Photos

 View of Karuah foreshore taken from the jetty in front of Big 4.

 Mangroves and old oyster beds in front of our cabin. View from jetty.

 Bikes lit up for the night parade.

Perth to NSW Thurs 28/3/19 to Karuah

This was a relatively short ride today. We left Cowra and headed for Singleton. This road is known as the Putty Road. It is famous with bikers as it winds through the hills which makes it fun riding. Along the way we passed the turn off for Putty which at leasted explained half of the reason for the strange name. Bob is very familiar with the road as he used to drive ammunition trucks from Singleton to Liverpool along here when he was in Natios. We stopped for a cuppa at the Grey Gums Cafe which is a biker mecca. Imagine my surprise  when we were able to order a pot of tea for two and it was served with pretty bone china cups. It was even strong enough even if it was made with tea bags.
From Singleton we went across to Maitland and at last found some signs for Karuah. I was thankful we had the GPS as there was no indications it existed until we were only 25 kms away. The caravan park is the usual high standard Big 4 and our "deluxe villa" even  has a dishwasher. Not that I plan to do any cooking beyond toast for breakfast. We have another couple joining us for 2 of the four nights as it is two bedroom and this will defray the cost a bit. We booked quite early but even then this was the only cabin available. The other two were pleased when we advertised that we had a room to share. We know them from previous meetings so that is easy.
Karuah is on a bay of the Hawksbury River and is famous for it's oysters - in season. We will be walking up to the jetty shortly to explore and to see if any are available. Bob has been washing the bike to clean the Nullabor dust off it and I have been doing the washing.  Domestic duties done we can relax and enjoy these 3 days. You can expect only photos during that time.

Photos

 Starting point at Mount Panorama. Photo from up the top of the course couldn't do it justice.

View from the lookout at Blue Mountains Botanical Gardens.

 Wolemi Pines in the Gardens.

View from our motel balcony over the Hawksbury River. Paddle Steamer was just anchored there.

Perth to NSW Wed. 27/3/19 To Windsor

We set off in sunny cool conditions and I was glad I had pulled out my warm gloves.  The road was once again through rolling hills and they had obviously had some rain. It did not take long to reach Bathurst and Lorenzo went on while we did some checking out of the town. Lorenzo was going on to spend time with his father inlaw who lives in Newcastle. I haven't told you much about him but he is an interesting charachter. Of Italian decent but born in Australia he lives in Glenelg with his wife. She is flying over to spend time with family also and they will ride home together. Lorenzo was a "bikie"  in his youth but got out and is now a "biker " like us. He owns a very successful Tatoo Studio in Glenelg which employs 8 people. He advertises his business with personal body art. He is very family oriented and a genuinely nice person.
 We turned off and visited the Mount Panorama car race track. It was very quiet and Bob was pleased as he wanted the chance to ride around the course. It looked easy enough but as we went into the bends and up to tbe top of the couse (very sedately) it was amazing to think people roar around there at more than 100 km/hour. From there we went down to the Information Centre and then rode up the main street.  There are some beautiful old buildings there, heritage from the gold rush days.
From Ballarat we climbed steadily until we were high in the Blue Mountains. We took the road to Windsor which was quieter that the Highway through Katoomba into Sydney. It was a beautiful ride with amazing scenery. Along the way we found the Blue Mountains Botanical Gardens. These are at 1000 metres above sea level and it was very cool. (Temp.) The views were amazing and the gardens were beautifully set out. After that it was time to start down to Windsor which is on the NW fringe of Sydney. There were pie shops all along the road and we finally had to stop for lunch.
We were in Windsor by three pm and had no trouble finding a motel. Our room overlooks the Hawksbury River so the view is great. The bike is booked in to get a new rear tire in the morning before we do the final stretch up to Karuah for the GoldWing gathering. This was always the plan; in case you are wondering.
Tonight we have had a delicious Thai meal and are ready to relax.

Photo

Lorenzo's very shiny bike parked at the CWA garden at Lockhart. This was opposite the service station and so we did get to have a look. Not very exciting photos I am sorry.

Bob at the Old School T House waiting for lunch to be served. There was a plaque beside the original school bell saying it was from the when school began     here in 1876.

Perth to Nsw Tues 26/3/19 To Cowra

We said goodbye to Brendon this morning as he had to go back to work. Lorenzo, Bob and I set out for the run to Cowra. We began by crossing the Murray a couple of times and were following the River for quite a while. This is the Murray irrigation basin and it was lush with vines and orchards. There were even sprinkler systems over the pasture because we moved into the dairy region with lots of Friesans. The actual irrigation chanels that are distributing the water are huge - equal to small rivers. There was plenty of un irrigated land as well and that showed the need for rain. We also crossed the Murrumbidge which I had not expected. It had two arms at that point in a large flood plain and had water in both.
We stopped for fuel at Lockhart which turned out to be a very pretty little town but the service station was at the beginning  of town and we had to turn a corner to discover the main street. It claims to be the "town of verandahs" and there were plenty of the old style shops. I would have liked to stop and walk the street but Lorenzo was leading and showed no inclination to do so. He told me later that he doesn't worry about taking photos because he goes to the town's website and copies them from there. If you are interested you could have a look at the website. They had some good street art.
We decided to stop for lunch at Junee but missed the main street as we followed the route signs for the Olympic Highway. The next town was Bethunga and was tiny but it had the "Old School House T Shop". It is usually only open on Tuesdays by appointment but we were lucky in that they had had a tour bus booked in and were still open. The sandwiches were generous and freshly made with fruit and potato crisps on the side. We sat in the garden and soaked up the sun. I have just remembered to mention that it was 12 degrees when we left
Echuca this morning and had only just reached 22 by the time we stopped for lunch. The temperature then started to drop again as we started to climb through some low hills. Until then the countryside had been so flat that there were mirages in the distance. It was nice to have some variation. There has obviously been some rain here as well as the paddocks are starting to green up just as they were when we left home.
The Information Centre was helpful with accommodation again and we are very comfortable. We walked into town to find the "Services Club" for dinner and overshot because we didn't realise it was in a side street. Lorenzo had been chivving us because he says he just doesn't walk and then we walked him down the hill and had to come back up. Naturally we told him how good it was for him but he pretended to be unconvinced.
That's all for tonight.