Sidecar Rally at the Bridle Track 2012

A couple of weeks ago we ventured all the way to the Bridle Track for the Sidecar Rally.  This was definitely a case of an hour and a half from home and a million miles from care and was just what we needed.

The Bridle Track was one of the routes to the Hill End Gold Fields and was only accessible by riding your horse or walking.  In more recent times it has been a very popular 4WD road and has many camping sites beside the Macquarie River.

Unfortunately, a huge rock fell across the steepest, narrowest part of the track a few years ago and it is too dangerous to try to remove it, as the whole side of the mountain may give way and fall into the river, so you cannot get all the way through to Hill End any more (except on a motorcycle – without sidecar).

It is a really scenic trip.

The road is still very narrow.

Quite a lot of the track follows the Macquarie River, which is looking lovely.

It gets interesting if you meet an oncoming vehicle.

Once we arrived at the rally site, we set up camp with waterfront views and enjoyed our picnic lunch.  We really do rough it on these trips. Sidecars are wonderful for taking plenty of camping gear. This year it was “Olga” the old girl’s turn to go along.

One fellow from Melbourne arrived with a flat tyre.  He had hit a rock, which had split his wheel rim.  There was much consideration as to how to fix it – with the appropriate audience.

The technical tool kit was produced from various sources.  There was discussion as to what the official BMW part numbers would be for these.

The tyre was fixed by ingenuity, and hopefully he was able to ride far enough to have things fixed properly.

The afternoon was spent chatting to other rally goers.  It is good to catch up with people you haven’t seen for a while and to meet new fellow enthusiasts.

Everyone’s sidecar set up is different and they love comparing and discussing all the different bikes.

The evening saw us all sitting around camp fires having a good old yarn.

In the morning this is what we woke up to.  You can’t get a much nicer outlook than that – despite the frost on the ground.

Like I said, we don’t rough it.

We packed ourselves up and headed back home mid morning.  The river was still looking lovely.

I was intrigued by this little old caravan in a paddock.  Very cute, as is the old slab hut.

Finally, Mick came to a grinding holt  as we drove down our driveway.  This is why.

On closer inspection – by zooming in with the camera – it was a tiger snake.  It slithered this far across the road and then stopped to sun itself!  What to do now? Finally, Mick threw something at it and it headed on its merry way.

Yuck!  I just hate snakes.  Coincidently, last year on our way home from the Sidecar Rally we saw our first snake of the year a little further along our driveway.

You can see last year’s Sidecar Rally here and the 2010 Rally here.