W
hat’s the best road in
Sydney when you ride
an adventure bike?
Any road leading
out of Sydney, yeah?
You got that right!
The M1 north-bound out of the
harbour city was the escape hatch this
time, and the freeway drone for two
hours in the early-morning light to
meet the Professor at MotorcycleBiz
HQ in Raymond Terrace was a small
price to pay for another long weekend’s
adventure far from the maddening
crowd of the big smoke.
The plan was to sniff out some
ADV riding gold in the northern
reaches of NSW across a three-day
agenda, where the route would likely
coincide with the availability of fuel,
the availability of dirty bird, and the
availability of a bunk for the night after
a few cleansing XXXX Golds.
As always, the Professor was ready
and waiting as my wing man Russ and
I rumbled down his driveway. But for
once there was no welcoming early-
morning cuppa. Instead, the Professor
barked: “Follow me, boys, we’re
heading for the museum and I’m not
taking no for an answer. Let’s go.” He
then promptly took off for his front gat
as Russ and I mumbled, “What the?!”,
doing our best to spin our rigs around
and keep the tech guru in sight.DAY AT THE MUSEUM
For about an hour we chased the
Professor across the back roads
between Seaham and Bulahdelah
before popping back onto the Pacific
Highway and steaming north up
national route number 1 to the
Nabiac turn-off, where the Prof
finally peeled off.
“Aha, I know where the Professor
is going!” I muttered to myself when I
saw the sign pointing to the National
Motorcycle Museum. For years I had
been whining about never going to the
renowned bike museum, and for years
the Professor had called me a fool for
not ever paying it a visit. Now he had
taken matters into his own hands and I
had no option but to follow — and I am
glad I did.
You wouldn’t exactly say the Nabiac
National Motorcycle Museum has any
street presence, what with it being
tucked away on a grassy block of land
on the edge of the little hamlet of
Nabiac and looking all the world like
little more than some seriously large
tin sheds. But that’s from the outside
— wait until you get inside!
Inside the place is absolutely bloody
ginormous, laid out across three
sections in a U-shape with classic road
bikes down one side, dirt bikes down
the other and mountains of motorcycle
memorabilia in between. The place
is huuuge and you could spend hours
there taking it all in.
We parked up out front, clomped
inside in our Klim gear and Alpinestars
boots, paid the cheap-as-chips $15
entry fee and then gazed at theryrteRolling green hills and out-of-
the-way back roads are what the
northern NSW region is all about.Mini pavlova and ice cream... why would
you ever want to leave the bowlo club at Inverell?Schnitzel, gravy and chips. That’s a
gastronomic delight right there.TRAVEL STORY:
NORTHERN NSW ADV RIDE
myriad displays on offer. It is simply
staggering the number of bikes
(around 800!) the museum owners,
Brian and Margaret Kelleher, have on
display and our 90-minute stop was
barely enough to take it all in.
The museum and its contents are
impressive, no two ways about it, and I
will be back again for a more detailed
inspection. But we had bigger fi sh to
fry this weekend, all of which involved
wearing the knobs off some fresh 606s!FUEL ME UP
After topping off the tanks at the
highway servo at Nabiac following our
dose of museum sightseeing, it was
time to hit the dirt good and proper.
We steered our steeds north-west in
the direction of Gloucester, throwing a
right about 15km before town to sneak
due north through Bundook to hit the
southern end of Nowendoc Road, which
curiously enough leads up to Nowendoc.
This road is an ADV riding ripper,
meandering through a seemingly
endless lush green valley that parallels
Thunderbolts Way. It’s fi lled with
eye-popping views, some juicy creek
crossings, and sheep and cattle that
have a habit of wandering about the
road over blind crests — so beware!
At Nowendoc you can keep trekking
due north up Brackendale Road, which
keeps you off Thunderbolts and on the
gravel, and will eventually deposit you
at Walcha, where a late lunch of steak
sambos and wedges at the Royal Cafe
was very much on our agenda.
After another fuel top-up atGotta love motorcycle-friendly venues
... like the Royal Cafe at Walcha.The plan was to sni
out some ADV
riding gold in the northern reaches
of NSW across a three-day agenda