Easter Ride - Pretty fan-ducking-tastic if I may say so myself. A few hitches... like overfilling my oil and ending up on the highway smoking everyone behind me out. I didn't even notice... Greg and Gavin had to pull over and were freaking - they thought I was going to blow up... so cute. Then the oil started to pour and pour out... what to do? Well you can do two things that I have figured out. Run the engine for 2 plus hours to slowly drain the oil or empty the oil from the spout over a drain by tipping the bike over. Like cow tipping only gentle and with a bike! I would strongly suggest the latter as it took minutes to do after running the bike for hours. Lesson learned!

Day 1 - Singleton taking Putty Rd/HWY 69 which runs up the west side of the Hunter Valley. Super tight turns and some great sweeping ones too. Really really fun! Stopped at the Halfway Roadhouse for a break and a shake (btw milkshakes in Oz come as milk with flavour and bubbles - if you want a true Milkshake you need to ask for a Thickshake and it costs extra). When we got to Singleton we headed to the pub via a park filled with hundreds of Flying Foxes (very cool) for a drink and some dinner and ended up doing several JaegerBombs. Not suggested if you actually need to get sleep that night. We also experienced the Good Friday way in NSW. No shots after 7pm; however feel free to do as many as you want before 7!!!

Day 2 - Walcha pronounced "Wa-ka" by the locals. Tiny town with nothing in it but a couple of pubs. One which we were staying at. What a DIVE. I fear what we were stepping and sleeping on. Actually, let's not think about it. Feel free to form your own opinion from the pictures. We ate dinner at the oddly associated Chinese Restaurant attached to the Pub (was that really a good idea?) and with a food coma Gavin passed out waking up at 2am looking for a party. Surprisingly there was a party going on at the Pub which was missed during the food coma and when he tried to get in they shut the doors on him. Poor Gav.

Day 3 - Wingham. Once again we rode what were some truly amazing roads. Beautiful 45k turns, the 25 were a bit much for me personally but Greg loved them. We stayed that night at The Bank and Tellers Guest House http://www.thebankandtellers.com.au/ which was just beautiful. An old bank renovated into a guest house with 5 rooms and two guest houses in the back. Bev, the owner was lovely and made us right at home, fed us dinner and breakfast (perfect pancakes with real maple syrup and bacon! Hello Canadian!) and it was truly the best meals I have had since I have been in Oz.

Day 4 took us to Nabiac to The National Motorcycle Museum of Australia http://www.nationalmotorcyclemuseum.com.au/ the museum was outstanding with 800 plus vintage motorcycles, parts and gear and some really cool swag. It was even more amazing to find out that the museum had on loan only 241 of the bikes and owned the rest. Phenomenal. We spend a few hours there and unfortunately, the day persisted with tons of rain, detouring us from Gloucester, where I had mapped out the ride on Thunderbolt Way. I was sooo disappointed since it was meant to be the best road we were going to ride and based on what I had seen so far, I wasn't sure how it could get better. Guess I am going to have to go back and see.

To all our dismay, we hopped on the Pacific Hwy and struggled through the horrendous traffic (Glad we were on the bikes and able to cut up the shoulder to avoid what was looking to be a few hour traffic jam) and to Hunter Valley for our last night away. We went to the Blue Tongue Brewery where I got to have the Paddle sampling 6 of their brews and of course we had a few Jaegers to celebrate our last night. In the morning Gavin was dying to get home, and took off down the #1 straight for Sydney. Greg and I lucked out and got one last day of great riding. We doubled back to Putty Rd to give it one more ride and then headed to Wiseman's Ferry for the last stretch before jumping on the Freeway and heading for home.

The cracked seal and a shitty cold aside, this was an outstanding ride and weekend! Check out the ride map if you want to see the route! I'll post some photos tomorrow!!!

Can't wait for the next trip even though this one will be sans the duke but how could I complain when I get to go to Auckland and Hamilton Island!



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