The door bell rang at 3am and it took a few rings before I could compute what that sound was. My first thought was I slept through my alarm and Ed is standing at my door waiting for me. No, I didn’t sleep through the alarm, it was the police. Apparently a car we recently sold was involved in a police chase. No officer it wasn’t me, and here is the paperwork to prove the transfer of ownership…

This morning I was going for a ride with Ed who is heading to Western Australia to visit his folks as he hasn’t seen them since before Covid. I had set my alarm for 3:45am and was planning to meet Ed on the highway at 4:45am and tag along with him for 500km to Hay where I would peel off and drop down into Victoria and check out some more silo and water tower art to add to my collection before heading home. I packed an overnight bag in case I needed to stop along the way.

It feels like a long time since I’ve done a big day on the bike. So it was nice to be rolling out of Canberra in the darkness with the anticipation of being on the open road all day and just rolling along.

As the sun came up behind us our mirrors were filled with the colours of the sunrise. Overhead the sky was overcast and threatening rain. However other than a small shower that hardly saw my leathers get wet, the rest of the day was glorious.

After bidding Ed farewell at the servo in Hay I head off in discovery of murals. These large murals are painted on silos and water towers depicting Australian wildlife or history of the region. Largely they are about promoting their region and tourism and based on the number of people stopping in and looking at these it seems to be working.

Mural 1 – Hay water towers

Artist – Adnate

A lasting memorial to the contribution of the people of Hay to the World Wars depicting five service personal from Hay, Lieut. Lorna Margaret Whyte, AANS, Pte. Victor George Murray – 8th Division, Cpl. Clifford Leslie Farlow – 8th Division, Pte. William ‘George’ Cannon – 6th Division AIF, and Pte. Norman Charles Flack – 8th Division.

Mural 2 – Deniliquin water tower

Artist – Cam Scale

Mural 3 – Picola Silo

Artist – Jimmy Dvate

Mural 4 – Rochester Silos

Artist – Jimmy Dvate

website

Mural 5 – Colbinabbin Silos

Artist – Tim Bowtell

Covering some of the history of Colbo from the annual farmers picnic that was an annual event for 60 years from 1878, the introduction of the rail service in 1914 for passengers and to support agriculture, their first Country Fire Authority fire truck in 1947 and the construction of the water channel to support the district, and the final silo represents the first tractor full event in the area with 22,000 spectators and “Black Velvet” a jet powered tractor.

Mural 6 – Goorambat Silos

Artist – Jimmy Dvate

Mural 7 – Devenish Silos

Artist – Cam Scale

A “visual tribute to the 50 young men and women of Devenish community who enlisted in military service for the “First World War”, focusing on the role of nurses in service and how that role has evolved over time”

Mural 8 – St James Silos

Artist – Tim Bowtell

The story of GJ Coles and St James and how his father bought his first store in St James in 1882 selling everything from farming to household goods. The later sale of the store to his son was the start of Coles supermarkets.

Mural 9 – Tungamah Silos

Artist – Sobrane

Mural 10 – Yerong Creek water tower

Artist – Heesco

Telling the story of the Wiradjuri land and their proud indigenous history as well as their military, agriculture, sporting, transport, and education history.

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Yerong Creek was my last mural for the day as it was now 7:30pm and I was running out of light. Since leaving home I had covered 1,200km and about 300km before getting home. So after filling the bike up for the last time in Wagga and having something to eat I hit the road for the last push up the freeway and navigating my way passed all the trucks on the road before rolling into home at just after 11pm and a total of 1,485km for the day.