Sydney - Cairns - Darwin - Alice - Sydney

[s4gs]

Welcome back.
Pity you got of to a bad start with your cuz losing his wallet & day 3 with the rain.
And whats with this

- not to camp less than 50 meters from water sources. We camped about 15 meters away.

Bugger that. You weren't planning on doing a Steve Irwin if a croc got to close where you? 

Like backd00r said, looking forward to the rest of it.

[galahs]

DAY 6 = CAIRNS + Bike Service for ZX10 + New Years Eve
My cuz trying to keep his warranty in tack, got his bikes 6,000km service at Cairns for $100 and they even washed it for him!!! He was quoted 3 times the price in Sydney

New Years Eve in Cairns was good... but due to us surviving of 1 savings fund limited the amount of alcohol cheer we could consume. Met a lovely American exchange student there. We played a game of 8 ball. Though she claims she's never played before she actually beat me!!! Bloody Yanks
Nah she was cool. I felt like a cheap bugger as I couldn't shout her any drinks due to our financial crunch. Still didn't know how long we were going to have to survive from my finances alone.


DAY 7 = CAIRNS (New Years Day)
A big sleep in
A few drinks
And floating around in the pool summed up the whole day


DAY 8 = CAIRNS --> DAINTREE
Finally a nice ride up the coast in sunny weather.
The coast road up here rivals the great ocean road in Victoria. Very scenic and twisty in spots
Stopped at a few beaches along the way.

Caught the ferry over the river crossing into the Daintree. $8 return each for motorbikes... a great price considering its $25 for cars.

Waded in the water but were scared to go in too far as it was stingers season.
Went for a swim in a mountain stream. it had the clearest, coolest water you could imagine. Very refreshing!
Had a beer in the jungle bar. Got robbed at the local IGA Supermarket. $15 for 6 bread rolls and a packet of sliced ham and a packet of sliced chicken.

We camped in a secret clearing in the bush (you arn't actually allowed to camp in non designated areas). Due to the crocodile threat we were told:
- not to camp less than 50 meters from water sources. We camped about 15 meters away.
- not to get close to water sources. We were so hot we washed out faces in a nearby stream
- not have food lying around. I dropped my chicken slice. So I washed it of in the river stream.
- never venture out at night without a torch. Woke up, needed to go pee. Half a sleep walked outside without a torch. Cuz quickly prompted me back into my senses.

I must also point out we slept with our steak knives in close reach.

That night was so hot, we were just laying there sweating our arses off. Also didn't help that every noise outside caused us to fear a croc attack and caused us to jump up or scream in a panic. We were so brave!!!




DAY 9 - Daintree --> Townsville
The ride back through the daintree we finally saw a cassowary. A bird that is supposedly so dangerous, that every where there is a sign that says "Beware Crocodiles" it has another sign below if that says "Beware Cassowaries"

The bird stood its ground on us but didn't seem interested in confronting us.

On the long trip back down the road already travelled... the main incident was my cousin was leading the way. He went over an undulating bump which through an object from his bag.

It surprisingly flew high into the air.

shaZam!! It was one of the steak knives!!!

I ducked my head... twack!!!

The knifes handle hit the top of my helmet.

Thankfully no damage to me, the helmet or the bike. He had forgotten to zip his bag up again.


We stopped too much on the way down here meaning we arrived at night, and set up our tent in a truck stop at night. We were both pretty grumpy.
Had a crappy night sleep. Was so hot I just stuck to the blow up mattress we had. Probably got 2 hours sleep at most.
In the morning the blow up bed went in the bin!



DAY 10 - Townsville --> Julia Creek
We headed West into the Australian outback. The long straight flat roads begun almost immediately.



Hours or boredom separated by small quaint towns that often contained just a petrol station, pub and a handful of houses. We finally reached places that no longer sold Premium petrol. The ZX-10R wasn't going to be happy! my GS500F had no such problem  laugh

Was getting dark as we entered Julia Creek, so we did some shopping (the general store stayed open just for us), filled out water bottles, and so not to upset the local caravan park owner or locals, headed 20k's out of town and pitched our tent under a bridge near Eastern Creek. The creek was full of water (looked more like a river) but I was confident that crocodiles didn't come this far inland.

Not a bad move. We made a camp fire, booted a few Cain Toads, ate our Braised Steak and Onions and watched a dry lightning show put on for us by mother nature

We both slept well apart from the occasional thundering of a road train (4 trailer trucks) roaring over the bridge we were next too. They felt like they were coming straight through our tent. I was lucky as I no longer had a bed but we found a patch of top soil in an area that other wise was mostly rocky, bone dry and hard ground.


{Our tent next to Eastern Creek)

DAY 11 - Julia Creek --> Mount Isa
Just a couple of hundered k's to Mt Isa was a relief. The short stint went by in no time. Booked into a caravan park. Prime importance..... it had to have a pool. A few 40+ degree days of heat had taken its toll.

Met another forum member I know at her auto supply shop. I asked her staff if any of them knew how many litres in a gallon. Apart from giving me heaps of bullshit answers they came across as complete drop kicks.

I also asked where we could take our old oil for recycling.

"Just dump it in the bush" was the consensus answer from the staff. Thankfully one decent staff member (probably the youngest one too) told me where the council depot and oil recycling drop off point was.

We left and both did our oil changes.

We put the old oil into an empty bottle, strapped it to my bike and I headed off to the local council depot. When I started emptying the oil into the collection drum a local council worker came forward.

looked at my bikes number plate and said

"You from NSW huh...  I can tell. All locals round here would just dump their oil in the bush!"



In the evening went to a pub. It was a Saturday night but there was only 1 person in the place. Very strange. We were later joined by a real life jackeroo (cowboy). He challenged us to a race to Alice Springs. Us on our bikes, him on his horse. He bet $500 he would win. Funny thing was he seemed dead serious!!!

The beer in Mt Isa was awesome. Much better than we get in Sydney even though it is the same brand of beer. Seemed less gassy, and super cold and smooth. I also purchased a camping roll to sleep on (ended up picking one that was way too thin!!!) but the purchase required me to show full ID (drivers license). Again the Isa is a very strange place!!!

Went and watched "I am Legend" at the local cinema. On the way out to our bikes a large 4WD screeched to a halt in front of us... a door opened and a kid hung out and screamed at us...


"2.7 litres in a US gallon"


gave us the mull up signal, slammed the door shut and sped off. As quick as he came he left.

We both looked at each other in amazement / disillusionment  then burst out laughing. :rofl:

then went back to the caravan park for an early night.


DAY 12 - Mt Isa --> Three Ways (Kill me please!!!)
The trip along the Barkley Highway from Mt Isa, across the border from Queensland to the Northern Territory, and on to the Stuart Highway has to be the worst stretch of road in Australia.



Boring, flat, straight and hot!!!

There's no scenery. No landmarks. No houses. And the longest stretch between petrol stations we experienced on the trip. 262km's!!! And then petrol was $1.95 a litre.



The GS can easily make over 370km's on a tank but 5k's out from the Barkley Homestead petrol station the ZX-10R's fuel light came on. Thankfully there was no head wind and we had kept the speed down to 100km'h to conserve fuel for this stretch (it's now signposted at 130km/h in the NT. No more unlimited speed limits in Australia)

We road on into the setting sun (sunnies on, yet head ache still assured) to the three ways where we celebrated the completion of the worst road in Australia with a few ice blocks 



We camped up the road a little in a truck stop under a beautiful star filled night. We left to canopy off and slept just under the fly mesh.



DAY 13 - Threeways --> Darwin

The initial plan was to ride 600km's to Katherine.



We headed off, topping up our water bottles at each petrol station we stopped at.
The first tasted muddy. A quick look at their dam answered why.
Renner Springs (petrol was $1.97 a litre) had beautiful spring water. Drank, drank, drank to our hearts content.

I should mention we were on average drinking 10 litres of water a day.... and probably only urinated two small amounts over 24 hours and both times it was very gold in colour. Just to give you an indication of how hot it was and how much we were sweating.

A refreshing bottle of Powerade to wash down our tin tuna and bread for lunch was very much appreciated.

The roads to Katherine were again boring and straight, but at least they were dotted with small towns ever 100km's or so.

When we got to Katherine we were a little shocked. The local indigenous communities were wandering the streets, yelling, fighting and basically causing a raucous. They all carried soft drink bottles but I bet my life on it that they didn't contain soft drinks.

After restocking our bags with food and water we decided to push on over 300km's to get to Darwin that night. This meant we would have to drive into the night... which isn't a great thing to do with much of Australia's wildlife being nocturnal. We had now started to enter bush land and it was getting denser and more tropical as we headed north.

We swapped lead rider every 70km's because it required so much more concentration to lead the way, ever scanning the bush and road ahead.

Reached Darwin at 11pm (NT time) drove to the city and basically got off the bikes and collapsed. We were drained!!! Over 950km's on very little food, and that last stretch at night drained us mentally as well.

We couldn't find an open caravan park, and the one that was open wouldn't take tents due to the risk of falling trees.

We begrudgingly booked into a motel for $100 a night. It felt so wrong... but sleeping in a room with air conditioning and a real bed felt so right!!!



DAY 14 - DARWIN - Bye Bye Mega Tent

In the morning we went to a local caravan park at Hidden Valley we sussed out the night before. It had fantastic facilities, landscaped gardens and a beautiful pool.
Problem... our $50 Mega Tent's polls were snapped!!! Crappy fibreglass!!! We had been very gentle with her, but the she just couldn't handle the conditions.
No!!!!!!



We had to go to a camping shop and upgraded to a new $100 (but 2kg heavier) version we dubbed Ultra Tent.
It had spiral wound reinforced tent poles, and I would highly recommend this to anyone buying a tent who needs some durability.

We then went to the Bank and after much arguing and phone calls left right and centre to the Commonwealth banks online department, my cousin finally managed to get a cash advance!

Finally, our budget living could ease off.

This left us only a few hours to look around Darwin. Its a very nice, lush city (if you can call it that). Had a beer and a steak at a local establishment. Again the beer was superb. Had a few chats with some locals, looked out over the harbour, then headed back to the caravan park.



Went and chilled in the pool with some other travellers, and shared a few stories of our adventures until about midnight and watched the lightning storm in the distance. Beautiful!!!


DAY 15 - DARWIN --> THREE WAYS
With us all rested up we decided to tackle the entire stretch back in one day again.
Powerade, Red bull and bottled water were our friends as the temperature was still hovering in the 40's.

A scary moment happened mid way through the trip. Storms were building on either side of us. Out road seemed to head straight down in between them.

Still we weren't protected from powerful wind gusts that would literally carry you across the centre line of the road. Thankfully there was very very little oncoming traffic, and when there was, we tried to get the bikes as far away from the centre line as possible.

We got to a petrol station, filled up, went inside to pay when the station assistant went..

"err, you might want to go save your bikes"

We looked outside and saw a massive gail and driving rain had just started ripping through the place.

I ran out side and grabbed my bike. The wind was catching the bike (thanks to the sail like box, tank bag and tent tied to it) and trying to pull it over. I was standing on the side stand and pulling against the wind to keep her upright. The driving rain had soaked me right through to the bone.

The nice people at the station then let us put our bikes in their garage until the winds stopped.


We then travelled on through the afternoon and night down to our old campsite near the Three Ways. We were warned at petrol stops (which we luckily got to just before they closed) that ahead there were cows and roos on the road.

We drove cautiously, again swapping the lead along the way a few time, and reached the camp site at almost 1am.

To make things worse, my cousins Air bed exploded as he was pumping it up. Dang!!!

Thankfully we were all so tired that we both slept well.

[galahs]

DAY 16 - THREEWAYS TO ALICE SPRINGS

Set off early again.. as we entered Tennant Creek we had our first Kangaroo hop in front of us. He jumped in front of me, turned to go back, then turned again and decided to go the way he was going in the first place. I had large enough buffer (and was only doing 80km/h at the time) that it posed no threat.

After Tennant Creek we went to the Devils Marbles. Interesting large round rock formations somehow balancing on each other. Very cool.



Then drove on and filled up fuel (about half a tank) at a little tin shed type pub / shop / service station.

The owner was in a blue singlet, stubbie shorts and thongs. He was telling the locals (hunched over the bar looking into their beers were also dressed like the publican but with acubra hats on)
"Telstra rang today" (telephone company)

Bar members let out an inquisitive mumble 'yeah"

Said I haven't emptied my payphone after 1000 hours"

I replied... "I have a payphone!!!"

everyone at the bar mumbled out a laugh....

the publican

"Seriously... I have no idea where it is"

everyone again mumbled out a laugh.

me and my cuz left laughing too.


We set off again and 1 kilometre away I hit trouble.
My bike started spluttering and surging real bad.
I couldn't maintain the 130km/h only around 90km/h... so I pulled over.

My cuz who was in the lead obviously didn't check his mirrors very often as he powered on without me for another couple of kilometres before he turned around and came back to find out what was wrong.

I suspected I must have got a bad load of fuel.

So I led the next section... tried accelerating the bike up to a higher speed to see if I could flush the problem out but nope the bike could only hold 90km/h without surging.

So we rode a slow ride onto the next truck stop.

Happened to be a bloke there topping up the water tank provided for motorists. We had a chat ends up he's a bike rider too.

I told him I was struggling along as I think I got a bad lot of fuel at the last stop.

He said "Yeah that would be that opal crap they sell"

Opal?

"Yeah this non sniffable fuel they have out here. You're bike would run better backwards than using that crap!'

Great!!!

We rode on (slowly) to the next petrol station where I topped up my tank (half a tank again) with a fresh batch of premium unleaded. Asked the bloke inside what's the go with this 'opal' fuel.

He said "Its crap. A bloke just this week driving a Ford Falcon XR6 (large sedan) filled up on it, stuffed his whole car. Had to have all the fuel lines, fuel filter replaced, and his fuel injectors flushed."

Great!!!

I asked if he had any carby cleaner.

"Nope, but you can get it from Alice!"

Great!!!

Alice is still 200km's away.

So again we rode on.... slowly.

We got to Alice late in the afternoon and booked into a caravan park (with a pool of course). The park was all but empty as summer isn't the peak season in the outback. Too hot for most city folk.

Then went shopping for some carby cleaner. I ended up putting two bottles in (overkill I know) and kept another one spare for tomorrow with a fresh batch of Premium Unleaded.

Went for a swim in my grundies (much to my cousins disgust) as I was too tired to go back and unpack to find my footy shorts. My cuz had his gf on the phone and they started arguing over something or the other. So in an attempt to lighten the mood I went for a few laps of the pool naked. My cuz again was appalled... but it worked as he reported what's happening to his gf and they both had a giggle and the atmosphere lightened)

We then went out into the town for a pizza (only food place left open) and witnessed members of the indigionous community write themselves of on boze, then start yelling at each other... then punching on. The locals walk on bye as if its a normal everyday occurance.
Very very sad that a once proud culture has fallen through the cracks of our modern society. Something really needs to be done. They look so soulless and with no hope in their eyes. Not good at all, especially in such a well off country like ours.

Got home and pulled my fairings off by torch light, and inspected the spark plugs. They were both fine. However I discovered that a bracket that holds the fairing on had lost both its bolts. Mud an grime was basically holding it in place. I was very lucky to not have lost the bracket.


DAY 17 - ALICE SPRINGS to CURTAIN SPRINGS

In the morning I went to Repco (auto parts store) and purchased some more screws to fix my fairing bracket. After reinstalling the fairings I went to put my rubbish in the bin.

I walked past a caravan that overlooks the pool. I notice the caravan park operator pops out of the door.

I say "Good morning"

she slyly smiles and says "have a good swim last night"

I smile back... "Yes thanks"   and walk away half smiling, half blushing.

Whoops!!!  icon_lol


We ride on through more desert and thank the lord my bike runs fine again. Now every stop we query the operator to ensure they have either normal unleaded or premium. No more Opal for this little black duck!

We pass a shirtless asian man in the middle of the desert, riding a push bike, towing a little trailer behind. The temperatures were again above 40 degrees Celcius. WOW!!! We thought what we were doing was hard.

I give him a honk of the horn... he sits up from the handle bars and gives a very very enthusiastic wave of appreciation.

Finally the time came... my cuz asked at a rest stop. Hmmmm, wonder what speed my bike can do...

Now I wont confirm or deny that this was done on a public road but lets just say that a ZX-10R went past me just shy of 300km/h. The sound and the speed was awesome! 297km/h was the back-off point as it was reported that the bike started to feel a little flighty. Probably didn't help having 15kg of luggage and a camping roll strapped on the back too.

On to Curtain Springs.



A road house with a pet Emu (that wonders around as it pleases even to suss you out in the shower block). We check that the fuel isn't Opal. We're in luck. We are told that the operator once tried to burn some rubbish. Tipped on this Opal Fuel (which he described as very greasy) but the fuel wouldn't light. He said it takes a large flame to come in contact with it before ignition occurs. Hmmm.... another glowing review for the fuel that is meant to be "SUITABLE FOR ALL VEHICLES THAT REQUIRE 91 OCTANE PETROL"

We set up the tent and drive 100k's to Uluru, pay our $25 each for three days to enter the national park to see the sun set on it. Great site indeed!!! Then did some shopping (getting real sick of canned tuna) and return 100km's back to the campsite.



At Ayres Rock Resort and petrol station they charge you a 1% surcharge if you use credit card. Most petrol stations out bush make you purchase a minimum of $10 worth before you can use credit card. Others $20 worth and some a $1 surcharge. Just be aware of that if you try to go bush using just a credit card.


DAY 18 - CURTAIN SPRINGS to COOBER PEDY

We decided to get up real early (4am) as in the summer months you can only climb Uluru between the hours of 6am and 8am. We rode 100km's to the rock (we really should have camped closer) to find the bad news that we wouldn't be allowed to climb this morning. Too windy apparently. The stupid thing was the wind was very light and you'd be lucky to fly a small kite in it... GRRRRR!

Seems too many tourists have died there so now they are very cautious about allowing people to climb it. Just a couple of days before a 50 year old Japanese man died at the Olgas. Jumped of his nice air conditioned coach (bus), into the 40+ degree heat and went for a nice long walk along the tracks that go around them. problem was his body and more importantly his heart couldn't cope. Sad

We left Uluru and headed back to get our tent. Then set off for South Australia.

The drive to Coober Peedy was the most mind numbing thing you could do. All the way on this trip we were singing to ourselves (Billy Joel's 'Piano Man' was a favourite of mine fore some reason) but even that couldn't save us on this stretch.

The landscape is so barron, and flat. No trees... no bushes... no animals .... no cars.... straight roads.... hot glary sun....wind noise.... engine and exhaust noise..... very early start.... we both probably came the closest we have to falling asleep when riding. It felt like you were in such an automated mode that it was a dream. Not good and definitely not safe!
The only thing of interest was we saw a massive wedge tail eagle eating a kangaroo carcass. He was bloody huge and not scared at all about us zooming by at 130km/h.

The next roadhouse couldn't come quick enough. We both purchased cold water, powerades and a couple of cans of Red Bull. The shop attendant nearly died of a heart attack.

"Red Bull! You're going to drive under the influence!!!! No no no!! Not good!!! No no!!! The last person that had a Red Bull here had to go to hospital. Had to be air lifted out of here by the RFSS. No no no!!! I wouldn't touch the stuff. No no no!!!"

Geez... we purchased the Red Bulls and drank 1 on the spot and took the other for consumption at our next stop.

The dehydration plus the red bull caffeine did the trick and we were much more alert. Saw a big red kangaroo sitting in the shade provided by the only tree in sight. Scratched his chest and watched us ride on by probably thinking to himself "only Mad dogs and Englishman go out in the midday sun"

We rode the short (nothing is really short in the outback but relatively speaking it was short) distance to the NT and South Australian state border. Took some photos and video, sank the other Red Bull and some more water and road on.



We drove on through baron landscape to Coober Pedy. Landscape that resembles the lunar surface or Mars more than Earth. No trees, no plants, just rocky flat terrain for as far as the eye can see. Breathtakingly stark on one hand... completely hostile to life on the other.

In the middle of this hostile landscape you suddenly come up to a huge splattering of earth mounds.These are the diggings from the miners on the pursuit of Opals. Not the fuel.... the precious multicoloured stone.

This announces that we are approaching the remote mining town of Coober Pedy. Where its so hot, many residents prefer to live underground.

My cuz purchased a nice bracelet for his GF there, we explored an underground shop then had a nice large pub dinner which set us back just just $10 each. The beer on tap however was $6 each!!! We'd be more used to paying $3.50 at Sydney. huge transport costs was blamed when a shocked enquiry from me came.

We camped at a nice little caravan park at Coober Pedy for just $11 a night. Cheapest we paid!

That night we again slept just under the fly mesh.... the night was still... the air temperature warm..... we woke up almost freezing to death. A freezing cold desert wind whipped through and chilled us to the bone. Bike gloves were donned... extra tshirts added and finally we got into our sleeping bags (first time since night 2)


DAY 19 - COOBER PEDY --> PORT AUGUSTA

A long day in the saddle driving again through very stark terrain.



Our first leg was a tough one. 260km's into a strong and gusty head wind. We again dropped our speed to 100km/h (its only 110km/h in South Australia anyway) and my cuz rode a lot of the distance (as much as his back would let him) ducked under the fairing.

35km's out his fuel light cam on. Speed dropped to 90km/h.

The wind was awe full yet often excilerating. It changed directions at will. Came in bursts, or gusts or constant streams, then just as quickly stopped. Then repeat again in random order. It felt like you were in a washing machine. It grabbed your helmet and jacket and twisted and shifted them. The helmet twisting shifted your sunglasses and overall made for a mentally and physically exhausting stint. Trying to keep the bike on the right side of the road was a constant battle.

We were extremely pleased to see a BP petrol station that had 98 Octane, BP Ultimate petrol. Finally real fuel!!! 98 Octane Premium unleaded was rare in the outback. Alice Springs had just got it, Darwin had it (but charged you an absolute premium price for it) and Mt Isa had it. But that was basically it. 95 Premium was available sporadically but generally only standard 91 unleaded and Diesel was available at the smaller Road Houses.

We rode on in the wind again... offered to help a broken down car... the rear main seal had gone after trying to tow a large trailer into the head wind for too long with a car that had done over 250,000 kilometers. He was fine (and also a bike rider and was impressed with our efforts) but didn't need our help as his brother was coming back to get him tomorrow!!!! Nothing happens quick in the outback.

He knew the desert well. He had 10 litres of drinking water and 2 days supply of food.

"You have to come prepared when you enter this playground"

the driver informed us. He thanked us for offering assistance. This was the same reason we never let our water supplies drop too far.

On the way we also stopped to go and walk on a salt lake. Lake Hart. Only later did we realise it was part of the military restriction zone and we had actually trespassed into a strictly authorised area. Whoops!



He rode on to Port Augusta. Shopped for food. Purchased a clearance priced chicken,some bread rolls and a tub of coleslaw.


We drover out of Port Augusta and camped by the side of the road in deep in a valley of some hills.

The wind ripped through up high that night through the valley making it cold... but the same hills protected us from the winds blast.



DAY 20 - Port Augusta --> 100 clicks past Wilcannia

Not much to report here. We were on the home straight and we were powering on.

Saw lots of wild emu's. One bunch of them decided to run along side of us as we rode on by. Boy they can run fast!!!

Had a flock of galahs (rose coloured cockatoos and my username sake) fly at us, one went the wrong way and flew right in front of me but heading in my direction, just infront of my visor. I was doing 80 clicks and he was keeping up with me. He was so close to my face but flapping his little wings out. As his tail feathers bobbed up and down I could see his little bum hole and I was praying "Please don't poo, please don't poo!"
He was so close I could have just grabbed him. Very surreal.

My cuz also road upto another huge wedge tail eating a dead roo. Rather than fly away it just jumped in the air, high enough to let him by. It then landed... saw me... panicked and started flapping his wings like mad. The big bird just got airborne and out of the way in time to the delight of him and me!

We went across the border into New South Wales and into Broken Hill and onto Wilcannia.



As the sun set, the feral goats (by the hundreds) and roos came out from the woodwork (literally). A bip of the horn and some sensible riding saw them flee for cover and let us be. A cautious ride made for a relatively safe ride.

We camped at a dirt truck stop.

Silly me, with an overloaded, top heavy bike, tired legs and on sand, tried to walk my bike (I was still sitting on it) down a small mound whilst balancing my helmet on the tankbag. (Too lazy to put it on for just a small move of just a few meters)

The helmet started to fall to the right. I took my throttle hand of the bars to hold it....

the bike gathered speed rolling faster and faster....

I lifted my right foot to apply the brakes....

the rear skidded on the loose sand and started falling to the right....

I put my right foot down but it also slid from under me in the sand and the whole bike fell slowly down with me half still on it.

Dang!!! We said someone will probably drop our bike at one time or another and it had to be me on the 2nd last day. Due to the super soft sand damage was limited to a minor graze on the engine case sticker.

A truck driver who had also stopped at the remote stop (with a lady we assume was a working girl) jumped out wearing just a pair of shorts helped us pick the bike up.

I unloaded the bike. Took it for a ride hoping everything was dandy. It was thank goodness!!!

We set up the tent for our last night out on the road.

for a bit of excitement we set it up on an ant mound. Worse for me... they only came in the tent and bit me... not my cousin. Bloody hell!!!

Once the Tropical Strength Aero guard (nothing else works as well. Especially the odourless varieties. They're useless!) came into play we got a good nights sleep under the brilliantly bright outback stars.

[zephler]

glad you made it back and had a safe trip 

enjoying the read very much, this time last year I did almost the same trip in a campervan (no air-con) and can relate to your experiences, particularly the heat but also the boring run from the Uluru turn off to Pt Augusta 

also stayed at Hidden Valley CP (for a week!) in Darwin... mostly spent in that great pool 

looking forward to the next installment and pics 

[galahs]

DAY 21 - THE RIDE HOME

We packed our bikes for the final stint. Gave away our camping rolls to some passing tourists (save all the weight and baggage we can) and headed off.

my Bridgestone BT45 tyre was looking a little worse for wear by now. Half the tyre was bald, the other half had tread. Very strange!!! See here for more - http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=39450.0

The ride home through Dubbo, Orange and to Bathurst was a little more interesting. Roads started getting bends in them again, and the landscape was getting greener and greener with every kilometre.

On passing through Bathurst we decided to do a lap of Mount Panorama. Australia's premier street circuit built onto a mountain side. http://www.mount-panorama.info/

Even though we did it at the painfully low, sign posted 60km/h, we got a great appreciation for the difficulty of the circuit. The top of the mountain has so many blind, undulating corners and dips, it was even taxing your driving ability at such modest speeds, let alone the amazing speeds the V8 Supercars manage round it. How this was ever the home of motorbike racing I will never know!!!

We then made our way over the Blue Mountains past Lithgow. My bikes cornering ability was all but shot. The tyres lack of tread and squareness made holding a consistent line near impossible, and slow corner speeds were the name of the game. I'd forgotten how it felt to ride a great twisty road... and now that I had finally got to one... I can only put around it Sad

My cousins ZX-10R had a Michelin Pilot Road tyre fitted to the rear and it was still in remarkably good shape. It looked as if it could have done the entire trip again. I don't know if it was because it was a radial, wider, greater load capability or all of the above but compared to mine it was still round with plenty of tread.

The front tyres both did the trip fairly well. Only the super hot heats in northern Australia seemed to accelerate their wear. Once we got into the lower (and cooler) half of Australia they're noticeable wear stopped. My stock OEM BT-45 front tyre has now put on over 25,000km's  and still looks good for another 5,000 if I really wanted (I don't)

The ride at the top of the Blue Mountain's was through freezing cold fog. I struggled to zip all my air vents up on my jacket, bending my left arm into all sorts of strange configurations to get to the ones on my left arm.

We steadily made our way over and down the blue mountains then set off on the final leg home. Back to familiar roads and greater Sydney's constant traffic.

I parted ways with my cousin near midnight and headed off home.

Finally just as I was a couple of k's from my driveway at about 1:00am... I saw what looked like a large  dead kangaroo on the road.

Oh no!!!

I went to ride around it when all of a sudden it jumped up... and scared me to death. I avoided it and pulled over up ahead and looked back.

It wasn't a roo, it was a german shepherd.

Crap!!! Why was it lying on the road.

I watched it for a second or two as it sat back down and went back to sleep on the middle of the road.

Worried for its safety I got of my bike and called the dog over. it had no collar (but it did look as if it had previously had one as its fur was depressed around its neck )
It came over to me and seemed quite friendly. Happy that it was off the road I got back onto my motorbike... but the dog just walked back onto the middle of the road and went to sleep again.

I was tired and craving a good nights sleep in my bed... but I couldn't leave it there.

I got off my bike again, called the dog and then went for a walk (it followed me by my side) to see if I could find where it belonged.

This was a semi rural area next to a university veterinary clinic. So I tried to see if there was anyone on after hours duty at the vets. Nope!!! I tried different buildings but I couldn't find a soul. Being university holidays probably didn't help.

At one entry was a disinfection foot bath all visitors had to wash their shoes in. The silly dog started to drink it.

No I screamed! My voice echoing through the farmland.

"C'mon, I'll see if I can find you a place to sleep"

the dog followed me as I looked for a secure place I could lock him up.

I found a driveway gate I could open. I walked in and the dog loyally followed me in. I then scooted out and shut the gate. The dog just sat, tongue handing out, eyes wide open and his tail wagging.

I felt bad leaving him there.

I went to my tank bag and got out my 1.5 litre water bottle and a cup. I filled the cup and offered it to him to drink. He drank the lot. I kept filling the cup up and he ended up drinking almost all the 1.5 litres. He was indeed very thirsty.

Content he was locked up and had had something to drink I left him there. He barked as I left. I felt pretty bad, but selfishly I really really needed to go to sleep. It was now long past 3am and I was stuffed.

I never went back to see if the dog was ok. I knew there would be people around during the day so I hoped they would care for him. I think I was secretly scared that he might have gotten out, went to sleep on the road again and gotten run over. That would be tough to live with.


Anyway I had a shower (geez I was dirty. Last shower was Alice Springs) and a bloody good nights sleep. Nothing beats your own bed.





CONCLUSION

Australia's outback is an amazing place. But its not to be taken lightly. Its tough country and if your not prepared it can kill you.

Also petrol is expensive, no destination is close to another and it's all connected by long, straight, boring roads. In saying that it makes those little treasures you find along the way all the better.

Uluru was great. Just don't go there expecting to be able to climb it.

Darwin is a lovely low key tropical city.

Cairns is a tropical commercial meca. Great for shop-a-holics.

The Daintree is a almost untouched, natural rainforest that stretches to beautiful beaches. If it wasn't for crocs and stingers you'd call it a tropical paradise.

The barrier reef was spectacular. The amount and types of fish are unbelievable.

The problems facing the Aboriginal people in many of the remote towns is probably the worst thing I have seen. It was eye opening and makes me angry. How can a socially responsible society like Australia allow this to happen in our own country. It really needs urgent attention and a new strategy. Just giving them welfare isn't the answer. They need something to rebuild their pride and identity.

The roads we took were good (beware though those in the north do flood, and flood easily. They are currently underwater as I type this. We were very lucky). The longest petrol stretch was 262kms.
On the Stuart Hwy in Northern Territory you can find petrol stops nearly every 100km's.

Credit cards are accepted in nearly every roadhouse though minimum purchases or surcharges often apply.

Don't attempt the trip unless you have a brand new rear tyre (and a front in good condition) and take a puncture kit. Getting motorbike parts out there are not easy!!!

Most importantly.... don't loose your wallet!!! Check your zips and contents of your pockets everytime you head off again.

Would I do it again.... probably not by bike. It takes too long (probably 2 times longer than if you drove by car due to extra comfort and fuel stops) and that means you don't get to see enough of the land marks and local attractions (many of which you have to divert off the main road and travel great distances to see)

Also your bum, throttle wrist and hearing takes an absolute battering.

But deep down am I glad I did the trip by motorbike..... HELL YES!!!  :correct:






TOTAL DISTANCE = 12,000km's  :bike:



WAS WEARING
Motorbike Jacket (balaclava, mobile phone, wallet, 2 hankies, ear plugs in pockets)
t-shirt
cargo pants
undies
football socks
waterproof riding boots
gauntlet gloves
KBC VR-2 Helmet



UNDER SEAT
Spare Spark Plug
Spare Headlight Globe
Standard Tool kit + multitool pocket knife + cable ties + alan key for fairings
Extra fuses
Bandage + band aids
cargo net
5 folded flat garbage bags
Emergency $20 note



PLASTIC BOX CONTENTS = 10kg
(Box fitted with 2 red rear reflectors and 2 orange side reflectors)
2 t-shirts
1 long sleeve t-shirt
1 singlet
4 pairs of undies
2 pairs of socks
1 pair of board shorts
1 pair of footy shorts
1 pair of jeans
puncture repair kit
blow up mattress - later replaced with camping roll
Foot Below - to blow up mattresses
thin sleeping bag
deodorant
toothpaste
toothbrush
razors
liquid hand soap
plastic coat hanger
10 clothes pegs
mobile phone re-charger with batter adapter
thongs (flip flops)
two stackable cups
2 splades (knife, fork, spoon combo utensil)
2 steak knives



3 MAN TENT = 5KG
Enclosed Flynet with removable outer liner. highly recommended considering huge variations in weather.



TANK BAG CONTENTS = MAX 5KG
1.5 litre water bottle
Wide Brim Hat
Small can of WD-40 (sprayed my chain every night)
Small tube of Sunscreen
Aeroguard Roll On
Sunglasses
Spare garbage bags
Safety Vest
Thin Rain Coat
Tyre Guage
2 rolls of electrical tape
Chamois
small LED torch runs of 1 AA battery (18 hours run time)
Xena Disk lock
* tins of canned food
* bread rolls
* muesli bars
* fruit



PETROL PRICES
Cheapest = $1.35 (Newcastle, NSW)
Most Expensive = $1.97 (Renner Springs, NT)

[Old man]

Well done!

I still think you're a nutbag!

Old Man

[zephler]

Well done!

I still think you're a nutbag!

Old Man

agreed..... but only cause of the time of year they went.... humidity in the wet is something else...  maybe it's not too bad on the bike though?

Would I do it again.... probably not

bugger! .... was going to dangle the idea of a Perth trip same time next year... a mate and myself are thinking about it, but that's about all it is at the moment.... a thought 

.

[galahs]

To be honest... it wasn't too bad when you were riding. We road in boot, long pants, motorbike jacket, gauntlet gloves and full face helmet. The wind passing over your sweating body keeps you fairly cool.

Just remember you have to drink heaps of water.

I wouldn't mind tackling the Nullabour. I'd enjoy riding to Perth, but throwing myself and the bike on the Indian Pacific for the trip back would be the way I'd go.


Don't let my whining put you off. Yeah its not the easiest way to travel, but I'm already forgetting the heart ache and only remembering the good times. Just make sure you allow plenty of time... everything seems to take longer than planned by bike.

[galahs]

For chain maintenance, I was extremely happy with using WD-40

Every night I threw the bike up on its centre stand... whacked in in neutral.... then spun the rear tyre by hand whilst spraying the entire chain.

It not only helped clean the chain but kept it well oiled without much throw off.

NOTE: You can only use WD-40 as an effective chain lube on O-ring type chains




Having an F model, I have small fork protectors as standard. To give my forks further protection I cut out of some thin plastic an extension of the guards and electrical taped it to the front of the existing guards. This in effect raised the fork guards another inch and a half higher up the fork.

Highly recommended mod as the amount of bugs, dirt, stones and grime you find thrown across the front of your bike is amazing.

These fork guard extensions were absolutely covered in splats and dings. Better them than my forks.

[Myotis]

Wow, well done Galahs, I really enjoyed reading about your epic journey. 

How much do you reckon it costed you all up, I mean everything... tyres, oil,petrol, tent,air matrees, bedroll, food, caravan park fees etc???

you should submit your story to a magazine..

Good on ya   

[galahs]

Mate I have done the figures and its approx $2,300. Not very cheap is it considering the amount we skringed with cheap food and free tent sites.

Funny how everyone assumes that because your going by bike "at least its a cheap holiday"


So $2,300 is basically everything
(doesn't include the clothes, eating utensils, motorbike gear, sunglasses, hat, clothes pegs, hand pump for tyre, toothpaste, toothbrush, deodorant and of course the motorbike which I already owned)

Fuel was the biggest expense coming in at just a little over $1000

First tent $50

2nd Tent $99

Barrier Reef Cruise + Dive = $70

Blow up mattress $16

Bellow to blow up mattress $19

Camping roll = $10   (should have got a thicker one)

Tyre Puncture repair kit = $20

BT-45 Rear tyre = $150

wd-40 = $16

sleeping bag = $20

mobile phone battery adaptor with alligator clips = $15

oil + oil filter before leaving - $50

oil + oil pan for mid way service (optional) - $55

carby cleaners = $20

replacement bolts for fairing = $6

1 AA LED Torch (from ebay) = $10

2 pack of AA batteries = $5

small chamois = $6

sunscreen = $20

tropical strength aeroguard roll on = $10

went to a car wash at Mt Isa = $4

Daintree Ferry (Return) = $8

Uluru National Park Entry (3 day pass) = $25

blue plastic tub on back of bike = $6

4 reflectors for tub on back of bike = $4

2 ratchet straps (tie downs) = $15

The toll for the bridge near Brisbane = A couple of dollars. Can't remember the exact price.

magnetic waterproof tankbag which doubles as a backpack = $140   (you can get much cheaper if you shop around)

pack of 12 home brand disposable razor blades = $5 (shaved every 2nd day and then just threw away the blade)

take your own small bottle of detergent. When empty just refill it with liquid detergent from caravan park toilet block. Use as a shaving  lube, hand washing, visor washing, clothes washing by hand, washing eating utensils.


On average, an un-powered tent site at a caravan park is $22 - 25 per night. Add $5 a night if you want power. A little secret. You can just go to a powered site and plug your phone in to recharge it



As you can tell, we used budget food and accommodation (free where possible) to keep our budget from blowing out further.

[Myotis]

Money well spent Galahs 

[bubba zanetti]

Top report on a great ride.

Do you realise that you have seen parts of Australia that a lot of Australians will never see and IMHO you've done the trip in the best possible way. 

[galahs]

I'm privileged to be able to do so. I hate to not having seen all of our own spectacular nation, then you meet foriegn tourists who have seen more than you have.

And yes, going it by GS500 is definitely the best way to go 

[Myotis]

Hey Galahs, you mentioned your cousin giving the ZX-10R some stick on the Stuart Highway, did you give the GS any? If so how fast did you get her up to.

cheers

[galahs]

I didn't confirm it was my cousin, just that a ZX-10R I witnessed did 


Of course I didn't give it any stick. I stuck to the speed limits all the way! I always obey the law to the fullest.

I did witness a GS500F reaching 180 in an attempt to flush the carbs, but I can't recall who, where or when that happened. 


In past attempts on a private road I have got the GS upto 190km/h (indicated)
http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=32141.0


Here's a another thread on Top Speeds of the GS
http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=2926.0

[Myotis]

Cool, thanks Galahs 

[zephler]

nice work mate  enjoyed the read, photos etc thanks for posting......

[lil_clair]

thanks, very interesting.  im planning a trip from syd- darwin-SE asia on the gs so will be reading this again and taking some notes.

[galahs]

I thought about this post today.

I have recently fitted a 17 tooth front sprocket to my GS and have done a 3 hour highway trip with it. Geez I wish I had it for the outback trip. The bike just works that little bit less hard when doing higher speeds (about 350rpm less). It is much more comfortable.

For the roads we did, especially in outback Queensland, Northern Territory and South Australia, maybe even an 18tooth  front sprocket would be the way to go.