Day 10 - Putt putt putty take 2

With the new fill in luggage system secured to the bike all was set for our renewed assault on the road from Winsor to Singleton in the Upper Hunter.
As we turned to the right on to Hambledon road the very considerate person in the right lane pulled out just in front of us and moved across into the left lane. The new rules do allow for this as in the past you had to go to the lane you were in. We don't want to talk about what I thought at the time. Count to ten slowly...

With all the not get ant where travel from the previous day I went as far as Colo Heights to fill the bike up. It was a different trip without the trailer on the back

We decided that we need a few items of undies and socks, with some jeans and jumpers as well to keep the load down.

A silent cheer went up as we passed the place we made it to the day before. The road was still a bit divited and the rear end found the limit of its travel on the shockies, this was giving the passenger some bits of wake up.

The Putty road has had some major improvements from 25 years ago but for some reason the speed limits have gotten lower so it now takes you longer to travel, it still is some of the most beautiful mountains in the state.

Passing out of the putty and the 10 mile I remember Mark, I worked with him and he died a few months before I was married.

Finally got through all the ripped up areas of the mines, will they put the land back to it’s original contors and shape when the ripe all the wealth they can? Or is that some of our grandkids problem? If so we need to educate them so they know how.

Had lunch and refuelled in Muswellbrook and made a call to see Neil #4 son.

He works at a turf farm and looks quite happy.

Going over the bridge I noticed the colour of the water, the only time it was dirty was when it had flooded, I was told it was only after the conveyor was put under the river that the water downstream is always that dirty. Government hay?

Neil told me that Eddy was out of hospital and at home in Aberdeen, so this was our next stop. Both he and Jenny are well. I have not seen them since our dads funeral 8 years ago. Had a chat with them and headed for Tamworth and my hermit oldest brother. It still gets cold up through Murrurundi at this time of year. Trying to find it in the dark was great. Rough road, bad memory for directions, and the thought “can’t these people find a place with no dirt road and corrugates?”

Colin is still the same very much happier out on the land with cattle and horses. I received a foul look when asked “where are the sheep?” I don’t think he likes them very much. But he is happy.

Said our farewells and headed for Manilla and Dave and Terese Williams. After getting directions from some torch waving loony at the corner I proceeded up the wrong street to have a look at a house for sale. They all thought I got lost! HA

What a warm welcome we received, for a lot of our old friends this is the first time they have seen Russ grown up. For some reason his height comes up in comparison to mine. We are fed and we talk till the early hours of the morning. This is happening a lot on this trip for some reason.

I am pulling up really good at the end of each leg that we travel and this is really a surprise to all.

Day 9 - Taking of the Putty

After removing myself from bed with a crow bar, Dad and I packed up our things, said goodbye to Jim who hung around to see us off, and we left Sydney. After suffering through another detour, we jumped onto Windsor Road and headed toward Windsor, surprise surprise.

We fuelled up at Vineyard, and they have Dr Pepper, so I did as well as dad checked the air pressure in his bike.

Dad and I took off for the Putty Road to head to Muswellbrook. It was a pleasant day for a ride. Fuelled up again at Windsor and the trailer started to feel a bit funny - Funny funny, not funny ha ha. We thought it just needed repacking.

Cruising through the putty, the sun was shining, the bike was bottoming out every now and then, but it was shaping to be a good day.

60 kilometres out of Windsor, between Colo Heights and Mellong, the trailer went bang! I head butted Dad in the back of the head as he starts breaking heavily. We pull over to the side of the road; the trailer is missing a wheel, and we were pretty sure we left with two.

Next to us a guy in an empty Ute pulls up and gets out, “mate, did you see where that went? I saw your wheel jump off, bounce off the side of the mountain, and took off down the valley about 5 meters from the Amco railing.”

Dad and I were still in a state of shock/pissed-of-ness and could only nod. The guys shifts the lose tie downs in his Ute, “thought I better stop and tell ya, otherwise you would have no hope.” Then he jumps in his Ute and then takes off!

Thanks for offering to take the trailer into town arsehole.

We have a quick look for the wheel, but there was a lot of valley to search. Not a chance, so we decide to call RAA and transfer to the RMTA for roadside assistance. After convincing the operator that motorcycles can have trailers, they tell us it is going to take an hour at least for the tow truck to come from Windsor.

With an hour to kill, dad and I decide to keep looking for the wheel. If we at least find that, it would be one less thing to buy. We looked for half an hour in the area where the man pointed, to no success. Dad then thinks that maybe the guy was a knob, there was much evidence of that so far, and the wheel bounced more square off the wall then in line with the road. 20 meters from the road, square to where the wheel came off, we found the tire sitting against the tree. You can just see Dad in the photo below.

We put the tire back on the trailer and dad went for a walk up the hill to look to see if he could find one more wheel nut. He found both the bearing cap and the last wheel nut to fall off. Dad took two wheel nuts off the other side, 5 stud wheel, and was doing the last wheel nut up when the tow truck pulled up. Thanks for coming.

Having the wheel back on, the trailer still needed some repair, and obviously more nuts, so we turned around and headed back to Windsor. We pulled into a tailer repair brake/clutch place. Parked the bike and noticed the trailer had a heavy lean. It was not meant to.

We put it up on a jack and saw that the Flexi-torque on the suspension on the left hand side had died and collapsed. That caused the trailer to shake the nuts lose. It was cactus. Back to Sydney we go.

The plan was to now leave the trailer at Auntie Chris’ house, find some throw over bags, and continue without the trailer. We stopped at couple of motor cycle shops on the way back to Quakers Hill, dad tripped into a shop and hurt his knee again, he was ropable, and there was nothing. The only thing we could find was a “throw over bag” that could only fit a sneeze. If I tied two of my shoes together, and put them over the bike, it would have more storage. Yuppies on the new sport tourers only pack hair products it seems.

We were ready to pack it in and head home. I told Dad that he should at least continue on and pack his stuff in the gearsack bag and finish the trip solo while I’ll wait in Sydney. Then pack light and head back to Adelaide together. Dad would not hear a bit of it. He called around to see what we could do, and found that Kevin, his cousin in Wollongong, had spare flexi-torques in his shed and could come pick the bike up on the weekend and fix it for us, and then we could pick it up on the way home. The local supermarket near Auntie Chris’ house is selling backpacks, we bought two and Dad made throw over bags out of them. Genius.

We got to spend another night with Auntie Chris, apologised to her for it, and did a load of washing. Tomorrow would be the Putty Road, take two.

Day 7 & 8 - Syd-d-d-d-d-ney!

And what a winner it is, if you are selling GPS units that is.

If you are, sell one to Dad because we manage to take a scenic route through Sydney without seeing anything. Many a times we passed a sign pointing to the direction that we wanted to go, but the bike was pointing otherwise. Many a times we had a team sigh as we went around the block to u-turn.

We pulled up at Auntie Chris' place around 4:30pm Monday afternoon, to an empty house, but with a full bladder. The back gate was open and we pushed the bike behind, and the backdoor was open. I had never seen Dad move so fast, if it wasn't for the bungee pasty earlier in the trip it would have held the land speed record, he was in the back door with a bee line to the toilet.

Jim was having a nap inside, so it was all cool.

We spent Monday evening talking and drinking tea. Auntie Chris and Jim came up for Dad's party, so we re-lived some of the moments. We had cake and biscuits, more tea, and eventually dinner. My cousin came over and we all hung out more.

On Tuesday, Auntie Chris had a day off work and we went to the pictures. In 2D, the way movies are meant to be, we saw the last Harry Potter. A satisfying end to a good series, but this is not movie review sight.

Tuesday afternoon, Dad went to work paying our rent. Every time Dad visits Auntie Chris he does odd jobs around her house; fixing things here and there. I walked down to the train station and went for a trip into the city to organise a birthday present, and to learn a few new swear words from the kids leaving school. Oh yeah, I talk street with the kids.

A roast dinner for, let’s say dinner, and strudel for dessert, and then we spent the evening looking up clips on YouTube. It was very modern. The next few days we were planning on seeing some family around the Hunter Valley; it didn't go quite to plan.