Beers at the Bendemeer

 Another stellar weekend away with the boys was on the card last weekend. With no real plan of where we were going drawn up we could alter it at anytime. We met the other guys at 7am at McGraths Hill Maccas and for a coffee hit. We were underway shortly after and headed up the Putty road. Stu had to fill up in Singleton but we continued until Gloucester and then filled up.

We stopped for lunch at the bakery, they have good pies at Gloucester bakery. We then took of up Thunderbolts way and I had to stop for irrigation purposes. Plenty of lantana growing around this area.

We continued up the mountain to the lookout. The road up the mountain had been resurfaced in was in excellent condition, best I've ever seen it which was inducive of fist full of throttle. We stopped at he look out for a short break to take in the views. It was getting hot but the temp dropped a couple of degrees as we went up the mountain.

Stu was going to cut across Port Stephens cutting to Tamworth and head up to Bendemeer, so the rest of us turned off at Nowendoc. There's not much in Nowendoc, a general storem a rural fire brigade and not a lot else. Here we took the Brackendale road which took us up through the Rikamukka Forest and out on the eastern side of Walcha. They were grading section of the road through the forest and it was in pretty good condition. I noticed there was plenty of dust and the others had dropped back to get out of it.

I waited for them at the Oxley Hwy turn off, whilst I waited I turned on my comms. From here to Bendemeer I was enjoying the music whilst the boring commute to our destination, it was only about 30 minutes away. Easy enough and to get going. It not quite loud enough.

A few well earned beers were in order once we reached the Bendemeer pub. It was quite hot(35°C) by the end of the day and the air conditioned bar was quite welcome. After it cooled down we sat in the beer garden, such a relaxing place.

After a big hearty breakfast we were on our way. Zammo asked if we could visit the Tamworth Motorcycle Museum. I seconded that as we only had a fairly short ride organised across to Coopernook today, plenty of time to do something like this.

It only cost $10 entry to the Museum, which was money well spent. Some very nice bikes in here.

We fueled up and then headed up Port Stephens cutting and out to Thunderbolts way. Stu headed back up to Walcha to do the Oxley Highway. We decided to head down to Nowendoc and head across to wingham on the Nowendoc road. There was a sign across the road saying road closed bridge out, we decided to ask at the general store. They were pretty clueless for locals, didn't know there was a bridge out and didn't know how far the bridge was. We decided to go down the road anyway.

The road descended ever down through the ranges through lush farmlands with magnificent landscapes. Cowes were roaming the hillsides and roads.

We stopped at a bridge to err..... fill the creek and take a break.

Not long after here we made it back onto the tar on a winding mountain road down into Mount George and then Wingham. We stopped at the Australian Hotel for a beer, Geoff said lets have another. As he sat down the temperature dropped and it got very dark outside. Great the predicted storms had arrived.

Downing the beer we rode out through the Yarrat Forest, Lightning was flashing behind us gotta get out of here before the rain turns the dirt to mud. It wasn't long before the rain started coming down hard. I couldn't see shit, flashes of lightning all around us. A couple of big booms right after the flash it was that close. I was following Zammo and notice a green flame flash and swirl around his rear brake area. That can't be good.

Pulling into the Coopernook Hotel in the middle of the storm we were soaked through. I said to the the bar lady she's going to have to clean up my wet patch, we both laughed.

Looking at Zammo's Trumpy the rear brake look like it was cooked, thegre was no brake pressure and the caliper had changed colour from the heat. He must have been dragging his rear brake all the way to the pub for the last 30min, all the fluid was gone probably what I saw catch on fire.

Next morning we had a continental breakfast and head out to Taree and Gloucester for a spot of morning tea. It wasn't long after here we all split in different direction and made our way home.

Thanks for the great weekend away lads. Let's do it again soon.