Mt. Buller to Abbeyard and surrounds
A different perspective.
I picked up Al at 4;00 and after a short dinner break at Mansfield, we arrived at Jumangi Lodge at around 7:30. Despite having a comfortable lodge to lounge in, the boys were all sitting outside around an open fire. Seems you can take the boys out of the bush, but you can’t take the bush out of the boys! We settled into a few fizzy, adult refreshments and before long, the rest of the crew arrived and the bullsh!t started. My guts always hurt when i get together with Pete! Tim arrived later in the evening and we all hit the sack around midnight.
It was a freezing night that opened into a very cold morning as we woke and fixed breakfast. Brad had catered the whole weekend, so it was bacon and eggs for brekky and then geared up and fired the bikes.
We left the lodge around 8:45. Time was critical as we had to dodge the lycra lunatics on the way out! We were able to hit the dirt very quickly, with everyone rearing to get into it. We passed a posse of three 4WD’s on the way, which were happy to get out of our way as the boys were all on fire! I won’t pretend to remember exactly where we went, but at the 10.6 ks mark, we stopped for a re-group to see how everyone was fairing. When he got off his bike, Gimp Boy started making funny noises and pointed to his front tyre. Seems he not only had a flat, but had managed to tear a gash in the tyre that went from the centre to the rim! Pete and Tim set to replacing the tube and it was suggested that we cut a section of the old tube to sleeve around the new tube in the area of the gash.
Once in place, we put a couple of cable ties around the whole mess to hold it all in place. While we were sorting this out, the 4WD’s caught up with us, and we couldn’t help noticing that the women (in particular) were all well dressed and looking gorgeous. One car load stopped to see if we needed any help and they advised us that they were headed to a wedding that was taking place at Craig’s Hut. Good-o we though, we’ve got a wedding to crash ‘cos that’s where we’re heading!
We passed the 4WD’s (again) and soon arrived at the Hut. Sure enough, it was swarming with very elegant people! We didn’t really fit in, so we decided to have a quick look in the hut, then head out the back. On entering the Hut, we were confronted by three blokes in various stages of en-robement. The groomsmen were getting dressed in there, including the groom, complete with broken leg from his bucks party! We then headed out the back, and the official wedding photographer came out and asked us if he could take our picture! Seems the groom liked the idea of being crashed by a group of bikies! We asked where the Bride was and were told she was arriving soon, via helicopter! We waited for a while and witnessed the arrival of the maids-of-honor, but made ourselves scarce before the bride arrived.
Back on the bikes and headed towards our river crossing for the day. The King River was up and flowing, so we all decided to walk across it. There were no dramas, but we all had to contend with wet boots for the run into Abbeyard.
Out of the river and we were confronted with the Staircase, with more rocks than you can stick a shake at. I had a few ‘seniors’moments on my way up, but everyone cleared it and were on the way to Cobbler. A brief stop at the lake and we headed for Cobbler Lake track, where unfortunately, Tim had a bit of an off and bent the front of the Husky all out of shape. He straightened it at the heli-pad and we made to final run into the Yard. We dined on ham and salad rolls, lovingly made by Darren and told Pete (again!) how good his, John’s and Rod’s work on the electrics of the shed was.
The run back to Buller was uneventful, although Gimp Boy got another flat and Brad advised us that we didn’t need to go through the river ‘cos there was a bridge we could cross! We came into Buller via Monument track (which was a blast) and rode up to the Summit car park to have a look. Then back to the lodge for a bbq dinner and bevvies. Later in the evening, Pete decided he wanted desert, so he whipped up a batch of scones (with jam and crème). God we’re tough!
Sunday morning we headed out again for a proposed 50 k loop. We followed a similar route out and headed toward Corn Hill Logging track. This (I thought), was one nasty piece of terrain, with more rocks than I’ve ever seen. Brad had a nasty off half way down and a few others had a little trouble navigating the track. At the bottom of the run, we had to cross ‘the ravine’ and then another wide, but shallow river.
We did 16 mile Jeep track (?) and into another track that was impassable due to rock slides, so we had to back track a bit. The decision was made not to go back up Corn Hill track, so we came back into Buller via Monument track and Sterling again. We ended up doing around 70 ks with no problems for the day.
Once back at the lodge, we showered and cleaned the place up, loaded bikes up and said our good-byes. Dennis, Scot, Brad and I went into Buller to have some lunch and left the mountain about 3:00. And so ended a great weekend!
Thanks to Brad for organizing the ride and Dennis for tailman duties all weekend. Also, special thanks to all those who cooked, cleaned, repaired and helped out to make this a great weekend. Already looking forward to the next one!
