In 2004 I did the Southern Sojourn (an annual motorcycle tour to the Armidale / NSW mid north coast region) in July rather than December.  I still needed a decent stress release come the holiday season, however, so this year we decided to add a twist to the Southern Sojourn.  The goal remains about riding some of the best motorcycle roads in Australia.  However, to the usual Gwydir Highway, Thunderbolt's Way, The Buckett's Way, Waterfall Way and, the Oxley Highway, we decided to add the Stroud Hill Road, the Putty Road, the Bells Line of Road, the Mt Panorama race circuit and the Wiseman's Ferry Road.

This year, three of us (Roy, Noel and I) went on the tour.  We left Brisbane on Monday, January 10th and returned Friday, January 14th.

Day 1 - Brisbane to Armidale.  Soon after 7.00am we departed Brisbane along the Mt Lindesay Highway.  After a small but more interesting detour around Beaudesert, we pulled up in Rathdowney to don our wet gear and some warmer clothing.  For a summer morning it was quite cool and we could see the rain off in the distance so we expected to hit some.  We continued along the Mt Lindsey Highway up the border ranges where, for a couple of kilometres the road was wet though we didn't actually get any rain.  This section of the road is quite tight and twisty which is what we want on a motorcycle but in places it a bit bumpy.  We turned left to head south on Summerland Way where the road opens out a bit to some nice fast sweepers.  We stopped in Grevillia for morning tea and then it was on to Kyogle, Casino and Grafton.  This is a fairly boring part of the day road wise.  We stop in Grafton for fuel and for lunch at the South Grafton Mobil where the burgers are good.  After lunch its up the Gwydir Highway to Glen Innes.  The Gwydir is one of the best motorcycle roads in Australia.  It starts out with fast sweepers that follow the river then it tightens in to very tight twisties up the Gibraltor Range and then its fast sweepers into Glenn Innes.  160 kilometres of near race track perfect road surface.  What fun.  Then its south onto the New England Highway to Armidale.  Way boring, but it lets you wind down after the Gwydir.

In Armidale we stay at Tattersall's Hotel.  Its cheap, its right on the city mall and it has lock-up accommodation for the bikes.

Morning tea stop - Grevillia	Gwydir corners	Halfway up the Gwydir The obligatory photo stop.	More Gwydir twisties	The pub

 

Day 2 - Armidale to Bathurst.  After a 6am breakfast of cereal and toast at Tatts, we left Armidale via the New England Highway to Uralla (20klms of boring highway) where we turn left onto Thunderbolt's Way.  The first 40klms into Walcha has a reasonable road surface and enough corners to relieve the boredom.  The next 40klms after Walcha is pretty ordinary, rough straight road.  After that though, Thunderbolt's Way earns its reputation as a great road for the next 120klms or so in to Gloucester.  First there's a section of very fast sweepers with race track surface and the odd tight corner thrown in just to keep the concentration on edge.  Next there's a very tight section up and down what I think is part of the Barrington Tops and finally there's an intermediate section, not too fast and not too tight over rolling hills and following creeks through forest.  Stunning scenery.  We stoped in Gloucester for morning tea at the bakery and then headed south on to The Buckett's Way (boring) to Stroud Road where we turn west and take Stroud Hill Road to Dungog, Gresford and on to Singleton.  This was a little bumpy in places but tightish and lots of fun.  We refuelled in Singleton and continued west to The Putty Road which is a fantastic mix of fast and tight with an excellent road surface.  We were lucky not to strike much traffic on The Putty and we pulled up at a half way house truck stop for lunch.  More Putty Road fun took us south almost to Windsor where we turned west again on Blaxland's Ridge Road to head over to The Bells Line of Road which is a fun road apart from a few too many 60kph zones.  The Bells finishes up in Lithgow where we stopped for a stretch and a McFlurry before joining the Great Western Highway to Bathurst.  After arriving in Bathurst we booked in at the Commercial Hotel which is quite central and again has lock up (though not undercover) bike accommodation.  After getting rid of some of the luggage from the bikes, we headed out to Mt Panorama for a few laps of the circuit and a couple of photo opportunities.  After demonstrating that none of us are Greg Hansfords or Mick Doohans, we returned to the hotel.  The Publican was on holidays and the relief staff were not providing meals so we went to a restaurant called GT Angus which specialised in Angus Beef.  I had lamb cutlets followed by eye fillet which were both excellent (to my surprise).  Roy also had beef which he thought was ok and Noel had chicken which he thought was tough. 

 

The view from Thunderbolts Way	The view from Thunderbolts Way	Carson's pioneer lookout A tribute to those who built the road.	The southern end of Thunderbolt's Way	The Putty Road truck stop
Mt Panorama The entry	Mt Panorama The mountain	Mt Panorama I'm sure this used to say Dunlop!	Mt Panorama The Tiger on Pole position.	The back of the Commercial Hotel.

 

Day 3 - Bathurst to Gloucester.  There was no breakfast at the pub in Bathurst we decided to head off through the Blue Mountains and stop on the road for sustenance.  We put on 100klms through fantastic scenery and great twisty roads via Oberon and Hartley to Mt Victoria where we stopped at a roadhouse.  This was the only "big breakfast" all trip.  We had planned to head across the causeway to Bell and down the Bells Line of Road but we changed our mind and headed through Katoomba on the Great Western Highway and turned north to wards Richmond on the Springwood Road.  From Richmond it was on through Windsor (fuel) and then north on the Wiseman's Ferry road.  This is a fairly fun road on the south side of the ferry but we struck a fair bit of traffic.  We made sure we were first on and off the ferry though so we had a clear run up the rest of the Wiseman's Ferry road.  This road follows the banks of the Hawkesbury River.  Its well surfaced and quite twisty though not wide and you can sprint along at an enjoyable pace though there are a number of 60kph zones.  We then headed  and up through Buckety and Cessnock to Maitland where we had lunch and refuelled.  By this time it was quite hot (37° according to Roy's temperature gauge) which made the rest of the day's journey less pleasant.  From Maitland we rode out through Paterson to Dungog then back over the Stroud Hill Road and onto the Bucketts Way to Gloucester.  In Gloucester we stayed at the Roundabout Inn which was able to provide us with dinner though the breakfast was a bit late for us.

 

Wiseman's Ferry First in line	Wiseman's Ferry On the ferry	Wiseman's Ferry The mighty Hawkesbury	The rooms at the Roundabout Inn, Gloucester.

 

Day 4 - Gloucester to Armidale.  In some ways this was possibly our best day since we got to ride the best road in Australia . . . twice, and I got my only decent coffee of the trip.  After breakfast at the bakery, we headed north out of Gloucester via Thunderbolt's Way to Walcha.  I think this is probably the best direction to do Thunderbolt's because the good 120klms comes first and you can revile in the exhilaration for the last 40klms of boring road.  We had morning tea at the Walcha bakery and then headed east down the Oxley Highway to Port Macquarie.  The Oxley is a perfectly surfaced piece of road between Wauchope and Walcha (about 165klms) that has lovely fast sweepers at both ends and more than 65klms of really tight mountain road in the middle.  Originally we had intended to stop at Long Flat for lunch but Noel must have shares in Rock Motorcycles in Port Macquarie because every time we are anywhere near there he insists on getting new tyres for his bike.  So we lunched and relaxed for a couple of hours in Port Macquarie where I got a decent coffee at Crema right on the waterfront.  We then headed back up the Oxley to Walcha (because as Roy says - you can't ride the Oxley too many times) and then back to Armidale via Uralla.  Once again we stayed at Tattersall's Hotel.  As you do.

Walcha for morning tea	Oxley class	More Oxley class	I love to see these signs	I love these even more
But these are still good	Long Flat for a rest	Crema. Our lunch spot in Port Macquarie	The obligatory photo stop half way up the Oxley.	And again

Day 5 - Armidale to Brisbane.  We left Armidale on Waterfall Way to Grafton with a detour into Dorrigo.  The first section of Waterfall way is a great road of very fast sweepers.  The road into Dorrigo is also fantastic but much tighter and has really magnificent scenery.  The road out of Dorrigo to Tyringham is also tight but a little bumpy.  From Tyringham into Grafton is fairly tight most of the way, particularly over the Gibraltar Range.  We stopped for morning tea and fuel in Grafton and then headed out on the Summerland Way to Casino and through Kyogle and Grevillia, where we stopped for lunch, and back to Brisbane via the Mt Lindsey Highway.

Waterfall Way	Waterfall Way - again	Waterfall Way - magic

We covered nearly 3,000klms in the five days without incident.  We had an absolute ball.  It was truly a road trip.  We got to ride many of the best motorcycling roads Australia has to offer and we all got back absolutely buggered.  Can't wait for the next one!