Road Trip

Riding in Australia: Part 1 - North of Sydney

By Mark (Gonzo) Jelic, ISRA #13

Australia has got to be as far away from anywhere else in the world that still allows you to ride a motorcycle pretty much any time of the year without fear of being shot at by guerillas, or freezing your privates off. (OK, New Zealand is probably even more 'out there' but we consider them one of our 'states' anyway ;-)

Although this article is based on the travel options open to you from Australia's largest city Sydney, you will see it covers a diverse array of terrain and these options would be open to you from just about any city, since all of the capital cities are on the coast of their respective states. Inland Australia is made up of largely desert that is totally uninhabited... well except for the odd kangaroo and some wild camels!

Sydney itself is a tangled mass of unplanned development centred around a very picturesque harbour that has many rivers and coves, making a huge waterfront that is highly sought after and very pricey. This huge harbour also contributes to the fact that most roads in Sydney or not straight for longer than a mile or so, before they have to bend away from a tributary or ride steeply up a slope to crest at a hill overlooking the South Pacific ocean.

Sydney holds a population of some 3-4 million and with the roads being so convoluted (not nearly as many 'freeways' as say England or the USA has) you can imagine that the average motorcycle rider is keen to get away from the rat-race, and so each weekend the highways leading out of Sydney are full of two-wheeled getaway machines.

And this happens pretty much any time of the year. Sydney weather, or for that matter any city in Australia (except Melbourne ), has good riding weather available year round. Never too hot to hop on with a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and rarely too cold for your basic leathers and maybe some long-johns at extremes. Apart from Antarctica, Australia is the driest continent on Earth, so rain rarely spoils a day ride.

OK, so where do you want to go from here? On all my day trips I like to make it a 'circular' affair so that I don't travel back on any road I came on. (Life is too short to see the same thing twice in one day! ;-) Sydney is on the East coast of the 'Great Brown Land', so the options are North, West or South.

North

This is one of my favourites because you get to start on a stretch of road called the 'Old Pacific Highway' that has been bypassed some 20 years ago by a 6 lane freeway (yuk!) but is still open to the public due to the small towns dotted along it. When you see this road, it is hard to believe that it was the only way North for some 100 years, because for very long stretches it is barely 2 lanes wide without an option to pass a slow truck for miles due to its windy nature.

But now that the masses have the freeway to get bored on, this glorious stretch of windy bitumen is used almost exclusively by motorcyclists. The views are stunning: It wraps itself tightly around the rocky hills that make up the rugged coast (anyone travelled the old No.1 from Los Angelese to San Fran?) and you cross a series of rivers and wide deltas, all the while being surrounded by the good old native eucalypt or Gum Tree. And the road surface is generally good, with anything from wide sweepers to tight hairpins at your disposal.

About two hours into your journey, you come across a roadside cafe at Mount White that has been adopted by the bikers of Sydney. (They even have a bike mounted on their roof!) Every weekend you will see a score or more of bikes at any time of day, with their owners proudly talking about their ride while having an excellent cuppacino, some great bacon & eggs or a very satisfying burger. Each year, this place hosts a motocycle show and I was their when a Royal Star took out the "Best Yamaha" catagory!

Further north along some more of the Old Pacific and then you turn inland a bit for a great ride through wine and pasture country. By about lunch time, you will arrive at the best situated pub in Australia - Wollombi Tavern. It is smack in the middle of nowhere at the T intersection of two roads that don't really go anywhere special but are great rides none the same. The food is great and the beer is icy cold (sorry, no warm beer for the English ;-) and you can sit there for hours soaking up the sun, or lie in the lush green grass that surrounds the pub or sit by the small creek that burbles past it. Incredible.

Unfortunately it has to be left behind to continue the trip. Some more country type scenery where the smells of orchards in full bloom or the earthy odour of pastures roll past and you need to make a slow u-turn to the west and then down to the south for a line back to Sydney. But the fun isn't over yet. You have one more stretch of excellent bitumen called the 'Old Putty Road' (No, not all the good riding roads have to start with 'Old' ;-) before you hit Sydney again.

This section of road takes you through the gorge of a mountain range and then eventually winds itself up to be on the crest of a range before plunging back down to cross over an old wooden bridge at the Colo River. A caravan park is located at Colo River that offers coffee and fuel. The road surface is again in excellent condition considering the age of the road. Wide sweepers to tight hairpins are available so there is plenty of oportunity to scrape the old pegs. Marvelous!

All in all, it is a long day trip taking some 400+ Kms to traverse but well worth it. And that is just one of the options open to you going north from Sydney. There are quite a few other side-treks you could make including the 'Ferries Run' that gets you crossing 5 different ferries in one day, as well the the 'Water Way' that follows the coast up to Gosford and the lakes.

So if you ever find yourself travelling to Australia (come see the Olympics!), take a day to hire a bike and go for a ride in some of the most spectacular scenery and bitumen you will see on this fine Earth.

Enjoy!