Armidale - Grafton road

from

We locals get our noses a bit out of joint when you go
putting apostrophes in 'Coffs'.


G

 

Nana Glen through to Coffs is all an 80Km/h (at best)
zone now, even the relatively straight bits between
Coramba and Nana Glen are taxed. About 100m past Russell
Crowe's house, you hit a 60Km/h zone on the downhill into
the town of Nana Glen, and the fun is pretty much over
from there right through to Coffs.

A fun plan 'B' southbound is to come down from Grafton
through Glenreagh and then turn left at the Nana Glen
school and take 'Bucca Road' out through Lower Bucca to
the highway at Moonee, then hang a right onto the highway
and proceed on into Coffs. It's a considerably faster
trip than going straight ahead through Coramba and
Karangi. Enjoy it while it lasts though, Bucca Road is
allegedly about to be taxed down to 80Km/h too.


For extra fun bonus points, take the left at Nana
Glen School, then instead of going all the way out to
the highway, turn right onto Bruxner Park Road a bit
after you go through Lower Bucca (there's an old
school there, that's it). That goes down to Central
Bucca then through Bruxner Park (rainforest) then
down a really fun twisty hill through the bananas
before dumping you out on the highway right across the
road from Pacific Bay Resort (where the Canturbury/
Bankstown Rugby Rapist Team did their dastardly deeds).
Turn right onto the highway and you've got about 200m
to get down to the 60Km/h zone and around the bend
and up past the big bananananana. (Bruxner Park Rd
might be a bit hard to find when you're eastbound
on Bucca Road, a map might help. Basically you're
on a gentle sweeping left hander up a rise, and the
turn is at the top of the rise, the curve keeps
sweeping left past it. Once you're on Bruxner Park
Rd southbound, there's a couple of fun sweepers
before an excellent long safe straight. That straight
is good for 175Km/h on a stock Datsun 200B, lord
only knows what it's good for on a bike!!!)


In my experience, cops don't bother with the whole Bucca/
Glenreagh/Nana Glen area much at all. Closer to Coffs, around
Coramba and Karangi they can be a problem, particularly on the
long straight between the Coramba footy oval and the Georges
Gold Min turnoff and the 40Km/h zone past the Karangi
School and Karangi cemetary. Can't say I've ever seen a
cop out through Lower Bucca or Central Bucca.

The scrub has been cleared back from the edges, but only on
one (occasionally alternating) side of the road from Nymboida
down to Coffs to facilitate the installation of a water pipeline.
I'm *very* uncomfortable with the big concrete pipes (circa
1-2m tall, 1.5m in diameter) sticking up uncomfortably close
to the side of the road all the way down from Glenreagh
to Nana Glen and on to Karangi (Karangi is where Coffs' water
storage, Karangi Dam/Cochrane's Pool is). Watch those. Somone
will come a cropper on one of those one day, and it won't be
pretty.

Speaking of which, if you *must* go down through Karangi and
Coramba, consider hanging a right immediately after the
Karangi School, right at the shop, and take the Mount Brown
Road for a fun diversion. It's about 10-15Km of fun twisties,
and pops back out on the same road about 2Km closer to
Coffs. If you take that road, drop in on the dam (it's literally
50m away from the roadside) and let me know how full it isn't
nowadays! It you want yet another diversion (which may have
a few hundred metres of dirt on it, take either of the Island
Loop Road turns off Mount Brown Road. If you want yet another
diversion, sheesh, give me a call, there is more, but it's
complicated and non-bike friendly!



A good run though. What Pete says, the highway sucks by
comparison.


G, see, I told ya I was a local!

 

You're a local?
Can you explain about the breasts?
I mean; I'm certainly not complaining but Coffs Harbour is the most
tit-o-centric place I've ever seen!!
In the words of the Idiot-Eastlake they're HUUUUGE!!
Is it the bananas?
Is it the heat and humidity (the city is kinda' in a bowl surrounded by
mountains and it's bloody hot!).
Is it the water?

....or is it a secret?

Agog-Clem
[No wonder all the footy teams keep going there...... to play "touch" with
the skin-footies!]

 

Mea culpa. Damn brainstem, I didn't even think about it...

Ian.

 

Great info on the local roads btw, thanks.

 

Yup, done gone did all me growin' up and got my edjamacation
there I did. Burned my first grass paddock, blew up my first
beehive, and crashed my first car into a dam in Coffs I did!
Not the sli-sli-sli-slightest bit the worse off for it,
either. Jumped off the jetty, snorkled along every square
inch of the north wall of the harbour and dived for abalone
off <a-place-it-wouldn't-be-pertinent-to-tell-in-a-public-
forum> too.

(I bring tears to chinese girl's eyes by telling them that
as a kid, I used to dive for abalone and chuck the meat

There's a little detail, passed down from father to son
in those parts... 'Thine is not to ask the reason why,
just enjoy the juicy buggers'!

Yes yes, you're quite possibly correct. Great, innit!

I think it might be that the bowl surrounded by mountains
might be what encourages their owners to get them out and
on display - for the cooling effect of course...!

Yes yes, they often like to immerse them in the water. A
tip: that endless stream of cars doing laps up to the far
northern end of park beach road are not, as it may first
appear, checking the surf conditions!

Not telling!


G

 

Why do so many threads end up talking about BT's sex life?

 

In aus.motorcycles on Sun, 5 Dec 2004 20:06:35 +1100

Cos none of the rest of you have one?

Zebee

 

Damn, zebee, you're good at this game!

 

does that mean you?

 

Hey, don't pick on Zebee! He's new here!


BTH

 

It's spelt Zeebee, you maroon.

----sharks

 

Wollomombi - Kempsey is dirt till just out of Bellbrook. Very rough
dirt, and single lane to boot. Brilliantly twisty, but single lane and
lots of blind corners. I nearly got taken out in my car by a would be
rally driver in a conformadore down there a few weeks ago, so watch out
if you go that way. If they ever widen and seal it no one would bother
with the Oxley again.

 

forgive me this is my first post ever!

 

I drove from grafton to armidale in Feb 2002 (or was it feb 2003?)
nice road with some very-very slippery unsealed sections over the
mountain and some twisty sealed stuff on either side. The section
south west of ebor is nice long curving country roads, very pretty
stuff. I think its about 200klm all up and we did it in about 2 1/2
hours (averaging 120 over the straighter bits)

I think that the bit over the mountain may be sealed by now. they did
seem to be doing some work on it. This is probably a good thing, The
car felt like it was skating on ice when I was driving/drifting
through the unsealed bits.

 

That'd be the shark patrol looking for white pointers!

 

Rough as guts now. Used to be a lot better, especially before that Ray
bugger burnt the pub down and fucked things up.

 

So the Bruxner must be Gnarrower.

Postman Pat

 

(Dave_H) wrote in

That's the best bit. Most fun bit of road I ever did in the
mighty Datsun 200B was the slippery-slidey dusty bit between
Jenolan and Oberon on the way to bathurst one year.

I'm told that they've since sealed that bit and that it's
now fun for bikes (and therefore on topic for this froup!)

G

 

Hey, if it's got no name, what do they write on the speeding fine?

--
James Mayfield
"Insert witty comment here."