5 Day Trip to Tamworth

The trip had three aims:

1) Ride to Tamworth - Up the Newell and back home via Sydney and Canberra.

2) Attend the 'Slide Night' held by Andrew Clermont at the North Tamworth Bowling Club and maybe get a chance to perform a few songs.

3) Catch up with Paul Wookey, a guitarist I'd done some work with in the Latrobe Valley and haven't seen for a decade. Paul is the featured artists at Andrew Clermont's Supper Club.

A day before Day One

Ring around Tamworth and locate a Motel that can provide accommodation for Days One and Two. I'll track something down for Day Three while I'm there.

Day One

Since it's a week day I decided to leave a bit earlier in order to avoid the morning peak period in Melbourne. Up at 3:30 am, have breakfast, load up the bike and I'm off by 4:00 am. The one item I left behind this time was the security chain.

I'm wearing my leather jeans, DriRider plus liner and winter gloves, a good choice in the conditions.

The Weather Bureau predicted showers but I didn't get involved in any even though I saw a few not far away from me.

The weather remained cool until I hit the border. Stopped at Finley and removed the liner and swapped for summer gloves. The temperature continued to rise but I stuck it out in the DriRider. The ride from Coonabarabran through the Warrumbungle's was very pleasant. Lots of curves and great scenery.

Arrived at Tamworth at 7:00 pm. Not bad, 15 hours for 1,370 km and I didn't break the speed limit once. The trip was shorter than the last time I did it on the Honda. I put that down to sitting on the right speed, not what the speedometer shows.

Found the Motel and booked in. Decided on a quick dinner at KFC.

Attended the last hour of the 7pm session of the Supper Club and saw some mighty fine playing.

To put things in perspective, Andrew Clermont runs a 'Supper Club' function that has two time slots: 7pm and 10pm. The 7pm session mixes all of his invited musos, while the 10pm slot is dedicated to one style. As it happened there was no 10pm session tonight.

I rode up to WEST's (West Tamworth Leeds Club) to see what was happening and noticed that Bill Chambers was performing at a Motel just down the road. Bill is the father of Kasey Chambers, one of the stars of Country Music. I stop in and noticed Bryan DeGruchy (The man who made my slide guitar) seated in the far corner, so I go over and sit with him. Bryan explained that Bill is a multi-instrumentalist and that proved to be the case. After each song he'd change instruments and to cap things off, he seemed a pretty humble sort of guy.

Unbeknown to me, only a few seats away, Paul Wookey was seated. I found this out after Bill invited Paul up to play a few songs. Sure he was older and balder but the beard threw me, I just wouldn't have recognised him. After he played a few songs and came back to his seat I introduced myself. Seems Paul had recognised me when I came in but hadn't said anything. We exchanged a few sentences before he moved on to more important people. The surprise (maybe not) was to have Bill introduce his daughter, Kasey, up for a song. Now you have to understand that Kasey is big time in the Country Music scene and has only one official show at Tamworth, where you would pay big money to see her. Here she is, performing at a gig that's free! That's the teaser aspect of Tamworth. Artists make a point of appearing at other artists shows to be 'recognised' by the star of that show and brought on stage for a few numbers and to remind patrons of a gig that's coming up. All parts of the marketing strategy.

I stayed until the end of the show before leaving as who knows who else will turn up. Back to the motel, a shower a few Jim Beams and I'm fast asleep. Pity the room only has evaporative cooling and that for only $150/night.

Day Two

Up at 7:30 and had breakfast and rode to WEST's to check out the Bluegrass Breakfast. Yup Bluegrass was being played, all the seats were taken and the breakfast queue was enormous, so I skipped that.

Decided to search for a room for tomorrow night. The area around the Motel I'm in has motels every where, so I walked to eight of them with no luck. I ride to Tamworth Towers to try my luck. Nope, all full. As I'm suiting up, I see a man and a woman approach the vehicle next to me. I'm pretty sure it's Phil Emmanuel, so I ask him. Sure enough it is and the first topic is my bike and his biking experiences. I tell Phil that I attended his workshop and concert that he held in the LV a few years ago. Phil asks me if I have a copy of the CD 'In the Shadow of the Beatles'? I say "No!" Phil rummages around the back of the vehicle, locates the CD and hands it to me. When I ask "How much?" Phil says "No charge!". "Would you 'sign' it for me please?" I ask. "Sure" replies Phil and he signs it. Great. I'm a real fan of his recorded work. Thank goodness for the bike :)

Police activity is pretty high with Booze Bus stops all over the place. The rear tyre is near the end of its life. I have one waiting for me when I get back home, I'm just a bit concerned it may cause me a problem if the police decide to go to the letter of the law. I ride to the two bike shops in town searching for a rear tyre, no luck in that they don't have a Metzler, but they do have Dunlop and another brand. I opt to wait.

Had lunch at 'The Pub' and enjoyed a wonderful steak. The routine is to order your meal and be given an electronic device with a number. When the device beeps, blinks or vibrates, that is your signal to head back to the bar to pick up your meal. Since I ordered before 12pm, I was told that I would have to wait until then before my order was processed. Bill Chambers was the act on stage and he invited up other artists that happened to be in the audience. 'The Pub' has extended to building with a pergola like structure to seat more patrons. Now it gets hot in Tamworth, so to make the experience better for their patrons they have installed mist sprinklers above the tables in the pergola area to cool them off. They have even provided speakers to fill in the sound for those in the pergola area, how thoughtful. I have heard other artists comments that 'the sound' at 'The Pub' was the best in Tamworth.

Back to my meal, when the device first went off I didn't know what to make of it. "What was that strange sound?" The second time it went off I was wiser. I went to the bar and picked my garlic bread entrée. Next time it went off I picked up the steak.

Off the WEST's again for the Tomkins Guitar Showcase. Let me explain. When a guitar maker puts on a Showcase, he invites patrons of his guitars to perform a few songs at a specially designed show to show the public that their guitars are used by the artist. This is a wonderful opportunity to see major artists for free. When I spoke to Phil Emmanuel, he told me that he was on at 2:30. Great. The show started at 1:30 in a huge tent behind WEST's and in the blue sky day it was very hot. Yes they had ceiling fans to move the air, but at least half of the audience were fanning themselves to keep cool. You could almost hear the conversations in the audience along the lines "Hey, an even better idea, get me a cool drink from the bar!" Yup, the bar was doing a roaring trade as was the 'munchy bar'.
I waited, and waited, and waited and finally at 4:30, Phil Emmanuel is invited up onto the stage. Phil plays three songs and leaves. Yes I got to hear him play, but I'm not sure if being two hours late made up for the poor performance. Phil prides himself on 'tone' and looks up to Hank Marvin as the epitome of guitar tone. Either Phil didn't have the time to set up properly or it was all some sort of mistake.

Rang around the Motels and located room at the 'Golden Guitar Motel' for only $220/night.

Had dinner at a restaurant called 'Café Eataliano'. The lasagne was wonderful. Across the street was an aboriginal singing and playing guitar, trying to be heard over the other performers on the street. After my meal I gave him $4 and his eyes lit up like it was Christmas.
Also across from me, set up on the street was a man showing off snakes. He had about a dozen snakes in bags. He would take each snake out in turn to show the mesmerised patrons. At the end of his 'show' he would ask for a voluntary donation.

Off to Andrew Clermont's 7pm show. Lots of good playing followed by a violin contest. Any person could enter with the chance to win a new violin. Entrants age ranged from 8 to 18 and had a maximum time of 5 minutes to perform in. On the night it was decided to split the prize two ways: Junior and Senior. The juniors were good but the two seniors entrants were amazing, hence the change in plans.
The 10pm show was the 'Night of the Piano'. This involved eight performers to play three or so songs each finishing up with everybody playing "Good Golly Miss Molly" two people to a piano. The place was rocking.

Day Three

Moved to the Golden Guitar Motel. Great, a real air conditioner. Had lunch at 'The Pub' again. Seems there are different rules today. Yesterday I was able to have a separate call for my garlic bread as an entrée and my steak as a main. Not today, there's a one hour delay on the delivery of your meal and you'll need two orders to have the items separated, which also means two electronic tags. After a bit of manoeuvring I decide to cut my losses and have everything delivered at once.

The car park was overflowing as the DeGruchy Guitar Showcase was on with the usual cavalcade of stars. I parked in front of car. We were both in a no parking area. A little while later I hear a call to move a motorcycle, mine. Seems I had staff blocked in. I moved the bike and was able to move into a real parking slot as a car left as I moved, good.

I sit down and listen to the music. Not long after the electronic paging device fires up. I go to the collecting area and am rather surprised to find that I was being summoned for just my garlic bread. Systems. Who knows how they work? My steak arrived soon after and it was only one half an hour from when I ordered it. I think the staff are way overloaded.

While I was waiting I struck up a conversation with a BMW rider who used to live at Hazelwood North but who now lives in Melbourne. Talk about a small world. He'd seen me riding around town and now had a person to attach to it.

Arrived at the North Tamworth Bowls Club at 2pm to hear the Normie Rowe Show. Sure brought back a lot of memories. Not only did I see Normie Rowe, but also Johnny Young, Marcia Jones and Lonnie Lee. The show was tailored for the mature age set and had in built humour that was appropriate for the age group. When Normie started off "Que Sera" he explained that it had been a Doris Day song and started to sing the first line to which the patrons took over and finished the song.

The band lineup was pretty much as it was in the 60's including a 'dolly bird' singing backup vocals and looking sexy. I must admit that I had a good time as Normie sang with the same energy he had in the sixties which is amazing.
The funny thing about television is that you really can't tell how tall people are. Normie isn't tall but Johnny Young is nearly my height and yes,.just a little bit wider and goodness: No grey hair at all.

I really don't remember Lonnie Lee, before my time I guess, but I did remember Marcia Jones. Pity Marcia didn't cover any of her hits but only performed new Country styled songs. I couldn't help but compare her to Denise Drysdale, very similar style.

At the end of the show, Normie left the stage and had to do a right hand turn at my table to get to the dressing room, where he spots my helmet. "I've got two of those" Normie exclaims. I hint that he has two heads J "What sort of bike do you ride?" Normie asks. "R1200C" I reply. "Really?, so do I! Don't go away I'd like to check out your bike." I waited until Normie changed clothes and attended to his fans (Having pictures taken with fans, signing CD's, etc) We went outside and we talked bikes for about 20 minutes. Normie had ridden down from the Gold Coast and it had rained all the way. We both had Staintune mufflers fitted, but for some reason Normie's bike had the whole system changed. Normie explained that the pipes coming out of the heads on his bike were black, not chrome like mine. Normie said he'd like to show me his bike and when I explained I'd be here at 9pm tonight he said he bring the bike around. Great, thank goodness for the bike again.

Had dinner at Café Eataliano again. As I reached into my backpack to use the phone I was greeted with the sight of mustard every where. The top of the mustard bottle had come lose and well it was everywhere. I asked the waitress for some serviettes and spent the next 15 minutes tidying up. Reminded me of the stuff you find in nappies, except that it smelled better.

Phil Emmanuel was advertised to be playing at the Regent Hotel at 8pm, time enough to catch a few songs before being at another gig at 9pm. I showed up at 7:45 to make sure I had a good seat/view. I asked the man at the mixer if he thought Phil would be on time. He responded "I'll give you $100 if he's on time! Depends on how many Jack Daniel's he's had!" Not looking too good. Phil shows up at 8:10 and sets up, does a sound check where the guitar sounds great. Phil's not happy with the straightness of the neck on his guitar, so he proceeds to adjust it. Had all the finesse of Crocodile wrestling. No sign of the other two members of the band and Phil just engages some people in conversation. At 8:30 I decide I have to make a move so I'm not late for the 9pm gig. So close yet so far!

The 9pm session is the second aim of the trip, the "Night of Slide". I approach Andrew Clermont and have tacit approval that I may be able to perform a few songs in the second performers set, a man named Garry Brown. I approach Garry and ask if I can play a few songs in his set. Garry is pessimistic because Andrew has pushed another artist onto him and there won't be enough time and that proved to be the case. I did see a lot of slide playing but not a lot that I could use in my act.

By the end of the show I'd pretty well made up my mind that I'm wasting my time at Tamworth hoping for a helping hand up onto the stage. I'm retiring! I don't have the contacts and anyway, who knows me? I'll leave it up to the professionals, I have more fun on the bike anyway.

Oh, Normie never did show up.

Maybe he had another commitment, I'll never know.

Another few Jim Beams back at the Motel and I'm ready to go to bed.

Day Four

Had breakfast and left at 9:30 wearing denim jeans, Draggin' Jeans jacket and summer gloves.

Very nice riding through the ranges until you hit the coast. The only problem was that the government has become a bit overprotective and has moved out the speed restriction signs way beyond where they used to be. In some places close together you never reach an unrestricted zone before you reach the next town. This all made for a rather slow trip.

Stopped at Maitland for lunch. I phoned a Motel that I had stayed at before in Canberra but received no answer. I'll try again later.

Halfway between Newcastle and Sydney a car towing a trailer had broken down in the fast lane. I thing the trailer had lost a tyre or similar. The bank up of traffic went for kilometres, thank goodness it wasn't in my lanes.

My preparation for passing through Sydney wasn't very well planned. All I knew was that I had to get to Canberra and Liverpool was a good sign to look for. Bingo, a sign with both names. By this time I'm a little distracted by the thunderstorms that were building up around me. I lost both the Liverpool and Canberra signs along with the route numbers and somehow locked onto the Western Highway and Penrith as a good place to head for. When I saw the Katoomba sign, I knew I was on the wrong path. Now I wasn't lost, I just didn't know exactly where I was. A storm hit so I took cover in a service station and waited for it to pass. I took this break to ring the Motel I was after in Canberra and got through and booked the only room they had, a basic room with bunks. Not exactly what I wanted but good enough.

What I needed to do was head South, so I did and found a freeway heading back Sydney way, so I took that. At the first mention of Liverpool I took that and ended up on the Hume Highway and then onwards to Canberra. I really do need some way of having a map displayed in front of me. When there a thunderstorms all around you the last thing you want to do is stop. Through all of this I only saw the Canberra sign once! (Looking at the map at home, there is a road from Penrith to the Hume, so I could have saved some time and dampness if I'd know which route to take.) The road naming confused me too, names like "Western Highway", Western Motorway", "South Western Highway" all sound the same.

Many storms later I arrive in Canberra and thought I'd try for something a little better. No luck, the whole city was booked out. Seems there is a Triathlon and a Softball function on in Canberra. I ring back to the place I booked a room and discover for the first time that the place I thought I had booked a room at has been demolished and the phone was being diverted to another motel. Instead of the Acacia Motor Lodge I was now staying at the Golden Gate Motel in Lyneham. Fine, I ask for directions and park at reception. As luck would have it I was offered a upgrade to a standard room for the same rate. Sold! Another appreciated service was that you were able to purchase a garage for the night for an extra $5. Sold!

I had wanted to have dinner at the revolving restaurant on Black Mountain, but they were booked out. Plan B, Montezuma's, a Mexican restaurant in the city. "Sorry sir, but we are full!" was the response from the voice on the end of the telephone. Not happy! I ordered a Taxi and showed up on their doorstep, this time they did find me a table. My eyes were clearly bigger than my stomach as there was no way I could finish what I had ordered. By the time I have finished my meal and the bottle of wine I was pretty relaxed. "It's a nice night, I'll just walk back to the Motel" I say to myself and do just that. By the time I arrive at the Motel all I can do is have a shower and go to bed.

Day Five

Left at 9:30 and determined that I walked a little over 4 kilometres last night. The weather started out a little cool, quite a bit cooler past Cooma and a little warmer in our now typically overcast Summer weather. I'm glad I wore the same gear as Day One.

Stopped at Cooma for fuel and lunch at McDonalds.

Uneventful trip except for two incidents:

• A B Double Truck that lost the rear trailer 10 km before Cann River. The load was wood chip, so the spill could have been much worse. Both trailers had torn their left hand sides from the base of the trailer. The police had temporary speed signs set up to control the traffic.
  
  
• As I approached the Buchan turn off, a car decided that it had enough time to enter my space - It didn't. I managed to pass it without too much trouble and gave them a quick blast on the horn. The car followed me for about 5 km before deciding to pass me on a corner with double lines. Just had to I guess.

Summary

Distance travelled: 3,000 km