Motorcycle Explorer August 2015 Issue 7 | Page 134

A
fter two months on the road in
Tasmania and Victoria, I was heading home to
Sydney in the middle of an iconic Aussie
summer heatwave. Mo, my trusty Postie, had
carried me 7000 kilometres without missing a
beat but he was now flagging in the heat. I rose
every morning at 6am, on the road in record
time (for me) and off the road again by 10am
checking into an air-conditioned motel before
the temperature had risen above 44o. In this
manner we bunny-hopped across western
NSW to Sydney arriving the day before
Christmas.
During my month hiatus, Mo received some
TLC from the Honda dealer and I turned 50. My
daughter threw a big party and all my friends
bought Mo a drink in the form of petrol cards
and sent us on our way with sufficient funds to
buy fuel for the entire lap of Oz.
The only appointment on my calendar was the
Adventure Travel Film Festival in Bright. I had
two weeks to squander and as Mo is never in a
hurry, we started our meandering in Bathurst,
NSW. Ever since we had visited the iconic
Phillip Island two months prior and Mo had
been refused entry onto the track, he had been
sulking. So I had promised him a lap of the
famous Mt Panorama race circuit as
compensation.
I attended College in Bathurst in the days when
cigarette companies were allowed to sponsor
the race teams; when Dick Johnston took a
shortcut through the trees at Forrest’s Elbow
and I had been positioned on top of the media
centre when Peter Brock had won yet again –
earning him the title of King of the Mountain.