This is the life!

It had been decided a day trip was called for by members of the Sydney Australia chapter of ISRA and the call was put out for interest. So where do Australians go on a day trip? Why, to a pub of course.

September 17th, 2000 saw around 20 bikes converge on the little town of Berrima about an hour and a half south of Sydney. From Sydney itself came 10 bikes with a further 5 from Canberra and another 2 from a town called Wagga Wagga which was a great turnout for the day. The majority of the bikes were Stars with a couple of Harleys, a Honda and a Suzuki thrown into the bargain.

Coming from Sydney.

Unfortunately for the guys from Wagga Wagga (don’t call Wagga Wagga, Wagga) their start was at 7:30am in some very cold and wet fog. There was to be more riders with them but they had piked out at the long distance (awwwwwwww). They had a fairly uneventful ride, meeting up with the folks from Canberra at the MacDonald’s in Goulburn at 11:00am

The riders from Canberra thankfully had a later (and warmer) start at 10:00am and headed straight up the highway to Goulburn. Once stopping for a brief respite in Goulburn to meet the Wagga Wagga riders and after Scott thought it would be a fun idea to tip a cup of hot chocolate into his lap we headed off up the highway again towards Berrima which we reached just after 12:00pm

All the police must have been in Sydney rounding up troublemakers at the Olympics because there was only one sighting on each of the incoming and outgoing trip of the boys in blue. That of course is not counting how ever many unmarked cars were on the road but thankfully we never passed any of them on some little high-speed jaunts.

It's a dry country!

Berrima is quite the meeting place for bike riders with no less than five separate large groups of bikes noted throughout the town. Lunch for us was at a great local pub that has been holding a liquor licence since the early 1800’s, that’s my kinda pub! A lot of dead cow, chook (oh bloody hell, chook is chicken!) and baa baa was on the menu, and the massive T-Bone that I ended up with couldn’t been more perfect. Washed back with a bottle of one of Australia’s finest brews (Carlton Cold) it really hit the spot.

Outside Berrima Pub - Click to open large image.

At the pub where we had stopped, a troupe of thirty odd Harleys that were also out on a day trip decided to pull in about a half hour after we arrived (just an owners group, not the Gypsy Jokers or equivalent). Thankfully we had already ordered our meals because it got very busy, but when they all bellied up to the bar there was almost a blood war started over a misunderstanding when Mark “Don’t Tread On Me” Jelic went to get some… salad and this big Harley fella thought Mark was cutting the line. It was actually quite funny when this little old bird, behind the counter serving everyone, got stuck into the Harley guy on the fact that he hadn’t even placed an order yet and he would have to WAIT! The staff was a bit frazzled at this point with the amount of people they were trying to serve. {BFG}

[Warning! Looks like a digitally altered image to me! - Ed. ;-)]

Is that damn Mark "Gonzo" Jelic flipping me the bird? Click the image to find out!

After Berrima we all saddled up and headed out to a little highway take out at a little takeaway on the side of the road for another break. This part of the trip was great fun because it was with the entire group from Sydney, Canberra and Wagga Wagga, sans Mark, Martin and others when Martin decided to lead them astray. To see Star bikes stretching into the distance and far behind as well as the note carried by many an after market exhaust in such a crowd was truly a pleasure.

Lovely!

Good tucker at the Robertson Pie Shop - Click to open large image.

Can't beat stuff like this.

We stopped at the Robertson Pie Shop for another snack and drink in a area more favoured by the crotch rocket types as we had come through some twisties to be there. Once everyone had consumed their pies and drinks it was time for all groups to head back home. We farewelled the guys and gals from Sydney and us Canberrans and Waggerans (?) headed south for home. Not before a little side trip to some very beautiful waterfalls in the ranges.

Not much to report on the way home except for a mongrel headwind that had me wishing for a windshield before too long. Me and the boys from Wagga Wagga also opened it up for a while on the highway which is always fun, and we are still yet to get any speed camera tickets so I guess we were lucky.

What an Aussie looking bunch!

Unofficial Day Awards
(Meaning I just made them up)

The Endurance Riders & Fauna Avoidance Award goes to John Weir and friend from Wagga Wagga who started out at 7:30am and didn’t get back home until around 8:00pm after covering the better part of 800km. They also had a fun time on the way home dodging long haul rigs and the odd wild-eyed Kangaroo.

The Best Brakes & Red Light Runner Award is a dual two parter, that goes to Mark Jelic for grabbing a handful when the traffic lights had changed on him and he decided he wasn’t going to make it at the last moment back in Sydney, followed by Barry Goran who decided he wouldn’t be able to pull up behind Mark in time and had to do some evasive manoeuvres on his Road King. Luckily for Barry there was no red light camera.

The Boy Scout, Scott Marshall.

The Boy Scout Award goes to Scott Marshall for stopping to help a rather attractive young lady (and soon discovered family) whose Volkswagen had stopped on the side of the road after burning up all its oil. This was on the final leg for the Canberrans who were about 60kms from home.

The Elusive Rider Award and the ESP Riders Award is another dual parter that goes to Scott Marshall for his above act of kindness because he did neglect to ride ahead and inform the ride leaders he was actually stopping. The ESP Riders Award goes to Rene and Carita (who had to do some evasive manoeuvring around Scott when he saw the young damsel in distress) who knew Scott had stopped but again didn’t inform the ride leaders of his disappearance, hence some 15km’s down the road I was left wondering why we were down a bike. Oh well, live and learn.

The Fastest Ride Starter goes to our very own "Vice Man", Scott Paget who had the uncanny knack of leading out of Berrima and Bowral while some riders were yet to get their helmets on and even while one unlucky rider had some very important unfinished business... (she was in the toilet). Guess the man was in a hurry?

Scott Paget looks like he's in a hurry, even when he's crusing!

The Dubious Navigation Award could only ever be given to non-other than Martin "Where'd I Put My Map?" Squire and Mark "Why are we following Martin?" Jelic, for not once but more than a couple of times missing crucial turns or even taking the wrong turn. Thank goodness for mobile phones or we would never have found them.

Undisputed winners of The Cubic Inches Award just had to go to myself and Tony Roberts for the only Roadies on the trip. A few times we found ourselves at the head of the pack riding side by side which was a lot of fun. I don’t know what the poor town of Bowral thought when we roared in!

Adam Snowden, what a day for a ride!

So yet another wonderful day was spent with fellow and fellowette Star riders, I only wish we could have more of them.