20/10/2011
I’m really excited to finally get away and head down south for a few
days.
Up early, I had every intention of leaving at 7.ooam sharp, but as with
everything I plan, this didn’t eventuate.
Bike loaded, goodbyes said and at 7:45am I was on my way.
First stop was to top up the tank, check the tyres and triple check I
hadn’t left anything at home. At 8:00am I was on the highway, heading towards
Warwick. Traffic was light and the
weather looking a bit iffy, overcast with a touch of grey. The way things have been going so far, I was
expecting the heavens to open up. Thankfully,
the rain held off so it was full steam ahead to Warwick…that was until I
reached Cunninghams Gap.
Roadworks delays were worse than I expected, with 40kph speed limits and
the mandatory 30 minute wait for traffic to be let down the range. Finally pulled into
Warwick at 10:05am – over 2 hours from Flinders View to Warwick – it’s
wasn’t going to be a good day.
Fuelling up at Warwick, a guy pulled up on his new Harley, complete with
dual bandanas, faceless helmet, super dark sunnies and a swagger that made him
look like John Travolta in Wild Hogs.
Talking to him for a few minutes, I thought to myself – yep, a Café Cruiser
if ever I’ve seen one.
Bike fuelled, it’s off to Inglewood and Goondiwindi. I was expecting the
wonderful odour of rotting roos by the side of the road, and I was not
disappointed…all the way to Goondiwindi.
Nice easy cruise to Inglewood, sitting in the draft of a B-Double most of
the way. He was sitting on about 100 and as I was in no hurry, I sat back and
enjoyed the free ride.
Arriving at Inglewood, the weather was starting to get a lot warmer, so I
took a break and grabbed a cold drink from my bag. Whilst stopped, I started up a conversation
with a retired gent from the Gold Coast who was on his way to Moree to see a
mate. When I told him I was heading that way, he said he’d keep an eye out for
me in case I have an incident and need help.
With that, we parted, and he was soon left behind.
Inglewood to Goondiwindi is an easy ride, just a little boring with lots
of scrub and open farm land.
Arriving at Goondiwindi, I kept going, not even thinking about fuel…until
I got across the border and saw how far it was to Moree. I turned the bike
around and headed back to Goondiwindi.
Bike fuelled, rider fuelled and back on the road to Moree.
As is my luck, about 500 metres past where I turned around, there are 2
petrol stations..oh well, it only cost me about 30 minutes back tracking for
fuel. So far I’m about 2 hours behind
where I wanted to be with Dubbo as my planned overnight stop.
I kept going towards Moree, a slightly more interesting ride. Very flat, with scrub on one side of the
road, grain crops on the other. To add a bit of excitement to the ride, occasionally
the scrub and grain crops would swap sides and then swap back a few minutes
later.
By now, the clouds had disappeared and the temperature was rising. I
pulled over to remove a layer of clothing and was greeted by a honking horn
from a car passing by… the guy I’d spoken to in Inglewood.
While I was stopped, I took another drink, packed my gear away then
headed off again.
Arrived in Moree just on 3:30pm, right in the middle of school rush
hour. I was careful to keep my speed
down as I noticed a speed camera entering town, and sure enough, another one
was sitting in the first school zone I encountered.
Stopping to restock my drinks supply, who happens to be at the shop..you
guessed it, the guy from Inglewood. He mentioned he saw me pulled over and
checked to make sure I wasn’t having any problems. We once again parted ways,
he was off to pick up his mate, I was heading south.
Moree to Coonabarabran was an interesting ride. Once again, scrub and grain,
with flat, straight roads. For a change, the smell of rotting kangaroos was no
longer present… such a pleasant surprise. Roos aren’t much of a problem around here, it’s
Bugs Bunny territory. Dozens of the
little buggers running backwards and forwards across the road. Be it a roo or a rabbit, at 110kph, it’s
gunna be messy. It’s not just the
rabbits you need to keep an eye on, foxes also have a habit of running in front
of you when you least expect it. If I
had an old FJ Holden, I would have stopped and picked up a few fox tails from
the side of the road.
The Newell Highway is in great condition considering the flooding
recently and the amount of traffic the road handles. Very few pot holes and no road works to slow
me down. The only problem with a road that
is flat, straight and in good condition, people become complacent. You can see
cars from about 2 or 3 kilometres away and it gives you plenty of time to
overtake. I had 2 near misses on this
little stretch. The first was about 30km south of Moree. A car heading towards
me had decided to overtake a B-Double and didn’t quite have the necessary power
to get past the truck in time. To avoid
a collision, I had to stop and pull to the far left of the road, straddling the
white line as he flew past on my side of the road. I hadn’t had a cigarette on
my ride until this moment…I pulled over and had one, then another…I needed
something to calm my nerves.
After my calm down, I cautiously got back on the bike and got back on
track. No more than 20km later, a similar situation occurred. Just as I was
starting to take evasive action, the car realised his mistake, slowed and
dropped back being the truck…missed me by about 2 seconds…not even a near miss.
About 40km from Coonabarabran, I was flashed by an escort vehicle, not
seeing anything ahead, I continued on my merry way. As I came around the corner I saw a
bridge. Sitting in the middle of the
bridge, taking up both lanes was a combine harvester. Brakes applied and bike stopped to allow
harvester to pass, then off we go again.
By now, the light was starting to fade and I decided I’d stop at Coonabarabran
for the night. As if to assist me with
my decision, as I was slowing down to enter Coonabarabran, I was greeted by a
mob of kangaroos standing by the side of the road.
Message received and understood – GET OFF THE ROAD.
Pulled
into the local caravan park, put up the tent, grabbed a bite to eat, then sleep…
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