Another Wonnangatta Epic…
In 1976 Leigh Bradstreet couldn’t lead the annual Wonnangatta run as he has just bought a ketch in Qld to sail back and fit out (Leigh was a boatbuilder by trade and later spent 12 months sailing it through the South Pacific, crewed with his wife Moira, 14 month old daughter Katherine, and two AMTRA members, Mick Barnes and Alan 'Animal' Sabine) so I
took on the ride lead. We rode from the Wellington River, over Tamboritha Saddle and then down Dingo Hill, another steep, loose rocky hill (and a scene of previous epics!). At the bottom our crossings of the Caledonia river were up so it was a bike carry across. This was followed by a steep climb up onto the aptly named Butcher Country Track to the Howitt plains. The Butcher Country was/is a great ridgetop ride that climbs up from the MacAlister River and follows the ridge line for 35km to the Howitt plains. On arrival on the Howitt Plains, after waiting for quite a while, Ian Robinson who was tailman and a young rider in a 185 Suzuki hadn’t arrived.
Decision time for the ride leader! I decided to send everyone else down into the Wonnangatta Station after giving directions and I remained on the Howitt Plains with Bruce Harvey-Fuller, waiting for Ian who still hadn’t arrived. Leaving Bruce at an old hut on the plains, (not Howitt Hut, I think it was an old Forestry Commission hut a remnant from the road
building days) I rode back along Butcher Country to see what had happened to Ian and the other rider. As it turned out I found them both still down near the Caledonia, the Suzuki had snuffed it, as had Ian’s Ossa- the Motoplat/CDI having gone west (this the first time!). Reassuring them I would be back with a rescue party the next day I left them for the night to ride back up to the Butcher Country and then back to the Howitt Plains on my old Bultaco 250cc Alpina, riding the last part in the dark. (with a Bultaco 6v headlight dribbling over the front guard!)
Unfortunately, that year Ian and I, and Bruce and others I think, had decided to travel ‘light” dispensing with a down sleeping bags for a ‘space’ blanket’...bad move! The Howitt High Plains at 1600+ metres get cold at night… Bruce and I froze our arses of on the Plains in our Bellstaffs and singularly useless ‘space blankets’, while Ian did the same, sleeping out down on the Caledonia. (Ian would have been warmer, being at a lower altitude!) The next morning, I left Bruce at the hut on the Howitt Plains and rode the trusty old Alpina down into the Wonnangatta to find the rest of the group and let them know what had happened. Then it was riding back up out of Wonnangatta again, up the old steep, rocky jeep track back to the Howitt Plains, this time with the rest of the crew. After directions to everyone on how to get back to the cars, and ‘borrowing” some petrol (assuring riders they would have enough to get back) I rode back down Butcher Country yet again, this time with Mick and Chris Barnes (Yam 360 RT2s I think) to rescue the 2 stranded riders. Leaving the ‘dead’ bikes behind on the Caledonia Track, Mick and Chris dinked Ian and the Suzuki rider back up along the Butcher Country to the Howitt Plains where we met up again with Bruce Harvey-Fuller who was still waiting for our return. Then it was back along the Snowy Plains/Howitt road to the Wellington River with Ian and the Suzuki rider still on the back of the Barnes brothers’ Yamahas. Surprisingly we made it back without running out of petrol (although a few who we had ‘borrowed’ fuel from did run out and had to be towed!) From memory we made it back early in the evening/dark. Some on the ride as I recollect were; Ken Percy, George Tugen, Mick and Chris Barnes, Bruce Harvey-Fuller, Ian Robinson, Greg Williams, Bruce Dryburgh, John Maddock, Dave Braddock, Paul Ewbank…….
And the following weekend….as Leigh Bradstreet also had an Ossa Super Pioneer and was away sailing down from QLD, Robbo and I dropped around, spoke to his mother, and then unbolted and 'borrowed' his Ossa’s Motoplat/CDI unit.
The next Saturday we drove back to the Howitt Plains with my brother Greg and Paul Ewbank (Ossa 250 Six Days Replica). We then rode back down Butcher Country (again!) to Ian’s stranded Ossa, Robbo being dinked on the back of my brother Greg’s Mk5 250 Bultaco Matador …a wild ride! Not surprisingly, when we made it back to Ian’s Ossa on the Caledonia, it started 1
st kick! …although this was not to last. Riding back up onto the Butcher Country the Ossa’s Motoplat/CDI gave up the ghost again so the bush mechanics got to work and we replaced it with Leigh’s unit…then an uneventful ride back to the cars and finally home. Rescue mission fully accomplished! (the young Suzuki rider had borrowed a 4wd to ‘rescue’ his bike during the week.)
Robbo may have some more to add to this recount… this is how I remember it 40 years on ( I may stand corrected on some of the finer points but some images are still really clear!)
Crossing the Caledonia- Greg Williams' Bultaco Mk5 Matador Six Days. LtR; Mick or Chris Barnes?, George Tugen, Greg Williams,Ken Percy, Ian Robinson, Dave Braddock...as far as I can tell!
Looking South back down the Butcher Country...Robbo's down there somewhere!
My Bultaco Alpina 250 on the Howitt Plains
George Tugen and Mick Barnes crossing the Wonnangatta on the way out.
After the rescue...late afternoon back on the Howitt Plains and that rather cold old hut...Mick Barnes, Ian Robinson with a cuppa, Chris Barnes, the 2nd 'lost' Suzuki rider, Bruce Harvey-Fuller.
'Out of Gas' on the Howitt/Tamboritha road...near dusk.
Paul Ewbank (Ossa 250 SDR) the following weekend on the Butcher Country...and the odd rock...on the mission to salvage Robbo's Ossa.
'Bush Mechanics'...Ossa ignition rebuild on the Butcher Country track- Ian Robinson, Greg Williams, Paul Ewbank.
Mission accomplished-Ian Robinson and Ossa back on the Howitt Plains, with Paul Ewbank and Greg Williams...and my trusty old Alpina!