Not A Mid Life Crisis, Just An Extended Tour (Part XXXII) - Homeward Bound- Part Two

 DAY 45 

After a short stay in Forbes it was time to hit the road again. Heading off at midday I was certain of rain but needed to get going. I decided to stay off the Newell highway so once through Parkes headed out the Renshaw McGirr Way to Yeovil and Wellington. This road proved to be a good ride and the road surface was in relatively great condition considering all of the wet weather NSW has suffered this year.

Rolling into Yeovil I stopped for a quick photo and wished I could have spent longer there. It was a pretty little town.

Following the GPS out of town I feel like I didn’t take the “optimal” route to Wellington but whatever the road was (turns out it was Bournewood and Curra Creek roads) it was fun and interesting. Probably better than the route I had intended actually!

 Rolling into Wellington I made a quick stop outside the Cow and Calf hotel. Shame I couldn’t stay….

Taking the Saxa road out of town as a cut through to the Dunedoo road it began to rain finally. Then I happened across some of the WORST 50 kilometres of road I have ever encountered in NSW. The sealed surface was completely smashed for many kilometres and where it wasn’t smashed there were long sections of clay repairs which were quite slippery in the wet conditions. All in all, this was a bloody horrible bit of road when combined with the rain and I stopped in at Dunedoo, as much for the break as for the fuel.

I was going to grab a coffee milk to help with the revival but when I spied the $6 price tag on a 300ml bottle I almost had a stroke! That gave me enough of a wake up!

Dunedoo boasts some silo art so I needed to check that out before I rolled out of town.

As a bonus it is on both sides of the silo.

I then put my head down and powered through Coolah, Tambar Springs, Mullaley and Gunnedah. I though briefly about finding a room in Gunnedah but was keen to make some more miles even though I was getting over riding in the rain. As much as I could hide behind my big screen, the concentration in the  cold and wet was starting to get to me.

I decided to press on, up another “new to me road” past Lake Keepit to Manilla. Once off the main highway at the Keepit turn-off my will to live improved as it does most times I get off a main highway.  I enjoyed this back road as it wound it’s way through rolling farmland.

I made it to Manilla at about 5pm and decided this would be far enough. Cruising the main street there were 3 pubs to choose from. 

I decided on the Royal Hotel in the middle of the Main Street as it looked OK. Pretty much as soon as I walked in I regretted my decision. The place was extremely run down…..but the owners were so nice I couldn’t extricate myself from the place without feeling bad for them. 😕

This carbuncle decorated the wall in my room…. and lets not even mention the showers/bathrooms.....nearly needed gumboots to negotiate them!

This place was an absolute knock down. 

Fcuk! 

What happened to the awesome, well maintained  pubs of Tassie?! 

The bar was pretty busy on this Saturday night so I put in an order for dinner and settled back editing photos on my phone. After what was quite a while I looked up and the pub was pretty much empty and I still hadn’t eaten. 

I grabbed another drink and politely enquired as to the food. I was ushered to the dining room and some apologies were given for the delay. It turned out it had been two hours since I ordered and they had fcuked up the order. I had nowhere to be and hadn’t starved to death so suggested they chill, I was fine. The food was actually good and when I went to pay the owner, he apologised again and said “that’ll be $100 for everything “. Room, drinks and dinner for $100? As shit as the room was, that was still a bargain as the steak was $40 on it’s own, plus a few drinks…..so the room was basically free. Maybe this is why the place is verging on a knock down?

470 very wet kilometres to this hovel of a hotel but at least the bed was comfortable (or I was buggered) so I slept soundly. Tomorrow would be the last day of a trip that started in early February but there wasn't any sadness. I just wanted to get home now.

DAY 46

I was up early to get home at a decent hour, plus I didn’t want to be in this pub a moment longer than necessary. Loaded up I took a minute to get a photo of the pub and along the Main Street.

It is a pleasant road north out of here toward Barraba and Bingara. The silo art on the road into Barraba is another cracking example.

Rolling into Bingara I grabbed some fuel at the little Shell servo. Asking the old bloke behind the counter if there was a cafe open in town for a bite to eat he said “no, nothing is open but we have pies here”. Taking him at his word I thought it was better a bird in the hand and so grabbed a pie and iced coffee. 

When I rolled 200m down the road I passed a cafe advertising coffee and breakfast…..fcuking prick! In a small town like this he WOULD have known it was open….so, I suggest anyone coming through Bingara avoid buying fuel at the Shell petrol station on the southern edge of town. He is a lying bastard. 😡

From Bingara I cut across some dirt back roads through Myall Creek, Delungra, Graman and Ashford to the Bruner Highway. This was very pleasant dirt road riding through country I had never seen before. I only overcooked one tight right and puckered a bit as I tried to brake hard and turn on the crushed granite surface......slow down tiger!😅 

I turned right on the Bruner to follow the border eastward. This also proved to be a lovely ride and I will be back here again to explore more in the future. There was evidence of the flooding earlier in the year and a bridge that was out illustrated how much water must have run out of the hills along here. It also highlighted why it isn't a good idea to ride through flood waters, even if they don't look too deep!

Rolling into Tenterfield I fuelled up and decided to take my favourite road north, Mt Lindsay road. This is a great little piece of back highway that discourages over use by method of a couple of small sections of (good) dirt.

At Legume I turned east for Woodenbong. There has been much roadwork done on this section. Mostly it is for the better but some of the new stuff is already falling apart with all of the wet weather and the rest is patiently waiting it’s turn for improvement works. But when on an Africa Twin this isn’t a problem at all. It is just made for these shitty Aussie roads!

Koreelah bridge.

The rest of the way home is pretty stock standard, so not much to say there. It felt a bit funny to finally be riding up my street after so many months, but here I was, home after 20 000 kilometres and 8 months of part time travelling. 

I had been very lucky to do this ride and especially loved the time I had in Tassie. I would go back there tomorrow if I had the chance. South Australia and the Flinders in particular, was a nice surprise but not on the same level as Tassie

Thanks for following along through all of these posts. It has been a looong, drawn out ride but very much a fun one. I have discovered many places and interesting things I wasn’t aware of and I hope this may help others in planing rides through some of the regions I have travelled.

Here is my Spot tracker bread crumb trail of where I rode. Hmmm. Tassie might need a closer inspection..... 🤔 😆

Looking forward to the next trip….. 😉

Not A Mid Life Crisis, Just An Extended Tour (Part XXXI) - Homeward Bound- Part One

DAY 43

I had another run of four days off, so again, jumped on a jet and made my way down to Adelaide. This would be the last time though as I had decided it was time to bring the Twin home. I had a plan to drop in and visit my Dad for a day in there so it would be roughly a 2500 kilometre trip in three days. This was a bit tight as I also wanted to ride some roads that are much less travelled but I would see how it went.

The Adelaide weather had been quite wet and cold all winter. I had somehow managed to jag mostly good weather with each trip down here (let’s face it, if the forecast looked certain of rain, I didn’t come down!) and today turned out to be probably the best day of the lot! Clear and cold after the previous day’s downpour, I rode up into the hills heading for Cuddlee Creek and it’s cafe’ where I was to meet an old work mate and his wife for breakfast. But first I needed to stop for some photos of this crisp morning.

Not A Mid Life Crisis, Just An Extended Tour (Part XXX) - The West Coast Exploration

 DAY 42

I didn't have to be up early but I was..blast it! I had slept well with the heating off but it was bloody cold outside this morning! I put on every layer I had and wheeled the Twin out of it's little holiday hut where it had sheltered for the night, backing it up to my door so I could load her up.

Not A Mid Life Crisis, Just An Extended Tour (Part XXVIX) - The West Coast Exploration

 DAY 41

It had rained pretty heavily at times overnight. I was hoping to incorporate some dirt roads today after advice from the ranger at the Head of The Bight visitors centre and the gent I chatted to last night. But what would the roads be like? 

Well, there was only one way to find out!

Not A Mid Life Crisis, Just An Extended Tour (Part XXVIII) - The West Coast Exploration

 DAY 40

40 days on the road! 40 amazing days of riding since I first left home, heading southbound waaaay back in early February! N.S.W., Victoria, Tasmania and now South Australia, here I was on the eastern edge of the Nullarbor Plain!

Not A Mid Life Crisis, Just An Extended Tour (Part XXVII) - The West Coast Exploration

 DAY 39

The alarm went off but it was still dark. WTF? Looking out of my room to the east I could see that it was still quite overcast. 

Bugger. 

I was hoping to get some 'golden hour" shots of the port bit of Port Lincoln. I got up, rugged up and went for a wander, making the best of what I had. I think I did ok....

Not A Mid Life Crisis, Just An Extended Tour (Part XXVI) - The West Coast Exploration

 DAY 38

That run of days off came around pretty quickly! Looking at the weather forecast and it looked pretty good with a big high pressure system centering itself over the continent for the bulk of my days off. That would make for some pretty decent weather if I were to head west - so, it was go west, young man!

Leaving Adelaide I actually had clear blue skies for the first time since having the bike down here. It was cool but that beats being rained upon before even leaving town.

I headed straight up Port Wakefield road as that was the quickest way out of Dodge and the most direct way to Port Augusta at the head of the Spencer Gulf and hence, Port Lincoln, my intended destination for tonight. The catch with getting to Port Lincoln, which is only 280 kilometres from Adelaide in a straight line is that one has to circumnavigate the Gulf of St Vincent and the Spencer Gulf to get there - so some 650 kilometres by road!

The road up to Port Wakefield is pretty straight dual lane carriageway but is marred by being cursed with "average speed" cameras. This made the ride tedious as I needed to keep a hawk eye on my speedo to avoid any "creep" that would see me paying extra taxes to the South Aussie Garment. (so far, so good though...)

Just south of the Port Wakefield township (and just north of the last average speed camera) is the Port Wakefield Proof and Experimental Establishment. Here, the army and navy test fire artillery into the Gulf of St Vincent. Interesting stuff!