January
2002Another excellent roll-up saw 20 bikes make the trip to Jenolan Caves. The regular start was made from the McDonald's car park following the pre-ride briefing, and as you can see from the photos you couldn't have picked better weather.
The initial route was out towards Perthville and across the back way to O'Connell, and in to Oberon. A quick head count was taken before continuing on to Jenolan Caves for a cup of coffee.
We were early enough at the caves to avoid the usual weekend rush and enjoyed a relaxing break in fantastic surrounds. Time didn't allow for any site-seeing on this trip so after morning tea it was back up that very tricky and twisty road before continuing on to Mt Victoria and across to Bell.
A bit of a mix-up with the tail end riders saw the group spread out over quite a distance on the ride back down into Lithgow. However, the stop for lunch at the Lithgow Workman's Club gave everyone the chance to catch up and regroup.
From Lithgow some continued on through Cullen Bullen towards Mudgee and turned off at Ilford to return to Bathurst via Sofala. Unfortunately a few unexpected bumps resulted in Harvey losing a mirror (see photo below, beats me why you would be smiling if you just found out you'd lost a mirror) which he didn't even realise until the stop at Cullen Bullen; reports are that the mirror wasn't worth trying to retrieve anyway after it disintegrated when hitting the road.
Others took a more direct route home straight up the highway from Lithgow and probably made use of the early arrival home by cleaning their machinery.
Report by Mark McCormick
Photos by Errol Chopping
Australia
Day - what better day to take a ride to our nation's capital! Eight bikes left
Bathurst nice and early and picked up Bob and I at Blayney (That way we got
to stay in bed an extra half hour). It was a lovely morning for a ride and we
headed off down through Wyangala to Boorowa. After coffee, Roland headed home
and the rest of us rode on to Yass for fuel.
It was rapidly getting hotter, and those who took the right way out of the Service Station silently cursed the two bikes who came out and headed for Melbourne. Patrick as usual got the blame, but it was actually Steve who thought he was going home again! Patrick went to bring him back. All sorted out, we took off for Queanbeyan.
We managed to get through Canberra without losing anyone, and Frank led us into Queanbeyan, where we found the right pub straight away.(Much to my amazement - I had the directions. After booking in and getting rid of the riding gear, we had a great lunch at the hotel's bistro - magic! Over lunch, we decided that, as Frank, Joe and Steve and Rosalie wanted to spend more than an afternoon at the War Museum, they would take the full day on Sunday, the rest would ride to the coast and we would all go visit Old Parliament House for the afternoon.
We just can't help ourselves - behaving disgracefully is part of the creed!
Hilda was followed all afternoon by a security guard after removing several
barriers to sit in the Speakers Chair. After a very interesting tour (I thought
anyway), we all adjourned to the grass out the front to see what was going on
in the Aboriginal Embassy. 
Contrary
to some reports, we did not take the coat of arms with us - it was just a coincidence
that it was stolen on the same day! After staying there for a while, we decided
we were not as disgraceful as some, and went for a ride around Canberra, led
by William. Pat and Steve developed a terrible thirst and went back to Queanbeyan,
and the rest of us went up Black Mountain to sightsee - pretty impressive too.
After dinner at the Tourist, we all went to bed relatively early.
The next morning looked terrible - grey and pretty threatening. After Frank came back from breakfast at his Mum's, and the rest of us had dined a la Macca's, the Museum party went one way and the rest of us headed down to Cooma. William's daughter had joined him, so all bikes were two up. Luckily, the weather cleared and warmed up as we headed south. Fuelled the bikes up at Cooma, and ourselves at the pie shop at Nimmitabel - first time I've been there when it wasn't freezing! We then headed east towards Bemboka, where we turned off to Candelo and down to the coast to Merimbula, where I discovered that the fish and chip place I had been thinking about was actually at Bermagui. Oh well, there was nothing wrong with the food at Merimbula either. After a photo session and lunch, we headed inland again, this time up through the mountains to Bombala (wonderful corners!) and back to Canberra.
The Museum crew were all back and, seeing the hotel didn't do dinner on Sundays, we headed to the RSL for tea, which was OK but they kicked us out at 9.00 to let the teenyboppers in for a disco - no taste that club!
On
Monday morning we were all on the road bright and early - so early that Cockington
Green wasn't open when we got there. It's definitely a must to visit, as
long as you look closely at the exhibits - someone with a great sense of the
ridiculous has set up some interesting situations in the models. However, it
was rapidly getting hotter, so we hit the track home. By the time we rode along
the track from Boorowa to Wyangala, it was about 150 degrees (or that's what
it felt like), so after a cool off under the sprinkler at Wyangala, we all headed
home.
I had a great weekend - good roads, great company and Canberra is a great place for a weekend away. We will have to do it again.
Report by Jan Dickie
Photos by Jan Dickie
| Home | Contact Details | Events Calendar | Past Outings | Photo Album | Links |