Out 'n' About

Hi Anyone

So Friday was one of those mornings; it was hideously cold with a killer frost that just made me want to stay in bed… but by 7:30 I was happy & over a cup of tea & making the boys breakfast I decided that the Vespa would be out today!

So after the customary school run & a fabulous brewed Goroka Coffee to keep the caffeine bugs at bay, on with the spiffy wind proof jacket & the Helm of Vespa-might & out with the Oh So Subtle & Furious Silver Surfer…

The Ol Boy was a bit cantankerous after a month of sitting in the company of the bikes in our garage, but 3 kicks later & I screamed “It’s Alive!”

Oh I do love the smell of two stoke fumes in the morning, especially as I buzzed away from home. 

I had one serious piece of business for the day & that was to purchase my train ticket to Sydney, but that being said, I had just refuelled the Fast & Furious One yesterday morning & I thought, gee, I can get about 250 K’s on that refill…

Well let’s not just go to the train station & scoot straight back home, let’s enjoy the day. So first I was out to the south of OJ & riding about the old Gnoo Blas race circuit. The old circuit suits the Silver Surfer as they are both of a long gone era! Whilst this old track sounds rather cool & exclusive, much like Mt Panorama in Bathurst, it is in fact a public road so it is free to use, but due to other traffic, you must as always be careful when riding it. The 'famous' bit to Gnoo Blas was that was Sir Jack Brabham once raced here; & the Soccer fields close to town are named in his honour.

Anyway, I always like to surf a lap when I am on a ride as it is just so much fun!

Once upon a time cars raced over that road & bridge - now it is only a pedestrian feature; what were they thinking

Anyway, once I had done a couple of laps I decided to drive past the old OJ reservoirs spillway as well, why, well just because it was there…

A way cool way to look at country lanes!

After riding along a few country lanes singing ridiculous songs to the Surfers Buzz (stairway to heaven/ the Honda 50 song/all along the watchtower/ random beetles/beachboys/Elvis/whatever as long as it suits the Silver Surfers Personality – OLD!) I decided to surf into town to purchase my train tickets.

On the way in, I decided that I would drop by the World Famous Orange East Train station.

                

Unknown, even in OJ – The Orange East fork Railway station!

Believe it or not, you can catch a train from Perth in WA & the train will stop at Orange – although you stop at a horrendously early time, you can do it if you want to (4:30 AM) conversely, you can also catch a morning train to Sydney from here a couple of times a week.

The train is the world famous “Indian-Pacific” & I have to admit it is a cool way to arrive in a city… very Old School! If you look on one of the internet map services, you can see a small appendix at the start of Forrest road – this is the East Fork Railway station!

I don’t think the lady in the car was ready for such a cool car-park companion as the Surfer - either that or she thought i was a real Mod...

The glamor of the East Fork Railway Station was quickly replaced by the rather Victorian/Federation era class of the Orange railway Station; at least you can talk to somebody here & purchase a ticket to Sydney on the XPT! I can do this online, but I much prefer to do it in person & any excuse to Vespa!

So $37 later I was rather disappointed to find out that I would be on a Bus this weekend – even though they are quicker, I much prefer the dignified pace, food & style  of the XPT… OR maybe it is my chronic motion sickness that reduces the joy of long distance bus travel over the Blue Mountains for me… anyway, it doesn’t really matter; I need to get to Sydney on the afternoon of Sunday & if it was a bus, so be it… I just need to keep a spare travel sickness bag on me!

Now I thought that I would just go for a spin around the south west of town & enjoy the Autumnal splendor of OJ. I ended up riding out the Towac valley (hilly & turn-ey) so it is heaps of fun to buzz thru on a Vespa. This was about an hour of two stroke fun, enjoying every minute of the brisk bush air & the lovely smell of Eucalyptus & pine, something that is only able to be enjoyed on two wheels (or maybe walking…)

The Silver Surfer meets the Orange Rifle range (on the southern edge of OJ)… at this point I should point out that you are NOT supposed to ride thou that gate…

Next I thought that I would surf out to the north of Orange to Dear Ol' Dads workshop to say G’day (I hadn’t seen him at the boy’s birthday as he was away on business). 

So out to the yard to I went; rather quickly via the OJ bypass, still enjoying the fact that I was scooting about on my classic. Anyway, Dear Ol' Dad was all abuzz with his new plant machinery & was very proudly showing it to me – I’ll see if I can grab a shot of the Vespa meeting a new Drill at some time in the future... or maybe a pic of the Vespa parked beside his Gogomobile… (not the Dart!) Anyway, we can let that develop.

The big news as far as The Love Cub goes was that Dear Ol Dad had spoken to “Bonk” & they could hydroblast the Love Cub for me if I got my bum into gear & got it up there (Bonk does the hydroblasting at Dear Ol' Dads workshop). 

D’oh, The pressure is on, but at least I’d have an afternoon & a bit of time over the weekend to get myself in order! Well at least I know what I would be doing next!

A Phone call from the Child Bride broke my conversation; she was heading home for lunch. I thought that I should get home & Join her - Racing home Returning home in the dignified & respectable manner that one associates with a classic Vespa took me back thou the centre of town waving to the Riff Raff, tooting the Surfers tinny horn at the kids & having a ball. Lunch was a simple left over affair, but hey, I was just pumped from the groovy ride & knowing that the hydrobalsting was going to happen!

Post lunch would see the extraction of that one bolt & delivery (Fingers Crossed) of the various Cub bits to Dear Ol’ Dads workshop so Bonk could blast it for me… but that is a story for another day!

So Mote it Be!  

Leigh