Saturday 12th February 2011 – God, I’m exhausted. I’ve just spent the last 3 days with Glenn & Emilia and the Northern Beaches Social Riders. This is the motorcycle club that Glenn runs, but it’s not just any old motorcycle club, they also raise money for charity, tonnes of it – so far they have raised AU$300,000. They do this through a combination of raffles, events and people paying to be pillion passengers on their rides. Thursday night was raffle night at the pub, then yesterday, they had a big ride through the streets of Sydney. The main instruction I was given was “Ride in staggered formation and keep as close as possible to the person in front.” Easier said than done I have to say! Now keeping in mind that most of the riding I’ve done over the last 6 months has been in pretty remote areas where you can go for miles before you see another vehicle, having to ride at a distance of approximately 10 feet from the bike in front, came as something of a challenge to me. Add to that the fact that I had absolutely no idea where we were going and was surrounded by enormous Harley Davidsons, and you have all the makings of some truly appalling riding from yours truly. Arriving at Harry’s Pie Shop (a local Sydney institution) at Woollamolloo, I was, once again, a jibbering wreck. After pouring out my terror to anyone who would listen it seemed to clear my nerves a bit and on the way back I got it together and did a much better job of keeping tight with the other riders and actually found I really enjoyed myself.

Glenn & Emilia, John and the rest of the NBSR are a fabulous group of people and my heartfelt thanks go out to everyone who chatted to me and made me feel so welcome. And special thanks go out to Glenn and Emilia who welcomed me into their home, barely knowing me, and showed me some of the local sights of the area. I am truly grateful.

I also got a chance to take a ride out to Palm Beach (aka “Summer Bay”), where “Home & Away” is filmed and saw a few of the key landmarks used in the series.

Now I’m back at the Northern Beaches YHA and feeling a mixture of deep gratitude and nervous exhaustion. Although it was lovely meeting everyone at the NSBR I do find meeting lots of new people quite nerve-racking so its nice to be able to spend a bit of time alone again.

I’ll stay here till Tuesday or Wednesday then make my way down to Bateman’s Bay where I’ll see my dear old friends Rod & Kim.