Border Run 2009

I haven’t done a blog for a while… mainly because for the month of July the ONLY riding I did was around town (the biggest day was a ride from home to Mitchell to Fyshwick and back home… or the trip to Kambah where I stayed overnight before returning home!).  So I was a little concerned about my ‘ride fitness’ for the Border Run… anyway…

Leave was in and it was absolutely mental at work in the weeks leading up.  On the Friday before I was due to leave I heard from Robbie (ZXRobyn) that her leave had been approved so we arranged to meet at Dubbo on Tuesday arvo/evening.

Monday I left coffee and went home and packed.  Tuesday I was hoping to get away from work by 1pm so I could go home, put everything on the bike and scoot off to Dubbo. 

Tuesday 28 July 2009

Tuesday was not much different from the previous two weeks but by 12:30pm I was pretty well sorted.  My boss came back from Court so a few things sorted out for her and I was out the door just after 1pm.  Home, lubed the chain, loaded up the bike and I was on the road about 2:10pm. 

I headed out on the Barton and as I was heading to Yass it just got greyer and greyer and colder and colder… brrrrr.  I thought I was going to make history and NOT have to stop in Boorowa but by the time I got there I did… though for once I didn’t take a photo of my bike outside the toilets at the rest area in Boorowa :)  Fuel at Cowra, little break at Molong to text Robbie and let her know where I was then into Dubbo.  I pulled up outside Oporto and checked my phone - I had thought Robbie would beat me to Dubbo but no, she was still a fair while away so I looked up and was parked outside a motel… that’ll do!  A hot shower (awesome) and Oporto for dinner (not so awesome) and I settled down to wait for Rob.  She turned up frozen solid.  We chatted for a bit but it was an early night as we planned to do our 1000km day on the Wednesday.

Wednesday 29 July 2009

The alarms went off at stupid o’clock and we got up and got sorted, ready to get underway as soon as it was reasonably light. 

Motel at Dubbo

Yeah, we were probably a bit behind schedule.  Up the road to the servo to get our start receipt, we begged “half a pen” (a broken pen was given to us) so we could record our odo’s and then it was time to get this show on the road!  We headed out towards Narromine and just out of Dubbo the temperature plummeted and the fog set in… fkn brrrrrrrrr.  The 9 wasn’t too happy with me along here, carrying on as she does in the cold (and spitting unburnt fuel at Robbie who was following… hehehe).  The next stop was to be Nyngan for fuel but we pulled up in the sun at Nevertire for a quick smoke and to warm up a little.

Nevertire, NSW

Onwards, etc, we cruised through to Nyngan where it was breakfast time (pies and sausage rolls) before continuing on towards Cobar.  Saw the turnoff for Bourke… was tempted and thinking about it after, shoulda headed for Bourke… ah well… next time.  We got into Cobar and found a good photo opportunity.  Met a lovely older couple who kindly took our photo on our cameras so we could both be in the pic, and we returned the favour. 

Cobar, NSW

Went for fuel in Cobar and had a look at Robbie’s rear tyre… oh dear… that’s gonna need replacing *very* soon.  We decided to “take it easy” and we should be able to get a tyre in Broken Hill, the next bike shop, some 460km down the road.

Then onto Wilcannia… well that’s a different town hey.  Heading towards Wilcannia we had passed a dude on a BMW and he pulled up at the servo in Wilcannia with us… he’d just flown over from Perth and picked the bike up in Newcastle and was riding home - not going to the border run.  Bit of a chat, quick smoke and then we were out of there when the locals started to gather…

We stopped at a little roadhouse at Emmdale (the only place on this trip where I didn’t have mobile service!) and put a couple of litres in before heading into Broken Hill.  There were a few “bends” coming into Broken Hill which took me a bit to remember how to corner! LOL.  We stopped at the first bike shop we came across… biggest tyre they had was a 160 - that won’t do.  But they pointed us in the direction of another bike shop so off we went.  Of course it was the local Kawasaki dealer :o)

Magic Motorcycles, Broken Hill, NSW

We went in and chatted to the dude… nope they didn’t have anything either.  We went back outside to consider our options… the tyre really was looking pretty shagged… did we press on to Port Augusta and hope that they had a tyre (and hope that Rob’s tyre didn’t give out on the way there… it was another 400 odd kays away) or do we stay in Broken Hill and get one freighted up?  We decided on the freighting option… and then bugger - we’d missed the freight truck by 10 minutes!  We were still outside talking about this when a dude on a Harley rocked up… he heard us talking, got his phone and called his mate “dude, you’ve got those pirelli road bike tyres up in your shed how much do you want…” so Harley Dude saved the day!  We followed him round to his mate’s place where Robbie was presented with a brand new Bridgestone something (touring tyre) that had obviously been sitting for a while but was absolutely perfect for what we were out there doing… $60 to the dude and $20 to the bike shop to fit it and we were sorted…

how to carry a spare tyre

or so we thought.  We already had around 750km up and were aiming for Peterborough to make up our 1000km… but then it took FOREVER for them to put a tyre on the bike… we were watching it get later and later and later… Harley Dude turned up again and told us we’d be made to keep going that day, he’d lost a few mates to the roos out on the road to Yunta… so we decided to stay in Broken Hill and get another early start and do our 1000km on Thursday (I remembered from last year that Broken Hill to Streaky Bay via Port Lincoln was over 1000km). 

So off to the West Darling Hotel (I think it’s called - same place I stayed last year).  And the prices have gone up a bit!!!!!!!!!  Anyway we got our bikes parked and there were a heap of other bikes parked around… including this one…

BMW

Upstairs, got changed and it was definitely way past Bourbon O’clock so to the bar!!!! and then bourbon and chatting to the riders… chatting to the ashphalt workers was more fun though :o)

Too much bourbon meant that I didn’t really want dinner so it was chicken nuggets for me and spring rolls for Rob.  Then not long after to bed.

Thursday, 30 July 2009

We were supposed to be on the road at 7am… but we found breakfast in the dining room downstairs so we were a little late starting.

Back of the pub, Broken Hill

We fuelled up, I think about half an hour after our 7am leave time???? and headed off.  It was very sunny and just beautiful.  A quick stop at Cockburn for a photo…

Cockburn... NSW?SA?

(yep I managed to block Robbie’s bike out of my photo!!!!!) before continuing on… after  a while Robbie came flying past me… she pulled over, and I followed… more photos!  I looked back and it was just stunning.  (the pics don’t do it justice but what the hell… it’s my blog and I like photos so I’m putting it in anyway).

Barrier Highway, SA

We fuelled up in Yunta, then in Peterborough we stopped to put on the wet weather gear as it was looking nasty in the direction we were heading… over Horrock’s Pass and into Port Augusta where we stopped at the roadhouse for fuel and ended up staying for lunch (super awesome burgers… but they took a while to come out).  As we were getting ready to head off a big black BMW tourer pulls in… it’s not until we see the stripes on his shoulders that we realise it’s a copper!  Quick chat to him then he takes off and so do we. 

Heading down towards Whyalla, just before the Iron Knob/Kimba/etc turnoff there is a burnt out semi parked in the truck parking… WTF????? no time to stop though, we are on a mission now!  we rolled through Whyalla and onto Cowell for fuel (no time for pies though, I have a note at work that the Cowell Bakery has awesome pies, thanks Toura!  I’ll have to come back) and a quick cable tie to the ventura rack as we noted the bolt had come out of Rob’s rack and it was a bit loose.  There had been some rain and the roads were a bit wet and we passed in and out of showers as we headed down to Port Lincoln.  Port Lincoln was a busy little place and I couldn’t wait to get back out onto the open road so it was a quick fuel stop and smoke and then on our way.  Robbie had changed visors here as it was starting to get pretty late and it would probably be dark before our next stop at Elliston.

We had some visibility issues along here, riding directly into the sun and the roads being soaking wet so throwing extra glare up at us.  Eventually the conditions got better and then we pulled up at ummmm somewhere for some more photos (and I finally changed my visor!)

And another cuz it’s pretty…

Clouds

Onto Elliston and it was pretty much dark and starting to rain again.  Bugger.  Fuel and a smoke and it was on to Streaky Bay.  Robbie had the better headlights so she was in the lead… through the suicide bunnies, the rain and one roo and 130km later we were in Streaky.  Thankfully, cuz I was beat!  The odo showed we had done 1090km for the day so not bad.  I had been meaning to message Alli all day to get her to let Jacqui know we were gonna be in Streaky that night (I only ever remembered while I was ON the bike…) but by the time we got to Streaky I was beat so it was quick, get a room, get changed, no time for a shower cuz dinner would be over, so I had a steak and mash and some veggies from the veggie bar and it was pretty good.  Not long after it was off to bed.

Friday 31 July 2009

Now that we had done our 1000km day we could kick back and have a flower sniffin’ day - we thought about it and decided we had a few options… keep heading west, go look at the whales and stay at Nullarbor RH for the night, stop in at the whales then head to Border Village for the night or maybe even over to Eucla.  We would play it by ear as even if we went to Eucla it was still only some 600km for the day. 

We headed off and the sun was shining (yay!) and just as we came back to the Eyre Highway, Robbie pulled over - she couldn’t find her fuel tap, and sure enough it was missing!  Was it stolen? Did it fall off?  We’ll never know… we were about 5km out of Ceduna so she hopped back on but about 2km up the road it spluttered and died… which was really strange as my bike had been generally either using the same amount of fuel (when it was warm) or up to 2L more than Rob’s (when it was cold).  We pulled out the pliers, turned the tap round to reserve and waited for it to trickle down…

Into Ceduna and we went to the BP where Rob put in near 2L more than me!!!! Don’t know what happened there (we are both on ZX9R’s for those who don’t know…. her’s is a year newer than mine).  We were still debating the wet weather gear… it was grey but we thought it wouldn’t last long… we were wrong but it was okay.  Out to Penong where we stopped for fuel again and shared a sausage roll (good) and a can of Mother (bad).  We probably should have put the wets on here but it doesn’t rain out here!!! how can we need wet weather gear???  

We continued on, it rained on and off which was a bit novel, past Nundroo, past Yalata and we pulled up eventually for a bit of a break… when is the Nullarbor going to start????

Eyre Highway

and yes… I even had mobile reception out here!  At Penong there had been a bunch of BMW riders who were going to overnight at Nullarbor RH… we decided (I’m not sure when or how… it might have been by ESP) that we were also going to overnight at Nullarbor RH and we HAD to beat the BMW riders there to ensure we got a room! 

Anyway, the BMW riders hadn’t yet been seen so we hopped back on and continued on to the Eastern Edge of the Nullarbor Plain where much hilarity ensued with Robyn and I trying to get the perfect self-portrait…

Eyre Highway

self portraits R us

 While we were here mucking around with self-portraits the BMW riders came past… and it was only about 10 or 15km to the roadhouse! so we jumped back on the bikes, and went hell for leather… overtaking the leader just before the RH (not that we had to worry about accommodation it turned out… well it was a bit of fun anyway).

When we pulled up we got talking (as you do) to a couple of truckies - one had splattered a big red roo the night before so we went and checked out the gore on the front of his truck, then another truckie let us have a go of climbing up into his cabin and pulling the Magic Cord to make the horns go … that was cool!!

We decided to be tight-arses and go the “backpacker” accommodation… which was a donga with a bed and a light switch (well three beds) and it also had a wardrobe that wasn’t advertised, not that we were game to open it up!  Didn’t actually get a photo of the interior but it was an adventure!

Our donga at Nullarbor RH

 We got changed and then made our way to the bar  I ordered two cans of Jimmy and handed him a $20.00 note… and he said “it’s $21.00″.  !!  So not much Jimmy was drunk!  We sat out the front and watched the world go by for a while, chatting with whoever turned up…

Before long the sun was going down… spectacular.  I’m not sure which is more impressive… sun going down on the ocean or on the Nullarbor… and we got a bit more practice on the self-portraits! LOL

The 9 enjoys the sunset

Sunset from our luxury accommodations

... and the self-portrait

 The excitement of the sunset over, we headed back to the bar for dinner (mixed grill - fantastic!) actually I have noted before, at the Nullarbor RH the food is really, really expensive… but it is VERY good and plentiful.  My mixed grill was no exception, cost me about the same as the porterhouse steak from the night before but was about a billion times better! :D  We got talking to a dude (Pete) who had bought…. I can’t remember what, some cruiser, in Sydney(?) and was riding it back to Albany… sound familiar?  LOL different dude.  He didn’t know about the Border Run and was in a bit of a rush so wasn’t going to stop at Border Village.  Eventually we called it a night and headed off to our luxury accommodations.  Linen was provided but we errrr decided on sleeping in our sleepings bags was a better option… tucked into bed and there was a magpie outside who was confused about the time of day and kept singing and singing… quite pleasant and then I heard scratching sounds on the wall around my head… shone my torch but couldn’t see any bugs… I think next time I’ll fork out for the motel room!  For all that this was the best night’s sleep of the trip…

Saturday 1 August 2009

Woke up and went in search of coffee… came back to find the sun coming up in almost as spectacular a fashion as it had gone down the night before… get back to the donga to find Robbie gone… she’s off with the camera already so I grabbed mine and we watched the sun come up…

Golf anyone?

Robbie

Of course there was another self-portrait!

Our musical friend came to watch the sunrise with us

We finished our coffees, packed up our stuff and headed off to Head of Bight to check out the whale action.  The ride out was just beautiful, I really love the Nullarbor Plain!  We paid our $12.00 entry fee and had the whole place to ourselves (well at first).  We went down and there were heaps of whales but none wanted to pose particularly well for the cameras…

Whale

Bit of educationamal stuff… this whale was floating around on her back and occasionally slapping her flippers into the water which made an incredible sound… she does this cuz she doesn’t want to suckle her baby or mate… so it’s a whales way of saying “fuck off and leave me alone” which I quite like.  We watched the whales for a while and also admired the scenery for a bit…. gorgeous bit of the world really….

coastline

 We geared back up and headed back to the Nullarbor Roadhouse for breakfast and the guys were surprised (and I think a little concerned!) to see us back so soon but we assured them we were fine, just been sight-seeing.  After a bit we figured it was time to head on to Border Village, only 180ish km up the road.  So off we went… Robbie wanted a photo of her bike in front of this sign but when we pulled up she couldn’t get her bike parked in a good spot so I took this one…

Camels and wombats and roos, oh my!

 Ever onwards but with only 180km to go we stopped a couple of times… once just in the middle of nowhere because we could 

Oh yeah!

It was quite warm by this stage!  Goodbye Winter! (for now…)  Next stop was a little more scenic…

The Bight

 and then it was only about 20km to Border Village!  We rolled into the car park of the BP being filmed (I think) by Gags and Bazz.  We got off, said our hellos and organised our camp spot (I had decided I was happy to pay $15.00 for two of us to camp at the roadhouse as opposed to across the road…) so we went out the back and picked out our spot and set up camp… turns out we have the same tent as well, just a slightly different model (much like our bikes LOL)

Camp at Border Village

Showers were $2.00 and we set off for our showers… and I swear this was the best shower of the trip! and that little $2.00 coin went along way… I did all manner of girly things in that shower and I was out and had dried my hair and was half dressed before my money ran out. 

So refreshed it was time to head over to the roadhouse and being socialising.  It was warm enough to just be wearing a t-shirt and jeans, YAY!!  Back and had a bit of a chat with Bazz and Gags and met GusZX14 and caught up with Dene, Richard and John from Canberra, and met Muttley and Ken and then Billy’s mate Mark introduced himself (hi Mark!) and we met about a billion other people of course.  We talked and talked and then went across the road to see the Tonka Trucks which were awaiting escorts before they could continue on…

Tonka Trucks!

The sun went down on another day and we eventually had dinner… and then a pretty early night.  Everyone was talking about how cold it was going to be but it wasn’t all that bad really. 

Sunday 2 August 2009

I had a pretty good night’s sleep, not so for Robyn who just had a sleeping bag on the ground (I had a self-inflating mattress and a pillow!  Anyway we were up reasonably early (on central west time or whatever it is) and we headed over to the roadhouse for coffee and breakfast and sat around for a while before heading back and packing up the tents and getting on the road again… after a few more pics of course…

Border Village

We rode straight through to Nullarbor RH where we filled up and some dude with a caravan asked if he could take my pic, we had overtaken them and he was amazed that I was a girl… (he missed Robbie obviously)… so I stuck my helmet on top of my head and he took a pic… then it was more talk talk talk with all the riders there … on dude recognised me from meeting me up near Winton last year!  Which was pretty amazing. 

From Nullarbor it was a pretty uneventful run, there were a bunch of people stopped at Nundroo so big waves as we went past there, we stopped at Penong where we saw Col (who me and Alli made friends with last year) and Muttley as well as Dene, Rick and John so we chatted with all them for a while before heading on… they were all planning on staying in Kimba, me and Robbie were just playing it by ear, hoping to make it a bit further.  We stopped at Poochera for fuel and Ken pulled in on his black GTR1400.  Dene, Rick and John all came by just while we were getting ready to leave so we got going, Ken was still talking to some dude.  We quickly caught up to the Canberrians and sat with them for a while but their pace was going up and down a bit much for our liking so we overtook them all and continued on our way… after a while I looked in my mirrors and saw a bike behind me… now anyone who has seen my bike knows I have pretty useless mirrors so it took me a while to figure out it was Ken… hi Ken!  We all pulled up at Kimba and there was no Premium!!!!!  We debated for a minute but decided to just run standard… not much choice really!  Muttley had been there when we got there and already taken a room at the servo… Robbie and I went to check out the pub and got a room there, Ken continued on to Adelaide.  We went to leave and Robbie’s bike would not start.  Electrics were all on but the starter just wouldn’t start it.  We pushed her while she tried to clutch start it… failed but then the starter worked.  Weird.

We got our room sorted got changed and then back to the bar (fancy that!).  I felt like something different and got one of those bottled Midori Illusion things and it was only $5!!!!! wow.  Anyway quick drink and then it was back to the rooms for showers then back for dinner by whcih time Muttley had shown up along with some other riders and Col was there and then Dene Rick and John all turned up.  We ordered our dinner and then realised we should all combine onto the largest table, to the confusion of the bar staff… it was a FANTASTIC feed and a very decent price - how good was the pumpkin!!!! (yes, a vegetable that I like…) I ate waaaay too much and then was very sleepy so it was soon after that I went to bed… it was really nice sitting around chatting with everyone… and a bit strange to be sitting there with Dene… she was one of my instructors when I did my L’s course all those years ago! LOL.

Monday 3 August 2009

The alarms were set for 6am… they went off and it was still dark so I kept hitting snooze until about 6:30 and it was still dark… went outside and it was foggy, that would explain why it was still dark!  We packed up and got ready to hit the road…

Kimba, SA

Muttley had said he would call by at about 7am in case Rob’s bike didn’t start again… and it didn’t but we had got it going just before he turned up.  He checked that we were okay then pulled up to clean his visor and we left to take the obligatory halfway across australia photo (well obligatory for me!)

Halfway across Australia

We continued on and it got COLD!!!!!! the 9 was complaining again and even Rob’s 9 was complaining along here (mine is much more temperamental than hers…)  So we froze our way to wards Iron Knob and then the sun came out to blind us (couldn’t see a fkn thing).  Pulled up at the rest area where the burnt out truck was but it was gone already so no pic of that… quick smoke break to defrost a bit and change visors then into Port Augusta for fuel.  Pulled up at the BP and fuelled up, grabbed a pie and a V for breakfast and settled down in the sun to eat my pie.. Muttley turned up and informed us that it had been flicking between 0 and 1 degree between Kimba and Iron Knob… no wonder the 9 had been complaining!

Eventually we got underway again, leaving Muttley at the servo… I took off first and got a bit up the road and Robbie wasn’t behind me… WTF???? I eventually got to a point where I could pull over safely, nope she’s not in sight so a quick u-turn and then flew back towards Port Augusta fearing the worst… there she is on the side of the road with Muttley… bike is upright, and so is she, that’s a good start… but her 9 is not happy… she was riding along then it went clunk and sounded like a tractor for abit then stopped.  Now it will fire up but won’t run and belches out clouds of white smoke…

On the side of the road...

so we call the RAA (like the NRMA) and settle in to wait… Muttley puts in a call to a mechanic mate who says it’s either a fuel problem or a piston problem… the tow truck driver arrives and says it’s likely to be serious… oh no!  We get the bike loaded up on the truck (now that was scary) and I followed it back into the bike shop in Port Augusta after we said goodbye to Muttley who was heading back to Renmark.

Here is Muttley who tried to hide from my camera...

We’d just unloaded the bike and the dude at the bike shop says to me… where did you fill up?  I told him where… he asked did she use the pump closest to the truck side? and I said yeah… he said she got a tank full of diesel.  We didn’t believe him at first but it was true… apparently it happens all the time, there is not any kind of warning that you usually have with diesel pumps at servos and it is a bit misleading apparently… anyway abit of time later and Rob’s 9 is good to go… though we are now waaaay behind time (Rob wanted to get back into Sydney earliesh Tuesday arvo so she could kick back for a bit. 

We headed back up Horrock’s Pass and then down to Burra through Boorooloo Centre and Jamestown.  Nice roads!  We filled up at Burra and then three of the boys on BMW’s we had met at the Border (Bruce, Bob and Bourky) all turned up so we chatted for a bit, then we took off, we sat with them for a little bit but then we went past and did our own thing (then when we pulled up for a smoke they went past and we caught up with them just out of Renmark).  We pulled in for fuel at Renmark and they kept going.  Fuelled up and on our way to Mildura… the sun went down on our way so we had to stop for some quick photos…

Sun goes down on another day...

It was very cold and dark by the time we got into Mildura so we decided to call it a day (we had been hoping to make Hay…)  We got fuel first and asked at the servo if the girl there could recommend a good pub with accommodation and she couldn’t think of any pub with accommodation but she sent us to some hotel… we got there and their cheapest room was $105  but they directed us to another motel with “budget rooms” which was still $80.00 but that will do… showers and a quick relax before setting off to the pub for dinner… it wasn’t very publike!  Anyway the food was good, and then back to the room for an early night as we still had a fairly big day on the Tuesday (would be over 1000km for Rob, about 800 for me).

Tuesday 4 August 2009

We were underway pretty early with the sun just up.  We stopped quickly at Euston as it was FREEZING and then onto Balranald for fuel and breakfast.  It was beautiful sitting there in the sun but we still had a lot of kays to go so we continued on…

Balranald

We then crossed the Hay Plain Green - amazing how green it was out there, so I renamed it the Hay Green.  Fuel in Hay and then onto Narranderra, stopping quickly along the way at a rest area where we had a bit of a chat with an RTA dude who was also a rider

On the Sturt Highway

We had lunch at Narranderra, burgers are great! and then headed up to Grong Grong and through some gorgeous little towns and into Junee.  The country side between Junee and Cootamundra was rather different from when we went through there in June!

Olympic Highway

 It was getting greyer and greyer as we were heading along, so I pulled up in Cootamundra to get into the wet weather pants…

Cootamundra

 From there it was an easy run through Harden and Binalong before we pulled up at Yass to say our goodbyes.  Robyn still had some 270km to go and I was a mere 50km from home 

Didn’t want the trip to end, we each had sulky moments during the day “but I don’t WANNA go home” but it must be done (if we want to pay for the next one!).

Another awesome trip and Robyn makes a fantastic travelling companion.  I did around 5300km for the whole trip and have a very worn out front tyre and loved every minute of it.  Can’t wait til next year’s border run!