August 12: Kiama Kindness Keeps Us Cruising
Swooping up, down, over, and around one curve after another through thick groves of eucalyptus trees under the bright blue sky making my way south from Kiama, I could not have been happier. Filled with joy as I passed lush green rolling hills filled with hundreds of heads of cattle grazing contentedly in the sun, I burst out singing “The hills are alive.” It felt so darn good to be back on the road with a repaired rear tire thanks to the kindness of the people of Kiama.
After discovering my flat the night before and verifying I couldn’t inflate it with my air compressor, I called Australia’s National Roads and Motorcycle Association (NRMA) to arrange for a tow. The agreement I had with them only covered a tow within Kiama’s city limits, but the town did not have a motorcycle repair shop.
The best I could do was tow Adventure Baby to an auto repair facility that was closed in the hope they might be of assistance the next day. Miraculously, when we arrived, the owner, Noel Killmore, just happened to be on site and agreed to facilitate the repair in the morning with a motorcycle mechanic in another town.
Dealing with the unexpected mechanical issue was rather trying after such a difficult day on the road, but the whole process was made easier due to Noel’s help and the kindness of a retired nurse who was walking her dog nearby when I first discovered the flat.
Rhonda insisted on waiting with me for the tow truck, loading me and my bags in her car to follow it to the repair shop, taking me to pick up snacks and a takeout dinner, and dropping me and my bags off at my hotel. Not only did she pick me up in the morning to return me to the shop, but she insisted we visit the local attraction on our way, a spectacular blow hole that shoots ocean water up to 82 feet in the air. When I hugged her goodbye in the shop parking lot, I felt like I was saying farewell to a new family member.
Noel went above and beyond to get me back on the road in a timely manner. A motorcyclist himself, he personally arranged for the tire to be patched and plugged, giving me as a souvenir the long steel sliver that was embedded in the rubber before reinstalling the wheel himself. Thanks to his care and compassion, I was able to reach my destination in South Pambula before dark.
There I was warmly greeted by Graeme and Katrina Perkins who offered me a home cooked meal, a warm bed for the night, great conversation, and even some mechanical tips. Graeme also theorized that the metal sliver from my tire came from a large semi that recently lost 40 tons of scrap metal just like it on the very section of road I had been on, causing flats to hundreds of cars at the time. Wow!
