2upact

We (as in the trouble and strife) were talking one day, some time ago, about motor sickle rides. I said "We should go to Canberra for the weekend."
�We could go down on the old road, nice and slow, stop at Mittagong and Berrima, look at the antique and craft shops, stay overnight in Canberra, and come back the next day� I enthused.
�Oh goody goody, what a good idea� she enthused back.
Later, I was talking to a guy at work, and happened to mention that we were going to go down to Canberra one weekend.
�Oh... we�ll be in that� says he. (enthused!)
�Cool� says I, �It�ll be nice to have some company�.
He must have mentioned it to someone else, because a day or so later, I got a phone call.
�Did I hear something about a Canberra ride?� (He enthused)
"Oh.... well.... its not a ride as such. We were just going to look at the shops on the way down, stay over night, and come back the next day".
�We�ll be in that too� says he. Enthusiastically.
"Great" thinks I, this will be good.
2 days later another phone call.
�You organising a ride to Canberra?�
�Ummmmm..... well I wasn't.. I was just going to.......�
�Well, we�re coming too!�
"Oh... OK... Ripper Rita". (Enthusiastic grin)
By then it had kind of turned into an organised ride, instead of an impromptu thing, so I thought I should invite everybody.

We got as large as seven bikes and a car, all with two people at one stage, but some had to drop out with other commitments at the last minute. This left us with four bikes and a car (total 10 people).
This, as it turned out, was actually ideal. Not such a large a group that it became a nightmare to organise, but large enough that we had good company to travel with on the journey, eat, chat, and laugh together.

As the duly elected organiser of this ride, and the first bike ride I have ever organised to boot, I decided that the ride would not be set in concrete.
On the few rides I've been on, I�ve often thought to myself, �I�d like to stop here or there, and have a look/take a picture� or something.
It's hard though, if all the other riders are zooming off, and have no interest in what you are looking at.
In the ride Info sheet handed out, I made note that if someone wanted to stop somewhere, this was fine, as long as they let someone know, so we didn�t go looking for them.
This has happened on other rides. Some people woulld go zooming off into the sun, others are in the middle, and slower ones are left behind. The group gets scattered over kilometres of road, and you may as well have gone on your own in the first place!!
Also, some people ride down with you, and on the way home they want to zoom off on their own, to get back to Sydney. The group has then broken up.
Preferably I didn�t want this to happen (and it didn�t).

THE DAY.
We met at McDonald�s car park in Penrith for an 8:30 start. The previous two days had seen mornings shrouded in mist, but today (thank you God) was crystal clear, with not a cloud in the sky. Suitably sated with bacon and egg McMuffins, washed down with coffee, we discussed the ride.
As I said previously, in the 'formal' letter on the ride, I had stated how 'informal' it would be! (if that makes sense??).

There were a few people that hadn�t been to �The Rock� lookout, so we decided to go there on the way down.
(click <<<HERE>>> for my old web page, with some photo�s).

So we arrive at the lookout and act like a group of schoolkids pounding through the bush from the car park to the rock. By this time any wildlife had retreated deeply into the bush in terror.
After 'Ooooing' and 'Ahhhing' at the views (perfect morning), it was back on the bikes again, for the back road (Mulgoa road) down to Mittagong.
This was a lovely ride through some beautiful countryside. It was a fresh crisp morning, there were hardly any cars about, and we took our time, stopping for a quick break on the way. One of the group had bought some Krispy Kreme donuts so we munched those in a bus shelter, while chatting away ten to the dozen.
We eventually made Mittagong and visited the Antique market (48 stalls), and had a coffee.
We then went to a small antique shop a little way up the road.
I bought another razor here to add to my collection, for $20.00. It was in a box, and with instructions too. BARGAIN!!!

From there, we travelled onto Berrima.
Berrima is a lovely place. It used to be a big bottle neck on the old Hume highway going to Cenberra. I used to dread going through it on a long weekend, often towing a vastly overladen box trailer down to the father-in-law's farm near Queanbeyan. Since they bypassed it with the new motorway, it has turned into a beautiful sleepy town. Lots of different kinds of shops selling crafts, jams, baskets, and such like items, have opened up.
It's now become quite popular with the tourists or day tripper visiting from Sydney.
Whereas before, trucks would rumble past, rattling the windows of houses, now it's a tourist coach discharging their overseas payload. It's all good though, and especially at this time of year it's not crowded.
At this time of year, it's mainly old farts on motor sickles (having a mid life crises), and the odd car with kids, pressing their (snotty) noses against the window (who said I don't like kids??).
Click <<<HERE>>> for a very good site on Berrima.

So, at Berrima, we first had lunch in the pub (Oldest continuously licensed pub in Australia I'll have you know!!) and then walked it off round the Antique and craft shops, for an hour or so.

When ready, we headed to Goulburn (still on the old road not the motorway), filled up the bikes, and had a coffee.
It was getting a bit chilly by now. We had dillied and we had dallied (and dallied and dillied... lost the van and don�t know where to roam.... (old English song click <<<HERE>>> if you want to sing along). and had to head for Canberra before it got really cold.
But that was what this ride was all about, dillying and dallying and taking our time.

At Canberra we got a bit lost (who doesn�t?) And ended up seeing Canberra by night (Ooooo...pretty).
We finally found the hotel, booked in, and when we got to our rooms, we all said the same thing to the sign hanging off the shower.

�SAVE WATER
KEEP SHOWERS SHORT� it said.

�BUGGER THAT� we promptly said back!!

We were cold, hungry, and thirsty, and all of us did the same thing, and had a good luxurious hot shower, to get the kinks out of our bones, The bones with the kinks were mainly in our arses!! (do arses have bones by the way???))

Anyway... suitably clean and sparkling, with all out orifices polished, we met in the lounge for drinks, We then headed to the club next door (50 paces away) for a feed.
Here we ordered dinner, and sat down to eat, drink and be merry.

Dinner was really good in the club. There was a good selection, and a lot of the meals came with raw food and a big slab of some special stone. The stone had been super heated in an oven or something, and what you did was cook your own food on it at the table.
I couldn't be bothered with that, so had a nice steak and vegies.
It had been a long day, and after dinner and a chat, most of the women left to go to bed.
Thus, leaving the men to talk, and dribble into their glasses
(as men of the world do, and which we did admirably, I might add!!!!).

The next morning we met for breakfast, which was as much as you could eat from a smorgasbord.
I stuffed myself silly, and then we all waddled outside to warm up in the sun.
Another perfect cloudless day was looming.
When we were all finally ready, and at our leisure, we headed to the 'Old Bus Depot' Markets' (you can click that!!). Thi, as you might have guessed, is in the old bus depot.
We had a good time wandering about in there, sampling the food for sale, and checking out the handicrafts.

From there, we headed to Queanbeyan to stop at McDonald�s for a coffee (some people ate, I don�t know how they fitted it in!!), before hitting the Kings Highway to Bungendore.
At Bungendore we had decided to head for the coast, through Braidwood and on to beautiful Batemans Bay. The road over was brilliant. It made me think (as I was steaming along at a steady 110 kilometres per hour) that when you come to a long straight stretch of straight road in a car, you just drive it. On a sickle though you really do experience it (am I waxing lyrical again??).

We eventually stopped at Nelligen (just as our bums were getting sore), on the Clyde river, just before Batemans. Here we had some munchies (I had fish and chips to stay within the coastal theme), and a rest before the long ride up to Sydney.
It was getting late now, and we knew we would be travelling in the dark before long.

From Nelligen it was over to Batemans and the Princes Highway. We went up through Ulladulla, Nowra, Kiama and Wollongong. The other side of Wollongong we turned in towards Appin where we stopped for a cup of tea.

After that it was only a short hop to Sydney so we split up, and made our own way back home to the various parts where we lived.

Total travelled was 842 kilometres.
It was a damn good ride, in damn great company, and definitely the best ride I�ve done yet.
Amazingly I didnt get lost on my own once.
Maybe Im finally shaking off the name "Wrong way Regan"!!
Lets hope so huh?

Click <<<HERE>>> for a clickable map of the coastal region. You can click on a lot of the towns on the map, and get lots of riveting information that will curls your toes, knock your cotton socks off, and make you wish you were upside down, in the land of Oz, just like yours truly..

Hahahahaha
Enjoy.

Canberra 2 up ride 23/04/04