ARR156 - Hume Hwy: Bypassed but not forgotten

t h e

r e a l

r i d e

kawasaki z h2 | bmw r 1250 rs sport | honda cb500x | yamaha tÉnÉrÉ 700

blown naked supercharged fun

SEP/OCT 2020 (NO. 156)

roadrider.com.au

SEP/OCT 2020 (No. 156) Aus $9.95* NZ $9.50 (both incl. GST)

bikes BMW R 1250 RS Yamaha TÉnÉrÉ 700 honda CB500X

touring vietnam: on a big bike india: with rixy the hume: the old one croatia: by scooter

features bike washing | riding for savings | 6-pages of gear

TOURING

THE OLD HUME HIGHWAY, NSW

BYPASSED BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

Remembering the Old Hume Highway with fondness, ARR revisits the towns and villages that once bore the brunt of interstate traffic and now offer more than just the truckers’ coffee and cold pies of old…

WORDS AND IMAGES: RODERICK EIME

88 | AUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDER

AUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDER | 89

TOURING

THE OLD HUME HIGHWAY, NSW

THE OLD HUME HIGHWAY, NSW

TOURING

Excellent pub meals at the Criterion, Gundagai.

I

Ride The World group at Razorback Lookout www.ridetheworld.com.au

think it’s pretty safe to say that when we go riding in the countryside, the last thing we want to do is chug down a bland strip of bitumen dodging lane wanderers and getting blown sideways by barrelling B-doubles.

Many of us with the grey evidence of years will recall the Old Hume Highway (OHH) with a mixture of vague nostalgia and pure disgust. When I started solo interstate drives in my little Ford Escort back in the early ’80s, battling the Hume was not something to look forward to. It was narrow, twisty and in shamefully decrepit condition and I still shiver at the memory of several close calls.

In August 2013, the $250 million Holbrook bypass signalled the final act of duplication and now we have the dubious pleasure of driving or riding from Sydney to Melbourne without having to bother any of those poor people in Holbrook, Yass, Gundagai or Albury.

Without denying the convenience and safety of the slick new bitumen, it has removed the arousal of discovery one usually seeks on a leisurely road trip.

But fear not, there is hope.

Bypassed sections of the Old Highway can still be explored - carefully The best Foccacia in Berrima.

90 | AUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDER

AUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDER | 91

THE OLD HUME HIGHWAY, NSW

TOURING

Picton, picking up portions of old Route 31 as well as The Great South Road.

Heading south, kiss the motorway goodbye at Casula and head along the Camden Valley Way and head through Narellan into Camden. Out of Camden, pick either the Old Hume Highway, which retraces the route past the historic truckers blockade of 1979, or venture a click to the west to the convict-built Old Razorback Road, which was itself bypassed in the 1930s. Now that’s a wild ride!

Just a click to the west is the convict-built Old Razorback Road which was itself bypassed in the 1930s.

Now that’s a wild ride.

SOUTHERN (PIE)LANDS

Restored Art Deco service station, now a great coffee stop, Yass.

Photo by Ed Krause

RETRACING THE HUME Even though it seems like it’s been there forever, the Hume Highway has only officially existed since it was officially named in 1928, just two years after the USA’s own Route 66, although the Hume didn’t get its #31 guernsey until numbering began in the 1950s.

Prior to its modern life as the Hume Highway, a hotch-potch of roads, tracks and trails existed between Sydney and Melbourne, beginning with those carved out by the namesake explorer, Parramatta-born Hamilton Hume and his English sidekick, Bill Hovell.

The two didn’t get on that well but still managed to stick it out from Sydney to Port Phillip and back in 1824.

Things picked up rapidly after H&H returned with news of favourable pastures to the southwest, which spurred on road building big time, driven by then Governor Lachlan Macquarie, who was keen to kick the colony along. The “Great South Road” (GSR) was born and gradually evolved into a more or less continuous set of thoroughfares that joined Sydney to Melbourne after it was proclaimed in 1835.

The famous Paragon Cafe

, Goulburn, is an institutio n in the rural city.

Goldrushes in the 1850s and the rise of coach travel like that of Cobb & Co further underscored the need for better roads, even though this development was delayed by the more comfortable rail, and later air, options.

Inns, hotels, stables and service depots popped up along the route and many of these fascinating old staging posts can still be seen on the backroads, where the early Hume and Great South roads once wound through the bush. Remote roads also spurned a new industry: bushranging.

The great challenge now is to ride as much of the old routes and as little of the bland motorway as possible, visiting the little hamlets and rural centres which once rumbled to the sounds of 18-wheelers and the shrill whistle of air brakes all through the night.

Here are some clues derived from our recent explorations:

It’s easy to linger here in the region roughly bounded

by Robertson, Moss Vale, Bowral and Berrima, with its wineries, gourmet produce and lovely riding roads. The Pie Festival is held every June but that shouldn’t be your excuse to visit only once per year.

Continue out through Bargo and Yanderra and stay on the Old Hume Highway to Mittagong. The Old South Road is a great bypass that will take you through Moss Vale to Sutton Forest if you’d rather keep going, or swing west at Alpine and roll through to Berrima on the OHH. BEST PIE (IMHO): DeliLicious, Bundanoon STAY: Jellore Cottage, Berrima. www.jellorecottage.com.au

GO GO GOULBURN If you don’t mind a bit of dirt, follow Canyonleigh Road out through Brayton and Towrang along the old GSR and dawdle into Goulburn, where a bonanza of bypassed attractions await. Check in to the visitor centre near the train station to see what’s open. But note the Railway Heritage Centre and old brewery are closed. Boo! EAT: Paragon Cafe, www.paragoncafe.com.au STAY: Quest Apartments, www.questapartments.com.au

GUNNING FOR GUNNING At Breadalbane ditch the freeway and head along the OHH through Cullerin to Gunning, where an older route will take you through Ben Hall territory via Mutmutbilly. Settled in 1821, Gunning was already happening when H&H set off south.

VISIT: The Picture House Gallery and Bookshop owned by actor Max Cullen

RAZORBACK On the way to the NSW Southern Highlands, you can explore the old route through Narellan, Camden and

Ornate Bailey’s Garage at Gunning.

YASS SIR

Sutton Forest Country Store everything baked on premises.

There are lots of old segments of the highway running parallel to the motorway that can be explored, but do so carefully as many segments are now divided by gates and grids. The route through Manton along Yass Valley Way will see you safely into Yass (bypassed in 1994).

JUMP FOR JUGIONG After a glance at the rusting relics at Robinson’s of Bookham, make a point of stopping in at Jugiong, one of the smaller towns bypassed in 1995 but refusing to lay down and die. The Sir George Hotel and Long Track Pantry Fat Boy takes a break at the Razorback Inn

92 | AUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDER

Robertson Pie Shop and owner, Will, with more exquisite creations AUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDER | 93

TOURING

THE OLD HUME HIGHWAY, NSW

THE OLD HUME HIGHWAY, NSW

"ANYONE WHO HAS DRIVEN THE OLD HUME, MEANDERING FROM TOWN TO TOWN, CRUISING DOWN THEIR MAIN STREETS, WINDING AROUND HILLS, DUCKING UNDER AND OVER RAILWAY LINES, WILL KNOW ITS GLORIOUS SECRET — IT WAS NEVER A HIGHWAY EXCEPT IN NAME. RATHER, IT LINKED INLAND CITIES, TOWNS, VILLAGES, HAMLETS AND DOTS ON MAPS — FOR THE EARLY ROADS WENT NOT WHERE THEY SHOULD, BUT ONLY WHERE THEY COULD."

Borambola Wines.

Rosie at the Dog on the

Tuckerbox is a great sup

TOURING

porter of local produc

e.

Photo by Ed Krause

are highlights of any Hume journey and are enormously popular with trailer-toting nomads and day-trippers alike.

VISIT: Long Track Pantry, www.longtrackpantry.com.au

PAT THE DOG AT GUNDAGAI With a gorgeous old main street with true country charm, Gundagai was bypassed back in 1977 when the big Sheahan Bridge relieved the poor old wooden viaduct that carried everything for 80 years prior. If you rode a motorcycle across that bridge back in the day, take a bow.

VISIT: Dog on the Tuckerbox Lolly Shop, www.thedogonthetuckerbox.com STAY: Flash Jacks Boutique Hotel, www.flashjacks.com.au or Hillview Farmstay, Tumblong (great for groups), www.hillviewfarmstay.com.au EAT: Criterion Hotel

– Peter FitzSimons 2013

ALL-STOP ALBURY We finish our NSW sector at the twin towns of Albury-Wodonga, where there is plenty to see and do.

STAY: Waverley BNB (secure garage), www.waverleybnb.com.au

DIVE HOLBROOK

Borambola Wines.

TRIP NOTES: Small group, guided bike tours are being organised by Ride The World Motorcycle Tours www. ridetheworldmotorcycletours.com. NSW Roads and Maritime has detailed history and self-ride route guides at www.rodei.me/R31. Destination and venue details can be found at www.australia.com. ARR

If you head out of Gundagai, through Tumblong and detour via Mundarlo (Junee turnoff), you’ll get a taste of how folks travelled way back in the day. It’s mostly unsealed. When you cross the Sturt Highway, you’ll find the excellent Borambola Winery.

Holbrook was the last town to be bypassed in 2013 but retains certain notoriety for having an Oberon-class submarine and museum smack in the middle of town.

VISIT: Lady Gail’s Bookshop in the main street.

Disclaimer: The writer received assistance from Tourism Australia Schmokin’ Bikers Cafe on the Old Hume Hwy at Berrima.

94 | AUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDER

AUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDER | 95