Queanbeyan - Canberra - Sydney
1 November 2014
Master Map
The morning dawned muggy and foreboding. I was almost certainly going to get wet before the day was out.
I rode across the border into the Australian Capital Territory to have breakfast with an old school mate who I hadn't seen for the best part of 40 years. I met his wife and daughter and we had a jolly enough catch up. His wife kindly took the photo below for me, but sadly didn't quite get the framing right: You were meant to be able to see Parliament House behind and to my right. If you look closely, you can see the flag over the top of my blue bag.
I set off north, planning to ride some of the route I had taken with Pterodactyl in June.
Windmills south of Crookwell. People get exercised about them, but I reckon they're quite attractive.
I stopped to photograph this echidna after I nearly ran it over
Another milestone
I stopped for lunch in Taralga, a pretty town. It was blowing like stink by now, and I was quite pleased to have some respite from the buffeting.
Taralga
The trip north is reasonably quick along pleasant enough roads. Much of it is on the plateau of the Great Dividing Range so the wind was a bit of an issue.
Not long after I took this photograph I had to get off and put on my wet weather gear as the black clouds I'd been watching to the west got closer.
Since leaving Canberra I'd been pondering what to do about Sydney. I didn't really want to battle the traffic and go there, but I didn't feel quite right about driving round it without visiting my son. At Oberon, I realised I couldn't just ride past, so I rang him to see whether he was free that evening. Sadly for him he was, so I turned east.
Soon after setting out again, I got a text from him that said "Jesus a massive storm has just rocked in. I hope you're OK." I was. For most of the way into Sydney it was dry, although there was one section crossing the Blue Mountains when it was pretty wet. But I missed the storm that hit Sydney. Pterodactyl was to tell me later he'd been watching it on the weather radar and wondering whether I'd be caught up in it.
In Australia we don't go in much for the sort of treatment of dignitaries we see on the TV from the US and elsewhere. And that I've seen in Asia. You know, where a massive police escort is provided and traffic is cleared to allow the VIP through. Occasionally, if the Queen or the President of the USA comes to call, we make an exception; normally, though, the VIPs have to take their chances on the traffic like the rest of us.
So I was surprised to see the traffic being waved over by a police motorcyclist who then stopped to make sure we all stayed put. I noticed he had a special number plate saying "VIP" and a number. Once the road was clear another motorcycle cop came hurtling past at Marquez-like speed. Was the whole episode an excuse for police to ride fast on the motorway, I wondered? But no, it was not long before a couple more motorcycle cops, a black Jaguar and a white van sailed past and we were allowed on our way again. I hope it was practice for the G20 a couple of weeks in the future and not the sign of things to come.
A couple of beers, a glass of red or two and an excellent meal at the Duck Inn, just up the road from my son's place, rounded out quite a long day.
