The AMTRA SA Pyrenees ride this year was conducted with the help of the Green Triangle Enduro Club http://www.gtenduro.com.au/ , which has a property near Moonanbel, North West of Ballarat.
We chose to make this a family camping trip, and loaded up the bikes, the kids and the camping gear and set off towards western victoria on the Thursday afternoon. Stopping for some KFC for tea, then journeying onwards, we managed to drive to Nhill and stopped there for the night to rest.
Friday morning we headed off again for Ballarat, to visit relatives before heading up to Moonambel and the Property. After catching up with the rellies, and seeing their new baby (who is growing heaps 
), we heading north west towards Moonambel. After passing through Avoca, it started to rain. Hard. Then we started to notice the hail banked up on the side of the road like snow. Things weren't looking good 
However, on arrival to the property (after only a couple of wrong turns), the weather wasn't too bad, with just a light drizzle.
The facilities at the property are good, with a flushing toilet, showers and a large shed if it gets really wet.
The next campers to arrive, Russell and Rachel said that on the radio there were warnings for golfball sized hailstones, and that they had to close the western highway for a while it was so heavy! However, at the property, we saw virtually none of this. Thankfully!
We setup the tent, unloaded things and then went to chat with the other campers while AMTRA SA members continued to arrive throughout the afternoon and night, with Mark and Tom arriving sometime very late friday night/saturday morning.
Dawn woke me up on Saturday morning, and a look out the window showed a lovely sunrise, heaps of kangaroos and the promise of a great days riding ahead.
We all gathered around the fire, for some breakfast, with billies on and toast and various food all around.
All the riders then began to get their gear on for the morning ride, with the decision taken to go for a short loop and then come back to see if the few expected riders from Melbourne were going to arrive.
While we were doing that, the kids got out on the minibikes, ranging from a Z50, right through to an XL185, and started to ride around the 50 acre property.
Russell couldn't resist the urge to have a go on the Z50, and jumped on for a thrash of the little beast. I dont think it quite compared to his KTM suspension or power wise however 
I got on the Z50 with my daughter who is learning, and got her to do the steering, throttle, everything. Wont be long and she'll be off by herself hooning around.
After gearing up, we were all champing at the bit to get out into the local terrain for a thrash. Stu, a local who was the ride leader for the weekend first led us around the enduro loop within the property that was used for the enduro on Sept 8th (Pictures from that event here: http://www.gtenduro.com.au/photographs.htm ) And then out we went into the state forest.
The terrain in the Pyrenees is rocky, and can be quite dusty if dry, and slippery as gorilla snot if very wet. Luckily the rain on the friday had made conditions very close to perfect
The initial short ride was quite tigh and technical, with my WR250F revelling in the twisty conditions. Gordon found the going a bit tough on the big XR650, but Stu on his Husky 610 was going great in the lead. Local knowledge and experience makes a big difference. Kym rode tail on his XR250 with another rider whose name I've forgotten (sorry) on a KDX.
We returned to the camp with our apetittes for more riding increased, and to find that the others had arrived, but had decided to go off on their own anyway, in a different direction to us.
After a little discussion, it was decided that we'd catch up with them at lunch time, and off we headed back into the bush.
Some tough, rock strewn hills were found, and conquered during the rest of the morning, with lots of great single and double track trails in between. Stoney was quite impressed with how the WR pulled up the hills, and decided he needed to have a test ride later at camp .
I found that the WR handled the terrain fantastically, with the suspension working better the harder you pushed it. It revelled in the erosion banked tracks, getting great air going uphill, and going downhill if you were game, and despite being "only" a 250, it pulled up the hills like a demon!
After the mornings ride, It was back to the camp for lunch, and a refuel of the bikes. The campsite had kids on minibikes going everywhere, and obviously having lots of fun.
The afternoon ride was more of the same, with Gordon and his XR 650 deciding to sit out the tight stuff to be better prepared for the next days ride. The afternoons ride was more of the rocky terrain, with hills, and some fantastic views of the surrounding coutryside.
Sunday morning's dawn again revealed perfect conditions, and once again the gathering around the campfire started the day in good spirits.
Some people suggested that the grill over the fire was on too much of a lean to cook eggs on, which I scoffed at "whats the worst that can happen" I said. Then I proceeded to crack an egg on it, get a face full of smoke, and failed to see the egg shoot straight over the side into the fire due to the angle. However, all others present felt that it was quite funny. After fixing the grill so it was a little more level, I managed to get some eggs cooked for the family, and lastly myself, however upon biting into a lovely looking muffin, with bacon and egg in it, the egg squirted all over my arm and Ella, Kyms dog.
Of course, this brought another round of laughter from the rest of the crew, as did my letting Ella lick the egg off my hand. Some suggested that I should then lick the dog egg off the dog since it had done as much for me, but I can only go so far.
We all got our gear on, and got ready for the days ride, and then headed off, Tim forgot his bumbag, and turned around within 50 meters to get it. Gropey wasnt so lucky, and forgot his backpack and had to go back after about 10 minutes to get it. Luckily I remebered to bring the camera on the Sunday, and took some snaps while we waited for Gropey and the tail man to come through.
We headed through the forest towards elmhurst, through some quite good double track stuff with a couple of steep downhills.
We fueled up at Elmhurst, then went into the forest around Mount Cole, but a lot of the track there were quite wet and very rutted, so where we could go was a little limited.
A lot of the tracks are closed for seasonal reasons also, which meant that we ended up doing a little dirt road work, but that wasn't so bad, as it gave a bit of practise for those of use who have ideas of doing some supermotard riding. Feeliing the back come out as you come into the corner, without touching the brakes is a weird feeling, but its fun
We ended up a Ben Nevis, where there were a few hang gliders above, sort of hovering (whats the fun in that eh?) and beautiful views all around.
After that it was back to camp via a few more trails. Gordon hit one of those slippery green sticks at 45 degrees across the track, which put him down, with the bike on top of him, earning him the "Crash and Burn" award for this month. Then it was a fairly sedate ride back to the campsite, where a few of us still had the energy to ride around for a bit with the kids on the minibikes for a while before settling in for some beers.
Unfortunately, there was a bit of rain, and the beers were interrupted, and most hit the sack pretty early.
Monday morning dawned perfectly, and I took some video of about 30 Kangaroos in the paddock we were in while waiting for everybody to get out of bed, and have breakfast.
After brekky, it was packup time, with a few more showers making it interesting. Funnily enough, after about 45 minutes, the showers went away, and it looked like another fantastic day, just made for riding. But NO, we had to go home ;-( Of course, the entire home trip was a gale force headwind. Personally, I think there was a message in that.
Pictures of the ride can be found at the AMTRA SA website http://amtrasa.dirtbike.ws/ in the Picture Gallery section