FarRide East #16

FarRide East #16 - to Euston NSW (on the Murray River)

I was even more unorganised than usual on this one… Kimmie had messaged me and said she had a spare bed in a cabin which prompted me to register.  It was some 700km to Euston from home, original plan was to leave after work but scrapped that and took the Friday off 

Eventually on the Thursday before kick off I came up with a plan - and I mostly stuck to it!  Roughly, it was Canberra -> Gunning -> Crookwell -> Boorowa -> Young -> Temora -> Ardlethan arriving there by dark o’clock.  Then down to Jerilderie for the night then out through Conargo -> Deniliquin -> Moulamein, down to Swan Hill and over to Euston.

Friday 27 May 2011

I got up and waited and waited and waited for midday to roll around… finally it did so loaded the bike up and headed for the servo 400m up the road.

Start

Got fuel and my start docket and headed for the Barton Highway.  6.5km in I realised I had forgotten to note my odo for the start so I pulled over and wrote it down (1151). 

I headed out of town on the Federal and took the Sutton Road exit - I went to Sutton for the FarRally but beyond that - it has been a long time since I was out that way! I headed towards Gundaroo and looked over at the old rickety bridge we used to ride across, through Gundaroo and out to Gunning.  I did my first ever ride out of Canberra on this road! Stopped at Gunning for the loos then out the other side of town and took the turn for Crookwell.

It is such beautiful countryside out here! Had a bike pass coming the other way and that was about it, I had the road to myself.  At Grabben Gullen there was a sign pointing left for Boorowa, so I pulled over for a map consult - nope that wasn’t the road I was looking for, so I continued on to Crookwell then turned onto the correct road.

I can’t believe I haven’t done this road before!!!!!!!!

There was one 55km/h corner in which I hit a huge bump which took me way off line and up straight and towards the wrong side of the road but we recovered and continued on our merry way 

Pretty much had the road to myself again and it was just magic.  Bit rough in places but that’s OK.  Noted the little town of Rugby as well as turn off’s for Reids Flat and Rye Park (I think…. noted for future spellings anyway).  Before long I pulled into Boorowa where I stopped at the servo and NOT at the rest area.

Boorowa

A quick break at Boorowa and then I headed for Murringo, Young and into Temora.  Few more cars on the road now but that was okay, I was just cruising and enjoying the countryside.

Stopped for fuel at Temora - one thing I hadn’t planned was fuel stops! So I kind of made it up on the go and filled up way more often than I needed to *just in case*.  From Temora I headed out west towards the Newell Highway - late afternoon in the countryside is just beautiful, yes? 

Hit the Newell Highway and turned left - the sun was really going down now and it was starting to get a bit cold (at least I had managed to ride my plan so far!! lol).  I pulled up in Ardlethan and added a jumper as well as swapping to the clear visor.  Back to the highway and into Narrandera where it was pretty dark and I was freezing.  Filled up and parked the bike and went inside for dinner.

Dinner

OK for some reason, photobucket won’t remember that I rotated my pictures…

‘Home made Rissoles’ with mash and gravy together with a coffee (mistake) - yum! Was chatting with a truckie while I was eating - he asked where I was travelling to that night, I said Jerilderie.  He said that there is a motel next to the BP on the other side of town that is the best one.  He said he stayed there with his wife one time, it was cheap, clean and comfortable, older styled rooms, but very clean, apparently his wife is very picky.  I thanked him for the recommendation.

Apparently a good home cooked meal is good for keeping you warm - I headed back out onto the highway toasty warm and didn’t feel cold until about 70km down the road.

This was also my first night ride on the new bike and OMG the headlights are AWESOME.  The low beam lights up the sides of the road *really* well and the high beam is really good as well.  Best headlights I have ever had on a motorcycle. 

I love the Newell at night with all the big trucks lit up… I think I was a bit early though as I didn’t see too many this time.

Got into Jerilderie about 8pm I guess.  I pulled up across the road from the motel that the truckie had recommended and debated.  I wasn’t really tired and whilst I was cold, I knew it would be colder in the morning.  BUT here was a motel with a good recommendation… would I find one in Finley (46km) Tocumwal (76km) or Deniliquin (100km)???? I decided the sensible option would be to grab a room at the motel in Jerilderie… so I fuelled up (again!) and then got myself a room.

The truckie was right - it was a great motel! $68 for a single, very clean and comfortable and Jean (owner) was most lovely and helpful as well.  Highly recommended!

I was in bed by 9pm with my alarm set for 5am… and then I lay there… remembering why I don’t drink coffee after midday usually (and wondering why V does not have this effect on me).

Saturday 28 May 2011

I eventually got to sleep around midnight I think… and my alarm went off at 5am.  I jumped out of bed, turned the heater up to 24 degrees and hopped back into bed for another 20 minutes.  Eventually got into the shower, had coffee and packed up, ready to roll a little after 6am.

Just a hint of daylight on the horizon...

I set off and very quickly hit the fog.  It wasn’t too bad, could see maybe 5 metres in front of me??? But the pace was down a little bit.  Eventually a truck caught up to me, so I pulled over and let him pass before pulling back out behind him - was much better having a big truck to follow!  Unfortunately at Finley he went straight and I turned right for Deniliquin.

Daylight was finally coming along when I pulled over for these pics… it was pretty freakin’ cold!

Sunrise

Sunrise

I got into Deniliquin, got fuel and decided that I was not going to go any further until I had a coffee.  I had seen a sign advertising that Deni had a maccas so I set off in search of the Golden Arches… on the way I spotted Fred’s 4WD place

Hi Fred!

In Fred's window

I wondered if that was Sir Al’s SP1 peering forlornly out at me.

I found maccas and also found Chicky and Kimmie and CharlieB

Maccas Deniliquin

So I had my coffee and sausage and egg mcmuffin and hash brown whilst discussing routes with them.

Chicky, being very familiar with the local roads, went over my proposed route with me and confirmed that the road through Moulamein to Kyalite was very good, the dirt way was very bad, and I would be much better off going through Balranald than crossing over into Victoria. So this is what I did.

Chicky left first and then I did, with Kimmie and CharlieB still getting ready.  I turned off at Pretty Pine and soon caught up to Chicky so followed him through Moulamein, Kyalite and into Balranald.

I quite liked the road out through here, it was very quiet (just how I like it), and pretty with lots of stuff to look at (okay mainly trees and stuff but I like that too).

At Balranald, Chicky pulled into a park and I went and got fuel - I was a fair bit short on kays, so wanted to keep moving.  I got fuel and continued towards Euston - more bikes around now! and turned off for Robinvale.  I figured out that I needed to head down the road for 20km and then turn around… about 18km down the road I found the *perfect* place to turn around (I don’t much like turning around) so I did… and then when I got back to Euston I was 4km short… so laps of Euston it was 

I pulled in with plenty of time, and there were already so many bikes every where.  So many new faces and so many familiar faces - it gets hard even trying to say hello to all the people you do know, let alone meeting the new ones!!! So I apologise to anyone I didn’t get a chance to say hello to.

I didn’t get a pic with all the bikes unfortunately - it was a pretty impressive sight though!

We did the check-in thing and then lunch (I had a burger and it was pretty spectacular) and Russ made a welcome speech which was good :o) 

After lunch more catching up with people and Tiger Bill finally talked me into buying his last hat so now I will fit in with the crowd at the Border :D  And then it was out to the bikes to wave off those who were going (though heaps had already left by then) and to stand around talking… as you do.  Then… this is the only problem with meeting for lunch and staying over… there is a whole empty afternoon.  Chatted with the others staying for a bit before heading back to the cabin for a cup of tea with Kimmie and then a bit of a nanna nap before dinner.

We headed back up to the Euston Club about 6pm and chatted away until dinner time (roast lamb with roast potatoes and gravy - yum!) and then it was time for dessert (when you have a half size dinner you get to have dessert… it’s in the rules, I swear).

Apple strudel and something something

It was very tasty.

More chatting away until it was time for bed.

Sunday 29 May 2011

Given that I was sleeping on couch cushions on the floor (I had decided that this was the better option than climbing up into the Top Bunk of Terror) I had a surprisingly good sleep.  I woke up to Kimmie and CharlieB getting ready to head out, and eventually got up to say goodbye but then….. Kimmie had a flat battery!  Neither Kimmie nor CharlieB had ever push started a bike before so I gave Kimmie a quick lesson on what she was to do and CharlieB and I pushed… and pushed… and pushed.  Blackbirds are freakin’ heavy! lol.

Kimmie then went and found Rob and Diesel and… (oh dear I have forgotten a name), who eventually got Kimmie’s bike going.  They set off, then I finished making my coffee and went over and chatted with them for a bit before deciding it was time to head off myself 

It wasn’t as cold as Saturday morning so I set off towards Balranald in the early morning light and it was quite pleasant.  I needed fuel at Balranald so stopped and when I came back out Tony K was there next to my bike, he had seen it and pulled in to say gidday so I followed him over to Hay.

I had forgotten just how beautiful it is out there.  Riding through in the early morning sun and the emptiness… just beautiful.  Until we hit the fog and then it was C-C-C-COLD!!!!

At Hay I saw Kimmie & CharlieB’s bikes at the Caltex so I pulled in there, whilst Tony pulled in at the Mobil next door.  I got fuel and said gidday to Kimmie but then headed next door where Charlie was just getting ready to head out and I had breakfast with Tony K whilst we consulted the map.

Breakfast of Champions

Conversation went like this (roughly):

Mel: I’m going to Narrandera.

Tony: I’m going to West Wyalong.

Mel (pouts): I want to go to West Wyalong too.

Tony: well why don’t you!

So I did! Rolled outta Hay and turned left at the roundabout… I have never actually been through the town of Hay before, only ever to the roadhouse on the highway so it was an adventure… and then out the other side of Hay there is *another* Hay Plan! Magic. 

It was 260km through to West Wyalong and we did it without stopping (not something I would normally do but with kicking the smokes, I don’t feel the need to stop as much anymore  ) At around the 210km mark I started to get a little bit sore… but it went away!

Got fuel and had a bit of a break then headed over to Wyalong where we pulled up at the Temora turn off to say goodbye (Tony was headed for Gilgandra next).

I rolled through the town of Barmedman (cool little town) and then I decided that I had to have a pic of the new bike next to a grain silo (I blame Ghosty! lol).

Near Temora NSW

And then I just cruised through Temora and Stockingbingal and into Murrumburrah where I stopped for lunch.

Breakfast for lunch

After Harden my ride turned to shite a little bit… I had gotten too used to having the roads all to myself and from Harden to Home I encountered quite a few idiots.  Annoying but what can you do (overtake them.  Which I did.)

It was funny - I got home and saw Glen’s pics… looks like I followed their route for the return journey… it all looked strangely familiar….! lol.

Learned that (a) West Wyalong is a tankful away from home (fuel light came on just as I crossed the border) and (b) my dodgy little $25 Mp3 player will last a full weekend of riding 

Now… I heard a rumour that the next one is going to be *really* far away…. 

FarRally RTM#01 - The Garter Belt Rally

The lead upWhen the talk started up about the rally I was excited - it sounded like a hell of a fun challenge.  But the date… it clashed with the Barry Sheene Festival of Speed! But the opportunity of being a participant in our first FarRally was too great to pass up - so when the time came I registered and waited for confirmation that I could be a starter… and I was!

I received my rally pack and loose planning was started.  Having never done anything remotely like this before I didn’t really know how to go about it but started by looking at the spelling section, how many of each letter I would need and possibilities of where I might obtain such letters.  It seemed that I needed a ridiculous amount of I and R which I found quite hard to come by.  But my Equal Distance Locations did my head in the most, well only the first one really - Jindabyne - my initial thought was to go straight there but then I was worried about the weather being cold etc etc etc. 

I decided the best thing to do would be to take a little ride one day, take some pics, and time how long it took, to give me a good idea of how long it would take me to cover some distance stopping to take all these pics.

I was going to Tintaldra for a weekend with some friends, staying two nights, so instead of going out riding with my friends I planned a little 400km loop for my timing run.  This was the weekend before the FarRally, nothing like leaving things til the last minute (I wasn’t even sure which bike I would be taking before that!).  My ride took me out through Jingellic, Holbrook, Culcairn, Walbundrie, Rand, Burrumbuttock, Jindera, Albury, Tallangatta and back to Tintaldra.  I found myself being a bit slack and not taking as many pics as I could but going out to Rand was good as I found a lot of points in that little town (including a much needed R and D!).  It took me 6 hours to cover the 400km, including 5 hours riding time and an hour in “breaks” (I had been a little bit social the night before so wasn’t feeling 100%).

practice makes perfect, so they say....

Finally I worked out a plan where I could comfortably get five words (FLOOD, MARSBAR, BENDER, TOWTRUCK and DIPSTIG), visit my ED locations and get to Wellington in good time, getting a lot of the other points in along the way.  I submitted my words on Tuesday afternoon and that was that.

Wednesday before the FarRally I decided to get an early night, went to bed at 9:00pm.  And proceeded to lie there thinking “I could go here, I could go there” at 10:00pm I got back up and onto Google maps and started working on a new plan.  My sister came home at 11:45pm to find me still madly muttering at Google maps!

Thursday I scrapped that plan and came up with yet another one. 

Thursday night 10:00pm and the first curveball came… get three extra locations for a huge amount of points.  Back to Google maps and I plotted out a course that would see me still get all the other points I was hoping to get and also get the first curveball points.  It was going to be hectic but I thought manageable.  It was about 1:00am before I finally went to bed, where I then lay thinking about all the things I had forgotten to do.

Friday 1 April 2011 - Day 1 FarRally

Friday morning the alarm went off at about 5:00am and I scrapped the Curveball idea!!  I slightly modified the previous ride plan slightly and decided to go with that. 

I woke up with one very annoying headache, so took a couple of paracetamol and had a coffee and finished getting all my stuff together (including my rider ID!!! Nearly forgot that one), got everything on the bike, parked it curbside and waited for 7am.  It finally arrived and I somehow managed to jam my rider ID in near my odo for the start pic, did the other seat thing, my ‘text’ in and off to the servo 200m up the road for fuel and receipt.  And we were underway! 

Start

It was pretty chilly and thankfully there was enough daylight for the tinted visor.  Rolled out of Canberra and onto the Federal Highway, first stop Sutton for an S.  I didn’t like the “Sutton” sign (nowhere to park) so continued past the school, kept that in mind, and then found “Sutton Rural Supplies” that’ll do so a quick pic and back to the highway up to Collector for an R, and up towards Goulburn for another R at Run-O-Waters.  I was a bit concerned that Run-O-Waters was only a locality, but the internet had told me it had a population of 650 so I figured that was good enough.  Actually I expect the highway used to run through the town, but since they built the Goulburn bypass it doesn’t go there anymore.  It wasn’t a ‘directional’ sign so I figured it would be acceptable!

Into Goulburn to the first servo to use the bathroom and buy a marsbar and just have a little break as the headache was still bugging me then slabbed it back to Canberra Motorcycle Centre to try and get an FJR brochure.  (In planning I had found all the Yamaha dealers in towns that I might be passing through and thought about calling ahead to see if they sold FJR’s and had brochures but I wasn’t sure that this would fit in with the spirit of the game so I decided to just wing it… and I decided CMC was the most likely so made sure to come back to Canberra after they opened at 8:30am!).  I walked in and found a salesperson.  We briefly chatted about how cold it was and then the conversation went like this:

Me: “do you sell FJR’s”

Him: “Yes”.

Me: “do you have a brochure I could have?”

Him: “Sure, are you looking at upgrading, or convincing someone else to upgrade?”.

Me: “errrrrm, no.  (inside I said HELL NO hehe)”.

I briefly explained to him what I was doing and then he asked how many people were participating and I said about 23 - he became a bit alarmed as he only had two brochures left after giving me mine! But I assured him that I thought only two of us were from Canberra so his brochure collection was probably fairly safe.

CMC Mitchell

I was going to get fuel at the Caltex around the corner but there was a queue!! So ducked up to the Gungahlin Cemetary for a pic there and then into Lyneham for my second fuel receipt.

Through Canberra and onto the Monaro Highway, way later than I had thought I’d be there.  Oh well.  Michelago for an O, then Bredbo for the bathroom again as well as a B and an O, Polo Flat for a P and another break, the headache was coming back with a vengeance now.  Through Cooma, keeping my eyes peeled for a CBA/ANZ branch or anything else that would get me points but nada.  Berridale for a B and an E then out to Dalgety for a D and I found my first rural fire station there but it was before the 6 hours.  Bugger.  Got held up at some roadworks heading to Jindabyne, and where I was stopped at the red light, across from me was another rural fire station, looked at the time, bugger, still about 15 minutes too early (yes it took me that long to get to Jindabyne!!!!!!).  Oh well, into Jindabyne, fuel and another marsbar, an E photo, and a ride around the shopping centre looking for anything useful (it was after the 6 hours by now) but nothing.  Another rest and some more paracetamol and I continued on, hoping to spot a boat out in the lake but nothing!  As I was heading up the hill towards the dam I looked down and there were a couple of little boats tucked away there but nowhere to pull up, as soon as I found somewhere I could pull up I couldn‘t see the boats anymore.  Went into one of the little villages on the other side but couldn‘t see the boats from there either.  Bugger.  Continued on.

Back through Berridale (no stop) and into Adaminaby for an A and for my first pub shot.  No police car was at home at the police station.  I decided that a giant trout could be defined as a statue so pulled up in front of it and took my photo, walked up the road a fair way (I don’t know how far 100m actually is so I just guessed, hope it was good enough!), and just had a bit more of a rest. 

Up ahead was one of my favourite bits of road, a section of the Snowy Mountains Highway, affectionately known as “The Awesome Road”.  I had a good run through there, though the second set of tight bends I was stuck behind a 4WD… grrr.  Oh well, continued on, past the Kiandra turnoff, it was a bit strange to be going straight there, I don’t know that I have ever gone straight from there!  Down the hill to Talbingo and got a T and an O and the police car was home there so got that pic as well.  No boats in the water either!  Another rest (this was getting ridiculous!) and onto Tumut - only about three hours behind schedule now!  Going past Lake Blowering and there is just this vast expanse of empty water… and all these cars coming the other way towing their boats.  But finally! I noticed at the waters edge two little tinnies IN THE WATER! YOU BEAUTY!  Dodgy u-turn (as I couldn’t see the boats anymore when I had finally pulled up) and I got my photo (and nearly got run over as I was so excited to take my pic that I forgot about traffic *forehead slap*).  Took two pictures just in case and I really hope that our wonderful RM can see the little boats! (They were a fair way off and very small). 

There are boats in the water at the edge there, I swear!

Continued on, and I was very, very pumped to have gotten my boat pic.  By the time I got to Tumut the headache had finally mostly gone away but I was feeling pretty tired.  Got a T photo at the Tumut Boys Club (no boys around though) and then got the Courthouse.  Got fuel and across the road from the servo was a rural fire shed AND a railway station.  I already had the courthouse so I got a shot of the railway station as well.  It was suddenly hot (I had pretty much been cold all day up until then, up at around 1500m in the mountains it was freakin freezing!)  So I lost the jumper and neck warmer.

My plan had been to go to Gundagai for an I and a G and to go to the Dog on the Tuckerbox for my statue… but I knew where I could pick up those letters and I already had the statue so I skipped Gundagai and got my G at Adelong instead, as well as a newsagent.  When I stopped for my G photo two locals (almost) came running, wanting to talk, asked where I was going, I said Narrandera, they said “oh you want to go this way” telling me some way that wasn’t where I was wanting to go.  “I have to go to Culcairn first” I said.  “Oh you’re on a run are you” they said.  They left me alone after that and wished me a safe ride.

Onto the Hume Highway and I got my D creek, DENNIS CREEK which I had prepared earlier (well found the weekend before).  Then into Tarcutta for a T and an A then Holbrook for a K and fuel.  It was dusk by this stage and I was feeling a bit dodgy about my plan….

I had a bit of a break as I was feeling pretty tired, a packet of chips (no pies at the servo *cry*) and a V, put the clear visor on, and the jumper and neck warmer came back out.  I got into Culcairn and got my C and N pictures in the dark.  I decided here that I was going to scrap the next part of my plan and just head for Narrandera (where I had a room booked) up the Olympic rather than going to Walbundrie/Rand/Daysdale/Lockhart/Urana like I had originally planned.  I have been out that way in the day time and seen some pretty impressive road kill and yeah, didn’t want anything to do with that.  I rang the guy at the motel and arranged for him to leave the key out for me and set off towards Wagga.  It has been quite a while since I have done any night riding and it took me a while to settle in… but once I did it was quite enjoyable (though I’m still glad I skipped the other bit).  I stopped at Uranquinty for a U and continued on til I hit the Sturt Highway and then got a tow off a truck into Narrandera (he was setting a pretty nice pace).  I had been beating myself up a bit as missing those towns meant I was throwing away two of my five words, a big hit for points, but then I got a grip on myself, this is supposed to be fun, so I just dumped that out of my head and got back to enjoying the ride. Got into Narrandera about 9:45pm, got fuel and my final marsbar for the day, thought about getting some dinner but headed straight to the motel and had a marsbar for dinner instead!

When I got to the motel I parked the bike and as soon as I hopped off I heard a voice behind me which startled me a bit - there were three drunk boys there.  I took off my helmet and said something in reply and that was when they realised I was female - then it was all “darling” this and so on… I had a little bit of a chat with them before making my escape to my room and getting out of the leather… and then I remembered! Photos for the rest bonus!!!!!!  So I got my camera, got back out to the bike and thankfully the drunk boys had disappeared so I took a photo of my bike and of my odo and went to bed, after going on the internet briefly.

Saturday 2 April - day 2 FarRally

I had a smaller day planned for Saturday, as I had thought I would be getting my boat photo out at Lake Wyangan near Griffith and also picking up whatever I couldn’t get the day before in terms of points.  With how far behind schedule I was the day before I had planned to leave early just in case but as usual I got up too early, so had plenty of time and then before I knew it I was late! LOL.  Oh well, at least my headache was completely gone, even if I was feeling pretty sore everywhere else!  (ride fitness is sooooo down).  Left the motel after taking a pic of the odo and my bike, stopped at the Shell for a Cherry Ripe purchase (and got a very strange look off the lady when I asked for a receipt, doesn’t everyone want a receipt for their cherry ripe that they buy at 7am?? Hahaha).

Just as I was about to put my helmet on I got a text message “open the silver one” oh yeah curveball 2, I had forgotten about that!  It was hard reading it in the semi-darkness but I figured out I needed to get a garter.  The way I read it I wasn’t sure if I could buy one or not but decided to keep an eye out for a bridal or lingerie shop… yeah right! Hahaha.

Headed up to Leeton in the early morning light and it was cold but beautiful, it is so lovely to be on the road at that time of day and NOT be going to work!!  I stopped at Yanco first for a grain silo, water tower and “Y” business photo (Yanco Service Centre). 

Grain silos at Yanco

 In Leeton I got an L (to make up for my missed Lockhart one) and cruised the main street looking for a chemist and a newsagent.  Got the chemist but no newsagent.  Onto Widgelli for an I and then Yoogali for an I and then I pulled up to have a smoke and a V and swap over my visors.  I was heading to Rankins Springs from there and wasn’t really sure where the turn off was, continued into the edge of Griffith and then found the right turn off and off we went  It was a lovely ride up to the Mid-Western Highway, the sun was shining, the road was rolling away in front of me with some lovely big sweepers and hardly anybody else about.  Heaven. 

It was while I was riding this stretch that I realised I had made a very stupid mistake and blown my rest bonus.  I was supposed to take a pic of my bike somewhere that said Narrandera not just of my bike with random darkness behind it!! Dammit!  Oh well.

Rankins Springs I stopped for fuel and got a cherry ripe.  I asked for a receipt and she had to hand write me one!  We had a bit of a chat and I explained a bit about what I was doing and she said “oh a fellow was here waiting for me to open up this morning, he came from Darlington Point then to Goolgowi before coming here, he must be one of you lot as you wouldn’t normally go that way” and I agreed that was highly likely, wondering who it might have been.  Just before the servo I had noted a rural fire shed, so I rode across the road for an R photo, back to the fire shed for that photo then about 10 metres up the road for an S photo and a drink and a smoke. 

Rankins Springs RFS

Passing through a little town of Weethalle and there was another rural fire station - beauty!  Two down, two to go.

Into West Wyalong for a newsagent pic (I think, or it was a chemist! It’s all a bit blurry now!) then Wyalong for a W pic and a newsagent (before I realised I already had enough newsagent pics!!).

From there a cruise up the Newell into Forbes for an F photo, both the chemists I was unable to park out the front of, but I found a café so parked in front of that and had a burger and a coke and got Combo B (though there wasn’t anyone around to take my pic for me so it is a self-portrait!). 

Combo B - at Forbes

I then remembered about the second curveball and re-read the instructions and realised it was to be done within 5 hours and the 5 hours was just up.  Bugger.  Oh well.  Didn’t see any likely shops anyway. 

While I was having lunch I was pondering my map and LO!  Another “D” town magically appeared on my map!  And only a very short distance out of Wellington.  Dripstone.  I was really hoping it wasn’t just a locality, but it was only about a 20km detour so I decided if I got to Molong and still had plenty of time up my sleeve I would go check it out.

I got fuel on my way out of Forbes (and another cherry ripe) the driveway attendant there is also a rider and wanted to chat chat chat but I had to go!  I went out to Eugowra, a way that I haven’t been before and it was really nice, I really enjoyed the stretch up through there.  Just big sweepers and hardly any other cars (a couple of horse drawn carriages though!!!!!).  Nothing of any points value here, so I continued on for Cudal.

Stopped in Cudal outside a building labelled “Fire Station”.  The lettering looked about as old as I am!  It didn’t saw “Rural” but I figured you don’t get much more rural that Cudal so it’ll do!!  Quick smoke and lost the jumper and neck sock here, it was getting hot!!!  (I had switched to the summer gloves at Eugowra).

Onto Molong where I got an M picture and then a chemist shot and another marsbar.  A consult of the clock said that I did have time to go to Dripstone so I set off up the highway, found the turn off and went up this dinky little road and the first thing I saw was the Dripstone Rural Fire Service!  I kept going, there were a few houses but the only things I saw that said “Dripstone” was the controls for the rail crossing and another shed that just said “Dripstone”.  I did another dodgy u-turn and tried to park in front of the shed (there was already a ute there) but the gravel was *really* dodgy so I parked just on the other side of the rail crossing and took a pic with the shed in the background and then ran up to the shed to get a pic that would definitely show “Dripstone”. 

Dripstone

Back to the Rural Fire Shed for a quick pic and then back to the highway and down to the Wellington Caves Golf Club for my Golf Club pic (and to complete my ride record for the Dripstone pics, I was parked a bit dodgily for both pics so didn’t want to hang around in case a car came along).  And I am pretty sure I attributed that D to BENDER instead of FLOOD *forehead slap* which will mean I still miss out on two words!!!! Hahaha oh well. 

Got my ride record stamped and then followed Grey Gentry and someone else who I can’t remember now into the meet point at Wellington where Paul and Clint and a bunch of others were there already.  I couldn’t stop grinning!!!!!!! That was just such a great feeling, knowing I was a finisher, it was almost as awesome as when I did my 1600 and Davo was there to cheer me on and sign my witness form at the end.  The others all rolled in until all were accounted for.  The bikes all got lined up and pics were taken, Paul did some speeches and we all hung around talking for a bit before heading off to our accommodations for the evening (well those of us who were hanging around).

My arrival

Bikes at Check-in

FarRally - The After Party

After checking in at the motel and having a shower we all converged on the local RSL.  A couple of drinks and much talking over the FarRally and catching up, lots of laughs and some awesome food (even the Mystery Meat dish was fantastic!) Paul gave some excellent speeches, the jokes were read out, lots of laughing but funnily enough… just about all of us were fading fast, I think I was back at the motel by 9pm.  I had a phone call from a friend back in Canberra to see how I had gone, so had a bit of a debrief before turning in for the night.

The Return Home

I woke up stupid early but was determined to have a sleep in so I stayed in bed.  I heard either Tiger Bill or Nev leave (not sure which one, but they were both gone when I got up!).  I got up when Bazz, Marls and Grey Gentry were leaving, said goodbye then eventually got myself sorted, and after having a lecture from the motel owner on the Perils of Smoking (I assured him I was well aware of how stupid a habit it is) I eventually got away, I’m not sure what time, all my clocks were still on daylight savings time!  It was a glorious morning, didn’t even start with the jumper or neck warmer or winter gloves. 

Years ago I got a map of South East Australia (NSW, VIC and a tiny bit of SA and QLD) which I stuck up on my wall and started highlighting all the roads I had ridden.  I decided for my ride home to try and do some roads that I hadn’t done before so shortly after leaving Wellington I turned left towards Mumbil (what a town name!).  This road also went to Dripstone and on this road there was the perfect “Dripstone” sign! I had to laugh.  I went through Mumbil and Stuart Town, cute little towns! And then at Eucheera (sp?) I turned off for Molong.  A bumpy old road but a great detour from the highway, I will remember that one!  From Molong I went through to Manildra, another cute little town that I hadn’t been through before and into Cudal that way.  The normal way into Canowindra and Cowra where I stopped for lunch at the pub ($15.00 for a very average chicken schnitzel) and fuel and then I headed out on the road to Young and turned off for a little town of Murringo.  Another great little detour!  I saw the cows ahead sign and thought this was probably a road that I would need to slow down on and sure enough a little bit further along I came across the herd of cows with the farmer herding them down the road on his quad bike.  Most of them were along the fenceline on the right hand side of the road with just a couple on the other side.  One was crossing in front of me, as I came to a near-stand still it just stopped and looked at me for a bit before ambling across the road.  It was such a look! LOL.

<3 Rural NSW

Then into Boorowa for a little break and then home to Canberra.

In Summary

That was just so much fun.  The planning, the putting it into action, the excitement of completing little tasks and getting to the end with everyone else, it was all just such a buzz!!!!  And on top of that, particularly Saturday, it was just such a lovely ride.

A lot was learned, I am a bit disappointed that I missed out on so many of the big bonuses but at the end of the day, when I started I was going to be happy with just finishing and I definitely finished and even got a lot of the other points along the way.

A massive thank you to Paul and Allison for putting it all together, and everyone else who helped out.

I wish the next one was on 1 May!!!!!

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)

A Different Kind of Day

Sunday 23 January 2011… I had arranged to meet Mick and Carl at Weston Creek Maccas at 11:00am and we were going to ride out to Wee Jasper for a swim then probably into Yass for a late lunch. 

I was worried about the dirt sections, especially with the rain we had the night before but decided to give it a go, I could always turn tail if I decided to.

I have had the last week off work with a sore back, and I thought I would be okay for a ride.  WRONG! I filled up at the servo near my house and by the time I got around the second roundabout and onto William Hovell Drive I was in PAIN and ready to turn around and go home.  The thought of a cheeseburger kept me going though, and I arrived at Maccas, Carl was already there.

I got my cheeseburger and shake and found Carl and told him I was going home.  We hung around and Mick turned up and then Mick suggested perhaps we could go somewhere closer, swimming can be therapeutic?  We discussed either Casurina Sands or Uriarra and settled on Casurina Sands.

Carl decided to call in to see Yedi on the way so Mick and I set off and we were soon caught up in a parade of Toranas out on Cotter Road.  Zip zip zip Mick went round them all and was gone… I went around a few but not all of them and pulled in to Casurina Sands in the middle of a pack of Toranas (Some of them were very pretty).  I also got overtaken by Super Squid! This dude in shorts and tshirts but he had a fluro vest on that was riding up, when he came up behind me it looked like a super hero cape or something.

I couldn’t find Mick but figured he’d turn up, so slapped on some sunscreen and had a smoke and then he turned up.  We picked a spot of shade for our gear and then into the water… lovely.  A swim turned out to be a really good thing so hung out in the water for ages before my book started calling me so set up in the sun on my towel with my book and just chilled…

Carl turned up eventually and we chatted for a bit before he went for a swim, just when I was starting to think it was time to jump back in the water, Carl was done and decided to head out to Moonrock for a coffee and then home.  Mick and I decided it was too good where we were so went for another swim, Diana and her friend Phil turned up and we had a bit of a chat, then it was just more swimming and ages lazing about on the grass.

We didn’t leave until about 8:00pm and it was good timing, just light enough for my tinted visor not to be a problem 

With a total of 60km for the day it was not much of a ride (which suited me just fine) but the swimming and the relaxing… perfect 

Search for a memory card and RTE at Corryong

On Carl’s return from our summer adventure, just outside of Khancoban his camera had fallen from his tank bag, and he didn’t realise until his return home that his memory card had also fallen out, of course containing all the pictures from our trip.  Mick and Carl were planning to ride to Khancoban on Saturday to try and find it… am I in? YES!  Farriders were also having a ride to eat at Corryong so I planned to ride to Khancoban with the boys then continue on my own over to Corryong to meet up with the Farriders.

The forecast all week had been for rain so I double-bagged everything and made sure my wet weather gear was packed at the top… and awoke Saturday morning to the birds chirping and blue skies! Overnight the weather forecast for Cabramurra had gone from “rain” to “mostly sunny”.  Excellent.

I had not had much fun on the Crim through the tight stuff that we did on our trip and I was curious - was it me, or was it the bike?  I decided to take the 7 for a run, which Gos kindly returned to me on the Friday night.

I was a little later than my estimated leave time of 8am but arrived at Williamsdale on time, I fuelled up and the boys arrived while I was paying.

A beautiful day for a ride - at Williamsdale

Before long we were underway, with Carl guiding us at a sensible pace through Cooma and then onto the road to Adaminaby where I took the lead, pulling into the Ampol covered in bugs - the 7 ain’t clean anymore!  We grabbed some fuel and headed over to the bakery for some breakfast.  We got chatting to three people who had pulled up, from the Phillip Island and Districts Ride Group (or something like that).  There was a lady on a ZX6R and we had a good chat about being a female motorcyclist and all the times that people assume just because we are female, we should be on the back!

The Awesome Road was calling so before long we were underway again - and as soon as I hit the yellow lines I started feeling panicky - OK so it is probably me, not the Crim!  Though the 7 is much nicer to ride at a panicky level… and before long I was rolling through the bends at double the posted limit thinking I could go much harder… the 7 is very confidence inspiring.

A quick break at the sign for my facebook photo album

Kiandra

And Mick had a quick splash in a little river/creek but didn’t bring back any water for me (haha!).  We continued on and very quickly the boys were out of sight and I just cruised through with the 7.  We had decided to stop at Tooma Dam instead of Tumut Ponds for our smoke break so I suspect the boys had been there for quite a while by the time I finally rolled in… oh well lucky they are patient people! I had a really nice ride through there, quite the reminder of just how much I love the 7.

Tooma Dam (the boys and their bikes are behind the rock)

We continued on to Khancoban and Carl pulled up at the appropriate spot.  Very quickly Mick found the memory card - but it was a bit squished and all the inside bits were missing.  We kept looking and found a few more bits of the plastic but none of the internals.  So the photos are all gone - but I am super impressed that we found the memory card at all! (it was just out of town in the grass on the edge of the road).

We grabbed some sandwiches from JJ’s Alpine Cafe (the one at the servo), I had a “pizza toastie” and I highly recommend it - it actually tasted like pizza!  We took our sandwiches out to Khancoban Pondage where we had been swimming the week before and I had a quick swim before lunch and then Mick and I had an awesome swim before it was time for the boys to head back to Canberra and for me to head over to Corryong.

It felt a little bit lonely to be riding on my own (!) but before long I pulled up outside the pub where Ray advised me that I could park on the footpath in the shade but no, I was just checking in… said hi to everyone who was already there then got my room sorted and out of the leather and then settled down to catch up with everyone (and left my camera in my room…!)

Eventually it was dinner time and I had the “Corryong Chicken” which was actually really nice (and no cockroaches!!! haha) and then Russ and Jeltje joined us, it was so great to see them there.  The ‘beer and bullshit’ flowed along quite nicely and all too quickly it was time to head off to bed.

Sunday dawned bright and early… unlike me! haha.  I got out of bed around 8:15am and was ready to roll about an hour later.  I decided to get fuel at Khancoban in case I got hungry and wanted another pizza toastie, but I wasn’t hungry when I got there so just fuel, a smoke and it was time to hit the mountains.

Now, I’m not sure how many people I have told of the sense of “peace” that I get when it is just me, my bike and the open country (usually only places like out on the Nullarbor etc)… but I actually got this… I was having such a great ride, the corners were flowing nicely, the 7 was singing along beautifully, the sun was shining, the trees were pretty and the flowers stunning.

I had planned to stop at Tumut Ponds on my way back as I had noticed how full the dam was when we went over on Saturday - I don’t think I have ever seen it this full!

Tumut Ponds

Last time we were here, that island wasn't an island ;)

And I took a photo of the 7 because he is so pretty too :o)

The 7 at Tumut Ponds

But - ALAS!  I geared up, got on, turned the key and…. nothing.  I jiggled it madly and…. nothing.  I spent a while sitting in the sun in my full gear trying to get something before stripping it all back off and pulling off the bag, and seats to check the fuses, nope they’re all fine.  I moved him to a better spot and kept trying, wiggling all the wires I could reach etc but nothing.  Damn.  Of course there is no phone service at Tumut Ponds and a stack of riders had come past while I was still geared up doing the jiggling thing and then no one for ages.

Eventually I spied a 4WD coming down the hill so I waved them down, and they had been stopping to take some pics of the dam anyway.  I got a ride with them up to Cabramurra, they were a lovely family, on their way to Tathra, so they were going to check out the pub for dinner that night on my recommendation (I can’t recall the food there, but the view from the deck!).  There were a stack of riders at Cabramurra, and I think a few felt a bit bad that they hadn’t stopped when they came past when they realised that I had been broken down, but I assured them I didn’t know I was broken down then!  I got onto the NRMA and finally managed to convey to them where I was.  I spoke to the tow truck driver from Adaminaby and he agreed to pick me up from Cabramurra on his way through so I bought some lunch and settled in to wait.  (I put in the call to NRMA at 11:00am).

I chatted to random riders who came through and eventually the NRMA rescue guy turned up (Darren).  It was a bit of a hairy ride down the hill to collect the 7! But I got to see so much that I usually miss due to being rather focussed on the road.  It is a hell of a long way down to the dam!  We loaded the 7 and as we were loading he says to me “you’ve had ignition problems before” and I said yes, wondering how the hell he knew this… turns out he remembers the time in 2007 that Tess and I had pulled into the Ampol at Adaminaby and Jimmy’s key was stuck in the ignition.  So different bike (I had forgotten about that problem).

The 7 departing Tumut Ponds

So back into Adaminaby where I had to call the NRMA again and they authorised for Darren to drive me and the 7 all the way back to Canberra (hurrah for Premium Care!) and for another tow truck to take the 7 out to Dr Bruce in the morning.  Got home about 5:30pm.

It was a disappointing end to the weekend, but it turns out the starter solenoid had given out, and melted the fuse, as soon as Dr Bruce had replaced the fuse it was all good again, luckily I had a brand new one here, so the 7 is now all ready to be picked up :o)