Well, not having won the Insurance company competition for a three day, all expenses paid trip to the World Super Bike (WSB) race at Philip Island this past weekend, I decided to make a trip to our Nation's Capital Canberra and do some of the local rides that I have heard so much about.
I rode down on the Saturday from Bathurst via Oberon, Taralga and Goulburn. I did this route just before new year and was pleased to find that it is now completely sealed and a very good ride. Apart from being a tad chilly on the top of the Great Dividing Range, it was a glorious run and the coffee and marvellous caramel and banana cake at the Taralga cafe was just what the doctor ordered to warm up. I met up with another rider at Taralga and from there we rode on to Goulburn and then on to Bungendore via Braidwood Road and Tarago Road, passing through Wakefield Park, Lake Bathurst and Tarago. Bungendore is about 30kms from Canberra and is a favourite stopping place for motorcyclists doing day trips from Canberra. The town is on the route from Canberra to the coast which is quite heavily travelled during holiday times and weekends. We had lunch at the Square Cafe in the Bungendore village square, sitting outside on one of their many tables, with plenty of shade. I can recommend the toasted ham, cheese, tomato and mustard seed focaccia sandwich - Yum. Sorry no pics of it this time :)
After a bit of a browse through some of the village shops we headed in to Canberra to organise our overnight accommodation in Belconnen and sort out our riding itinerary for Sunday.
Sunday 2nd March 2008
Another glorious day, blue skies, not a cloud in sight and the anticipation of a great riding day made this the perfect riding day. Having thanked our overnight host for the room we headed out towards one of the Canberra/ACT motorcycling community's favourite rides - the Cotter Road.
Map of the route taken on Sunday.
Renowned for its weekend "boy racers" out to prove their stuff on the great twisties that the Cotter is famous for, the Cotter did not disappoint. It was a great ride and I found myself setting up for corners, flowing through them and joining with the bike to dance through the zigzagging bends and turns. We didn't see any other motorcyclists on the trip down, however there were numerous cyclists, cars and 4WDs out and about. The road descends down into the valley of the Cotter River where there is a lovely river side reserve beneath the Cotter Dam. It was about 9.30 when we arrived at the reserve and already families were setting up picnics and barbques under the many trees. The reserve has plenty of parking, bbq facilities and toilet facilities and has a children's playground as well.
View from the end of the Cotter Reserve, looking back to the picnic grounds and main entrance
After our "wee" stop we continued on down Paddy's River Road towards Tidbinbilla, where our next stop was to be at the Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex http://www.cdscc.nasa.gov/, where there is a visitor's centre and a cafe. Morning coffee was calling :) On the way to the Tidbinbilla we were overtaken by what I believe to have been two motorcycles playing tag, leaving a lot of noise and the smell of racing fuel behind them. I say believe, because they went past me (I was on 100kph) like I was stationary and I only heard them and saw two blurs. Didn't even see them coming up in the rear vision mirrors. Of course they could have been two low level jet fighters, but I know jetfuel and they weren't running that :) We turned off Paddy's River Road onto the CDSCC road (which is very smooth indeed) and soon found ourselves cresting a hill to find the complex and its array of telescopes/antennas spread out before us. The big 70m dish taking pride of place in the picture with two 34m and one 26m dishes looking quite small beneath it. A large car park with a few trees outside the Complex's main gate provides a good number of parking spaces for visitors. A short walk from there and you are at the Visitor's Centre which contains displays on the Moon landings and more recent Mars landings. There is also a cafe (the Moon Rock Cafe) there with a balcony outside seating area overlooking the large antenna. Whilst enjoying a coffee and a very nice chocolate chip cookie we were joined by "Lurch" and a friend of his from the Canberra Riders http://www.canberrariders.org/portal.php . We spent the next 20 minutes discussing all things motorcycling in Canberra and swapped riding route details before heading back to the carpark to continue our respective journeys. Lurch and friend were heading back to Canberra to attend a WSB BBQ. Hmmm that sounded good :) Nothing like sausage on a slice of bread covered in tomato sauce :)
A view of the 70m dish from the Moon Rock Cafe balcony
On with our trip. The 26m antenna was the dish originally constructed in 1965 at Honeysuckle Creek, south of Tidbinbilla, and was the dish that received the first images of Neil Armstrong walking on the moon. Therefore, we decided that our next stop should be the old Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station, about 35kms south of Tidbinbilla. The station was de-commissioned in the mid 1980s with the buildings razed to the ground and the antenna relocated to the CDSCC. however there is still foundations and historical information displays at the site. We stopped at Tharwa on the way to Honeysuckle Creek to fill up with fuel at the small village's combined General Store/Postoffice and Service Station. Since the closure of Tharwa's historical bridge across the Murumbidgee River (which provided a direct link with Canberra) because of structural concerns, , the village has been in decline. It was therefore nice to see a few more bikes pull up after us, no doubt to enjoy a cold drink and rest stop. From Tharwa we headed on down Naas Road to Top Naas and the turn off for Honeysuckle Creek on the aptley named Apollo Road :) Somehow I think it was renamed after 1969 :)
Apollo Road leading the 10kms to the old Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station
The road up to the old Tracking Station is in reasonable condition, but after reaching the top I couldn't help but wonder as to how some of the components for the antenna and buildings were transported up there on that winding road up the mountain in the early 1960s. Upon arrival at the Tracking Station site you are greeted by all that is left of the original site. That is three flat areas containing paved road surfaces, building slab foundations and the base foundations and leg mountings for the 26m antenna.
This is the way the original site looked on its opening in 1967. Note the location of the two people standing together in the carpark at the bottom left of the photograph and the position of the large main building.
This is a view from where the antenna was located looking down on where the building and carpark was located. The two bikes are parked roughly where the two people were standing in the photo above.
The information displays located on the main building's foundations and also on the base of the antenna provided details of the Tracking Station's history and its historic involvement in receiving the very first pictures of the moon landing and man's first steps on the moon. As a reminder, the site has numerous "Moon" footprints" painted on the floor of the main building and antenna base between the various displays. There is also a copious amount of kangaroo and wombat poo in the old grounds as well as the remains of numerous plants and trees, no doubt once part of the gardens around the buildings.
One of the many "Moon footprints" painted on the site.
After a wander around the site and marvelling at the structures that were once there and the atmosphere that must have existed during the first moon landing, we headed back down the mountain and retraced our tracks back to Canberra via Tharwa, Tidbinbilla, Cotter Reserve, past Mt Stromlo and into the city. I noted that Mt Stromlo Astronomical Observatory, destroyed during the 2003 Canberra Bushfires, is underway, with the new telescope's dome shining silver in the sunlight. The destruction of the vast forest and bushland areas all around the Stromlo and Cotter areas south of Canberra during those same fires is still very evident.
