on the way up

what an adventure! 1400 klms on the back of a bike - a Harley, no less - cruising some of the most picturesque areas of our country.
we left at the 6.30 am on Thursday - the day winter started for us - a cold 5 deg C. A heavy, heavy frost. Up through the Putty Valley where the sun never hits during winter - me hanging on for grim death hoping that there was no black ice on the road. I had angels at each corner of the bike. Bill the guy we were travelling with is in his '60's and what a maniac. He left us for dead. I am grateful that Joe is a safe rider and keeps to the speed limits.... up hill and down dale we went - til I tapped him on the shoulder and said it was time for a break. I was absolutely freezing ~ even though I had thermals on, two pairs of socks and multiple scarves. It was damn cold. When I hopped off my feet felt like blocks of ice.... continuing on until it was morning tea time.. a quick cup of hot coffee and some toast and off again... we tried to stop about every hour and a half just to stretch. Lunch was at a pub in Tamworth - Joe and I shared fish n chips.. as we were leaving, an old man came up to me and told me that I looked stunning on the back of the bike, then he continued on to tell me of how his dear departed wife and himself were bikers back 'then'. I felt so sorry for him, they had been married 35 years and she had died a year or so ago. He was lost - as we rode out, he blew kisses and yelled out - *I love you all* (I think he may have been having a little tipple in the pub). Around 4pm, we arrived at Bendemeer Hotel where we were spending the first night. We went to book in and found there had been a mistake made - we only had one room between the 3 of us ! hmmmmm - I was not impressed but I was told by the barmaid to 'take it or leave it, luv' - so I took it and we spent the night in the same room as Bill.....after dinner the boys had a quick game of pool - lord, my mother would die if she knew what I was up to!

Up for breakfast - the temp was below freezing - minus 4 deg. C - thank heavens the bikes were locked in a shed.... bacon & eggs for breakfast and off we went. It was cold but warmed up quite quickly as we were travelling north. The road from the New England area across to the coast is gorgeous - rainforest. Unfortunately, I haven't yet mastered the art of taking pictures from the back of the bike as we ride along, so no pictures of when we were travelling... but here is a link to a town called Dorrigo where we had morning tea.
DORRIGO
then we continued on to Coffs Harbour - arriving just before lunch.
At this rally there were over 6,000 people and 4,000 bikes registered. The Ulysses group was formed about 25 years ago by 3 australian men over 50, who just wanted to ride for enjoyment. Their motto is "Grow Old Disgracefully" ~ I was amazed and touched by the camaraderie among all of these people - they said hello to us, they waved as we rode in and always a nod as we passed on the road....there is so much more to tell and I will continue tomorrow but here are some photos to show just how many bikes there were!

the photos above and below were taken from a crane that Joe went up in while we were waiting to go in the grand parade! These guys aren't an out-law motorcycle group - just a bunch of old men & women who love to ride

below is a snap I took from the ground - everywhere I turned it was like this. We went for a walk and ended up losing our bike for quite a few minutes - very easy to do in a crowd like this