There and Back Again

So… after having had the SP2 for a little while I decided it wasn’t the bike for me, perhaps it was time to leave the sportsbikes behind and go to something a little more touring oriented.  After receiving various suggestions, Miss Behave from FarRiders pointed out that she had a Triumph Sprint ST1050 for sale which was technically her husband’s, and he had always wanted an SP2… they were worth about the same, perhaps we could do a straight swap?  Awesome!  Except… she’s in Perth!  Right, road trip time!  I read up on the Sprint and it seemed pretty suitable, there were none for sale in Canberra at the time but I test rode an older 955 and it seemed alright :o).  So after much discussion and not much planning, I was due to leave Canberra on Boxing Day to head to Perth to swap for the Sprint.

Day 1 - Canberra to Adelaide - 1179km

Ready to Roll

Friday was forecast to be a scorcher so I planned to get an early start.  I sat up far too late packing up the bike so my departure time was pushed back by nearly an hour, I think I was on the road by about 5:45am.  It was a cool morning and I headed off up the Barton towards Yass.  Saw a couple of bunnies and there was very little traffic.  Stopped at Gundagai for fuel then onto Narranderra for more fuel.  It was getting warm by this stage so the jumper was lost.  Onto Hay and it was getting HOT now.  Now to cross the Hay Plain.  I love the country out here, it’s so empty, just endless blue skies and very few people :o)

Hay Plain

Got into Balranald and it was stinking hot now.  Managed to find an unoccupied bit of shade at the servo for my smoke break, drank a hell of a lot of water, then into the toilets where my top was stripped off and soaked as was my headband :o)  Next stop was supposed to be Mildura but the heat was really taking it out of my - I experienced my first real fatigue ever on this stretch of road it was all I could do to keep my eyes open and my mind focussed on what I was doing.  I stopped at Euston and headed down to the river and had a bit of a nap on the banks of the Murray River… there are worse places to kick back for a rest.  It was really lovely.  Still stinking hot.  OK after being munched on by the ants for a while, I got back in the saddle and continued onto Mildura for fuel and some KFC (yeah, a Zinger burger in stupid hot temperatures, good move Mel).  I thought about stopping as I was still feeling really drained but decided to push on for Renmark.  As I neared Renmark the temperature finally started to drop a bit and it was quite pleasant.  I got fuel at Renmark and then headed to the river to consult my map, I was feeling much fresher and thought maybe I could continue on. 

I parked the bike and sat down on the grass.  Then my spidey senses went off, there was a bloke closely examing my bike… he came over, he rides as well so we chatted for a while about various rides and bikes as you do, before he went over my maps with me.  He told me the route I had planned to take (backroads to Morgan and then onto Burra) were heavily roo infested and I’d be mad to go that way tonight.  So instead I decided to head down the main highway to Waikerie and hole up there for the night before going and crossing the ferry into Morgan.  So off I went and it was really pleasant now :o) 

At a lookout over the Murray River:

The Mighty Murray River

There were storm clouds brewing and it was getting towards dark so I was looking forward to getting into Waikerie, even though I was feeling much fresher.

Got into Waikerie and followed the signs to the Caravan Park… the sign was up OFFICE CLOSED.  Bugger.  Okay, well I’d passed a motel on my way in so I scooted around the town a bit before heading back to the motel.  The reception door was locked and I couldn’t raise any response.  Bugger.  OK so headed back out to the main road, had a smoke and decided fark it, I’ll just stick to the main highway until I find some accommodation.  Switched back to the clear visor and I was off.  Got to Blanchetown and topped up the fuel.  Asked the guy in the servo and he said there was no accommodation.  Went to the cafe and got a pie, was eating my pie when a guy came up, looked at me, looked at the bike, looked back at me “you’ve ridden here from the ACT?!!??!” he says.  “Well yes” says I.  He was very impressed and later brought all his mates over to look at the madwoman who had ridden from Canberra.  Nevermind the fact that I wasn’t even halfway to where I was going yet!

Kept going, thought Gawler looked pretty big but it was all bypassed and everywhere looked like suburbia and I figured I would probably get lost if I started poking around down there.  From my map it looked like I had to turn off soon so I was keeping an eye out for signs for Port Augusta or even more helpful, Perth.  Saw one for Port Wakefield but I didn’t know where that was so kept going.  Gradually the traffic increased and there were heaps of McDonalds everywhere… not a good sign.  I pulled up at a servo and asked the dude “where am I” he looked at me like I was mad (though it was after 11pm on a Friday night so maybe he thought I was drunk?) so I tried again, asking “am I in Adelaide?” and he said yes.  Ok so I accidentally went to Adelaide.  That’s a new one for me!  Went back out, consulted my map and saw where I had to go.  I was still feeling pretty good so thought about pushing on for Port Augusta but while I was in transit I had had a text message from Alli who lives in Adelaide so I called her and confused her greatly when I told her I was in Adelaide.  She directed me on how to get to the city and she would meet me there.  I scooted into the city and waited for her near the big xmas tree.  She collected me and led me out to her house where we sat up pretty late chatting, as you do. :o)

Day 2 - Adelaide to Poochera - 634km

Woke up pretty late after the lateish night the night before.  We sat around drinking coffee and chatting as you do.  Alli decided she would ride with my part of the way so eventually we were ready to go (maybe about 10:30am?)  I was still in a bit of pain from the day before (arse and right hand).  We stopped up the road for fuel then continued onto Port Wakefield for some food then to a roadhouse near the turn off for Port Pirie.  There was a bike copper there (Neil) who we chatted with for about half an hour, he was really lovely and had some good stories.  He was pleased to meet two girls who actually ride!  After Neil left we got some cold drinks and sat in the shade watching the world go by… there was nothing out there but the road and the roadhouse :o).  Eventually we decided it was probably time to hit the road, Alli headed back to Adelaide and I continued onto Port Augusta, getting there around 3pm.  Not making very good time today!

Fuel at Port Augusta then onto Kimba.  I loved making that right turn just after Port Augusta, and love the countryside around Iron Knob.  One day I will actually pull into Iron Knob and have a poke around!  Stopped at Kimba for the obligatory “halfway across australia photo”

Halfway across Australia

Got fuel and then onto Poochera, where I got to the roadhouse just before it closed so no dinner for me there.  Headed over to the pub which was actually open this time! and for $8.00 I had a spot in the caravan park behind it.  Their kitchen had also closed about half an hour earlier so it was a packet of chicken chips and a coke for dinner… go health :o).  The mozzies were out in force so it wasn’t long before I crawled into the swag.

Day 3 - Poochera to Caiguna - 965km

I was going to explore new country today (I hoped)!  I set off towards Ceduna, where I stopped for fuel and a pie, then onto Penong for fuel again and the FarRider TAG photo :o)

Penong

From here I had decided that I was going to stop *everywhere* for fuel :o).  First stop Nundroo where they have that biofuel (whatever that might be).  It wasn’t far up the road so it would only be a few litres.  I pulled up next to the pump, opened the tank and had just picked up the nozzle when some dude says “are you sure you want to use that in your bike”?  I told him it was only a couple of litres and he said that would be fine then.  That’s what I had thought!  Next stop Nullarbor Roadhouse.  I love it so much out there just all that empty space… love it love it love it.  Pity about the pain I was in LOL.  I was stopping fairly regularly, I tried to keep it just once between fuel stops though.  The Nullarbor Roadhouse is notoriously expensive, and now they require you to hand them your licence before they turn the pumps on as they have been having a few drive offs recently.  I was hungry so went next door and paid a huge amount for a chicken, cheese and avocado sandwich and a drink.  When they handed me my sandwich it looked more like a hamburger they had packed so much into it!  Awesome.  A bit of a rest and I continue on to Border Village.  There were two harleys parked out the front here but I never saw them.  I knew the fuel at Eucla was usually cheaper but I decided to get fuel at Border Village anyway because I really wanted to get off the bike!  A quick photo at the border…

SA/WA Border

I passed Eucla and then I was into new territory, hurrah!  Came down Eucla pass and it is like a part of the earth just sank… pretty spectacular.  Mundrabilla for fuel, then start heading up Madura Pass.  I am in too much pain to appreciate it and pull into Madura for fuel and a bit of a break.  Then onto Cocklebiddy.  I really liked Cocklebiddy and almost stayed there but there was still a fair bit of daylight left so pushed on.  Got to Caiguna, finally convinced my legs that they wanted to get me off that bike.  I knew the 90 mile straight was between Caiguna and the next stop and the sun would be in my eyes for the trip from here on so I decided to call it a day and $15.00 saw me a little spot for my swag out the back of the roadhouse. 

Awesome dinner at the roadhouse, possibly the most messy burger I have ever eaten!  Got talking to a german girl who was travelling round Australian on her own in a station wagon.  I was planning on waiting up to see the stars out in their fully glory but I was too tired so went to bed not long after the sun.

Day 4 - Caiguna to Southern Cross - 727km

I had parked my bike next to a bush which had a nice seat-sized rock next to it.  I loaded the bike up and sat on this rock for ages.  I did not want to get on the bike and the rock was more comfortable!  Eventually I got on and off we went.  I was determined to do the 90 mile straight in one hit and I did!  I passed an unmarked copper along here as well, lucky I was behaving this trip :o).  A few  stretches of standing up and letting go of the throttle to shake my right hand saw me across.  I pulled up at the end and had quite a long break then into Balladonia for a quick pie then onto Norseman. 

It had been quite cool on the paddock crossing but it was very hot in Norseman (perhaps just by comparison?).  I ditched the jumper here and made a few phonecalls now that I was back in range.  I met a couple who were riding harleys here, they recommended that I go up to Kalgoorlie for the night and go “shopping”.  well “shopping” doesn’t really do it for me, though I was interested in going to Kalgoorlie but that would have made it a fairly long day the next day which I really didn’t want.  I thought that I could push on and make it to Perth that night… but I decided to just get within a few hundred km so I could be refreshed for the morning when I was to meet Fran for the first time (I was felling sore, and feral and quite cranky and very antisocial right then!).  I had been debating whether to go left or right at the T-intersection, I rang my sister and got her to look up the weather forecast for me for Kalgoorlie - 34 today, 38 tomorrow and 40 the day after.  34 sounds alright so I turned right :o)

On the Esperence-Coolgardie Highway

I decided to skip Kalgoorlie and headed for Coolgardie.  Coolgardie is a pretty nice looking little town, a huge wide main street and some pretty old buildings.  I had a good look around as I rolled through, grabbed some fuel and found a little bit of shade for a break.  The next stretch to Southern Cross was 180km and I was suffering a fair bit so I allowed myself two breaks in this stretch.  Luckily for me there were shady rest areas at 60km intervals - perfect.  Got into the Southern Cross BP and asked the dude about a cheapish motel… he said the place I want to go is the Railway Tavern - just been taken over a few months back by lovely new owners, $25.00 would see me a bed for the night.  I forgot that one of the reasons I wanted a motel was so that I didn’t have to lug my stuff up the stairs at a pub but anyway.  Found the Railway Tavern, parked the bike and walked in the front door.  There were four or five blokes at the bar who instantly started questioning me about the bike etc.  I finally got to speak to Jo (the owner) and she took my details for the room but she was there by herself at that time and wanted to check the room first so I said I would move the bike around the back then have a drink til she was able to sort me out, no worries.

Bike moved, I walked back into the pub from the other side and the boys immediately demanded to buy me a drink… they weren’t happy that all I wanted a coke!  I wondered if they were lacking in some senses as I was looking and smelling very feral LOL but I guess that’s beer goggles for you.  It was quite amusing, one of them would start talking to me, then another one would grab my attention then the first one would get the shits.  I eventually got the shits with the lot of them so left and by then Jo had some assistance so at last - shower!  Felt much refreshed by then.  Dinner and watched “The Rich List” with some other dude who was in the pub before heading to bed.

Day 5 - Southern Cross to Perth - 380km

I woke up fairly early.  Fran and I had agreed that we’d head towards each other and keep in touch via text message as to where we were.  We eventually crossed paths at Tammin while I was getting fuel :o)

Tammin

Before continuing West.  We stopped at the Ettamogah Pub:

Ettamogah Pub

and continued down the Great Eastern Highway (I think it’s called) to Mandaring (we stopped somewhere else that I’m not going to try and spell before then).  We turned off at Mandaring and there were corners!  We visited a few dams and then Fran led me to a lookout where you could see Perth :o)

Chicken checking out Perth

From there it wasn’t far back to Fran’s place where a cold can of lemonade and losing my riding gear was most welcome!  Warran (Fran’s wonderful husband) was home soon enough and we all just chilled out, when it cooled down a little retreating to the front verandah and chatting the evening away.

The Sprint and the Pig

So I got into Perth on 30 December 2008.

31 December dawned bright and sunny and after a brilliant night's sleep and a bit of relaxing in the morning we set off, Fran on the Sprint and me on the SP2.  We rode around for a little bit before stopping in a big empty car park with a little walk to look out over the dam.  Then it was my turn to ride the Sprint :o)  I took it for a few laps around the car park and I felt that I could handle it okay (it was very big and heavy compared to what I am used to).  So we took off, me taking it very easy at first.  After a very short period of time I started to feel some pain in my right wrist/forearm and also my lower spine :o( NOOOOOOOO this was supposed to be the perfect bike!!!!! It felt a bit better out on the main highway but I could tell this wasn't the bike for me.  I rode it for about 40km before we ended up below a dam wall with a really pretty swimming spot and a "beach".  We chilled out there for a while and thankfully Fran was very understanding about me not wanting the Sprint.  I'm sure it's a very capable bike and it went very well... it just didn't suit me. 

So... what to do now?  I had vowed to myself on the way over that there was no way in hell that I was going to ride the SP2 home... so we went back to Fran's place where she got the Blade and Warran had kindly called a couple of bike shops at Midland for opening hours (til 5:30pm) so we headed into Mach 1 Kawasaki first of all... where they have the 09 models in *drool* they had the *drool* monster energy ZX6R (black with the green seat and monster energy details) *drool* of course waaaaaaaay out of my price range.  I had a shortlist in my head which was: ZX9R (98 or 99), ZX6R (95 - 04), Firestorm (post 2001 when they got a bigger fuel tank), Bandit (I don't know much about these so just "a bandit") and a VFR (as long as it wasn't red).  Mach 1 had a couple of ZRX's which I thought might be okay, they looked over the SP2, had a bit of a chat and came back to me and told me that I would just be insulted by what they could offer me so they weren't going to tell me.  I said that was fine. 

We headed over to The Honda Shop and to be honest I was expecting about the same response and was resolving myself to riding the SP2 home *sob*.  We got there and had a quick look over their stock and a bit of a chat with a few of the sales staff.  They said the perfect bike for me would be a Honda CB600 (a hornet I think?)  I went over and sat on it but it felt waaaaaaay too little.  (Actually one of the guys had also said a CB400 would be perfect :S). 

When we had been walking over to where the bikes were there was a shiny blue Kawasaki ZX9R there - it really stood out amongst all the red and black of their stock.... I said to the guy "what about the kwaka"? and went over and sat on it.  He told me I didn't want to buy that one because it is a heap of shit.  I asked why it was a heap of shit and he said "Because it's a kwaka"  yeah right!!!!  Anyway, I think I fell a little bit in love with the 9 there and then but we went back inside and spoke to one of the managers.  He came back with a price which was pretty low but he said it was the absolute best he could do.  They were closed the next day (being New Years Day) but were open first thing Friday morning.  I told him I would think about it.  And off we went...

We had a pretty quiet evening which was just perfect for me.  The New Years messages started coming through which was pretty funny, being two hours behind :o)  A fairly early night because the next day - we were riding!

A total of about 250km for the day :o)

1 January 2009

Got up pretty early, loaded up the bikes, and we were underway.  I was trialling the sheepskin seat cover that Warran and Fran had designed and manufactured for me the night before (champions!) and it helped quite a bit at first!  We went to Floopers (I'm sure that's not the town) where we were to meet Robyn on her CBR600RR - what a beautiful bike that was - I've never seen one in white!  As Fran pointed out we had three girls on three different champsionship winning Hondas!

Three champions :o)

Our route for the day took in: Dwellingup - Marradong - Quindanning - Boraning - Collie - Mumballup - Charlie Creek - Kirup - Cundinup - Nannup - Ballingup - Bridgetown - Nannup - Augusta.  We stopped and took lots of photos everywhere and when we were at Nannup a dude on a black gumby came through... sounded good, looked good :o)  We went to Bridgetown next and when we pulled up there was a van with a black gumby on the back.... same dude!  Him and his partner (whose Bandit was in the back of the van with a thrown chain) had driven their bikes down from Kambalda(sp?) to do some awesome riding and not destroy their tyres.  (Turns out later that the dude is also on KSRC - it's such a small world!)  We sat around for ages talking, then back into Nannup for another awesome stretch of road :o) 

IsleofNinja & Rosie at Bridgetown

We were running very short on time by this stage so we hauled arse into Augusta then onto the Cape Leeuin lighthouse where we made it with just a few minutes to spare.  We walked up the lighthouse, had a few photos at the meeting of the two oceans before we were kicked out.  We examined the fence to see how we could get around for when we came back to watch the sunset :o)

Can you see the dotted line?

 We headed back into Augusta and got our accommodation sorted.  We relaxed for a bit then headed over to the pub for dinner - we got a menu, sat down, looked at the menu and the prices and got back up and left!  Ridiculous!  Up the road to a takeaway and it was fish and chips all round :o)  We then walked up to the servo (the IGA was closed) for some supplies, then loaded up, back on the bikes and back out to Cape Leeuin to watch my first sun set over the ocean :o)  It was spectacular.  The sun went down and we made our way back to the bikes and then back into Augusta and to the pub for a quiet one before heading to bed. 

What an awesome way to kick off the new year - awesome roads, awesome scenery, AWESOME COMPANY and a beautiful sunset to finish it off :o)

2 January 2009

We got up fairly early and headed off to do the Caves Road.  Spectacular.  Fran picked a spot for us to stop and appreciate the forest, it was so gorgeous! 

Caves Road

A few more good roads and then into Busselton with the traffic - the Kawasaki Dealer there was shut but there was a small Yamaha dealer there that we pulled into - the only road bikes he had was a demo R6 and a very old GSXR1100 (I think).  He kindly rang the Kawasaki dealer in Bunbury who I had a great chat with - he had two possibilities, a 97 ZX9R and a 98 ZX6R.  The 6 sounded pretty good (it was the same colour scheme as Aussie Ninja's old one) but he said he would have some problems with the cash exchange he'd have to give me for the SP2 - fair enough so I thanked him greatly for his time, was awesome of him.  So I made the decision - the ZX9R from the Honda Shop it would be :o)  I rang through and asked them to try and source a ventura rack for me and said I would be in later this afternoon.

We hopped back on and went to Donnybrook to try and find the big apple - we couldn't find it (Fran had stopped at the tourist info place and they had said it was about 1km out of town and we could see it from the highway - we went really slow and none of us spotted it) so onto the next one (I can't remember the town but it was supposed to be a big cow - it was more like a life-sized cow but on a pedestal) so a quick snap there and then onto Harvey for the big orange.  From here Fran and I swapped bikes so I got a go on the Fireblade which was very nice to ride!

Not THE big apple... but some big apples nonetheless

From there it was on to Brunswick Junction for the "big cow" which wasn't really all that big, more life-sized... anyway:

The Big Cow

Next stop - Harvey for the Big Orange:

The Big Orange

Fran and I swapped bikes here for the trip into Floopers - the Blade was very nice to ride!  I particularly like the upright position, made it very comfortable to stand up on (my arse was still giving me grief LOL).  We stopped at Floopers again and farewelled Robyn then a quick stop at Fran's place to offload our luggage and to pick up the bits and pieces for the SP2 and then back to the Honda Shop.  I had rung through the rego and VIN etc details and when we got there, there was a bit of a problem - the REVS check was fine but then they ran the numbers through the Honda Warranty system and the frame and engine numbers didn't match - I unfortunately didn't know much of it's history.  We did mucho waiting outside while they did whatever inside - eventually I got to test ride the 9 :D  It was a bit strange - they have to accompany you on a test ride there!  So I got on the 9 and Glenn (one of the salesmen) got on an older GSX1400 and off we went for a little lap around Midland.  It was over all to quick but I liked how the 9 felt - it felt a little "soft" but I guess after what I'm used to riding that's not surprising!  (Fran told me later, she was outside with a few of the other salesmen so they were watching as we were turning back into their car park - I took the corner and they're all like "maaan she took that corner fast!  That's faster than I would have taken it!"  hehe).  Sean had decided that he wanted to talk to CMC before they could do the deal - and of course with the time difference it was now 6pm in Canberra, no way in hell would anybody be there still, so we did all the paperwork "subject to confirmation" and they were going to call CMC first thing in the morning and let me know.  OK so the pig is with me for another night!  Back to Fran's through the hills :o).

Saturday 3 January 2009 - The day of the new bike!

I woke up pretty early with a message from Stevo - "so what flavour green is it?"  LOL how well I am known!  (It was a bit of a secret).  I got him to text me the number for CMC and I spoke to Seb - told him about what the problem with frame numbers and stuff - he was a bit horrified I think, he had no idea, and wanted me to know that he had known nothing about it.  I said that's cool, just wanted to let them know that they'd be getting a call from the Honda Shop about it in a couple of hours so he was going to talk to Jamie as he'd never heard of anything like this before.  Anyway it must have all been cool because before long I got a call from Glenn of the Honda Shop - it's all good, I can go pick it up! yay! 

Got out there, finalised the paperwork - yay!  I had arranged the night before that Max was going to come out and take a look at it, and he turned up with his mate Murray and they had a really good look over it - at one point Max looks up at me and says "you've already bought this, haven't you?  You should have waited til we looked at it".  Anyway everything was mostly okay, just a weepy right fork seal - Max went back inside and stood over Sean and they agreed that they would fix that up for me at no charge - only problem - they couldn't do it til Monday Morning!  Ah well, there goes being "FarRidden" out of town on the Sunday! LOL. 

the '99 ZX9R - welcome!

Eventually we were done there, we left Max and Murray looking over some beast of a Honda thing and headed for the Swan River - we parked the bikes and it was very touristy so feeling very touristy I went into the souvenir shop and bought some lame bits and pieces for my family - I'm sure they'll love them :o)

We had a bit of a wander around and Fran pointed out bits and pieces to me - then a quick Mrs Mac's and back on the bikes to take the freeway back to her place.  Just as we were pulling in, I looked down and the bracket holding the brake fluid resevoir had broken - bugger!  (Warran kindly knocked me up a new "bling bling" one though :o) ) 

Bell Tower

Through Perth Street Bikes we had an offer to borrow a gearsack rack, so it was into the car and out to Waikiki (yes Waikiki!) to collect it - it was very adjustable so we were hopeful that it would work!  We took a bit of a scenic route on the way back to check out the coastline - very pretty!

Got back and Warran started playing around with the gearsack rack - unfortunately there was no way we could get it to fit without damaging the body work :o( so plan B - get a cargo net and a smallish bag of some sort to strap onto the pillion seat and send the rest of my stuff back on a truck. 

Sunday, January 4

Fran and I left pretty early to head into a shop to try and get a cargo net... instead I came away with soft panniers!  Perfect!

We then headed down the road for the meet point for the ride to lunch, Bowie and Mrs Bowie turned up and we took the scenic route to the Kalamunda Hotel where we were having lunch - Al was there waiting for us (Al who I met just before Winton on my last big trip and who was also stuck in Winton when I was!)  Was good to catch up and reminisce about good ole Winton, QLD!  We sat around for a few hours gasbagging, then Al had to leave and eventually we did too.  Was a great day.

Bikes at Kalamunda

As we had done most evenings, sitting outside on the front verandah killing march flies was a great way to spend a few hours... the local Kangaroo family usually put in a bit of an appearance... check out the studly male!

How you doin'

It was a fairly early night, as Fran and Warran had work the next day, and I had to get to the Honda Shop fairly early.  So my holiday in WA came to a close.

The hospitality of Fran and Warran was just awesome.  The biggest thank you to both of you for putting me up and for putting up with me, and to Fran for patiently leading me into the Honda Shop just about every day and to Warran for all the bits and bobs on the bikes :o)  and Fran... best potato salad EVER!!!! :o)

THE RETURN

Monday, 5 January 2009 - Perth to Lake King 593km

Woke up fairly early, just missed Warran as he left for work, but had a quick coffee with Fran and all to quickly it was time to go. 

Packed and ready to go... again

 Fran led me into the Honda Shop for the last time, we said farewell then she was off to work and I had a bit of a wait ahead of my while they replaced the right forkseal on the 9.  I was hoping that I would be able to leave it loaded up but no, had to take everything off so I claimed a corner and dumped everything there.  Finally, by about 11am(?) I was ready to go!  Headed straight out on the Great Eastern Highway (it is hard to type that, my fingers want to type "Western" LOL) to Meckering for a photo in front of the Big Camera (I had stopped at the same unspellable servo Fran and I had stopped at on my way in and was talking to two blokes there, they reckoned it didn't exist... if only they could somehow see this!)

The Big Camera

From there a short way west and then a turn off for York.  A very nice little country back road... there were a couple of forks in the road, the first one was easy, the second one, well I'm still not sure if I took the right one or not, but eventually it came to an unsignposted but fairly major road where I took a left and I ended up in York so all was good!  Was pretty hot again so I was stopping fairly regularly to rest.  Next stop, Wagin for the "Giant" ram:

The Big Ram

The signs coming into town all referred to, not just the "big" but the "giant" ram.  Not sure what they'd classify the one at Goulburn if this one is "giant" LOL!  Anyway, photo taken and map consulted - next town was Kattaning and then I was to look for a sign for Gnowerangarup (I made up the spelling on that one!).  Before long I was in another town, and saw a turn off for Kattaning... that didn't seem right so after another map consultation I had taken the wrong road out of Wagin... oops!  Ah well might as well keep going.  Got to test the fuel range on the 9 a bit here, as there was going to be a fair stretch without fuel - got to Lake Grace with 278km on the trip metre and still 1.5L to go before reserve - sweet!  Kept going and coming into Lake King - that was an impressive sight - so white and sparkly it looked like ice!  Shame there was no where decent to pull up for a photo.

At a rest area towards Lake King

Got into Lake King and decided to call it a night.  $10.00 saw me with a little patch of sand in the caravan park, the pub next door made good chicken and gravy rolls!  The mozzies were very bad out here, in the lenght of one smoke I killed 17 - and then there's the buggers who got away.  Slept really badly for some reason, and the wind shifted in the night and every time a gust came I got sand blown all over me. 

Lake King

Tuesday 6 January 2009 - Lake King to Madura - 995km

Woke up, packed up and hit the road.  It was cold, and heading towards Ravensthorpe there had been some rain overnight as the road was a bit wet in places.  Stopped in Ravensthorpe for some fuel and the BP tanker pulled up  across the road and came over - "weren't you at cocklebiddy the other day?  But on a different bike?" he says.  Yep that was me!! 

Ravensthorpe

Onto Esperance where I finally remembered to find a bank, then I rode around checking it out for a little bit before pulling up to check my messages and to have a bit of a break.

Esperance

 Meant to get fuel here... but didn't so stopped at Gibson Soak for some fuel and another drink as it was starting to warm up by this stage.

Gibson Soak

Onto Norseman where I had a quick lunch and then turned left :o)  Was very hot by this stage!  Balladonia for fuel and then it was photo time:

90 mile straight

The temperature was starting to drop a bit by now so it was much more pleasant riding.  In fact by the time I got to Caiguna I was ready to add my jumper, so I did.  The lady in the roadhouse there remembered me from my trip across - I was feeling much better this time though still a bit sore (I was still recovering I think!).  After a smoke and a drink I felt good so hopped back on, passed Cocklebiddy and headed for Madura.  The sun was getting pretty low by now and I got sick of watching it in my mirrors so pulled over for a bit, about 20km out of Madura.

Sunset

I had an awesome shot lined up after this, it was just the profile of the front of the bike with the sun behind... and my camera batteries finally gave out.  Hopped back on and did the squinty-eyed ride into Madura at a much lesser pace as it was a bit hard to see now (tinted bug splattered visor/visor up and squinty eyes).  Got into Madura and pulled up at the servo - they're padlocked - turns out they're closed already.  I really wanted to continue but it was too dark so had decided I was going to stay there for the night anyway... this just confirmed it!  Over to the reception area and I got a camping spot, and the last sausage roll (as the food was all over, they were about to close as well).  Found a spot, ate my sausage roll and just lazed about before having a shower and then I just lay on top of my swag looking at the stars - the moon was a bit bright so they weren't spectacular but very pretty all the same.  Eventually crawled inside and slept very well.

Wednesday 7 January 2009 - Madura to Ceduna - 676km.

Woke up and went in search of a coffee... then packed up and went to get my fuel.  I had to check my tyre pressures as I had felt a bit strange yesterday leaving Caiguna, had a close look and the rear was pretty flat.  Bugger.  Filled up then pushed it over the air hose and filled it up.  Started to wipe over the tyre with some water to try and see where the problem was and the guy in the servo came out, so I explained to him and he said to just go to Eucla and get the "green stuff" to put in, he said I'd be right to there.  Rightio, so off I went.  I stopped at Mundrabilla and it looked alright.  Got off and had a coffee with a few of the truckies out there (one of them said to me "you mustn't of had it long" I said how did you know that?  and he said "because you can't take your eyes off it!").  Got into Eucla and they didn't have the green stuff so fueled up and pumped the tyre back up (it had been down to 15psi) and onto Border Village - same deal.

SA/WA border

The Big Kangaroo at Border Village

 Continued on to Nullarbor Roadhouse, where the tyre was down to 15psi again - a quick feed and a TAG photo, pumped up the tyres and underway again.

The big (little?) whale at Nullarbor Roadhouse

Continued on to Nundroo where the tyre was down again - but alas - they had the air hose but no ummm thingy to go on it!  That's right, there's a mechanic there, so went over to see him, he said he can't do bikes but I'd be able to get it sorted in Ceduna.  Penong for fuel and finally I discovered the problem - this time I could hear the air hissing out, and found the nail!  I had my tyre repair in a can with me but I didn't quite trust to the foam to fill up a hole that big, Ceduna was only 70 odd kays down the road so just pumped it up and headed on to Ceduna. 

The guys at the quarantine inspection told me where the two tyre shops were so I rode around, located the Bridgestone place, then treated myself to a motel room (at the back of a servo so I could pump the tyre up before riding to the tyre shop in the morning!  Dinner at the Mobil roadhouse, mixed grill and it was awesome!  I also decided on a new career path while I was there - there was some food show on the telly, this chick just goes around, pretends to be interested in whatever the chefs are doing, then gets to eat all this awesome food.  I want that job.  Back to the motel, phone calls to home now that I was back in service and then early to bed. 

I had had a brief thought of just continuing to do the pump up the tyre everywhere thing as I felt good to go for another few hundred kays but common sense prevailed.

Thursday 8 January 2009 - Ceduna to Pinnaroo - 996km.

Woke up bright and early and was down at the Bridgestone tyre shop by 8am.  The guy said he'd never done a bike tyre before, and that the whole tyre would have to come off and he'd plug it from the inside.  He said he would not plug it from the outside (which was the only way I'd ever heard of tyres being plugged before).  He was there by himself at that time but we got the bike into the workshop, jacked it up and he fixed it up.  He said I could have left the nail in and used the foam to get me out of trouble, but he agreed that removing the nail would have been very bad, so in the end I had done the right thing.  He was done by about 9:15am so back down to the motel, loaded the bike up and on the road. 

Stopped at Wurilla (the town with a secret apparently) for a quick wee break - pity I was still out of batteries because these public toilets are called "the thunderdome".  There is a dodgy photo on my phone that I haven't uploaded yet.  Then onto Poochera for fuel then Kimba (my Kimba photos are also on the phone) then Port Augusta where I finally bought batteries!  Quick call to Alli to confirm that I would see her at Pinnaroo that night and then for Horrock's Pass - yay!  Caught up to a couple of cars there unfortunately, one was particularly slow so I pulled over and gave him a bit of time to get ahead... all too soon I was right behind him again and then at the end.  I was sooooo tempted to turn around and do it again but a) I was on a time limit and b) I'm a little superstitious and cutting laps.  So into Wilmington then Orroroo (what a name!)

Orroroo

From here to Peterborough for fuel and then a little road to Terowie and then into Burra.  Burra was a pretty cool little town but no time for poking around.  Fuel and a quick smoke stop and a bit of a chat to the locals - they reckoned I only had about 200km to go... so wrong! LOL. 

From here into Morgan the road was empty - glorious!

Miles from nowhere

Even though I was in a bit of a rush, I couldn't help but just stop and feel the emptiness... I love it out here so much!  A few photos and a few moments of just standing still - spectacular.   Into Morgan and across the ferry :o)

Morgan Ferry

 and then back into Waikerie.  The sun was getting pretty low by this stage and I continued on to Barmera where I went down to the water and watched the sun going down for a little while - so beautiful.

The sun goes down on another day

Then to the servo for a very dodgy pie (I only ate half).  By this time it was pretty much fully dark.  I headed off towards Berri and realised my headlight wasn't on... WTF?? I flicked it to high beam and it was pretty poor but at least it was on.  I tried flicking it to low beam again and high beam came on for a second before the lights dying altogether... ahhh so the switch is back to front.  A few flicks and I could get high beam on but it would completely die every now and then.  I ended up sitting on a pretty low speed and eventually about four cars overtook me - brilliant now I had someone to follow!  But unfortunatley they turned off just before Loxton.   I sat at the turn towards Pinnaroo for a few minutes hoping that someone else would be heading in the same direction but no luck so I continued on with my headlights on low beam for a while and then I got highbeam to stay on... but I still felt really "wrong" about being out there.  Usually I love riding at night but I just didn't feel right that night.  So I did the whole trip at about 80 - 90km/h.  Didn't see any wildlife but just felt really edgy.  I think about two cars and one truck came the other way on that whole stretch and that was all I saw (and had problems for a while with the lights each time I dipped the high beam).  I stopped at a rest area about halfway and it was gorgeous out there... the moon was about full and so very, very bright! 

I eventually made it to Pinnaroo about five minutes after Alli had arrived, at around 11pm.  The pub was still open - just and we sorted a room, a drink, a bit of a chat with the barman and then to bed.

Friday 9 January - Pinnaroo to Corryong - 822km.

Today we had to reach Corryong for the swim ride, we knew it was going to be a big day so tried to get an earlyish start.  We were just relaxing over a cup of coffee (well Alli was, I think the milk was off so just had water) when we got a message from Bec (who we were to meet at Glenrowan) that she was just setting off - damn she was going to be there heaps before us!  We got going, fuelled up and were on our way. 

Pinnaroo

We stopped at Sea Lake for fuel and pies, so lucky, just after we'd filled up and paid all the pumps died so nobody could get fuel (and I had just hit reserve so wasn't confident about making it the 70km to the next major town).  From there we went to Wycheproof and then to Boort (boort boort), Durham Ox (great town names Victoria has!) then Shepparton and onto Glenrowan.  Bec had been there for a couple of hours by the time we got there.   We decided to just slab it up to Wodonga before hitting the Murray Valley Highway and taking that into Corryong.  The Hume was boring and we stopped in at Tallangatta for a break and were just standing around the bikes when a couple of BMW's came past... the first one went by and the second one, the rider looked at us, did a double take and turned around... was JC from FarRiders!  Quick chat and a warning about Constable Care up the road and we went our separate ways.  Sure enough the 4WD with the handheld radar out the window was waiting up the road, we wound our way into the Caltex servo at Corryong for supplies (i.e. coke to go with the 1.125L bottle of bourbon Bec had brought along!) and then on to the pub where an icy cold can of Jimmy was waiting for me (I didn't even get off the bike, just got the helmet off enough to be able to get can to mouth :o)  ).  Best can of Jimmy ever.

So There and Back Again is done... and I will definitely be doing it again :o)

 SWIM RIDE:

Arrived at the pub at Corryong with Alli and Bec to be greeted by Lurch with a can of Jimmy - legend!

Hurrah for Jimmy!

We were pretty late and didn't have much time before the kitchen closed so it was park the bikes, and up to the pub for dinner (well to order dinner, the food arrived much, much later!).  Much catching up to do with everyone and after dinner we all retired back to the rooms where the bar was set up:

Friday night

A fair amount of bourbon was consumed and before long everyone started heading to bed to be fresh for the morning... hehe but the girls had different ideas... SHENANIGANS!!!!!!!! 

Saturday dawned bright and sunny... of course!  I got up and had a coffee then went straight back to bed... I got up a few times (cheers to bec for bacon and cheese bread rolls!) and eventually got up properly around midday.  Everyone else had left around 9am apart from Tess and I who had opted to sleep in and meet everyone at Biggara so we could get some sunbaking and reading in first (no mills and boons this year though!).

We went into Corryong to buy some lunch to take out with us, and as we were parking there was a bike approaching... and SP2 (actually and SP1 in SP2 clothing)... he stopped and it was Ron! Hi Ron!  He had gotten into Corryong and was to try and get in touch with Steve to find out where everyone was at - he ended up grabbing some lunch as well and headed out with us. 

We got to Biggara and it looked... different :o(  They had chopped down all the trees!!!!! We parked and Ron took up the only available shade for his bike!!!! which we gave him a bit of shit about so then he moved it (never mind the fact that we were there for sunbaking!).  I didn't last long in the sun anyway before heading for the scant shade.  Eventually a few others started showing up and we went for an explore around the bend to where the rope was in the tree (they hadn't chopped down over there, just in the picnic/camping area).  We hopped in, swam around for a good hour or so before making our way back to the bikes and then the rest of them rolled in.  Drifted between reading, socialising and sitting in the shallows chatting with the girls.  Very pleasant! 

Eventuall we packed up and headed back to the pub, quick shower and it was time for more tea ;) then up to the pub for dinner (yum!)

We had a huge circle of our chairs outside the rooms after dinner and much bullshit was discussed :o)

Saturday night

There was much talk of shenanigans but I ended up heading to bed around midnight.

Sunday morning once again dawned bright and sunny... dammit! LOL.  Everybody packed up but I opted to leave a little later and make my own way home (the suspension on the 9 really wasn't confidence-inspiring) so everyone rolled out leaving Bec, Alli and I there.  We chatted for a bit and I slowly got the 9 loaded up.  I was underway about 10am and headed out through Towong, Tooma, Tumbarumba, Batlow, Tumut and onto Gundagai where I stopped at the BP for fuel, a rest and some KFC!  I quite enjoyed this stretch apart from some bumpy sections which were unsettling the bike a little, but they have been doing some work on these roads and those bits are good now :)

After lunch and a smoke I hopped back on for the last stretch - 150km to go!  This passed uneventfully and I was home by 2:00pm.

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!

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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!