Well we are home from a fantastic weekend away!
This was a well-earned break from the world, and also taking in Teela’s first ever trip away riding solo.
Our plan was 2 400ish days with a day in the middle just hanging out, and I was lucky enough to pick up a 2 night stay in Ballina at the Ramada Hotel (
http://www.ramadaballinabyron.com.au), which is on the river, and was walking distance from all the important facilities (Coffee Shops, Pubs, Fish and Chips, River walk and main street).
Day 1, Toowoomba to Ballina (Via Tenterfield)
We had a planned leaving time around 10.30am, but with work and traffic and getting home, well that went out the window and we didn’t leave until about 11.30, just when it was getting nice and toasty in the sun….
The run to Tenterfield was pretty uneventful, Teela was settling into the bike and all the changes we had made to it, but in a couple of hours we were ready for coffee and a sandwich, the Corner & Life Café (
http://www.tenterfieldtourism.com.au/business-details.php?bid=48) in Tenterfield was really nice, was in a really interesting old building, and the coffee and food was great!
This was the next part I was really looking forward to, Teela taking on the Bruxner, getting her some experience on some windy road, and shed the training wheels so to speak, but 5 km out of Tenterfield the bike simply stopped dead…..which may have caused some angst with its rider….turned out with all the heat the fuel had vaporized and had stalled the bike, so a quick stop, a little choke and away we went again! Teela was a little nervous, and took some time getting her line right, but once she did, and the music kicked in she took off and I found myself chasing her through the bends, the ZZR being very nimble it flies through corners.
The Mercury hit 38 degrees at Drake, and with a nice hot dry breeze it was pretty toasty, the riding was awesome just hot, glad to get to casino for fuel, water and aircon.
We tootled over to Ballina from Casino, very glad to land in Ballina, book in, get out of riding gear and find a Bee….I mean large glass of water…and then beer….
Dinner at the Australian Hotel (
http://www.theaussiehotel.com), which serves a mean Parmy and salad, watch the lightning strike and a quiet walk back, Dessert and sleep was in order!
Day 2 Ballina
the bikes didn’t move, and to be honest apart from spending 3 hours drinking coffee watching the river and the people go by we didn’t do a whole lot, just down time, and down brain time…
Dinner at Dory’s (
http://www.discoverballina.com.au/v1/dining-and-bars/ballina/takeaway/301-a-fish-shop-called-dory-s) was very cool, and the service was excellent.
Day 3 Ballina to Toowoomba (Via Mt Tambourine)
It was up nice and early to meet up with Teela’s aunt and uncle for a coffee before we left, then it was up and over to Murwillumbah for Fuel, and i came across a place called the MooMoo Roadhouse (
https://www.facebook.com/Moo-Moo-Roadhouse-574266589305872/) , i had never heard of it before
I had decided to take us via Tyalgum to add some more twisties to the road, but unfortunately a large storm had been through the day before, and the branches on the road and leaf litter was something to behold! So Teela got a crash course on how to handle a wet messy slightly dangerous road, all the way through to Natural Bridge.
Once we hit the border we pulled up for a break, as it was pretty tiring weaving through all the rubbish, and we wanted to take in the view….
As we got down the hill we got lots of flashes of lights, and waves, and yep got waved in, and it turned out not to be a breath test, but a police setup talking to riders about safety, and cornering and the like, they had a free bbq going, free coffee, ambulance demonstrations, it was pretty cool, and very well done, even found a couple of ST's
We were very keen to get to Mt Tambourine, as brunch had turned into lunch, the hunger pangs started to kick in, I wanted more than sausage and bread, but luckily the road cleaned up and dried out and we were able to have a hoot heading up the hill.
We had lunch at Spice of Life Café (
http://spiceoflifecafedeli.com) I have to say this is one of my favourite spots in Australia, it was an open steak sandwich, good coffee, water, and sit back and ponder the world till it was time to go again.
Teela was really hitting her straps, and well she didn’t want to talk to me much, more just music on visor down let’s go!
The run home was pretty uneventful apart from chasing my wife up and down a mountain, till we hit the slab, and well boooring, and into our driveway and we are done!
The bikes both went really well,
Teela has really stepped up her riding since we adapted the bike to fit her properly, the Strom, well i have to say i am surprised, I have settled into it quicker than i thought, i have added some pegs to the crash bars to give me some more moving around space,
I rate the seat as 20% better than the Stock ST1300 seat, good for about 500-600km and that is about it, but all in all, good fuel range, comfortable, easy to ride, and i can still ride hard when i want to
739km done, great roads, rested minds, and back to reality tomorrow!
Google Map Link:
https://goo.gl/maps/5FCAVADeG4G2
