Extra Short Ride - Day 5

24/10/2011

Today it's time to start the relaxing ride back to sunny Queensland.  It was my intention to ride from Wodonga to Tumut today, via Corryong and Cooma.  Unfortunately, a quick check of the BOM site upon waking put those plans out the window….80-100kph winds, heavy rain and hail were forecast to hit the Snowy Mountains by midday, just in time for my arrival.  With this wonderful forecast, I changed plans (yet again) and decided I’d try to outrun the approaching foul weather and shoot straight up the Hume Highway, destination Lithgow.

 Leaving my accommodation at 7:30, I started heading north, first scheduled stop, The Dog On The Tuckerbox. 

It was going to be an interesting ride today.  As soon as I left the relative protection of Albury, the approaching storms started to provide a hint of the weather that would head this way.  Most of the way from Albury to Gundagai I was forced to ride with a strong lean on the bike due to the winds hitting me from the left.  On several occasions I was blow across lanes and thankfully there was no traffic in the other lane.

 Riding today was going to be relatively easy as I’ll be on divided highway almost all of the way.

First stop was at Gundagai for fuel and feed, then off to the Dog for the mandatory photo shoot and souvenir purchase.

 Back on the road, the wind had died down, however, the dark clouds were still following and it started to rain.  20 minutes later I was out of the rain, but the wind had started up again.

 Before I knew it I was at Yass for refuel and feed.  2 bikes and a trike from the bike show pulled and we started to chat.  They were from Sydney and were heading home. I had seen them pulled over earlier in the morning adjusting their bikes. When I mentioned I had seen them a few hours before, they said their bags had been getting blown around by the wind and they had to repack their bags with all the heavy gear in the left saddle bag to give some stability in the wind.

Cruising on a motorway for hour after hour starts to play with your head…no traffic heading towards you to worry about, smooth road surfaces and very few vehicles passing you due to the number of speed cameras.  On a couple of occasions my mind started to wonder looking at the scenery and enjoying the smells of the countryside.  To break the monotony, I took several off ramps and called in to some of the small towns and played tourist.

After Yass, it was on towards Sydney and the Blue Mountains.  Fuelling up at Campbelltown, I noticed a lot of smoke in the direction I was heading.  I started up the radio app on my phone and within a few minutes I knew I wasn’t going to get to Lithgow tonight. A large bushfire had taken hold near the Three Sisters and smoke from the fires had caused the main road to Lithgow to be closed.  Once again I had to change my plans and decided I’d ride through to Singleton via the Old Putty Road. 

Roadworks on the “freeway” were slowing me down and at the rate I was going, I knew I wasn’t going to get to Singleton before sunset – not a good idea when I’d have to ride over 100km through national parks with all the furry speed bumps.  Time for another change of plans.  I decided I'd be heading to Raymond Terrace.  Fortunately, I’d been this way several times and knew there was only about 20km of riding where kangaroos might cause an issue.

 Finally working through the traffic, I pulled off at Edmondson Park, had a feed and headed towards tonights destination. 

I was not looking forward to the Sydney traffic, but turning on to the WestLink M7 Toll Road, I was pleasantly surprised at how well the traffic flowed.  20 minutes from Edmondson Park to Beecroft during peak hour. If only the roads were this good back home.

After Beecroft, it was a 20 minute crawl to get onto the highway again and then it was 110kph, multi lane freeway for the next hour or so. Just as I entered the freeway, the rain started and it was with me for the rest of the day.  

Arriving at Beresfield just on sunset, I refuelled again, grabbed another bite to eat and then rode the last 20 or so kilometres trying to see where I was going.  Finally arriving at Raymond Terrace, I pulled in at the first place I saw, Pacific Gardens Van Village, very tired and very wet.  12 hours on the bike is enough for anyone. 

 Pacific Gardens Van Village is a great little place to stay. The cabins sleep 6-8 people and are excellent value for money.  The on-site Chinese restaurant does an excellent Sweet & Sour Pork and it sure tasted better than any of the foods I’d eaten during the day.  I’ll definitely be calling in next time I ride through.