Intermission

 Intermission

Anyone familiar with the lay of the land here in Oz knows that the Great Dividing Range is a mountainous area that runs the full length of the eastern seaboard in a north-south direction and separates the Western Plains from the Eastern Coastal fringe.

It is not a particularly tall mountain range, with an average height of only 750 m / 2,100 ft, but it does run 3,500 km / 2,175 mi, from the tip of Cape York in northern Queensland to the the Grampians in southern Victoria.  

click on image to enlarge

This weekend, Winter arrived early, with a polar blast dumping the first significant snowfalls on the Kosciusko Mountains area on the Victorian border and a light dusting of snow on the Southern and Central Tablelands of my State.  The Northern Tablelands missed the snowfall this week, but their time will come soon enough.

Daytime temperatures on the Western Plains are now around 0*C~10*C, with a wind chill taking that down to around 0*C.  This will only drop further over the coming weeks.

click on image to enlarge


The photo above was taken at Shooters Hill, near Oberon, on the Central Tablelands

Of course, this is probably considered "mild" compared to Minnesota in December, but for those of us accustomed to wearing T-shirts and board shorts most of the year, this is officially classified as "cold".

The skiing enthusiasts and resort operators are pleased with the early arrival of the 2025 Ski Season, while I am less so as my planned Western Loop and South-Western Loop rides, both of which are routed through the Western Plains, will now be delayed until the arrival of Spring, hopefully in late August but more likely in early September. 

That leaves the North Coast Loop along the Pacific Motorway as the "fall-back" Winter ride in my schedule.  

My preference is to avoid travelling over the same ground twice when planning a route, so this is my least favourite ride as it is less of a "loop" and more of a "there and back" ride. 

click on image to enlarge

And as it is a Motorway, the traffic engineers have made it as straight and flat as possible.  Perfect for a self-drive Tesla, less so for a motorcycle.

In simple terms, ride 625 km along the Pacific Motorway, stopping at the occasional G-L-M-C towns along the way for a bonus photo, turn around at Grafton and ride 625 km back home. 

The only potential detour is out to Gloucester, provided they repair the washed out roads from the recent floods.

But beggars can't be choosers, so the North Coast Loop will probably be my next ride, hopefully in late June / early July.

In the meantime, I'll stay warm at home watching the once-mighty Sea Eagles lose some more football games on Fox Sports.  That and reading the daily reports from this year's Iron Butt Rally.  (16 ~ 27 June )

For those readers enjoying their Summer riding season, more power to you.  To paraphrase Mr. Spock, "Stay safe and prosper".

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