I planned on a longer ride over my Annual Leave as we didn't get to the National Rally in Perth, coincidently we had also run out of Milk and Bread yesterday morning.
Now the little village of Deepwater up the New England highway near Tenterfield has a exceptional little Bakery that is open from midnight, and West Wylong has a good new aged Milk Bar that has Pockey's non-pasteurised Skinny, Fat free, Taste free milk with extra calcium and is Feng Shui certified because the cow was faced in the right direction when it was milked......really it looks like a bottle of water mixed with a splash of liquid paper.
So STig and I headed out after I dropped the young bloke to work.....
Plan was to grab a start docket from the local servo that opens at 6:30am and head to Deepwater for the bread (101k's North) then turn back through Guyra for the first fuel stop at Tamworth (350k). Its in this leg that I discovered a serious issue that could cripple a LD rider, so take note......the bacon rind in the sausage roll I purchased from the bakery for the corner docket got stuck in between my teeth......fortunately I had to ride past home and via the pantry for a toothpick......the whole plan nearly crumbled on this moment.
2 degrees was as cold as it got this morning at Llangothlin with temps climbing to a mere 28 with a breeze out west during the day and down to 6 arriving back in G-Town this morning.
(Picture is from the highest point on the New England Hwy @ 1410 Mtrs and first place to see the sunrise each dayFuel and Chocolate milk at Tamworth then headed for Dubbo via Gunnedah, Coonabarabran and Gilgandra.....on the way to Gunnedah the trucks where chatting on the UHF about how busy and slow the traffic was moving today and the road works didn't help matters.....a quick re-hash of some figures (thanks Sicman) and I decided to use the Mallaley to Coolah road through Dunedoo and into Dubbo that I have ridden/driven few times.....but I needed to hear the numbers to be sure I wasn't cutting my SS1600k to fine. Kilometres and times where very similar but on a secondary traffic free roadway.....had a couple of big Eastern greys come out past me and fortunately the third bailed and turned back as he would have had me square on......15k's out of Coolah and grrrrr !! Resurfacing 1.5k's of roadway.....being stopped for 7 entire songs on the iPod lost the time I would have gained and then some (thanks Sicman
) But I've always enjoyed the run from Coolah out to the Golden Highway.....loads of long sweepers.
Refuelled at Dubbo and headed for West Wylong via Parks and a very smokey Forbes this afternoon......they call the Tamworth region "Big Sky Country" but it suits this area of NSW far more gooderer and betterer.
Arrived in West Wylong fuelled and grabbed a corner docket. The numbers looked good at this stage .... 950k's travelled in 12 hours including stops. The GPS advised time was 11:10 of actual travel time. Now to Sicman's for the promised Roast dinner with all the trimmings that is traditional when OzSTOCers call in....well buggar me PitSTop was away and Sicman was batching !! Was a very welcome light meal though !!
Giving the bike the once over and Tony noticed one of Pockey's über Pillion Pegs and come loose.....Tony set about rectifying the peg and cleaning screen etc while I undertook a new mandatory procedure that should become common place with LD riders.
After spending considerable time on the "smellaphone" with Abe when he and Skidooo where frivolously jaunting about the country side with only one shower in 11 days.....I grabbed a shower.....in my defence a shower wakes me up for the tasks ahead, so its not as
gay as it sounds !! Hope that doesn't risk my IBA"hood-a-ship"
An hour and a half at castle Sicmans and back on the road now for home with 950k's completed and 730 to go before my 24hours expired. STig really has night travel covered as far as bike lighting goes with Clearwaters Darlas and Kristas plus a set of 3486 lumen flood beams on high beam and the Darlas at 50% on low beam with 4100k. 65/55 watt halogens. But all the lights in the world don't mean squat when the big furry grasshoppers are out at play !! Further I believe with standard lighting there is something about being in the ignorant bliss when you can only see what's in the small patch immediately in front of you. Once you have serious auxiliary lights and can really see what is out there and you travel even slower with good reason.
In roo country at night even though STig's lights are awesome I still hang at about 95 kph when on high beam and down to 80 on low and ride the centre line as much as possible.....just gives more escape options in my mind.
Uneventful from West Wylong to almost Dubbo with just the odd little skippy grazing on the roads edge.....just a quick roadside stretch and kick the tyres in Dubbo then onto Gilgandra for last fuel stop for the night with 426k's to home.
I was only just out of Dubbo when the first of 2 roo strikes unfolded.....this was a little guy who had a better offer on the other side of the road but lost control on his un-manicured nails on the roadway and broadsided into STig with the back wheel just catching him......both survived the encounter.
The second had me on low beam after a vehicle had past and my vision was still recovering.....a mob of up to a dozen of the furkingbigburstardskangazooz came up an embankment to my right.....the lead Grasshopper decided to taking me on.....I braked harder than I ever have and just caught him on my front left side as he past....a glance in the mirror showed the B-Double that was travelling to close with smoke pouring of the trailers and the back trailer stepping out.....I think I smacked down to second and opened up not knowing if there where more Roos coming out or not.....
I said to the Truckie over the UHF that that was an exciting moment in a dull evening......he said "you should have seen it from back here on the big screen". On assessment just up the road the roo had just laid the Darla back and twisted the flood to the side (the advantage of not over tightening D/lights, you just re-focus and not break mounts etc), and the roo also popped the mirror cover. Phewww.....and I didn't get added as a hood ornament on a cabover Kenworths 5 Poster bar was a plus too I guess.
Gilgandra came into view in what seemed like an eternity tonight where STig had his fuel and I fuelled on Valium, Prozac, Scotch and checked in the hope I was not to be throwing away my LDcomfort pants.
The talk in the truck stop from the drivers both North and Southbound was all about Roo's, Roo's, Roo's tonight......one young driver said he has been doing Brisbane/Melbourne for a few years on this route and the most he had collected was 3 in a night for the entire length of NSW/Vic...he has hit 4 tonight and since Goondiwindi and isn't close to halfway into the trip.
Until I left West Wylong I had managed to arrive with a 91kph M/A......this was about to take a hit now....after Coonabarabran the wildlife seamed to abate.....I decided to just keep moving at a slightly slower pace and only stop once as apposed to go a little quicker (still legal) and have 2 short stops.
Landed back in town and grabbed a Pie for breakfast......hmmm must be pregnant as I don't normally eat pies.....got my finish docket at 06:08.
1715k's on the bike, 1681k's per GPS......which means if we ever sell STig he will have 3,000 less than the speedo shows ?? This may be the deal breaker for a new owner !!
So now to pray for rain in that area to keep the Roo's in the paddock and plan for the Parkes weekend.
Ohh......and I forgot the Milk, but I got some in Guyra.....who knew it was such a progressive place !!
