Border Run
2012
Once again
it was time for the Border Run - hurrah!
I had initially booked in my leave to start on the Wednesday, with the
intent to get the border on Friday so that I could spend Saturday kicking back
and just watching all the bikes roll in.
Alli and I had a loose plan to meet up at Port Augusta on the Thursday,
then that got change to meeting up at Ceduna on Friday morning as she wanted to
catch up with some relatives on the Thursday night. I had been a bit worried about the cold
starts and doing a 1,000km day (I had registered to do the FarRide) and
eventually on the Monday I came to the realisation that I don’t have to
do 1,000km day, I finished up all my work and my boss let me have the Tuesday
off as well :D
Also, not
that long before the start the FarChallenge was issued - 50 locations around
Australia, the challenge - to take a picture of my bike at as many of them as I
can in the next year.
Got home
and attempted to start packing - well I managed to fit two sleeping bags, a
blanket, a foam mat and a self-inflating mattress into a bag. That was a good start.
Tuesday
morning I woke up and managed to pack everything else and get the bike loaded
up in reasonably good time, I think it was by about 9am. But it was still too cold to leave so I hung
about until maybe 10:30am before getting under way, when the temperature got
above 5 degrees.
As I was
heading out on Ginninderra Drive, I was going to turn up Kingsford Smith Drive
but then I thought nah… I’ll go down to the end of Ginninderra Drive, I think
that ways actually a bit quicker…. Well it would be if I was going to Sydney, I
was supposed to be going west. I
realised after I had just passed Kingsford Smith Drive so I turned at Copland
Drive instead (duh).
I headed
out through Yass and onto the Boorowa Road.
The sun was out and the
countryside was pretty but I was cold and just wasn’t enjoying it really. Cowra for fuel then out through Eugowra
and into Parkes for a short stint on the
Newell before turning off for Narromine after Peak Hill. For some reason SPOT has me starting just
north of Peak Hill… I don’t know why.
Fuel again
at Narromine then west with Cobar on my mind for the night. Before long I was sick of riding into the
sun, so decided to try my luck at Nyngan, the first pub was booked out, but the
Overlander had a room for $60.00.
$60.00!!! Yikes! But I didn’t want to keep riding into the sun so what
the hell. Turned out it had an ensuite
so it was definitely reasonable. A
shower and a walk down to the RSL for a pretty good mixed grill (they have salad
bar as well) and then back to the pub to stand in front of the fire for ages
before heading up and crawling into bed and watching the Olympics for a bit.
I woke up
during the night, I had dreamed that I had ridden through Cobar and Broken Hill
and then gone home, forgetting to take the FarChallenge photos and it was the
next morning and I was all like “but I forgot about the Border Run, now I have
to go out again”. Took me a moment to
realise I wasn’t at home, in fact I was in a pub room in Nyngan and had yet to
pass through Cobar and Broken Hill LOL!
Wednesday
morning came around and my phone informed me it was quite cold. I stayed in bed for ages before getting up
and venturing out in search of coffee and breakfast (across the road). The lady in the café was feeling quite bad -
she had been rousing on her daughter as she is always running late in the
morning. The night before the daughter
had, in an attempt to speed up the process in the morning, put her school
uniform on and then put her pyjamas on over the top and gone to bed so that in
the morning all she had to do was take off her pjs and she would be ready….
Such logic!
Finally it
warmed up enough for me to leave, about 9am I think. Thought about fuel, figured she’d be right to
Cobar so off I went in the morning sun.
I stopped at the big Cobar sign and went to take my picture…. Oops
forgot the flag so got my photo properly, then fuel and continued on. I was a bit edgy about stopping in Wilcannia
for fuel so wanted to get that over and done with ASAP. As I rolled into town, I think it was a
different Wilcannia to the one we stopped at in 2009 (though I could see the
same servo we stopped at, though now it is a Liberty). I saw a sign pointing to a BP so I followed
the signs and it was a fuel pump in a
dirt driveway with a tin shed for an office but the lady was very friendly - no
toilets but she let me use the one in her laundry (the house was next
door). A suggestion was made for a
coffee shop up the road but instead I continued on and stopped at a rest area
about 16km past the town for a bit of a break.
Onwards and Broken Hill came about… I remember loving the
countryside in 2009 - this time I just didn’t care, I actually just wanted to
go home, wasn’t enjoying myself at all really.
Flew straight past the location for the FarChallenge pic (I think), oh
well, I’ll find something in town. Fuel
again and continue south. The day was
starting to run out and I was getting cold.
I stopped for fuel in Yunta and was informed that the pub over the road
had accommodation and meals so I stopped in there. The publican was a bit… funny and the room
was $60.00 (again!) but I really didn’t feel like continuing on so paid
it. The publican’s wife showed me around
the back where I could park my bike in the car port, etc. and a big fat
Labrador was in a yard out there. I was
advised that he was too old and fat to jump the knee high fence when he barked
at me! She told me that his favourite
game was to NOT give you the ball, but to let you just try and take it away
from him. So I tried for a bit J
The shower
was not very good at the hotel but the room had a heater (and an electric
blanket!!) so I warmed up in there before heading into the bar for dinner. It was a very quiet night, apart from a
couple of people coming in for takeaways I was the only one there, so chatted
with the publican and his wife. Turns
out he has a Goldwing so we exchanged riding stories. Steak and chips with Diane sauce for dinner
and it was FABULOUS. Another early night
and I went back to my room and crawled into bed with the electric blanket and
wished some more that I was at home.
Thursday
morning wasn’t as cold as I had expected (they had had minus 5 the night before
I was there) so over to the roadhouse for some cereal and coffee before packing
up and playing with the lab some more.
This morning I didn’t try and get the ball from him so instead he gave
it to me and I played fetch with him for quite some time. But eventually I got going and kept heading
south… I crossed a bridge, the three sisters bridge and it made me think of my
sisters so I stopped and took a photo… then I did battle with the winds on
through Peterborough and Wilmington and onto Horrocks Pass.
I roughly knew where the cairn was but I had
never been up there, so my FarChallenge card and the wind had quite a battle
while I tried to take a picture but eventually I got it and down down I
went. I had hoped the wind would have
eased off down the bottom but nope. Gave
a big salute to Davo as I passed the plaque site and into Port Augusta for fuel…
something wasn’t right. It was now a
Gull! Parked the bike and hid behind him
from the wind while I ate some bickies before proceeding on. I had heard from Alli here too - she was
having a slow start and hadn’t left home yet.
She thought she would be lucky to make Port Augusta that night let alone
Streaky.
I was
debating whether or not to head down to Elliston for the next FarChallenge pic
or to get it on the way home and just head straight for Ceduna, I made the call
at Kyancutta and turned left. At Lock I
turned right and what an eerie road that was, through all the farmlands, a bit
of road in very good repair and absolutely NO ONE on it. There was nobody, didn’t see a single
person. It was a bit freaky
actually. Into Elliston and rode around
trying to find the sign in the picture.
Didn’t find it so snapped this one then on to get fuel (found it at the other
entrance to Elliston lol). While I was
getting fuel two guys on adventure bikes turned up, got chatting as you do and
I asked if they were heading to the border run… “the what????” actually one of
them had heard of it but had no idea when it was on. They were heading over to Perth from
Melbourne and thought that they would be passed the border by Saturday but
would keep it in mind. Wished them well
in their travels and continued on. I had
planned to stay at Ceduna and also had in my head that Streaky Bay was really
expensive and I didn’t want to stay there but by the time I got to Streaky I
had had enough of riding into the sun (again!) so pulled up at the pub where
$60.00 (yes again) saw me with a budget room upstairs. What an awesome shower!!!! Went down for dinner and there were a few
people who I expected were on the border run.
I had dessert and was thinking about going up to bed and watching some
more Olympics when YAYAY Chicky turned up at my table with Bill and a couple of
other blokes I didn’t know. They ended
up at the table next to me and asked me to join them which I did. My mood was instantly better, these guys are
awesome, I really enjoyed the time I spent with them last year. Barry turned up too and I was introduced to
the two guys who weren’t there last year (Trev and Possum). Spent ages there chatting with them and
listening to their banter. These guys
have all known each other for longer than I have been alive and I find it
really interesting and warming to sit in on their discussions. Eventually though it was time for everyone to
go to bed so they left for the caravan park and I went back upstairs, after
finding out they were heading for Penong the next night at the caravan park, if
I wanted to stay there also.
I messaged
with Alli - she was at Stirling North for the night and thought Penong sounded
good so we had a plan to meet there and see how we were going.
Friday
morning I found my way downstairs for the complimentary continental breakfast
(raisin toast AND cocopops! Yay!) and then went for a walk down to the end of
the jetty. It was a bit cold but I stood
on the end and faced the sun and it was beautiful. There was a fishing boat there so I had a bit
of a sticky beak at that and then headed back to pack up and get moving.
All loaded
up, Chicky & Co. were at the museum, I thought about stopping too but I had
heard a rumour of a really good pie shop in Ceduna… I should have stopped lol!
Stopped for
a little break at Smoky Bay and then into Ceduna to do laps trying to find the
pie shop… I found a café with homemade sausage rolls so got one of those and took
it down to the foreshore where I texted Alli to let her know where I was at and
hung out for about an hour. Eventually I
got sick of standing there so continued on to Penong where I got fuel and then
set up camp at the picnic table, I got there about 1pm lol.
I got sick
of sitting there, though it was nice in the sun, so decided to go and check out
the caravan park. I think I confused the
owners a bit, I think they though I was part of Chicky’s group, they had never
heard of the border run. It was really
windy again, so the owner said I could set up my tent in the shed. I did so and it wasn’t until later I thought
that I should have (a) tried for a cabin or (b) not bothered with the tent and
just had my sleeping bag… oh well!
The caravan
park was pretty deserted but I managed to go and have my shower at exactly the
same time as the only other person there, lol, and then crawl into my tent for
a bit of a nanna nap while waiting for Alli.
After a while I heard a bike pull up, I got all excited thinking it was
Alli so stuck my head out of the tent and it was Mark with a K, on a
ZZR1100. “What are you doing here” he
says? Lol! Chance meetings. So he set up on the other side of the
shed. Chicky & Co. arrived at some
stage, they were planning to have a bbq (which was in our shed). Still waiting for Alli… I had that … uneasy …
feeling when you are waiting for someone and haven’t heard from them. Mark and I were just about to head over to
the pub when I heard her bike coming YAYAYAYAYAY!!!! She joined us in the shed and then we all
headed over to the pub for a couple of drinks and some dinner (beef parma that
barely fit on my plate). Alli said that
she rode for a bit with two guys who were heading to Madura and back to Border
Village for the night. Gotta be
FarRiders I thought, she said they were “Tony and Chris”. What a shame I thought, would have been
awesome to catch them! But tomorrow I guess.
There were
a bunch of dudes in the pub, some of them were pretty messy, but we had a
really interesting chat with a farmer, about the challenges they face out there…
“I’m not complaining but” he says… says he wouldn’t be anywhere else. Eventually we headed back to the caravan park
after nearly getting lost in the dark LOL then crashed Chicky & Co’s party
for a bit before crawling into bed. My
two sleeping bags worked well, I was nice and warm!
Friday
morning - I saw the beginning of sunrise as I walked over to the toilets… and
then I crawled back into bed. Eventually
we all got up and wandered over to the roadhouse for breakfast then back to
pack up… Mark got sick of waiting for us so off he went and eventually Alli and
I got going too. Fuel at Nullarbor and
then the final run into Border Village wishing with all my might that there was
a cancellation and we would get a bed.
Pulled up
at Border Village and there were not as many bikes as usual there… inside to
try for a room and the lady says she will have to get the manager. When she left I noticed my name written in
the book!!!!!!! Turns out that they DID
have my booking from last year after all, hurrah!!!! So we got our little donga
down the back :D We got changed and then
it was time to socialise. Found Gatey
and TonyK, after missing them yesterday, was great to catch up with them,
Nambucca seems like forever ago! While I
was standing at the bar waiting to order a drink (I was a bit invisible I
think) a guy who was sitting next to me very kindly offered me his seat!
Chivalry in this modern world, well I never… :D
We got chatting for a bit and his name is Geoff and is from Perth and it
was his first border run (I reckon he’ll be back). Found Gatey and Tony again and was much
amused by Gatey taming a crow with twisties, he actually had it eating out of
his hand!
I felt like
chips for dinner so ordered the chicken drumsticks because they came with chips…
I was very disappointed when my plate turned up with a few puny drumsticks and
a pile of salad and NO CHIPS. I queried…
apparently it wasn’t supposed to be listed as coming with chips. Not much of a dinner, lucky I wasn’t all that
hungry to begin with or there would have been trouble! Lol. Caught up with a few more people, partook in
the FarRiders group photo, played some pool and before too long I hit the wall
and it was time for bed. So off to our
little donga. I woke up pretty early and
got a bit bored lying in bed so snuck out to the roadhouse and left Alli to a
sleep in, I had coffee and caught up with a few that I had missed catching up
with last night (I think the border run needs to last for at least a week to
properly catch up with everyone!), then I went and caught up with the two guys
from Elliston, and one even let me sit on his bike (for a big looking adventure
bike it was quite small and light)… I had locked the door behind me when I left
so didn’t want to disturb Alli but eventually I did… up to the roadhouse for
breakfast , watched the last riders leave and then we eventually went and
packed up our stuff.
Fuel and
then we were on our way (after confirming they weren’t taking bookings for next
year yet L ).
We stopped
at the first ‘scenic’ lookout and it was quite pretty.
We stopped
at the second ‘scenic’ lookout and it was even prettier… though the road in was
a bit hairy! LOL lucky it was short.
The third ‘scenic’
lookout took my breath away… just magnificent.
We ended up spending, I don’t know, maybe an hour there? Just watching
the waves pound against the cliffs… pure magic.
The fourth ‘scenic’
lookout was the best of them all.
At the third lookout we met this lady called Barb. Barb was travelling home to Western Australia from holidaying in Queensland where she had contracted whooping cough. She is travelling alone and just sleeps in her car, she was heading to Border Village that day. Barb is 76. She was quite inspirational, I hope that I still have an adventurous drive when I am that age!
Eventually we made it to Nullarbor Roadhouse where we got the third last room,
turns out they were having a function there that night, the girl behind the
counter thought they were nuts, why the hell would you want to go out there?
Apparently she doesn’t like it very much out there. I had some washing to do so we sorted that
first and then went into the bar to source a drink (me very classy in my pj’s
as my jeans were in the wash haha), we wanted to get some vodka to take away as
we wanted to sit outside our room and watch the sun go down but they only had a
full size bottle… and it was $72.00.
$72.00.
Stuff it, I
bought it. (The Ridiculously Expensive
Vodka Bottle is now sitting on my shelf at home on display!). Alli got the coke and some chips and we
dragged half the furniture out of our room to settle in and watch the
show. There was another rider, Mark,
staying a couple of rooms up, he has been riding around Australia for the last
five months, he meant to make the border run but got sick in Esperence so
missed it by a bit, he might have a go next year though J
Anyway we traded stories with him for a bit before the main show, he
left to and get dinner and well Alli and I got a little bit sidetracked with
the sunset show and the vodka and talking to some dudes about augers…. Well if
we wanted dinner in the bar we had to order by 7:30pm and we missed it!! But that’s okay we just had it in the
roadhouse (me still in my jammies but now with bike jacket as my jumper was
also in the wash). Eventually our
washing was dried so back to the room to sort that and then into bed where Alli
tried to explain what was happening in “Once Upon a Time” to me but I failed to
understand so promptly fell asleep.
Monday
morning I woke up before Alli and went out in search of coffee, Mark was
packing up so chatted to him for a bit before trying to sneak back into the
room but waking Alli up. We all had
breakfast in the roadhouse, then Mark left and Alli and I went back to packing
up and then it was off to Head of Bight to see the whales. Beautiful, though every time I pulled my
camera out they stopped doing cool things (like tail shows and sticking their
noses up in the air) and went underwater so I gave up in the end and just
watched… pretty cool J oh
yeah and more cliffs to watch the ocean pound against…
After about
an hour and a half we figured we should probably get moving so into Penong for
fuel (where we spotted Mark across the road at the pub, big waves across the
street) and then we went into Ceduna and found the right pie shop and…
THEY HAD
RUN OUT OF PIES
*CRIES*
So Alli got
a sandwich and I got a hotdog and we contented ourselves with that. We had been planning on staying at Venus Bay
for the night so we looked it up but we couldn’t determine that we would
actually get anything to eat there, as it was we ran out of daylight (and
warmth) by the time we got to Streaky Bay so we just got a room there… and
found Mark there as well. We had a
couple of drinks and then it was dinner time, more sharing of stories with Mark
(he has had some adventures on his trip!) and then he left and Alli and I did
the same… after a big dessert :D
Tuesday
morning we got up and had our breakfast and thought about a walk out on the
jetty but it was a bit windy and cold so we skipped it. Packed up and while Alli was out on one load
with her stuff, she took ages to come back and it turned out her cousin had
turned up so we had a bit of a chat before getting underway. We ran into Mark again at the servo, wished
him well as he was going to the ferry to go to Adelaide so we wouldn’t cross
paths again. We also decided to skip
going to the sea lion colony as it would have involved about 70km of dirt and I
was too chicken.
We went
down to Venus Bay for a look around and it was WINDY. Got lots of sand blown into my face lol. Had a quick break there then over to
Kyancutta for a pie then Kimba for some more food… terrible haha. We were planning on staying at the Nutbush
Retreat but when we got there, they didn’t have any meals on that night. We didn’t want to go hungry so instead into
Port Augusta for fuel and then up Horrocks Pass and into Wilmington for the
night. We arrived in rush hour, took the
poor lady behind the bar some time to get to us. And we were quite thirsty! Got the bikes around the back then a long hot
shower for me and a few drinks and it was dinner time… the mixed grill won…
just! It was fantastic though. An earlyish night, I roasted myself with the
electric blanket hahaha.
Wednesday
morning and it was to be the Parting of the Ways. We had breakfast across the road and then
said our farewells (though I would follow Alli to just out of Melrose).
While we
were at Nullarbor Nico had posted up a new spelling word, BUTTBURNER so while
we were there I grabbed a photo for an N and headed off to Booleroo Centre for my
first B, then onto Burra for another B and a FarChallenge photo :o) Down the Worlds End Highway and it was still
windy as. Robertstown for an R and
Eudunda for the E, through Kapunda and on to Tarlee for a T and another
FarChallenge pic. As soon as I turned
towards Tarlee the sky just looked terrible.
I almost wished I had of skipped the FarChallenge pics and chased the
good weather instead! But no, I got in amongst it, through a lot of towns I don’t
remember (and there were a lot of towns) and then I found myself in the
Adelaide Hills. I was trying to get to
Clarendon, and it looked on my map like there was this really easy road that
would take me there but stuffed if I could find it. I ended up doing 95km to end up 5km from
where I started. It was raining, there
was so many towns, I ended up at a little town called Crafers where a
T-intersection sign said left for Adelaide (wrong way) and right for Stirling
(also wrong way, and I’d already been there lol) so I consulted my phone which
told me to go south… stuffed if I knew which way was south so I ended up
cracking the shits with the whole thing… SCREW YOU CLARENDON, I’M GOING HOME
(or to Strathalbyn). So I jumped on the
freeway and headed east and as soon as I passed Stirling the sun came out…
Into
Strathalbyn where the ladies in the visitor info centre helpfully told me it
was really easy to get to Clarendon from there… I just didn’t even want to know
about it anymore lol. I was looking for
some cheapish accommodation, they said $90 at the caravan park for a cabin or
$70 for a pub room at the pub… serious?
$70 for a pub room? No way (I’d
seen the pub, it didn’t look real nice), so I headed on to Wellington instead
where they wanted $50.00... I didn’t want to go any further so said okay, turns
out that it included an ensuite, a TV and reverse cycle air con (HEATER!!) so
that was actually pretty good. Funky
smelling water though lol. Anyway had a
brilliant dinner there too (another steak and chips) before finding an extra
doona in the cupboard and climbing into bed to watch more Olympics and then to
sleep.
In the
morning I got up and went for a little stroll down to the river (the pub is
right on the river) and it was beautiful.
But I had to get moving so I packed up, got fuel and had a lonely ferry
crossing before making my way to Parilla for a FarChallenge pic and Pinnaroo
for the same… at the bakery (had to try a pie while I was there… it was good
but it fell apart so a bit messy).
I had a big
decision to make here… which way will I go?
My original plan had been to go through Ouyen and Tooleybuc, Moulamein,
etc. But then I decided that I still had
plenty of time, I didn’t have to be home until Sunday, so I was going to go and
find Buninyong and Wangaratta and get those FarChallenge pics as well…
yeah. So I did a few laps of Pinnaroo as
I forgot where the servos are (oops) then set off for Bordertown and crossed
into Victoria. I got rained on a bit
along there and for the rest of the day on and off.
I had
identified a few roads to get me off the A8 but in the end I just sat on
that. Stopped and took a picture of the
big cranky looking koala at Dadswell Bridge (thanks Ken!). Into Ballarat with the FUEL FUEL YOU NEED FUEL blinking
furiously at me then found the CFA shed at Buninyong. It was pretty much dark by that time so hit
the freeway towards Melbourne and found my way to the M31 to start heading for
Wangaratta (next FarChallenge spot).
Stopped at Seymour for fuel and a thaw out, I was very, very cold by
then! I ordered a hot chocolate and a
box of 3 dimsims… It turned out to be a magical box of dimsims, I thought it
was never going to run out (I think the lady took pity on my and gave me
extras). Warmed up as best as I could,
back onto the bike where it promptly started raining on me properly hahaha but
the dimsims and hot chocolate kept my belly nice and warm so it was much more
bearable. I had worked out that
Wangaratta would have me at about 1020km for the day, enough to qualify me as a
finisher for the border run (on FarRiders), and that was only 145km away so I
admired the big fat raindrops in my headlights and the trucks as I passed them
and eventually I got to Wangaratta at about 10:15pm. I decided a motel would be in order, the
first one was on the outskirts, that won’t do, but the second one was next door
to maccas… that’ll do, and it was only $80.00 AND it had a heater AND an electric
blanket :D
Spent an
age in the shower before dressing up and braving the outside world again to
fetch some maccas… one of the best cheeseburgers I have ever had. Had a chat on the phone with my sister for
quite a while then it was time for bed (and I roasted myself again hahaha).
Friday
morning was cccold in Wangaratta! Eventually I dragged myself out of bed, put
on all the clothes I had and got some more maccas for breakfast (I don’t
usually eat maccas when I am out on rides so it was a bit odd). Eventually it warmed up enough for me to get
started and I headed to Rutherglen for an R, then Urana and Uranquinty for U x
2 and The Rock for a T. With all the
spelling letters obtained I headed through Wagga and onto Ladysmith for the
last FarChallenge pic for this ride…and there was a black GTR1400 that is not black (lol) coming the
other way… gotta be a FarRider surely.
Sure enough, I pulled up at the Ladysmith sign to see where the pic was
supposed to be and Gus (from WA) pulled up, I had thought it might be him. He’d come up from Eden that morning over the
Awesome Road (aka Snowy Mountains Highway).
Dude, no way I would go there in winter!!! But he had a good run so that
is good. Wished him well in his travels,
got my pic and then it was a beeline for home.
Got in about 4pm and spent another age in the shower… I love my
shower!
