed pretty quick for a tight left hander. No harm done, the Norge and I got round and left the van far behind. Very good road indeed, particularly on a V twin. The sound reverberating off the scenery was the perfect soundtrack. Arriving at Ebor we met up with two more members, bringing our count to ten bikes.


Ebor Pub

After lunch it was a bit more twisty stuff to get to Armadale. Unfortunately we had to get back to highway riding here, following the New England to Tamworth. Not a total loss, the Moonbi range is a fun section. At Tamworth we visited the Powerhouse Motorcycle Museum, it is on the right as you head into town. A small place but it sure has some fine machinery on display, but sadly no Guzzis. Worth a look if you are in the area.

Some pics from the bike museum








After drooling over the bikes at the museum we backtracked a little to the Nundle turnoff. The place is pretty well tucked away to the South East of Tamworth. It is a run of about 60km to get there, and I noticed on the map that is a stones throw from Hanging Rock. I wondered if this was the same place as the Aussie movie of the same name. After extensive research (OK, actually I just Googled it) I can tell you it ain’t. That is another Hanging Rock in Victoria. After a refreshing stop at the Nundle pub it was time to cover the last ten or so kilometres to The Dag. This was where we were booked to spend the night. We arrived there just before dark, no thanks to daylight bloody saving. Time for another drink and to find our rooms.


The Prez's bike at The Dag

The Dag is an old sheep station which has been used as backpacker accommodation. It is set in an idyllic valley surrounded by rolling hills. The new owners, John and Belinda, have lashed out some dollars and really done the place up. The accommodation is very good and the bar eating area is great. The Dag is not officially reopened yet and we had the place to ourselves. No idea how he did it, but somehow Spoon got us booked in. I for one am glad he did. Check it out at www.thedag.com.au


The bar and entertainment area, very classy.


We even had live entertainment!


The bar was the place to be

I have to admit here that we did not live up to the hard drinking biker image. Maybe we are all starting to feel our age but I think most of us were off to bed well before midnight. Probably a good idea as we did have to get all the way home the next day. We were treated to a good country breakfast before the trek North began.


Breakfast in the sunshine


Nice huh?

Breakfast over, we gathered our stuff, loaded the bikes and said goodbye to our hosts.


Guzzi's in the country


My Norge and it's little brother

The ride home was a bit fragmented. We had no sooner reached Tamworth than we lost half the group. It seems there was confusion about where the first fuel stop would be. I ended up with a group heading up the highway. We made a stop at the Old Caves Winery at Stanthorpe to buy some Port. The owner, David, makes the best Port in Stanthorpe in my opinion and I never ride past if he is open. From there three of us decided to do a bit of dirt to Legume, then down to Boonah via Queen Mary Falls. From there to Ipswich and back into Bris-Vegas. A very pleasant ride and much better than doing the main highway over Cunningham’s Gap.

So, all up a good weekend was had. We covered around 600km each way and got to ride some good roads. This was the first time I’d got to do a decent touring run on the Norge and it handled it well. I reckon having ridden all day and still feeling fresh and keen enough to attack a good road at the end is a pretty good indication that the bike is up to the job.

A big thanks to Spoon for arranging the weekend.

Hello, Id like to add that the stray Honda was Mark F's brother Michael and his lovely wife Jacki. They are the ones who let us rebuild the club's trailer in their workshop a few years ago.

We all certainly pleased the owners of The Dag. They commented before we left that there were no fights, like what the? and we were all in bed so early. 10pm Qld time and 11 their time.

The Dag is a great place for a little sojourn along the road. I am pestering Ian for a long weekend there next year so us girls can take the horses for a ride on the Sunday before the long ride home again.

You know how we all got lost getting home on the Sunday?
Well the Ferguson clan departed from the group at Glen Innes. I had decided that I wanted to eat, and I wanted to eat NOW. You know how I get hypoglycaemic? The thought of no food until Stanthorpe sent me into a tizz, so we four agreed to have our own meal break in Tenterfield. We went from Pub to Pub and they were all locked up. What, is the economy so bad that all these country pubs were closed down or have they just returned to the 1950s or something? We eventually found a boutique-looking cafe that was open and we intrepidly enterred. The owner asked if we wanted lunch, to which i replied "Can we?"

After a designer burger each, we returned to the highway, SIL and I sleeping all the way into Warwick. We all staggered around the Caltex at Warwick trying to remain conscious. Those poor guys who have to actually RIDE! Michael and Jacki agreed to head home near Caboolture via Ma Ma Creek and Esk. There was no way we wanted to go anywhere near the Gold Coast Motorway after Indy.

We staggered home and eventually fell into the Samford Valley around 6pm. More petrol: and excuses to wake up. I know our guests got home safely, as we were not notified of any deaths in the family the following day. Mark and I got home just as the Pizza delivery man arrived (We raised such wonderful children) and were both tucked up in bed about 7:30pm.

Yes, it was a great weekend away.....a fantastic ride, even the 16 km's of fine powdery dust on the way home! (I was one of the three Mark909 mentioned. Thanks Mr Pres! I'm still finding dust in undesirable places!)
I arrived home on the Sunday evening to discover I had no internet connection.....thanks dodo!
Still no broadband 2 weeks later, so I'm using a temporary (slow) dial-up connection.
Haven't logged into the Forum until tonight, but I'd like to echo the thanks offered to Spoon for organising the ride.
We had a great bunch of people along which made it all the more enjoyable.
All up I did just shy of 1400km from home and back again, which is pretty good going for 2 days, considering we were travelling in a group (often a slow process), stopped to observe some waterfalls after a lengthy lunch on the way south (what about those 'burgers?), looked around a museum (why no Guzzis??!!), provided some entertainment for the good folk at Nundle pub (and were somewhat entertained ourselves by the guy pulling up on his horse for a beer), and even enjoyed a relaxing coffee at Q Mary Falls on the way home (to wash down the dust).
Let's do it again

This is normal, isn't it? Snapped @ Nundle pub.




Our Pres enjoys a cooling ale with a local BMW rider.


Ah, yes Wal. They're taking over.

Back on full broadband, so added some pics of my own to my last post, for those who couldn't make it to Nundle.