Mudgee NSW

Late start today. We left Cowra's 11degs and headed out toward Blayney, which lived down to my expectations by being only 8degs! The road up is reasonable for a B road, but windy and hilly, making for a slower than normal trip into Bathurst. We checked out the Info centre and then headed to Mount Panorama to visit the Motor Racing Museum.

It's a pretty decent sort of display including cars and bikes from some of the legends such as Brock, Bond, Bartlett and co, but i was specifically looking for a very much lesser known hero: Ron Kessing. Who? I hear all but one reader in the world ask. The Kessings lived in Boyle Street Croydon Park, just in the next block from us. The Kessing boys were both 'bodgies' and their backyard was littered with motorbikes. The youngest boy, John, about my age (15), spend his whole life sitting on one with the engine revving, and riding up a slight incline about 20ft (6 metres or so) before rolling back and doing it all again, and again. The elder boy Kevin was Paul's age i think (Paul is that only other reader who knows what I'm talking about) and had a bit of a 'rep' as a bad boy. The father, however, drove a taxi and operated the Shell servo up on Liverpool road at Enfield. I only found out much later that Ron Kessing had his 15 minutes of fame, on one of those old motorbikes, by winning the 1946 500cc Motorcycle Grand prix at Mount Panorama.

Here's the proof:

Just to say we have done it, we took the rig on a hot lap of the mountain. Kept getting strange looks from young folk in cars with stripes, rubber band tyres and body kits.

It was getting late, hadn't got any warmer, and we were low-ish on fuel. Hoping to find a large truck type servo on the way out of town we headed out and took our chances. When we saw the 'last fuel for next 97k' at Wattle Flat at a single bowser on the side of the road outside a derelict looking shop we though we'd grab it and keep the 20L reserve in reserve. Don't ask how much, just think of how you're helping keep the tiny town's economy alive.

Just for fun, here is the first of my mystery snaps. The first Commentor who correctly identifies the town gets a Freddo Frog in the mail:

That road out of Bathurst and right up to the Castlereagh Highway is even narrower, windier and hiller than before and makes for a fairly tedious trip towing a van. Lots of manually selecting low gears to get up, and down, the steeper parts.

Anyhow, we made it into Mudgee about 4pm and settled into the Riverside Van Park before going for a stroll to check out the hustle and bustle of town however, the 'Closed Tuesday' signs in many-a-door dampened the bustle bit!. The weather threatens to be warmer tomorrow so we'll be able to get out and see the sights on offer, mostly local wineries by the looks of things.

Cheers for now, B&J