Seven of us met at Macca's Heathcote for the scheduled   10am   departure. It was a strange gathering! Not a single GS! That would have to be a first!   We had two RTs (Frosty and myself), two XRs (Tony and David), an FJR (Rod), a KTM (Peter W) and the massive 114cu HD (Peter G). I took the lead and Frosty kindly offered to be TEC.   Being such a small group, we opted not to corner mark and that worked well with just the occasional need to regroup as we came on and off the M1. No one was lost or left behind. Well done, Frosty!   The weather was overcast for most of the day with just some light mist on the higher ranges. Otherwise, the temperature pleasantly ranged between 18-24 degrees.   For the ride South, we firstly backtracked (North!) and turned into Farnell Ave to go through Audley and enjoy the full extent of the RNP. Traffic was light with only a couple of cars to pass all the way through to Stanwell Tops.   We took the usual back way down...

  Well , third time lucky with the weather this year meant a good turnout was possible, I counted 22 riders and a pillion .   I’d planned to skirt the west side of Lake Macquarie as the first two rides ( weather cancelled) were both to the east side .    We left and rode the well known path via the old road , Peats Ridge , down the Bumble Hill ,Yaramalong to Dooralong for smoko . No incidents so far all arriving safely.    The plan then was to head along the Mandalong road towards Morriset and turn left at the big roundabout towards Cooranbong . Andy mentioned that if we turned left at Deaves road a touch earlier it cut out the roundabouts .  Most of the crowd managed to make it onto the new route but a couple did not . After a quick call from Tec Peter ( braces ) we caught up at Freeman’s Waterhole .   Note - if you’re going to change the route  , let everyone know! Lesson learned .    On we went through the back blocks of Lake Mac...

Welcome to 2025!!!  No serious dirt riders turned up at St Ives on Saturday, just myself with F800GS and John W in his Safari Truck. Undaunted we proceeded to PITS where we met Mr Valise and proceeded to coffee and chat with other current and former UNB bods. To my surprise both our starters expressed the desire for some dust, so we travelled on to the Letter A and rode the Murrays Run Road. So nice it was so we reversed direction and rode back up to Kulnura and on to the 47 Oaks ( formerly Corrugated ) Cafe for a light lunch. Then homewards to enjoy the 2025 Dakar Prologue on the telly. Cheers Geoff W.