Another Local Weekend

The weekend of 2/3 May had been set aside for “house stuff”.  The kitchen is in terrible need of replacement so we were going to trawl through the kitchen showrooms etc.  Saturday we did this - except most were closed.  Knebel Kitchens was the only one of note, and then we wandered around the furniture shops in Fyshwick and found THE couch.  4 - 6 weeks and it will be here.  Anyway, that’s a bit boring.

Sunday 3 May dawned fine and cool and sunny.  Met Leen, Dazza and Lee at the rest area on the Barton and off we went heading towards Yass via Namina Road or whatever it is called.  The 9 was complaining about the cold *cough splutter roar* and we got onto the Hume, through Bowning and into Binalong where we were to turn off for our first exploratory road (yes we were investigating some of the local back roads we hadn’t done before!).  After a very short time it turned to dirt.  We debated going ahead but decided not to.

So back onto the main road and into Harden for morning tea (pies at the Milk Bar in Murrumburrah(sp?) are pretty good!) and then some back roads (I have NFI where we actually went :lol:) and into Cootamundra for some fuel.  We had been planning on having lunch at Coota but it was waaaaay too early so more back roads were the plan!

We left Coota and turned up this little road - it was narrow, single lane and rather interesting when a 4WD towing a horsefloat comes the other way and won’t give any ground :shock:.  After a fair while the dreaded sign “gravel road ahead” appeared… straight ahead was a pretty rough looking track and to the left looked like someone’s driveway :lol:  the driveway had a sign saying “to Hume Highway” so what the hell we took that one.  It wasn’t too bad, just a little track winding through Farmer Joe’s paddock - we scared about a thousand cows and a few sheep as we rode along - it was in quite good condition really.  Finally we came to the Hume and onto the tarmac.  (on my next ride I looked at this and if I had of seen it from the Hume no way would I have thought it was a road!). 

We slabbed it into Jugiong and went to stop at the cafe but there was a group of people we had been avoiding already there so we went to roadhouse instead.  Good choice, they make an awesome chicken burger 

I had planned to just slab it home from there while the others went off exploring but ended up going exploring as well… glad I did!  Up the Hume for a little bit more then we turned left and this road was pretty good for a country road, up, down, left, right, it was interesting!  Eventually we came to a + intersection… Leen stopped to consult the map and I said fark it lets go left so we did and ended up opposite the turn off for Galong on the Binalong Road. 

As far as I knew the plan was to go back the way we came from there but nooooo Leen went straight at Binalong so it was home via Boorowa (almost). 

We stopped at Murrumbatemen for a drink and chat before we all went home.  It was a good day out and good to do some local roads I hadn’t done before! 

A Local Weekend

I don’t ride on ANZAC Day anymore so had scheduled in a weekend of absolutely nothing… my sister had plans to be away for the whole weekend… awesome empty house and can just relaaaaax.

I had planned to have the girls around on Saturday night then that changed to Sunday night then I canned it altogether when I decided a few days earlier that I was going to quit smoking… didn’t think that drinking and not smoking was a good mix for me just yet!

It also turned out that my sister wasn’t going away either 

Saturday morning I got up and tried to distract myself by cleaning up… failed and smoked the remaining four cigarettes I had by midday. Ah well, at least they are all out of the house now. Gave up on cleaning and pulled out my longstitch tapestry thing… figured out that I have been working on that for around ten years now and haven’t even finished a third of it (I bought it back when I was married and my ex-husband liked to go out and take lots of drugs and get really drunk all the time and I didn’t so I’d spend a lot of time at home by myself… pick it up every couple of years and do a little bit… I might finish it by the time I’m 60!) Anyway, settled in on the couch for some telly watchin’ and long stitchin’ and it was nice. My sister came home and spent some time also sitting on the couch.

Sunday Glenn came round to have a look at the kitchen and stuff that we want to do round the house. Then after he left Trina asked if I wanted to go to Bunnings, I said no I was going to Stevo’s but then I thought maybe she’d like the company seeing as she still hadn’t heard from her boyfriend even though he’d said he’d spend the weekend with her. So I thought I’d be nice and keep her company instead. We went to Bunnings and Magnet Mart and got some kitchen brochure things (I thought we should go to other places as well but my sister didn’t want to drive that far) so then we went home and I went back to the couch before dinner at mum’s then home. The boyfriend finally called her so he came round then it was annoying being in the loungeroom with them so I went to bed about 9pm, after being informed that the telly was “booked” for the next day… so much for day three of bludging in front of the telly 

So Monday morning my alarm went off cuz I forgot to turn it off. I didn’t fancy being stuck in my room all day so had a look… FarRiders tag was still in Dartmoor Vic, too far for one day, but the Canberra Riders one was at Berry… that’ll do! So I got up, showered, watched a little telly (the sister’s boyfriend hadn’t arrived yet) while I had a coffee then I geared up… and up and up (damn winter) and set off. I didn’t have much of a plan but decided to go down the Clyde and work out which way I’d come home later.

It was really cold heading out to Braidwood and I stopped there to use the toilet (no smoke break which was very weird) and hugged the exhaust for a while cuz my hands were frozen. Then off to the Clyde (hurrah!!!!!) Had an awesome run down apart from near the top, coming around a sharp corner and there was a big arse truck doing about 20km/h with two cars up his arse! Eeeeek glad my brakes work. Wasn’t behind them for long then I had a pretty much clear run to the bottom (heaps of traffic coming up though, which was to be expected I guess given ACT had the public holiday).

Turned left at the roundabout and fuelled up at Cullendulla before heading onto Ulladulla. A pretty good run along here too, bit more traffic but nothing too annoying.

Well that all changed after Ulladulla. Then it sucked arse. We’d do 80km/h… until the overtaking lanes… Then everyone would do 130km/h… *sigh*. This continued on to Berry grrrrr.

Got the tag photo 

Berry

and had some donuts… I asked for two, they gave me three and it turned out they charged me for three when I thought about it later. Ah well I ate them all anyway.

There had been heaps of traffic heading south on the princess as well so I thought fark that! and headed up the backroad from Berry to Kangaroo Valley. Was stuck behind a car, thought I had what looked to be a good overtaking spot and the car gunned it… ah well… was probably a good thing as they appeared to know the road fairly well… kinda a good thing with completely unmarked, potholey switchbacks in the road! It was very pretty and we wound our way through to Kangaroo Valley. Fuelled up (again weird with no smoke break) and hopped back on to head up to Fitzroy Falls. Had a clear run to near the bottom but the magical sign of an overtaking lane coming up made me happy :o) until a complete fucktard with canberra plates (of course :roll:) cut me off and proceeded to very slowly move past the car in front of it… grrrrr. So I was behind them for ages until finally I could get round and then around another car and a clear run for the five corners that remained :roll:. And then I was behind three trucks and about 100 cars (felt like, actually I think it was only about 10 - 15). Eventually all the trucks and most of the cars turned off and I got around the remaining cars and had a good run through the Highlands Way and it was cold again by now so stopped in at Marulan and hung out under the hand dryers in the toilets for a bit before saddling back up for the run into canberra. It rained on me a bit here and there but not enough to don the wets. Got into Canberra just in time for coffee, where Carl gave me cigarettes and they were fantastic.

And that was my weekend. Not what I’d planned at all!

Easter Weekend 2009

OK so I’m a bit behind in my blog…

Easter weekend was set to go exploring some roads I hadn’t done before up around the NSW/QLD border.

I set off Thursday after work with the intention of slabbing it up to Singleton… well that didn’t last long, I was bored of the freeway about halfway to Goulburn so topped up the fuel at Goulburn then went Taralga/Oberon and into Lithgow.  It was almost dark by the time I left Goulburn and was dark for the Abercrombie river crossing which was okay until heading up the other side and I am presented with a cliff face - where did the road go??? Oh yeah switchback to the left 

Fuel at Lithgow then Bells Line of Road.  I had an awesome run along here, really enjoyed it, very little traffic and I got around what traffic there was very easily.  Then up the Putty Road.  I stopped at the Halfway Roadhouse which was closed, I was getting pretty tired by then and it was cold (had been cold since about Goulburn lol) so after a bit of a rest into Singleton to try and find somewhere to stay - there was only one place still open dammit and it was expensive but I was real tired so paid the money and fell into bed. 

Slept in a bit the following morning, oops.  Straight up the New England to Glen Innes was the plan and I got there about 1.5 hours later than planned.  Fuelled up then down the Gwydir to Grafton - a very pretty bit of road and then onto Casino via a little town I can’t remember where I stayed the night.  Up pretty late on Saturday and outta Casino and onto Nimbin where I had never been before.  It kinda looked like a prettier Newtown.  Apparently it was very quiet, usually it is much busier??? anyway, continued on, went to Kyogle and then took Lions Road over the QLD border.  I have heard people rave about this road but I thought the road was shit but it was very pretty.  It improved over the border where the road makes the rollercoasterdown the coast look pathetic.  Into Boonah for some lunch then through Beaudesert and onto the Mt Lindsay Highway.  Nice bit of road, shame about the traffic.  Finally got around the two cars I was stuck behind and it was very nice then :o) 

Then through Woodenbong and down one of the bumpiest roads I have ever been on to Tabulam and up the Bruxner to Tenterfield.  It wasnt as exciting as I had thought it was going to be!  Ah well.  From Tenterfield slabbed it up to Warwick where it rained and rained and my left mirror fell off.

Sunday morning the gear is all still wet ah well.  I can’t remember where I went then, somewhere for breakfast then up to some waterfall but it was raining and the roads were kinda slippery so turned around and headed south hoping the weather would clear up a bit.  Back into Grafton then down the Grafton/Ebor road.  It was much better than I remembered!  Had an enjoyable run through here, stopped at Ebor to don the wet weather gear again as it was very black ahead and glad I did, it bucketed down!  Rolled into Armidale for the night, spread just about everything I had with me out to dry and off to the pub for dinner (I can’t remember what the pub was called but it was great food!)

Monday morning dawned grey and miserable and I headed south down the New England.  I was thinking of going and checking out the Bylong Valley Way that I understand is now sealed all the way but with the shite weather I thought nahhhh.  I was then gonna go the way I had come, Putty/Bells Line/Oberon but i remember a stretch of rather slippery roadworks (in the dry! itwas just like clay) on the way into Black Springs so thought nah… just ended up slabbing it which was the biggest mistake ever!  I don’t like to split or ride down the emergenccy lane but after pulling over twice to let the 9 cool down I did just ride up the emergency lane, the F3 was a carpark!  Never again on a long weekend!

Got back into Canberra around 5pm and straight to coffee to give Tess and Stevo a big hug cuz I missed them so much over the weekend - they would have loved some of those roads!

Tara QLD 4/5 April 2009

Richard had suggested a get together for dinner, the location was set at Tara QLD, some 1070km from home according to Google maps… I had that weekend free so why not?

Had Friday off work due to stupid fucking Telstra (have I evern mentioned that I HATE Telstra) so got on the road and rode through to Goondiwindi. Went via some roads I hadn’t done before, Wellington to Gulgong then the Black Stump way up to near Gunnedah, got a bit lost trying to figure out which turn to Manilla wasn’t dirt lol but eventually got on the right road, up to Warialda then through North Star and onto Goondiwindi. Was a biggish day. Met Thommo at maccas and overnighted at a motel somewhere.

Saturday morning was hot. bloody qld. sticky. Thommo says “it’s a bit tropical” and I say I’m gonna die. Anyway we rode the huge 140km… I say rode… bounced would be more accurate lol… so we bounced the 140km to Tara, my left mirror was in an interesting position after all the bumps! Got to the pub first but before long the others all started rolling in. Spent the arvo sitting outside, finally a cool breeze blew in and I wasn’t gonna die from the stickiness anymore. Dinner was awesome, rissoles were fantastic :o) Bed pretty early.

Sunday got up I dunno, 6am? Chucked my stuff in my bag and hit the road. Thommo escorted me back to QLD (to make sure I left the state I think…) then it was just straight down the Newell. I think I caused manslaughter to a family of ducks, and I still feel realy awful about that :o( barrelling down the highway, the sun is shining, I’m rocking out to whatever was on my mp3 player at the time and I see *something* on the road ahead… WTF? FAAAARKKKK it’s DUCKS! A mother duck with about 10 ducklings!! I braked and swerved but the mother duck flew away and half the babies fell over flapping their wings and looking all pathetic. There were cars not all that far behind me (not visible but I had not long ago done some overtaking) so I just have visions of these 10 little squished ducklings :o(. I hope the mother came back and saved them…

Between Narrabri and Coonabarabran a HWP passed me going the other way and I was not entirely sure what speed I was doing… got a bad case of the paranoids, checking my mirrors heaps so ended up pulling up at a rest area for a smoke break before heading into Coonabarabran for fuel but no smoke, straight back on the road. Started to get a little tired by Gilgandra so stopped at the Caltex roadhouse and got a sausage roll and a gogo juice. Was sitting outside enjoying said sausage roll and gogo juice when a lady came and sat down with me and we started talking about life the universe and everything so actually spent about an hour there… ooops.

Into Dubbo for fuel, then Parkes, Forbes (the 9 turned 70,000km just outta Forbes!) Grenfell then Young where I stopped to change visors and put on a jumper as it was getting COLD! Rolled through Wombat and Harden at last it was properly dark so my headlights were doing something. Caught up to a Bdouble coming into Binalong and was behind him for a while til a car behind me went past us both so I just tucked in behind him.

Stopped at Yass for fuel then home, got in about 8:00pm.

Annual Tintaldra/Bright ride - 2009

The last weekend in March means it is time for the annual Tintaldra Bright ride! :o)

Met up with the Canberra Crew at Hume for a 10am-ish departure, to meet the Sydney guys in Adaminiby for lunch.

We bored our way up the Monaro to Cooma (zzzzzzzzz) and the Sydney guys were at a cafe in Cooma. A very brief stop to say hello (ie not getting off the bikes - yay) and we rolled through to Adaminiby. I was following Stevo and we had a good run. Fuelled up at Adaminiby and the dude in the servo (I really should find out his name) said he’d been a bit worried the week before, a blue Kawasaki had gone down up in the hills and he was worried it was me… but then he’d established that it was a dude riding it so not me :o)

Down to the pub for lunch and I had a hamburger which wasn’t bad though it defeated me in the end, there were a few mouthfuls left.

Eventually the Sydney crew rolled in and they had lunch and after what felt like about five hours we were finally on the road again. I was last out of Adaminiby for some reason and we all headed for the Awesome Road. Passed Esther and then at the start of the good stuff I caught up to a huge line of bikes :o( I backed off and sacrified the 65ers to sit on about 60km/h for what felt like forever before hitting the first of the 35’s and I was off…. all to quickly I caught up to the group again :o( though it was a little smaller now. Backed off again for a bit, went for it again, caught them again… then Eve had backed off as well so I went past her, round the corner, the dude on the Beemer had slowed down as well so straight past him, round a few more corners, past Kimmie and then it was basically all over :o( Ah well.

Regroup at the turnoff at Kiandra where I went to Stevo and told him I would see him at Tintaldra, eventually everyone else fucked off, I had a smoke, took some photos of the bike and then followed after them. I had a really nice run from here, got to Tumut Ponds and they were all still there… I got off… waited… waited… had a smoke… waited some more… eventually they all left and I delayed for a bit, took some more photos then off I went. Passed Esther and then stopped with the rest of the group before the next turn off. From here it was onto Tintaldra :o) Headed off not too far from the start of the pack this time, but coming up to my favourite corner of this stretch (right 65′er that is just beautiful) was behind someone, bit slower than I would have hit this corner, but okay pace so they’ve tipped in, I’ve tipped in, and they HIT THE FUCKING BRAKES MID CORNER!!!! grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. So I had to as well so I wouldn’t go over the top of them, pushed wide, totally screwed the corner. Grrrrr. Fuck this group riding bullshit.

Anyway, got into Tintaldra and it was bourbon o’clock (hurrah!) Dad and the victorians rolled in not long after us and we had a very sociable evening :o) Went up to the pub for a bit to say gidday to Alf and Maija which was really nice before heading back down to the caravan park for dinner.

Rick and Ailsa once again excelled as hosts, FANTASTIC dinner and fantastic company as always. After dinner, the girls converted the undercover area to a dancefloor (no sprinklers this time) and we danced and danced and danced and then…. it was not even 10 o’clock and everyone had gone to bed??? WTF???? We were in bed by 10:30 as well…

Woke up Saturday morning and Dad had passed out in our tent at some ridiculously early hour (8pm??? hahahaha) and was up early. He decided that his daughters should also be up so went and fetched his bike, backed it up to the door and then bounced it off the rev limiter and filled our tent with his noxious honda fumes… TWICE!!!!!! it’s kinda funny now but was awful at the time, lying in bed watching these horrid clouds of fumes coming in the door…

Eventually the thought of coffee got us out of bed and it was breakfast time, bacon and eggs on the bbq and Ailsa’s Awesome Homemade Tomato Sauce make for a fantastic breakfast.

I had decided that I was going to split from the group that day, I had planned to duck into Corryong for fuel then head back via the Murray River Road, over Granya Gap, Gundowring(sp?)/Redbank Road to Tawonga, up Falls Creek, down Falls Creek, over Tawonga Gap, through Bright, up Mt Buffalo, down Mt Buffalo, to arrive in Bright at bourbon o’clock. Tess had said she was going to come with me… then when I told Dad that I wouldn’t be riding with them for the day he was hassling me as to what I was doing so decided to come with me as well… then Esther was coming with us… NO MORE!!!!! Four riders is plenty for a group.

We waved the others off with not really telling them what we were doing other than we’d see them at Bright… and headed off, fuelled at the BP in Corryong (sorry Caltex owners, I’ll see youse next season) and then back over past Tintaldra and headed for Granya. We started off with Dad leading then Tess took the lead… we had been sitting on a nice pace but Tess upped the pace a bit and I went naaaaaaah I’m happy here spending my $1.40 so mentally waved good bye to them. We regrouped in Walwa, then Dad marked one of the “turns” with Tess stopped just a bit further up… I kept going, and got stuck behind two cars and two bikes… eventually the two bikes got around the cars… and then eventually I got around the two bikes… had a nice run up, wonder what they thought about having a girl spending $1.80 to pass them? hahahahahaaaaaaaaaaa.

I stopped on the next “turn” having just been passed by Dad and Tess, the two other riders turned off for Hume Weir and then Esther came along so we rolled into Granya, where Tess and Dad were waiting, they waved Esther straight through, Tess pulled out, Dad pulled out then I pulled in - there was public toilets there!! hurrah! Had a nice run over Granya, was a little tentative at first but then got a bit of pace happening… over the other side… I thought I may have had my first ever power slide???? I dunno, but I powered on out of a corner and the arse stepped out… didn’t feel like gravel (god knows I’ve hit enough gravel in my time) and the road had looked fairly clear and I wasn’t on the centre line… well maybe that is just wishful thinking lol.

Regroup/smoke at the bottom of Granya then we headed for the Redbank Road… where Dad tried to go the wrong way, then Tess did but eventually we all got on the right road and we headed off for Tawonga after passing through a herd of very young and skittish cattle!!

We stopped in at the Caltex at what I always thought was Mt Beauty but is apparently Tawonga South… there ya go.

Dad decided it was lunch time so we went to the “takeaway” over the road which turned out to be a bit of an arsey cafe… $11.00 for a drink and a pathetic egg and bacon pie… smoke and we were on the road again… time to visit Falls Creek!!!

Started off with Tess in the lead and Dad was sitting right up her arse but eventually he passed her and they were both fairly quickly out of sight…. I was just cruising but once I hit the yellow lines I don’t know what happened but something clicked and I was on fire! Was fucking awesome, leftrightleftrightleftrightlllllleeeeeeeeffffffffffttttttlittlestraightleftright well you get the picture. Caught up to Tess, she waved me past and I quickly lost sight of her (no she wasn’t trying!!) and onto Falls Creek, found dad, Tess was not far behind me and then Esther rolled in. Couldn’t get my helmet off fast enough “that was FUCKING AWESOME” and a grin a mile wide… Bit of a break then. Poor Tess was suffering having had no sleep the night before (thanks to Dad’s snoring, and our conversations - apparently Dad and I were talking to each other in our sleep! She says she would have found it hilarious if she hadn’t of been so cranky about not being asleep…) and her wrist was giving her grief (hence why I had been able to catch her). Esther and Tess decided they weren’t going to do Buffalo, Dad and I decided we would but reserved the right to change our minds when we got to Bright (we had planned to go check in, dump out gear and then take empty bikes up Buffalo).

We headed out and the run back down Falls Creek wasn’t quite as fine as the run up but I still had an awesome time. Dad was waiting at Mt Beauty and eventually we were all there and we headed off for Bright.

Dad lead the way and was quickly out of sight, Tess was behind me and in my mirrors which was a bit disconcerting… spent too much time looking behind me not looking forward… approaching the second lookout and there was a car that looked like it pulled out onto the road in front of us just in time for the awesome downhill run… NOOOOOOOOOO but they stopped and gave way to us (actually there may have been something coming the other way also) so had a fantastic run down the other side… I love those corners.

Regrouped at the T intersection then rolled into Bright, got our rooms sorted… I looked at Dad… “Buffalo?” “nah, it’s twenty to bourbon o’clock” he says… so we stayed and had bourbons. After a few we both decided we shoulda done Buffalo… shoulda coulda woulda didn’t. Ah well.

The others all arrived eventually and we drank some more bourbon… I love my sister… she was being eyed off by a dude who rode a firestorm (not with our group) and Dad told her about it after the fact… she goes “hmmmm really??? Wonder what his chicken strips are like”…. she proceeds to check them out… FAIL sorry dude, no chance hahahahaaaaaaaa. There were a few different groups of riders there and we ended up checking out all their chicken strips… we shoulda called colonel sanders… heaps of chicken there!

We had dinner at the pub and socialised a fair bit but were back over to the rooms fairly early (the band didn’t kick off til about 10pm) as the bourbon was much cheaper there ($22.50 for three bourbons??? NOT cans???) and the hot bartender is no longer there either *cries*

We ended up calling it a night stupid early again (I think we are getting old  ) and fell asleep listening to the band (they weren’t too bad I think).

Woke up about 7:30am… felt good, fark it I’m doing Buffalo, so got up, threw on the leathers, threw all my stuff in my bag, loaded it up, warmed up the bike, hugged everyone goodbye and set off for Buffalo on my own.

It was a bit fresh as I headed for Porepunkah, and as I turned towards Buffalo, I encountered a slow arse 4WD with the “caution cyclists” sign on the back… and a pack of cyclists in front. Hmmmm. The office was closed so rolled straight through, had a very nice run up Buffalo, just cruising, not pushing at all… encountered heaps more cyclists with their support vehicles but only about two cars coming the other way… no bikes… admired the scenery, it is so beautiful up there. Got to the top, u-turn just before the dirt, then back the way I came… had a much better run coming down, as I didn’t have to keep an eye out for the cyclists (they were all still heading up, fuck that looked like hard work). Stopped on the edge of the road to admire the view for a bit, took a happy snap or two then off I went again. All too soon I was out of the park and heading back towards Bright.

Got to the servo to fill up and Dad was there with a couple of others, having just fuelled. The rest of the crew had just left about 20 minutes before, I got fuel, dad tells me that I am lead rider, like fuck, I’m having a toilet and smoke break here… see yas! So they headed off, I had my smoke and geared up and headed for Hotham…

Hmmmm Mt Hotham. Heading up to Hotham from Harrietville has never been one of my favourite roads, but this time I was again on fire, had an absolute blast going up :o))))))))))))))))))))))))))) Rolled through Hotham itself, saw Cenk there, gave him a wave and thought the others musn’t be too far ahead… the 9 copped a bit of a flogging along here… first I caught Esther, bye Esther! Then Karl and Kimmie, sat behind Kimmie for a while, she is peddling that bird along just fine! Round the outside and then past Karl and onto Omeo. I arrived not that long after Tess and Dad and Stevo.

Now the race… when we first met Dad, it was Australia Day Long Weekend 2008 and we met on an overnighter at Mt Hotham organised by Sir Skuffy. Skuffy had done his usual get up stupid early on the Sunday morning and piss off home so there was a group of ummm maybe 7 of us? Dad had set off first with Tess behind him and I had started at the back of the pack, before long I had overtaken the rest of the group and caught up to Dad and Tess and we had ridden the three of us towards Omeo… Dad got sick of us both on his arse so waved us through and we beat him to Omeo :o)))))))) So there has been a bit of talk about this and Saturday night the challenge is set down between Dad and Tess… who will be quicker???

TESS!!!!!!! GO GIRL!!!!!!!!!

hahahahaaaa and the chick in the servo remembered her from last time, Tess gets there with her mile wide grin and the chick in the servo says “you beat the boys again??” You betcha!

A breakfast of champions at the bakery (steak and curry pie) and the others all arrived and then it was off towards Bruthen. Brian and Cenk got in just as we were leaving so we said goodbye to them there as they were gonna stop for a while.

We had been warned that there was a new copper out and about on the road towards Ensay so we set out at a slow pace which gradually picked up and up… until I got paranoid so I backed right off and didn’t see the others again til Bruthen. Had a pretty good run along there just cruising along.

Stopped in Bruthen for a drink and smoke (it was HOT now) and said goodbye to Dad before turning north towards Orbost for lunch.

We fuelled up at Orbost and then to some cafe for lunch. We said our goodbyes to Karl and Kimmie who were heading to Merimbula for the night and we all hit the road. Karl and Kimmie were up front but not for long… our Tess was on fire still hahhaaaa so before long she overtook them… and I couldn’t resist, I gave chase. Mental. We are cruising along the Princess Highway at stupid speeds and all I can think of is “if there is a copper we are going to jail. They will take our bikes and lock us up”. Lucky there were no coppers. We stop at Cann River get off the bikes, I say to Tess “are you fucking mental” and she’s like “what? I wasn’t pushing it!” She hadn’t been looking at her speedo hahahaaaa. We had been getting a bit worried coming into Cann River as there was smoke around that was just getting heavier and heavier. The lady in the servo told us the fires were further north in NSW, not the way we were going. Waved Karl and Kimmie over when they came through and warned them, then Stevo and Esther rolled in, a bit of a break then it was time to head for Bombala.

Had a nice run up the hill to the NSW border… until we got caught behind two trucks :o( but that was towards the end of the corners and we got em as soon as we got into the straight stuff.

Rolled into Bombala fuelled up and we all agreed we wanted to turn around and do it all again. My MP3 player had died on the last stretch as well, so I had over 200km to home of the most boring roads known to mankind and no music to amuse myself with… ah well.

We rolled through, no more stops, bored our way back to Canberra and I got home once again no real idea what time, maybe about 6:30pm???

Another AWESOME weekend, though I was a little sad when we got home… this ride typically signals the end of the “riding season” and we probably won’t see the victorians again now til next season :o(

But next season we have a new road to try out… the road from Falls Creek to Omeo will be fully sealed in May (currently there is only 7km of dirt left now… if I had of known that I woulda done it this weekend!!).

Got’M Wyndham Girls Weekend - 21 & 22 March 2009

We were supposed to be meeting at 8:30am for a 9:00am departure but a late post on the forum suggested a meet time of 8:00am…. so I duly rolled out to Hume and got there at 8:15am, and nobody else was there. I had already filled up at home so I parked and went inside to get a go-go juice and stock up on the fags.

Eventually everybody was there and after a bit of a chat we were ready to roll…

The line up was:
Bec (Monster)
Sheree (Baby Ninja)
Angela (Harley)
Sue (Scoota)
Me (The gorgeous ZX9R)

We bored our way to Cooma sitting on the speed limit - it was very strange to be overtaken by cars! We stopped in at Polo Flat for some breakfast and Ang topped up the fuel and then we cruised out through Nimmitabel and onto Bombala. We topped up the fuel and then went over to the shops for some supplies. They wanted like $20.00 for a four pack of Jimmy… a FOUR PACK!!!!! disgraceful, so instead Bec and I went halvies in a bottle of Jimmy and bought a good supply of coke. We all had a giggle as the girls bought passion pop and spumante LOL.

Back to the bikes, loaded up all our supplies and Bec asked me to lead us down the mountain so we rolled out through Cathcart and then onto Mt Darragh. This is only the second time I have ever gone down Mt Darragh (been up like 100 times) and it was *much* better than last time. I just cruised down the mountain, had a good rythym going and I really enjoyed it.

I pulled up outside the cottage and hopped off and opened up the garage for when the girls got there… still couldn’t hear them so got my bike inside and turned around and then they came, waved them in and then it was time to check out our accommodations for the evening.

We had stayed here previously back in late 2006 and it was just as gorgeous. It is called Lizzy’s Settlers Cottage and is right on the edge of Wyndham. We got out of the bike gear and retired to one of the verandahs to relax and chat. Before long it was bourbon o’clock :o)

Unforunately the bourbon didn’t last all that long and it was just getting dark when we all headed up to the Robbie Burns Hotel for dinner.

Last time we were there they had an awesome menu… this time they had a choice of Chicken Schnitzel burger, Chicken Schnitzel, Calamari, Steak sanga or fish tails. We started making enquiries only to be informed “ain’t got no calamari”, “ain’t go no steaks”, “The fish is frozen” so it was chicken schnitzel burgers all round.

We got drinks and headed outside and eventually ended up in a corner of the beer garden. One chicken schnitzel burger came out, then two more. “Last one” the lady says… well no, there’s two more! Fourth one comes out “last one” she says again… NO!!!! one more. They were very good though  The menu had also advertised Pavlova so a couple of the girls went to order that “ain’t got no pavlova” hahahahaaaa Sara Lee’s frozen cheesecake it was to be! Sheree tried to order a lemon lime and bitters and got a lemon squash, bitters and lemon lol. Eventually the cheesecake came (after we went in to chase it up). The “one man band” they had advertised started up, he was alright but not what we had been after, so we all headed back up to the house around 10pm (so I am informed, I have no idea) where I promptly crawled into bed and knew no more (missed the bed olympics next door, I think I did well to sleep through that!!).

Woke up about 7am to hear the jug boiling. I stuck my head out “ooooooh coffee” yep there was coffee but no milk. Stuff that, back to bed for a bit before properly getting up.

We sat around for a while then Bec and Sheree headed up to the shop to get breakfast supplies and coffee! Bec cooked up a wicked bacon and eggs for us all and before long we tidied up, packed up and were underway.

Once again Bec asked me to lead so I took us over Myrtle Mountain (hi skippy!) and into Candelo where I pulled up to wait for the others, they rolled past and I pulled in behind them and onto Bemboka for Ang to get fuel again. Quick smoke and it was time for the Brown :o)))))))))

I led out again and had a good run to the base of the mountain, hit the 60 zone (who’d make that road a 60 zone? Seriously!!!!!!). Caught up to a big arse touring thing just before the overtaking lane so followed him for a couple of corners then out into the overtaking lane and I was goooooooorn. About 3km before the lookout I caught up to a line of traffic behind a slow arse van :o( NOOOOOOOOO!!!!! :o(. I don’t really like doing the dodgy overtaking/forcing myself in between the cars so just sat with the traffic and didn’t get past everyone till pretty much back in the 100 zone :o(. Cruised into Nimmitabel to wait for the others then led the way back into Polo Flat for another fuel up.

A bit of a stand around and chat before saying our goodbyes and heading off for Canberra, I sat up the back of the pack for this.

We bored our way back to Canberra and one of the roads I usually take to get home was closed due to some car show thing being on so I got a bit lost around the parliamentry zone before finally finding my way onto Commonwealth Avenue and then home, got in about 1:30pm.

A weekend at home! Yes, it’s true…

Well when I started up this blog thing I told myself I would update it at least once a week. Now usually I am off outta town every weekend, but this weekend, I spent my second weekend for the year at home. Yes, at home. Not having my bike may have contributed to this somewhat.

After the trip to the supers where my bike decided to shed some weight, PC had offered to fix it all up properly for me - so Friday I dropped the 9 round to his place and took possession of the zeddy… but the zeddy has a totally shagged chain so wasn’t going very far on that…

So the furtherest I went was either Belconnen Mall, Super Cheap Auto in Belconnen or Maggies in Kippax (I’m not sure which is furtherest away lol).

I spent a lot of time on the couch. It has been a loooooong time since I spent that much time sitting in front of the telly (sitting on my arse outside with my book is a totally different thing…) bit rude to sit outside with my book when I have company though 

OK so I don’t really have much to say here other than it was a lovely weekend, very relaxing and well there is more to say but I won’t say it here… you gotta catch me in person for that tale!

And the 9 is looking beautiful now… ventura rack attached properly - indicators and my iron butt plate backing thingo are back on… the number plate is no longer cable tied to the ventura rack… in fact there are no visible cable ties! (there may be invisible ones but well they’re invisble). And now, thanks to Thommo, I have high beam again!!! Some dodgy wiring, which he un-dodgied! Champion!

OK that’s enough dribble about my weekend on the couch…

This coming weekend I will resume normal transmission (i.e. riding)… next weekend at home is scheduled for ANZAC day long weekend when I am banned from riding.

:o)