I would like to make a suggestion to the membership who have followed this thread.

As we approach the first anniversary of the passing of our good friend Rosskko, I am personally looking forward to the opportunity next weekend at Bathurst to gather with friends and celebrate the life of Rosskko and the contribution he made to this forum and my life. Maybe its the Irish in me, but I would like to make the distinction between that celebration and the grief we all felt at the time of his passing.

To that end I would like to do our reporting of this upcoming gathering and future remembrances of the man, I'm sure there will be many, in the other thread on this forum called "Let Rosskko ride with you" and close this thread to further posts, but leave it as a sticky where it is currently located for members to be able to refer to in the future.

Maybe the "Let Rosskko ride with you" thread could become a sticky as well in the Australian Rides and Meetings section.

Thanks for your consideration.

here,here.....

Great idea Gaz.

Very thoughtful, great idea Gaz.

Just this time a year ago I opened the post to read that Rosskko had passed from us.

We had been hoping for a visit from him in 2016 and were really looking forward to showing him a few places that are nice to us here and that we would enjoy his company at. I rather think that now he is out here somewhere with the leprechauns around him enjoying himself looking down at us worrying about spline lubes and crappy rear seals and unbalance butterflies and throttle bodies as we debate what oil to use and what tyres to ride on.

With interest we see that Indian036 as in Bill will be coming here next month and will be visiting some of those places.

Its just nice sometimes to think of those who continue to make our lives a little more colourful and worthwhile.

Early Friday morning I cleaned and packed Sweet Thing for the trip up to Mount Panorama. Met Ed at Richmond Macca's for a coffee and Toastie and we headed over the Blue Mountains via Bells Line. It was a bit crisp in the morning but a sunny day made for a very pleasant ride.

The view from Kurrajong Heights looking East towards Sydney, which you can see on a clear day.

Detoured at Lithgow for a run into Bathurst via Tarana and O'Connell.

A short wait on the Mount and we're joined by Waz and a little later the Krew heading down from the North. After some discussion about the possibility of being evicted by the Park Ranger if we camped on the Mount, we all decided to head to a local pub where the Grabau's had already made a booking.

Gaz, Rickmeister and Tom discussing the day's run over a few ales.
A few beers and some pub grub and we retired. After a surprise turn-out by Tackler who made a marathon run from Brisbane to Bathurst, we had 6 in the bunk room while the Grabau's had their own room. Thankfully I didn't hear any snoring thru the night.

Woke in the morning to fog and a light frost.
Breakfast at Macca's and we head off back to the Mount which is less than a 10 min ride from the city centre.

Everyone assembled at the top of Mount Panorama.

Ainsjac, Tackler, Rickmeister and Klompy.

Smithy, Waz, Tom Grabau and Gaz.

Klompy, Ainsjac, Tackler, Ed and Richmeister.

AL-58, Waz, Klompy, Tom and RickG.

Rosskko's plaque organised by Waz.

A top view from the top of Mount Panorama looking East over the Bathurst Plains towards the Blue Mountains.

The Krew

Unfortunately, Richmeister couldn't make it over the barbed wire fence due to his ankle, He's in the background of the group photo above.

Spirits were quite high

A toast to our mate.

Great turn out guys &  great photos Nigel of some familiar faces- a poignant reminder of friendship that stretches easily across the miles.

Disappointed that you haven't made much of a dent in that Nadurra though...or is that the second bottle?

Well I have to say Paul that had those bottles been broken out the evening before I think they would've been well appreciated and polished off in short time. It was 10 in the morning and all of us had quite a few klms to go that day. Most of us just had a taste. Some had two.... . The honey bourbon was very nice also (nice thought Packo, cheers mate).

It was while we were sipping the whiskeys after we laid the plaque that talk turned to the comradeship and we all agreed that it was great how Rosskko had brought us all together for a great weekend. A few beers, good food and a lot of laughs the night before and a beautiful morning on top of the mount remembering Rosskko finished off with a spirited blat back over the mountains with Klompy on my way home. Couldn't have asked for a better couple of days.

Well done, Krew.

A fitting tribute. 

Bill

That was a great read really glad you all had such a good time of it.
Hope RossKKo's girls get to hear of it.

I was asked to check up on Rossko after the foul weather we've been having here the last few weeks. As you can see there's been no damage. I cleaned up a little and pulled some weeds that were spoiling his view, then we had a chat about Holden winning the bloody race again. It's all good, can't imagine a better place to be.

Thanks Al for checking up on him for us all.

And how did Chez Pennykid survive the deluge, all good I hope.

Cheers