The plan was simple. Tuesday stay north of the highway, head through Valencia Creek, up Old Moroka Road, hang a right, camp at Horseyard Flat. Wednesday, Moroka Road to Licola, back south, Cowarr-Rawson Road, South Face Road, Noojee, Bunyip Forest (time permiting), home.
Lets just say the plans changed. The forecast was not brilliant but acceptable so we headed off.
For those who don't know (I didn't). The old Jindi Cafe is now a restored private residence. The cafe has moved about 75 metres east to the other side of the road and is now set back from the road with plenty of off street parking. We only stopped there so Nigel could put on a warm layer but we had a nice chat the the guy who now owns the former cafe.
After a food stop at Toongabbie it was around the Cowarr Weir and onto some dirt roads around Seaton
Through to Valencia Creek where the GPS decided to take us up some nice dirt roads that appeared to go nowwhere in particular (fun roads though) so we retraced our steps to Moroka Road and headed north. We even crossed Valancia Creek on a ford at one stage
Once we got to old Moroka Road things got more interesting. Lots of really tight uphill switchbacks and loose rock. Nothing particularly hard but I was glad I was going up not down. Overall a nice road with lots of interesting scenery and zero other traffic.
Onwards and upwards
Going over the top of a ridge we had a steep descent and I did say to myself I doubted that I could get the Tiger back up there with road tyres.
As we neared the top and Mt Wellington came into view it was closely followed by a blanket of cloud which quickly turned into steady drizzle. About 1.2km from the junction with Moroka Range Track it happened. A large fallen tree arcoss the road accompanied by steady rain. Forunately the tree had fallen from the high side and there was a gap under it against the bank we figured we could get the bikes through. Also forunately Nigel had a decent saw and we were able to saw a secton of the branch behind the tree out (It was abouty 20cm in diameter), move some branches unload the bike sand get them under the main tree. About 90 minutes worth in the rain.
As the rain had become steady once we hit Moroka Range Track and 4WD territory there were water filled ruts aplenty and plenty of slipperyness. My bike had a sleep and then decided the stand lockout was not working so would stall every time it was put in gear. The little spring loaded switch thing the stand pushed in was not returning so I would start the bike and put the stand up in neutral and Nigel would pull the sensor out before I selected a gear. Fortunately I only stalled a couple of times before we got to Moroka Road.
We hit Moroka Road at 5.30. The original time to get to the campsite was shortly after 3. At this point with steady drizzle, 20 metres viz and 9.5C and being soaking wet we decided to head down to Licola for the night. The cloud persisted almost untill we hit the sealed section at the start of the Lake Tali Karng walk about 20km from Licola then it was clear and dry and a rather pleasant trip into Licola and about 7.20pm
The Licola Caravan Park and store has new owners Leeanne is really nice and opened to store for us to aquire adult beverages and even gave us 2 x 20 cent pieces each so we could have long hot showers. There were 6 other guys on bikes there (701 Huskies, Tenere and a 1050 KTM) who had also intended to camp at Horseyard but had decided Licola looked a better option. We had a great night telling lies in the BBQ area with a nice fire going.
As plan A had not worked we decided the Plan B was Licola to Jamieson, Eildon Road, then Eildon-Warburton Road through to Big River Road then Cumberland Junction, Reefton Spur and home.
First thing. The sealed road north out ot Licola is closed just past the Caravan Park due bad subsidence. It will be closed for a long time. The good news is that the there is a detour up the valley through farm land that is actually more fun than the sealed road anyway. You just have to dodge the Angus cattle and their droppings.
The detour joins the sealed road about 2km before the seal ends (about 10km out of Licola).
Once the seal ended it was rinse and repeat yesterday. Low cloud , 20-30 metres viz and dropping temps. The road is in terrible condition its just constant picking the least rough line through exposed and loose rocks.
6.5C at Mt Skene and the photo makes the viz look better than it was. There was still frost on the grass on the other side of the road.
As we dropped down the Jamieson side the weather cleared and at one stage there were actually dark shadows across the road. The temps climbed as well up to 24C but the road conditions stayed pretty ordinary until the last flatter section through the forest which was dry and dusty. Eventually seal returned.
Jamieson was chockers. The cafe is still closed with no sign of life but the general store has the usual 3 week old 4n20s in the warmer and cold drinks plus the big city innovation of a street facing coffee window where you collect your order.
The Eildon-Jamieson Road was really nice, dry, pleasant temp, not much leaf litter and almost no traffic except ADV bikes. When we got to the Eildon-Warbuton turnoff we both decided to seal was fun and we stayed on that. The weather stayed fine but really windy until Narbethong then cars coming towards us over the spur had lights and wipers on so it was stop at the servo and zip up then over what was actually a fairly wet road with nothing really falling from the sky. Getting to Healeville and riding through Badgers Creek and south looking the the cloud on the top of the hills confirmed that The Reefton would have just been a repeat of the morning trip over Mt Skene weather wise.
So what are the takeaways?
Bloody brilliant fun. Best ride I have had for ages.
I'm packing a decent folding saw on future trips like this.
Saws drop out of the side pockets on Mosko Moro Panniers and are lost if you forget to tie them to something.
P.S. Fixed my stand issue at Licola. There was a small piece of woof jammed in behind the switch that we could not see in the gloom.
Lets just say the plans changed. The forecast was not brilliant but acceptable so we headed off.
For those who don't know (I didn't). The old Jindi Cafe is now a restored private residence. The cafe has moved about 75 metres east to the other side of the road and is now set back from the road with plenty of off street parking. We only stopped there so Nigel could put on a warm layer but we had a nice chat the the guy who now owns the former cafe.
After a food stop at Toongabbie it was around the Cowarr Weir and onto some dirt roads around Seaton
Through to Valencia Creek where the GPS decided to take us up some nice dirt roads that appeared to go nowwhere in particular (fun roads though) so we retraced our steps to Moroka Road and headed north. We even crossed Valancia Creek on a ford at one stage
Once we got to old Moroka Road things got more interesting. Lots of really tight uphill switchbacks and loose rock. Nothing particularly hard but I was glad I was going up not down. Overall a nice road with lots of interesting scenery and zero other traffic.
Onwards and upwards
Going over the top of a ridge we had a steep descent and I did say to myself I doubted that I could get the Tiger back up there with road tyres.
As we neared the top and Mt Wellington came into view it was closely followed by a blanket of cloud which quickly turned into steady drizzle. About 1.2km from the junction with Moroka Range Track it happened. A large fallen tree arcoss the road accompanied by steady rain. Forunately the tree had fallen from the high side and there was a gap under it against the bank we figured we could get the bikes through. Also forunately Nigel had a decent saw and we were able to saw a secton of the branch behind the tree out (It was abouty 20cm in diameter), move some branches unload the bike sand get them under the main tree. About 90 minutes worth in the rain.
As the rain had become steady once we hit Moroka Range Track and 4WD territory there were water filled ruts aplenty and plenty of slipperyness. My bike had a sleep and then decided the stand lockout was not working so would stall every time it was put in gear. The little spring loaded switch thing the stand pushed in was not returning so I would start the bike and put the stand up in neutral and Nigel would pull the sensor out before I selected a gear. Fortunately I only stalled a couple of times before we got to Moroka Road.
We hit Moroka Road at 5.30. The original time to get to the campsite was shortly after 3. At this point with steady drizzle, 20 metres viz and 9.5C and being soaking wet we decided to head down to Licola for the night. The cloud persisted almost untill we hit the sealed section at the start of the Lake Tali Karng walk about 20km from Licola then it was clear and dry and a rather pleasant trip into Licola and about 7.20pm
The Licola Caravan Park and store has new owners Leeanne is really nice and opened to store for us to aquire adult beverages and even gave us 2 x 20 cent pieces each so we could have long hot showers. There were 6 other guys on bikes there (701 Huskies, Tenere and a 1050 KTM) who had also intended to camp at Horseyard but had decided Licola looked a better option. We had a great night telling lies in the BBQ area with a nice fire going.
As plan A had not worked we decided the Plan B was Licola to Jamieson, Eildon Road, then Eildon-Warburton Road through to Big River Road then Cumberland Junction, Reefton Spur and home.
First thing. The sealed road north out ot Licola is closed just past the Caravan Park due bad subsidence. It will be closed for a long time. The good news is that the there is a detour up the valley through farm land that is actually more fun than the sealed road anyway. You just have to dodge the Angus cattle and their droppings.
The detour joins the sealed road about 2km before the seal ends (about 10km out of Licola).
Once the seal ended it was rinse and repeat yesterday. Low cloud , 20-30 metres viz and dropping temps. The road is in terrible condition its just constant picking the least rough line through exposed and loose rocks.
6.5C at Mt Skene and the photo makes the viz look better than it was. There was still frost on the grass on the other side of the road.
As we dropped down the Jamieson side the weather cleared and at one stage there were actually dark shadows across the road. The temps climbed as well up to 24C but the road conditions stayed pretty ordinary until the last flatter section through the forest which was dry and dusty. Eventually seal returned.
Jamieson was chockers. The cafe is still closed with no sign of life but the general store has the usual 3 week old 4n20s in the warmer and cold drinks plus the big city innovation of a street facing coffee window where you collect your order.
The Eildon-Jamieson Road was really nice, dry, pleasant temp, not much leaf litter and almost no traffic except ADV bikes. When we got to the Eildon-Warbuton turnoff we both decided to seal was fun and we stayed on that. The weather stayed fine but really windy until Narbethong then cars coming towards us over the spur had lights and wipers on so it was stop at the servo and zip up then over what was actually a fairly wet road with nothing really falling from the sky. Getting to Healeville and riding through Badgers Creek and south looking the the cloud on the top of the hills confirmed that The Reefton would have just been a repeat of the morning trip over Mt Skene weather wise.
So what are the takeaways?
Bloody brilliant fun. Best ride I have had for ages.
I'm packing a decent folding saw on future trips like this.
Saws drop out of the side pockets on Mosko Moro Panniers and are lost if you forget to tie them to something.
P.S. Fixed my stand issue at Licola. There was a small piece of woof jammed in behind the switch that we could not see in the gloom.
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