The bike is still not ready, the parts that were supposed to arrive today didn’t, they should be delivered tomorrow, Tony waited while a call was made to track them down.

After work we went to Gary & Anne’s for dinner.

Tuesday 30 August 2005

We got the bike back; the exhaust hasn’t been replaced because they don’t recommend having mismatched pipes on and the insurance company would only replace the one that was damaged. When the bodgy job was done before we left for our trip, they took the good set of pipes off and replaced them with the inferior ones that are now on the bike. We have the new screamin eagle exhaust and will get it put on eventually I suppose.

Work in the afternoon.

Tony has come down with a bug, a few of the other people we know have it so it’s not surprising that he’s caught it.

I completed Q-Ride which is an 8 hour course and tomorrow I can take my certificate of competency to Queensland Transport and get my licence.

In the afternoon I went to work and this evening we went to the Strand, along the beachfront in Townsville, where they have a night market once a month.

ME ON THE SPORTSTER I'VE GOT WAITING AT HOME

Saturday 3 September 2005

We spent the morning with Tony polishing the bike and me doing some of the latest mosaic.

In the afternoon we went to visit Merle, another Ulysses member. She showed me a handy trick for lifting a bike from its side stand; it makes it much easier to lift.

The caravan park had a guest poet, Bob Magor performing in the evening. The bbq that is usually held on a Wednesday was held off until Saturday so that Bob could perform. A couple of his poems are about the goings on in caravan parks and he had much of the crowd laughing as they related to the poems.

Sunday 4 September 2005

Ulysses ride day today saw us heading for Charters Towers. 19 bikes met at Cluden for the ride. Steve had ridden in from Charters Towers to ride back with us. We were invited to his property for a bbq with him and his wife Jacinta. It was a very pleasant way to spend a Sunday, the weather was fine and we were made to feel very welcome.

We said goodbye to all the Ulysses friends we’ve made in Townsville; this will be the last ride we go on with them. We’ll catch up again at an AGM either in Tassie next year or maybe even in 2008 when the AGM is held in Townsville.

Work in the afternoon.

Work.

Wednesday 7 September 2005
This morning before work I finished gluing all the tiles onto the mosaic, I’ll grout it tomorrow. Jim and Alan both stopped by and had a cuppa with us this morning. 

Thursday 8 September 2005
We started getting organised to leave today. We’ve taken down the tarp from the front of the tent; it provided us with a shady spot to sit outside. We washed and polished the bike and collected our mail from the post office. I also finished the mosaic.

Friday 9 September 2005
Today was our last day in Townsville. We spent the morning packing up the tent, there was a big bald patch in the lawn where our tent had been. We’ve got quite a bit of stuff with us, and we’ve been in this spot since 12 June so we’re well set up. We sent 4 mail satchels of things that we don’t need home to Wangaratta to lighten our load but it still seems as if we’ve got too much, it all used to fit in the trailer, but we were getting more practice at packing it.

I went to work in the afternoon and when I finished we went to Orm Snell, the harley dealers, to meet some of the Townsville HOG members who were putting on a sausage sizzle and to find out the arrangements for tomorrows departure.

We then headed back to Gary & Anne’s van; they invited us to spend the night so that we could get an early start in the morning and not have to worry about the possibility of packing up a wet tent. Anne made a lovely stir fry and we watched some tele before getting a reasonably early night. We’ll miss our friends in Townsville but it’s good to know we’ll be back in 2008 for the Ulysses AGM.

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