Leading Miss Piggy

This past week has flown by and if you were following SPOT, you know that we got back to Sydney on Sunday.

A couple of comments about some of our gear before describing our activities from the past week. We are using Cardo Scala Rider Q2 Bluetooth headsets for bike-bike communication. They have a range of about 500 meters which has been sufficient for our riding. We use them to talk about upcoming turns, traffic around us, road conditions, etc. They came in handy on our last leg into Sydney when I noticed that Miss Piggy’s low beam was no longer working; I was able to tell RA to turn her high beam on and we just kept rolling down the road.

The other handy device has been the Garmin Zumo 660 GPS. My bike already had a Ram ball mounted on the left handle bar so all I had to do was reach into my bag of tricks and dig out an arm and the GPS was installed on the bike. I purchased a Micro-SD card for Australia/New Zealand before we left so have good maps to work with. The Zumo also has Bluetooth capabilities so had Ken (the male Australian voice) telling me when and where to turn; between him and RA singing and making comments about the scenery and other drivers I was never lonely.

Wednesday 12-23-09

We left Hunter Valley in near 90 temps and humidity to match. After heading towards the coast we turned north and sped up Bucketts Way to Gloucester where the real fun began--Thunderbolts Way beckoned and we followed. Lots of up and down and round and round as we ascended to the New England Tablelands. Once on top we still were enjoying the ride--the 4000+ foot elevation brought cooler temps and scenery that reminded us of the White Highlands in Kenya. We took a break in Walcha and while sitting there met an older couple from the small farming community and had a very nice conversation with them for about 60 minutes; it is always fun to meet the locals and learn about the local area.

We arrived at Annie’s B&B in Armidale about 1600. As she was showing us to our bungalow, she veered off across the lawn to show us a “surprise.” About twenty feet up a eucalyptus tree was a koala looking very sleepy as he periodically chewed on his favorite snack. Seeing koalas in the wild is unusual so we felt blessed. We found a nice Indian restaurant in town and spent a few minutes talking with our waiter about bikes--he was looking past Miss Piggy and eying my F650GS as that was his dream bike. When we got back to the B&B we jumped into the pool and relaxed in the hot tub before falling into a deep sleep in our private quarters.

Christmas Eve Day

A veritable cacophony of bird songs woke us in the morning; another beautiful day dawned. We heard the koala’s purring/growling sound and soon found him nearby in a different tree, but still lazily snacking. RA got a garden tour from Annie’s sister-in-law and soon we were on the road down Waterfall Way. The Wollomombi Falls were dry, but both the Ebor Upper and Lower Falls had water flow. We did a short walk along the escarpment admiring the wild flowers and meeting a man who looked like a left-over hippie traveling by truck with his, as he put it, “well traveled rabbit!” Oh, yeah………………

Dorrigo was our destination for the night and our lodging was the wrought-iron balconied Heritage Hotel Motel Dorrigo; a tired old building circa 1925, but with remodeled, comfortable rooms. Before parking the bike we had to make the 30 km (one way) run to Bellingen and back. This was without a doubt the best road on our bike trip here in OZ. There is about a 3000’ elevation change in those 30 km and the road just begs you to get into a lean left/lean right rhythm; a Deals Gap with more open sweepers. RA reported that Miss Piggy even let her scrape her boots in some of the curves!

In Dorrigo we met Juan, from Argentina, who owns a small restaurant that houses “The World’s Smallest Motorcycle Museum”; check it out: www.cafedelfuego.com.au

Our Christmas Eve dinner was in the busy pub at the hotel; a veggie pizza and fish and chips washed down with a cold lager filled the bill. We were not missing the cold and snow back home!

Christmas Day

Dorrigo was deadly silent Christmas morning as we sat on the balcony drinking tea and eating the incredible shrinking muffin that had been in one the saddle bags for a couple of days. No breakfast here this morning, so we packed up and headed up the road. We set a leisurely pace through the empty mountain roads to Grafton where we though we might put something in our empty stomachs. When we finished fueling the bikes (regular here has been costing us about US$4.05-4.10/gallon) we saw a big McDonalds and thought that might be the solution and would also allow us to get on line with our iPhones via their free wifi. Alas, it was not to be--they close one day a year--Christmas.

We were hungry and on the flat now so made a mad dash for the next town, Casino; our luck in finding food would have to change. We stopped at the first gas station to ask about open restaurants and were told that we would have to continue at least 20 minutes up the road before there might be something open. We decided that a Snickers bar would ease the pain and while nibbling on the iconic American chocolate bar engaged the lady attendant in conversation. We soon discovered that she had never seen snow, so I showed her a picture of our snow covered house in
De Pere and she was quite impressed. As we were ready to leave, her husband came out and asked us if we liked meat pies and of course we said yes. He disappeared into the station and soon reappeared with two hot meat pies that we could have. After first refusing we were told that it was a Christmas gift from them to us and then, of course, we said yes again and stowed them in the top box on my bike. About thirty minutes later when we ran into a heavy rain shower we pulled into a closed gas station and decided to eat our meat pies--still hot!

After our roadside dining experience, we continued to Byron Bay and the Lord Byron Resort. Reception was closed, but there was a phone by the door that we used to ring up reception (I think the manager lived on-site). We were given instructions on how to open a small lock box and inside was our key. The whole time we were at the hotel we never saw a hotel employee--very strange, even for Christmas Day!

Boxing Day

After a quick ride out to see the Light House on Cape Byron (the most easterly point in Australia)and a nice outdoor breakfast in Lennox Head, we started the 500+ mile slog back to Sydney. The ride down the Pacific Highway was uneventful--a few showers to wet the road and we arrived in good time at the Quality Resort Sails in Port Macquairie. We finally had a good internet connection and were able to post some pictures on this site.

Sunday 12-27-09

The Pacific Highway and State Route 1 were wet the whole way to Sydney--light to moderate rain,drizzle, mizzle and mist kept us company. Where the road was two lane there were many passing lanes so we moved right along. We arrived at Bikescape about an hour before our appointed drop-off time and all was well with the world. RA survived Miss Piggy and vice-versa; both bikes ran well and the 1300+ miles were in the memory bank. A quick taxi ride and we were back in LB's condo--seems like home now.