Phew, not had a lot of time to blog in the past few days as we’ve been busy.
The ongoing saga of my defective clutch kept ongoing. It turned out that the spares people in Brisbane had sent the bits next day as they said they would, and the bits had arrived in Cootamunda. Unfortunately, the courier there did nothing with them but told our mechanic bloke that they hadn’t arrived. So we were stuck there for three days when just one would have sufficed. But it was ok as it was a nice place, we had some good time off the bike, and we met some great local people, swum in the pool, bubbled in the jacuzzi, and ate some very nice food. Oh and drunk some wine. And all for not alot of money.
Unfortunately for the courier, he narked the mechanic so much that he was sacked. Apparently he’d done it before, so no more money from them for him, which was a bit daft on his part as it had been a nice little earner. But the mechanic’s parting gift to him was three motorbikes for which he had been waiting several days, and again, the courier had denied all knowledge of their arrival. So he declined delivery of them, meaning that the courier will have to return them to Sydney at his own expense. And all because he was an arse.
However, the downside for us was time loss. Nadine had to be up in Kempsey for her Mum’s birthday (Dec 21st) but there was now no way we could make such a huge distance in the time available. So we hired a van in Sydney. Nadine and I jumped on the 0135 Sydney train, nearly missed it while we waited as we fell asleep, got there, had a quick poke around the city as we couldn’t get it till noon, then drove back to Cootamundra.
Meanwhile, Gordon chivvied the repairs, got the invoice, took bits off the bikes, and waited for us.
After a brief stop in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains, we arrived back in Cootamundra about 1930hrs, loaded everything into the van, and then set off north again, sleeping at Goulburn, before continuing at 0645 for the remainder of the drive.
It was a long old haul, but we made it to Kempsey for about 1400 hours, unloaded our bikes, and Nadine went off to do the birthday thing.
As we sorted our stuff in the carpark, Laurie and Cath pulled up in their camping ute. Fellow wanderers, they chatted to us as we tied things on and tried to squash extra kit onto our long suffering posties. Most of it will be going soon, but for now, we're stuck with it.
And they made us a cup of tea, which was very welcome. They’re off to Newcastle for a family Christmas before clearing off again.
Much to my surprise, the extra kit didn’t affect my bike too much, and we made it to Goolawah Regional Park without incident and camped next to the beach.
There are a few people here which is nice, but its nowhere near crowded. And as I was still covered in oil and dust from the bike loading,I jumped in the ocean for a wash and a bit of a splash about in the surf, keeping one eye out for sharks. It would be my luck to finally get the bike purring perfectly, only to have my leg nibbled and not be able to ride it.
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