Weekends at Hughsy's 2nd - 4th of October 2004

After a few days of Rain that culminated with the Downpour on Friday, things were looking decidedly damp for the weekend at Hughsy’s, Still, I was determined to go, I love riding my bike and I love camping so here was a chance to combine the two (I also love scuba diving but was really hoping to stay dry this particular weekend). I dropped my Tent and sleeping bag into Hughsy’s work Friday

Afternoon and he showed me the weather forecast for the weekend … not looking too bad! Saturday morning I got up early and could tell by the light on my window that it was overcast, I looked out the curtains expecting the worst and got a fairly pleasant surprise, sure it was grey but it was looking the best it had for a few days … and it wasn’t raining! I threw the gear on my bike and took off for the Meet point at Uncle Leos Ampol on the Hume Highway, Once the group had assembled, 8 bikes in total, we departed along the Highway to begin with towards our first turn off to take us to Picton for a quick 10 minute stop, from there it was on through Bargo and various back Country roads until we finally ran into the first rain for the ride, it was a very isolated shower though and although we did get a bit wet we rode through it fairly quickly so didn’t need to stop to put on the wet weather gear, Bundanoon was our next stop where we had Lunch from the Bakery and then once again it was back on the roads and after another brief shower we rode to Marulan for fuel then the final 10km to Bungonia and the Campsite.

Arriving there we were greeted by Hughsy’s dog Toby and the sight of the Permanent Shelter with a Marquee and Kitchen area attached and Sleepy the cook preparing a Lamb for the spit. We selected an area for our tents and after putting them up and getting changed we all congregated at the shelter just as the rain started, this kind of set the pattern for the evening as occasional
rain gave way to extended dry periods, we ate a superb meal then settled around the fire to talk and socialise before finally retiring for the Night. Sunday morning and I was up early to catch the beautiful day, the Sky was blue with not a cloud in it … until Hughsy got up (hmmm!) once a few more people started appearing Sleepy started getting breakfast organised and it wasn’t long before we all enjoying Bacon, scrambled eggs, sausages and toast. With Brekkie out of the way the talk soon turned to what the ride for the day would be, Hughsy had a crook back so was going to miss this one but he gave us an idea for which way to go and with the help of Guys maps and Rays knowledge of the area, we organised ourselves a nice relaxed trip for the day to Braidwood, Leaving the camping area we made our own pace up the dirt track in speeds ranging from Marks Kamikaze like approach to Fiona’s slow first gear crawl depending on how confident we were, We headed through Goulburn and then swung back past Wakefield raceway, in passing I saw something was happening there so we doubled back and spent about 15 minutes watching what appeared to be an AC Cobra club having a club day, some of the cars looked and sounded fantastic! Leaving Wakefield we continued to Lake Bathurst stopping for scones with cream and coffee then on through Tarago to Braidwood where we stopped for lunch and a visit to the Sweet Shop.

The pace for the whole weekend was fairly sedate thanks to it being a holiday weekend and double demerits but we picked it up a little for the trip back after getting a big friendly wave from a cop on a bike going the other direction as we left Braidwood, I don’t think anyone responded as we were all too stunned!

Heading back we only made the one stop at Goulburn for a few beers for the night and we noticed a big Black Cloud heading our way, we decided not to hang around as it definitely looked nasty, so Fiona Alan/Angela and myself opted for the motorway home while Greg, Mark and Ray took the twisty stuff, we arrived back at the campsite just in time to stop Ray shutting the gate on us …Damn it the twisty way was quicker, if I’d known that …. We got changed and at Hughsy’s suggestion attached guy ropes to the tents just in time to get hit by the squall that we’d seen approaching Goulburn, the wind buffeted everything and the rain poured down but after about 10 minutes of this it was all gone and once again the weather returned to the calm we’d had all
day. Dinner that evening was Beef on the spit, another fantastic effort from Sleepy! and before the “Main Event” of Jimmy Bear we had Hughsy’s mate Tony demonstrating his prowess with the didgeridoo, then Jimmy sat down for the first of three sets, he’s a fantastic entertainer with a wonderful voice, you don’t get to play every Saturday night at a Pub in Sydney for 16 years unless you know what you’re doing! He even got Tony to do an accompaniment with his “Didg” for a couple of songs. I finally retired when Jimmy finished just after midnight, it had been a long and tiring day and totally satisfying! Monday morning and it was another beautiful day and another breakfast of Sausages, Bacon and Toad in the hole, before finally packing our gear up and saying our goodbyes, I left with Ray, Fiona and Mark and we headed back along the motorway turning off at Bargo and coming home via Picton.

The weekend was a fantastic success mainly due to the efforts put in by Hughsy, but definitely also because of the help provided to him by Sleepy the cook, Kath, Tony and Lou, and probably a few other people that I’m not aware of. Jimmy Bear was a fantastic entertainer and said he enjoyed playing for us and is more than happy to do it again sometime … I wanna be on that trip!

Thanks Hughsy and thanks to the dedicated bunch of 18 that made the trip, including Greg who turned up with a couple of wheels too many after cracking some ribs so was unable to ride his bike, I had a ball!

Paul

(don't forget to check out the rest of the photos on the yahoo groups site)