Not many people can say they go riding to faraway places with their dad….well I can!
With the Lightning Ridge ride complete dad and I were on a mission set by The Mother to purchase a “special” piece of prettiness. Armed with tools to complete the job, dad and I embarked on this mission full of trepidation that we would be able to achieve this task. But we met the challenge triumphantly!
Lightning Ridge hides a hidden gem not a stone however but still very rich in colour and imagination and that’s the John Murray Art Gallery.
Plan for Sunday takes us to Mudgee for the night. Now I must thank my namesake Kimmo for the help is scoring us some accommodation at The Oriental Hotel. Just need to get on the road now. Keeping an eye on dad today as we received some bad news last night and need to make sure he is ok.
Back out on the road and I decide to risk it and tackle the gravel to get “that” pic of Stanley. Mission accomplished and we are on our way again. And what a beautiful day it is today. I can’t describe what it feels like to be out on the open road with the visor up and the vision of a legendary man sitting in my rear view mirror….the man who inspired me to get my motorcycle license and strive for all that I can – Dad!
Through Walgett on the Castlereagh Highway and into Coonamble for breakfast.
The roads out here are flat, that odd curve just to lean the bike a little bit and unpopulated. People say “why ride those boring roads?” well because they aren’t boring. To some they see nothing but to me you see so much! Pastures, animals grazing, farmers farming, Mother Nature doing her thing (whatever that is for that particular day) and the clouds, all these things aren’t nothing. You have time to ponder the mysteries of the world, listen to music, sing at the top of your lungs (without criticism), think about the ones you love and remember those you have lost….a form of therapy that is provided free of charge in the freedom of two wheels.
It’s a little cool this morning and I’ve got the heated gear plugged and playing and I wonder how dad is coping as he doesn’t have any of this new fang-dangle gear….insert dad voice here “I’ve been ridding for 70 years, long before all this fancy stuff come out”….when I was a boy….. He’s old school, he’s layered up and only seems to be struggling with the position of the sun causing his eye to water (I’m sure there’s more to it, but we’ll run with that). Continuing on we approach the unmistakeable structures depicting Galahs, ah we must be nearing Gulargambone…he he he. Not long and we are into Gilgandra for fuel and a short break. We are doing great time, although it doesn’t really matter how long it takes today as long as we are enjoying the ride and the time together. Into Dunedoo and we decide to push onto Gulgong for lunch (since we had a late breakfast). We found a lovely little place called Mayne St Café where we had a yummy pie with sauce for me and a yummy sausage roll for dad.
Mayne Cafe – Gulgong
Mudgee is just a half hour down the road and at this rate we will be there by 2:30pm. Ah ha, but not before we take a little detour. Friends of mine have a block of land near Mudgee which they’ve been telling me about for ages now, so I decided that I should take a look. So off we go through and out of town in search of this land. The name of the street they will eventually live on is Butler Circuit (now I call my friend Butler Bob, so have a little chuckle to myself). Pics taken and we head back into town to find the pub we are staying in tonight. The streets are packed with cars and a squillion people everywhere….what’s going on??? It seems the reason we had trouble with acco is that the Country v City footy is on tonight, along with the local big race meet and about 6 weddings according to the lady in the pub.
Checkin’ out the real estate for Kim & Phill
Anyways, pub located, parked up and checked in, time to unpack. Open the topbox and guess what? The spare bottle of water was ruptured…yep, water bottle 1, Kimmie 0, so off to the pubs laundry to dry everything out……argh.
While the rooms are ordinary, the bathrooms are newly renovated and so is the pub. It’s a real beauty!! (a little bit fancy even). And the food, yep, the food is “Sensational”!!! Both of us ordered the John Dory Fillets with chips and salad ($16), so we weren’t expecting anything to flash, but blow me down, the serving was very generous, cooked to perfection and absolutely delicious!! Bang for buck – absolutely.
Dining room at The Oriental
Mudgee really is a pretty town (just wish I’d worm my cardi so I could’ve walked a little longer this afternoon).
Early night for us, tucked up in our room with our books before turning out the light.
We were lucky this morning that The Oriental has a kitchenette for its guests with breakfast thrown in the price. A tad chilly this morning, the bikes tucked up the side of the pub have a thin layer of ice on them. No hurry again today as it’s a short days ride for both of us to get home. Backed up and heading out the sun plays havoc with dads vision again and he’s backed off a bit. I did a uey at one point only to discover he had a helmet malfunction otherwise the world was good just chilly. Bylong Valley beckoned us and how could we not listen to her. Early morning roads to ourselves and nature in all its autumn glory…awesome. After coming through the mountain and down through Cunninghams Gap we reach Bylong General Store. It’s closed naturally, we are too early, but thankfully the public facilities are open since our hot teas from breakfast and the cold weather has finally caught up with both of us.
Have I mentioned it was a bit chilly.
We are stopped twice by the same coal train once at Sandy Hollow and I can’t remember the other but I think it was closer to Denman. Seemed to take forever to go through and Dad was getting a little impatient. The sun was out, the day was warming and life is good.
Onto the Golden Highway now and the traffic is starting to get a bit heavier…it is Monday afterall. We roll into Broke for fuel and decide its really not worth stopping here for lunch. A few other bikes pull in and look at us strangely….like what’s that old bloke doing with that lady. Dad is fabulous, he’ll talk to anyone and proceeds to advise them that “this is my daughter and she just took me with her to Lightning Ridge for the weekend”…the look on the guys faces was priceless! Onya dad!!!
We decide the best place for lunch is Jerry’s – Kulnura. Easy enough for both of us to get home from here. We were surprised to see as many people there as we did, considering it was Monday. A fella and Jerry were nice enough to take a couple of pics of me and dad.
Lunch at Jerry’s Kulnura
The Legend & his Daughter
What an amazing weekend riding!
