Australia-Over Gloucester Tops with the Baboon.

Greeting citizens,

Decided to take advantage of the mild weather we're having here and go for a ride over to a mate's place in Mudgee. Thought about going west, straight over by the normal Singleton/Bylong Valley Way.

Nooo, they'll be expecting that. Going via north Gloucester is far more logical. So, bike loaded, wife and kids farewelled. I was off.

The Baboon ready for launch.



Enjoying the glorious weather, considering we're only 2 weeks from what counts as winter here in Australia. Always more satisfying riding on a weekday.



These are the Bucketts, a mountain range just west of Gloucester. Buggered if I know why they are called that.



Grabbed some fuel in Gloucester and set course west into the mountains. Most bikes head up the Thunderbolts Way to Walcha. Not me this time.

Definitive proof that at one stage in its life, my bike was clean.



Upwards and westwards on Barrington Tops Rd



Where it starts getting funnerer. The end of the tar. Went to tremendous effort to play with ESA and Traction Control buttons. For shits and giggles.



The Barrington River. And a lovely shot of the bike. Apart from that ugly sticker under the beak.



Must do something about that sticker...



Here is a little info about the Barrington Tops National Park.

WIKI LINK

Not a good place to fly a plane.

A number of aircraft have crashed in and around the Barrington Tops, Aircraft Hill being named after one of the crashes. The altitude, frequent fog & cloud, storms and cold weather (causing icing) make this area potentially hazardous to aircraft. One article refers to "The Devil's Triangle".
16 April 1945 - De Havilland Mosquito A52-70. Wreckage found January 1946 in the national park.
The propellor, ailerons and machine gun were on display at the Barrington Tops Guest House.
2 September 1948 - Australian National Airlines Douglas DC-3 VH-ANK. 13 killed.
14 September 1969 - Lockheed Hudson VH-SML crashed in the foothills. 3 killed.
25 September 1969 - RAAF Mirage III-O. Crew ejected safely.
9 August 1981 - Cessna 210 VH-MDX. 5 killed, multiple searches have not found wreckage or bodies.
3 August 1987 - Aermacchi MB-326H A7-079 (built as CA30-79). Crew ejected. Wreckage located by bushwalkers 28 April 1995.


The road itself is pretty good, very stony but smooth. So you can get along at a decent clip but shred your tyres at the same time. Vines overtake the towering eucaylpts on the eastern side.







And, like most plans, you chuck them out the window when something more interesting comes along. Decided on a detour. Temperature was down to around 11 deg C, but very pleasant in the sun.




Two of many gum trees up here.




Found a short detour to a campsite near the Manning River, one of the biggest rivers on the Mid North Coast of NSW. I have many fond memories as a kid of fishing and water skiing on it. A quick look my map showed I was only a couple of kilometres from its source in the mountains. Despite spending most of my adult life at sea on ships, I find myself in love with rivers more than any body of water. At its lower reaches around Taree, its hundreds of metres wide, here its only a couple of metres.




Some dopey boofhead sitting on a log, looking very pleased with himself that he's not at work.



Pressing on, as the days are a little shorter this time of year.



I found that my path had been blocked by the ROAD CLOSED sign, always something of a bugger as you wonder how far and how long you will have to back track. As the signs did not go right to the edge of the road, I went round it for a wee look.



Well a bridge without ramp bits is a good enough excuse to not go any further. Can't find the HELICOPTER icon in the electronic suspension settings. A little back tracking found me back on Barrington Tops Rd and almost to the western edge of the park.



But I'm gonna have to halt the story there as Smugmug and/or my computer are not playing nice and letting work with the photos. So, to be continued.

Oh yes.

Stopped and had a look at Polblue Swamp. This is an alpine swamp/wetland. Rather interesting, as far as swamps go.








Spiky forest shrub. I wish I knew more about botany.





Before too long I was at the western edge of the Barrington Tops. There is a Dingo Fence gate to keep the dingoes away from sheep apparently.



There were numerous epithets to recently captured fugitive Malcolm Naden, who had been on the run from the Police for 7 years, hiding up here in the Tops. Easy place to hide, hard place to live off the land.





Only a few metres beyond the gate is quite a view towards Moonan Flat.







Its all down hill from here.



Great ride down the gravelly hill, and to Moonan Flat. Back on tar again seems rather dull.



Ye olde ricketty foot bridge at Moonan Flat.


The western side of the ranges is more sheep country. Here is a pretty big shearing shed on the road to Scone. Scone is all about horse breeding, but is feeling the encroachment of coal mines and coal seam gas.



Rather smooth and empty roads to Scone, and one could proceed at a fair clip.



Stopped in Scone for fuel, found sand dunes in my rims.



By the time I cleared Merriwa, the tar was boring me too much. I turned off the highway to cut across to Mudgee via Goulburn River National Park. Much
betterer.



Quite dusty and skittish through here, and the long afternoon shadows were bringing out the kangaroos and wallabies. Marsupials and motorcycles do not mix as most crashes result in a nil all draw (both critter and rider mangled).

Sadly, this is how most Australians see our wild life. Poor wombat.



Stopped at a lookout, so I could...errr... look out over the country side. It was a 800m walk to the lookout, so I did the first 700m by BMW.







Temperature starting to fall. Clear sky at this time of day means a very chilly night on the way.



Finally rolled into Mudgee as the sun grew long on the horizon. Mudgee is a wine district about 3 hours from Sydney. Americans, think Napa Valley and you're not too far off the mark. Good wine, food and nice pubs.

Mudgee is also feeling the growing presence of coal mines. Causing a lot of stink. Most of Australias mineral wealth is usually millions of light years from the nice parts of the country, so it really messes with the program to see good farm land tore up for a big hole.



Found a good feed, great company with my mate Lloyd, and after a belly full of stew and red wine, slept pretty solidly on the floor near the wood fire.

The next morning was pretty bloody cold by Australian standards. A good frost on the ground.







Well I got on my way eventually. A strong coffee to defrost and headed east out through Lue for the Bylong Valley Way.

This is about as wintery as it gets in Mudgee. Very few native species change colour with the seasons.





The Bylong Valley Way used to have a large unsealed section until a few years ago. A lot of sports bikes come venture up there now as there is some quality corners to be had.

A road crew was repairing a slump on the embankment. Good time to stop and admire the sand stone.







Again, more controversy over the unstoppable march of mining in the upper Hunter. People are pretty pissed about it.





The sandstone of the Great Dividing Range is a vision splendid.





The Bylong Valley Way drops you out west of Denman, and the Hunter Wine Area.





From now on till home its perpetual road works and mining vehicles all the. way to Singleton. And lots of cops who like booking coal miners who make twice as much money as they do.




Mt Thorley open cut coal mine near Singleton in the background. Singleton also has an army base as well as coal mines. So fill all the pubs with soldiers and coal miners and imagine what Saturday night is like there. A bit punchy.

GOOGLE MAPS- HUNTER VALLEY COAL MINES



It was only 40 minutes to home. Over the hill to Gresford and Bilbo Baggins was back in his Shire.



NNNN

DW

Thanx for posting

Whats not to like about a ride like that?

Good photos, thanks for sharing.

Nice work, loved the quality pics. Thanks of posting.

Thanks for the tour!

good stuff!

Yo DEE DUBYA
How good are those Tatonka Bags eh?
Im wondering if you got yours from the same place as me???

Well Tim

What can one say another great ride report and a great story to boot, hope all is well with the tribe and the Baboon is looking great for a BMW (should have been orange)..... look forward to pictures of the Barge and hearing how it is all going... not much has changed out here.
Cheers Geoff

Good post, looks like a nice ride.

Great Pics
Great Report with a hint of humor

Great report, great photos. Thanks for sharing

Very nice. Ta.

+1 on the quality photos, enjoyed your RR!

Boneman

Enjoyed the RR. I recollect driving over the Tops in a VW Golf around 1978 - been meaning to do it on the pig.

Have done BVW about 5x over the last couple of years - beautiful country.

I sincerely hope they don't turn it into another Mt Thorley hole.

thankyou
good read

Nice report Wombat, you rode quite a few of my favourate roads.

The lookout on Ringwood Rd (Golden Hwy (Merriwa) to Wollar Rd) is Lee's Pinch lookout, loveley spot to watch the sunrise or set, but gets a bit "cool" at night