ALBANY VINTAGE & CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE CLUB

December 2009 Club News

September Kalbarri Trip

Story Antoinet, pics Garry, Andy, Colin, Chester, Jo & Bob

On Saturday the 19th of September we left on our trip to Kalbarri, organized by Garry Blake. About 29 bikes and 36 members took part in this beautiful ride. The first night was spend in cold Merriden after a 590 km ride.

In the magazine it said we were going to do 468 km so Garry was being told off by some club members. The ride was beautiful with all the flowering canola and lots of wildflowers.

We had plenty of stops along the way, which was great. We had hot cuppas and it was nice to catch up with other club members. After everybody had set up camp in Merriden we had a drink and some nibbles. It got quite cold so we decided to go to the roadhouse for a meal. Nice and toasty in there and the meals were good.

They did a good job catering for so many people at once. John and Forrest had decided to have a meal in the pub but the pub was closed. The owners and staff had gone to Kalgoorlie for the races! Luckily they found another place where they could eat.

When we walked back to the caravan park it was very cold. I heated up my hot water bottle and put on my thermals, had a hot shower and off to bed. The temperature really dropped but I was nice and warm. Barry had brought his electric blanket. A lot of people were jealous, especially Andy I think because when I saw him the next morning he was still freezing. Andy had brought his summer sleeping bag and hadn’t slept at all because he was so cold.

We all gathered at the petrol station and were off. We had a great ride with lots of  wildflowers on the side of the road to look at. Morning tea in Beacon where lots had to fill up with fuel. There was no one in the petrol station but there was a self service machine. Jo was the first one to fill up and could fill up to $400 worth of fuel.

We had lunch at Dalwalinu where we caught up with Huw who had ridden down from Perth. On the way there John Barber and Barry had ran out of fuel. Lucky some people were carrying spare. At the petrol station in Dalwalinu John’s centre stand broke, just missing another bike.

It wasn’t far to Perenjori where we had a pretty spot on the caravan park, nice grassy area and the people who had booked into the chalets were very impressed. The chalets where still quite new and everything was taken care of. The only disappointment was Jo’s short sheeted bed. She went to the owners to ask if the beds were always made like this but I think brother Dave and his Glenda knew more about this.

We all went to the pub for a nice meal, the pub was very full with all our members there. It was very warm too. We all had red faces and some ladies had lots of hot flushes. A few more drinks at the caravan park and off to bed. That night it started to rain and it wasn’t very nice to pack up all the wet gear the next morning.

It was Monday the 21st of September by now and most of us filled up in Morawa. I think they have some problems there with petrol sniffing and stealing because the whole building was covered in metal bars.
We stopped in Mingenew for morning tea, a great bakery there with lots of yummy cakes and pies. It was very windy by now and we were glad to have a break.

Off to Kalbarri. Only about 20 km from Mingenew we found Jack stuck on the side of the road. He had a flat tyre on his trike and was changing one from the trailer onto the trike. He was going back to Mingenew to see if he could find a spare tire. Andy, Bob, Huw and Chester were there with him so most of us kept on going.

Ronnie and I waited on the corner for the people behind and it took quite a while before they caught up with us. Later we heard Jack had gone back and there was smoke coming from the tyre he had just fitted on the trike. We thought he would never find spare tyres in Mingenew but later that afternoon he arrived at the caravan park in Kalbarri!

Some friendly people had helped him out and he could keep continuing. The ride to Kalbarri was beautiful, especially the road from Northhampton to Kalbarri was great. We arrived nice and early at the caravan park and had a great night chatting, eating and drinking.

The next day was beautiful and sunny. Some people were leaving for a ride after a great big breakfast of bacon and eggs, thanks to David. We went for a ride along the beautiful coastline of Kalbarri and had a look at the new estate. We hadn’t been in Kalbarri for 7 years so lots had changed since the last time we were here.

The afternoon was spent relaxing. That night another barbeque with the whole group after we had some live music from John, Forrest and Bob. On Wednesday the 23rd of September we were heading off to Jurien Bay. Andy and Harley had decided the weather was nice and warm compared with the Albany weather so they headed further north.

Ronnie (or Humpty Dumpty as Merrilyn Webb calls him) and I were going to buy a windsurf bag in Geraldton, and we were going to catch up with the others in Mingenew. It was quite crazy riding through Geraldton with all the traffic coming from everywhere. With the big board bag behind me we were off to Mingenew for a pie.

It was warm and windy. The other ones had arrived already so after the lunch stop we had to do the last stretch to Jurien Bay. There was a bit of confusion in Eneabba, Realene, Bob, Ronnie and I thought everybody had gone through already towards Jurien Bay so we just kept on going. Everything went well but when we arrived at the caravan park we were the first ones there.

We thought the others had filled up in Leeman, so we put up our tents. The mobiles rang and it turned out all the others were waiting for us in Eneabba, Huw had even ridden all the way back to Three Springs to look for us! Luckily everybody made it safe to the caravan park and after some drinks and catching up we all went to the pub for a meal and a game of pool.

The following morning we went to see a great collection of Vincents, amazing machines. Our morning tea stop was in Moora and lunch was at the bakery in Bindoon. From here Ronnie, Huw and I were going to leave the others to go to Huw and Elina’s place. Ronnie and I were going to fly to the Netherlands the next day.

We said our goodbyes to everyone, they all wished us a great trip and we were a bit sad to leave them. We had had a great trip with great people, it often feels like they are our Australian family.

Thanks Garry for organizing a wonderful trip through an amazing country. The rest of the group headed to Dwellingup for the last night. It’s a fabulous camping spot and we had a roaring fire going to complement the BBQ. The next day we arrived in Albany.

Great trip, looking forward to the next one - Bob.