Suitably inspired and galvanized, we headed west along the Barton Highway after Jenny Carlin farewelled us and then south on to the Hume to the turn off seventy five kilometres from our start. The ride along the Burrinjuck Dam road was lovely. Long straights were raced before the road narrowed and hairpins, stylishly decorated with mirrors, slowed our pace. Several boat towing vehicles made us drift towards the perilous drop to our left but no casualties ensured. A few malevolent macropods were passed before the final hairpin and ride up to the township.
We parked our bikes in the Emergency Assembly point for the town and wandered back down the street to Jeff’s place. Jeff was waiting for us with the BBQ befittingly flashed up and sausages sizzling contently on his patio which overlooked a rather depleted Lake Burrinjuck. While we waited for our snags, Jeff regaled us with tales of some seriously weird comings and goings that happened in the hamlet. For instances, one night about a year or so ago someone stole all the pews from the village church and another time a couple of youngsters from the nearby caravan park had decided to take one of the dam’s trucks for a spin as someone had left the keys in it.
Sausages were served up on buttered bread and Maritta distributed soft drinks to all before elegantly decorating the front of her jacket with tomato sauce. Then she produced a wonderful orange sponge cake in honour of Doug’s birthday which we only discovered after Maritta produced the cake and we needed a volunteer to cut it.
Aptly replenished, we remounted our trusty steeds for the perilous return journey back to the relative safety of the Hume Highway at various levels of rapidity. We departed ways here as several felt the need for caffeine and Gunning was chosen as a suitable venue while nearly everyone else headed home. Maritta said she was turning off at Murrumbateman to take the scenic route back to Queanbeyan.
It was a lovely day’s ride and a big thanks to Maritta for orchestrating it and Jeff for supplying victuals.
Peter T.
The Riders were:
- Maritta Heiler Kawasaki 900 Vulcan
- Mark Micallef Suzuki M109R
- Warren Richer Triumph Thruxton R
- Doug Cawley Honda VT750 Shadow
- Peter Thomas BMW F700GS
- George Attard Triumph Tiger XRT
- Jeff Heiler Bunnings Gas BBQ
- Mick Beltrame BMW R1250GS
- Andrew Campbell Yamaha FJR 1300
- Jeff Jarvis Harley Davidson Softail Deluxe
