Having washed and packed the bike the night before, I was rearing to go. All that stood between me and and the trip was a few hours of darkness.
I didn't need an alarm clock as I was so keen I was awake around 4:00 am, two hours before my planned departure time.
Left the house a 6:00 and went to the local servo and brimmed the tank in anticipation of the fuel economy run Diesel and I had planned.
Out onto the Bruce Highway and met up with Harie G just south of the Pine Rivers Bridge. We had a little chat before Diesel arrived. The pair of us were intently looking up the road for signs of Diesel's one eyed bike then in a mass of traffic we noticed two bikes so we quickly jumped in the saddle when we saw Diesel flash his headlights (the other bike was Ian). Maybe we should change diesel's nickname to "Flash" because as he flashed past we had to scramble to catch up. I caught up by the time we got to Wyampa Road, but Harie G was still no where to be seen until Nudgee Road. We then settled into cruise mode.
Up and over the Sir Leo Hirschler Bridges (Gateway Bridge) and planned to run on down to the Logan Motorway and on to the Ipswich Moptorway, the Cunningham Hwy to Warwick for Breakfast.
As we cruised down the Gateway Tipsy was waiting on the side of the road on his shiny white ST 1100. Unbeknown to him, as we approached, a young lady on her Ducati something shot past us a little over the speed limit
. When she saw Tipsy's bike on the side of the road she grabbed a fistful brakes and slowed quite considerably but by then she had passed Tipsy, who immediately started pulling out to join us, You could see her frantically checking her mirrors as Tipsy roared up to speed. It wasn't until he pulled in behind us that she calmed down and gradually pulled away. :)
The weather was perfect for riding and the traffic relatively light so I run down the motorways and highway we're largely uneventful but thoroughly enjoyable.
By the time we got to Aratula Tipsy needed to siphon off some excess fluids and Ian was hanging for a smoke break. As Diesel an I were on a fuel efficiency run we kept on motoring and Harie G tagged along. Up over and over Cunningham's Gap, which wasn't as much fun as I'd hoped because of road works.
Over the other side and out onto the plains we noticed at a rest stop a very very big Low Loader in a Push-me Pull-you arrangement with the widest load of Mining Machinery I've ever seen and I verbalised into my helmet that I was glad I didn't have to follow that especially over the Gap. We kept on cruising until we arrived at the Caltex north of Warwick at approximately 8:45 to discover some of the OzSTOC bikes already there.
A brief breakfast for me of Chicko Roll and Vanilla Malt Milk, (by the sounds of it I was lucky not to have the coffee) and a chat to some people and meeting lots of new people. Met up with Dennis and crew who I had planned to travel back with and before we we're ready to depart this wide load trundled on down the highway heading in our direction. :( Were we about to have a very long trip caught up behind this behemoth?
After a some discussion of the alternative routes to Inverell from Warwick Ian and many others decided to travel down to just north of Tenterfield and follow the Bruxner Hwy towards Texas and then hang a left towards Ashford and on to Inverell. Diesel and I had calculated our fuel run on going in via Glen Innes so that is the way we decided to go. So we all saddled up and departed Warwick with divergent plans to get there.
I was second in line when Ian dived on the brakes to take the Bruxner Highway turn off as the junction took him by surprise and watched in my mirrors as everyone else scrambled to make the turn. For a little while I was out on my on cruising waiting for Diesel to catch up. Fro quite a while down the highway it appeared that Diesel and I had been the only ones to take this option, so when we pulled up in Glen Innes for a break we were pleasantly surprised a few minutes later to see Streak, Tipsy, Harie G and some others (I'm sorry I can't remember your names quite frankly I'm stunned I've remembered this many :)). A couple of sandwiches and another Vanilla Malt for me and I was ready for the final push to Inverell. A mostly beautiful piece of road matched by lovely scenery made the trip enjoyable.
10 km out from Inverell the fuel gauge switched to flashing one bar and indicated 99 km Range left for the next 3 km. Diesel and I headed straight to the BP servo to refuel and check our figures. When I pulled up I had travelled 488.4 km and the range indicated 89 km. After filling again to the brim I discovered it took only 23.75 litres which calculates out to 4.86 litres/100 km. I was suitably impressed with that and realised I probably had over another 100 km range left.
After a quick and very friendly check-in at the Motel Inverell (Right next door to the pub
) I paid a short visit to the pub to grab some Beverages for the afternoon. Turns out the Publican rides as well and is into Ducati so we had a longish chat about bikes for a while.
Then I headed up to Fossicker's Rest to meet up with the assembling crew but pausing briefly in the Main street to take a photo of the Courthouse built in 1886.
I met a heap of people from far afield and had a really good afternoon chatting to everyone. I was well pleased with the warm welcome everyone extended to me and I thank you very much for that.
We lined up all the bikes and took some photos.
After a few
and as the sun set Lions Club turned up and set up to provide us with an outstanding BBQ Dinner including desert of Ice Cream and fruit.
Streak and Diesel did a bit of speechifying interrupted by Harie G who was a little "jovial" and we got on and had a good evening.
By 8:30 the cold and Fatigue were starting to get to me so I said goodnight to everyone and headed for the lovely reverse cycle airconditioning and Queen sized bed with electric blankets at the Motel (vital for my poor circulation) By 9:00 I was sound asleep and remained blissfully so until 2:00am when someones lovely cherubs decided that shouting "Woo Hoo!!" repeatedly and incessantly up and down the street was a bit of entertainment for themselves. I didn't rise to the bait, however I discovered I had my first hangover in years. The combination of the electric blanket and Air Con had dehydrated my and I was in desperate need of water. This kept my awake until after 4:00 am when I relented and went out to the bike and go some paracetomol out of my medical kit. Out of curiosity I turned on the ignition to discover the temperature. The bikes gauges told me it was 4 °C!!
After another hour and half sleep I got up and got ready to join everyone back at Fosicker Rest for breakfast. As I returned the keys to the box I spotted a giant thermometer on the door of the shop in the middle of the motel driveway. It indicated as best I could read it 6 °C at 7:30 am.
Back at Fossickers Rest Breakfast was well and truly under way and the Lions Club of Inverell had excelled themselves once again. A beautiful breakfast of Bacon, Eggs, Tomatoe and Taost as well as a selection of fruit juices and coffee meant that I was well and truly fed for the days travels.
After saying some heartfelt farewells to my new friends, Denis his partner and two other bikes and I headed off for Tenterfield via Ashford. After some glorious roads and scenery we stopped at the Blue Belle Café in Tenterfield for morning tea which I thoroughly enjoyed sitting out on the footpath watching the world go by and saw Shiney and his mate trundle on through. heading north.
The Café used to be a bank and had been built in 1856 and still had the old Safe in the building. (now used as a store room)
What was intriguing was the bank used to have a fireplace as well,
After Tenterfield we headed down the Bruxner Hwy to Casino for Lunch. The road was only rough in a few places and we made good time to Casino after some thoroughly enjoyable corners.
I went to my Dad's place while Dennis and Crew stopped for lunch at a Café in central Casino.
At around 2:15 we met up again on the northern outskirts of Casino for the run through to Kyogle for a fuel stop and then the Lion's Road to Beaudesert were we stopped at McDonalds for a cuppa. At Beaudesert we then discussed which route we would tkae to get through to the North side of Brisbane. We concluded that straight up Beaudesert Road to the Clem 7 then the Airport Link was the most expeditious as we were all keen to get home. Part way through the Airport Link tunnel one bike peeled off for the Chermside exit and then at the Nudgee Exit I waved good by to Dennis and his partner as I headed of up the Gateway to home.
At exactly 6:00 pm I pulled into my Garaged exactly 36 hours and 1070.9 km after I'd left home.
I would like to thank Streak and Diesel and everyone else for their camaraderie making this a very enjoyable event.
Already planning for Middleton in March next year and what route to take to get there. Looking forward to more RTE's with OzSTOC.
Cheers,
Gadget (Gary)
