The final day of the trip.
We started the final day with a good breakfast of bacon and eggs. Has a kind of symmetry to the first day of the trip really (the send off from Mai-Wel included a bacon and egg breakfast).
Outside was very cold, someone said -2 degrees. I took some photos and got some footage before we left the farm, my hands were almost numb, although that is partly due to the metal "cage" I have on my camera. It just seemed to leech the warmth out of my hands.
Since there was a frost (the first we have encountered on the trip), Gerald took photos of his bike in front of the frosty grass around, and I took some photos of him and his nephews Alec and Mac. The whole family has been very hospitable to us, feeding us and making us comfortable for our last night and morning of the trip.
Knowing how cold my hands were until I could warm them up in front of the warm air vents in the Hilux, I don't envy Gerald at all, riding the Honda this morning through the cold. As we were driving along we passed in the opposite direction with someone I used to work with, I wasn't looking so I didn't see him, but Dan said he had seen us and wished us luck for the rest of the trip.
Then we got to Muswellbrook, Gerald stopped at a maccas to get some coffee and warm up while myself and Tony went to catch up with someone who used to live in Wellington. Lynn hadn't seen me since I was about 5 years old, so she was a bit surprised when Tony told her my name.
Next stop was at Happy Grillmore in Singleton for a coffee with my uncle Mike. Apparently the burgers here are giant and very tasty, so I know I'll be going back there next time I'm in Singleton.
Happy Grillmores in Singleton.
Not too far down the road we stopped at the BP in Rutherford, to fill up the Honda one last time as the end point for our loop in and around the Australian outback.
Finally, we went to Mai-Wel for the "welcome back" from all the staff there. Gerald told a few stories from the trip, and the staff were asking questions about the trip and how the bike handled it, "didn't miss a beat!" Everyone (including us) was impressed with the amount of money we raised for Mai-Wel while we were travelling (over $2000!) and the distance we travelled. In the end we did over 13,000km, and around 6,000km of that was on unsealed roads.
It was great that we could do something to help out Mai-Wel.
After that it was back to Gerald's to unpack the Hilux, take some photos of the vehicles after a completed journey, and sort all (or most) of the gear into piles according to who owned what. Tony and I put everything of ours in our car to go home to Coffs Harbour.
Honda CBR125R and Toyota Hilux after 13,000km
A little bulldust got into the back of the Hilux...
And with all this, the Honda went just fine.
It was very different driving a Camry now after driving and riding in a Hilux for thirty days. I could hardly hear the starter motor, the engine didn't sound like a tractor on coffee, we were so low to the ground now...
The three of us went to a takeaway place in town to have a burger for lunch, then we headed our own ways. On the way up, Tony and I stopped at Rod's place to catch up and drop in a few of his belongings we had with us for the last part of the trip. After the catch up and coffee we drove the rest of the way up to Coffs Harbour.
Last lunch of burgers
Oh, and we forgot to stop the tracker on Tony's phone until we were on the way north again, so on the map, just ignore the last little bit where we go to Wallsend and past there...
Now it is time for bed.
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