Tuesday 10th February Day 3 20150210

Today Day 3 dawned. While I was up at 6:30 and showered and dressed (in street clothes), it was reluctantly. Things were very quiet at breakfast, with only a “local” girl also up. I checked, but all the motorbikes (from Victoria) had gone. Only the couple from New Caledonia and the English lady remained. I packed, then changed into bike gear, packed SUZI and then checked everything and was off about 8:20. Arrived at Scottsdale around 8:50 and found the Tourist centre after getting newspapers. Had a good chat and look around there, then availed myself of the free offer and had a hot chocolate (and paid for the raisin bread – nothing else to eat now until an early tea). Walked back to SUZI and a local on a new trail bike pulled up to swap notes on bikes. I then went down to the Tourist Centre again and checked email and Facebook, then wrote up my early diary and also wrote on a postcard. I left the town after filling with petrol and headed southwest. The first town along the way was Branxholm. I stopped there for a drink, to post one postcard and to write and post another. I don’t know if the letter receiver had much business, but I had to push the cobwebs out of the way to get the postcards in. I also noted the town had single accommodation at the pub for $40 a night. Then it was on to Derby. One failing in all these towns was a lack of parking places which were horizontal – or even, failing that, at lest planar. Every time I went to rest SUZI, there would either be an excessive lean to the left (which meant I worried she was going to fall down, and when she didn’t, whether I was going to be able to swing her upright to take off) or an excessive lean to the right (which meant a breath of air and SUZI would fall over with no stand to support her). In Derby it meant letting SUZI roll back until she hit the curbing of the lower footpath. She actually stopped when the luggage hit the fence! I went down to visit the Tin Dragon display. It was well worth the entry, with good static displays and an excellent short film. I spent about 40 minutes there. When I came out, I looked for somewhere to get a pie for lunch – but in the whole town of Derby, there was not a pie in captivity! A helpful assistant in one shop suggested I visit Winnaleah, a few kilometres down the road and a few kilometres off the road. I did walk further down (the whole main street really, a full hundred metres) to see if she was right – and she was. I got back on SUZI and we headed off to Winnaleah. At first it looked hopeless as there only appeared to be houses, but a left turn took me into the main street – a rural supplies dealer, a pub and a general store selling hot food. Resigned to the fact that there would be no level ground, I placed SUZI so that stability criteria were met and dismounted. In the store and – no pies! Two sausage rolls were left, so that was lunch. I ate them there while chatting to the assistant there. It transpired she was a local, had gone to school there (200 students, stable over the last 20 or so years) and had completed her education in Launceston and returned home to work. Most of the young people found some form of employment locally although there were no industries or value-adding to crops grown locally. Some specialty foods were starting to be grown but some ideas, such as growing trees to promote truffle growing, or to grow saffron or radish for wasabi, had not progressed beyond discussion. She rued the fact that the school had no music program beyond primary lessons, so to learn an instrument a private tutor had to be employed at home. As I left, a local came in and bought the only food left, two curry pies. We chatted for a moment and I headed off. To get to the “Pub in the Paddock” I simply had to continue along the Tasman Highway (A3). I did that and then the road, after I left the junction where I had entered it yesterday, became quite windy and ascending. I was going okay until … I saw a tell-tale change of colour of the road surface and felt SUZI’s back tyre lose traction in a patch of diesel. It only lasted a moment but it made the rest of the ride a concentrated effort as I looked for any other diesel as overspill or oil dropped from the sump of log trucks as they climbed the often steep grades. At some points and on some corners it was difficult to discern the difference between rubber dropped from cars cornering too vigorously, oil or wear of the stones in the bitumen so the subsurface slick of the bitumen was visible. Eventually I got to Pyengana, turned off and soon (although I feared I had missed it) I came across the celebrated “Pub in the Paddock”. There is an open shed for parking motorcycles and as I neared it, it was full! Visions of mishandling or dropping SUZI came into my mind, but I managed to park under and safely. However the gravel surface allowed the side stand to bury itself in the ground and I moved her once I was off so there was no danger of her toppling while I was away. I went in and arranged my booking and got the room key (Room 3, bottom bunk), and then took my luggage in. I spoke to the bikie group who all came from …, you guessed it, Werribee. Small world. They left and there was another couple in the bar. I spoke to them and they came from … Wycheproof. Beau Durie was apparently driving buses while I was teaching there. We spent some time reminiscing about people we knew in common. I headed off to St Columba’s Falls (the pub’s address is actually 250 St Columba’s Falls Road, Pyengana) along a narrow and winding road. I wish it had centre markings, for on my way up, a SUV coming down was having trouble judging a corner and I was almost stopped on the edge of the bitumen, in the middle of the curve, while he drifted over to within a few centimetres of me – not conducive to carefree riding, I can assure you. I arrived at the parking area for the falls walk and, yes, you guessed it, no flat surfaces. I had to park near the pedestrian entry, as I didn’t want to park too close to a car only to find it had reversed into SUZI in order to come out onto the roadway. Now, dear reader, you will know I wear all the gear, all the time (ATGATT) and am grateful to do so after my “off” north of Broken Hill. However, ATGATT is not great for walking. In fact, given relatively high humidity and fairly steep grades, it is terrible for walking. Going to the falls (good view, not a great deal of flow) was reasonable (took a picture for a Japanese couple there, but a Spanish mother refused my offer as she didn’t want to be in the family photo, and the children laughed), however the return was another story – a story of gentle effort, then serious effort and finally concerted effort as I had to take a few moments rest breaks. Once SUZI and I were reunited, I had to cool down before I could subject myself to a mini-sauna, i.e. put on my helmet and gloves and do up my jacket. A gentle ride for the nine kilometres back saw me ready to have a light snack for tea and intending to retire. However, the group booking for the night was arriving. I engaged three in conversation while finishing putting stuff into my room. They were a like-minded group formed from people who had gone on 4WD expeditions and now they travel together for enjoyment. Now you would think that running into people from Werribee and Wycheproof was enough coincidence for the day. But no – more was to come. We were chatting away and one of the party (Keith) had been an apprentice at Laverton in 1963-1967. We knew of the US 57th Weather Reconnaissance U2 Squadron and a few apprentices and others from that time. So the rest of the evening was spent in their company, and a fine group (from Queensland, but I won’t hold that against them) they were. One of their number, Peter, ran 4WD expeditions and tag-alongs , so memories of “demanding” customers were dredged up to the amusement of all, including me, who had no knowledge of Ralph and Margaret, AKA Rat and Maggot. Alas, all good things must come to an end, so I retired to consummate the marriage of works, deeds and knowledge (that is, this record of events) and within half an hour they had all retired to … sleep and rest. By 10:30 I had finished so I relaxed and succumbed to the arms (and charms) of Morpheus and thus was soon asleep (yes, I can type in my sleep).