2016_Frosty Frolic_Tungamah

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
The afternoon was too good to sit at home so I fired up the Tiger and went for a shorty explore.



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Merriang Gap?


And the Lookout I couldn't remember the name of ?
Murmungee Lookout! Tack west from Stanley on the 6Mile Rd. into the bush... keep left and onto Lady Newton Drive. It turns into a ridge-road, past the lookout....and onto Buckland Gap Rd. Incredible views up the Ovens Vly/ Millawa Flats/ Mt.Buffalo et all in the back etc.

Take the Lee Morrison/Chinamans Flat/Murmungee and Bowman roads for some quiet, scenic farm-block cruising (mostly good dirt), cross Hwy towards Whorouly, tack south right after the Ovens River bridge onto the Whorouly River Rd. for a sorta-hop-across-the-hwy onto the Merriangs Gap Rd. Haven't checked, but should be a neat, little ~40-50km jaunt (Stanley-Myrtleford).
Add the Mudgegonga Twisties up to Stanley and it makes for one hell of a sweet (and varied) short loop.
Go 200m into Wally's track (halfway up to Stanley, off the tar) for the little waterfall at Myrtle Creek and there's a tick in that box as well :drool:


Ohhh...and a big thanks for a great and highly enjoyable Tungamah caper, 'twas good to catch up with so many faces from both the OpenRoaders and Austourers
There certainly wasn't a lack of action :doh::bs ...or Tooheys Old :whistle:
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
If not the near-flood level of the Acheron River at the Glendale Lane Bridge...


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...then the 3" of quickly flowing water in that small concrete drain across Connellys Creek Rd. should've been a warning!
Dip any deeper into the bush... and things will get sloppy and muddy real soon.
Crystal Creek Rd. in the dry is sweet....add water to the white/ yellow clay and red-earth mix and it all turns to shyte.
Staring down the sloppy and chewed-up-by-4WDs mudslide into the Connollys Creek crossing it was time to call it quits.
No sense to throw away the first good weekend of blue skies and sunshine in a long time right at the start...


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Mt. Buller looking good with its white cap on.


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Max zoom, free-hand...I love that little Panasonic for what it can do.:eek:
(that's about 50k's away, as the crow flies)
But I really should clean the lens sometimes :whistle::doh:


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A chance meet with Faz and Ant along the way swells the group to 5 bikes, time to say G'day at one of the Skyline Rd. lookouts.

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Caught!! (talking ^%$#)

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Dropping off Pennys Pinch... to Peppin Point and Bonnie Doon.


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Ant on the new XT660 and Doug

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Lunch at Bonnie Doon took an extra 10 mins. as some heated throttle grip had started to become over-enthusiastic on the "twisting" scale
and started to develop its own life, threatening to set Doug up for a home run with or without the aid of the RACV-truck.
A roll of plumbers tape and tube of Tarzans Grip from the thankfully well stocked shop saved the day.

Wanna know where you are?
Just look down and walk along those letters on the ground...

Polly McQuinn Rd., Strathbogie


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Skipping the Mt. Wombat track and lookout (more than likely another "mud-out", going by the amount of water gushing over the Polly McQuinn dam wall) it's through a deserted Strathbogie township.
The dilapidated tennis-courts point the way...some oh-so-sweet single-laners through Kithbrook and Marraweeny towards Violet Town
 

Emeraldfloats

Living the dream
Hmmm.......?

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Man, Garry was determined to make the Tungamah pub.

He went fully McGyver - quick guys, let's construct a rudimentary tyre changing machine from some blocks of wood, a rusty tail shaft and a garage support column....:bs

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Luckily I broke down only 100 metres from a farm house and it turned out to be the best possible location in the area to break down. The farmer was so helpful and got on his tractor to go to his other farm to to get us some tyre levers. Whilst he was gone we set about removing the rear wheel and trying to break the tyre bead. With a few pieces of wood, a rusty old PTO shaft, a garage column and the help of Bernie, Tim and Silvio we managed to break the bead. The problem was the rubber sealing gasket, which is supposed to stop air leaking out through the spoke holes, had broken free of its internal grooves. When this happens the air escapes very quickly. Bit of a crazy setup, I like the BMW tubeless wire wheel design much better. Tim and Silvio left us and headed off, whilst it was still light, to join the rest of the group at Tungamah Pub.

The farmer returned with two 6" tyre levers .......... immediately I thought that this was going to be a difficult job when the farmer dryly says that he has a Tyrepliers tyre changing machine. I asked where it was and he told me it was in the back of his ute. He even had a mounting bar for the towbar hitch on his ute. Within a few minutes we had the tyre demounted, with a little help from the tyre lubricant that the farmer just happened to have in his ute cab. We pushed the gasket back into the grooves and mounted the tyre, all the while hoping that this would fix the problem. The farmer then produces a cylinder which he had charged with air. There wasn't enough air pressure in the cylinder to pop the bead back onto the rim so he got his hand pump and set about pumping the tyre up. After a few minutes the bead popped onto the rim and we quickly put the wheel back onto the bike.

By the time we washed up and were ready to leave it was very very dark so it was going to be an interesting ride to Tungamah. We got to Numurkah and fuelled up then headed on the straight run to Tungamah. I am glad the road was straight because there was plenty of fog which reduced visibility significantly. (motorcycle headlights are pretty crap and my old eyes don't work as well as they used to)

Made it safely to Tungamah pub and settled in for a meal, some drinks and story telling in front of the fire pit. The tyre held constant pressure all the way home. Thanks everyone for a great weekend.
 

glitch

Mapping the next ride...
Staff member
Couldn't get off the Hume soon enough and landed in a maze of "Dry-Weather-Roads" W-)



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...which soon led to this...



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...and a search for "higher ground" towards Tungamah....before another search, this time for petrol, only to be found in Yarrawonga.
Still made it back to base before the sun went down...


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...and before the troops rolled up after an eventful day on the roads....



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....to marvel at the stylish touches of the Tungamah Hotel :thumbs:



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Fuzzy Dunlop

Unleash the inner wombat
Moi? Sarcastic?

Actually only happened to me once. Had to take the wheel off at work when I ran over a nail on the way in.

My Katoom has been relegated to the back of the carport behind the car while I fuss over my new Ape. It looks a bit sad about it.
 
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