There’s a particular satisfaction to waking up in a country town motel knowing you’ve got another full day of open road ahead. Tamworth delivered on the sleep front - good dinner at the bowlo the night before, early night, up before the sun to do it all again.
Day 2 was always going to be a big one. Tamworth to Tumut via the back roads of central NSW - and a couple of ABC Challenge stops to knock over along the way.
Couldn’t have been more convenient. Directly across the road from where we stayed sat Western Ranges Motorcycle - a Harley dealership, which ticked off the “Dealerships” category of our ABC Challenge before we’d even had breakfast. Quick park-up, quick photo, patches front and centre. Done.
One ABC stop logged before 8am. Good start.
A short roll through town to the Golden Guitar - Tamworth’s big golden landmark and Australia’s temple to country music. This one counted as our “Big Things” ABC stop for the day, and it’s hard to argue with a giant golden guitar as a backdrop for a bike photo.
Even better: there was a Zarraffa’s next door. Queensland’s finest coffee chain, appearing like a mirage in Tamworth. Proper coffee sorted. And a fuel station right beside that, so we topped up and rolled out fully caffeinated and with full tanks. The stars aligned.
From Tamworth we pointed south toward Orange, but not by the direct route. That would be too easy.
We hit a brief stop at road works near Currabubula, which gave everyone a chance to sit on their bikes and look impatient for a few minutes. Then we tracked the Main Northern Railway down toward Werris Creek before breaking west. From there we picked up what turned out to be the Mungindi Railway Line corridor - flat country, long straights, the kind of riding that lets your mind wander while your body handles the bike on autopilot.
Through Caroona, then a turn onto the Coonabarabran Road through Spring Ridge, before hitting the Black Stump Highway at Coolah. The Black Stump Highway sounds more dramatic than it rides, but the country is genuinely remote and open - big sky, dry grass, the occasional wedge-tailed eagle doing slow circles overhead.
We came off the Black Stump onto the Golden Highway and made a fuel and coffee stop at Dunedoo. Small town, not much fuss - but the Dunedoo Hotel opposite the servo is one of those beautiful old country pubs that make the back roads worth riding. Federation architecture, wide verandahs, the kind of building that makes you wish you had time to stop for a proper beer. We didn’t. Filed it away for next time.
Another fuel and rest stop at Montefiores, sitting on the outskirts of Wellington. Legs stretched, fluids topped up (bikes and riders), then onto the Burrendong Way toward Orange.
Orange was the lunch stop and our third ABC hit of the day - Victory Lane Motorcycles, another Harley dealer. The ABC Challenge rewards this kind of planning: knock over the dealership while you’re already stopped for lunch, and the kilometres suddenly have double purpose.
Orange is a proper regional city and worth more time than a lunch stop - but we had kilometres to cover and a hotel in Tumut waiting.
Leaving Orange we found some back roads that wound us back toward the Western Highway near Mandurama - the kind of route that exists because someone in the group said “I reckon this road’s better” and it turned out they were right. Rolling hills, minimal traffic, the bikes working properly for the first time all day.
Then south through Cowra and Young, following the familiar NSW pattern of small towns every forty minutes, each one with a servo, a pub, and a reasonable pie if you time it right. Young also delivered another ABC “Big Things” stop - the Big Cherries sculpture at the edge of town, three giant cherries hanging from a steel frame. Calendar out, photo logged, stop counted.
At Coolac we made the call to detour into Gundagai for a photo with the famous Dog on the Tuckerbox. Classic Australian landmark, five miles from Gundagai, immortalised in bush poetry. We were hoping it would count as another ABC “Big Things” stop.
It did not.
The detour was not rewarded on the challenge front. The Dog remains stubbornly un-categorised. We got the photo anyway - you can’t ride past Gundagai without stopping - and it was a short enough detour that pride was only slightly wounded.
From Gundagai it was a short push south to Tumut, rolling into the Farrington Hotel as the light was going golden.
Bags dropped, bikes parked, and then a wander to find a couple of country pubs for a beer and a meal. Tumut delivers on that front - proper pub food, cold beer, locals who don’t mind a group of leather-clad Harley riders taking up the corner of the bar.
Early night again. Day 3 starts in the morning, and we’re not getting any closer to Shepparton by sleeping in.
Day 2 Stats
Day 3 coming - Tumut to Shepparton and the start of the rally proper.