Day 1 : Christmas Road Trip : Murrumbateman to Naranderra

After months of planning the day has finally come… the day we depart on the road trip we have been planning for months has come!  Before we could start it was important that Gordon the Biker Cat inspected the kit. He didn’t seem too impressed 🙁 

There’s a few bits and bobs we’ve bought to make the trip as comfortable as possible and I will be reviewing them at the end of the trip, no big disappointments so far.  Here’s a run down : –

• Givi 80L water proof bag
• Rockform phone case and motorcycle mount
• Smart Bungee straps
• Serape blanket
• Sena SMH-10 helmet headset
• Harley Davidson Wet Weather Gear
• Ixon Waterproof Overboots

Along the way we hope to get enough points to get our 2015 ABC of Touring patch and pin. A contest run by the Harley Owners Group to get a picture of you and your bike at a town / city / state starting with each letter of the alphabet.  For me, I like the idea of finding unusual town names – so sometimes we have to stop two or three times for the same letter in order to get an upgrade!  Sadly you don’t get any extra points for that lol.  I think Gumly Gumly wins over Galore … although I think both are pretty good town names.

We covered approximately 300km today, took our time and made sure to enjoy the journey and not just woosh through to the destination.  We rolled out of Murrumbateman a little after 8 this morning, stopping in Yass to fuel and get our first letter!

You’ll notice my very bright rain jacket!  I do not plan on getting collected on the highway as a result of not being seen in the wet!  This past week or so the southern states have been in the grip of an early heat wave. There’s a certain irony that the first day of our trip should be rainy =/ The worst part was the humidity… within seconds of suiting up it was like an oven!!  For this reason we chose to fuel up in Yass instead of at our local in Murrumbateman – I needed to get some breeze STAT!

From Yass it was on to Jugiong then Gundagai to see the dog on the tucker box, grab some morning tea and loo break.  The Gundy Pie Cafe has provided reliable coffee each time we’ve passed through – happy to return again for a coffee and an apple turnover.  The last time we were here the streets were a real mess due to the main street upgrade.  Although they’re still going, it looks a million times better than last time.  The street paving looks really nice – will be great when it’s finished.

Whilst in Gundagai we took the opportunity to shed our wet weather gear, although still overcast it didn’t look like we were going to get any more rain.  Not completely trusting our instincts we made sure our jackets and pants were easy to get to in a hurry.

From Gundy it was on to Wagga Wagga for fuel and another leg stretch.  The weather has been a great temperature, not too hot at all and the humidity seems to have dropped a little since departing Canberra.

Almost there – 95km left to go and we can put our feet up.  All the crochet and blogging I was planning on doing at the end of each day was a bit of a stretch – I’m pooped!

Two more stops for letters for our ABC of Touring, Galore and Sandigo.  As we pulled in to Narrandera I was happy to discover the motel was right on the highway – no navigating around the town looking for some obscure little place.  

The Newel Motor Inn was set back from the Newell Highway behind a lovely garden filled with lots of different varieties of roses and also a small pool area. Sitting at the front door was a darling dog, very friendly, no barking, just happy to accept a pat as entry through to reception!

The owners were very friendly and provided a trouble free check in.  The room was very clean and had all the amenities we needed for an overnight stay.  I loved the old school touch of providing fresh milk to take to our room – instead of having to use those nasty little UHT milks that you need 3 of for each cup of coffee!

We were both a bit surprised at how tired we were after our first day of riding.  We didn’t think we pushed it too hard, nor did we travel that far, a little over 300km. OMG we were exhausted!  We pulled in about 3 o’clock, unpacked and put everything on the chargers and contemplated what we were going to do for dinner.  Do we go to the club or do we eat in?  Motel food can be really hit and miss – you just never know what you’re going to get.  On the other hand we really couldn’t be bothered heading in to town for a club meal.

Eating in it is!  I ordered the chicken schnitzel and Steve went for the chicken kiev – yum yum yum! No more expensive than your average club, beer prices were quite reasonable too, $3.50 for a Hahn Premium Light.  The schnitzel was delightfully moist and served with a nice chunky tomato relish. The salad was far fancier than I was expecting; feta and mushrooms – all sorts of goodies!

 

Had a great nights sleep and there was next to no noise from the highway.  I noticed in the morning there was double glazing across the front of all the rooms.  Checkout was simple and quick, the owners were very pleasant and happy to give advice and directions based on our day ahead.

Below you’ll see a map covering our journey for day 1 along with some snaps of the towns we stopped at for the ABC of Touring.

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Error: a valid license key is needed to display maps properly!