GUNNING and COLLECTOR
Wednesday 28 April 2010
THE BUSHRANGER RIDE

Present
Lorraine Litster----Triumph 750 Triple 1974
Phil Dawes ----Yamaha FJR 1300 2002
Ernie Seary----BMW same as last week
Floyd Primmer ----BMW Ditto!
Denis Murphy----Triumph Sprint ST
(Triumph and BMW tied for the brand award, Classic count one)

Apologies: John Broad (housework) Stan Perry (mind change?) Len Skipper (holidaying)
Jim Alexander (O/S), Peter Davey (O/S)

Report
It was another enjoyable day for a ride with skies a mix of blue, white and some grey. As predicted steady winds developed progressively during the day such that lean angles increased with the hour. The gust-free nature of the winds however made for greater interest rather than inconvenience, progressively greater blue skies and removal of any rain hopes for the farmers. The sun continued to do its duty preparing the Collector pumpkins for their showing on 2 May.

Pre ride suggestions e-mailed out involving rides to the Olive Grove Café via alternatively Windellema or Crookwell were both passed over on the day in favour of a shorter ride via Gunning and Breadalbane to Collector. The return was as suggested via the old Hume Highway section from Lake George and the Tulip Farm and then on the GDE around the Telstra quoit pole to the deep south of Canberra. Home garaging was achieved by about 2pm with an extra 200klms on the clock.

This sounds just like a ride we did very recently. It seems that Old Hume Café must have some special attractions. Maybe its the banana cake ordered by Lorraine or perhaps those nice comfortable arm chairs that Ernie is obviously enjoying in the photo below.

The highlight of the ride did not turn out to be the Olive Grove Café as expected. We found it didn't reopen until Thursday.

So we hauled in to the 1860's Bushranger Hotel at Collector. And what a great find this place is! Stuffed kangaroo, knight in armour, old world charm, tattooed bar tender were just part of its draw card leading to repeat business and we were told, accommodation bookings full for months ahead. A warning though - some of its clients do look a little "sus".

Stan would have enjoyed this ride and we missed his sharp wit. All that housework cannot be good for John either!

Denis Murphy