Explore Indochina certainly put on some great motor cycling trips in
Our meeting point and Hotel in
There were three riders from
The bikes were pretty incredible. 1980s Russian Minsks painted in military colours and insignia. They were 125cc Two strokes and therefore noisy and smoky. This is not considered a small bike in
We had an early morning start to leaving the city. Already lots of traffic were on the dusty roads. The bikes had kick-starters, and having no battery, the lights all went out when you were idling, say at traffic lights. (Which seemed few and far between!).
At first riding was pretty chaotic but we managed to stay together and made it to the outskirts of the city in about an hour and a half.
As anyone who has ridden bikes in
blind bends with nowhere for a passing, or on coming bike to go. We were told to use plenty of horn. It was not considered rude, it was herely a warning… here I am. Good advice.
Our first stop was the
Initially the roads weren’t too bad, you just needed to be extra vigilant because you could never envisage what was on the road around the next bend. We encountered lots of animal hazards on the roads:
Our first big challenge was a long, winding, pontoon bridge stretching 150 metres across a fast flowing river. We had to ride down a steep rocky track and on to the bamboo pontoons. There were many pontoons strapped together which swayed and bounced, so one had to stare straight ahead and keep up constant revs, and keep the front wheel straight and firm. It was a little disconcerting, having crossed the bridge, when I heard Truan joking that there was a modern bridge a few kms up the road, but it wouldn’t be as much fun as this one!
Second night we stayed in a very pretty stilt house in a tribal village called Mai Chau.
The food we had on the trip was very good. Our guides would organise a banquet of maybe 10 different dishes. You could always find something really nice no matter what your taste. Breakfast was usually Fresh bread rolls, eggs, and the Vietnamese noodle soup known as Pho. Lunch was often a picnic on the roadside. Traun always had a delicious spread of cold meats, cheese, salad and rolls.
Now we hit some really rough roads. At first it was a surface made of lots of stones, but the Minsks handled it well, Then we stuck rutted tracks, puddles, deep holes and mud. The scenery was magnificent, but concentration on the track was paramount. It took us 4 hours to cover only 40km on this road. It was dark before we reached our destination of Nghia Lo. A very flash hotel in a rather primitive village.
We are now starting to climb through some massive mountains. Land slides were a part of the scenery. We crossed some valleys, which might only be 10 kms as the crow flies, but 80kms as the road followed the contours. Scenery was spectacular with immaculately prepared rice paddy terracing, there are over 50 different ethnic groups in
PART TWO - soon - WILL ALSO HAVE PHOTOS
National AGM, Townsville, 26 May to 1 June 2008
A disparate bunch of
Of course none of us traveled alone. How could we with over 3700 Ulysseans headed for the same destination. In fact the roadhouse at Belyando Crossing ran out of petrol for 18 hours because of the number of bikes passing through. They had never sold so much petrol in just a few days. Being located half way along a 370km stretch of the Gregory Developmental Road between Clermont and Charters Towers, and being the only source of fuel, many riders, me included, had calculated on refueling there. Gail and I had actually pre-booked one of their motel rooms for the night, but some others had an unscheduled night under the stars, though it was a very sociable evening sitting at a huge round table in front of the roadhouse, eating great food and sinking beer and red wine in the company of other bikers, truck drivers and the roadhouse proprietor, Hog. For me, the best part of the annual AGM is the ride there and back, which is why Gail and I favour the ones located a good distance from home. Evenings like that one at Belyando Crossing are what make a trip memorable.
The AGM event itself was much the same as usual. All the main motorcycle brands had their demo fleets there for members to sample. There was a 10km test route, and groups of bikes set out at regular intervals each with a shepherd at the front and a sweeper at the back, in a vain attempt to prevent riders getting lost or having a fang. The bikes that received the most interest were the new American cruiser brand, Victory, and the three wheeled Can-Am Spyder.
Gail and I attended the dinners on the Friday and Saturday nights, and the food was very good considering they had to serve 2,500 people. Opinions on the bands that played were mixed, but that is inevitable with such a mix of people and musical tastes.
The only significant decisions to come out of the Extended National Committee meeting (attended by Eddie and myself) and the AGM proper, were that the outgoing national committee was re-elected unchanged
and the 2011 AGM will be at
The “Grand Parade”, which I must admit Gail and I skipped when we chose to go for a ride instead, was apparently a flop, because the police escorts split it into groups of about 300 bikes which got interspersed with the other traffic and the concept of a parade was totally lost.
On the Sunday, Gail flew home by plane on a cut-price discount ticket we had pre-booked months before, and I headed for home on the bike. Well I sort-of headed for home! My route first took me north via the Daintree rainforest,
I can’t wait for the AGM at
GO
Don McKenzie on his Harley and me on my Honda ST1100 toured
It was fairly easy to get our bikes on and off the ferry, and crew tied them down with straps attached to the handle bars which prevented them moving and being damaged during the trip.
On the way we took the by-ways around Penguin and saw some great coastline with plenty of old-English style cottages, then through Bernie and west to
Back to
More bends and hills to Zeehan where we visited a great mining museum. Next was pleasant Strahan with all its waterways, and then to industrial Queenstown where the scars of mining are everywhere. The steep climb out of the town is quite interesting too. Fine sunny days all the way, lush green forests, glass-like lakes and swiftly flowing rivers made it a good ride.
Didn’t stay in
Then north along the east coast and to another fantastic pub at Tribunna (remember ‘try-a-banana’ the publican said). The east-coast scenery was good and the roads very quiet, but we encountered a couple of days of gusty-gale-like winds, which made things un- comfortable and difficult for a while.
Don’t think I’ve mentioned the food yet. I went for their seafood and found it just the best. Especially their Tasmanian Scallops which they cooked in a very thin batter and heaped on your plate.
We saw ‘The Pub in the Paddock’ at Pyengana that everyone talks about but didn’t stay there. Instead we enjoyed the good ride on to
Back across the
Then south through Launceston and on to Longford, to the Court House Hotel which is not to be missed if you have any interest in Tasmanian Motor Racing. The Court House is virtually a
Had a look at near-by Symmons Plains Motor Raceway where race-cars and bikes were practicing at what appeared to be some very brisk speeds.
We also did a day ride from Longford, through Poatina and up the Western Tiers mountain range and down between the lakes to Bothwell, then back up through
Afterwards, we went north-west to Deloraine and on to
We went through the railway museum at Don, and had a look around Devonport.
The best thing about the trip for me was the good sunny weather, probably because I’d been to Tassie on a previous holiday when it rained solid for all but one day of three weeks. This time we had just one day’s rain, - the day we visited Tahune Forest Reserve and walked the remarkable ‘skywalk’ - when the rain seemed to make the forest even better.
The bikes went well, with the Harley getting all the attention from a lot of on-lookers. ‘Looks like a cop’s bike’, was the best I got. My speedo clocked 3,621 Km. Bega to Bega, which is about 260 Km. per day average. Distances down there aren’t great and you can cover a lot of map very quickly. The road surfaces are excellent and, to my way of thinking, superior to
I found all the towns to be neat and tidy and saw only one example of graffiti. Everyone we met was easy to talk to and friendly. Motorcyclists are welcome and most Tasmanians have heard of our Ulysses organisation. At every pub we stayed, we were offered under-cover and safe parking for our motorcycles. Enjoyed it all and came home thinking I must go back again before things change! Cheers,
Ray Kearns 38076
TOM AND ED ON AN ADVENTURE – as told by Tom Wheatley
How it started, ED and TOM 59 and 58 models had a build up of brownie points and are given time off for good behaviour. With no handbrakes to accompany them they select their mounts for their up coming trip, they have to be sure footed with plenty of pluck and stamina with a big set of balls, but they could not afford that so they settled on their SUZUKI’S – VSTROM 1000.
Day 1 -They left BEGA after work on Friday arvo. A four hour non eventful trip to CROOKWELL – now that’s serenity.
Day 2 -They head north to
Day 3 -They head to URALLA to stay with an old Bega mate who has built a house 50 metres from the Uralla Bowlo, so they head over. Five hours later after chips and peanuts for tea they head home for a bottle of red wine and toast. Shit its only day three, also the toast was off, both the bro’s were a bit seedy.
Day 4 -They head north to INVERALL and ASHFORD enjoying a cuppa and corned beef sandwich with cousin SHIRL. North to
Day 5 -They head west through TALWOOD to MUNGINDI where they ask for a short cut to LIGHTNING RIDGE – beaut!. Now heading down a black road the black stuff runs out, conferring with the navigator you guessed it instead of turning right to COLLERENERBRI they turned another right which took 40 klms of dust and dirt till they found the black stuff again. 120 klms later they were on track again to WALGETT and GARWIN WERE THEY FOUND THE Sheepyard Hotel. GARWIN is the roughest, dustiest dirtiest god forsaken place they had ever seen. They then head 70 klms to the RIDGE where they fond a caravan park – YOU KNOW THE ROUTINE. The RIDGE is a great place and they spend two nights there.
Day 7 -They ride south thru WALGETT and DUBBO to COWRA where they find a caravan park – same ole same ole.
Day 8 -They ride south through BOOROWA to
P.S It was said unofficially that one BRO took eight pairs of undies and only used three and one team player was spotted wearing long johns? Was it true he swam in them in the thermal pool at the RIDGE and was it true that one team member was spotted walking through the showers in PINK UNDIES ?. Our next issue will be at THE GHOST TOWN RALLY – BROKEN HILL 2007
TOM - MEMBER # 35276
THE RETURN OF THE INTREPID TRAVELLERS
We arrived home safely after 2 months and 10,000 kilometers of traveling on our Triumph Trophy across Europe all the way to
Thought you might like some feedback on some club gear. We have just returned from a trip to
Gail Dean.
Book review – Scooting Through by Ruth Bayne
When Gary, Bruce and I were manning the Ulysses stand at the Bega Shire Council’s “oldies week extravaganza” at the Merimbula Bowling Club back in 2005, I wandered over to the display by the NSW Far South Coast Fellowship of Australian Writers. One of their publications that caught my eye was a book called Scooting Through and on the back cover was a photo of a lady on an invalid scooter that made something click in my memory. Had I seen her somewhere?
The covernotes said Scooting Through relates the adventures of two ignorant girls, traveling from
I was intrigued, particularly when one of the elderly ladies on the stand said that Ruth Bayne ended up in Bega, where she had died a couple of years before of MS, but not before putting her story on paper. I was damn sure that I had seen Ruth Bayne around Bega on her invalid scooter.
The copy on the stand was the personal autographed copy of the lady I was talking to, but I took the details. A Bega book shop promised to order a copy for me, but despite repeated reminders over nearly 3 months they were still blaming the publisher. Eventually I cracked and phoned Ginninderra Press in
Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman, with their BMW GSs, sponsors, backup vehicles and satellite phones have nothing on this local woman who did it, two-up, on a 125cc scooter, on mainly dirt tracks, with virtually no knowledge of how an internal combustion engine even works, and she made it to Australia.
It is a great read, and still available from Ginninderra Press on 02 6258 9060, or I might even lend you mine, if you promise to treat it carefully and to return it. If you lose or damage it, I’ll accept your bike as reparation. John Dean