Lake Burrendong

Amazing place. I used to live in Lake Macquarie, biggest salt water lake in Australia, so I was a bit derogatory bout lake Burrendong. Tis not a lake, tis a dam, man made lake. Whenever I've visited lakes made from dams I've not liked them, they seem dead to me when you can see the tops of dead flooded trees in the middle of the lake. It just creates a sense of maudlin to me, what could this valley have been if we hadn't destroyed it with our own needs. You never seem to see all the life that is normally associated with a lake or river at dams. I have been proved wrong today, Lake Burrendong is lovely. The water was a gorgeous blue today, there were birds twittering everywhere and I didnt see any dead trees sticking out of the water tho I'm sure they are there somewhere. Lake Burrendong is alive.

Map to Lake Burrendong

We went for a ride to Lake Burrendong today, in case you hadn't guessed. Few things were a challenge for me. First is the highway. I still don't ride on the highway much unless I absolutely have to, I don't like the trucks and traffic, and I cant do 110km/h yet, still a bit too fast for me. Well we really had no choice today so it was the highway most of the way. I was following Terry and I think he was going a bit slower cause he didn't want to push me. So doing 90km/h to Guerie, where Terry spotted the Guerie Fair, and stopped. I had a smoke and said I was doing great and he could go a bit faster. We set off for Wellington and we got up to 100k's. Terry headed off to look at a job he'd done in town and I kept going to KFC. I pulled in and the typical Wellington resident was standing in the car park having a smoke. I love that, the looks the bike gets are fun, then when I get off and they see how small and female I am ya can almost see the amazement on their faces as they try to work out just how big that bike is. The first thing he said to me was ... "wot's that bouta 1100 or 1300?" Nope I told him it was a 400 and he looked again and walked round my baby, "wow ya wouldn't know it would ya?" he was appreciative. So I got his life story in a nutshell while we had a smoke and I waited for Terry to get there. When Terry pulled in the bloke said ... "now that's a big bike isn't it?" I think he would have been heartbroken if I'd told him it was only a 750  :)

Oh some things are getting better, I'm not noticing the wind as much at high speeds, I'm actually enjoying it more now. Tho I did get passed by two trucks going the other way, one of them was an oversized with some big machine on the trailer, caused a big wind and hit me like a brick wall, actually knocked my head back. The bumps also arent as bad for me, I must be getting used to them cause they still send me in the air at times but that doesnt put me off like it did a few weeks ago.

Terry led the way again after a quick lunch taking the back roads through town, and they are the worst roads in Australia, I dare anyone to find any worse. Stopped at a round about for a guy on a huge Harley who actually slowed down on the round about so he could give us a wave :) We got a few waves today, lotsa bikes out and about with such lovely weather. Not far out of Wellington is the turn off for Burrendong, and it's the most interesting road I've been on yet. Started out as a nice enough road a few bends, wide enough and not a lot of potholes. We cruised up to the wall thinking we'd be able to ride across and check it all out, but there was a gate across it so we stopped and had a look at the lake. Beautiful !!

The road to the Lake

The New Shadow at the wall

The White Shadow at the wall

The wall on the lake side

And on the other side of the wall is .. a valley

Checking out the View

We then went round to a camping area, costs money just to take your car or bike on the roads in there like they don't believe you when you say you just want to go look at the view and maybe grab a drink from their kiosk. So we walked to the kiosk and checked out the view. It's a huge lake so for some reason someone thought it was a good idea to build the tiniest swimming pool in the world with a huge water slide going into it next to that view. Huh?? Would be a nice place to spend a weekend tho and we saw cabins that I imagine are for rent.

After taking all the gloriousness in it was time to head home. I was feeling better about all the bends by now, the worst were the ones closer to the wall, and that road was shocking too, narrow, gavel all over it and lots of tighter bends that either were downhill or started just as you had topped a rise. Scary for a novice like me, even hubby was a bit worried bout it all. Coming home was better and I felt pretty damn good bout some of my corners, tho I still take em slow, there were a couple of times that I just got my line so nice and was able to open up a bit coming out of the corner, god I love that feeling!!

We stopped at Wellington Maccas for a snack, I'm not sure why, I was just following Terry... tho he knew I'd be busting for a wee by then. I worry bout dehydrating on longer rides so I drink heaps, I get thirsty, but then I need to stop at every opportunity for the ladies, nuthin worse than potholed roads with a full bladder. Then we got petrol, where I dropped my baby. Not gonna say much 'cept that I'll have to get a new blinker and mirror on the left side I doubt they'll be fixable, but it's only cosmetic stuff. It annoyed me that I did that, and I guess I was embarrassed as well. So I took off from there and just rode, thinking about it and getting a headache. I had to stop at Guerie just to settle down and the rest of the trip home was good. Doing 100k's all the way and it felt nice. I led that part and I kinda like leading, I get to set the pace so if a bit of road is scary for me I can slow down but when I'm loving it all I can speed up a bit. Lost my L plate somewhere between Guerie and Wellington on the trip out too, that L plate hung on for a few months .... impressive. It meant that I didn't have an excuse for doing 100k's in a 110k zone and that's when I worry bout what stupid things impatient drivers will do, but while we were overtaken a couple of times most people weren't too stupid, only one chick who was tailgating Terry and cut me off when she overtook ... 300m from the overtaking lane sheesh.

Well that's it ... 'cept .. I love my bike .. and my husband :D