NIGE Motorcycle Club

Catchy title that. Think I’m on to something there. Anyway since Lucky’s Busa is still in being repaired he took the Halfabusa up to Andy Pandy’s farm in Gloucester for a ride up through the ranges. By the way Andy Pandy is a genius at making things designed for one thing work perfectly well for another. His new underslung stainless steel toolbox was once a very nice toilet brush holder. Without permission from Mrs Pandy (He is a man amongst men) Andy snaffled it and, after applying some pretty fancy workshop skills, he produced a good sized kit that can hold many tools including one I’m pretty sure is designed to adjust the flux capacitor on a Delorian. Look!

Shiny!!!

After arriving at the farm Lucky and Andy Pandy enjoyed a number of beers and watched Mrs Pandy mowing the paddocks and edging the fences right down to the river. Again, he is a man amongst men. Guilt ridden, he did take over eventually but I remained mesmerised by the gentle murmur of the mighty Gloucester River as it meandered its way across the stones and had myself another drink. The rest of the family arrived later so no ride that day whilst we set up tents and had a few quieties around the fire.

Yes. This is a good spot to put a river.

So next morning we headed out. Now I am not real sure where we ended up but Gloucester Tops sounds vaguely familiar. We crossed many fords on the way and climbed some 1300 metres through palm forests and apparently some Antarctic Beech trees which are quite rare. As they were some 150 metres or so off the road along a walking track it seemed pointless to waste that much energy stopping and getting off. Plus then we would have had to walk back again and turn the key to start the bikes… clearly not worth the effort. We got pretty excited though when we got to Gloucester Falls but again a bit of a walk so we passed on that as well.

Gloucester Falls is somewhere around here. I hear they’re nice.

One of the many fords crossed on the way.

Pretty nice roads along the way.

There were 10 million trees you could have wee weed on Andy.

Somehow we ended up crossing the Barrington River and passed the Thunderbolts Highway on the return trip to Gloucester itself where Andy went searching for treated pine posts. Some kind of fencing job back at the farm that Mrs Pandy will have to take on. Back to the farm by about 3.30. A good ride that gives you time to look left and right as you go instead of fixating on the curvature of the bitumen like you have to on the big bikes.

The adventure didn’t end there though. Back at the farm Jesse had been getting better and bolder on the 250 trailies when the throttle stuck open and he came a guttser on the dirt. A busted elbow, deep burns, some nasty gashes, etc and still he was more worried about the bike. I couldn’t be prouder. A night in hospital and some bandages and cast and he was good to go. Didn’t even whinge a little bit.

If it wasn’t for the swishey pants things could have got nasty.

So the weekend ended with some drama but we will return for more adventures later. Lucky plugged his Iphone in and listened to some sweet tunes on the ride home. Maybe he listened to a little Celine but so what? She is lovely in a waifish kind of way and very soothing on a long trip.