Part 2 took place on Saturday the 24th of September, i'm only getting onto the story now though as the last week has been VERY full.
Now I'm no aboriginal tracker (and to the best of my knowledge, neither is pasty-white Andy the Fixie Guy) but as we made our way along Borgan Road it was obvious that motorbikes had been along it very recently. It was also obvious that those same bikes hadn't been across the "power station" property, so they must have been coming from somewhere further south.
In the absence of any alternative, i fired up Google Maps again when i got home, and it clearly showed that Borgan Rd eventually hooked up with Yielo Rd east of Jimna. This was excellent news, as i've been itching to check out Yielo for a couple of years since seeing Neil Ennis' ride reports from out there.
Given the week was chockers, the only option was to head out on Saturday afternoon after work, which wouldn't leave much room for error...
I haven't been able to find my old hunting knife (Stabby) that i had taken on the first trip to Borgan Rd, so i think i dropped it when i had my tumble in the mud. Given i got that knife about 10 years ago, it was important enough to head to Borgan Rd first to see if it was still there.
I rolled into Imbil, and took the opportunity to nip up to the lookout in town. The view was OK, but not brilliant.
Now I'm no aboriginal tracker (and to the best of my knowledge, neither is pasty-white Andy the Fixie Guy) but as we made our way along Borgan Road it was obvious that motorbikes had been along it very recently. It was also obvious that those same bikes hadn't been across the "power station" property, so they must have been coming from somewhere further south.
In the absence of any alternative, i fired up Google Maps again when i got home, and it clearly showed that Borgan Rd eventually hooked up with Yielo Rd east of Jimna. This was excellent news, as i've been itching to check out Yielo for a couple of years since seeing Neil Ennis' ride reports from out there.
Given the week was chockers, the only option was to head out on Saturday afternoon after work, which wouldn't leave much room for error...
I haven't been able to find my old hunting knife (Stabby) that i had taken on the first trip to Borgan Rd, so i think i dropped it when i had my tumble in the mud. Given i got that knife about 10 years ago, it was important enough to head to Borgan Rd first to see if it was still there.
I rolled into Imbil, and took the opportunity to nip up to the lookout in town. The view was OK, but not brilliant.
A few sunny days had dried the out the nightmarish quagmire on Bella Creek Road, so it was pretty easy going to Borgan Rd. Sad to say, there was no sign of Stabby, but at least i was able to enjoy the scenery.
I nipped back through Imbil and over Brooloo Gap to fuel up in Kenilworth.
From Kenilworth the plan was simple, out to Charlie Morland campground and then up Sunday Creek Rd to Yielo Rd. I don't have any photos of this section though, for much the same reason as there aren't many photos of the people eating each other after that plane crash in the Andes.
It was bad. Really, enormously bad.
For more than 20kms the road was made almost entirely of large, sharp edged rocks, with plenty of ruts and washouts thrown in for good measure. Yami shouldered the burden with her signature enthusiasm, but i was still down to just 15kmh for substantial sections.
Once past the Sunday Creek Camp the road got a whole lot better, and i was soon at the Yielo turnoff.
What sort of horrors would this little used road have in store for me i wondered?
As it turned out, Yielo Road started off with a beautifully surfaced twisting 3.5km downhill, at the bottom of which the claustrophobic jungle of Sunday Creek suddenly ended and the open rolling plains of Yielo began.
The machinery responsible for the amazing condition of the road were parked up waiting to apply the finishing touches.
Notice that even though i had only just got started on Yielo Rd, the shadows were already pretty long...
The only photos i'd seen of this area showed brown grass, and not much of it. With the recent rains that have been through (more than we've had at Kin Kin!), the country looks incredible.
A few kilometres after the Tungi Rd intersection the road went through an open gate and right in front of someone's front door. I really mean it, you could just about reach out and touch the house from the road. I was really worried, had the road turned into someone's driveway without me realising? For all the advantages the motorbike has, i'm acutely aware that the actions of some trail bike riders have created a very unfavourable public image, and i'm wary of being seen in that light.
I pulled up as a young bloke on a Suzuki came along, and asked him if i was still on Yielo Road and if it joined up to Borgan Road. "Aww gee i dunno aye you should ask me dad" came the reply as he pointed behind him to the Hilux coming up the road.
"Me dad" turned out to be the owner of the station, and a very nice bloke he was too (especially after i told him i was a farmer myself, and not some yuppie from the big smoke). I didn't get the response i was hoping for though, as he was pretty sure the link to Borgan Road was at best a surveyed stock route, at worst hypothetical. When i remarked on how good the roads were he laughed and informed me that up until a few weeks ago they had been all but impassable, in spite of many years of complaints to the local council.
After an enjoyable chat (not as long as i'd have liked but i didn't want to be too pushy), i decided to keep heading north to see just how far i could get. After a while the fancy new roadworks ran out, and while the road was a bit rough, Yami breezed through. In one section the road simply disappeared for about 50 metres, but i followed my nose until some faint tyre tracks reemerged.
In due course i came to a closed gate, and while it wasn't locked or signed to indicate the end of the road, it felt like a suitable point to turn around. Especially as the sun was just starting to dip below the horizon...
So with the outward leg of the journey complete and the darkness gathering quickly, it was time to muster all 15 or so of Yami's horses and hightail it out of there. I did still stop for 2 more photos-
By the time i reached the base of the climb back up to Sunday Creek Road it was pretty much dark, still just light enough to see all the paddymelons running across the road in front of me. I had removed the liner from my jacket earlier in the day as it was extremely hot, but by this time, being somewhere around 600m altitude it was getting jolly cold. Do you think i was going to stop and be ambushed by a yowie as i put the liner back in though? Of course not!
And so began one of the least pleasant experiences i've had on the motorbike so far, 25kms of near unrideable road through a pitch black, creepy forest as i shivered so much i could barely keep the bars steady.
After what felt like an extremely long time i got back to Kenilworth where i finally felt sufficiently safe from yowie predation to get the liner on and regain some body heat. I eventually got home around 8:30, having told Mrs LDR i would be back "about 3".
To be continued...
Fair Winds,
LDR.