Brisbane to Melbourne the alternative way


One of the best ways to experience Australia is not
only to see it, but also to feel it. To me, traveling in a car/bus etc is like traveling in a
cocoon. My preference has always been to be out in the open, riding a
motorcycle. At times there are
drawbacks, but 99% of the time it is fun. Riding a motorcycle has more to do
with the journey and less about the destination. After visiting my friend Michael in Taiwan
earlier this year, Michael had indicated that it was time for him to visit us
in Australia and do some traveling by motorcycle. As my other friend, Gert also
plans to return to Australia, both
gentlemen decided to send me some money to let me buy a motorcycle for them.
This has resulted in the purchase of another
BMW R1200RT.



Last Wednesday Michael and I left Brisbane behind us
and headed south without a real plan but with the intention to spend most of
our riding on minor roads. We headed out around the back of Brisbane to ride
via the famous Lions Road to Kyogle, Grafton and the back road to Coffs
Harbour. Dark clouds were gathering out west covering the mountains in the
distance. A look at the map made us decide to change plans and head for Port
Macquarie. However, soon the rain came. After putting on our rain gear we
pushed on towards the town of Macksville.
Everything looked ok until we were about 8 km south of town when, within
minutes, day turned into night and all hell broke loose. Pitch black low clouds
unleashed a series of lightning strikes very close to us on both sides of the
road. I heard Michael's voice over the intercom telling me that he wanted to
get off the bike as he was really scared that we may be hit by lightning. We
quickly turned around and headed back to
Macksville, breaking a few road rules while doing so. (Like riding on the emergency strip and
ignoring a red light where we wanted to make a turn against the traffic.) Under
the cover of a nearby shopping centre, we waited it out until things cleared
and then continued on our way to Port Macquarie to stay for the night.

In the morning all looked great again. Motorcycle
heaven awaited. The Oxley Highway! With two hours of turns and twists on
excellent tarmac and a great coffee shop half way up the mountain. Great that
we had no set plans as we made a quick change after passing the “Nashville” of
Australia, the town of Tamworth. Via Muswellbrook we veered back to the coast
and headed for “The Entrance”. This town is just north of Sydney and lies on the
entrance to an inland sea connected to the ocean via a narrow channel. After 10
hours of riding, we'd had enough and pulled into a YHA hostel for the night.

Sydney! Michael had been looking forward to it. For
some reason we had ended up on the 8 lane freeway connecting Newcastle with
Sydney. Checking the map we found the old Pacific Highway which winds through
the hills and takes you to the outer suburbs of the city. Great to have GPS which automatically
directed us to the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. The street
leading to the Opera House runs into a dead end where a small roundabout takes you
back to where you had come from. "No parking or
stopping" we were told by the security guards. One of them approached
Michael and asked him to move on. Meanwhile I lifted the front wheel over the
curb and placed the bike on the stand under protest of the security guard. I
just ignored him and took some pictures of the bike with the bridge and opera
house in the background. Soon Michael joined me and told the guard that he had
come all the way from Holland and he wanted to take some pictures. The guard just looked at us and then offered
to take the camera so he could take a shot of the two of us - very kind of him.

As soon as we were done we headed out of town to the
Royal National Park just south of the airport. The park connects with the road
leading south to Wollongong. This road is unique as part of it is built over
the ocean and stands in the water on pylons. Via Wollongong and Kiama the road
winds its way south along the mountains and foothills. The long and tiring day
ended in Batemans Bay, a beautiful coastal town where the seagulls and the sea
breeze make you feel that you are alive and so lucky to live in this Country.

I have in my possession a special Bikers Atlas
published by the editor of one of the better motorcycle magazines in Australia.
It lists all the best roads suitable for motorcycling and the condition of
them. There are more than 200 listed.
Every day we tried to connect with these routes and had a ball riding the ever
twisting and turning roads which lay like serpentine strips along and over the
mountains and hills. At times the route follows the coast close to the water’s edge. They are a great way to enjoy the better parts
of the countryside. For example, there is a road between Bermagui and Merimbula
which is one of the most scenic I have ridden in Australia, with blinding white
sandy beaches and turquoise coloured waters - not many people know about it I
think.

Via the inland route and Bombala we crossed into the
state of Victoria and headed for Cann River and Lakes Entrance. We left the
Snowy Mountains for now and will pass through there on the way back.

We diverted to Walhalla, about 50 km north of the main
road leading to Melbourne. Walhalla used
to be a mining town. The mine produced about 17300 kg of gold between1863 and
1914 after which is was closed as all the young men were called away to fight
in WW1. In the early 70’s I had visited
the area, the town consisted of empty
broken down buildings and blocked off mine entrances, it was known as a ghost
town, however today most of the buildings have been restored and the mine can
be visited.

We pulled into one of the mine office carparks. “If
you want to join the tour you need to be quick” said the gate keeper while
walking out of his office. A small group was waiting at the entrance to start
the tour. We quickly got rid of our rain gear, donned a safety helmet and went
in to find the group 100 meters down the entrance tunnel.

The “Long Tunnel Gold Mine” operated on many
levels all to way down to 920 meters underground. The working conditions in
those days were terrible as van be imagined.

We headed towards Melbourne along a very
scenic forest road but drizzle and a temperature of only 12 degrees C made it
not all that pleasant. We had booked a Motel in the town of Frankston only to
find out that something had gone wrong with the booked date. The place was full
and we were sent away. Meanwhile it had gone dark and more rain was falling.
Cold and tired we arrived at a hostel in St Kilda- an inner suburb of
Melbourne. A great ride of 2515 km in 5 days.

In the morning we decided to get out of
Melbourne to find better weather- more on that later.