Frogfoot

No, but I was looking along those lines in case they send me again. If I head north from Nowra over Mac Pass or Kangaroo Valley it would be a good way home. Thanks

Work insisted that I attend a meeting in Canberra. The nation's Capital, about 2.5 hours away on the Hume Highway (or Doom Boreway). Unfortunately as I was attending a different meeting away from work for the two days before that it was going to be really awkward to organise a car from work, the normal way to head to Canberra. With a grin, I decided that the most convenient solution was to ride down. Watching the forecasts from about a week prior, they steadily improved from predicting solid rain for the whole two days to the forecast the day before described some light morning showers. That I could easily deal with and would still be able to enjoy the ride. So, Thursday morning, 5am, just before the sun is peeking over the horizon I did a last check of the various weather radars online and geared up. There had been a little bit of rain overnight, but the roads were already dry. I did wonder about the roads further out, less traffic and more tree cover, but I would see. The alternative was to split off the back roads, back to the Hume and continue that way if I decided it was too wet or the weather really turned nasty. My planned route took me past Bowral from my last post before continuing to parallel the Hume through Moss Vale to Bundanoon and rejoin the Hume just before Goulburn. Here, depending upon time I could turn off again towards Bungendore and eventually approach Canberra from the west (actually closer to where I had to go in Canberra for the meeting) or follow the Hume and rush in from the north. It's the route I took that's listed as Sydney to Canberra in my Catching Up post. Only about 7 years later. So after getting quickly out of my area I was on the road towards Picton and followed the route I had taken the other week. The roads were dry, there was some cloud, but it wasn't even 7am by this stage. I had miscalculated the temperature though. The day before at 7.30am it was 23C. Today it was more like 10C so the summer jacket with a very light t-shirt (actually designed to wick away sweat) just wasn't cutting it. At a stop I dove into my top box and dug out the other t-shirt and light fleece that I had packed. Though still drafty through the summer jacket it did improve things a little. None too soon as the temperature continued to drop as I rose up into the Southern Tablelands. Eventually I was past Bowral and Moss Vale. I turned away from the main road here as it leads back to the Hume and I headed for Bundadoon, Tallong and several other funny Aussie named places. The stretch we had covered the other week, that I had just finished was lots of small busy towns, with 50kmh speed limits and very little "open road". This all changed from this point on. I had a good hour or more of 100kmh roads with sweeping turns and no traffic. Even now it was still early (9am) but while cool, it was fine and I really enjoyed it. I determined to investigate if I can cut out the previous parts of the route by staying on the Hume in order to get to this new part much quicker next time I come this way. Eventually it had to end and I was on the Hume. I decided I should actually get to my meeting seeing as I was already late (they had been warned not to expect me before lunch) so I followed the Hume down around Lake George to Canberra, eventually arriving at my meeting just before 10am. Cracking open my top box I was happy that my tricky packing meant that my uniform looked no more crumpled than if I had been wearing it in a car and had just driven down from Sydney. Lake George is funny thing. A massive lake with very little water for many years. Occasionally it fills up (originally they didn't know where the water came from as there are no rivers flowing into it, I'm not sure if they've explained it yet) and before they built the dual carriageway, could even cut the main road out of Canberra. Most of the time, probably 3/4 of the lake is used to graze animals. Day One Route I spent the night at a nearby base and again reviewed weather and routes. I decided that I would head though Queenbeyan then Goulburn to hit the nice part of yesterday's ride. Then after that part, I'd hit up the Hume to get home to family. Again, weather looked okay, though during the evening there was a lot of dark clouds and a little bit of rain about. About 5.30am I left the base and started out. Another great road was the stretch all the way from Queenbeyan to Goulburn. About 90mins of 100kmh, open roads with nice curves to cruise along at a steady, quick pace. It started to get pretty wet, so a stop and I was off again in my wet weather clothes. I use goretx jacket and over pants that I bought at camping stores as I find it much more effective than most "wet weather" gear that is available in Australia. It stopped raining about 15mins later and when I stopped for breakfast in Goulburn about 7am, I put the gear back in the top box. It didn't come out again for the rest of the trip, but it had done its job :) Breakfast at Goulburn was a hot pie, but I was having the same trouble with temperatures that I had yesterday. Note for next time, check the rain AND the temperature forecasts. That beautiful leg from Goulburn to Moss Vale awaited and it didn't let me down. I missed a turn somewhere and ended up on the annoying stretch from Moss Vale, past Bowral etc that I had planned to avoid. I checked the map eventually and decided to carry on as the next on ramp to the Hume was at the end of the Mittagong stretch. No point in doubling back, too far. Day Two Route I did have one bad moment. I had been following a school bus looking for somewhere to pass. I called it and pulled out and was about even with the bus when I decided that there wasn't enough road left to get in front, pull in, slow down and make the turn that was a lot closer and tighter than it had first appeared. I braked to let the bus come past and turned back behind him. Safe, but there was several seconds there where I was on the wrong side of the road on the facing any traffic that decided to come around the corner. That could have ended very badly. A poor decision, that thankfully didn't end badly. I got home about 10am, so both rides took about 5 hours. I had a great time, found some fun roads and put some proper miles on the bike again. Harking back to an older post, I definitely enjoy solo touring/riding much more than group ride. I enjoy the social part of those rides, but maybe I could just meet them at every stop rather than riding with them or something like that. Something to consider for the future. Now it's time to put up the Christmas tree, fix up the lights on the house, and I have a lamb roast to cook :) Yum.

Lol, this is Picton NSW, not Picton NZ. Though I've been to both, it's a bit awkward to ride to Picton, NZ from Sydney :) I have always wanted to ride NZ as well. There are some fantastic roads and fantastic vistas there.

(EDIT: Added google route) So, time for another ride. Another start at work with the crowd. I've missed a few rides, but many of the usual suspects were in attendance. Again a wide range of folks, brought together by our shared love of bikes, rides and service to our nation. A wide range of folks means a wide range of bikes - the learners, the trailies, several cruisers, a couple of sports, and of course the sports tourers (me). 14 in all, so a big turnout. We hit the road almost directly south from Penrith towards Campbelltown. A wind through some back roads bought us to a gear shop that the guy organising had checked out. Some good gear at cheap prices. If I had known we were going shopping I would have brought my topbox and more cash. I will be back as I'm in the market for a new jacket. Here's a shot of the carpark.... We rolled on southwest from there, heading up through Camden towards Picton. A couple of wrong turns (though nice roads) led us astray for a while. It was revealed at the sign that read "No Through Road" But we eventually hit Picton, we thought to stop for lunch or at least a coffee, but the front runners had other ideas. A hungry mob of riders followed along. We left Picton and eventually hit the Hume. There aren't a lot of options here unless you head far south, so a few kilometres of flat top ensued. Never the most fun and the learners with 80kmph limits and little 250s weren't impressed. We left the freeway at Mittagong and followed the old Hume through to Bowral. About the time I was about to head somewhere to eat on my own and damn the rest the front end of the mob turned into the carpark. Briar's Hotel - LUNCH. a starving mob descended upon the hapless bistro. They ran out of cutlery, there were missing table numbers and it was a madhouse. Actually the place was pretty busy before we arrived. The food was nice but a little expensive that your usual pub bistro. They did let us line all our bikes up out the front and one of the waitresses even came out to take our picture (I'll add that one when I get it off my mate's camera) Out the front were a couple of the Bash cars. These cars join big convoys of similarly extraordinary cars raising money for the outback. After lunch we headed home, following much the same route. Until Picton. Here we took a road directly north that I hadn't used before that lead us up towards Warrigamba. The party spilt and I headed with the group heading home. This lead me onto a couple more stretches of excellent roads so it wasn't like our fun had immediately finished. With the long days here now rides can stretch past dinner time in good light. But with Mrs probably run off her feet by our two little princesses I figured I had probably better head home to relieve her :) And stay in the good books of course so she lets me out again :) I will try and link a route in here, once I figure out where we went :) Okay, I think this should be the route.

I needed to complete some photo work for my course, and the final round of the Australian Superbikes was about 10 mins from my house, so bright and early on Sunday I headed for the track. I was about halfway there when I realised exactly how bright and how early it was.... about 0630. I started to wonder if the track would even be unlocked when I got there. As it was I did get in, about the same time that the first mechanics arrived to start work. As you can see it was a bit of a ghost town. Even though it's Australia's premier category they have open pits, so included in the entry is the ability to hang about in the pits all day. And as I was about the only spectator and the only photographer about at the time, most of the garages were really friendly and let me get up close and personal with the bikes. A fascinating range of machines and budgets were on display. I hung around until the start of the final practice, but then had to leave to get home before the Mrs left for work. I sure hope the crowds picked up a little!