Day 2 - Forbes to Tamworth
540km

This morning I decide if I depart early enough I use might make it as far as Armidale.
After a yoghurt, an apple and a coffee for breakfast it’s time for us to hit the road.

The first half of the day will be similar to yesterday, but after Dubbo we should start hitting some mountains and twisties. I’m excited about today.

It’s pretty cool for setting off - about 8 degrees so with wind chill that will be close to zero. I’ve got merino pants under my jeans, my flying solo hoodie under my jacket and merino gloves under my winter gloves. Let’s see how we go.

Before we leave Forbes, there’s another “big” thing to take a photo of.
This time, there’s a plane on a pole. It’s a “Vampire Jet” and has been there since 1971 - so it’s one of those icons that I passed by as a child, so many times.

Side note - whilst I grew up in Queensland, our extended family lived in Shepparton. So car trips up and down the Newell Highway were almost an annual event. Usually in summer over the Christmas break, in a car without air conditioning, with wet flannels in front of the air vents and the cricket on ABC radio.

Another icon - “The Dish” outside Parkes. Anyone for cricket?

Continuing north from Parkes I stop in Alectown. This house caught my eye and I just had to pull up and take some photos of it. Alectown has no shops, no fuel station, not even a pub. And maybe 20 houses at a stretch. So to see this splash of colour, on a grey overcast day, in the middle of nowhere was delightful.

Reba and I press on to Dubbo for a late breakfast/brunch. I stop at what I thought looked like a lovely cafe but instead turned out to be a burger joint. By the time I’ve realised, I have already removed helmet, gloves, etc. Oh well - a mini burger and a soft drink will keep me going for a bit longer.

After this, we top up with some more fuel and head for a place called Dunedoo. Pronounced Dunny-Doo! By now I am chilled to the bone so much that my brain is not really working. I left Forbes at 8am, it’s now 1pm and I’m not sure how much further I can go today.

I receive an excellent piece of advice that makes total sense and actually works - get a pocket hand warmer going and pop it in your bra! Something I’ve never thought of but gosh it made a difference.

This section is a bit less clear to me insofar as which roads I need to take - but we’re on an adventure and I trust Reba to get me to the next place. We’ve only done 100km on this tank so shouldn’t be any dramas to get to the next fuel station.

First town - Coolah. Coolah is only 45km down the road so all good. Turns out Coolah is a small, sleepy town with nothing happening on a Sunday. No dramas. We’ll keep going. We stop to take some photos at an amazing rock formation in the middle of a paddock. A group of bikers slow down to check the crazy woman on the side of the road is okay. Bikers are an amazingly considerate group - the simple wave or nod of the helmet as you pass each other on the road and always slowing or stopping to check you're okay if you’ve pulled over.

By now, I’m down to the last quarter of a tank and I’m thinking about where I’m going to get fuel. There’s only 3G service here, and not many bars at that. So we’ll just press on and see what happens.
I see road signs for Tambar Springs but there’s a turn that I need to take.
Being unsure, I take the turn and then pull up to see if I have any service yet. Nope. A woman pulls up beside me in a car to check I’m okay. At this point I probably should have asked where the closest fuel was instead of just replying "Yep - all good".
I hit the next town, Premer. They have a postal outlet and a pub but no service station. But they do have a phone tower so I manage to get enough service to see that I need to backtrack to Tambar Springs for fuel. And if that one isn’t open, there’s another one in Mullaley that is definitely open and I should be able to make it that far. It’s approximately 50 km away and I’m still on 1 bar of fuel.
Reba’s fuel indicators are 4 bars and once they start flashing you have 2 litres left in the tank. Depending on fuel efficiency, I should be able to eke out about 50km once she starts flashing.
We turn back towards Tambar Springs. Within a few kilometres, she starts flashing to let me know we are now using the reserve. This number counts up so you know how much fuel you have used.
Tambar Springs has some fuel pumps outside of a closed general store. Uh-oh. Well we’ve only travelled 15km since she started flashing and it’s another 30km to Mullaley.
Lucky the service station in Mullaley is a “roadhouse” and it’s on a much bigger road. Let’s just drive carefully and we should make it fine.
We roll into Mullaley - basically on fumes - and pull into the service station. Doesn’t appear to be open - must be another one in town. Drive through town - nothing. It’s a blink and you miss it kind of town.
Back to the (only) service station to double check they really aren’t open.

Well bugger. Whilst I try to keep the panic at bay, I use their toilet. This is an experience in itself - it’s a wooden door, that doesn’t close. And if you try to close it, it is pitch black inside. Never mind - needs must and it’s not like anyone is going to wander in!

I mosey back to my bike trying to decide whether I call the auto assist service now or do I start riding towards Gunnedah and call once I’ve actually run out of fuel. Gunnedah is only 37km further on. Surely I’ll get close?

Another guy pulls up in a Ute and gets out.
“Are they shut?”
“Yep”
“How are you going?”
“Oh I’ve had better days”
“Do you need petrol?”
“Yeah - I definitely don’t have enough to get me to Gunnedah”
“Go into the pub and ask them if they can help you out. I’m sure they will. They own the pub and the service station. C’mon”
He takes me up to what I thought was just a house but it’s actually the pub and he gets the attention of the owner.
She comes down, turns on the pumps for me and I fill up.
I feel bad as it’s only a small tank so it’s hardly worthwhile for her but she does it anyway. I put in more than I think I ever have before. And even though the price is pretty high it still only comes to $19.13. I think quickly - if I pay by card I can hardly put in a tip. I have $25 cash in my wallet and give her all of it. She tries to reject it but I am so grateful I insist she keep my measley $5 tip.

It’s now coming on towards 4.30 and she warns me to be careful as the Roos will be out since they’ve just had a rain shower come through.
I make it to the outskirts of Gunnedah and the light has almost gone - shall I press on or will I stop?

A text message has come in from friends in Armidale mildly encouraging me to keep coming.

Stupidly, I think to myself “that’s a great idea - it’s only 2 more hours according to google and think what a story we will have!”

We bypass Gunnedah and head towards Tamworth. Not very far out of town it starts spitting.

There’s not really anywhere safe to pull over to don my wet weather gear, and it’s now dark so really not a safe place as the road verge is pretty tiny. And if I pull over and Reba tips over - a likely scenario - how on earth would I get her back up. Sure as eggs there’s no other bikers out in this weather that will stop to give me a hand. And cars won’t even see me until it’s too late for them to stop.

No - I’ll just keep going - how much longer will it rain for?

Before now, I had been religiously checking my weather map and knew that I had been following behind a series of rain storms. But did I pull over to check what the weather was likely to do? Not a chance.

I’ll pull up when I hit a service station and get out of the rain! No service stations.

So I just keep riding - I feel my legs getting wetter. That’s ok I think - my new motorbike boots are much higher than the ones I was wearing last time I got wet - should be fine.

By the time I reach Tamworth I know beyond all doubt that I need to find a motel room that’s warm and a place that will deliver some food to me.

I pull over and find there’s a Quality Inn nearish the centre of town - this should mean someone will deliver food to me?
I make my way there and the reception advises rooms are $170. I wince as that’s far more than I like to pay when travelling. But I’ll pay it as desperate times call for desperate measures. Before I can say anything, he knocks $10 off the price. I gratefully say yes, I’ll take it. I’m not sure whether it was because I was dripping on his floor, maybe my lips were blue, or quite possibly I just had really bad helmet hair.

I reach the room, strip out of my now fully drenched and dripping clothing and into a soothing warm shower.
I order a pizza to be delivered because whilst I have dry clothes - I don’t have another pair of shoes. And given the volume of cold water I have just poured out of my boots they are not going to be dry anytime soon.

I pump the air conditioning in the room and hit the boots with the hairdryer multiple times during the night in a vain attempt to get them a little drier. Note to self - using hotel hair dryers to dry boots may lead to melty hair dryer.

An eventful day full of loads of life lessons today.
- the kindness of strangers should be welcomed and celebrated
- top up the tank at every opportunity
- doesn’t matter how difficult it might be, always pull over and put your wet weather gear on
- don’t be tempted to ride further
- twisty roads are not fun if it’s cold, dark & wet
- pack a spare pair of shoesRead more