The last time I rode through the Oxley from Bendemeer to Port Macquarie I was hit with a massive thunderstorm which reduced my speed to less than 20k /h in the worst part of the twisty bits approaching Wauchope. There were two massive lightning strikes very close to me that brought down trees in the valley on my right as I puttered along. The rain was so heavy and visibility so bad, it took me 4 and a quarter hours to travel 270k from Tamworth at 2 am to Port Macquarie at 6.15 am, at an average speed of less than 65kph for that trip.