Australian Wing Riders Association (Qld) Inc

A club for riders of Honda GoldWing and Valkyrie motorcycles

Ride to AGM 2009

 

Hello to everyone, in the rainy place. Wasn’t it supposed to be sunny up there?

We from Vic, usually come up for the AGM, along that horrible Newel H’way.  Never again, I said. I’ll only go if you take another route, OK. said the boys, we’ll go to Bathurst, Port Macquarie, up the coast to Hastings Point. Well, that didn’t happen, did it!!! NO, ‘cos sunny Qld and NSW got flooded out. This particular route was awash, and unless we swam or the bikes had paddles, we were forced to take an alternative road----- and guess what------yes, the NEWEL

We left home in the dark at 6.30am on Wednesday and met up with John G on the East link and promptly got caught in a traffic snarl/car park, ahh Melb rush hours. We got onto the Hume to meet the others, Chris and Ken, Julie and Craig, for an 8am departure. But we only got there at 8. It took 1 ½ hours to travel 45 k’s so we ended up leaving at 8. 30 am., after a cup of hot chocolate. It was a wee bit cool, at only 12deg, and I didn’t have my heated jacket “sorry, no room on the bike when it’s off”. Bugger.

We missed the rain on the first day—to Dubbo. There was more dirt in the air than in the fields. The wind was so strong that it nearly blew the paint off my helmet and all the bikes were doing the side-shoe shuffle, all at peculiar angles, down the road. We got to Dubbo at 5pm and booked into our USUAL motel, which is a short walk to the Bowls Club where we had our USUAL “all u can eat” yummy dinner. This seems to be the USUAL ritual every time we go to Dubbo. After an early night and lousy sleep, we left beloved Dubbo at 8am in glorious sunshine.

Day 2 We went from Dubbo to Tenterfield. We stopped at Coonabarabran at 9.30 for a cuppa, and I got a phone call from my niece to say that her mum (my sister) had a heart attack the previous night. They are moving her to Brisbane from Toowoomba on Friday for tests. Thank goodness for mobile phones. She’s the 4th sibling to have a heart attack!!! The odds are stacked against me!! Quick, get me another Devonshire tea. The rest of the ride was uneventful, pleasant weather, different scenery watching the various cloud formations. As we neared Tenterfield, we had a passing shower. We pulled into the Peter Allen Motel at 4pm. Ken and Chris recommend that we have our dinner at a pub behind the motel. While we were having our dinner, France from Wollongong, turned up and dined with us. We spent a short time chatting outside our rooms and when it became a bit cold we all went to bed. It rained lightly all night.

Day 3 It was apparent that we needed to wear our wet weather gear as fine misty rain was hanging low. So after donning our gear we left at 9am. We seemed to be following the rain as the roads were wet but it didn’t rain on us. However, just before Casino we did get wet. The scenery through the hills was quiet enchanting. Then just before Hastings Point it bucketed down. It was wet, but not cold like in Vic when it rains. So when we pulled up in Hastings Point at 12.15pm and got off the bike, there were little puddles in the folds of my jacket and a big one that I was sitting in! I was wet to the skin and my jeans took three days to dry.

The time at Hastings Point went too quickly. The shower of rain that flooded the park and made the rubbish bins float away was amazing and in no time all the water was gone. I loved meeting every one and trying to remember names and faces. I loved that every one came and had the BBQ at “our house”.

On Saturday we where going to Brisbane Hospital to visit my sister who was scheduled for “open heart” surgery on Tuesday, but John had a cold and we didn’t want to jeopardise her recovery. By the way, she is recovering well from a triple by-pass.

I also benefited immensely from chatting to fellow riders who had the misfortune off coming adrift from their bikes, as they can truly understand the emotional roller coaster that befalls you. After this trip I think I might be over my fears. Thanks guys.

So on Saturday night, after saying fare-thee-well, and turning the clocks forward we went to sleep. Evidently Steve forgot to put his watch forward, as he came past at 5am instead at 6am!!! We tried to go back to sleep, but alas poor jack, it didn’t happen. We left Hasting Point at 7.30am and headed home. Pretty mundane trip nothing eventful and missed all the rain, even with black clouds looming. We made Coonabarabran the Sunday night. We left Coonabarabran at 7am in beautiful sunlight but it was @#$%@#@# freezing. We kept saying it would warm up but it never did. I put my wet weather gear on just to keep warm, and we arrived at home safe and sound and stiff and saddle sore about 6.30pm. Just as we pulled into the drive, along came a heavy shower of rain. BUT NOT ON US, amen.

　

MARG and JOHN    on GT 055 (Grand Tourer Over 55’s) !!!