Cumulative distance: 17,974 kms
I had saved the odometer reading when I left Sydney on 3rd March which was 77,731 and the odometer reading when I arrived home in Sydney which was 95,980. This gives a total distance travelled as 18,249 kms which is a bit more than the cumulative distance above. Must be the trips to the pubs we had on the way.
Colin and I had breakfast at the motel in Parkes and after taking the mandatory photograph we parted ways., Colin heading for Wollongong and myself heading to Sydney.
This photo is taken by the statue of Sir Henry Parkes the father of Australian federation. I took a detour to visit George and Eunice Bishop at their farm outside Cowra. Mandy Howard was there but Harry was off looking at a sports car in Albury. They had had reasonable rain during the summer and recently and the farm was looking good. George had nothing to complain about which must be a first!!! After morning tea organised by Mandy I hit the road about 11 am. There was a lot of roadworks on the road to Bathurst which slowed me up somewhat but I managed to keep a reasonable speed up. Coming through Blaney a truck had dumped its load of timber because it didn't negotiate a bend coming out of the town. Luckily he was travelling in the opposite direction to me so I wasn't held up. I could see clouds building up in the east and rain was threatening. By the time I got to Lithgow it was raining and freezing cold. Lithgow has got to be the most miserable place in the country even when the sun is shining. Riding over the Blue Mountains was wet and freezing cold. I had the grip warmers on flat out just to stop my hands from getting frostbite. Luckily the weather improved and the temperature increased by the time I got to Kurmond on the other side of the mountains. It was a slow trip from there to Elanora Heights because it was 3pm and the school speed restrictions were in place. I got home at 4pm, unloaded the bike and parked it in the garage still covered in 7 weeks of grot.The trip has been amazing for the lack of any problems. Colin and I stuck to our itinerary except for the changes we had to make when cancelling our trip along the Gibb River road. We got on well even though our politics are somewhat different. Even the card games ended in a draw ... well sort of draw. I won the first game ( 3 to 13) by 250 points and he won the Cribbage by 73. The bikes didn't miss a beat and took everything we threw at them. No Kangaroos or Emus were collected much to my relief although Colin had a close call with a Wallaby in Katherine. We met a lot of interesting people and saw a lot of interesting places. It really makes you see just how big Australia really is and how people live in the small communities dotted all over the landscape. The scenery went from downright boring to absolutely spectacular. I would recommend the trip to anyone who wants to get a feel for what it means to live in Australia.
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