This is my perspective of the 2009 Black Rock Rally & the trip there & back.
First of all, this was billed as a very nice rally (albeit not a HOG organised one), by one of my good friends. The rally has now been held for the 3rd consecutive year at Gonubie, near East London. The organisational centre is at the Gonubie Hotel, which is right on the beach front.
However, let me not get ahead of myself. For me, the rally started in Durban at 5.15am on 30th April, a Thursday morning (a working day given off by my boss if I worked it in). My fiance' and I woke early to pack the Harley & set off in the cold dark morning of what was my Lila's first bike rally (my 7th). The excitement of the impending ride had us wide awake long before we planned. We met another 8 bikes (3 with pillions) at the Durban International Airport garage before setting of in the still cold air at 6.15, for our first stop at Port Shepstone. Another pack of seven riders from our chapter was to be leaving from the Umgababa Ultra City after 7.00 for a slightly faster ride to our destination more than 600 km's further on.
The first stage to Port Sheptstone was relatively uneventful, other than making my poor Lila extremely cold and miserable, wondering why she had wanted to ride 650 kms on the back of a Harley. The Port Shepstone petrol fill-up allowed the opportunity to add more socks, undies, gloves and scarves for some, and this changed the perspective of the trip back into a bit of an adventure again.
