FarRiders: IBEM Challenge, Trip 5

How the "game / challenge" works is described on the parent page.

Today (February 5th, 2010) was a beautiful day! Rain was in the air, but I was lucky not to really see any, at least not for the first 350 km or so.

Boggabilla: A Certain Change in Weather Conditions

This trip presented itself when I planned my route to the Ride-to-Eat™, a FarRider community event, here the FarEast #12. We were to meet in Nambucca Heads, at the V Wall Tavern, for a nice lunch. This trip is part of a bigger round-trip from Brisbane, via inland routes, the following 9 IBEM towns, to Nambucca Heads, and back via Dorrigo, Grafton, Glenn Innes, Tenterfield, Urbenville, Woodenbong, Beaudesert, to Brisbane.

Towns Visited During This Trip

Toowoomba

Toowoomba Town Sign

Toowoomba (a.k.a "The Garden City") is a city in South East Queensland, Australia. It is located 132 km west of Queensland's capital city: Brisbane. With an urban population of 95,265 (2005), Toowoomba is Australia's second largest inland city.
A university and cathedral city, Toowoomba hosts the "Australian Carnival of Flowers" each September, and Easterfest is held annually over the Easter weekend.

I did not really want to stop to take the picture… I just wanted to keep going.  My new auxiliary fuel tank has a capacity of 16 l, extending my range to 600 km, or definitely 500 km.

Goondiwindi

Goondiwindi Town Sign

Goondiwindi is an Australian town of approximately 5,023 people (Census 2004) with an annual population growth of 1.3% over the year. The name Goondiwindi derives from a local Aboriginal word meaning "the resting place of the birds".

When I started in Brisbane the temperature was 26 °C. Come to Goondiwindi and we have 37 °C. It was still a nice ride, and my cruise control already paid off. Set and forget" is my approach. Monitoring the speed is fatiguing over distance; hence, one thing less to worry about. It worked like a charm!

Boggabilla

Boggabilla Town Sign

Boggabilla is a small town in the far north of inland New South Wales, Australia in Moree Plains Shire. In 2006, the town had a population of 647 people.
The name Boggabilla comes from Gamilaraay bagaaybila, literally "full of creeks". The same "creek" element is found in the name of Boggabri. However Boggabilla is receiving low rainfall, which has dried up most of the creeks. This has been very bad for the local agriculture.

Yes, just got in the swing of things, when I hit this town, 12 km out of Goondiwindi. The weather was holding up, despite the forecasts.

Moree

Moree New Town Sign

Moree is a large town in Moree Plains Shire in northern New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the banks of the Mehi River in the centre of the rich black-soil plains.

Moree is a major agricultural centre, noted for its part in the Australian cotton growing industry which was established there in the early 1960s. The town is located at the junction of the Newell Highway and Gwydir Highway. and can be reached by daily train and air services from Sydney. It is situated in the Shire of Moree Plains. Like many towns and cities in Australia, Moree shares its name with a much smaller community in Northern Ireland Moree County Tyrone. At the 2001 census, Moree had a population of 9,247 declining to 8,083 in 2006.

The key thing I noticed was the new town sign along a new road to get traffic around town. While nobody likes the noise and pollution traffic causes, routing the road around town may not help its growth.
As for my trip schedule, I was 30 minutes behind.

Narrabri

Narrabri Town Sign

Narrabri is a town and seat of Narrabri Shire Council Local Government Area in the North West Slopes, New South Wales, Australia. Narrabri is situated on the Namoi River and lies 521 km northwest of Sydney. It sits on the junction of the Kamilaroi Highway and the Newell Highway. At the 2006 census, Narrabri had a population of 6,102.

As a result of the geography of Narrabri and the surrounding areas, Narrabri Township is quite prone to flooding.
Before the arrival of the Europeans in the Early 1800s, Narrabri was the home of the Kamilaroi people, who still constitute a significant fraction of the local population.

It is the centre of a major cotton growing industry. Other agricultural industries in the area include wheat, beef and lamb. Nearby attractions are Mount Kaputar National Park, the Australia Telescope Compact Array at the Paul Wild Observatory (administered by the CSIRO) and a number of agricultural centres, including the Australian Cotton Exhibition Centre. Just to the south of town is the Pilliga Forest, the largest remnant temperate forest in Eastern Australia. Narrabri also boasts The Crossing Theatre, a 1,000 seat auditorium and cinema complex of a standard normally only found in larger Australian communities.

The Narrabri Shire has also laid claim to the title of "Australia's Sportiest Town", according to NBN TV's "Today Show". This is backed up by a large number of ovals and Sporting Clubs within the shire.

Narrabri was my first designated fuel stop, since leaving near Brisbane. 26.5 litres made ii into the system. The weather was still holding, though I had experienced the odd strong shower around the Kaputar Mountain.

Boggabri

Boggabri Town Sign

Boggabri is a small town on the Kamilaroi Highway in north-western New South Wales, Australia in Narrabri Shire Council, between Gunnedah and Narrabri. In 2006, the town had a population of 901 people.
The name Boggabri comes from Gamilaraay bagaaybaraay, literally "having creeks". The same "creek" element is found in the name of Boggabilla. The Namoi River passes through Boggabri. Fishing is a popular activity on the Namoi River.

The photo above shows clearly the change in weather condition. Now that I turned eastward, I was coming closer to the thunderstorms I kept avoiding for half a day. On the way to Gunnedah I was right in the thick of it, with lighting bolts shooting out of the ground a few hundred metres away. What a thrill! 

Gunnedah

Gunnedah Diesel Service

Gunnedah is a town and Local government area in north-eastern New South Wales, Australia. 7,542 people lived in the town of Gunnedah in 2006, including 931 indigenous persons (12.3%).

Gunnedah is located on the Oxley and Kamilaroi Highways providing road links to the state capital Sydney at a distance of 475 km and the nearest regional centre Tamworth is 75 km. It is also linked to Sydney by rail. The town is served by the daily Countrylink Xplorer service between Sydney and Moree.

The major industry is agriculture, with 80% of the shire area devoted to farming. Gunnedah's primary exports are cotton, coal, beef, lamb and pork, and cereal and oilseed grains. Gunnedah is also home to AgQuip, Australia's largest annual exhibition of agricultural equipment.

I did not the local town sign and took a shot of the local Diesel Service Shop instead. Well, another day I might pick up a better photo; like I later would in Woodenbong. Gunnedah was also my overnight location for the day.

Dorrigo

Dorrigo Hotel

Dorrigo is a small town located on the Waterfall Way in northern New South Wales, Australia. It is approximately 580 km north of the state capital, Sydney via the Pacific Highway, and 60 km from the coastal city of Coffs Harbour. The town is situated on the Dorrigo Plateau near the New England Escarpment, which is part of the Great Dividing Range. Dorrigo is 762 metres above sea level. At the 2006 census, Dorrigo had a population of 967 people. Dorrigo is derived from the aboriginal word, dondorrigo, meaning "stringy-bark".

I was up there 05:16 local time. Nobody around yet, hence a very enjoyable ride to say the least. Weather? Well, a drizzle here and there.

Woodenbong

Woodenbong Town Sign

Woodenbong is a town of approximately 400 persons in northern New South Wales, Australia, in Kyogle Council. It is 10 km south of the Queensland border. It is situated 5 km south of the junction of the Summerland Way and the Mount Lindsay Road, which leads to Legume and eventually Tenterfield. It is 798 km north-east of Sydney, 145 km from Brisbane and 60 km north-east of Kyogle. The name is derived from an Githabul Tribal Nation word meaning "wood ducks on water".

Dairy farming and cattle grazing are the two main industries. It is a very picturesque town nestled among mountains and valleys. A number of National Parks are close to Woodenbong, some of which are declared World Heritage areas.

I quickly stopped for a photo, when I saw the town sign. The first photo I had taken on IBEM trip 3 was at night, in front of the local pub.

Summary

Though this trip came in handy, as part of another journey, and allowed me to collect 9 IBEM locations. While the Newell Highway is not that interesting from a motorcycling perspective, it is a great road to cover the distance fairly quickly and unobstructed.

Visitor's Comments

Sorry, there are currently no moderated / approved entries for this page.
Start the ball rolling by posting a comment on this article!