A long weekend means a ride… plan was Tathra first night, Paynesville second night.
It started off with the regular crew and then more and more were added… met up with Tess and Carl (no Stevo!!!!) and also Rob and Wendy and Avartie at Bungendore at a very civilised hour (that I can’t now remember, maybe 11? I really should update my blog more regularly). We set off, through Braidwood, and onto the Clyde… YEAH! No. Rob and Carl took off into the distance, Wendy and Avartie were behind somewhere… and didn’t Tess and I have the WORST trip down the Clyde ever… traffic in all the bad places, we’d finally get around it all… corner corner more traffic. Regrouped at Nelligen and we were about to take off when a bunch of dirty boys rolled in… suddenly lunch at Nelligen seemed like a much better idea, well to Tess and I anyway… Rob offered to go and bring them over but then he didn’t :( We decided instead to go to Narooma for lunch and check out the million dollar view a the pub… it wasn’t bad! Food was okay too. We got into Tathra stupidly early (as was expected) and once we got into our rooms… well it was bourbon o’clock.
Much laughter was happening and somehow it got dark and, right on schedule, Skuffy, Bubba and co rolled in at 6pm… they’d had an eventful day with a serious run in with Constable Care… they were all lucky to get away with their licences (12 months of being good boys for them). Dad was in dire need of a bourbon so we got him sorted… dinner over at the pub and then back to the motel room for more drinking… at some point I went to get more bourbon and both bottles were empty… where’d it all go? Guess we were thirsty. Eventually the stayers headed back over to the pub (Bubba, Skuffy, Luke, Billy, Deadman and me). Billy went off to bed… then Deadman was escorted back and not too long after Luke and I went as well, leaving Skuffy and Bubba to laugh at the locals playing Ping Pong!
Woke up bright and early Sunday morning… and Tathra is a spectacular place to wake up bright and early… sit up in bed and watch the sunrise over the ocean. Gorgeous. Eventually got out of bed and down the road to the bakery for some breakfast… a little hungover but not too bad. On the road, fuelled up at Merimbula… Dad and I wanted a smoke so sent Skuffy and everyone else off, though Luke stayed with us as well. We finished smoking then set off, headed south to the turn off for Wyndham. Before long Bubba was out of sight and I was just cruising behind Luke… still a little hungover LOL. Through Wyndham (laughed at the pub) and was getting excited… Mt Darragh YAY! No.
Get started and hear the “ping ping” of loose gravel on fairings… WTF? Yes there is fine black gravel all over the black road. Grrrrrrr. One slip and I’m onto Granny pace. Coming up to the hair pin and Luke has stopped and is signalling for me to slow down, I wonder what’s going on, oh right even more gravel… it’s okay, I’m going slow enough!!!! So we crawl up Mt Darragh at granny pace… eventually get onto the old surface and it’s a bit better then. Get up the top and the crew are all waiting at the “usual” place (I say usual… I was thinking outside the general store in Cathcart for some reason…) From there into Bombala where Bubba is corner marking. I pull up because I wanted to put my MP3 player on… and then thought I might follow him down to Cann River and see if I can stick with him… I can’t remember why but Carl was with us and then Luke and that was it. We took off, Bubba, me, we get to the left turn just out of Bombala… where the hell is Carl and Luke??? we wait… and wait…. rock out to our respective musics for a bit… wait some more (I had Sweet Child O’ Mine to rock out to :rockon) and FINALLY they turned up… never did find out what happened. We waved them through then started our bikes and took off after them… Bubba passed everyone, I only passed Luke, sticking with Bubba and Carl until just past the Imlay turn off… I wasn’t sure that Luke actually knew where he was going so I pulled up til his headlights appeared and I could tell he wasn’t turning off… so it was a lonely cruise down to Cann River and being paranoid about Constable Care it wasn’t a very fast one either… caught up to Bubba and Carl just coming into Cann River (so they must have been ” just cruising” even more then me). Fuelled up and then up the road to the bakery for the WORST pie ever.
I DO NOT RECOMMEND THE PIES AT THE BAKERY AT CANN RIVER!!!!!!
After much gasbagging and hanging around again it was time to continue on to Paynesville… headed towards Orbost, got separated from the group a bit and then I got flashed. OK time to stick to 100km/h. Got overtaken by a few of the others then and just at Orbost found the rest of the group all pulled over… Derek had been out and playing but thankfully no tickets today. Ever onwards, we headed through Nowa Nowa, Bruthen then Bairnsdale where we turned off for Paynesville… I could hear Jimmy calling! And this was new territory, having never been to Paynesville before :o)
Found the pub, took over the beergarden with the bikes, got our beds sorted and then we waited a tiny little while before hitting the bourbon again. It was karaoke night and I eventually decided to head downstairs and see what was happening… walked in and they were calling out for someone, anyone to come sing so I put my hand up 
and start singing Khe Sahn(sp?) with some dude… then I got lost so I ran away a little bit… next song… they called for Tess and Mel… I’m all like WTF????? We didn’t put our name down and Tess isn’t here… then wouldn’t you know it two skinny bitches turn up to sing (and they sucked huh!). Got talking to the dude I had been singing with and turns out he was there on a bucks party… surprise surprise. I went back upstairs to get Tess and we headed back down, had a bit of a dance… talked a bit more to the dude but he was a bit of a fuckhead so ditched him and back upstairs. Before long everyone was going to bed but I wasn’t tired so I went for a walk for a bit before finally heading to bed.
and start singing Khe Sahn(sp?) with some dude… then I got lost so I ran away a little bit… next song… they called for Tess and Mel… I’m all like WTF????? We didn’t put our name down and Tess isn’t here… then wouldn’t you know it two skinny bitches turn up to sing (and they sucked huh!). Got talking to the dude I had been singing with and turns out he was there on a bucks party… surprise surprise. I went back upstairs to get Tess and we headed back down, had a bit of a dance… talked a bit more to the dude but he was a bit of a fuckhead so ditched him and back upstairs. Before long everyone was going to bed but I wasn’t tired so I went for a walk for a bit before finally heading to bed.
Monday morning was pain… shoulda drunk some water or something! LOL. I stayed in bed as long as I could then packed up and ready to go… and everyone is hanging around having breakfast. Eventually everyone was ready… and then to the servo to get fuel and hang around a bit more… finally we are underway, I really needed the fresh air!!!!
I ended up leading(!) for a bit anyway, between Bairnsdale Carl and Avartie had dropped off and Tess came up beside me to signal where the fuck are they????? so she took the lead and we slowed down til they caught up again… through Bruthen and we lost them again?????? Tess and I pulled up at Nowa Nowa to wait for them… eventually the boys turned up and Tess waved them through… she started the bike up and went but the 9 wouldn’t start! (it was cold). Eventually she started but Tess was already out of sight… Tess had pulled up to wait for me at the end of the roadworks and by then the boys were well out of sight. We got flashed again so it was a very slooooooow ride into Cann River… the boys weren’t at the Mobil so we went up to the Caltex… and they weren’t there either????? I was convinced I was going to die by this stage, been a while since I rode with a hangover like that!! We fuelled up and the only thing we could figure is that with their greater fuel ranges they had pushed straight through to Bombala… we had just moved the bikes out of the way, and I was downing some much needed Panadol with some much needed water when Avartie rolled in… but where was Carl?
Avartie tells us that Carl turned off at Orbost so Avartie followed him. Then Avartie promptly pulled over to do something to his luggage and didn’t see where Carl went. So he turned left at the T-intersection and took the scenic coast road to Cann River. He didn’t see Carl along the way. We hung out at the servo for a while, still no Carl, and he wasn’t answering his phone. So we headed up to the other servo in case he was there… nope. We decided that we would head up to Bombala and try Carl again there and we left him a message to that effect. Avartie geared up but Tess and I kinda just stood there looking at each other… we couldn’t leave Carl behind… we ummmed and ahhhed then decided that we should back track via Avartie’s route just in case…
So we set out with Avartie in the lead…. he led us down the wrong road 
so more backtracking and then we were on the right road… pretty road, adds about 30km onto the trip though. Through Marlo and into Orbost and into the servo where we spoke to the servo attendant who confirmed that Carl had been there a few hours earlier, had a smoke then left. The bastard had done the BONANG!!!!!!!!! Avartie wanted a break and Tess and I were keen to get back to Canberra ASAP so we headed straight off without Avartie. Back to Cann River for a top up on the fuel and some more fried servo goods :o) and whaddya know, I had a message from Carl… he was in Cooma… he had said to the group that morning if the weather was good he was going to turn off at Orbost and do the Bonang… pointed out that it would have been useful if he had of told that to the people he was riding with!!!!! and apparently Avartie was there… Carl offered to wait at Cooma for us and I thought about making him do that as punishment!!!! but nah sent him on. We rolled straight through Bombala and onto Cooma where we stopped at Polo Flat to top up the fuel… it was freezing! Was snowing up at Selwyn according to the people in the servo… we decided to have coffee and warm up a little before the slog back into Canberra.
so more backtracking and then we were on the right road… pretty road, adds about 30km onto the trip though. Through Marlo and into Orbost and into the servo where we spoke to the servo attendant who confirmed that Carl had been there a few hours earlier, had a smoke then left. The bastard had done the BONANG!!!!!!!!! Avartie wanted a break and Tess and I were keen to get back to Canberra ASAP so we headed straight off without Avartie. Back to Cann River for a top up on the fuel and some more fried servo goods :o) and whaddya know, I had a message from Carl… he was in Cooma… he had said to the group that morning if the weather was good he was going to turn off at Orbost and do the Bonang… pointed out that it would have been useful if he had of told that to the people he was riding with!!!!! and apparently Avartie was there… Carl offered to wait at Cooma for us and I thought about making him do that as punishment!!!! but nah sent him on. We rolled straight through Bombala and onto Cooma where we stopped at Polo Flat to top up the fuel… it was freezing! Was snowing up at Selwyn according to the people in the servo… we decided to have coffee and warm up a little before the slog back into Canberra.
Got into Canberra and it was dark and it was raining. The 9 was complaining cuz it was cold and I had to lead in the end cuz Tess only had her dark visor! We went into coffee and caught the tail end of it, a quick chat with everyone then home to get warm :o)))))))
There were lots of drunken photos taken (about 100) and one, that’s right ONE photo taken of my bike.
We missed you Stevo!!!!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment