3 day Sojourn

Monday 27th December the weather is overcast so we put on our wet weather gear just in case we have a drop of rain we are to meet other riders at the Waratah Retirement Village at Bargo, where our ride leader lives.

Arriving at 7-30am  Bruce is waiting, after a few minutes Pauline and Neil arrive, our ride leader John turns up and his friend Margaret and her fluffy white bitch come to bid us farewell.

Just on 8am Big Bill arrives,and the heavens opened up. A heavy down pour does not dampen our enthusiasm for a ride.

Setting off at 8.05 we travel down the back roads .
Having morning tea at Marulan and riding south towards Goulburn  to Crookwell ,meeting a herd of cows that just would not get off the road until the farmer came with his ute to hurry them along then to  Rugby, Boorowa we pick up Ed (John's Twin Brother) and have lunch in a little corner cafe as there is no parking in front of the bakery.

The weather has improved and we remove our wet weather gear as the temp has risen to 19deg.

After lunch we ride through Harden, Murrumburrah Coolac to Tumut then the loggers road around Batlow which was a great road with no traffic with  sweeping bends.
 Afternoon tea was at Rosewood on the edge of the Pine forest, big milk shakes with triple ice cream was the order of the afternoon., leaving Rosewood the back roads through Jiingelic and over the Victorian border to Walwa or destination for the evening after 597 klm we were all ready for a cool ale.
.Dinner was served at 6pm and Trout, Steaks ,Chicken were all ordered, after our hardy meal we walked the 800metres (and back) to the see the swollen  Murray River.

A good nights sleep, toast and cereal for breakfast  we are ready for the days ride .Clutch out at 8am to ride through the snowy mountains. Tintaldra, Towong to Kahancoban morning tea , Vic and I shared a bacon and egg roll whilst others had a whole breakfast, then the ride through the Kosciuszko National Park

passing Thredbo and onto Jindabyne for lunch. The weather has really warmed up and the temperature is now 27deg .Along the highway we head for Berridale  then to Adaminaby for afternoon tea Ed took us on a detour to see the sights of the old AdamiabyTownship then onto the Snowy Mountain Highway and catching up with the fellow riders who were waiting by the side of the road thinking we were lost,as we are heading  to Talbingo we are caught up with a some holiday traffic caravans ,4x4 with boats, and cam pa vans, for the the road it quite twisty heading  down the mountains our nights destination is in Talbingo our accommodation is  in 3cabins 8 people 4 single guys and two couples  3 guys shared one cabin

 Pauline and Neil the other we shared our cabin with John it was a  beaut day of riding and clocking up 490klm .

Vic went to the Pub and brought back some cool ale, and we sat on the verandahs,and reminiscing of our days rides, Pauline was testing out her new camera and snapping at any thing that moved.

Dinner we went to the Steak house and had some cool drinks and after dinner went for a long walk along the bush tracks .

No breakfast facilities so we shared what food we had  and clutch out at 8am we head to Tumut for a real breakfast but we stopped of to see the dam wall at Blowering Power Station and the  Blowering Reserve the water levels are quite high due to all the rain in the area.Then onto Tumut for breakfast, after leaving Tumut we head for Brungle along a narrow twisty road and we come across a herd of cows we manoeuvre pass these and head for Coolac where we say goodbye to Ed, and ride back through Haden and then to Boorowa for Lunch (at the bakery) across to Rugby then onto Goulburn and the Highway to Maurlan to say our good byes then the Highway home

We rode just on 1500 klm and the temp ranged from 11 deg to 31 it was a good three day event

Christmas Day 2010

Most of our extended family turned up for our first cold luncheon, doing away with the hot turkey and the trimmings. The day's temperature started off quite comfortable so we had our nibbles on the back patio; cheese ,biscuits, dips, chips,and drinks. When all guests had arrived  we had the gift giving  which was another change of tradition. All children under 16 were still to receive presents but the older members of the family had pot luck gifts where everybody got a number and had to pick from the parcels and if you did not like what you picked you could swap it. It was all good fun a different way of giving .

Lunch was spread out on the kitchen bar and our guests helped them selves to chicken (brought by Brenda ,Daron and Rob Brenda's Dad) poached fish and prawns brought by Tyson and Elise, pork, turkey, ham, potato salad brought by Roe, Shaun and family,Waldorf salad brought by Elise and Tyson, Cesar salad, coleslaw, pasta salad, Tahnee brought some wonderful choc biscuits Dianne made all the savory plates and it was a  feast fit for a king.
 Some ate their lunch on the cool patio, whilst others sat inside with the air conditioning, the sweets were then laid out, old fashion trifle soaked in lots of sherry with ice cream and custard was a real winner, then the hot plum pudding with custard.

Baby Peter entertained us with his Wiggle dances and is just so cute, his new Ducati motorcycle was just a tad too high for his little legs. Alex had her super camera and was snapping all day and catching the mood.