Introduction and overview
Day 1 gets us to Terrible Vale - about 20km southwest of Uralla
Day 2 was an epic day, thanks to John and Bruce Taylor.
The video is in 2 parts:
Part 1
Here's part 2
Day 3 didn't end quite as well as Malcolm would have hoped - but it was a great day of riding
Day 4 a ride from Grafton up the Old Glen Innes Road and back to Grafton via the Gwydir Highway
Days 5 and 6 have been mashed together.
On day 5 we started at Sapphire Beach, did some whale watching, bush bashing and highway cruising.
Day 6 we explored the hinterland behind Bryon Bay, visited Nimbin and checked out Malcolm and Leslie Ritchie's very unique CJ750 sidecar outfit.
Day 7
A wonderful day's ride from our camping site at Flat Rock, just north of Ballina, to a free camping area next to the Bonshaw weir on the Dumaresq River on the NSW - Queensland border.
Day 8
Today marks the start of the "Back" part of our Bonshaw and Back ride. A perfect day for riding from sunrise at Bonshaw, through the Mt Kaputar NP, the Pilliga Nature Reserve and a lunch stop in Narrabri. We arrive in Coonabarabran just before it starts to rain.
Day 9
With numbers down to 4 - Steve and Richard headed home - we tackled the Warrumbungle National Park in the rain, stopped briefly at the Gilgandra for coffee at an amazing classic car styled cafe and at Wellington for food and fuel. After checking out Burrendong Dam - with water in it and in the rain - we passed through the Ophir gold diggings before the sun came out and we settled down in Orange for the night.
Day 10
A perfect day to return home. As usual Alan took us on roads I've never travelled on before. We met a group of solo women travellers when we stopped for coffee at Tarana.
Huge thanks to Alan Menton for planning such a fantastic ride.
A group photo taken on Day 3 on the Old Kempsey Road near Bellbrook
L-R Steve Prideaux - Suzuki DR650, Hans Kauffmann - Suzuki DR650, Alan Menton - Suzuki DRZ400, Malcolm Stevens - Suzuki DR650, Graham Goodwin - Suzuki DR650 (a loan bike from Alan and another DR!), Richard Kessen - Triumph Tiger 800, Ian Ralph (me) - BMW F800GSA.
Bruce(L) and John(R) Taylor hosted us at Terrible Vale, their sheep grazing property north of Walch and lead the ride on day 2.
Ian's good friends and ex-neighbours Gillian Workman and Alberto Blanco helped us out by lending thier car and trailer when Malcom's bike failed to proceed:
Ian stayed with close friends Leon and Catie Miller in McLean.
Ian also caught up with Leslie and Malcolm Ritchie in Ballina where they showed us their amazing CJ750 outfit.
Looking for something different?
You might also be interested in my blog of a 5 day ride to Conabarabran and back from March 2020