Its was Jim�s turn to organise a trip this time (Steve-1 is next!!).
Jim decided we should go North through the Hunter valley, to Nelson Bay.
It was an 8:45 leaving time, and guess where from??
Yep, you got it, �McDonald�s restaurant at McGraths hill�.
There were 8 bikes, and one car with Jim�s, son�s, wife�s, parents. Ideal, 18, an excellent number of people.
I was busily finishing my second bacon and egg McMuffin and second hash brown (Well, I am on a diet!!) when Jim surprised us by handing out a quiz sheet. He liked the one that I did for the day ride, so set up another one.
Damn.... It was suddenly time to come awake and get the brain in gear.
We left pretty much on time, and headed down the Putty road. The day was pretty good seeing that we have had inclement weather for the past 5 days. I wouldn�t say we have had rain in the true sense of the word. Yes.... it did rain but... only enough to make the grass grow (so that you had to mow it). Nowhere near enough to make even the smallest dent in our water crises at Warragamba Dam.
Prior to leaving, I had looked at the question sheet, and the sheet stared back at me!
Q1 How much is the pink lady?
Q2 What the name of the farm 250 metres on the right?
Q3 What the number is on the tree? It said (smirking)
�Why are you asking me this?� I thought. I�ve been working more than 12 hour shifts for a full week, two days overtime on my two days off, another week of 12 hour shifts, all of this surviving on 5 hours sleep a night, and then I get these questions thrown at me on my first real day off!!!
Is there no justice in the world� I screamed inwardly.
Well.... never one to shirk a challenge, I got into my bike gear, the bike went into first gear and I tried to shift my brain into any gear it would accept. There was some crunching and grinding going on in my brain, but finally with some prodding, my eyes opened fully, as I came alive.
Off we set with questions in our head for the first leg of the ride.
The pink lady went right over the helmet. Either the brain didn�t register it, or it wasn�t there.
The farm was the Butterfly Farm. I got that one, and then kept repeating it to myself, so I wouldn�t forget it.
�Butterfly farm�,
�Butterfly farm�,
�Butterfly farm�,
�Bufferfly tarm�,
�Fubbertry marm�........
The more I concentrated though, the more it got mixed up.
Before long I was completely confused and didn�t know if I was Arthur or Marther.
To make it worse a tree flashes past me with a number on it!!!
� 453" it yells at me, at more than 90 kilometres an hour.
Now I had two things to remember!!
�453",
�453",
�Flutterby farm�,
�453",
�Flubberfry farm�,
�543"
This was getting worse and worse.
Finally, brain cells organised themselves and it fell into place.
The first rest stop was at a place called the �Half Way House� We stopped here for Coffee and I (and my brain) was relieved to be able to write the answers down, so I could go into veggie mode again..
The half way house is famous on this road. The Putty road is a brilliant road for motorcyclists and as regular as clock work on the weekends, its full of bikes. Some are the big cruisers like my own chugging along taking in the scenery, others are the sports racing bikes, going round bends with sparks flying from their foot pegs. You can only imagine what its like because who the hell can take a picture with 50 other bikes up your clacker going at 130+ kilometres an hour???
At the stop we chatted, laughed, and tried to cheat on the answers, by peeking at other peoples. We also had to answer questions at this rest stop. There was one question which said �When was Murphy and Sons first established?� Someone gave me a clue, and whispered �go and put some garbage in the garbage bin!�. I looked around, and there had to be 20 of the buggers. There�s me running around the rest stop opening every garbage bin, looking in for Murphy and Sons. Just as I was about to give up I looked behind the last bin, and in a fenced enclosure there was an old horse drawn water tanker marked �Murphy & sons. Established 1920' Whoopee another answer.
Put the brain back into neutral again!!!
And so it went on.
Did you know.......
The first wine tasting you come to in the Hunter is �Nightingale Wines�
Its 165 kilometres from somewhere to Sydney via Wollombi.
The fire station was set up by some bloke who for the life of me I can't remember now???
Soon (thankfully) it was time for lunch and we stopped at the 'Hunter Valley Gardens' This is now a complete complex including a church would you believe??
In previous years (Ye Olde Days), the wineries simply made wine, and then shipped it to Sydney to sell.
A couple then opened what was called �A cellar door� for wine tasting. They then sold the wine direct to the public for more money than the Sydney shops bought it, but less than the Sydney shops sold it for.
�Everyone�s a winner babe, an that�s the truth.....�
Soon word spread and tourists (Sydney folk) were flocking to the Hunter Valley for a (dirty) weekend away, wine tasting, and buying cheap wine. They were hungry, and needed a place to stay. Guest houses opened for accommodation, and restaurants too. A culture was born of the weekend away in the Hunter Valley.
The big wineries figured that the money was leaving them after the wine sale, when people were staying and eating somewhere else. They naturally opened their own restaurants, and supplied their own accommodation. On top of that came shops for tourist knick knacks. Cheese shops, chocolate shops, donkey rides, camel rides, petting zoos, and crafty type places opened all over the show.
What the hell.... naturally a church followed!!
Lets accommodate them, feed them, get them pissed and marry them all at the same time.!!!
Its more like Las Vegas every day!!
Im waiting for a brothel that has a German speaking, geisha girl, midget, who serves me cheese, wine, and chocolate; and that can also service my motorbike while im having a nap!!
Give it time..... I'm sure it will come.
Anyway all this clap trap must have worked because someone got married while we were having lunch!!!
�There�s another one gone...............�
�There�s another one gone...............�
�Another one bites the dust!!!!�
One girl with the group said when the church bells started ringing....
�Enjoy it girl, it�s a death march, it�s all downhill from here on in....�
Anyway... after lunch it was on to Cessnock and over towards Nelson Bay.
We had a quick stop at a dam on the way, and then went up to a lookout overlooking Nelson Bay. After that it was on to the hotel, for a relax, and a shower before heading to the local club for dinner, and a few cleansing ales.
Here (after dinner) we got the answers to the questions, and the prizes were awarded. We got third prize, not bad for someone that was basically brain dead for most of the day.
They (the club) had a girl singing, and a guy playing a guitar, with the usual backing machines. She was pretty good and yours truly (after a few drinks) got up to shake his boogie and show his stuff.
There were three women from the group jigging on the dance floor when Jimmy and I got up.
We were strutting about like old barnyard cockerels, and singing the wrong words, and out of tune (as men do), when one of the ladies took off her jacket, and put it in the middle of the floor.
It made me think back to my (younger) disco days, when all the girls would dance around their handbags in the middle of the floor!!!
I always thought it was a security thing,.... but a jacket???
I decided that this is obviously some sort of erotic totem, that men just haven�t come to understand yet!!!
So we danced, and we sang (still badly), and we jigged, and we jived, and we looked at this coat, but things still didn�t get any clearer.
Whatever this female erotic totem was, Jim and I just didn�t get it. Of course, it did cross my mind that she may have just been hot from the dancing, and took it off to cool down!!!!
Nahhhhhh..... there must be more to it than that, surely????
Well I had a good night. By evenings end I had truly had a skin full of alcohol, yet was functioning on all four cylinders (honestly!!). Maybe I�m an night owl after all.
The next morning I was up early for my morning walk. It was later than usual (6:30) but I got a couple of photos, and a lung full of crisp, fresh, morning air.
When everyone else was awake (7:30) we walked into town to the local pub for breakfast.
Suitably sated on greasy eggs and bacon, we packed the bikes, and headed off for the day.
The first stop was Stockton beach. This beach is 32 kilometres long, but its not the beach that attracts people it�s the dunes behind it. This is a 4 wheel driving Valhalla!
There�s over 2,500 hectares of sandy playground, and its over a mile wide in places. Plenty of space to bog the brand new $70,000 Toyota thats for sure.
The next stop was Newcastle for a coffee. We stopped on the front, near the entrance to Newcastle harbour (the Hunter river). The wind here made it colder standing around drinking coffee, than on the bikes.
From there we headed to Toukley, and a meal in the Beachcomber pub, overlooking the lake. A couple of bikes peeled off here and headed straight back to Sydney after lunch. The rest did a trip through down town Toukley, and then we were on the motorway back to Sydney. We diverted off the motorway at Mooney Mooney, and popped into Brooklyn (where I go fishing) for a coffee on the board walk, overlooking the Hawksbury river system.
When we left there three more bikes peeled off and the rest of us went through Galston Gorge to get home (knackered!!).
A good trip. Close to Sydney so there�s plenty of time to stop and admire the scenery. You don�t have to do a mad rush to get to the destination. Nelson Bay is one of those places that you can keep going back to, the waterways are beautiful. There�s a fair bit to see when you are there, and lots to see on the way. Alternatively, you can scream up the motorway, and be there in two and a half hours if that�s what you need to do.
