Tag Ride

OK so on FarRiders there is a game of FarRider Tag going on… basically a photo of someone’s bike is posted at a certain location (eg. outside a pub or other easily identifiable landmark). Then you ride to that location, take a photo of your bike at the same spot to become it. I like this game!

I had my work xmas party on Friday night so had written Saturday off as hangover day. Obviously I didn’t indulge in the free booze enough as I woke up at 8am feeling pretty good. I got up for a minute, saw that it was very sunny, and hopped back into bed for a snooze because I could! That didn’t last long, I was bored after about two minutes and started to think I might like to go for a ride. I thought about going down the coast but thought that traffic would be pretty heavy so it would be very annoying. Then I thought about how I had the whole weekend free, I could go play TAG! Yeah!! hang on, dinner plans for that night. Hmmm where is the TAG anyway? A quick check showed me it was at the Taronga Zoo. Sydney is doable. I had a closer look and realised it was Taronga Western Plains Zoo so Dubbo not Sydney. Even better! So I got up and had a coffee to see how I felt and I felt FINE so I geared up and hit the road about 8:30am.

It was a pretty uneventful trip on roads that I am very familiar with. Barton Highway to the Hume Highway and then a right hand turn onto Lachlan Valley Way to Boorowa for my first stop (they are slowly fixing up that road but it is still very bumpy in places). Had a quick wee/smoke break at Boorowa then onto Cowra for fuel and a pie for breakfast. Then onto Canowindra, Molong and then I stopped at a rest area between Molong and Wellington for a smoke/rest-the-arse break before pulling into Dubbo where I quickly grabbed fuel and a drink and headed out to the Zoo.

I found the sign, parked the pig underneath, snap and my picture was done. Now to get home and get it posted.

The pig at dubbo

I hate backtracking on rides so I continued on down the Newell Highway through Peak Hill, Parkes and then Forbes where I again filled up and grabbed a packet of chips, intending to stop at the park to eat it… ooops there isn’t a rest area where I thought there was so continued on, turned off for Grenfell and then pulled into the first rest area I came to, ate my chippies and enjoyed the serenity :o)

My arse was getting really sore by this stage, so decided that I would stop as often as I needed to, and not worry about being “soft” lol. Rolled through Grenfell and then through Young. I took a wrong turn in Young and ended up riding around residential streets for a while before finally coming back into the main street somehow and now in familliar territory I continued on. I quickly caught up to three boys on bikes who were a bit slow but I eventually got around them all. After I passed the leader I looked back and he was keeping up, yay someone to play with I thought but no, I had to almost immediately turn left at Wombat and they went straight on. Oh well. Stopped in Wombat for another drink/smoke/rest-the-arse break before continuing on through Harden and Binalong and into Yass to top up the fuel again and rest a bit before heading back down the Barton to home and getting in about 6:50pm(?).

Straight on the computer, phew nobody else has tagged the zoo yet so I quickly upload my photo and post up the new location outside the backpackers at Port Campbell :o)

811km not bad for a day trip and damn I was sore afterwards! Next time I will be more aware to make the correct underwear choice 

Port Campbell Trip December 2008

Friday dawned bright and sunny…. in my dreams.  In reality it was bucketing down at home.  Bugger.  I had (for once!) packed the night before so just had to decide what to wear… leather pants and summer jacket with one piece wet weather suit?  Leather pants and winter (waterproof) jacket with plastic pants over the top?  Then I found my old Ixon textile pants… great team them up with the winter jacket and I should be good to go…

Saddled up and got underway… by the time I got to Hume my pants were soaked through… that’s right, the Ixon pants only pretend to be waterproof.  Bugger.  Filled up and settled in to wait for Stevo… he turned up eventually and we discussed our route for the day, the original plan had been to go down through the snowies but with the weather we decided no.  Stevo suggested a (wet) slab down the Hume and then I remember the Cann River Road so we set off for Cooma, then Bombala. 

Meet point at Hume

By Bombala my first pair of gloves were soaked through and my fingers were freezing!  Stopped at the servo, filled up then inside for coffee and a hot pie (damn Mrs Mac’s pies are good!). 

Soon enough we were underway again and the rain finally stopped!  Hurrah!  Got gloves #2 on (super thick and bulky) so had nice toasty hands for the next bit.  Had a great run down to Cann River, had a nice rythym going through those bends.  Pulled into Bruthen for fuel and then to the cafe next door for a burger for lunch (yum!).

The Pig at Bruthen

Continuing on down the A1, we got a little bit of rain every now and then but for the most part it was dry.  Stopped at Rosedale for a bit of a rest and a snacky :o)

Swapped for the summer gloves here because it was HOT!  Sure enough, come Traralgon it started raining again so Stevo pulled over to put on the wets again and off we went.  By the time we got to Warragul (our next refuel stop) I was soaked through again and had had enough, so we went to the first pub (which the servo dude had recommended) and got a room for the night… expensive but it had an ensuite.  Don’t know that I would recommend it to anyone.  It rained all through the night (had an awful sleep, broken gutter outside made it very noisy) and awoke to the rain still beating down. Great.

Stevo texted Mitch and made out like we were just gonna turn tail and run home LOL.

We saddled up and were on our way, damn it was wet, so much spray off the road. It was just freeway all the way to Geelong… some 200km of it, so off we went. Got to Geelong, found the BP servo, filled up and it was coffee and pie time again for warming up :o). Eventually realised we were at the wrong BP servo so five minutes back on the road and we found Mitch and Mullet Boy at the servo. Eventually everyone else rolled in, given the weather only three people didn’t show up (well Ree and Louise turned up the in car) one had brake problems and I don’t know what happened to the other two. Soft? Smart? LOL.

I had decided that there was no way I was going to tackle the great ocean road in these conditions and it turned out Mitch shared the same sentiments, so we all took off up the road to Colac where we were having lunch (a whole 76km LOL). Here the wind picked up and was very scary at first but once I got the feel for it a bit it was cool, I was plodding along behind Holster and Mallaby(I think??). Stopped at Colac and took my boots off to let them drain out a bit (yeah they’re supposed to be waterproof too). After everybody had eaten it was off towards Lavers Hill… there was a lot of crap all over the road and it was still raining but I actually really enjoyed this section, just stuck behind Holster again as she was setting a reasonable pace (and the Z750 reminded me a little Jimmy.. *sob*). As we neared Lavers Hill we encountered fog… Could see Holster’s tail light, whoever was in front of her was just a black outline and the car in front of him was near invisible. Stopped at Lavers Hill for a quick smoke/regroup then the final 49km into Port Campbell. There were a few trees down on the road which was interesting in the fog but we all arrived safely in the end (even though Flipper and I couldn’t find the backpackers for a while lol).

Finally into some dry clothes at the backpackers, yay! A quick trip to the shops and then the bar was opened… we polished off a fair amount of bourbon in a very short time before going to dinner (hazy) and then on to the pub (even hazier). I made it back to bed at the very soft hour of 10pm LOL.

Across the road Sunday morning

Sunday morning dawned grey again… but it wasn’t raining! Hangovers abounded but my early night saw me feeling only slight shabby (for once!). Packed up and left everyone there, Stevo, Mitch and I filling up and getting underway. A short way up the road we waved goodbye to Mitch and then Stevo pulled over - he’d left his phone behind! It was 16km to the next town, he’d had breakfast and I hadn’t so I said I’d meet him at Cobden. I went to the bakery and had a very nice pie and then some cheesecake and by the time I was having my afterfeed smoke Stevo turned up. A quick picture and we were off again.

Didn’t get any real rain from here on, headed through Ballarat which was pretty cool, I’d never been there before and it was a lot bigger than I had expected. Stopped at maccas for quick cheeseburger and it was the strangest maccas I have ever seen…

Continued on to Daylesford and Woodend… it was so green through some of these sections.

On to Yea and Bonnie Doon and Mansfield before hitting the Mansfield-Tolmie-Whitfield road which was also covered in crap but at Mel Pace it was quite enjoyable :o) Pulled up at the pub in Whitfield (which we had to ask directions for LOL) and got a room for the night… even more expensive, $100!!!!!!!! It was more like a motel room than a pub room though so I guess that’s okay.

Dinner at the pub was good… steak and mashed potatoes… and gravy, lots of gravy :o) A couple of games of pool and it was off to bed… Stevo had the telly on for a while, there was an interesting thingy on the building of the transcontinental railway in the US but I kept falling asleep and I couldn’t see the telly properly from my bed anyway.

Monday morning dawned bright and sunny - FOR REAL!!!!!!!!! it was cold when I went out for my first smoke break but it quickly warmed up. We were on the road by about 8:15am (I think) and were quickly in myrtleford where we stopped for fuel and a smoke break. Then up through Happy Valley, I really enjoyed this stretch, it’s nice coming around the hills there and I think I finally edged my rear tyre! Onto the Keiwa Valley Highway for a short stretch then onto the Redbank Road… had to pull up very quickly when we came over a rise and at the bottom of the hill was a big herd of cows. We made our way through (the dog really didn’t like the pig, it ignored the cattle and came for me! eeek) then into Tallangatta where we swapped bikes for the stretch into Corryong.

The FZ1 was very different from the SP2 (duh). I felt like a princess on my throne, I was so upright! the seat was very soft and it took me a while to get used to the handle bars position. It was quite nice to ride but in the end I didn’t really like it, I think it was the handlebar position that I didn’t like. I also didn’t really like the shorty levers but that’s just a personal thing, it was good to try them, now I know I don’t like them and won’t ever get them (like I ever have enough spare money after fuel and booze for extras for the bike LOL).

Lunch in Corryong, once again no food at the Courthouse Hotel :o( But the milk bar across the road does a mean chicken schnitzel burger, which saw me overfull and wishing for a snooze!

Got back on the SP2 (it really is a ridiculous bike… but oh so much fun) then up into the Snowies.

I had never been able to pick Jonno Corner coming from Kiandra end but I knew exactly where it was coming from Corryong end. Stevo had slowed down to wait for me there and then we continued down the hill and stopped at our usual spot at Tumut Ponds so I could have a smoke break :o).

The Pig at Tumut Ponds

Continued on, getting near Cabramurra there is a sign… “detour ahead” … eventually come to the detour, up a dirt track. Grrr. at least it’s not raining! It started off good, good hard packed dirt but then came the really loose gravel… for the first time ever I felt okay about the front wheel sliding around… from then it was a mixture of everything, in places there was hard rock sticking up and then there was little streams coming across the road (yay, mud :S) and loose dirt where the grader had been working. I managed to stall it at one point.. .oops. Eventually we got back onto Tar in a huge car park… confirmed we were now at Mt Selwyn. It was only 8km but it felt a lot longer but it was an adventure, I’ve never seen that corner of Australia before and there is a good chance I never will again :o) I declared a smoke break and then we were underway again.

The yellow lined section between Kiandra and Adaminaby was again divine. Into Adaminaby for a last smoke break before heading back to Canberra and straight into Coffee :o)

Was an interesting weekend and looking back on it I really enjoyed it, even if I was cold and wet and miserable most of the time :o)

TAG ride

Or Ricecooker's Tour of Public Toilets  

I've been following the TAG thread and really liked the idea of it... the Nindigully Pub photo went up, I googled where it was and thought hey, sounds like a good ride!  I decided that I'd keep watching the thread and if nobody had tagged it by Friday off I'd go...

Thursday night and it was still untagged so I cleaned and prepped the bike and packed my bag... went to bed about 10:30pm but couldn't sleep... I was too excited!  

Friday I checked the weather forecasts, I might get a bit wet but it appeared that the floods were further east so I decided to go ahead.  Finished work, went to the Melba servo and filled up and was on my way at 4:30pm.  I had decided to head for Dubbo and probably stay overnight there, depending on how I was feeling.  

I headed up the Barton Highway then a short stint on the Hume before turning off for Boorowa where I stopped for a little break.

Rest area at Boorowa:


Then onto Cowra for fuel

 

then through Canowindra and onto Molong where I swapped for the clear visor, before heading through Wellington and into Dubbo.  I got into Dubbo about 8:50pm.  I was hungry and had a mad craving so stopped for dinner.



Got some fuel and continued on my way.  Just out of Dubbo it started raining lightly... grrr.  I pushed on and stopped in Gilgandra to wriggle into the wet weather suit (I have one of those one piece ones).  The temperature was really nice so I was a little hot in the plastics but there was a fair bit of lightning ahead and I'm glad I did as there was a lot of water over the road (and I spent a lot of time behind trucks) and also heaps of rain.  

I got into Coonabarabran about 11:20pm and fuelled up.  I felt okay, and I thought I might push on for Moree but a little part of my mind told me I was crazy to be out riding at night in the rain and possibly storms (there was still lightning flickering about) so instead I found a motel (The Poplars - apparently the only one in Coonabarabran with a night bell) where the staff were very friendly and $65.00 later I had myself a motel room.  I was still too excited to sleep, didn't end up getting to sleep til about 1:00am. 

I decided to have a bit of a sleep in so set the alarm for 6am and was on the road by 7am.  Before long the sun was shining, the road was rolling away beneath me... awesome.  I passed through Narribri and stopped at a rest area somewhere before Moree for a smoke break then into Moree for fuel.  After Moree I was into new territory (I could have gone up through Mungindi but that was the way I came home from my "big trip" so I decided to go a different way).

I stopped at another rest area for a smoke break and oh no!!!! my mohawk has started to come unstuck!   so I pulled it off and packed it away... I felt naked without it  

Onto Goondiwindi to top up the fuel and have a sandwich.  Hurrah, I'm in QLD!  It was getting very warm by this stage  

Public toilets at Goondiwindi Tourist Area:


Then onto the Barwon Highway - I stopped at Talwood??? for a bit of a break... 



Then onto Nindigully!



Bit of a problem here - I walked into the bar, ordered a can of coke and I couldn't undo my jacket!!!!! I managed to wriggle my wallet out from inside my jacket then went outside to try and fix it but nope, it wouldn't budge!  Was really hot now so figured best to just keep moving.  Into St George to fill up then headed off towards Hebel and Lightning Ridge for my return trip.  

There were *heaps* of harvesters out on the road - and they take up the whole road!  I passed about five before I got to Hebel.  They are pretty cool, soooo big!  (but not as cool as road trains, which I saw quite a few of too... was very glad to see them again  )

I stopped at Hebel for a break... it had become very, very windy and I was copping quite a beating.  I had a pie at the General Store



Then topped up the fuel again before setting off for Lightning Ridge.  

Lightning Ridge was somewhere I had always wanted to see but I was much later than I had initially thought I'd be getting there so I just had a quick ride around town, stopped for a quick photo (a post office this time!), topped up the fuel and kept on going.



I had thought Walgett was about 200km away but it was only 70km so I rolled through and then stopped at a rest area somewhere between Walgett and Coonamble.  I like this "night toilet" set up - a set of mirrors to reflect your headlights through the skylights on the toilet!



Stopped in at Coonamble for fuel and to get something to eat.. also swapped the visor and put the wets back on... it was getting cold and not being able to undo my jacket meant that I couldn't put a jumper on and I was freezing!  The wets helped but I was still cold.  Saw a few bunnies and one fox between Coonamble and Gilgandra where I stopped for a hot chocolate to warm up again!  It was about 9pm by this stage and I was feeling pretty good, though cold.  I thought that I would head to Forbes and reassess there whether I'd stop for the night or ride on though to home.  

Just after I left Gilgandra it started to rain... where did that come from?? I had been admiring the stars coming into Gilgandra.  Then the wind picked up and it was cold and wet and I was being blown around everywhere so I got into Dubbo, got fuel then went and found me a motel, that was about 10:30pm.  Managed to get the jacket undone enough so that I could get my head through the neck hole then wriggled out of it so I didn't have to sleep in it.  

I didn't set my alarm and slept until 9am!  Ooops.  So it was a late start... lucky I'm not on any time limits!  I set off from Dubbo and it promptly started raining on me... it was cold so I had the wets on anyway.  I rode through to Forbes where I stopped at the Caltex Truckstop where $14.95 got me "Pom's Big Breakfast and Coffee".  The breakfast was so huge the toast had to come on a separate plate because there was no room for it on the first plate!  4 sausages, two eggs, two hash browns, bacon and baked beans... yum!  With a full belly I felt better so hopped on and headed for Grenfell then Young, I was keeping an eye out for places to make the next TAG location if I had got it (I don't know why but decided it would have to have the new bike in it, and I didn't really have any photos of the new bike anywhere!) so I stopped a few times for piccies and just for.



A quick break at Yass for fuel and smoke then it was onto home where it promptly started raining once I walked in the door   

Tottenham FarRide/Far Cairn Rally/SS1600

I did it as part of FarRide #8 as well - this was over the weekend of 12 - 14 September - and the FarRide lunch meet was at Tottenham NSW and it was the same weekend as the Far Cairn Rally organised by the NSW BMW touring club, raising funds for MARI. It was a great weekend!

-----------------------------------------------------

I only decided on Wednesday last week that I would be attending the Farride... was trying to decide what route I would take as Tottenham is only some 400km from home... decided that I would have a go at the SS1600 so I devised a route that according to Google Maps would be 1655km in total. 

Friday morning I was up about 7am - I relaxed for a bit, packed up all my stuff, loaded the bike and still had hours to go... I had my sister who I live with do my start witness form and I set off for the servo at long last... I was aiming for midday but my fuel receipt is 11:50am... I am a little impatient 

I slabbed it up the Federal to Goulburn where I filled up and head off towards Taralga. Just out of Taralga I found a 4WD being tailed by Constable Care so the pace was a little slower then... eventually, just before the descent down to the Abercrombie River crossing, Constable Care overtook the 4WD and then the 4WD waved me past but I kept to the limit as I knew he was up ahead somewhere... passed a copper on a bike coming the other way in the twisties - he was going hard!! Got flashed by a few cars coming the other way so kept the pace nice and easy and was feeling a bit sore by the time I got to Black Springs so I pulled up and had a quick smoke before rolling through Oberon and onto Lithgow for fuel. I was now 1/2 an hour behind schedule. 

I left Lithgow and headed over Bells Line of Road where I had a fairly ordinary run - a fair amount of traffic and I got stuck behind a caravan for a bit... eventually got around and cruised along then made my way to the Putty Road. Just before the start of the 10 mile, I was stuck behind two cars and was looking for a place to overtake them but it was getting a bit darkish and my visor was very bug-splattered so instead I found somewhere to pull over and swap for the clear visor. No other cars came past while I was doing that so I hopped back on knowing the road ahead was clear... yay! All too soon I caught up to the two cars again and got around them fairly quickly before rolling into Singleton - the bugs were out in force, it looked like rain where my headlights caught them. I stopped in Singleton for fuel and had a quick sandwich and cleaned the visor before heading off towards Tamworth. I was now 1 hour behind schedule (I'm not as quick as I thought! ) 

It was a very sedate run up to Willow Tree, with the memory of the ticket I got last time I travelled that section of the New England fresh in my head, and also there are a lot of towns through there. After Willow Tree I picked the pace up a bit - I really enjoyed this stretch, it was quite a pleasant temperature and I love being out on the road at night, it is so peaceful. The road was just rolling by... eventually I got into Tamworth and pulled up for fuel - I was a bit cold now so had a (terrible) coffee to warm up a bit and then continued north - Glen Innis next stop. I was now 1.5 hours behind schedule... oops. 

A close encounter with the arthritic suicide bunny was a bit of a worry but other than the temperature varying about 10 degrees I swear it was a good run into Glen Innis. Fuel and I added my flanno to the collection of clothing I was already wearing and a bit of a chat with a local who warned me of the deer, roos and pigs on the Gwydir highway... I set off towards Moree very cautiously... but eventually the pace picked up. A few close calls along here, a bunch of roos on the road (one hopping right in front of me... yes my brakes work!) and a very smart bunny who did an about face as soon as I hit the brakes and a suicide hare(!). I still felt good along this stretch and only started feeling tired about 50km out of Moree (I have found this before, even on much shorter rides, when the destination is near I get tired?!). Got into the motel at 1:30am, still 1.5 hours behind schedule. Not too bad really, given that it was a real last minute plan! Sent the obligatory text messages home and crawled into bed. 

Alarm was set for 5am and I heard Rob and Charlie leave about 5:30am(?) so thought I had best get a move on too... packed up, and moved out, fuel receipt is for 6:03am. I wasn't sure if Davo had been through or not yet so I kept an eye on my mirrors... got into Coonabarabran and found Rob and Charlie at the servo there... filled up, smoke, gogo juice and a bit of a chat and we all headed off together. Passed Davo having a chat with Constable Care along the way and stopped at Gilgandra, Charlie was calling home so Rob and I decided it was a good excuse for a smoke break (I can't recall exactly what time it was, but I had been making really good time). Davo came passed and said *something* to Rob... suddenly the pace increased somewhat...

We had a good run through to Warren where we stopped for fuel and a bit of a chat - Rob asked how I was going for mileage and time etc and all was going well - I think I had something like 1 hour and 50 minutes to do the 80 odd kays to Tottenham. It was an extended stop and we got going - at Nevertire Rob's GPS was trying to send him left but Charlie and I voted to go straight - I don't think GPS recognised this road (I know Google Maps didn't!) and we got into Tottenham. I calculated how much kays I had actually done according to the Odometer and it was only 1618???????? According to Google Maps I should have done around 1650... I still had a bit of time so upon Rob's suggestion I headed for the next town, Albert, some 24km away. 

I passed a lot of riders coming the other way, it was great to see all the bikes out on the road. I got to the pub at Albert and bought a stubby holder to get a receipt (its a really pretty pink one!). I felt a bit bad as there were two blokes in the pub who were really keen to talk about the bike and stuff - and usually I'm all up for standing around talking about my bike! But I had to get away and I felt a bit rude Back into Tottenham, having taken my odo up to 1660km total and got there 11:42(?) ish. Everyone wanted to congratulate me and I had Davo sign my form then he was shouting at me GOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! cuz I kept talking to everyone. Eventually got into the pub and got my receipt - the first one he printed out, the time was fast!!!!!!!! but then the eftpos machine had the correct time (11:49 - phew!) 

Lunch was great! I hadn't eaten yet that day and was starving but two plates of chinese later I was well sated... purchased some supplies and it was off to the rally. I got the award for longest distance ridden by a female... yay!!!!! I was really chuffed about that. Also ran into a dude I met at Barkly Homestead on my trip in August which was cool! I was pretty tired but felt okay mostly. Had a little nanna nap around 5pm(?) for about 20 minutes then went to bed about 9:30pm, only to be woken up by one hell of a storm about 1am. Very impressive - I crawled out of the tent, found a squashed can to put under the side stand on Jimmy then had a smoke and just watched all the action... amazing. After it let up a bit crawled back into the tent only to find it had sprung a leak and was dripping onto my head... grrrr... jumper over my head fixed that and I woke up to everyone talking around me and Skip calling me to breakfast... yum! 

Headed off about ummm 7:30? 8:00am? I can't remember Skip was heading back to Orbost and was heading via Canberra so we consulted the maps and decided to head back going Forbes, Grenfell, Young, Harden, Yass etc. We stopped at Forbes for fuel then figured I could make it to Yass on that tank so headed off... it started raining a bit before Young so we pulled up in Young so I could wriggle into the plastic pants. It was dry after that for the run into Yass. Got fuel, had a quick pie, and was watching the black clouds heading our way... seemed a good time to get going but as we headed for Canberra it hit us and rained pretty much all the way - it was very wet coming in to the ACT. Waved goodbye to Skip and got home dripping wet on the outside and only a bit on the inside...jacket failed me on the zip though and let a bit of water in and boots leaked a bit but otherwise was dry Got home about 1pm I think (I didn't actually look at the time). Got out of the wet gear and promptly curled up with my book until falling fast asleep for a few hours . 

All in all it was a fantastic weekend and I am very glad that I chose to do the FarRide in the end! Was great to see everyone and I am so pleased that I made my SS1600 - thanks to everyone for round of applause, it was fantastic! 

 

Border Run and the Long Way Home

Well as some of you know I just got back on Friday from a bit of an adventure... and here is my ride report - it's a bit of a novel I'm sorry  


Day 1 - Canberra to Broken Hill 


Having done a bit of a rushed pack job the night before, I was a bit behind the estimate 6:30am departure time - my fuel receipt says 6:46am. Jimmy was loaded the night before so all that I had to do in the morning was make sure I had my wallet etc. then get on the road. It was a chilly -2 when I left and the sun wasn’t quite up yet. I set off up the Barton Highway and the sun cleared the hills around Murrumbateman. It was cold!! First stop was to be Wagga for fuel but I got to Gundagai and needed the toilet so stopped and hung out under the hand dryer for a while before having a smoke and continuing on. Got to Wagga, fuel and a smoke and continued on to Narrandera before another top up of the fuel and smoke and on my way again. I was in new territory after the turn for Lockhart so the adventure had really begun. Filled up again at Hay and then tackled the Hay Plains - it is empty out there! I got rained on a little bit but could see the weather I was approaching so was appropriately attired. 

Stopped at Balranald for fuel and the take away was inside the servo so a quick toasted ham and cheese sandwich and I was on my way again. The plan had been to stop at Mildura for fuel, but I got to a roundabout which said Broken Hill straight ahead so I turned for Mildura, crossed the Victorian border then at the first roundabout turned around and came back. Stopped at Wentworth for fuel and yet another smoke, while I was smoking two young kids questioned me intensively about the bike and where I was going etc. The younger of the two asked me where I was staying for the night and I told him when it got dark I would put up my tent and that was it - he looks at me and says quietly “what if you see something bad?” - poor kid. The kids had to run away as their rather fierce looking mothers came along so I kitted up and was underway again - not far to Broken Hill now. Stopped at the Coombah Roadhouse to top up the fuel, though I think I probably would have made it through to Broken Hill… they had bio petrol or something?? Not sure what that was about so didn’t fill right up and continued on, arriving at the “welcome to Broken Hill” sign with plenty of daylight to spare - told ya I could do it Gos! :P lol. 

Pulled up at the first pub I came across and noted that it was surrounded by black lights - I don’t know if it was some decorative feature peculiar to Broken Hill - but to me black lights = druggies so I decided to try my luck elsewhere. There are a lot of pubs in Broken Hill! I finally saw one bearing a Ulysses symbol so thought that one would do - $35.00 for a single room seemed reasonable to me so I paid my money and found a nice little hidey-hole for Jimmy and settled in for the night. 

I figured I had earned a bourbon after the days efforts - so one can of Jimmy and a kid’s fish and chips was called for. I had an early night - finding a pile of trashy mags and heading to bed about 8:30pm for a catch up on the gossip mags (never mind they were from last year). 


Day 2 - Broken Hill to Streaky Bay 


The time difference caught me out a bit this morning - I woke up at about 6:30, went outside and it was still pitch black and raining! So I stuffed around having showers and breakfast etc and before I knew it morning had arrived and I had meant to be on the road somewhat earlier. Nevermind, I set off, fuelled up and was on the road - heading for Port Augusta. It was quite a nice temperature in Broken Hill but it steadily got colder as the rain let up and the sky cleared - and the wind picked up! I had to stop at Mannahill just to get off the bike, I was copping such a beating from the crosswinds that my neck was hurting pretty bad. 

 Onto Yunta for fuel - the fuel light came on after only 193km! My first real experience with poor fuel consumption due to highish speeds combined with some headwinds. As I was in paying for my fuel another bike pulled in, I said gidday as you do and he asked if I was a Farrider - why yes, I am! Was Shane on his V-strom so we decided to ride together for the next stretch down to Port Augusta - with an extra fuel top-up at Peterborough just to be safe! 

Got into Peterborough and had a message from Alli - she had missed the ferry and would see me in Port Augusta - 20 minutes before I got the message! I was running heaps behind schedule. Headed for Port Augusta and saw the first set of twisties so far - and caught up to a car just at the start! Noooo! Ah well, what can you do, so Shane and I followed the car through the twisties and overtook it out the other end - the ocean was in sight! Stopped at the Mobil in Port Augusta filled up, had a message from Alli saying she’d meet me in Whyalla for lunch so I tried calling her, she didn’t answer but called straight back - she was about halfway to Whyalla and had pulled over to don the wet weather gear. We arranged to meet at the first servo where ever that might be in Whyalla. Eventually I arrived and we headed over the road to some club for lunch where I had my first ever beef schnitzel - yum! Eventually we got back on the road - with the weather and how late I was running I decided to scrap the plan of a second 1000km+ day and just make our way directly to Streaky Bay - as it was it was already after dark when we got there! 

Alli had a cousin (Jacqui) who lives there so Jacqui arranged to pick Alli up from the pub where we were staying and I was going to have a quiet dinner before heading to bed for an early night. When Jacqui arrived she was greeted by a local “Wacky Jacqui!”. So Alli, Jacqui and I ended up having a few drinks with them - Neil cracked a couple of bottles of champagne and by the time Alli and Jacqui left to go have dinner I was well lubricated (and the kitchen had shut lol). I went inside to go find the ladies and was hailed by a fellow (I had my “bikie chic” jumper on) asking if I was on the border run - indeed I am and the fellow was Skip - also doing a farride! So I got another drink and sat down with Skip to drink and talk shit, as you do :) We took over the jukebox and were having a lot of fun - eventually Alli came back, she went straight to the room expecting me to be tucked up in bed, she knocked and knocked and no answer, she came back down to the bar and found a somewhat intoxicated me with my new mate Skip. We drank more bourbon and played (what I recall to be a very poor, at least on my part!) game of pool before eventually the bar staff advised us they were closing and there was no more bourbon to be had for us that night. Devastating at the time but I was very grateful for that the next morning. 


Day 3 - Streaky Bay to Border Village 

Saturday morning dawned bright and fair, as mornings tend to do when you have indulged a bit the night before. Alli and I eventually got moving - showers all round and I investigated breakfast that the pub was providing before we finally got underway - it was quite late! 


We headed up to Ceduna for a wee/smoke break before heading onto Penong for fuel where a sign cheerfully advised us it was the last shop for 1000km!  We stopped here for bacon and egg rolls and Alli had a bit of a snooze while I wondered around a bit - found this road train with the fangs on the front :) very cool. When Alli woke up I dragged her over to see the road train and we got busted by the offsider (Bart) - we got chatting for a bit and it turned out that they were having a break at Border Village so we said we’d see them there. 

From Penong it was back on the road for a bigger stretch - had to keep the speeds down along here as it was a decent stretch between fuel stops - Nundroo had fuel but not the premium that Jimmy requires. We passed the sign marking the eastern edge of the treeless plain - that was spectacular, so wide and open. We fuelled up again at Nullarbor Roadhouse and then it was on to Border Village. 

We pulled up at Border Village and found Davo and we were guided over to where everyone had set up camp - we set up next to Skip, got ourselves sorted and then over to the roadhouse for the evening’s festivities. Met a lot of new people, it was a good night! Had my obligatory photo taken with the pudding, however it was on Alli’s camera so I don’t have a copy of that yet. We found our truckie mate and had a few games of pool and a few bourbons with him before he had to hit the sack as they were heading out at 1am. We got talking to some people and we decided we were going to walk to Western Australia so we set off on foot and crossed the border - I guess the quarantine station staff are used to people doing this kind of thing as they never said anything! After some group photos and much laughter we took over the job of asking the truckies if they were carrying any fruit - the quarantine staff didn’t have a problem with this luckily! 

We wondered back over to the roadhouse for a bit before finding our way back to our tents and taking a few minutes (about the length of a smoke) to admire the night sky - I have never seen stars like that - it was just amazing - horizon to horizon and so many of them! 
















Day 4 - Border Village to Poochera 


I woke up Sunday morning and was nice and toasty in my sleeping bag listening to the sounds of the early starters getting ready to head out - I heard a “bye Mel” and called out back but I don’t think they heard me (I found out later it was Davo - bye Davo!) Eventually got up and Alli was still in bed but a few of us headed over the road in search of coffee - I went to the counter and was told to just help myself to the coffee provided for the truckies - sweet! A little while later Alli turned up and we farewelled our mates before heading back over and packing up our own camp. 


We headed across the border and stopped for the border photos then onto Eucla for some fuel and a chance to visit “somewhere” in WA, then turned around and headed back across the Nullarbor - was much nicer with a tailwind!    

We didn’t stop as much but with the pretty late start we were behind schedule again - we had been hoping to make Kimba that night but got to Poochera - it was dark and cold so we decided to call it a night. We stopped at the roadhouse and fuelled up and were advised that there was a pub in the town with accommodation so we set off in search of the pub. Eventually we found it - and it was closed! We were standing out the front deciding what to do next (it looked like we would be pushing onto the next town so I was having a smoke before we left) and a light came on inside the bar - were they opening?? Nope - but we caught the attention of the lady in the bar and she arranged a room for us inside - advised us that we would be best to eat at the bowling club rather than the roadhouse and even rung them to make sure they’d have food on for us - but it turned out they didn’t so after a hot shower each we set off on foot back to the roadhouse. I had a mad craving for steak and mashed potatoes - the lady in the roadhouse made up mash especially for us and let us split a mixed grill between us - made a good meal and $10 each! We finished eating and went to leave - got outside and it was bucketing down! Don’t know where that came from! We stood in the shelter bemoaning the fact that we didn’t have an umbrella (why would we have an umbrella? That’s what plastic pants are for!) when the lady in the roadhouse came out and offered to drive us back to the pub. Love the hospitality in Poochera! 


Day 5 - Poochera to Coober Pedy 


We woke up and the rain had stopped - Alli insisted that I wasn’t allowed to get up as she didn’t want to be last ready again so she made me coffee and pottered around for a bit while I lazed about in bed. Eventually I got up but I wasn’t allowed to pack my stuff up until after she was ready to go! Eventually we got on the road and scooted off to Kimba for the halfway across Australia photo. 

Then onto Port Augusta for some lunch before parting ways. At Border Village my back tyre had been looking a little low so the plan was to reassess it at Port Augusta and maybe see if I could get a new one there. I had a look at it, it looked pretty good now it wasn’t all dusty so I decided to head up to Coober Pedy and reassess the tyre at Alice Springs - the next bike shop. Alli and I said goodbye and I headed up the Stuart. About 20km up the road the sun was back out and I was in the middle of nowhere! The winds were pretty fierce but I soon got used to riding at such an angle. Eventually I caught up to a car following behind two trucks with water tanks on the back so big they took up the whole road - they had two police cars in front forcing everybody coming the other way off the road and eventually the trucks pulled over enough so that the traffic behind them could get past - made me feel very small and also felt really wrong passing the police cars with flashing lights on their left! 

 Stopped at Spuds Roadhouse at Pimba for fuel and a bit of a break - they advised me it was always this windy out there! I stopped a few times at various rest areas just to have a bit of a break from the wind, fuel again at Glendambo before the 250km stretch to Coober Pedy.  About 90km before Coober Pedy I spotted in the distance another bike - I caught it very quickly and realised it was a postie bike! I gave them a big wave when I went past. Got into Coober Pedy just before the sun went down, rode around and around until finally I found the underground backpackers. Got my bed sorted, had a hot shower and was just sitting outside having a smoke when the postie bike pulled in. Got chatting to the dude - he’d come over from Japan to Brisbane, but had spent too much money in Brisbane and the only bike he could afford was the postie bike! He said he could only do 500km a day, which I think is a pretty good effort on that bike! Had a pretty quiet night and headed to bed pretty early.

Day 6 - Coober Pedy to Curtin Springs 


I got caught out in the underground backpackers - when I went to bed there was a chick reading outside my “cave” so the light was on and stayed on all night which bugged me a bit. I woke up about 6:30am and went upstairs and it was still pitch black so I decided to go back to bed for ½ an hour and turned off the light. Woke up again and it was 9:00am! Oops, there went my early start. Got going and continued north and stopped at the border for a photo opportunity. Just after I got there a car pulled in and I think they were a bit cranky at my bike being in the way for their photo but I said look if I had a kid you’d have to wait while I took the photo with them in front of it - I think they thought I am a bit crazy lol. Took my photo and moved the bike out of the way and took their photo for them in front of the border sign.

I pushed on and stopped at Kulgera for fuel and then onto Erldunda to top it up before heading off to Curtin Springs for the night. I got chatting to a bloke from Darwin who was heading to Victoria and I mentioned the fact that I had run out the door without any earplugs (rather like Bilbo and his handkerchief) and he promptly loaded me up with about 10 pairs of earplugs! Headed off up the Lasseter Highway and after a while a big “rock” became visible. I wondered if that was it but it didn’t look quite right and indeed it wasn’t, it was Mt Conner. Very impressive. Got caught up in a bunch of dirty riders at an intersection, overtook all of them and got into Curtin Springs for the free camping - soon enough all the dirtbikes turned up and they camped there too (yay!). There was an emu that was something of a pet at the station - it was very interested in my bike! 

Got chatting to the dirty riders and we all had dinner and drinks together - very social. There was another dude there on a Buell who was doing something similar to me - as he was a dirty smoker too we ended up sitting outside with some of the boys who worked on the station and a couple of other dudes up from Alice Springs and sat there in the “beer and bullshit” corner for hours before finally heading to bed. Day 7 - Curtin Springs to Mt Ebenezer I woke up early enough to wave goodbye to the Buell rider as he left and beat the dirty riders out of Curtin Springs and headed for Yulara. Got to Yulara and found the servo and filled up before going in search of an ATM and coffee. Finally found somewhere, waited about half an hour (felt like) while they made me bad coffee and charged me $4.20 for the privilege. Yulara did not impress me. Headed out to Uluru, paid my $25.00 entry fee (gave a big wave to the Buell rider - he had decided not to pay the entry fee and instead just check out the rock from outside the park). 

I had thought that I wouldn’t be out there for very long as it’s a rock, I’d look at it, take a couple of happy snaps and be on my way - nope! I was very impressed by the immensity of it - seeing the pictures is nothing compared to being there in person. I slowly made my way around the rock, stopping here and there for some pictures before pulling up where they climb it - I hadn’t really had any plans of climbing it, and when I saw where the climb was “fark that” was my thought lol. It is huge!!!!!!!! 

 I headed off to check out the Olgas - they are much more impressive from a distance than up close I thought - though heading down to the car park right next to them I came across this sign…  There were four corners in total, each one exactly the same and they were even better coming back out as I knew what to expect :D I headed back to Yulara to top up the fuel again and to try and find some lunch - I stopped near the Visitor Centre thinking surely there’d be a café there - nope but I followed a sign pointing to “takeaway food” but to no avail, just accommodation. So I hopped back on the bike and thought to stop back at Curtin Springs for lunch but I didn’t, I just kept going. 

I stopped at the Mt Conner lookout but it was packed with about 4 tour buses and a stack of grey nomads and their vans so instead I just pulled over in the shoulder a few hundred metres up the road (the lookout had been completely empty when I passed it the day before!) before heading on to Mt Ebenezer for a pie and a coke. I had a good feeling about Mt Ebenezer so when I saw they had “backpacker” accommodation for $20.00 I thought stuff it, a night in a bed would be nice and I wasn’t entirely sure what was at Erldunda where I was planning on staying so for $20.00 I had a room in a demountable cabin with a bunk bed and a single bed. I had a shower and then headed into the roadhouse and one of the guys who work there promptly bought me bourbon and it was on :) was a fun night, finally calling it a night and making it back to my little bed when they closed the bar.  


Day 8 - Mt Ebenezer to Devils Marbles 

I woke up feeling surprisingly good at about 7:00am - I headed back to the roadhouse hoping to find a coffee but no luck, they weren’t open yet. So I stuffed around packing up the bike and finally at 8:00am the roadhouse opened - got chatting to another of the roadhouse employees (it was his day off) and a couple of coffees later I finally got on the road. I hated to leave, I really liked it there and Kevin had said “well why not stay another day” and I was very, very tempted but nah, better keep moving (there was a job going there, they were looking for a cook - I said I can’t cook and Norm said that I could learn… damn that was tempting!!).  

I got to Erludunda and filled up and headed up to Alice Springs. I had a bit of a weird feeling about Alice Springs so I just rode around checking it out before stopping by the “river” for a smoke before finding fuel and continuing on.  I was stopping at all the roadhouses just checking them out along the way and I stopped at Barrow Creek for a coke and a bag of Doritos - yum :D I was sitting out the front talking with some people who were riding their pushbikes from Broken Hill to Darwin when a big dirty Suzuki came roaring in - introduce Chris on the Suzuki “with the rice and the beef and red wine casserole” :D 

We got chatting, as you do, and he was heading to the Off Centre Rally and had planned to camp out in the Devils Marbles park as I was planning - he was only sitting on about 105km/h so he set off first and we agreed to meet up at Wauchope for fuel. I soon overtook Chris but stopped at Wycliffe Wells as I wanted to check out the UFO stuff - but it was starting to get a bit dark so I just had a quick snap of the aliens and headed off to Wauchope, where Chris was filling up (he had passed me while I was looking at the aliens). We got chatting to a few of the locals in the bar (where we paid for the fuel!) and it turned out that they knew Chris’s brother (what a small world it really is) and it was pretty dark by the time we headed out but we only had about 10km to go.  


Got to Devils Marbles and the camping area was full of caravans so we found a little space (hurrah for motorbikes that can fit through small spaces) and set up our tents. I still had some bourbon and Chris had bought some beers and some coke so we had a couple of drinks before he cooked dinner for us both - I ate like a king on this trip but this was probably the best meal I had the whole trip - rice and red wine and beef casserole out of a can - it was great!

We ate our dinner under the stars - then continued to sit there and talk shit (as you do) until about 11:30pm - I saw a lot of shooting stars and it was just spectacular to be out there in the starlight. (I think all the nomads were asleep by about 8:30pm.) Chris had travelled up from Geelong via lots of interesting places (that I can’t remember the names of) and he bestowed upon me a rock he had collected from the Oodnadatta track :) I showed him my rock I had collected from the rest area I had stopped at (I had just stopped for a rest and a smoke and saw this interesting rock - then a car on the road beeped it’s horn and I saw dogs! I thought they were just dogs but Chris had seen them too and informed me they were in fact dingos). 


Day 9 - Devils Marbles to Camooweal 

I woke up to Chris calling out good morning - admired the marbles in the morning sun (they were just a silhouette against the faint light of the sky when we arrived the night before). Chris soon prepared the “All Day Breakfast in a Can” which he shared with me (yum!) and we packed up and got underway, with a plan to meet at Barkly Homestead for a “cup of tea” before we went our separate ways. I had to stop at Threeways to top up the fuel, heard Chris go roaring by when I was stopped there and it took me until about 10km before Barkly to catch him again! There were a bunch of dudes on BMW’s heading to the OCR as well as another couple of boys from Sydney who were just out adventuring around so we spent quite a while there just chatting, then another dude rolled in who was just journeying around Australia on his own. 

Eventually coffee was finished and we all kitted up and headed our separate ways. I had been a bit worried about this stretch, it was 262km from Barkly Homestead to Camooweal, the next available fuel and was even more alarmed when I had a pretty strong headwind and the warning signs on the side of the road “headwinds increase fuel consumption” worried me even more. So I resolved to sit on 100km/h to try and conserve some fuel. That was painful. I stopped a couple of times just to rest my right wrist as it was becoming very painful. I stopped at the QLD border for a photo and a smoke - I was just parked in the shoulder when someone pulled up and said “there are two road trains coming” and I looked back and could see them approaching in the distance - 

I think that is the quickest I have ever gotten all the gear back on and on the bike and I was out of there!  I pulled into Camooweal and fuelled up. I had been planning on staying at Mt Isa that night (180km away) but had been told that the rodeo was on in Mt Isa that weekend and there was no accommodation of any sort to be had and there didn’t appear to be anything between Camooweal and Mt Isa. I looked at the time and thought it best to stay where I was so paid my $5 to pitch my tent in the caravan park and did some washing instead (of course I forgot about the sun going down so much later out there, I could have easily made it past Mt Isa in daylight! Ah well at least I got my washing done). Everyone had been so friendly along the way that Camooweal was a bit of a shock - I walked into the pub looking for dinner and the few people in there just gave me strange looks - so I walked back out again and went to the roadhouse for dinner instead, before having a pretty early night. 

Day 10 - Camooweal to Winton 

I packed everything up and headed for Mt Isa - the countryside was really starting to change out here and it was really pretty - it made me think of “waltzing matilda” country (I had thought that came from Victoria for some reason - which of course I later learned was wrong) and got into Mt Isa about 10am???? I went to maccas for some breakfast and the place was full of cowboys :D really wished Tess was there with me then! Lol. I had my breakfast and went in search of an internet café - couldn’t find one so went to the tourist info centre to ask where it was and they had internet there so I got on the net for a bit, transferred some money around as I was running a bit low. Did another assessment on my rear tyre “starting to look fairly low but it’ll see me home”. Got on the road again 

and as I was going over a bridge coming into Cloncurry I looked over to the left and there was a smaller bridge with a bike going over it - dunno how he got down there but I pulled into a roadhouse for a drink and he pulled in behind me - introducing Al on the BMW. We chatted for a bit, had a smoke and it turned out we were heading in the same direction and both had intentions of staying at Longreach that night.  We headed out with Al in the lead - he stopped for a photo opportunity a short way up the road  so I kept going and stopped at McKinlay for fuel (where I was hidden by a road train that was parked up so when Al went past he didn’t see me). I then stopped in at the Walkabout Hotel of Crocodile Dundee fame for a bit before heading on to Kynura to stop at the Blue Heeler Hotel to try and find Alli’s message on the wall (failed - she had texted me to say where to find it but the phone battery had died and I couldn’t remember and couldn’t find it).  

Then onto Winton. I got fuel in Winton and really wanted to push on to Longreach but the sun was getting pretty low and the road kill out on the road was a bit of a worry so I headed back to the caravan park that was closer to the pubs and set up my tent - and whaddya know, Al’s bike was there. I got my tent and everything set up and then went in search of Al in the pubs - I couldn’t find him but two boys in the North Gregory Hotel (where the signs informed me the first public performance of Waltzing Matilda was) insisted upon buying me bourbon and it was on. I was informed that the Tatts Hotel was the place to eat but one of the boys had been banned from there (what a crowd I had fallen in with!) so we went to the Winton Hotel for some food before heading back to the North Gregory for some pool before the bar closed so we grabbed some takeaways and headed up to Bill’s house (which they assured me wasn’t far - which was alright for Bill who had a lift with someone somehow?? But Matty and I walked carrying all the grog and it was far!) we sat around at Bill’s place drinking some more and listening to some music before I made the (what felt like) 50km walk back to my tent. 


Day 11 - Winton 

I woke up to a very bright and sunny Sunday morning in Winton - and I wasn’t feeling very bright and sunny so my neck warmer doubled as an eye mask and I got a couple more hours sleep before finally feeling somewhat human around 10am. I was just sitting in the doorway of my tent surveying the grassy paddock across the road and being amazed at how bright the sun actually was when Al walked out of his cabin - finally we caught up! He wondered into town to see if breakfast was on at the pub but food did not seem very appealing to me for some reason so I packed up my gear and loaded up the bike. Al came back, made me coffee and we sat on the verandah outside the cabins for a bit before I finally decided I really should make tracks. I started up the bike, got going and thought “gee this gravel’s really loose” got out on the road, opened up the throttle - nope that wasn’t the gravel, it was the bike - got across the road, parked, checked and the rear tyre was flat as. Went and got Al, I unloaded the bike and he carried my gear over the road while I pushed the bike back over (the caravan park was also a servo).

Steve of the Pelican Caravan Park got the air compressor going and we pumped up the tyre, soaped it up and found two small holes in the middle of the tyre - we discussed the possibility of plugging it but Al said the two holes were too close together to do that and with how worn the tyre was the only real option was to get a new tyre on - as luck would have it, Winton has a bike shop and it was across the road from the caravan park! However, it being Sunday it was of course closed. Meanwhile, Al had had problems the previous day getting his BMW started and he was contemplating having a rest day in Winton (he is from Perth and had been on the road for a fair while as well) and his bike wouldn’t start at all so he was stuck in Winton also awaiting the opening of the bike shop. His cabin had two single beds in it so he offered the other one to me rather than me setting up my tent again which I gratefully accepted. We put in a few hours on the verandah just talking and watching the open countryside before heading down to the pub for some lunch ($6.00 will get you an awesome burger) and then back to the verandah for another couple of hours. Al had BMW recovery assistance with his bike (it is only 12 months old) so put in a call to them to see about the bike problems and I went for a walk up and down the mainstreet having a look around. 

We went to the pub for dinner (the mixed grill is even better than the burger!) and had a few bourbons before heading back to the van park and sitting around a fire talking with a few “apprentice grey nomads” (there were two couples there who had decided to try it out to see if they liked it or not).  
























Day 12 - Winton 

Monday morning dawned bright and sunny in Winton - and that was quite nice this time! Lol. Headed out pretty much straight away and the bike shop was open - hurrah! Went in and they pretty much laughed at me at the thought they might actually have a tyre for a road bike - they did have one but it was in worse condition than my current one. They called Longreach but they didn’t have anything either but Rockhampton did - I had a choice of a Pirelli Diablo or some Dunlop that I had never heard of - so I chose the Diablo and it was being freighted up overnight. So began another day in Winton. Headed up the road where Al had breakfast and I had coffee and then we sat in the middle of the street enjoying the sunshine for a while before I headed into the library to get on the net and Al wondered back to the cabin to hassle BMW recovery some more. 

Another couple of hours on the verandah and it was lunchtime so back to the pub where it was mixed grills all round (yum!) Went back to the van park and was in the shop talking with Steve for a bit and he pulled out a garbage bin and a bucket full of rocks that someone had left behind - there were bits of opals in the rocks so we looked at some of those for a bit.  I don’t know why but I got on a bit of a mission - I was looking through the bucket of pebbles and decided I was going to look at every rock in that bucket - and I did. I sorted them into two piles - the ones I thought were interesting and the rejects. I think Steve thought I was a bit mad but eventually I got through them all and then I was provided with a jug of water so I could wash the ones I liked and look at them in the sunlight. They were very pretty and it killed a few hours.  

Meanwhile, Al had heard back from BMW - a truck was coming that night to pick up him and the BMW and take them to Townsville - awesome! The truck was due at about 5:30pm and they would head straight back to Charters Towers where BMW had booked a room for Al and then in the morning off to Townsville to the BMW dealership. One problem - Al rang the BMW dealership in Townsville to make sure they knew it was coming - as of about two weeks before they were no longer a BMW dealership and there wasn’t another one in Townsville for about another month!  The truck turned up at about 6:30pm and the decision had been made that they would take the bike to Charters Towers anyway and decide what to do in the morning. 

So the bike was loaded up and Al, the bike and the truck departed at about 7:00pm. I was very sad to see them go - now I was in Winton all alone! I wondered up the road looking for food, more for something to do than being hungry but was advised that there would be about a 2 hour wait as the pub was so busy (it was packed in there) so I decided to skip dinner, had a quiet bourbon on the verandah before calling it a night.  










Day 13 - Winton to Barcaldine 

Tuesday morning dawned bright and sunny - is it always sunny in Winton?? And I stayed in bed as long as I could before venturing outdoors and across the road to check for my tyre - the truck would be in about lunch time! Steve expressed great doubts that the tyre would arrive that day and even if it did that I’d be back on the road… “This is Winton” he says… Up the road for some breakfast and a coffee before slowly wondering back to the park to kill some more time - the fire was going again and I sat around talking to one of the couples of apprentice grey nomads (the others had left the day before) and another couple who were waiting for some medication to come in (probably on the same truck as my tyre). After a while Steve came over and let me know that the tyre was in - hurrah! We pumped the tyre back up and I rode it across the road. They were a little puzzled as to how to get the back wheel off a bike with no centre stand but they managed to jack it up and get the tyre off - then they had to take it up the road to the tyre shop as they didn’t have the machine to get the tyre off the rim~! They said to come back in half an hour so I did and it was ready to go - hurrah! Loaded the bike up, said goodbye to Steve and thanked him for all his help and then I was out of Winton! Got out of there about 1pm I think. Jimmy all packed and ready to go - he was hidden in here guarded by a big truck.  


Played the now familiar games of “road kill slalom” and “guess which way the crows will fly” on the way to Longreach where I fuelled up and had a bit of a poke around town (tried for lunch but failed) before stopping to check out the 747 on the side of the road and heading for Barcaldine. The plan had been to stay at Blackall that night but it was getting reasonably late in the afternoon and I had a good feeling about Barcaldine so I decided to check out if there were any caravan parks near the pubs. I found one at the showgrounds but the office was unattended - I was advised to just set up my tent and they’d come get money off me later but I wanted to know how much it cost first. I hung around for a while and nobody turned up so I decided to check out the pub accomomodation. The first was motel accommodation, I passed the second one and the third one had a sign saying “$10 accommodation” so I decided to check that out. Phil and Shona own the pub and Phil showed me the room - he said they don’t have single accommodation as such so it would be $20 for a room with two beds but that suited me fine - sounded better than my airbed anyway! That was the Artesian Hotel and it is the oldest original pub in town, built in the late 1800’s and never burned down or destroyed in any way (amazing!). The Arty @ Barcy was awesome! It was a great night, there were two blokes from Mt Morgan (Loud McLeod and Gunna) travelling through to Camooweal and they had decided that Barcy looked like a good place to stop and had been there in the bar since about 3pm so already had a fair few beers under their belts. I was talking to a dude in the bar (Craig) and it turned out he was the cook in the pub so all four of us had some drinks and played some pool until it was dinner time, had dinner, more pool and more drinking before retiring to the balcony upstairs so that Phil and Shona could call it a night. Sat out there for ages before finally falling into bed at some time, no idea when. 


Day 14 - Barcaldine to Mitchell 

Woke up with not too bad a hangover, heard the boys next door leaving about 7:30am and decided to trade a hot shower for an extra half hour in bed (it was warm and comfortable!) before finding a coffee and getting underway. I found the black stump at Blackall too! Well a commemorative of it - apparently the original was destroyed in a fire.  I didn’t have a very good day this day - I was supposed to be hauling arse to get back to Canberra as quickly as possible but it was just an off day. It got overcast fairly quickly, I stopped at Augathella for fuel and the zipper on my tank bag broke so I spent some time there gaffa-taping it all closed - it seemed fairly secure so I got underway and it held out alright. Or so I thought. A little while up the road I looked down and found that the gaffa tape had given way and the tank bag cover was merrily flapping in the breeze. I quickly stopped and checked that everything was still there (including my wallet!!!!!!) and it was - I couldn’t get off the road there so had to ride holding it closed with one hand until finally I found somewhere I could pull off the road. I transferred everything of importance out of the tank bag and managed to squeeze it all into the ventura bag (my strapping my pillow on top of the bedroll and tent) and continued on to Morven where I stopped for a sandwich and called work - there was no way I was going to make it back Thursday so wouldn’t be back at work until Monday. 


I headed on to Mitchell and called it a day - I had had enough. The Western Hotel had a single room for $25 - sold - got unloaded, a hot shower and I felt reasonably human again. The bar was dead, I had dinner at the bar with the owners before finding a little book upstairs (some romance thing that I got quite into!) and had an early night. 


Day 15 - Mitchell to Gunnedah 


I woke up pretty early and felt pretty good so got underway fairly early - and it was cold!! The lady in the servo told me I was lucky I wasn’t there a few days earlier as the diesel had frozen in the tanks and didn’t unfreeze until 9:30am! I headed into Roma for fuel and breakfast and then St George for fuel again - I had planned to go to Goondiwindi then Moree but found a smaller road that took me through Mungindi and would save about 100km. I didn’t exactly take it easy to Mungindi and got there to find only one servo in town with three diesel pumps and one unleaded - no premium! So I just topped up with five litres of regular unleaded, had a quick pie and go-go juice and continued on to Moree then Narribri and Gunnedah. I considered continuing on - there was still a reasonable amount of daylight and the road kill was nearly non-existent by this stage but decided to call it a day. Went down to the bar and got a bourbon and was sitting outside having a smoke when the local crazy found me - I suppose it had to happen sooner or later! After sitting through about three smokes worth of being talked at about how bad the Australian Government is (apparently the Americans caused our drought and we could end it any time we like if we weren’t so shit-scared of the Americans or something) eventually somebody else came out for a smoke and I could make my escape - a quick dinner then up to my room (thankfully I had a TV) so I watched the Olympics for a bit before falling asleep - and being woken up sometime later by my phone ringing - Stevo to say gidday - he told me about Tess’s birthday drinks the following night which I was grateful for - I now HAD to be home on Friday! :D 


Day 16 - Gunnedah to Canberra 


I had a reasonably early start - finally found the fuel stations in Gunnedah and got underway - I stopped in Muswellbrook for some breakfast before heading at a fair pace towards Singleton. I was cruising along and saw in my mirror a silver car approaching me rather rapidly, I thought “wow I’m gonna get overtaken soon” next time I looked I noticed them much closer and the flashing blue and red lights… bugger. Pulled over and the copper was really nice - he had clocked me at 121 in the 100 zone but wrote it down to 15 and under so that it was only $81 as opposed to nearly $300. He said he understood how easy it was on a nice day on good roads but 120 was really a bit quick, try and hold it to near 100 so I did into Singleton. Fuelled up in Singleton and while I was filling up another bike pulled in - he asked if I was heading up or down the Putty and I said down so he suggested we ride together. I was a little hesitant as I had really been enjoying riding on my own but said yes and we set off down the Putty with Mick setting a comfortable pace. We stopped at the Halfway Roadhouse for a coffee before setting off again - I told him of my plan of going to MCAS at Liverpool in a quest for new boots and he recommended a shop in Penrith which he took me too before heading off to go pick up his son from school - I had a look but didn’t really like anything there so continued on to Liverpool. I got to Liverpool right on end-of-school time so traffic was chaotic and I actually had no idea where I was going so I ended up getting the shits with Liverpool and headed back to the Hume Highway to head home. 


Of course it had been quite warm in Penrith and I hadn’t tucked my neck warmer into the helmet nor done up my sleeves or zippers properly. So once I was past Campbelltown and the traffic flow got up to speed I was freezing, I was hungry and I had to go to the toilet. I planned to stop at Pheasant’s Nest but got there and thought “naaaaaah I’ll make it to Sutton Forest”. Got to Sutton Forest and thought “naaaaaaah I’ll make it to Marulan” (I had managed to zip up the jacket and do up the sleeves and fumble the heated grips on while I was on the move). Got to Marulan and thought “naaaaah I’ll make it to Goulburn” but I was unsure on the fuel after tackling the traffic in Sydney and the headwinds so stopped at Marulan for a feed and a warm up. The sun was getting pretty low by this stage and I thought about swapping for the clear visor - but that would have meant unpacking and repacking the ventura bag so thought she’d be right. Of course it wasn’t but I just picked a ute sitting on a nice pace and followed them back to Canberra. It started drizzling as I got into Canberra - yay, welcome home, and got in the door at 6:40pm. 


Now that I have written some 16 pages of my adventure I realise that I have hardly said anything about the actual riding - which of course was the main part of it all! There’s not a lot to say really - the roads were really straight (as was expected of course) and I loved every minute of it - it was so peaceful out there, especially in the northern territory when there was rarely anything else on the road and if there was I was around it in the blink of an eye (mostly road trains and nomads). I loved just being out on the road with no real destination just a direction and nothing but me and the bike and the open spaces. It was magical and I didn’t want to go home. The only hitch that Jimmy had was a somewhat unpredictable fuel light - it started only coming on as I was slowing down to enter the servos - never mind that it should have come on 2 litres ago! Oh and the puncture but that’s not really Jimmy’s fault! I had packed relatively lightly for this trip and the only thing I wished for that I didn’t have was a different pair of shoes (I did buy some thongs at Camooweal but I really wished for my sneakers) and there wasn’t anything that I had brought along that wasn’t used (apart from my tyre repair in a can which was for if I got a flat outside of a town and my “emergency food”, a can of spaghetti). I think I could have gone for months off what I had with me. It was a fantastic trip and I am so glad that I did it - I was having doubts about the immensity of it all after so many people told me I was mad for doing a trip like this on my own. The messages of support from everyone along the way was fantastic as well - thank you! I did 9,398km all up, spent over $1,000 on fuel, I ate like a king (and paid for it but it was worth it!) and spent more on accommodation than I had planned but that was worth it too. The next one is already in planning… standby for the report from next year’s mad adventure!