Day 450 – 4th March, 2010
Posted by TravellingStrom on March 4, 2010
Thursday – Narrabri, New South Wales
So, after 4 days work it was finally time to leave, if you don’t know where I am going this time, the destination is Albany in Western Australia, this is the location of the Ulysses AGM, basically it is a gathering of a large number of older motorcyclists and there are a number of social events(well ok, lots) and there is an actual Annual General Meeting happening as well apparently? Thanks a lot Graham and Colleen for putting me up and helping me out during the past year and especially the last few days, much appreciated 🙂
After getting the final packing done, not the way I want it but I wanted to get moving, I stopped in at the Suzuki shop to pick up a new oil filter removal tool.
Now, what had happened here was that I was missing a bag of goodies and it turns out I had left them in Buenos Aires, a bit of a bugger really as I wanted that stuff. I was missing the filter tool, spare clutch and brake levers, fork seals, my puncture repair kit and some other spare bits and bobs. I had looked everywhere and finally emailed Javier at DakarMotos and he confirmed that it had been there and a number of people thought I had left that stuff there on purpose, so now my gear is on a number of other bikes and I guess being put to good use, well that is another few hundred dollars down the drain I guess 😦 Oh well, easy come, easy go, after buying the new one it was off south and through some nice twisty roads and it was great to be back out riding again and this new bike was brilliant 🙂
The weather started to turn cool and it looked to be getting damp and I could see where the water had been coming down over the past few days. There was also a good indication of the Cactoblastus moth being around the area as the prickly pear had been hit in some parts, that is the yellow bits, but on the same plant there the green bits were showing fruit!
Through some more countryside with unusual standing water until I crossed the border at Goondiwindi into New South Wales and past the Wobbly Boot pub, I am going to stop here one night just to get me one of them 😉 But not this time, maybe a special trip.
Back in roo country down this way but as the countryside had seen a lot of recent rain and was quite green, I did not expect to see any, as they had no need to converge on the verge 😉 It was not long before I arrived in Narrabri, but of course I got sucked in and I was an hour later than I expected, bloody daylight saving!
I met up with Peter and put the bike away and we headed down to the bowls club for some dinner and a few coldies before grabbing a square bear and some coke and ice and heading back to his place to catch up on what’s been happening. We ended up running out of coke, so it was rum and water, no worries 🙂 It was not a late night as he was being picked up at 6am for a field day and I also had a longish day ahead of me, with possible detours as there has been a lot of flooding rain out west, and that was where I was heading!
Day –383 miles and 616 km
Trip – 383 miles and 616 km
Cheers
TravellingStrom
WORLD 
TravellingStrom 
Pete said
TS, was great as always to catch up. Will have to do so again. Well, before I move again anyway. Lovely photos. Was a good night. Make sure it isn’t a work night next time.
Safe travels mate.
TravellingStrom said
Hi Pete
Yep, always good to catch up for a rum or two, see ya next time
Cheers TS
Bruce in WA said
TS, so sorry I missed you in Albany. I was there Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday … and your contact details were in Perth 😦
Hope you had as much fun as I did … you can have a read here if you want to:
http://mildcogs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=61
Cheers
Bruce
TravellingStrom said
Hi
I have been here since last Monday, why did you not send an email or something?
Bummer
TravellingStrom said
Dear,
Just look at that stuff I’ve just found, I guess that’s what you’re looking for! Check it out http://www.chopchopmoocs.com/frustration.php?4140
Sincerely, TravellingStrom
DS said
I bet it feels good to be holding a bottle of Bundaberg again… Wish I could get it here…
Good to see you’ve made it back down under safely, enjoyed seeing this side of the world through your eyes…
TravellingStrom said
Thanks DS, yep the old square bear tastes just as I remember 🙂
GrahamD said
Jeez Richard, you guys party pretty hard!!
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/03/13/2844991.htm?section=justin
Cheers
Graham
TravellingStrom said
Yeah, we do have fun eh 🙂
Glenn T said
Hey Richard, I was in Albany Thursday – Sunday sorry I missed you. I’m sure we will see you at Urunga.
Glenn & Terry – Dardanup
TravellingStrom said
I guess you meant the Thursday before the start? I arrived on Monday on the first day and just left this morning
I hope to be in Urunga
Cheers TS
ziggy said
Bottoms Up, you little Aussie Rum runner you..!
Hi there Peter..!
TravellingStrom said
Lol. Had a few 🙂
TravellingStrom said
Oh, and that is not the Peter we know as inky
DS said
Then your next mission is to show us Inky Peter… 😀
TravellingStrom said
Well, he always hides and does not come for a ride either 🙂
ziggy said
Tell him we only come out at night..!
TravellingStrom said
LOL