Wanted: Local Knowledge

I know a lot of you guys live close to motorcycle Nirvana. A friend from a group I went to Philip Island with and now lives in Port Macquarie has asked a question about a trip he is about to undertake on his Kawasaki-pretend-VStrom. I'd really appreciate any helpful advice I cam feed back to Dave.

Dave D wrote:
I'm after a bit of advice: I'm heading down to Melbourne for a conference at the end of September and I'm wondering what the more alpine routes are like at that time of year. Thinking I might take the route from Tumut - Tumbarumba to Corryong but uncertain what will be best to get from there to Omeo. I imagine the Falls Creek High Plains rd will still have some snow around so I'm thinking one of the roads either Nariel Valley or Mitta Mitta and Anglers Rest. Any thoughts?

Mate, you are in a good position to answer Dave's question in relation to the Nariel Valley route. That's the windy, corrugated logging road you did on the Vstrom.  It's usually referred to as the Corryong-Benambra-Omeo rd.  If it was sealed it would offer a fantastic alternative route to get from the north to the Island.  But unfortunately it is not.  As you know, you do it once and it's probably the last time you'll travel on it.  Because of that I haven't been on it for years and your experience is now more recent and more relevant.

Option 2. Another route he didn't mention is the Barry Way, from Jindabyne to Bruthen.  This is a much better dirt road, following the Snowy River for part of its journey, and very doable on a soft-roader. It is very scenic, particularly through Hamilton's Gap, where it crosses the border. The only problem I see is that there may be a possibility of snow. But it avoids the altitudes of the Alpine roads and is likely to be clear of snow, even this year, when there is snow aplenty.  A call to the Cooma visitor's centre would clarify the snow situation.

Option 3. The Mitta Mitta rd is a completely safe option as far as snow is concerned.  It is fully sealed and it is the road we'll be doing on our Alpine ride in October.  You turn south at Old Tallangatta and have fun all the way to Bruthen, being careful of conditions.  Being windy, there are always cars on the wrong side of the road and some road patching is crap, so need to look out for loose bluemetal/roadbase in some of the northern sections.  The Mitta Mitta - Omeo section and then Omeo to Bruthen is riding heaven.  Be sure if he does this NOT to simply head west from Corryong to Old Tallangatta on the B400.  It is much nicer (road wise and scenic wise) to take the road that follows the Murray River, ie Tintaldra-Walwa-Jingellic-Granya.

If I owned an Adenture-Tourer, I'd take the Barry Way, not because it's better than Option 3 (because it definitely isn't) but because there isn't much point owning one of those if all you do are the same roads as you could do on a full blown sports-tourer.  But he'll need to pack winter woolies as Option 2 is going to be colder than Option 3. Option 1 is rubbish.

Cheers.

Thanks Dave that's just the sort of feedback I was after.

Yes, I already ruled out Nariel Valley for all but the certifiable.

One thing that might put him off Option 2 is that you can't access it from the west side of the Divide, and crossing the Divide in September would involve snow. To get to Jindy, he'd have to keep east of the Divide. Mind you, there are some great options in terms of getting to Jindy but if he is committed to Tumut - Tumbarumba - Corryong, then it's Option 3.