Day 32: Sat 21 Mar - Moree to Home, 666km, total: 1,452km

18 (Moree) - 29 (Home) deg C, a few light showers, with some sun

While Greg had breakfast, Wendy took her time getting out of bed; she had a hotel room coffee and biscuits for 'breakfast'. We were back on the road at 0710h (NSW time) heading North. First stop was at Boggabilla for fuel at $2.799, the cheapest for lots of km! We're already getting used to the ridiculous prices caused by a maniac starting another unnecessary war! Stopped at Goondiwindi for breakfast/mornos from Maccas, Moonie for a driver change, Kingaroy for a comfort stop and driver change, and then we were home, arriving at 1440h (QLD time). We had the bikes off and back in the shed, and the Cruiser unpacked by about 1515h so Greg decided he had earned a cuppa tea. By 1630h, all suitcases, bags and eskies had been unpacked and contents stowed in their rightful place, even if it was the laundry pile.

We have a lot of work to do in the house (spiderwebs and dead insects), and the yard - looks like a mini jungle. Thank you to Terry for keeping the front entrance looking like someone was home. However, Rome was not built in a day so the yard will wait its turn.

When we went to bed last night, we found these between the top and bottom sheets; when we reported it today, they sounded like it was an everyday occurrence! It was obvious that the sheets had not been changed, yuk. 

Our view when we drove out of the motel this morning

Milo cotton

Finally managed to get a good photo of the entrance to Milo Farm and the name; Dad worked here for 12 months between leasing the servo in Cairns and getting a job on Colly Farms.

It's nice and green everywhere after the recent rains

Our homecoming welcome committee

Expenses

Accom: 

3 x nights: $460.00

Total distance: 3,051

Fuel:

$794.10

342.47 litres

Av $/litre before the 'war': $1.714

Av $/litre during the 'war': $2.874

l/100km: 11.23

Av $/litre: $2.32

Day 31: Fri 20 Mar - Canberra to Moree, 786km, 10 hours!

14 (Cbr) - 31 (Moree)

We were packed up and ready to leave just before 0700. After saying a sad goodbye to Mum and Dad, we were rolling by 0715. Stopped at Boorowa for breakfast (egg sandwiches made by Mum) and coffee. Mornos was at Maccas Cowra, and lunch at a roadside rest stop just outside Dubbo. We refuelled at Coonabarabran, just because it was the cheapest for a while at $2.899/litre. We arrived at our chosen hotel, Burke and Wills in Moree at 1715.

Scenery was mostly lush green pastures with the occasional brown one. All of the  crops we saw on the way down have all been harvested leaving dry stalks. There were A LOT of sheep in the paddocks today, with some cattle. All the stock looked well fed and happy. We encountered some roadworks, some we just had to slow down for, others coming to a complete stop, the longest lasting no more than 6-7 minutes. Any day on the road when you reach your destination without incident is a good one.

Early morning traffic, just leaving the ACT and about to enter NSW

Early morning fog lifting, some early dark clouds which didn't amount to anything

Breakfast at Boorowa - seat was wet so we had to stand

The magnificent Boorowa Court House that is now the local Craft Group HQ

Cowra Rose Garden, adjacent Maccas and Cowra Info Centre

Room #7 at Burke & Wills Motor Inn at Moree. It is a large complex with 73 rooms

Not long after we arrived the carpark was nearly full

Day 30: Thu 19 Mar - Canberra

17-23 deg C, overcast and raining in the morning, to sunshine in the afternoon

No real exercise for either of us this morning due to the inclement weather. We did however get some incidental exercise as we began the pack-up procedure for our departure tomorrow morning. Greg went over to see Bob and had a cuppa. After lunch we had a nana nap then loaded the back of the Cruiser with stuff we will not need on the road. It was then time to attach the bike rack and load the bikes, after removing their batteries. 

We had an early dinner of Chinese takeaway with Mum and Dad, which was kind of sad as we had enjoyed every dinner we've had with them over the last month. Wendy has enough for dinner tomorrow night too. After a quick dinner we went over to say goodbye to Kevin, Samantha, James, Ben, and Jemima. James was working at the RUC, but the others were home. We had a quick drink and catch-up with Kev and Sam, (thank you), and just as we were thinking of leaving the heavens opened. The rain drops were large and cold. On the way home we saw a double 🌈 and Greg chased the most amazing sunset we've seen in suburbia for some time. We are hoping it's not raining too much in the morning for our drive away. We haven't made any plans about where we're going to stop overnight, or how many days we'll take to get home. Hopefully there will be fuel available along the Newell Hwy or we'll end up with an unscheduled holiday somewhere.  

This was a whole (semicircle) double rainbow, but hard to capture when moving at 60-80km/h

Awesome! Well, we think so

Day 29: Wed 18 Mar - Canberra

15-24 deg C, overcast and cool, but no rain

Ride G: 66km; total: 657km

Ride W: 66km; total: 386km

We waited for it to warm up a little bit and let the traffic ease before we set off for Tuggeranong on the bikes this morning. We were on the C5 path all the way, and while it is pretty good condition for most of the ride, it is very rough and bumpy in lots of small sections where the tree roots were lifting the bitumen.  We suspect some paths might not have been touched since they were laid in the 1980s. However, any path beats mixing it with the traffic, especially with Canberra drivers. We found the place we had coffee at about 10 years ago and ordered breakfast and two large coffees not realising just how LARGE they really were. Greg's poached eggs on sourdough was just what he wanted and Wendy's breakfast wrap was full and delicious. The coffees were also pretty good. We came home via the C4 and C3 paths, that seemed to be better than the C5, just so we would have a loop and a few more km on Strava. 

Back at home we had a wash, then a little rest. We were both still full of breakfast/mornos we didn't need lunch. By dinner time though, we were quite peckish. We had leftover lasagne, roast veggies and oxtail stew. Another nice day, our second last in Canberra for this trip.  

Tuggeranong overlooking Lake Tuggeranong. The tower you can see is where we had brekky/mornos.

Lake Tuggeranong

The LARGE coffees

He likes them BIG!

Day 28: Tue 17 Mar - Canberra

15-26 deg C, overcast, wet and miserable all day

Walk G: 5km; total: 118km

Walk W: 3km; total: 118km

Greg was all ready to set off on his bike to meet Bob when the rain started. It wasn't heavy rain, but enough to be a nuisance; and coldish. In one of the periods of no rain, Greg wandered to Belconnen Mall for a look around the shops; same stuff different shopping centre. Wendy stayed at home and did half a days Army work

After lunch, we didn't do much except for book reading, and helping Mum prepare dinner for us and Dale, Suz, Jo, Carla, and Henry - Lasagne with roast veggies and coleslaw, with a Drumstick ice cream for dessert. As it is a school/work day tomorrow, they didn't stay too late. 

No photos were taken. The only one we have is a screen shot of our security camera in the patio; we had visitors at home!

There is a 5th roo off to the far LHS but there is too much glare to show it

Day 27: Mon 16 Mar - Canberra

10-26 deg C, cool and overcast most of the day

Ride W: 34km; total: 320km

Walk G: 5km; total: 113km

Walk W: 7km; total: 115km

After a morning coffee, Wendy set off on her morning ride - the usual route. Because Greg's bike chain had broken yesterday, he could not ride. Instead, he climbed on the roof and grabbed the branches of the tree next door (which were hanging over the roof and dumping leaves in the gutters) and hacked them off. After her ride, Wendy had a quick breakfast then we both headed out on the bus to the Australian War Memorial. We arrived at the City interchange and had about 30 minutes to wait for our connecting bus. As it was well past coffee time, we decided to have a late mornos at Maccas directly adjacent the platform. Well, the ordering and receiving process took longer than anticipated and we had to wait another 25 mins for the next bus. 

The War Memorial is in the process of an enormous upgrade and expansion. Like everything done in Canberra it is all going to be amazing when finished. As we had been to the AWM many times before we concentrated our efforts on the newly opened sections. The Blackhawk helicopter, Australian Light Armoured Vehicle (ASLAV), F-111, and F/A-18A Hornet and the nose cone of a RAAF C130, are the newest members in the memorial's fleet. The Blackhawk chopper, when seen from below, is a very large aircraft; when you are conducting casualty evacs, it doesn't seem so big. We decided to have lunch at the AWM, however, changed our minds when we saw the queue at the cafe. We were fortunate enough to catch a bus about three minutes after exiting the AWM and we were back in the city in no time. We made our way to the Canberra Centre food court and had very delicious fried rice dishes - one with seafood and one with chicken. We did not have to wait long for a bus to Belconnen. We then went to 99 Bikes to get a new chain for Greg's bike, but didn't know the number of links, so we had to continue home. The next bus was not far away.

To avoid having to wait for buses, Greg removed the broken chain, counted the links and Wendy drove him to 99 Bikes. She parked in a parking lot not far from the shop and had to wait about seven minutes and Greg was done. Back home to affix the new chain.

Because we had largeish lunches, we were not feeling like much for dinner, so Wendy had bacon and eggs, and Greg had fruit salad and yoghurt.

Australian War Memorial

ASLAV - Australian Light Armoured Vehicle

Bushmaster - Protected Mobility Vehicle

The Military Police remembrance plaque

A new staircase with lots of what look like glass birds

The new Dome

A rather unflattering view of the front of the F-111 - that is why they called it the flying pig

F/A - 18A Hornet

Nose cone of a RAAF C130 - Hercules

Special Forces gear

Civilian dress for Op Bel-Isi in Bougainville, we both did four-month tours, same lanyard and hat, different uniform

The old faithful Huey

The unfinished section of AWM, which you can view but not enter

CH47-Chinook under wraps

"G" for George under wraps

The Australian War Memorial

Greg took a pic of the bike multi-tool he got from Secret Santa this last Christmas, thanking him/her - the chain breaker worked a treat and will be a welcomed addition to the tool kit on tour