Released to Travel New South Wales - Part 2

Thursday 4 June

Leisurely start to the day.  Left the motel at 9.30 and visited the local bakery for an egg and bacon roll and coffee.  On leaving the bakery I came across the stranded blokes from the day before and their vehicle on the back of the recovery truck.  I headed east along a scenic road, crossing the Bogan River.  (‘Bogan’ is also slang for someone who is considered unrefined and unsophisticated.)

  At a town called Brewarrina I saw what used to be an Aboriginal fish trap on the river.  It appears that as the fish struggled up and down the ‘steps’ created by the rocks they were easy to catch.  

On reaching Walgett I headed towards Pilliga on Come by Chance Road, an unsealed road.  This road was packed mud in the main and it had some deep ruts left by heavy lorries driving over it in the wet.  Some parts were soft sand and it was an interesting 96kms. 

I met only one other vehicle, a large combi, which kindly slowed down as we passed.  It was becoming late and the shadows were long and inevitably a kangaroo bound across the road in front of me.  Fortunately I reached Pilliga before dark.  I had phoned the hotel to book a room thinking that as the only accommodation in town it might be risky to chance it on spec.  In the event Pilliga turned out to be a small village and the hotel was a pub with two rooms attached to the side with basic shared facilities.

It was run by a middle aged woman on her own who had introduced social distancing, my first experience to date of it being applied vigorously.  I had a simple dinner of parmi and chips, again, with a couple of beers and had an early night.  I had a brief conversation with a local guy from Come by Chance, brief because his accent was so broad I had great difficulty in understanding what he was saying.  I also spoke to the two blokes who were occupying the other room, a farmer and a carpenter.  The farmer had many activities on the farm; he raised livestock and grew a variety of crops from cotton to wheat.  Incidentally, Come by Chance was immortalised by poet Banjo Paterson, who wrote ‘Walzing Matilda’, in the wistful ballad Come-by-Chance:

   “But my languid mood forsook me, when I found a name that took me,

   Quite by chance I came across it - ‘Come-by-Chance’ was what I read;”

Friday 5th June

I left just after 9 following breakfast (2 slices of bread left in a plastic bag in the fridge, toasted and spread with Vegemite and a cup of tea).  I took the wrong road; should have consulted TomTom.  When I realised my mistake I consulted TomTom and was directed on to a dirt track across fields to regain the correct route towards Narrabri.

I passed through Wee Waa, probably one of the neatest and well cared for little towns I have seen.  From Narrabri I visited Mount Kaputar National Park.  I started up a track which climbed up the side of the mountain but after a while decided that it was too much effort to merely turn at the top and ride down! 

Instead I investigated some of the lower area which was less demanding.  On leaving Narrabri I noticed a sign for the Australian Telescope National Facility, the Paul Wild Observatory, which I thought would be interesting to visit but after a 20 odd kms ride I discovered that it was closed!

On turning south I passed through the enormous conservation forest and park reserve called ‘The Pilliga’, quite a surprise given the diminutive nature of the village of the same name.

I stayed the night in Coonabarabran of which more later.  The motel, The All Travellers Motor Inn, was the nicest of the trip.  I went to the local pub and caught the end of Happy Hour and discovered after my first schooner that they served British pints, so at HH prices I couldn’t resist.  This was followed by a Chinese takeaway eaten in my room.

Saturday 6th June

The motel owner had suggested that I park the bike under the overhang outside my room. The frost on the cars this morning explained why!  Although very cold, the sun was shining and I enjoyed a good day’s riding through varied terrain with much evidence of the bush fires earlier in the year.

I was heading for Orange for the night but decided to go on a little further to Blayney to reduce the length of the final day’s journey to Wagga.   Unbeknown to me I was sharing my room in the Goldfields Motel.  I had seen that one of the packs of complimentary biscuits had been opened but thought nothing of it.  When I turned down the cover on the bed before turning in I noticed what looked like mouse droppings on the sheet.    Pulling back the cover completely a mouse jumped out and scuttled away.  (I later spotted it feasting on the biscuits!)  Fortunately there was another ‘unoccupied’ bed in the room.

On discussing it with a cleaner the following day I was told that two or three adjacent rooms had the same problem, that the owner was aware but had not taken any action to date!

Sunday 7th June

A cold, misty start to the day with a heavy frost.  As I was getting dressed one of the arms on my spectacles came apart.  Fortunately I carry a spare pair.  I left Blayney as the mist cleared and had enjoyable riding over gentle hills heading towards Cowra before rejoining my plotted route.  I passed through Young which appears very Catholic with several colleges and a number of churches and schools.  Soon after riding through Cootamundra I spotted blue and red flashing lights in my mirrors.  Although I knew that I had not been speeding and had not to my knowledge infringed any laws, I felt apprehensive as I pulled over.  After removing my helmet and ear plugs I was approached by a tall, bearded, sunglasses wearing, black leather jacketed, low slung gun toting highway patrolman.  He informed me that both voice and vision were being recorded.  When I asked him why he had stopped me he said we could discuss that later!  Anyway, I was breathalysed and having produced my driving licence I was asked for my passport and then for my visa.  I was carrying my passport and fortunately I had a copy of the (electronic) visa on my iPad which I retrieved from the pannier.  Once all appeared in order the tone changed and we had a good chinwag.  He asked me what I thought of the bike and the Pirelli tyres in particular.  We then discussed the possible replacements for the Holden highway patrol cars now that the company had been folded by General Motors.  I never did get an answer to why I was stopped but as I was breathalysed immediately I guess it was just a routine check.  The Highway Patrol regularly conduct these checks; there is no requirement for there to be a specific reason to stop a motorist.

In view of the chilly weather I carried on to Wagga without stopping and arrived in the early afternoon.

It was good to be out on the bike for a lengthy period again and the bike performed well over the 2,300 kilometres.  Before this trip I had a slightly larger front sprocket installed.  It made cruising on the highways a little more relaxed, appeared to have little effect on acceleration and improved fuel consumption.