3 men 6 wheels & 2 escorts

Day:Sunday

Date:27th

Month:May

Year:2007

As all good Sundays go this was our day of rest, relaxation, meeting and greeting. Lunch with members of Tamworth Club, touring the area and consultative meetings with my fellow

" Adventure Men".

For want of better names my loving family decided that it was appropriate that we be named as follows; The Pro ( having travelled Oz twice before), The Pom ( due to the nature of the man) and The Pilot ( as I have the Navman).

A relaxing and pleasant day was had by all, which is just as well for what lay ahead one will never know.

Day: Monday

Date:28th

Month:May

Year: 2007

Another day takes fold in the beautiful down town Coffs Harbour. Up at a sparrow .... i stealthily make my way to the light switch hoping not to wake other fellow bikers, this proved to be a mission in its self. The art of jumping, climbing and discreetly tiptoeing having left me many years earlier.

Carefully, having prepared my weetbix in bowl with sweetener the night before i consumed another wondrous breakfast delight that only someone of my age could appreciate.

Then as all good mornings start it's off to the ....wash room... again keeping noise to a minimal, ghost like i enter their room as that is where ( in the wisdom of the motel establishment) they had thought was the best location for the wash room, along with a sliding door that is almost off its runners. Lifting and sliding to the best off my ability still didn't prevent what was to be the awakening call for my fellow room mates.

Once we were all active and breathing the fresh morning 5.30am air, it was time to pack our 3 truck loads of gear back onto the bikes. As it appeared that rain my be prevalent the wet weather gear was required. Once all was in place it was off to the servo, fuel up and find The Pom. As my trusting son-in-law had long since lost faith in Navman he decided that he would lead the way. Through sheer luck he managed to find The Pom and it was off down the highway to meet The Pro.

The Pro has been around Oz twice now and seems to have a certain knowledge as to where we are headed. Since we have made no set arrangements, we are mapping our travels as we go. The Pro has booked us in at a camping area somewhere near Narabeen (Sydney). Once the family have seen us to the meeting spot they headed home via the Dorrigos. Three wise men head off on their life changing experience.

And a life changing experience is exactly what it was, who ever invented camping should be strung up. The Pro advised us that we would be thanking him for the experience, after pitching TENTS........ we rolled out the swags..........walked 5kl ms to tea ( nearly had heart attack & The Pom had sore feet). As The Pro was staying at his friends place for the night ( yeah, no he wasn't camping) we decided to taxi it back to the campsite, having given direct instructions to the cabbie (go straight down this road) he thought he knew better, went his way, and yes you guessed it.......his navigation skills........had us lost. So..... we went back to the start and he followed our direct route, whilst informing us that a ride that should have cost us $5.00 was now $10.00....lucky us.

Night came oh so quickly, dark, quite, cool, cold, freezing.......no feeling, until I could no longer take it. Trying to don all my riding gear in a tent at night with no light, feeling the wonderful experience ( thanks Pro) of leg cramps. I left my star accommodation and head for "The Wash Room". Only to visage a huge black blob sitting on the toilet fully clothed, ah...The Pom.... who very quickly told me it was far warmer in here than the tent. He also commenced to let me know that he had a leg cramp, whereby, i asked "what just one". Looks like his bottle of OP Rum didn't do the trick after all.

With that we proceeded to make coffee in the toilets, staying there until daybreak remaining somewhat warmer in our new environment.

Having decided that maybe camping is an experience that we need to work our way up to instead of jumping in at the deep end first, we made a decision to move onto "Batesman Bay", whilst The Pro has a few days here. Once he is finished he will meet us further down the track.

Fellow Female contingent has had knee operation, having a metal plate placed in her knee and reconstructive surgery. Hopefully, everything will go well and we will see her back upright again soon. Note: she found our camping experience hilarious and it brightened her day.