Trevor McLeod
FJR1300
Peter Arday ST1300
Brian Agius ST1100
Ian Paterson
GL1800
Sunday: We
left Nicholls on a beautiful morning with 10 other bikes on the Club
Ride to Grenfell. After lunch the four of us said farewelled the
others and travelled the Mid Western and Newell Highways to West
Wyalong. After spending a baffling and fruitless half-hour searching
for someone to check us into the motel we had booked, we walked
across the road to the Charles Sturt Motor Inn, where we were
welcomed and even had undercover parking. We dined at the Services
Club, where I also quadrupled my money on the pokies.
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Old Bank Cafe, Lake Cargelligo
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Monday:
Trevor led us north-west to Lake Cargelligo, where we had a coffee
stop at the Old Bank Café. Unfortunately, there had been two
funerals in town the previous Friday and the mourners had eaten all
the Ganmain pies so I had to settle for a ham and cheese croissant.
This was obviously a setback but we decided to continue on the trip
nonetheless. The countryside and crops looked superb as we rode via
Euabalong to Mt Hope (now all sealed) for lunch at the Royal Hotel.
The proprietor, who makes great burgers, had moved there only a month
before with her three young children, boosting the population of Mt
Hope from two to six. The kiddies had listed their favourite things
on a whiteboard. Pig hunting was at the top.
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Royal Hotel, Mt Hope
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We then rode
north on Kidman Way, which is untroubled by many bends, to Cobar.
After checking in at the motel across the street from the one we were
staying in (yes, that’s how it’s done in Cobar), Brian and I rode
up to a lookout with a fantastic view down into a giant open cut mine
and beyond it the town. Beyond that the scrub stretched far, wide and
flat. We had a delicious 500g T-bone steak, vegies, chips and a
schooner of beer for $20 at the Great Western Hotel.
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Emmdale Roadhouse
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Tuesday:
Another beautiful morning. We headed west on the Barrier Highway
through mixed scrub and grazing country that was surprisingly green.
We saw no kangaroos, no emus and only a handful of feral goats, and
with a 110 km/h speed limit the cruise control got a good workout.
Trevor and I stopped for fuel at Emmdale Roadhouse and, unbelievably,
they were out of pies so I had to have a sausage roll for morning
tea. We also had a brief stop at Wilcannia for photos of the Darling
River and a snack break at Little Topar Roadhouse before the last leg
into Broken Hill, arriving at 2:30pm. We stayed at Jadan Cottages in
Bismuth Street and cooked dinner on the backyard barbie.
Wednesday:
We started walking into town (1km) but waved down a suburban bus. The
driver, a Ulysses member, sold us all-day seniors tickets for $2.50
so at intervals during the day we did three bus trips and saw nearly
all of Broken Hill. I had a local McLeod’s pie and pastie for lunch
(they were okay but not up there with Ganmain or Finley pies) and we
had a couple of beers in a pub where we got a Ulysses discount. There
was a certain incident in Argent Street but on the whole we were
fairly well behaved and even shopped for jewellery for our wives.
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Palace Hotel and slag heap, Broken Hill
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I rented “Wake
In Fright” on DVD so we could learn a bit about the history,
traditions and culture of Broken Hill. It must be the only town where
a teenage checkout chick at Video Ezy knows how to spell Bismuth. I
also rode up to the restaurant and miner’s memorial on top of the
mullock heap that overlooks the town (the locals call it the slag
heap). Highly recommended. After another BBQ back at Jadan Cottages
(thanks, Brian!) we had coffee and dessert at a certain Scottish
restaurant that was only five minutes walk away.
Thursday:
Overcast, windy and 28C when we left Broken Hill but it cooled
gradually as we rode south on the Silver City Highway to Wentworth
for a pie and coffee. Thus far the winds had been mostly of the tail
variety but as we headed east on Sturt Highway they became crosswinds
and increased in strength. By the time we were on the Hay Plain, with
not a tree to break the breeze, the crosswinds were gusting up to 90
km/h and the riding wasn’t that pleasant. We stayed at the
excellent Saltbush Motor Inn in the main street of Hay. The other
three were feeling weary but I walked to the Services Club for a
couple of beers and a Chinese meal.
Friday:
The bikes were covered in thick red dust after a brief mudstorm
during the night but it was calm and sunny as we headed east after a
beaut brekky at a coffee shop next-door to the motel. The Riverina
was unbelievably green, with bright yellow canola crops in full
flower. Our final lunch was at Bullocky Bill’s at the Dog on the
Tuckerbox before the familiar last leg home.
We rode 2420km on the trip. The longest day, from Broken Hill to Hay,
was 590km. The longest distance between fuel stops was about 260km
(Lake Cargelligo to Cobar). The longest time between laughs when
travelling with Peter Arday can be measured in microseconds.
Ian Paterson
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Barrier Highway near Wilcannia
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Darling River at Wilcannia
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Brian keeping busy in Broken Hill
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Crappy coffee at Broken Hill
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