Video Blog
Thursday September 1
The starting 6 (Steve, Russ, Gibbo, Boxy, Mike & Singo) gathered at Breadworks for a pre-game feed. Boxy arrived & noted it was raining. His solution was to wait in tunnel til it stopped.
Mike has ditched the cafe racer and hired a GS for the trip. An aspirational move.
Our first stop was Exeter for a coffee. It was wet so on with the gear. From Exeter we rode to Goulburn. Rain abates. The afternoon was spent traversing the plains around Harden, Crookwell & Temora. The highlight was a visit to the Temora Aviation Museum! A slow news day. We reverted to photogenic mode and looked appropriately in awe of the old planes.
We rode on to Junee amongst the Canola fields in full bloom. It reminded us of the Neil Diamond song, “Crunchy Canola, Sweet!”. Just missed that Hot August Night.
We arrived at our salubrious digs, the Junee Motor inn & enjoyed some drinks in the car park, ecstatic to be back on the road.
The Roundhouse restaurant for dinner (it was square) & a private room secured due to our boisterous presence. Singo disappears to watch AFL Finals while the rest head to the RSL for the post dinner debrief. It was reported that upon leaving the RSL, and unsure of their whereabouts, the Foxes secured the complimentary shuttle home. Upon being seated, the shuttle pulled into the adjacent driveway and advised they were home. Getting on and off took longer than the trip. How embarrassing!
Friday 2 September
The day starts at 7am at Brew 102. All present? Oh no, Russ has missed it again! The local cops are hanging around, so we let them know we are riding north before heading south & avoiding their trap. We were the only game in town. Very cold & quiet in Junee.
It was a brilliant ride to Wantabadgery – canola, blossom & water laying on the ground amongst the red gums. Weather is fine. Thru Gundagai (along Murrimbidgee river) & on to Tumut for coffee.
At Tumut we layer up for the ascent in the Snowy Mtns: -2degrees at Cabramurra. After a 90km ascent we are turned back by a landslide causing a road closure. Not the first time this has occurred.
Back to Tumut for a pee under the bridge & a regrouping.
Off to Wee Jasper. It proved to be a “Fox averse route”. It was A difficult road – gravel, loose stones & mud, each providing a unique challenge. When Gibbo is crawling you know it aint fun. The words of Brother Armfield on Route 66 were screamed internally, “Pal, I didnt sign up for this. Im pussed.” However, we always make it & laugh about it afterwards. Some residual concern about Steve’s mapping resources.
After that, a fang to Yass for late lunch. Boxy is fucked and has that “white bath robe & massage” look about him. All ready to go to Goulburn. Boxy takes the short cut (straight down the expressway) while the rest if us pander to Steve’s penchant for off road.
Potholes overhang us at every turn & unfortunately detracts from an otherwise wonderful experience.
We arrive at our Goulburn Hotel to discover that Boxy has not arrived. So much for the short cut! After being released from police custody (breathalyzer) he arrives in a lather. Quick, get him a glass of Pinot Gris!
Bros Armfield & Riches arrive belatedly from Sydney. Dinner at the hotel restaurant & the Swans secure victory in the qualifying final against Melbourne.
Saturday 3rd Sept Spring Tour – Assistant Blogger
Wheels up at eight and breakfast at the tattersalls hotel. Blogster Singo is leaving for his own tour down the Macquarie Pass in the rain; he has now disengaged with the group, sitting on his own, booking his golf tee off times for next week muttering that at least my family will watch the footy with me.
Checking in with Hydro re the dirt road index, we were informed it would be less than 1%. Gibbo having been slowed down by dirt yesterday took out his paper map and informed the foxes that the current map shows at least 80kms of dirt……Gibbo was right, but his map didn’t show the Fjords we had to cross. Andy R was hit hardest as he was lowest to the ground.
The route took us to Reids Flat, Bigga (which wasn’t better) and up to Crookwell. Then switch gears to head to Cowra and through the Canola to Forbes. Lunch at the Vandenberg Hotel and the pictures in front of a bronze statue of naked dog headed men and a rabbit headed woman (go figure). It looks suspiciously like the statue that Tony was seen at in Sydney on 2020. At the same time a 1920s one piston steam engine rolled by…..this is seriously Alice in wonderland stuff.
Time to head back to Canowindra through the green countryside punctuated with yellow canola fields. Mike tells us its called Canola from “Canadian-Oil-Low-Acid” How does he retain that knowledge?
Check in and have car park drinks. No one was that impressed with the red that Russ had carried from Goulburn; it was frothy from the dirt/fjords and pot holes, so Tony did the cellar dash and produced 3 more bottles which seemed to disappear faster than green grass through a goose.
The Royal put on a great dinner for us and even upsold their spare cheesecake as they saw an opportunity when there were 6 dead soldiers on the table.
Walked back to the motel with Gibbo playing the old “I hit my head on a sign coz I’m so tall” prank. I would have been worried if I wasn’t walking behind him.
Sunday 4 September – Assistant Blogger again
The last day of the spring tour was a cracker. Mike left early to return his beast of a bike to Campsie and Gibbo had gone out early to scout out a coffee shop but to no avail. It was going to be Orange for breakfast until we discovered an Aladdin’s cave across the road from the Servo which had an expresso machine, a single sandwich maker and a first time employee. Very pleasant as we sat in the garden. A group of cyclists arrived as well and Russ knew Gibbo would have to engage in conversation. While he was doing that the rest of us made our escape. (They ask too many questions).
The sun was out and it was a brisk 5 degrees. Hydro took us on some spectacular back roads to Bathurst. The usual array of scenery, corners sweeping bends and of course the unexpected turn. Tony volunteered to skip Mt Panarama at breakfast, but he was pouting as he said it, so we all capitulated to a lap around the circuit. Tony was as happy as a clam at high tide and as exited as a proton in the hadron accelerator, except that he could only do 60km/h.
We then had coffee in a very busy Bathurst and got ready for the trek across the mountains, which was a little anticlimactic as there was no rain or mist which we had anticipated. The group split off onto the freeways except Hydro and Tony who went on a cruise at Beeiwra waters instead.
Thanks to Hydro for organizing another successful Fox Tour
Silver Foxes Motorcycle Club Australia 