Muswellbrook cabin
Waking up at Muswellbrook, on a lazy Monday morning, had a sense of relief… We’ve been riding for 15 days, covering over 6500km, from 6 to 38 degrees, fighting the cold, the heat, the rain, the sun, and enjoying most of it. Today is the last day of the ride, the day we get to re-unite with our families, our friends, and share our adventure stories with them. All I can think of, is my kids – I missed them so much, especially in the last few days. The first 10 days of this ride were easy for me. The last 6 have proved to be challenging. Physically, and emotionally.
We really took it easy today – waking up later than usual, having a longer breakfast – we only had about 250km to ride today – a mere 3 hours or less. Or the way we’ve calculated: “first 220km – two hours. the last 30km, getting into Sydney – another hour!”
Broke
First stop for breakfast, at yet another bakery (Thomson and Sons) inside the little shopping center at Singleton. Again, taking our time, since it wasn’t even 10am yet… less than 200km to go. We even had time for a bit of confusion: Andrew and I had agreed to meet at the Caltex/Woolworths servo, if I find one (I was riding with James, and Andrew was waiting for … Tony and Rob). I have found one, stopped to refuel, and then realized there was another one on the other side of the car park, where Andrew had stopped… Luckily for us, Vodafone has coverage in Singleton ( I had no phone coverage 90% of the journey, Thanks – VODAFONE!!), so I was able to contact Andrew and let them know where we were. A few hundreds calories later, we’re back on the bikes, heading south. Getting out of Singleton, riding the first few km on the Putty Rd. was absolutely stunning – beautiful farms, stables, and horses along the way, on both sides of the road… Then, taking a sharp left turn, towards Wollombi down Broke Rd.
This is country NSW at it’s best! We had missed the twisties (roads with many twists and turns) for so long, have proved to be a challenge to handle, with squared-off tyres.
When riding long distances on straight roads, the bottom of the tyres is being used/worn whilst the sides of the tyres are still in new condition. It’s like having car tyres on a motorbike, which makes it quite challenging to turn…
However, it was fine and fun! Twisties all the way to Wollombi, and then through Central Mangrove, we opted to ride on road 83, (the Old Pacific Hwy), to enjoy some more twisties before heading into Sydney suburbia – although it is now a 60km/h zone, it was still a lot of fun
Last few km on the Hwy, and we’re back in Sydney! First stop – Love Motorcycles in Waitara, to see Alon, our official mechanic!
During the ride, I had a minor oil leak (which Andrew pointed out at Cadney Homestead). It wasn’t major, and the bike could make it to Sydney if I took it easy – which I did. We popped into Alon’s workshop was to say hello and schedule another service for my bike, and Andrew’s.
The time was … LUNCH time! The famous American Embassy (AKA McDonald’s!) was around the corner, so we’ve enjoyed the last mouthful of rubbish food… Shane had to take the car back to CityFord, so this was a good time to unpack the car, get the gear back on the bikes (especially James’ stuff), and head home… a few emotional hugs ( of the MANLY kind…), and that was it…
Mission completed!
Many more stories to tell, many lives we’ve touched, over $70k raised for Black Dog Institute… Time to start thinking of next year??
Day 16 Photos: