Ride to Ulysses Rally in Lismore - Danny Stasenka and Alan Bateman - 2nd - 10th May 2023

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 Danny and I were meant to set off for Lismore on Monday 1st May but as I was suffering from a bad cold we left the next day. We took the back road to Wollombi, Broke and on to the New England Highway at Singleton. The road from Wollombi to Broke was badly damaged by the recent rain and there were plenty of potholes to avoid. From Singleton we headed up the New England highway stopping at Murrurundi for lunch and fuel. The weather was fine if a bit cool and there wasn't a lot of traffic so we had a good run to Armidale where we stayed at the Deer Park Motor Inn.


Feeding the deer at The Deer Park Motor Inn - Armidale

On Wednesday we had breakfast at the Deer Park Motor Inn as it was included in the room tariff. The owner  (German) served us as he was having problems getting staff. After breakfast it was still a bit chilly (Armidale is 1100metres above sea level) so headed up the New England highway to Tenterfield with the grip warmers on flat chat. Luckily the weather warmed up and in a beautiful sunny day we took the Bruxner highway from Tenterfield and headed for Lismore via Sandy Hill, Drake Village, Tabulam, Mummulgum and Casino. It was a great ride and apart from a few roadworks the road surface was excellent. Booking into the Lismore City Motor Inn was an interesting experience. The reception wasn't manned so we had to call a number and after a while a rather grumpy bikie showed up and let us into our room. My brother Colin had booked in the previous day and had left a key at the front desk which "grumpy" eventually found. That was the last time we had to deal with "grumpy".
  
After a very enjoyable rally we left Lismore on Sunday 7th May and headed to Toowoomba via Wellington Point, Brisbane to stay with my sister. The weather was clear and sunny and we went via the M1 Pacific Highway as we were on a tight schedule.

We initially planned to return from Toowoomba to Sydney via Thunderbolts Way on Tuesday 9th May, staying at Walcha. After finding out that the forecast for Walcha was -3C we changed our minds and headed for Coffs Harbour via Warwick, Killarney, Woodenbong and the Summerland Way via Kyogle, Casino and on to Grafton were we joined the Pacific Highway to Coffs Harbour. Again the weather was perfect, the countryside spectacular and the roads in great nick.

We left Coffs Harbour bright and early on Wednesday morning and had breakfast in Macksville. Then we hammered down the freeway as I had to get back asap.

The weather was perfect for the whole Rally and ride there and back!!

Check out more photos from the Rally in the "Photos" section of this Blog. 

Alan and Danny


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