Jaqhama: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone. Part One.

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Jaqhama

Race Dog
Joined
May 7, 2006
Messages
619
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Location
Sydney Australia
Bike
Kawasaki Super Sherpa
I could not post this in Global Reports because there is no " New Thread" link?
So can a Mod please move it there?
I had to post it in two parts because there is a 20,000 character limit per post. That's a little annoying.
Cheers.

Let us begin...

Not far from where I live is a no-go zone of wasteland that belongs to the Nuclear Research Facility.
Sydneyâ??s only nuclear reactor is not far from the wasteland.
Wasteland is a little harsh actually, in many places itâ??s virgin bushland with forests and many natural wonders, including plants, birds and animal life.
Most local trail bikers know about this area, itâ??s been a haven for dirt bikers for almost 50 years.
That however is about to change, someone who knows these things has reliably informed me that the Menai riding area, as we call it, is about to be fenced off for good.
So itâ??s quite possible that these photos Iâ??m posting will be the last you ever see taken from the saddle of a trail bike.
State Government, local government and council, the NPWS, the Aboriginal Land Owners Council, everyone want the trail bikers gone from this area and it appears that very soon now they will get their wish.
It will be sad day for off road riders when this area is closed.

X-Files Country.

This is a huge area, you could ride here all day and not go on the same trail twice.
We have had heavy rain in this recently and the trails and tracks are still very wet and very muddy.
The nuclear research agency has some strange things buried and sealed off out here.
Like a pristine field with inch high grass and a few tress, completely fenced off.
Warning signs all around the fence line.
Or the toxic liquid waste disposal area hidden amongst a small forest.
Or the weird tangle-grass that only grows in this one area. Iâ??ve never seen grass like this anywhere except here, not in Oz or anywhere else in the world.
There is some weird stuff out here, who knows what lays under that pristine fieldâ?¦or under that weird grass.

An untouched forest area.
I got some water down my tyhroat and ate half a choc bar, because riding thru this forest is the easy part...a short time later and you get to some really tough terrain.
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We've had some really heavy rain in the past week. There is a lot of clay in the earth and it holds the water on the surface for some time.
But I love riding here after it's been raining, it just makes the riding more interesting.
Did I mention the mud?
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Many warning signs about toxic waste. I can only assume they mean nuclear waste.
Perhaps contaminated heavy water? Irradiated?
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Signs like this all over the place.
I was the only rider out here today. During the week the place is deserted and few riders ever venture in the areas I ride in anyway.
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The entrance into the Forbidden Zone.
Note the old tarmac road surface. Once this was a proper paved road. But that was a long time ago. Back when whoever was doing whatever with...???
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All the years I have been riding out this fenced in field of short green grass has been here.
I've never seen anyone cut it and the padlocks on the gates are all rusty and there are no tire tracks indicating that anyone except the occassional trail bike has ventured here.
I don't believe the nuclear people check the field out very often, if ever.
Some say there is an underground silo buried under the field. Others have more sinister ideas about what may be inside the fence line, buried deep under the soil and grass.
I have no idea what may once have, or may still be inside here. But it's always odd to come out of virgin bushland and find what is essentially an English Manor House garden in the middle of nowhere.
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And next to that empty field of mystery is even more weird stuff.
Ever seen a spherical ant's nest?
No, neither have I. Out here even the insects are strange.
Perhaps they have mutated and evolved a little more than their fellows, and they see the Gods ride by on steeds of steel and have attempted to build thier idols in the shape of the Gods heads...motorcycle helmets?
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The trails are muddy and many are filled with water, some times it's quite deep.
This is looking back towards the strange field.
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Now the grass you can see in those two pics is very peculiar, more on that later.
I ride deeper into the bushland, travelling downhill.
The area is very beautiful after it's been raining hard, rivers and waterfalls spring up all over the place.
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Even here there have been bushfires.
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Now I'm starting to get some adrenilin going. This is where the tracks go technical and become really challenging.
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Lots of big rocks around here.
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Lots of "steps" also.
All of which have to be ridden over.
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Nothing to it. ;D
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You can see the pattens and colors brought out onto the surface of the rocks by thousands of years of rainfall, doubtless this was a riverbed at one time past.
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