I had the opportunity to take ride out to western NSW to visit a friend. I left on Sunday morning and rode to Richmond then over Blue Mountains via the Bells Line of Road to Lithgow. From Lithgow I went to Bathurst then Orange when I stopped for lunch. Faced with a choice of Orange -> Parkes (home of The Dish) -> Narrowine or Orange -> Dubbo -> Narrowine I chose the latter as it looked a bit shorter and it was getting on in the day. It was obvious from the yellow grass that the west had no where near the rain we got on the east of the dividing range. On the way to Dubbo I stopped for fuel at Molong and fell into a conversation with a local at the gas stations. He advised me of the quickest route and also cautioned me about speed, he had lost his son in a motorcycle accident some 25 years earlier. I set off on the last 150km leg and got to Narromine at about 5:00pm and made my way to my friends farm. The ride was mostly uneventful except for a car pulling out in front if me in Narrowmine minutes before I reached my destination.
The following day while my host was at work I went further out west to the town of Albert. There is not much to see in Albert, one pub (The Rabbit Trap), a fuel depot and that's about it. I must say the pub is nice and the staff friendly, well I was the only person there but I'm told it is very busy at the weekends. I continued on to Tottenham which advertises itself as the centre of NSW and looking at the Google maps, it's about right. There is a sign in the middle of town that points out the distances to the far corners of the state.
After looking around the town I made my way to Tullamore which is almost as small as Albert. There is not a lot to see and it seems to be a truck stop for the cattle and grain trucks that service the farms. I had lunch in the only shop and a chat to the proprietor about the town. He seemed optimistic about the place though I found it a little sad and rundown. After lunch I rode back to Narromine for dinner.
Tuesday I had to return to Sydney, so after saying out goodbyes I set off for Dubbo. I had decided to take a different route home, stopping at Gulgong then going north and picking up the Golden Highway towards Newcastle.
Gulgong is thriving town perched on top a hill, famous in part for being on the Australian $10.00 bill. I had a walk around, the obligatory cup of tea then headed north. I've never ridden the Golden Highway and I must say I enjoyed it. There were very few cars and trucks and I had the road to myself. Unlike the straight flat roads of Narromine and the west this road takes you through undulating hills. I stopped at Merriwa for lunch and more tea and after a walk around the town I set off for Broke. I caught up with some bikes and rode along with them for a while before waving them goodbye as I still had a long to go. I arrived at Broke saddle sore and decided to stop for a rest. Broke is in the Hunter wine growing district so while the town is not much to write about, one retail outlet that serves as cafe/garage/village/store/pub, the attractions are the surrounding vineyards, there are hundreds in the Hunter region. After resting (and more tea) I set off for Wollemi then Peat's Ridge where I could pick up the highway and head for Sydney.
I got home about 5:30pm and I was exhausted , the heat and the long ride had taken its toll on this old man :)
It was good to be home.
