righto ....!

made a desperate dash out of adelaide ..(via melbourne) and just got home an hour ago ....all packed

oil changed, guages reinstalled for the pocket lids function and the screen locked up a bit better than 6 screws ...and ready to hit the road

got "rt"s number ...and a black suit for the funeral , hope to catch my daughter about 6.00 am tommorrow morning in sydney before heading further south .

have fun blokes ...cummon gerty ...we can do this !!!!

Ride safe Charlie. Long trip in one stint.

Good luck Charlie, Gertie will do it. Make sure to refuel more often.

My condolences on your bereavement Charlie. I'd sure you'd welcome the trip under more relaxed circumstances. Stay safe amigo!
88

Ride safe mate.

Ride Safe Charlie..

Hi Charlie, my deepest sympathies on your loss, hopefully being with your daughter will ease the loss. Have a safe trip.

Cast Iron arse Charlie. Very icy here take it easy
RT

well ..ol gerty did the job.....she made me proud .

cruised into sydney with all the aploumb that a k bike deserves after a 1000 k run

after a pretty cool night of some solid riding (rain from kempsy south to buladelah)

made sydney by 5.00 am and southern liverpool by 6.10 bugga outby 10 minutes ...

made the event by 10.00 for a 10.30 start .....

all verry sad stuff lots of tears were shed

heading out to see rt tommorrow some time .....

and some concideration of the return leg some time in the next couple of days

and yes your rt was mighty cold down here ....even stopped to find some cardboard to wrap around my ankles ,under the wets to ward off the coolness

thanks for the thoughts guys ......appreciated

and yes my daughters support was most welcome ....must remember a special hugg for her efforts .

An epic midnight ride - I shall have to award you this, Charlie.....


It's not cast Iron...Bronzed in fact and came to me from the antipodies, so it seems fitting.

It came with a bottle of Bourbon but you've no chance of you getting any of that

Now you know why I'm keeping my lower fairings for the cool season, there's noting like tucking the balls of your feet your feet up on the pegs out of the breeze and wet!

88KE

Chazza,
I'm thinking about you at this difficult time and hoping all goes well for your family and for you too, old mate, considering the circumstances. Know you have friends who care about you. Ride safely.
Dazz

Condolences Chas on your loss but congrats on the safe long ride .
Isn't this forum amazing ? It continues to give us life emotions and feelings for others that we (mostly ) only " know " here .
We have had sickness and bereavement , care for each other and humour even in adversity . Having met Charlie i have this image of him rummaging through a dumpster or wheelie bin for cardboard ! Oh for a photo of that .
Go well mate , thinking of you and your family .

Sorry to hear of your loss Charlie.Great to see you had a long safe ride - alone with your thoughts..cheers Tom

Happy to report Charlie is heading north by northeast again, and it's raining.

Also happy to report that he fix my high idling problem with some sort of mumbo jumbo and a screwdriver.

I think he was assisting birth there


On the way, dog hazards everywhere.


Thanks to Charlie for the help, I hope to catch up again in October at least
RT

Hats off to Charlie.

One of life's true gentlemen.

Hey RT, is that a Hardley Driveable I can see trying to edge its way into the picture?

Wash your mouth out Saxon old boy
it is the bestest of bikes there is
not only is it a Kawasaki 800 Vulcan, it is my neighbours' who won't ride it and won't sell it but pays me for the
Rego etc and to keep the thing mobile. When I feel like being lazy and need to stretch my legs out I take it for a run where there are no corners or gravel. That's my chick puller, although that hasn't worked yet.
RT

Why can't I have neighbours like that?

Is it my imagination or is it that most of us would not admit to riding or even wanting to ride a HD If so I suspect that sports and tourer bike enthusiasts sit in one camp and HD boys in the other ...

happy to report that gerty did well, yet again ...just home now ....got a beer in one hand and attempting to type .

rt forgot to mention we fixed up his fairing and possibly sorted his crash bars hitting the fairing on the though holes ,,,

i stoped up about newcastle on the way home ...the weather was attrocious from sydney north ..had a couple of beers in a mostly out of the way place a sleep and left the traffic to sort itself out ..... plowed off at 3 in the am in the rain of corse ....lasted till coffs .

the old girl sat on about 5 k for many a mile till the sun came up and the trafffic hit the roads .

took the back path from grafton so i could make some serious miles in short time , then back on the freeway at bangalow


just a note my temperature guage never went above 75 degrees c since last thurdsday , till about an hour ago in sunny "K"weensland ....cold .....crikey !!!


pics comming of maquarie pass, the pub , macksville , woolgoolga etc

thanks for the hospitality rt , you and your wife were great hosts ,(its a magic place he has there )

just setting off .....a cool night is comming up ....and the clouds looked ominous



with the imediate events over with ....i met up with rt and his loverly wife .helped him, out with a few tasks and decided on a test ride ( the famous pies shop was the lure... atop the fabulous macquarie pass )



looking back from the downward leg ....a maze of cutbacks ...and twisties that will excite even the most experienced rider



a "night out" with rt at the local



and off up the road again ...

i found a sunny nook for a smoke ...at brooklyn... between storms



about newcastle ..ina hideaway place ....holmesville ...and a pub ....yay !!!time for a kip and dodge the trafic and weather



next day through the night and rain travelling ...the riverside of macksville



then onto woolgoolga near double island point



just 500 ks to go ....dodging storms and the traffic ...

Smashing pics there Charlie, I love the menacing sky in the first one, great capture.

I'm quite taken with the neat bag on the pillion - I assume it's a waterproof?
88KE

just the sleeping bag 88 ...and yes it is (you just never know when you might need it )

amazingly the city panieers and top box carried all i needed for a 3 day travel

the big bags need a lock ....to seal them back up

I thought it was the sun in the first pic, until i realised it was a street lamp

Enjoyed the report and pictures of the trip, but not the reason for the trip.

Cheers,
Paul.

maybe i forgot to thank all you guys for the good thoughts





cheers to you all

Good work Chas , nighttime, cold, rain, and long distance , Gerty and you did brilliantly . I'm sure you appreciated all of us " riding " with you .

Great ride report and photos in a difficult time for you, fantastic friendship shown by the family of K riders, just amazing and heart warming to see. Thanks for sharing your trip with us.
Regards,
K-BIKE

thanks gordo ... cheers mate

aye ! indeed kbike ..."the family of k bike members " astound me often .

just thought to share some of the things i saw

thanks blokes

last chance for a ride ..for a few weeks

heading out on work trips

anyone up for a sunday ride, somewhere out of brisvegas (given that the storm events pass us by )

ideas guys ?

Would like to but have made promises to work around house. Weather report is for more storms in morming too.
Where bouts you off to for work mate. Hope its not somewhere too hot.

wagga ...then nzed (about 3 hours north of aukland ) mate. that should make things interesting huh ?

hmm ...ducking for cover ...our 5th in 2 days ...huge lightning event ....lots of trees have died around here just recently as i type hail is starting to fall puter off too, the lightning is just too close







check out ...Higgins Storm Chasing on facebook for a round up ..and spectacular pics from above

I've been following the weather reports from Brissy area, Charlie. "Softball sized hail" reported in the area. One report said some 9cm-wide stones fell, but a lot of them were 4 to 6 cm across, power out for 100,000, trees stripped of leaves, vehicles damaged and the airport closed for a while...another beaut day in Queensland.

not far from me a work mates place





a bit further down the road



yes just another beaut day in aussie ...ten minutes later, fine, some more rain mooved through ten minutes after

what a weekend !

"C'est bizzare! Non?" usually you find things that shape and size under chooks! You wouldn't want to be out riding in it.

Did you take those lightning pics yourself Charlie? If so ....amazing!

88

Holy Cow Charlie that's properly extreme weather! I've never seen hail like that.

Take care mate!
Dave

Charlie, makes you think about the concept that good things hail from Queensland.

Very interesting bit about the Vulcan......

I have a friend in US who some time back sent me a photo of his daughter...who was getting married. In the corner I saw what looked like something nice.....a K1200S. Same story, belonged to a neighbour 'who no longer uses it'. I think five years he is 'minding' it, ensuring it is kept in perfect order. He is planning on coming to Ireland to track north and suggested a bike swap. Worth exploring......so I get a K1200S to go up east coast USA....

When I was 19 I had a friend who turned up one day on a new black boxer when they were twice the price of a Honda CB750-4. 'I am minding a summer house for someone and I have to keep the bike serviced' lark.

I have a big shed, all thats in it at the moment is my K..and my sons Honda Bros which "I am keeping in order for him"........Anyone want to 'store' a Ferrari or such like?????