ALBANY VINTAGE & CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE CLUB
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Great Kalbarri Ride
Story by Marilyn Smith
Another fabulous ride, with over
20 bikes setting off from Albany on a pleasant Saturday morning. First
night was Corrigin - with a warm welcome by the caravan park owner
supplying afternoon tea for us together with a fridge, barbeques and
fires for the evening.
After dinner at the pub it was back to the much appreciated camp
fire. With the temperature going down to minus 3 we all awoke to a
thick layer of ice covering our tents and bikes. So cold in fact that
Warwick had to be taken from the annexe and into the caravan in the
middle of the night by Tony and Ray and warmed up by them - didn’t ask
how but quite a bit of laughter took place when we were told this
story.
By the time we departed for the next leg of our journey it was sunny
and warming quickly. Through some beautiful farming country picking up
Marg and Des from Bruce Rock on the way and then to York for morning
tea or another feed of fish and chips for Pete, then to Toodyay for
lunch where most of us discarded our thermals etc.
Fran and Ron also joined us at this point - then onto Carnamah for
our next overnight stop where Murray and Erin joined the mob. On the
way Brian, thinking he was doing the right thing, pulled over to the
side of the road - Bob enquired as to why he was stopped on the side of
the road -”Waiting for that lot to come back” was Brian’s reply.
Bob laughed - the riders coming
back were another club going in the opposite direction. Carnamah seemed
deserted - but we soon learnt that the local team was playing in the
grand final of the football competition at Dongara - they won - and the
riders who were staying at the local hotel had a rather restless night
with the celebrations going to the early hours of the morning.
The campers weren’t without incident with Des and Marg’s new air
mattress deflating during the night and Fran and Ron not to be outdone
had a very cuddly night on the single mattress and realised they
weren’t 16 any more decided to detour to Geraldton for a double one.
Garry seemed to be getting his tent up and down quickly, perhaps we
have been unkind - maybe it has been Raelene holding him back on
previous runs. We will not be nasty to Garry anymore.
Day three and we all headed for our destination - Kalbarri - Des and
Wes took the lead to show us a short cut through Walkaway, but took off
so fast the rest of us were left in the distance and missed where they
turned off - guess they were forgiven as their better halves - Betty
and Barbara had flown in to Kalbarri to join us and they hadn’t seen
them for about 3 days!
At Dongara, Lynette was warned off by one of the three musketeers,
Russell, for having the audacity to pass them. Well done Lynette! After
Dongara John Gillam decided he knew another way to detour Geraldton -
through Walkaway - so he was our next tour guide. Straight past the
sign to Walkaway we rode! Now we are in the middle of Geraldton’s huge
roadworks - but John has redeemed himself and we are now on a
picturesque, very good riding road heading for Northhampton where we
again meet up with Wes and Des.
Still haven’t been to Walkaway! By this time Bob had lost his
sunglasses, fell over about 10 times, set his valves too tight, taken a
wrong turn and given us a cooks tour of some real estate etc but we all
made it safely to Kalbarri.
We all enjoyed fish and chips around the camp that night and with a
few drinks to wash it down and a few jokes we were all happy little
campers albeit a little deflated with some of the remarks we were
receiving. Firstly the Fish and Chip shop man at Kalbarri - when told
by Lynette to make sure the order was right or our bikie husbands would
be around to sort him out replied - “If that is the group I saw ride
into town today, well I saw them take their helmets off and I am not
afraid”.
And a lad from the Netherlands visiting our camp - when leaving said
“Good night all old motor bike people in tents, have a good sleep” -
perhaps it was not us but Wes and Barbara and Des and Betty departing
our campsite in a disabled taxi.
The next day was a rest day in Kalbarri - some chose to take the
river cruise, or just do their own thing around the town before heading
to Finlays for dinner that night, then back for a few more hours around
the camp fire.
Day five and we are heading south again - down the highway to
Dongara for lunch, then the scenic route along the coast to Jurien Bay.
Jan Bond while going along in the side car used to dry her undies by
holding them out in the breeze, unfortunately let go of them - so if
you find a pair of pink undies on the Jurien Bay Road please return to
Jan.
Speaking of undies - the President’s wife - relieving herself behind
a tree at the camping site at Jurien was spotted by the 3 musketeers
returning from the pub. Apparently she was beautifully silhouetted from
behind by the street light and full moon. Heard she left a wee little
trail all the way back to her tent.
Tea at the pub that night with Murray’s description of the skimpies
“a bit of string at the back and fur in the front”. Still beautiful
weather for day 6 as we headed towards Perth to Armadale where we
re-grouped for the next leg to Dwellingup and our last camp site. As we
have mentioned before this is a beautiful caravan park - and we all
enjoyed a bbq, camp fire and photo shoot that night and reflected on
the week that was.
Friday, and riders go their own way with most of us heading to
Albany Highway and home again.
This is just a brief story of the events of the week - remember what
happens in camp stays in camp - and that goes for you especially Garry
- hear you have a very nice photo of the lady with the little black
book!