Taking two days leave turned Australia Day into a five-day gate pass for Hopper. Heading west in January would likely be too hot. Victoria looked ideal.
A two-and-a-half-hour highway slog on the 890 had me at the meeting place: Pheasant’s Nest service centre, just south of Sydney. Scott was on his faithful 1090 and Bruce on his tricked-up 690, and I set the cruise control for the first hour of highway to Marulan.
Backroads took us to Bungonia and we finally struck dirt at Sandy Creek Road to find the normally sedate causeways deep and flow-ing fast due to the rain. Rather than risking the long crossing of the Shoalhaven River we stayed on Mayfield Road and the Kings Highway to Braidwood bakery for smoko.