A Weekend Way to The Far Cairn Rally

In 2010 we attended the “Far Cairn Rally” at Tottenham and had a wonderful time.  You can read about it here and here.  We’ve tried to go each year since, even having paid our entry money one year, only to have life work get in the way.

The rally is run by the BMW Touring Club to raise funds and awareness of M.A.R.I. (Motorcycle Accident Rehabilitation Initiative), which arranges specialist medical treatment as well as practical support for motorcycle accident victims.  A wonderful cause that could benefit any of us one day.

This year the planets actually aligned and us and a mate were able to run away on “Snubby” the silver side car and camper trailer. 

The morning started out at minus 3.5 degrees C, but warmed up to a balmy +0.5 degrees C by the time we left home.

The scenery as you head west is always lovely, especially seeing all the canola in flower and some was even finished.  It hasn’t even started to flower in our district.

See how lovely and blue it was.  We didn’t see a cloud all day on Saturday.

Our first stop was for a cuppa in the park at Parkes.

Then we headed through Bogan Gate, where there is even a gate in the park.

And headed north through Trundle’s widest main street in NSW.

We came up to a rather large mob on cattle on the road and the majority of then were looking in fine condition.

Finally we arrived at Tottenham in time for lunch at the local cafe.  Lots of other rally entrants had the same idea.  It was great to see so many bikes in town all supporting the local businesses.

Tottenham is the town closest to the centre of NSW, so an ideal place for a rally.

After we had set up camp we headed further west from the town to the “Far Cairn”, being the actual geographic centre of NSW.

Off the tar and onto the dirt. We met a few other bikes that had the same idea as us.

There was only us and our mate out there, which was nice.

Mick had to climb up on top of the cairn again.

While I looked for wildflowers.  Last time we were here there had been big rains, so there were more flowers, but they were still lovely this time.

Most of the  wattles had finished but there were lots of this yellow bush, which I had thought was a wattle until seeing up close.  I don’t know what it is, but it has a lovely fragrance.

Back at the camp site, which is the local Showground and Racecourse, we had a quick look at some bikes.  We didn’t get to see all that many, but there were a couple of interesting side cars.  Definitely not designed for passengers.

Check out all the rally badges that were attached to this one, and that is only a few of the badges he has.

These panniers sitting on the ground grabbed my attention with all their stickers, including one from the Isle of Man.  Very well travelled.

On closer inspection of the bike, it had Colorado number plates.  Funnily enough, he won the furthest travelled trophy.

We were taken with this older BMW and have decided to take “Olga” the old girl along next time, which will hopefully be next year.

Meanwhile, they were getting ready for the trophy presentations and raffle.  This was held in the daylight, which was a great idea.  The number of people attending the rally had certainly grown since we last attended.

Lots of us sat on a lovely grassy bank.

Later in the evening they ran an outdoor movie and the bank was a great place to watch it from, but the night got rather chilly indeed, so once the movie ended we headed for our camper trailer with our doona and patchwork quilt.

The next morning was lovely, if rather breezy, but that meant that there was no dew on the canvas to dry out.

Once we were packed up and ready to head for home we played the tourist.

We came home a different way, travelling through Narromine, Dubbo, Wellington and Orange.  The scenery continued to be lovely.

Halfway between Orange and Bathurst there is “The Beekeepers Inn”, a cafe and microbrewery.  Well, they just happened to be having their inaugural Handmade Markets.  Of course we called in for a look see.

It was a delightful setting with some lovely things for sale.  One of our friends had a stall selling homemade cakes and savoury scones and the likes.  Some had to come home with us and didn’t last very long.  I do hope there are more of these markets, as they were really worth visiting.

So then it was home to unpack, wash the disgustingly dirty bike and do some loads of washing.  Quite a reality check after a terrific weekend away.