- 1: Dumbleyung / BlueBird K7 / Lake Dumbleyung - http://forum.bmwmccwa.asn.au/viewtopic. ... 229#p15170
- 2: Lake Dumbleyung - http://forum.bmwmccwa.asn.au/viewtopic. ... 229#p15202
- 3: Lake Dumbleyung and PussyCat Hill - http://forum.bmwmccwa.asn.au/viewtopic. ... 229#p15205
- 4: Yealering: http://forum.bmwmccwa.asn.au/viewtopic. ... 229#p15229
1: Dumbleyung / BlueBird K7 / Lake Dumbleyung
Acting on a spur of the moment invitation from one of our country members Friday week ago, a couple of Beemers enjoyed a comfortable cruise down to Narrogin for the weekend.
An early start (7am on Saturday) from home, we bee-lined south down the Brookton Highway. A dose of dirt roads were tossed in the mix to ensure that our wheels were suitably coloured on arrival.
Stopping for a break at Pumphrey's Bridge, we were surprised (not as surprised as some of the locals though) to find a fully-fledged river!
Pumphrey's Bridge on the upper reaches of the Hotham River.
On arriving in Narrogin, a plan was hatched to do a little surf-skiing... Lake Dumbleyung should have good water levels, considering the recent rains.
So with a duo of surf skiis atop the Subaru, we headed over to Dumbleyung.
After a peek around the upgraded Sir Donald Campbell park in down-town Dumbleyung, we mozyied over to the service station for some grub.
Wonders will never cease, our very own 'round the world sailer' Robyn M pulled in the Dumbleyung Roadhouse for fuel and a feed.
A conversation ensued about his R1150 GSA with 390,000 km on the clock. The engine has to come apart at 360,000 km to replace both cam chain tensioner slides. All bearings, pistons and rings were within spec, so said engine was reassembled with only the obvious seals and gaskets replaced.
A testament to both the durability of the boxer engines (390,000 km and still in spec) and dumb engineering by BMW that requires an engine dismantle to replace the left side cam chain tensioner slide.
Sir Donald Campbell's Bluebird K7 exhibit has a new home under cover. It's really worth a stop to read a little bit of history.
Driving past the 'Grande Olde Dumbleyung Inn' in Dumbleyung gave us a heads-up on local events. The hotel was still sand-bagged from the recent flood waters.
If you recall, our club had a weekend away at the Inn back in May 2015.
Forum topic: May 2015, Missing Link: Ride to Lake Dumbleyung / Donald Campbell - http://forum.bmwmccwa.asn.au/viewtopic. ... =30#p11521 (don't forget, right-click, open new window...)
Lake Dumbleyung, yep, there sure is some water in there!
So with some very careful planning around where the surf-skis were to embark from, the route, pick-up points, and a reccy of the final destination, a flooded pond at the edge of the Coblinine River bridge was chosen as the launch point.
Finally time to hit the paddles. It was decided that the more experienced paddlers should own the task of paddling into a swollen river for the estimated 8km paddle to the Dumbleyung Ski Club.
Never having paddled a surf ski before or canoe for that matter, I was tasked with recovery vehicle and photographer duties.
And so our intrepid paddlers floated off into the distance...
