Moonta Trip 15th June 2013

We've been looking forward to this week-end for quite a few weeks though at times we were close to cancelling mainly due my front tyre, and the possibility of rain. Not to mention the cold as we live a few k's from Yongala which is usually the coldest place in SA.

Rather than ride over Friday we braved the crisp cold morning air and left home about 6:40 am this morning. Who in there right mind gets up at 5:30 am anyway? My usual bedtime is 2:00 am so I had an early morning and was in bed at witching hour (midnight) and Heather was in bed at  the ungodly hour of 9:30 pm.

All I needed to do before we left was wipe the bike down, (lucky we had a frost free night) set the GPS up and put a few needed items in the top case. I thought about the seat cover but left it off as we weren't sure if it would rain or not. To reduce the wind chill factor we usually put our wet weather pants on when we need to leave this early in winter.

Both Google http://goo.gl/maps/QJ9bf and my GPS suggested about 3 hours for the 196 k ride over. We took 2.3 hours arriving at 9:00 am. Marty (TouriSTs) must have just got off of his 1300 as we pulled up. Talk about timing, couldn't have done that if we tried.

We spent an hour and half in the café, (getting warm) before we parted ways with Marty. Rather than risk the extra k's we headed back towards home while Marty headed south. I took this photo of Marty and Heather standing next to the bikes. Sorry, no Ozstoc shirts as it was to cold for them.

Before leaving we had a walk down the main street and took this of the from across the road.

Heading back home we took the indirect route via Wallaroo http://goo.gl/maps/2xqfW and over to Kadina where we added $20 of fuel, called into Woolworths and found something to eat from this café.

We ate lunch in Victoria Park and while there I took a couple shots.

This has seen better days.

The Royal Exchange Hotel

And the dining room.

A Rubbery guest of the Hotel

And Heather

Heather liked the clock on this building

We stopped at Crystal Brook (100 k from home).

A little of the rail history.

And the bike needed some relief

And the funniest thing we saw

Arrived home just after 3:30 pm, not quite 9 hours for the 401 km round trip and about 5 hours riding time.

Jamestown Lunch Ride

I normally wouldn't put this little 40 km ride in as we do it at least once every two weeks.

About 11:30 this morning we decided to go to the supermarket at Jamestown and also stop off at the cafe for a bite to eat before heading back home but we had to get fuel before we went.

http://goo.gl/maps/yUDYH

Just as we were about to turn into the servo I noticed a group of bikes with sidecars fueling up. Most were ready to get on their way and some leaving so I grabbed a couple shots of the remaining  few.

All but the blue one in the pics were still there as we left. All were Urals as it turns out.

Half an later we're at the Jamestown supermarket then down to the cafe. I took this photo while sitting on a seat across the road. Just after this an older guy asked us about the bike etc. We mentioned a few things about the bike, towing the trailer and our club.

On the way back and about 10 kms to go two bikes passed us in the little town of Yongala (coldest place in SA, usually). Both were Hondas, not sure of the first one except that it was all red. The second one looked like the one of the newer VFRs but not sure what size.