Thursday was 3 degrees at 0900 when I dropped Dan at school (so the dude on the radio said), it was VERY crisp, but it was lovely. The sun was shining & there was a very mild breeze, so it was probably 5 degrees when I returned to home. After my ritual pre-ride coffee I wheeled the Silver Surfer out of his surf shack (the garage) & suited up
It was still pretty cold & it had been a while since the Silver Surfer had been started, so I should not have been surprised that he took 5 kicks + choke + accelerator to get the Surfer Surfing. Gee a two stroke Vespa sounds cool when it has been a month since you last heard it! And the smell of the exhaust is a nice sweet oily-petrochemically smell too… oh dear; I am personally responsible for global warming, but gee this 150cc motor is cool stuff!
The plan for today’s ride was to the hamlet/rural locality of Nashdale & then on to Mt Canobolas & probably a cup of tea at the Mountain tea house on the way back in. Anyway, I buzzed up the Old Mountain, taking a couple of detours down some “interesting looking” rural lane ways…
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| Some second string road near Nashdale... |
…I am not too sure what I mean when I say “interesting looking” other than, “hey, there’s a road I can ride down that doesn’t appear to have a semi driving out of it! But anyway, I got side tracked a couple of times, but that’s cool, I want to have a look about this place because that’s what a bloke has to do on a day off!
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| Nashdale District… in the Cabonne Shire that surround Orange |
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| Hmm, I would need chains if it was snowing today! |
I did ultimately arrive at the top of Mt Canobolas, which, I may point out, is the highest point until Madagascar. I know this as there is a sign up on top of the mountain that says so! The truth be known, it really just shows how flat Oz is doesn’t it?!
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| The vespa & a survey station. And yes, I am not supposed to ride a scooter there! |
These towers send forth 24 hours a day of Capitalist/Imperialist Propaganda TV to the central west – I love TV & am glad I get a good signal at my house courtesy of these aerials , propaganda or not!
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These towers make Mt Canobolas even taller, but not really!
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On the way back down the mountain hill I took a turn off to ride some of the Forestry trails, again, no idea why, I just did! These turned out to be mostly second grade dirt roads, which, one imagines, are just like the roads in post war Italy that gave rise to these wonderful, cheap vehicles & those in Vietnam that the surfer had until recently been ridden on.
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Don’t go too close to the edges
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| Today I am confident that I am the only ‘68 Vespa riding about Mt Canobolas! |
I kept telling myself this as the surfer ate these forestry accesses up… second grade roads are great on a Vespa, why did the world’s greatest motor bikes show rate it so lowly 8th greatest ? Have a look on YouTube for the world’s greatest motorcycles – the Vespa rates number 8, largely due to its inner-city little wheels… what were they thinking - because at the time I was thinking,; “this bike is fantastic on these roads” & “dammit, I should be doing this more often”
Dirt-bikes are generally 2 strokes aren’t they??? Logically, the Silver Surfer must be a great dirt-bike then!
It was about this time that I realised that I had absolutely no idea where I was (other than the Mount Canobolas area)! Not to worry, I have a full tank of juice, so let’s just follow these roads & see where I end up
Fortunately I came to a road sign, which, conveniently had been run over by someone, (possibly the crashed car about 20meters away). Oh well, not much for it but to keep looking about which would see me make another wrong turn to end up at some guys locked farm gate with a “No Trespassing” sign, which was kinda funny considering where we were, but then, considering the local hoons love to come out & do burnouts in the forest, I can’t really blame them for requesting some privacy.
A long & winding road & yes, it was fun to ride down there!
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| If only this road was bitumen – it would be world famous as a bike road |
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| Sign, sign, everywhere a sign, blocking out the scenery… |
With still no idea where I was, I did the only thing a man in my position could do… I kept on riding around hoping to find somewhere that looks like a road out of this place – I’ll be buggered if I am gunna ask for directions (I am male after all)!
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| Yay, I am nearly on a bitumin road again |
Anyway, about another hour of misdirection’s & general stickybeaking around the forest I did ultimately make it back to a bitumen road; out towards the Panuara forestry commission office (I think) – I may have to check on Google maps at some time if I can be bothered… this ultimately returned to bitumen out towards Panuara (to the south of OJ) & ended up buzzing into OJ via Springside roughly 3 ½ hours later, stopping only to try to talk to some wood ducks grazing at the side of the road near the Rural Bush fire centre. As they didn’t want to talk to me, I continued into OJ to grab lunch, just to top my day off – I never did get my cuppa tea, but dammit all, that was fun
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| If you squint you can just see the wood ducks grazing near the road |
Oh it’s a great day to be alive!
So Mote it Be
Leigh
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