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FEBRUARY 2021
WHEN HUMANS PLAN,
By Steve & Meredith Herpich, Members #4294 no stopping, luckily traffic lights were in our favour and we did not step on the Blue Mountains. So & #4295 (Port Macquarie, NSW) Motorcycling Through 3 Australian States during a Pandemic... In November, Steve & Meredith and Darrel & Trish had a short ride to Harrington for lunch, and to resolve the annual question “What are we doing for Christmas”. So the plan was made. Commencing from Port Macquarie NSW, ride to Hampton just outside of Oberon, via Gloucester, Dungog, and Putty Road. Spend 2 nights there exploring the Blue Mountains and Jenolan Caves. Move on to Tumut for one night, then Jindabyne for 4 nights including Christmas Day. Trish and Darrel would then travel home via Goulburn, to visit family, Steve and Meredith would continue through Victoria, staying in Beechworth for 3 nights, Alexandra 1 night, Ballarat for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, and then to Mount Gambier SA via the Grampians, to visit family and friends.
technically we could claim we had not visited the Greater Sydney area as the definition of the verb visit is “go see and spend time with (someone) socially” - OK, plan needs to be adjusted. After all a wise man once told me plans are only guidelines. Because we could not explore the Blue Mountains, and the Hampton Halfway Hotel accommodation was appalling, we decided to spend only one night, and add another night to Tumut. A great ride to Tumut via Taralga, Crookwell, Boorowa, and Jugiong. We stopped in Jugiong to explore, and came across this statue in memory of Sergeant Edward Parry, killed in the courageous execution of his duty on the 16th on November 1864, in a gun battle with the Hall Gang Bushrangers at Black Springs, Jugiong.
The trip home would be planned later. So bookings were made, routes plotted on basecamp, bikes serviced. What could possibly go wrong, the planning was exemplary. We departed on the 20th December. Just prior to departing on the 20th December, there had been a COVID outbreak in the Northern Beaches. Not a problem, we will be nowhere near. OK, plan is still intact. A little bit of rain as we rode to Gloucester. Second breakfast stop at Roadies Café and onto Grey Gums Café on the Putty Road for a shared lunch with the flies, who had no concept of social distancing. A quick scan of the mobile devices revealed that Greater Sydney including the Blue Mountains has now been declared a hotspot. OK let’s not panic. Our plan was to refuel at Mount Victoria in the Blue Mountains. We have enough to get to Oberon, so
From Tumut we did a day ride to Tumbarumba, and back to Tumut via Rosewood. The countryside was recovering from the devastating bushfires, and you could see that the fire had been very intense,
