It started in the morning, a low rumble that could have been distant thunder. A 747 perhaps.
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But workers across the Wollongong CBD soon realised it wasn’t going away.
It was an entire cavalry of Harley-Davidson owners arriving on their polished steeds for this weekend’s Harley Days festival.
By Friday afternoon there were thousands of bikes at Stuart Park as festivities got underway for Australia’s biggest Harley-Davidson gathering.
Ian Didlick had ridden from Beenleigh in Queensland for the event. He tried to explain a Harley’s unique appeal.
“It’s probably the roughest, most expensive, most ill-handling piece of machinery I’ve ever had – but it’s a Harley-Davidson,” he said.
Jim and Diane Ashman travelled from Gladstone in Queenland for the rally, which doubles as a wedding anniversary since they were married at the Cairns event.
“It’s the feeling and the style,” Jim said.
“No other motorcycle feels like a Harley-Davidson when you ride it. It’s not something you can explain.”
The southern part of the region will roar again on Sunday when the riders go on their Thunder Run, which starts at Flagstaff Hill at 10am on Sunday and travels through Dapto to Albion Park then back via Windang to Wollongong.