My birthday this year fell on Friday the 13th - how cool is that? I had planned on having a big party at home, like I did last year, but then the Nambucca Heads FarRide was set down for 14 February… do I have a party, or do the farride? FarRide won so instead of having a party I decided a relaxing weekend down at Tintaldra would be the go.
I rounded up a few friends and the original plan was to leave lateish morning on the Saturday - until I saw the weather forecast - was going to be over 40 degrees on the other side of the hills so an earlier start was planned… I suggested 8am and someone said 8:30 so 8:30am it was.
Those of us riding rolled into Hume in dribs and drabs until we had our line up:
- Me! Zx9R
- Robyn ZX9R
- Esther VFR
- Jules GPX250
- Carl CB1300
- Mark (with Matt) in the booze bus
James and Jono had left earlier that morning to cut some laps of the Snowy Mountains Highway and we were to meet them at Adaminiby and Mr Busdriver called in to say hello at the meet point.
It was the usual slow roll along the Monaro to Cooma and then as usual once we hit the Snowy Mountains Highway someone had to open it up and then the chase was on :o) It must have been a great site to see three chicks scooting along in tight formation 
Adaminiby
Adaminiby for a break and fuel and wait for James and Jono… before long we all heard the roar of the mighty fuelstorm from about 50km away :P It was hot already, there was a handy hose so we all got a bit of a soaking before saddling back up for the fun bit :o) James and Jono took off, Carl was still getting ready so I waited but then he waved us off so off I went… just outta the 80km zone I opened her up and before long overtook the booze bus and caught James and Jono just before the fun stuff… and promptly lost them again! (Those laps of Mt Mac must be doing James some good… or I’m getting slow in my old age, was a time when I could keep pace through there). Love that stretch of road anyway. Pulled up under the trees at Kiandra (not on the corner as we usually do - this spot has SHADE!). There were a bunch of other bikes there and they took off and the rest of our crew rolled in.
Kiandra
When Stevo and I had been talking about the arrangements for the weekend we had planned to stop at Tumut Ponds as we usually do but I kind of forgot to relay that to everyone - so Stevo parked the booze bus there (he left before us) and we all rolled straight past in dribs and drabs… flew by Jono Corner (I can never pick it heading down, only coming back). It wasn’t too unpleasant up in the mountains, having been forecast for 30 degrees at Cabramurra 
All too soon we were out the other end and it was SCORCHING hot. Tess, Robyn and I had all been riding together, Carl was heading in the opposite direction just as we approached the T-intersection at the turn to Khancoban. I sent the girls on to Tintaldra (no point all of us sitting around) then I went back to where Carl had pulled over under a tree to await Jules, Esther and the Booze Bus, James and Jono having gone into Khancoban as the Fuelstorm needed fuel (surprise surprise). Before long everyone else rolled by so Carl and I saddled back up and kept going… only to find Esther and Julie pulled over just a short way down the road… wee break time LOL. From there it was a very hot ride into Tintaldra, we got into the park to find Robyn there, Tess had already bailed to the river, and Mark had driven the booze bus down there, so we got changed, Robyn, Esther and Jules headed down and I hung around to say gidday to Ailsa and Rick (of the caravan park) and then James and Jono turned up so we all headed down to the river.
A bit of lunch and a jump into the river here and there - it was so hot that we all dried out very quick and the river was COLD. Eventually we all got in (well except for James who was squealing like a girl :P) and Stevo brought out the floaties - tied to a bit of rope, we’d hop on, let the current drag us down river then pulled ourselves back up on the rope. Great system!
Murray River at Tintaldra
Still in the river
Eventually Yedi turned up, and then Mitch and Bubba rolled in (they had ridden up from Geelong/Melbourne respectively) and they promptly melted off their bikes. A bit of a swim and a few bourbons and they were restored :o)
Tintaldra
About 7pm we departed the river and headed back up to the caravan park. Up at the cabins James decided to have a sit on the 9 to see what it felt like… so I decided to hop on the back to see what that felt like… James says to me “where’s the keys”, I say “in my jacket pocket” and whaddya know, Mitch walks out of my cabin wearing my jacket (!) so James obtains the keys and we go for a little blat around the block (don’t try this at home kiddies!)
Super Squids
Before long it was down to the BBQ area where Ailsa and Rick had set up the stereo for us, and Tess had provided the tunes (we had been warned to bring our own music or else be condemned to listening to Pink Floyd and Neil Diamond all night - now I quite like Pink Floyd, not too sure of Neil Diamond but nobody else except Carl seemed to share that liking of Pink Floyd!).
Before long we discovered the sprinkler watering the grass - hurrah! more water!!! (yes it was still stinking hot).
OK so you can't see the sprinkler... but it's there!
So we danced under the sprinkler - it was fun!
Hope you enjoyed the show...
$50.00 a head saw us with accommodation, BBQ dinner and bacon and eggs for breakfast… it was some BBQ!
part of dinner
We also had lamb kofta balls and rissoles with really yummy sauce, as well as Ailsa’s Awesome Homemade Tomato Sauce!
After dinner there was lots of drinking, lots of dancing (both under the sprinkler and just generally) and lots of laughing!
Of course, Jules and Yedi appeared to be joined at the mouth for a fair part of the evening 
I think these guys do it much better though
I think these guys do it much better though 
No, they are not Honda riders...
James decided we were not wet enough from the sprinkler so attacked us with the hose
Hose attack
I managed to keep the water out of my bourbon at least!!!
A bit later again… SURPRISE!!!! Ailsa and Rick had made me a birthday cake… yummo!
Cake!
Then Gizmo came out for a little visit (he’s very old and wasn’t coping with the heat very well poor bugger) Rick asked me to hold him for a photo so I complied:
Giz's visit
More dancing, more drinking… people started disappearing! These two deserve a special mention:
The Two Biggest Pissheads
They were both very well the following morning!
Eventually everybody decided to go for a walk to NSW - Robyn and I stayed behind for whatever reason and never followed them, I went to bed shortly after (no I wasn’t the first!!).
Had very little sleep, it was stinking hot, even with the airconditioner and the fan going flat out, which also made it very noisy!
Sunday morning dawned very bright and sunny and I didn’t actually feel too bad :o) just tired.
Morning!
We hung around the cabins for a bit before venturing down for breaky (bacon and eggs - yum!) there were a few feeling too poorly for breakfast… Mitch and Dad rolled out first, before the rest of us finally got going, after getting those who had gone back to bed back up! LOL
We decided to go back the way we came so we could get up in to the hills ASAP - it was gonna be another scorcher. Into Khancoban for fuel before tackling the mountains. We took off with me in the lead (!) but not for long, Carl soon over took me and I kept pace with him for a while… until a few corners before Jono Corner I had a bit of a moment, hit some gravel which saw me sliding out and heading for the armco… NOT HAPPY!! A much slower pace down the rest of the hill (at least I got to see Jono Corner this time) and we pulled in at Tumut Ponds for a regroup, cold drink and a bit of a rest.
Tumut Ponds
Poor Esther really wasn’t feeling too well (she was now in the car with Stevo, Matt having gone in the car with Darrin and they hadn’t stopped). We had another little break at Kiandra, When I got there, I asked where Robyn was as she had been in front of me, James said she had gone straight through. She wasn’t in Adaminiby so after a break there we got to Cooma, still no sign of Robyn. I pulled over and I had a text from her, she had gone onto Cooma, waited for us for a bit but gave up and was heading for home. Yedi and Jules stopped in Cooma for lunch, while Carl, James, Tess and I were going straight through heading for home. It was hot! 38 degrees. Yuck. Got into Williamsdale and Carl’s indicator came on… yessssssss drink! Tess kept going so James, Carl and I stopped for a drink, and a soaking before the final stretch home.
Was a very fun weekend!
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