The Snowy Mountains is a a region within New South Wales, about 5 hours drive from Sydney. It's a popular region in Winter due to numerous ski resorts being located within the Kosziosko National Park but also popular in summer for the natural beauty of the mountains and rivers in the a National Park.

But it's also popular for the hundreds of kilometres of near perfect roads. It's a bike riding nirvana or so I had been told. Having been there many times in winter to ski, I had no doubt. Therefore it was a high priority when I got my big Ninja.

And so the weekend arrived. I live in western Sydney so our ride started with a coffee at the Coffee Club, Nepean River, near Penrith on Sydney's outskirts. I was joined by three friends riding a Ducati Multistrada, Yamaha FJR1300 and Victory 8 Ball. Getting there was part of the journey.

We headed south, through Silverdale and along to Picton for our first stop, unfortunately, a closed pub, so we moved on, heading for the coast making our first stop at Kangaroo Valley. The roads on this route are fantastic, when there isn't too much traffic which was moderate, so we only had short spurts of fun on twisty roads and long fast curves.

We then headed down along the coast, through Nowra and had a late lunch at the Marlin Hotel in Ulladulla. It was a frustrating journey given the road works along the way.

We finally made it to Bega where we refueled and turned in land for our base for the weekend in Cooma. Finally, we were able to hit some fast roads with little traffic. Nearly 100 kilometres of fast, good quality roads, with nice sweeping turns. It was during this part, we had our first near miss, a chicken in the middle of a tight turn. She stood her ground and it took some neat work by all to avoid her and the rock walls! It was also during this part, we got our first experience at what was to come, temperatures dropping to single digit degrees Celsius.

We parked our bikes at our base and headed into Cooma for dinner and drinks. The popular Alpine Hotel was full so we headed to the local returned services mans club for moster size meals, beers and watching my Parramatta Eels beat the regning premiers, South Sydney in football (rugby league). In total, we did about 600 kilometres, taking the long long way to get to Cooma from Sydney.

The next day started earlier. There was some conjecture on our starting times because Cooma is normally blanketed in fog but we awoke to a crisp, sun shining day. We left Cooma and turned right toward Adaminaby where we refueled and headed into the national park.

Well, the reputation for great roads is understated. Near perfect roads with barely a soul on them. Near perfect surfaces, smooth, fast curves combined with some tight twisties amongst sand stone walls and over hanging trees. It truely is bike riding nirvana.

The only thing that ruins it all, is the beautiful scenery. We had to stop regularly to view the lakes and dams and valleys. It's distracting whilst your riding too with one vista after another to look at.

We took a stop at a place called Dead Horse Gap. It's near the end of the loop and has a beautiful outlook towards Thredbo.





We then made our way to the Wild Brumby Distillery which produces a range of beautiful schnapps. We had lunch and partook in a couple of imported German wisse beers. We left for base, enjoying some fast sweeping roads along the way. All up, we did about 350 kilometres in the day.

By the way, great to see a couple of red Series 1 Zx14s near Berridale on the way to Cooma late Saturday afternoon. If either of you guys are reading this, let me know.

Last night was pub dinner at the Alpine Hotel and a one man band. Today we just returned home from Cooma through Queanbyan and the highway to Goulburn for brunch. When then went our seperate ways home.

It truly is a fantastic trip that we will partake at least yearly.

I have written this for our US friends so I apologise to Australian riders if I have over explained things like the Snowies, I am sure you guys no well.

ps the photos in the deep grass are a joke because a guy at work has been joking that they won't be able to find me if I crash this new green ZX after binning my black one in the grass.

I can confirm that the Snowies ride is a cracker with many amazing mountain roads.
Aussie, I've been to pretty much all the places you show.
If you are in Australia and haven't ridden these roads you don't know what you are missing!
See below for two pics that sum up our last stay in Cooma about a year ago...
First one is the night before in the pub.
Second one is the next morning and where heated grips really come into their own.

* Last updated by: yannih on 3/29/2015 @ 4:54 AM *

Yes I forgot to mention the cold. Both days started about 4 degrees celcius and its only March, still two full months till winter. But by the end of the day, the thermals came off but very necessary early!!

Looks like a fun adventure. you're a lucky bunch of guys.

Outstanding stuff! Looks like a blast..

Mad

Very Nice...