Love my RDO's

Gotta love an RDO. Gives me a chance to abandon the family and household duties so I can go for a ride and improve my mental health whilst the family sit around wondering who's going to clean up the mess they've made. Man you wouldn't believe how much of a mess 3 lazy girls can make, sorry I digress getting off topic already.

So for my RDO I had a ride set with no real plan in mind and it was just going to be Nigel no friends again today. I thought I might ride up to Wollombi for a beer at the pub. I headed out at 8:30am via Berowra Waters Ferry heading to the Old Pacific Highway. The heated grips were working a treat today, it was cold.

I pulled up at Pie in the Sky and thought that Doug was here. Same bike different rider. I'd skipped breakfast because I wanted to try a pie and coffee so came here.

mmmm pie

It was very quiet here this morning, 2 bikes and a bunch of push bike riders but it was a monday and it was bitterly cold at 8°C, I think it only warmed up to about 15°C just after lunch. I ride down the hill on the old rd with the entire road to myself. On the way to Wollombi I see the sign for Wisemans Ferry, it's about the same distance and will have less backtracking to get home later so I quickly divert and take that road instead. I feel like I need a beer at the pub for lunch.

I stopped to take a photo by the river and noticed a sign across the road that said Mill Creek campground, so I thought I'd go check it out. All the facilities looked like they were brand new. The bridge led to a 11km walking track. Not for this little black duck though.

Then it was on to the ferry for my second ferry crossing of the day. I was just in time too and I boarded just before they closed the gate.

I had a bit of a look around the park along the river front before moving on to the pub for a counterlunch and beer. I just about had the place to myself.

Monday lunch special $15 for fish and chips washed down with a pint. Happy days.

Wisemans - Putty Ride

After returning from MotoGP two weeks ago, geez has it been that long already and I haven't even put up a post about it yet. Yes I've been slack for sure but I have been rather busy with family, work and photo editing.

I had a few days off after the GP and rang Geoff to see if he wanted to get out for a mid week ride. It didn't take much convincing and Mark came along for the ride too. We hadn't ridden with him for about 4 or 5 years I think.

The general plan was a trip up to Wisemans Ferry, crossing the Hawkesbury River on said Ferry and then around to Spencer and Wollombi.

I dropped around to Geoff's around 9ish and Mark showed up on his new MT-09. I'm quite fond of the MT-09 after the NZ trip 2 years ago, I think it would make a great bike after its suspension get a touch up. We headed out some bake roads around Maralaya and up to the Ferry our first stop point. We were first in line to get on.

Rolling onto the Ferry we were first on board and there were only 2 or 3 cars making for a spacious trip across.

Mark was for hanging for a smoke and we pulled over so he could do that whilst we had did what grown men do in the bush. It was quite hazy out riding today as there was smoke coming down from Port Macquarie due to bush fires that they are having up there. I must be a huge bushfire for the smoke to come all the way down to Sydney some 400km away.

Besides the smoke in the air it was a fantastic day riding as the temperature was right in the sweet spot around 25° making for quite pleasant riding conditions. Continuing on we rode around the river along here. I swear this section of road hasn't been resurfaced for 15 years as its a pretty rough ride. Typical of most NSW back roads now. No wonder adventure bikes are so popular. Why does your car or bike have to have a road worthy certificate when the roads are not car/bike worthy?

Wollombi Tavern

 We stopped in at Wollombi Tavern and it was right on lunch time. Geoff order beers but when I asked about lunch he wasn't game to try eating here again. So we headed toward Broke for fuel and lunch. No I remember the food we had here last time was abysmal. Right on Geoff, you really do only give people one chance.

The ride into broke was a quick one and the road along this section was much improved over the road coming into Wollombi.

A quick refuel in broke and a excellent hamburger washed down with a powerade made for an fantastic lunch. Mark decided to make his way back to Sydney from here where Geoff and I continued around to the Putty road so we could ride the awesome 10 mile of twisties. An what a cracker of a day. There was only 1 truck in that section which I quickly dispatched.

We stopped in at the Grey Gums cafe for a drink and a break. A couple riding back from MotoGP started up a conversation with us and we had a good chat with them. They were on their way back to Brisbane so another 2 days ahead of them yet and also heading straight into the bushfire area.

All up another excellent day out on the bikes, thanks for the company Geoff, and hope to see you on the Alpine ride next week. Fingers crossed.

The long awaited return of the Bushpig

Friday was my RDO, and I had organized a special ride out. Of course what happens when you plan something like this when your married? The missus decided that I would be doing other things, like attending my eldest daughters state rep shot put tryouts. Pfft, I thought, but I'd better turn up least divorce starts knocking at my door.

So with the shot put out of the way and a quick call to Bushpig I met him at McGrath Hills for our first ride of the year and on his new to him bike as well. We took a short ride across the Sackville Ferry which I did on last months ride and then on into Wisemans Ferry for a spot of lunch.

I must say the XDiavel certainly looks good and it gets along pretty good too especially seeing as it has a 240 section rear tyre.

Here's a few pics from the ride of Geoff's new bike. He was pretty excited to be out riding that's for sure.

Geoff briefly thought about driving off in this Ferrari Spyder

Looking chuffed

You may be wondering why it was Geoff's first ride out with me this year and why he sold the MT-10 for the XDiavel. And they'd be some very good questions.

The story started back on new years eve last year, when Stu, Rick, Dave and Geoff went out on a 3 day dirt bike ride through the forests near Nowra, 2 hours south of Sydney. All was proceeding well until the last day where Stu(Husaberg570) decided to swap bikes with Geoff(WR250). Well needless to say this didn't end very well. Geoff apparently tried to lift the front over a log across the track, according to Geoff is was like a Californian Redwood. Seems like the wheelie went a bit too high a bit too quickly and then next thing the bike and Geoff wrapped around the nearest tree.

Things turned to shit pretty quickly and an ambulance was called. Four hours later the Toll rescue chopper was winching Geoff out of the forest bound for St George Hospital. I found out later that night as I was on a family holiday in the NSW Snowy mountains on a Mt Kosciuszko summit walk..

The end result was a broken femur, shattered knee, busted ribs and a punctured lung. No wonder they had to airlift him out. His x ray looks a lot like a motogp riders with more screws and plates in him than a terminator. He's almost more machine now than man.....

The end result was that Geoff can't bend his leg enough to get back on the MT-10 so it had to go, in favour of the forward foot controls on the XDiavel. Needless to say Geoff was positively glowing about being back on the bike and riding. All things considered it's a miracle he's even riding at all.

It was fantastic being able to get out riding again with my wing man. Looking forward to more rides in the future.

Two Ferries Ride

Sunday was a glorious sunny winters day here in old Sydney town with a top of 18°C. The wife and kids were still in bed at 9am so I decided I'd head out and enjoy a ride around some local roads that I haven't travelled in some time. First up I'd misplaced my key from last ride. Checked everywhere, jacket pockets, desk etc with no luck and finally found it where? Yes in the bikes ignition from last ride. Lucky no one was breaking in to steal it.

Just a short ride today so I thought I'd do the two ferries of Sackville and Lower Portland with lunch at Wisemans Ferry Hotel. Heading up through Maralaya and Cattai I turned down Sackville Ferry Road.

First stop for some pics was just after I'd crossed the Sackville Ferry Crossing, there's a little elevated lookout on the Windsor side where I grabbed the camera for a couple of quick pics.

Selfie R1 Goodness

Wing? Looks more like a lounge

A group of 12 Goldwings came down the ramp and filled up the back of the ferry. Here's one of the colourful wings above with the ferry half loaded with wings below.

Comfort Machine

Not so Comfort Machine

Sackville and Lower Portland Ferries cross the Hawkesbury River. The river is a great location for water skiing and as I was sitting there taking these pics a ski boat flew through, followed by the skier.

I moved on along the West Portland road and up into the hills. There's some nice countryside on the outskirts of Sydney but I've notice how the city is gradually moving out into these areas, one day to be swallowed by the urban sprawl. I stopped on the Greens Road bridge for a look and couple more pics before moving down to the Lower Portland Ferry.

Lower Portland Ferry

These were the only police I saw out today and there was no chance of them giving me a ticket unless I rode into the river.

Wombats hiding in the bushes

Arriving at the ferry gates I was surprised I was the only person there and got pole position on the ferry. There was a father and daughter out fishing along the river bank.

Ferry Selfie Goodness

Disembarking the ferry puts you on River road, which you guessed it takes you along the river. There are sand stone cliff faces on one side of the road with river views on the other side and the road is very narrow here, making for slow going but is still a fun ride.

I was surprised to see some autumn colours here with it being the middle of winter, very pretty.

As you can see below not much room for 2 cars along here with rock faces and over the guard rail is the river.

This sandstone rock face is cut right out and hangs right over the road. The sign said no stopping Rock falling. I couldn't see any falling rocks so I stopped for some pics.


This whole area of the Sydney basin is covered in sand stone rock formations and well out into the blue mountains. It can be quite amazing in the right light.

All these stops for pics I was starting to get hungry. I checked the time and it was 1:40pm. So I decided no more stops and get into Wisemans Ferry Hotel for some lunch.

Wisemans Ferry Hotel

Wisemans Ferry Hotel is always a popular lunch stop on a sunday afternoon. There are always many bikes here plus Sydney day trippers, it's a great little spot and they serve great food too. I decided on the fish and chips for lunch and it was as delicious as it looks.





It was around 2:30pm by the time I rolled out of there with one last stop at Hawkins lookout before heading home. A short ride with one tank of fuel but an enjoyable day out. I'm missing my wingman Geoff as the rides have been few and far between this year. Hope your back on the bike soon mate, you're missing out on these glorious winter days and rides.

Hawkesbury River and Webs Creek Ferry.