Bushpigs & Sunrises_03_Marlo-to-Cann River

glitch · Apr 5, 2022

glitch · Apr 6, 2022

While the Bonang Hwy with its 120k's of twisties has always been a favourite route in that part of the world through decades past, it's also getting close to being entirely sealed, resulting in the inevitable.

"take the 92km of back-country Alpine ridges of The Yalmy" they'd said

"go to historic Bendoc" they'd said

"check out The Errinnundra National Park" they'd said

With no town, fuel, supplies and only patchy phone coverage along the way, the planned 240km dirt+gravel loop was at the outer limits of my comfort zone.
A long day in the sticks with a fair potential for something going pear-shaped and help or easy extraction not readily at hand.

With bikes taking naps here and there, bending bits, losing mirrors etc, a closed through-route requiring re-routing on the fly and an extra 35km = 1hour of workarounds, the afternoon grew pretty long and tiring in the end.
The fuel reserve-light started blinking on the Hima, limping into Cann River pretty battered and bruised without a rear brake and badly bent handlebars.

But what a cracker of a day it had been :glu

:kicking:

Endless ridges of "bearded sticks"

Squizzy · Apr 6, 2022

Delegate River Tunnel, straight through solid rock to divert the river. Very similar to the Big Peninsula Tunnel past Warburton.

Marty in his element.

Ant having fun as well.

Pete keeping us moving along.

The Super Tenere decided to have a lie down. Marty was lucky when the mirror gave him a tap under the chin. You did not realize how slippery it was until you tried to change direction or brake, or walk, or pick up a Super Tenere.

Something wrong with that sign.

Magnificent planning was called for when the scheduled road was closed. Ant got into Cann River with 1.5 liters left. All good.

I still could not see the ocean.

glitch · Apr 7, 2022

Quick side-trip off the main track, following a well-weathered sign "To The Big Tree".
Looked like hardly anyone had been in there for years...

....and on towards Bendoc after a short dogleg crossing the Bonang Hwy just south of the NSW-border.

Incredible what they achieved with only pick and shovel in the old days....Delegate River Diversion tunnel to scour the original riverbed for gold.

http://vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/reports/report_place_local/4986

Old Bendoc cemetery

glitch · Apr 7, 2022

Onto the main track pointing south....

...before the little "shortcut" of Survey Rd.
Somewhat overgrown and spongy twin-track, an old, unused logging-road, lots of leaf-litter, bark and dropped branches, the going slowed right down with regular
slips and dips from both ends of the bike.

WTF happened? One second I was upright, the next....

Big signs pronounced Errinundra Rd. closed towards the South.....requiring an ad-hoc reroute for the next 60 or so k's, growing the route by nearly 40kilometers and nudging the fuel-reach
of at least the Hima, maybe even the S10. One more track/ road closure or more substantial hiccup... and things would get a bit dicey.

Out with the Rooftop Maps and a reboot for Marty's GPS at the "Ocean Veiw Lookout" resulting in a long, but fantastic route of continuous ridge-roads with fabulous views which better you couldn't find if you tried!
In hindsight, one of the true highlight-stretches of the week if it wasn't for that slightly nagging thought of running out of either fuel or time/ day light before hitting the Princes Hwy.
And far superior to the original route, I'm sure.

The Hima decided it had enough for the day and took a dive barely a kilometer from the Hwy. With the rear brake pedal facing 45deg up, a dangling pushrod of the Master brake cylinder, a handlebar pointing into the sky on the right I'm still baffled how Ant managed the circus-act of getting this thing into Cann River, running ahead of the pack so we all knew where he'd run out of fuel (which he didn't!) for the recovery mission. :chug:

By the time the first coldie was sunk and the steaks arrived at the Cann River Pub, the Hima was fixed and ready for the next round.

Thankfully no injuries despite the rather exciting afternoon, hooray :icon-clap-:

The HopInn Motel came up with some generously-sized rooms at a reasonable rate and some of their carpark-furniture proved a key tool in bending the Little Indian back into shape. :bs

Cann River Hop Inn Motor Inn | Quality Accommodation in Cann River

The Hop Inn is locally owned and operated. It’s situated centrally in Cann River, on Monaro Highway, close to the intersection with the Princes Highway. The Highway is not busy at night, so there is little traffic noise to disturb your sleep.

cannriverhopinnmotorinn.com.au