Day 4 Gloucester to Putty Rd Grey Gum Cafe
KM 220
BEAR RIDES 18, 31

I left Gloucester quite late as today was a reasonably short ride - just 220 km's south to the Putty Road. I was staying with friends in Sydney on the Friday so had planned a stop somewhere along the way. The 'Putty' is a particularly well known road for Sydney motorcyclists as it is a comfortable one day ride and it is a combination of great corners and straights over about 120 km's. Today was a Friday so there was very little traffic around but on weekends there are literally hundreds of bikes on the road.

The first destination was Singleton as this is at the start of Putty Rd. Heading south I turned right to cut through Dungog and some nice quiet country roads all the way to Singleton. I stopped to refuel as there are no petrol stations until Cola. At the start of the Putty is a great little pub at Bulga called the 'Cockfighter Creek Tavern'. With a name like that you just have to stop and investigate, which I did and I can say the beer tastes just fine !

From Around Australia by Motorcycle 2012

Riding the Putty Rd was excellent. No traffic but be careful there are some tight sections and not a lot of room to spare with rock walls on one side and cliffs on the other. I would say if you are heading to Sydney definitely try this road.

I stopped after about 70 km's at a place called 'The Grey Gum Cafe'. This cafe is all about motorcyclists and has been open about 12 months. They have even built a concrete strip specially for the bikes to park up on. It's a beautiful spot sitting on many acres of gum trees and open grassy areas. They allow bikers to camp there for free and have showers available for a few dollars.

From Around Australia by Motorcycle 2012

It was after 4pm when I got there so I decided to do just that and put up the tent under some trees a couple of hundred meters from the cafe. The kangaroos came out of the bush close to the cafe not long after (a good reason to be off the bike by the way) as the cafe owners feed them.

By 8:30 it was dark and I was in the tent. The bush was alive with noise, possums, roos, sugar gliders, owls and other things I probably didn't want to know about right at that moment.