Days 122 - 123 Canberra - Three mile dam - Captains Flat
35298 - 35654 602km
As mentioned in the previous post Mirco's bike's front fork started leaking bad. It literally blew out all the oil there was. After breakfast it was time to fix it. We were extremely lucky to stay in Terry and Janelle's home as Terry really knows what he's doing with the bikes. First of all the problem was clear. The whole seal had slipped away from its original place. The "string" that supposed to hold it was made of normal wire and it was only a matter of time when it would fail.
Finding a suitable replacement wasn't hard but took a lot of time as the shop selling the parts we needed was located on the other side of the city. But while we were there we could easily return the wrong seals that were sold to us and which we actually didn't even need.
When Mirco bought the seals he asked an estimation of the time needed to change the seals for both sides. Estimation was 2,5 hours. Terry (with a minimal help from Mirco and me) did it in an hour. Not bad at all as he hasn't changed fork seals for years.
After repairing the bike, Mirco left to Summernats, which is a huge car meeting organized in Canberra every year. About 45 thousand people arrive there to see cars, burnouts, bands and each other. I passed that mainly because of the price of the entrance. AUD 90 is just too much for me to see cars.
Instead of Summernats I took a tour around Canberra. Terry and Janelle pointed out the best routes and places to see. Canberra Space Center and lookouts etc. And absolutely fabulous motorcycle roads. I have to confess that earlier I had a feeling that Canberra is even duller than average big city as it's build for administration. I was wrong in that. Terry and Janelle really showed me that there's so much to see in Canberra. If I had a local guide with that knowledge in every city I could even begin to like cities.
But everything comes to an end and on Sunday we got to get going again. After some gravel road adventure we ended up in camp ground called Three mile dam. Actually I have no idea why it has a name like that. The place was really beautiful. Lake with jumping fish, wild horses, kangaroos... And rain during the night.
Luckily it didn't rain in the morning as we hit the road. Alpine Way was as enjoyable as it was on boxing day when I rode it to another direction. Great sceneries, perfect curves and corners, good pavement. Uphills, downhills. Such a perfect motorcycle road. I would love to ride it with a street bike. Sorry Annie, you are just too heavy.
While we stopped in Jindabyne to buy some groceries it started to rain. And it rained a lot! We had good time for lunch as we waited for the hardest rain to pass. When sky cleared at least a little we started our way towards our goal, Captains Flat. A small ex mining town southeast of Canberra. The last mine in the area was closed in 1962.
Road there was mainly ok, except one extremely soft sandy part and a cow. Yes, a cow that wanted to to the same direction I wanted to go to pass it. I didn't hit the cow but it was close. I really felt a bit shaky after that!
Finally in Captains Flat we just picthed the tents, heated up some ravioli and got to our tents for a good night sleep.
As mentioned in the previous post Mirco's bike's front fork started leaking bad. It literally blew out all the oil there was. After breakfast it was time to fix it. We were extremely lucky to stay in Terry and Janelle's home as Terry really knows what he's doing with the bikes. First of all the problem was clear. The whole seal had slipped away from its original place. The "string" that supposed to hold it was made of normal wire and it was only a matter of time when it would fail.
Finding a suitable replacement wasn't hard but took a lot of time as the shop selling the parts we needed was located on the other side of the city. But while we were there we could easily return the wrong seals that were sold to us and which we actually didn't even need.
When Mirco bought the seals he asked an estimation of the time needed to change the seals for both sides. Estimation was 2,5 hours. Terry (with a minimal help from Mirco and me) did it in an hour. Not bad at all as he hasn't changed fork seals for years.
After repairing the bike, Mirco left to Summernats, which is a huge car meeting organized in Canberra every year. About 45 thousand people arrive there to see cars, burnouts, bands and each other. I passed that mainly because of the price of the entrance. AUD 90 is just too much for me to see cars.
Instead of Summernats I took a tour around Canberra. Terry and Janelle pointed out the best routes and places to see. Canberra Space Center and lookouts etc. And absolutely fabulous motorcycle roads. I have to confess that earlier I had a feeling that Canberra is even duller than average big city as it's build for administration. I was wrong in that. Terry and Janelle really showed me that there's so much to see in Canberra. If I had a local guide with that knowledge in every city I could even begin to like cities.
But everything comes to an end and on Sunday we got to get going again. After some gravel road adventure we ended up in camp ground called Three mile dam. Actually I have no idea why it has a name like that. The place was really beautiful. Lake with jumping fish, wild horses, kangaroos... And rain during the night.
Luckily it didn't rain in the morning as we hit the road. Alpine Way was as enjoyable as it was on boxing day when I rode it to another direction. Great sceneries, perfect curves and corners, good pavement. Uphills, downhills. Such a perfect motorcycle road. I would love to ride it with a street bike. Sorry Annie, you are just too heavy.
While we stopped in Jindabyne to buy some groceries it started to rain. And it rained a lot! We had good time for lunch as we waited for the hardest rain to pass. When sky cleared at least a little we started our way towards our goal, Captains Flat. A small ex mining town southeast of Canberra. The last mine in the area was closed in 1962.
Road there was mainly ok, except one extremely soft sandy part and a cow. Yes, a cow that wanted to to the same direction I wanted to go to pass it. I didn't hit the cow but it was close. I really felt a bit shaky after that!
Finally in Captains Flat we just picthed the tents, heated up some ravioli and got to our tents for a good night sleep.
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