Tweed Heads 5 Day Ride

Well this was our longest time away on the scooter with almost 1900 kilometres travelled over four days with one day in the middle spending time with Cathy's brother Terry, making it 5 days in total.

We saw places that we had been past but never took the time to stop at, and other places we simply haven't seen or heard of before.

All in all, the trip was excellent and it was especially good to catch up with Terry and his family. The scooter performed really well and never missed a beat, however we're starting to realise that if we want to continue large riding trips such as this one, we may have to consider buying a larger more comfortable bike with larger storage cases and a softer more comfortable ride. Live and learn I guess, but for now, our trusty Trumpy does the job well enough.

All the highlighted words in orange, are links you may like to look at.

Days 1 and 2:  Map  (903 kilometres travelled)

Each day, we spread the distance over approximately 9 hours to enjoy the scenery, take regular stops and of course take pictures.

We started off up Pennant Hills road and on to the old Pacific Highway to Brooklyn where we fuelled up and hopped on to the freeway until the Toukley turn off where we rejoined the Pacific Highway up the coast to Bonny Hills, south of Port Macquarie, where we spent the night.

Our first refuel point was a diversion off the Pacific Highway to a place called Karuah. This little town was sooooo quiet and obviously effected by the bypass, but so well worth taking a look.It sat on the Karuah River off Port Stevens and oh look, a bridge !

And a closer look.

After travelling the Pacific Highway a way longer, we finally turned off onto the Lakes Way. A nice break from the main road and a chance to take in some great scenery.

 Yes my dear, your head does still look big in that helmet.

 A photo stop on the bank of Smith's Lake.

Time for lunch. We found a fisherman's club on the lake that looked the goods.

  The tables out back had a lovely outlook.

 The bridge crossing from Foster to Tuncurry

 Looking outward up the inlet.

We arrived at the caravan Park at Bonny Hills at about 4:30 pm where we changed and went for our walk on the beach.

Our cabin - number 14

Rainbow beach, directly behind the holiday park.

As you can see, it was pristine and not crowded.

The life guard, look out, cubby house thingy.

After a shower, we booked the courtesy bus to the tavern up the road for tea and some well deserved drinks, before having a great nights sleep.

The next morning, we made an early start and made tracks to Kempsey for breakfast at Subway

A short photo stop at Macksville on the Nambucca River.

A look across the river to the south.

The Macksville bridge.

Macksville, between Kempsey and Coffs ....... of course ! As we made our way to Coffs Harbour, I noticed an oyster farm selling fresh oysters and I made a mental note to stop there for lunch on the way back home.

 

 We couldn't go past this icon without a photo stop.

We borrowed someone else's kids for this close up shot.

Aaah sugar cane, we finally felt we we're nearing the border.

The poor old big prawn has seen better days. Actually there was some sort of development going on there.

Sharpes beach near Lennox Head

Poor Cath, so patient while I took photos.

The northern end of Sharpes beach.

Those are kite surfing doods in the distance. The weather was perfect for them.

Lennox Head, just south of Byron.

Yes Cath took this one, and look Im in it !

We followed the road up to see the Cape Byron lighthouse only to see there was a charge just to drive in.We didn't have very much time so we decided against it.

Here's a pic of the bloody thing anyway and by the way the traffic getting out of Byron was ridiculous.

 Finally we made it to Tweed Heads after a couple of long days.

 This is where Cathy left me and went interstate ......... for a moment.

The harbour at Tweed Heads.... or is that Coolangatta ??? I dunno, it was bloody confusing, especially after this weekend with daylight saving starting. We stayed with Terry in an apartment just behind that large apartment block across the water.

A walk around town to show us the local sights.

Terry, hamming it up.

On our first evening at Tweed Heads, we met up with Renee, Terry's partner, for dinner at a lovely Thai restaurant and gelato at a local store.

Day 3 : Sightseeing with Terry.
This morning, Cathy and I went for an hour and half walk exercise then returned for a shower and a day out to see the local sights with Terry.

More fantastic coastal scenery.

And of course we mustn't forget the Fingal Head  lighthouse.

Oh how romantic.I think this was the first time Id worn shorts since last season. (I didn't have time to shave my legs)

That's Cook Island in the background, named after the famous captain.

 The waves crashing into the backwash made for some great photos.

The beaches up there are very clean and unpopulated.

After the visit to Fingal Head, it was off to lunch at a town called Tumbulgum on the banks of the Tweed river. On our way there, we drove past a sugar cane burn off.

This spot was awesome, directly across the road from the river and very quiet apart from the occasional passing car.

The food was top notch. That's my Ceaser Salad in the front - one of the best I've had.

You could hire this old fashioned boat for romantic trips down the river but I decided I was being romantic enough - you can't overdo these things you know.

Another view of the river showing house boats that you can also hire for those water themed holidays. Just before we had lunch, there was a school of mullet being chased by a school of dolphins ..... In the river !!!

It was a spectacular sight and would you believe I didn't get a photo ???

Days 4 and 5 :  Map  (946 kilometres travelled) Our return trip.

We woke early this morning at about 5:30 am and decided to get moving sooner rather than later as the forecast was for a very warm day and we wanted to get some kilometres under our belt before breakfast.Terry suggested we take the Tweed Valley Way (part of the Old Pacific Highway) to start our trip south and we're glad we took his advice because it was a great road for bikes and in top condition.

More sugar cane farms with Mount Warning in the background.

A close up shot.

More sugar cane and you can see the rail lines for the sugar trains in the foreground.

One of many banana plantations along the Tweed Valley.

A typical scene along this road. Note the good quality of the tarmac.

Woo hooo, not far to home now. Actually I preferred not to take too much notice of the distances to go. Rather resorted to check we're just going the right way.

Here's what a sugar refining plant looks like in full swing. This one is in Condong. just north of Murwillumbah.

We turned off the highway to take a look at Evan's Head, not much to look at actually, but clean and peaceful just the same.

We came back out onto the highway and stopped at this riverside town of Woodburn for a drink and wee break.

There are so many attractive riverside towns up north. I suppose that's why they call it the Northern Rivers region.

We chose where we stopped according to the sights and atmosphere. That way we feel we didn't miss anything.

This old servo was just outside Woodburn. Thought it made an interesting picture.

I don't think i'd buy fuel here though.

So it was off down the highway once again to Coffs Harbour. This time we rode right into the marina for a lunch stop.

The view of the fishing boats from our lunch spot.

A view back to Cathy waiting for her lunch. I refrained as I was looking forward to a dozen fresh oysters from Nambucca.

A closer look at the Coffs Harbour fishing fleet.

We don't know what this island was called but it made for a nice pic.

A closer look at the Coffs Harbour Jetty.

Eventually we made it back to Nambucca where we found the place I spied on our way north for a late lunch of fresh Nambucca oysters.

What I didn't know was that they only sell them unopened and you're supposed to take them away to eat. After I gave the man my saddest puppy eye look and told him how I've been looking forward to eating his oysters for the last 3 days, he submitted and opened a dozen of them for me.

And he only charged me $5.00 !!!!!

He even posed for a picture. He was just finishing some grading then he was off home.

The view out back.

Day 4 came to an end at about 4:30 and we were tired, smelly and hungry. After a short walk and shower, the courtesy bus to the Northhaven Bowlo came and picked us up for dinner and some well deserved drinks and a game or two of Keno. After that it was an early night sleep for our final leg home the next day.

Our last day of our trip started just after 7am. We had already fuelled up the day before so we legged it to Taree to get some early kilometres up before breakfast at the service centre just outside Taree. Over breakfast we discussed taking the Bucketts Way west through Gloucester, Stroud and Clarence Town to Maitland instead of the way we came up. That way we got to see more, differant scenery.

Lots of great country side this way and the road is good once you get away from the Taree area. It got quite hot today and I rode with my visor up but the insects hitting my face at 100km/hr plus, wasn't very pleasant so I chose when to lift my visor very carefully as a bug hitting your visor or glasses at high speed makes a bloody mess.

The town of Gloucester nestled in the valley.

On the way down into Gloucester, we were constantly flashed by other vehicles coming the other way, warning us of a speed trap. Well in the photo below, the police officer was across the road from where were stopped, just out of view to the right of our bike. Cheeky bastard aren't I ? Come to think of it I should have asked him to take a photo but I didn't want to wake him up.

We wound our way through to Stroud for a drink and rest. One of our other destinations on a previous trip.

A fuel stop just before Maitland. A tiny town called Woodville where we were diverted 15 kilometres due to bridge works.

This gives you some idea where Woodville is.

So we eventually made it out to Maitland where we joined the freeway all the way back to Brooklyn where we got off back on to the Old Pacific Highway. It was good to slow down to 80km/hr and relax a little. Sitting on 110 on a hot day for well over an hour being battered by strong wind isn't much fun I can tell you. This was our last stop (Pie in the Sky - Cowan) of the trip where we had a drink and a 20 minute break before making the last stretch home.Funnily enough there were only a handful of people there - bikers of course.On a typical weekend you'd have a job trying to count the bikes.

We followed the Old Pacific Highway a little longer till the Berowra Waters exit and across the ferry to the west side.

And here is the final shot of the trip. The afternoon sun on Berowra Waters says it all. Romantic isn't it ? To be absolutely truthful, we were tired, sore and stunk like living hell. In a couple of words "Severe Swamp Arse"

Cathy and I had a great time on this ride and we saw alot of things and experienced things you just can't do in a car. If you take a closer look at the map links, you'll notice that the trip up north differed to the trip back home so we could get the most out of the trip and see as much as possible.

Would we do it again ? Bloody Oath we would !!!

Finally a big thanks to Terry for having us for a couple of nights and it was great to catch up with you Renee and Jordy once again.

Bateman's Bay Group Overnighter

This was another great overnight ride that we shared with a great group of people. Its amazing how complete strangers can become good mates after sharing some time together doing something that we all love. I did this ride on my own, back in April but it was so much better sharing what I experienced with this group of fine friends.

To gain as much interest as possible, this ride was posted on the NSW Riders forum and it worked well because we had 12 bikes in all with three of these doing the day trip only. The other 9 bikes did the overnight stay at Bateman's Bay.

Day 1: Heathcote to Bateman's Bay (248 kms travelled) -  Map 

The meeting place and time were set out for McDonalds at the end of Heathcote Rd on the Princes Hwy for 8:30 am with a 9:00 am departure. Here, everyone introduced themselves over a coffee and chatter.

(Im not sure what Craig was pointing at)

Craig. Andy and Linda

Derek, Chad, Neil and Ed - Chad left us at Berry to head down to Bateman's Bay to see family while Ed joined us to Mollymook Beach for lunch then returned home.

All the girls - Linda, Jill, Anne and Cathy. They all got on very well, note the lack of make up and fancy clothing. Not needed when having top fun on a bike !

Our first stop was at Bald Hill - a must when riding through the National Park.

Group shot with a view.

One word ..... wow

From Bald Hill, we made our way along the coast through Austinmer and Wollongong, stopping at Geringong Beach for a toilet break and a couple of photos - well worth the views.

Amazing place with perfect coastal scenery.

Oh look, how did my bike get in the picture ??

Eventually, we made it to Mollymook Beach for our lunch break. I highly recommend this spot for lunch at the golf club with great food and reasonable prices. Not to mention, its right on the beach.

Andy's attempt at the "Fonz" impersonation.

Group lunch shot. It was so nice in the warm spring sunshine with good food, cool drinks and friendly chatter.

Couldn't help take this shot of Ed standing down below, just about to start off home. He's usually the one taking all the photos.

Oh my God, here's something different, Cathy eating !

Linda and Derek, waiting  for me to hurry up and take the bloody photo so they can tuck in to their meal.

Our mate Neil wasn't waiting for  anyone.

This is Craig quietly wishing Id hurry the f@#k up and take the photo or is he clenching his fist, ready to feed me a knuckle sandwich ?

The group finally made it to Bateman's Bay at about 3:45 pm. Here we had time to ourselves before meeting back up for dinner at about 6:00 pm. This was the view from our room at just $90 per night.

After a brief discussion, we decided to have dinner at the Soldier's club across the road. The initial plan was to have dinner out on the pier but it soon got dark and quite cool. We walked into what we thought was the bistro but it somehow turned into a Chinese restaurant. No problem, the food was great and the good times and laughs kept coming.

Hmmm too much choice eh Jill ? What the hell is Anne laughing at now?

Neil, are you reading or sleeping ......... It's hard to tell !

This was Charlie and Anne's first overnight ride and they had a ball. Wont be the last one either I reckon.

Here's a sample of what came out of the kitchen.

Anne saying Mmmmmmmm Yummy and Charlie thinking ........... well I don't really know what he was thinking actually and I'm not sure I want to know either !

The leftovers - none to speak of actually.

Awww how sweet. Remember, less than 10 hours previous, these two didn't even know each other from a bar of soap.

Yes there was some alcohol consumed.

McDonald's Conference  Centre ???? Looks more like a scene from a horror movie.

The girls were hell bent on a "real desert" and nothing was going to get in their way.

Hmmm ok so bring on the deserts !

Here's the girls overdosed on alcohol, desert and fun!

Day 2: Bateman's Bay to Braidwood, Goulburn, Highland Way back home (350 kms travelled) -  Map

After a comfortable nights sleep at the Mariner's Inn, we were greeted the next morning with this view of the bay from our verandah. A little bit of morning fog came through which made for a nice picture.

Andrew didn't have any luck down at the pier for a fish, so he resorted to fishing the swimming pool below our balcony. Note the empty bottles of bait........or is that berley ?

The fog soon cleared and it was down to the waterfront, about 50m away from the Inn, for brekky in the warm morning sunshine.

Couldn't ask for a more feel good atmosphere.

Jill , just about to destroy her pancake , low calorie, brekky ........ not.

Oh look, a taylor made decorative flag, just for us.

This has got to be killing Cathy, everyone else has their breakfast but she is still waiting for hers.

Group shot on the pier after breakfast, then it was off to our rooms to pack the bags and load up the bikes.

Another group shot behind the Inn where we spent the night.

It's always good to have a place to lock up the bikes at night, providing a little peace of mind.

We left Bateman's Bay at about 9:30am in 2 groups. The boys (Craig, Derek, Neil and Andy) went ahead to have some fun on the King's Hwy, while Charlie & Anne, Linda, Jill and Cathy & I followed more sedately. We later joined back up with them at Braidwood.

Closer look at Charlie and Anne's new addition to the family.

The road to Goulburn from Braidwood, differed for the boys and us. They were in Goulburn 40 mins before us. Dont know why ........ oh hang on, we took the tourist route ..... ahem. The map for Day 2 shows the way WE went.

Parked up at a truck stop in Goulburn for lunch. By the time we arrived, the boys would have eaten anything.

After refuelling ourselves and the bikes, we left Goulburn on the freeway to Marulan then turned off onto the Highland Way which took us through the Southern Highlands to Mossvale where we had our final stop together.

Finally, all good things come to an end. This was a top ride shared with good people, cant wait for the next one. There was call to make this ride an annual event ..... we'll see.