Run to Paradise

Carl had some time off… what would he like to do with that time? Go to the coast!  He rounded up a stack of us (9 in total) to go and spend the weekend in Eden with Caroline and Darrin at their little slice of paradise.

Friday afternoon dragged on and on and on and on and on and finally after approximately two weeks it was 4:20 pm which I figured was close enough and I hopped on the 7 and rolled out to Hume.  Rebecca was the only one there so far, so I introduced myself and we chatted for a bit before one by one the rest of the crew rolled in.

Carl asked me to go tail end, and so we set off, boring our way to Polo Flat where we stopped for fuel and a quick break before heading off towards Nimmitabel… and damn we found some fog!  The heated grips even came on for a short stretch   After the Brown Mountain we stopped in Bemboka for a regroup and by then it was getting a little bit dark, so the clear visor came out and we set off through Candelo and then some other little town that I can’t recall the name of before rejoining the Princess Highway.  By then it was full dark and just beautiful, I really love riding at night and haven’t had a good ride at night for ages (must rectify this, but that will be the subject of another story…)

We eventually reached Eden where we stopped at the servo for supplies and then on to our accommodations for the weekend… what a garage Caroline and Darrin had for the weekend! 

Before long the drinks and conversation were flowing flowing and at some point Caroline and I decided to head down to the beach, we met Mick along the way so he came back down for a bit before heading back, leaving Caroline and I to catch up for ages, before heading back up.

Between the beach and Caroline’s place there is approximately 3,000,000 stairs and a cliff face (seems like) but with the assistance of Uncle Jimmy this passed with apparent ease (OK maybe some claims of being about to expire upon return… lol).

More conversation until one by one everyone went to bed and Mick and I were last ‘men’ standing! It was I think about 4:30 and I came up with the brilliant idea that we should go to the beach and watch the sunrise! Yes! so we grabbed our sleeping bags (it was cold) and headed back down to the beach and it was spectacular!  I slept a bit and upon waking, a little worse for wear, I realised the mistake of going to the beach in the dark… no swimmers and NO SUNNIES! It was terrible, luckily it was so pretty there.

Eventually we made our way back up the mountain (well Mick did, I think I died halfway back up) and everyone was up and at ‘em and after a glorious and much-needed coffee those who were going riding departed and those of us who remained headed into town for some supplies before getting a maxi taxi back to the beach where we spent the whole afternoon lazing in the sun and swimming… absolute bliss!

My view for the day

Eventually the others had enough of the sun, sand and beach and headed back, leaving Mick and I behind where we continued on with the lounging in the sun and swimming.  We had just gotten out of the water when the crew came back… dinner was about to be served… does it get any better than this?  Fish and chips delivered to us at the beach!  We ate our dinner and then everyone headed off into town to the pub, except for Carl, Jules, Mick and I who needed showers first… Mick and I had come up with the brilliant idea that seeing as we had watched the sun rise on the day at the beach, we should surely farewell it in the same manner, so after I declared that the sun had gone down sufficiently for the day to be done, it was back up the mountain (death! pain! woe! LOL) and into the shower.

There was some internal debate as to the fact of whether or not I could be arsed going to the pub (I had intended to do so - I had even put mascara on in anticipation!) when the others returned - glad we didn’t make the trek down to the pub for nothing! and we all sat out on the deck chatting until, once again, one by one everyone disappeared to bed… except for Mick and I who grabbed our sleeping bags (and swimmers and towels and SUNNIES!) and headed back to the beach… apparently I fell asleep mid-conversation! LOL.

I awoke to the Kookaburras laughing and the waves hitting the beach and a faint orange glow in the sky… and then it was full daylight and I was roasting in my oven bag (sleeping bag).  Hurrah for sunnies!

What a view to wake up to...

Given that we were to be departing that morning, we didn’t hang around long, I was going to skip the swim but at the last minute jumped in and jumped out and it was COLD! lol.  Back up the mountain for the last time (it never got any easier) where I went to get changed and ‘accidentally’ fell into bed and had a little snooze, waking up just in time for the fabulous breakfast our hosts had put on for us.

Before long that dreaded time of having to depart was upon us… everyone had different plans so Carl, Mick and I headed off to the servo… let the bike/mp3 whoring commence! haha! (Mick and I had decided the night before that we would swap bikes and MP3 players).  So I set off on an ‘03 CBR954 RRRRRR Fireblade and watched Mick take off on the beloved 7.  We headed up towards Wyndham and then over Myrtle Mountain into Candelo where the boys were waiting for me.

It took me a little bit to get used to the Blade, I didn’t like it much at first but by the time I got to Candelo I had gotten a bit used to it and was having quite a lot of fun!  Mick also had good things to say about the 7 (not surprising) and we agreed to continue on each others bikes (YAY!).  Through Bemboka and onto the Brown… I had a shit run with traffic but the few clear runs I had were FANTASTIC!  The boys were waiting for me at the top and I was soooooo tempted to turn around and do it all again but no, I am superstitious about doing laps so we continued on and caught up with everyone else in Nimmitabel.

We continued through to Polo Flat to top up the fuel for the final time and I lit up a smoke and everyone else apart from Mick left so it was just the two of us left to bore our way back to Canberra, we pulled up near Mugga Lane to swap our bikes and MP3 players back and head for home.  The 7 felt so big and heavy and old after riding the Blade!

So another fantastic weekend, a huge HUGE thanks to Caroline and Darrin for their hospitality and to everyone who came along for the wonderful company.

:o)