With my bags packed I was ready to go (hmmm - there's a song in that hehe) and I slowly meandered down the coast with a little bit of easter traffic. Past beautiful Kiama and Geringong, I was soon in historic Berry. From there it was a quick run to Nowra and on to sleepy Milton for a quick stop to top up with fuel and grab a drink. I soon found Woodburn Rd and headed inland to the turn off for the Clyde River Rd. Here it turned to dirt and dust started creeping into everything very quickly. Being Easter, traffic was constant and I was a real risk of being run over by weekend 4wd warriors - or so I thought.
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| To most of you this obviously looks like a motorway but not to me.................. |
For this trip I had a new toy to play with in the form of a Contour Camera. I had a couple of mounting possies - one on the helmet and one on the side of the bike. This allowed me to be a little creative in filming some of the ride. Add a couple of stops along the road at interesting places, setting up some different angles made for some great footage. I know right - Steven Spielberg I'm not but do I care? Last run past the cam I was getting a tad too excited and while turning the bike around the back wheel slipped of a rock. I got unbalanced towards the low side of the road, lost my footing and the GS decided to have a lay down. Gentle as you like. So much for my preconceived ideas of getting run over by the weekend warriors.
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| My first oops :( |
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| The offending rock can just be seen |
Not impressed Jan. Thankfully no damage. Only to my pride. And to add insult to injury my embarrassment didn't stop there. It was at this point I found out how heavy 200Kg is and with the bike also facing downhill I struggled to pick it up. Obviously this is a skill I need to master. Nothing to it but to wave down a passing car. Very obligingly they stopped to help and after they stopped laughing the bike was back on its two wheels in a flash.
Lesson learnt - hopefully. Back on the bike it wasn't long before I was running down the hill to cross the bridge over the Clyde and head into the camping ground of Yadboro Flats.
The Clyde - or Bhundoo as the local Aboriginal people call it, is reputed to have the cleanest, least polluted waters of any major river in Eastern Australia and I can believe it.
It meanders through 3 National Parks and 10 State Forests nearly totally uninhabited, has no polluting industries along its banks and is one of the last major rivers in Eastern Australia that remains un-dammed. The upper river valley is surrounded by rugged coastal mountain ranges with Pigeon House and The Castle standing tall in the distance. I was yearning to go and climb Pigeon House again having done it in the past but not this trip - that I will save for a quieter time. For now I was content to arrive at Yadboro Flats, set up my camp for the night and relax with a cold beer.
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| A little dusty but happy I made it with only a "small" oops. |
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| Enjoying a well deserved Beer - thanks Tim :) |
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