The Longest Friday

It was high time to head down from the cool weather refuge of the mountains and embrace the heat desert….Australia is after all mostly arid landscapes… I’m think’n to see it,.. you’ve got to suck it up and step into the oven.    I was heading for Alice Springs, via Cobar, Brocken hill and Port Augustus.  My contacts from the Sydney rally extended as far out as Cobar,..where one of Perry’s buddy’s put me up for the night.  It was classic Aussie hospitality with endless barbecued steads and some of the best scalloped potatoes I’d ever laid into to.  My morning routine had me going over the bike, checking for any issues before I stepped off. I traced some residue to a severed oil line leading off my rear shock preload.  Over the last week since the rebuild, I’d managed to not see an oil line making contact with the rear tire…that one’s definitely on me..bugger.  So I was mobile,..but had no shock preload…meaning I was not offroad capable until I got her fixed.  As the shock is a sealed unit,..it had to be mailed off to the nearest shock expert.  In an incredible gesture of kindness, Bill dropped the shock off his very own and beloved GSA and swapped out with me. He was either doing me a huge favor…or desperate to get me out of his house J..  Thanks very much Bill for letting me pull parts of you bike..,..I’m in your debt.

With Bill’s shock installed, I rolled west for Broken hill.  Just outside Broken Hill, is the one horse town of Silverton…..the filming location for Mad Max.  the perfect setting for a lone Aussie Cop (mel Gibson) to single handedly take on the post  apocalyptic world of evil!  Any man with an ounce of motor loving testosterone…loves this movie! …or series I should say…if you haven’t seen the mad max series…stop reading this immediately and go watch all three Mad Max movies!

Silverton,..the filming location,..is a historic mining town,…with about five old buildings…the pub being the one showing any sign of life.  Turning down a dirt street(main street) I knew what I was looking for,…and there it was parked outside the old Silverton bar…The Mad Max interceptor!   Booyah!!

It was a ghost town until about eight oclock when loads of folks emerged from the country side to grab a cold brew in the bar.  Silverton’s lonely bar way out in the middle of the desert was suddenly a happening place.

I was sitting out front on my motorcycle ….inquiring from the locals where I might track down some of the local emus.  Emus, like Ostriches and Qasuaries(sp) are just another bit of Aussie wildlife that baffles my imagination.   While a local old timer gave me directions, a hairly look’n wasp the size of small bird landed on my shoulder.  It wasn’t going to get through my riding armor (BMW does special RD to protect its riders against Aussie nasties), but its close proximity to my exposed ear made me feel a bit vulnerable.  I gave it a quick flick and sent it flying to the dust beside my tire.  I looked over at the local old timer and inquired on the name of the insect. He just shook his head “never seen one of them things around here,..and spit on it,..then crushed it under his boot heel before I could snap a photo of the anomaly. That says to me you could probably live here all your life and still see no end of weird things that might show up perched on shoulder.

As the sun was setting I was off into the desert about 6 miles out of Silverton.

I’d got caught up in the excitement of seeing two emus way off in the desert,..and I’d broken away from the dirt track was riding cross country across the hard desert floor.  I wasn’t even coming close to catching up to the birds as they blasted over the desert terrain like hover crafts.

I pulled off for the night among some sage brush.  It was a georgous campsite,

…but it didn’t take long for the massive swarms of flies to locate my camp. I rushed to set up my tent and the retreated from the buzzing black clouds.  Its enough to drive you crazy as the flies maneuver with extreme skill to enter any location that will mostly likely drive crazy..ie your eyeball…nose,..into your ear.  The primary use of my tent on this entire tour has been bug relief…and I’m going to be picking up head net ASAP.

As soon as the sun dipped below the horizon..the dreaded buzzing noise abated and flies wandered off to rest up and plan their morning assault.   I emerged under an incredible night sky.  It was dead silent,…with only an occasional gust of wind ruffling the fabric of tent.  I fired up the stove,..brewed up some noodles.   I was sitting their sipping on a cup of wine,..giving the noodles an occasional stir,..when a moth wandered in to close to the flame and dropped dead below the stove.  It took about 2 minutes for an army of ants to move in and haul off their new found booty.  Its amazing how much goes on right between your feet out here….needless to say my sandals aren’t getting much use….I like the security of the motocross boots.

I’ve been putting in lot of highway miles.  I’d rather be maximizing my time on the dirt,…but I’ve decided to allocate the majority of my time in Australia to far western province of Oz,.. appropriately titled…Western Australia.   So I’m running fast on the tarmac,..putting in long miles to get to Alice to start a new venture into the Gibson  desert.   The highways are’nt too bad.

Bad being the big superhighways of the US that are only good for making time hauling ass across the country.  These highways are fast,..but only two laned…gently contouring the terrain through a country with very little traffic.  Virtually every vehicle gives me a wave…with the exception of the Bikies.  These are the notorious biker gang types…like the Banditos or Hells Angels of the US but of Australia…the one percenter types…the guys who had trouble making friends back in grade school..ect.   I only saw these guys on the road between Sydney and Port Agusta.  Out on the real roads,..leading up to Alice I didn’t see any bikers.

One thing I didn’t expect from the hot red center was rain…and I got loads of it.  Massive storm clouds reared up in the distance and poured water out in spouts over the desert floor.

The storms have been rolling in during the evenings,…making for some dramatic evening storm displays.

I don’t know why,..but if there was a major storm cloud ahead of me,..the road would inevitably turn right for it.  The first storm was the biggest,..I’ll admit I was little nervous.  I pulled over to decide how to take it.  Lots of lightening,..major crashing thunder,..and I could see the rain in the distance like a wall approaching my position,..it was coming down so hard it was knocking dust and mud back up in to the air in front of it.

An unusually hot blast of air was moving ahead of the storm,..so uncomfortably warm I had to shut my face shield to keep my eyes from tearing.  I ultimately decided I’d rather minimize my time in the storm by pushing through to the other side,..and its always good to have some rubber tires under you if the lightening decides to touch down.

I put on my emergency flashers, switched mp3 player to ACDC and rolled back on the throttle. There was that super exhilarating split second as the front tire burst into the wall of water.  The pelting rain soaked through my riding suite, high winds battered me from different directions and I could smell and taste the red mud as it permeated the air.  It was a rich experience and the drastic change in temperature was huge relief.  Towards the end the storm I pulled over to watch a few Kangaroos drinking water from the pools in along road centerline.

Its easy to pull of on a dirt road,..out of sight and mind from the freeway and bush camp for the night.   After a hot day of riding I welcomed the evening rain in camp.  Rather than getting my clothes all wet, I stripped down to my boots and let the cold soothing drops cool me down.  Fortunately I was back enough into the bush to avoid surprising any locals (other than few kangaroos) as I strutted around camp wearing nothing but motorcross boots.

sorry- no pics here( thats on the “other” website

A few nights ago I woke up to a massive ant infestation in camp.  Not a huge deal,..they were little buggers and they didn’t really sting much when they bit,..but I had a dollar for every bite,..I’d be well on my way to new set of Ohlins.

Every so often I find myself riding through massive tracts of private ranching land…the dreaded barb wire fence lining both sides of the road…preventing me from finding a good campsite.  As I passed into the Northern Territories I found myself in one of those endless fenced cattle stations.  While searching around for a break behind a rest stop I ran into a group of Germans, who’d simply made camp at the rest stop between picnic benches.  It was close to the road, but given only about 2 trucks would pass every few hours,..it was relatively quiet, and it was loads of fun to be camping with these folks.  We sat around swatting at flies and swapping stories.

Life’s got its highs and lows and Good times come and go,….and these my friends are definitely good times.

I’ve just pitched a tent on forested ridge deep in the Blue Mountains.

The higher altitude here allows a crisp cool breeze to blow through camp,..a relief from the steamy tropical lowland.  It’s a campers dream out here! Its merely a quick hop onto dirt road to find yourself in open range. When there’s no fences on the sides of road you know your in ADVrider territory,..where you can bound off into the woods as far as your knobby TKC80 tread will pull you.

My technique is to take a dirt road, then a scout out a dirt track…then pull a 100meters off into the bush out of site and mind.  Not that any one comes down these roads anyway….or cares. One thing Australians are endowed with is space…the first pillar of quality life!

Cozy’d up in my fleece liner, I’m lean’n up against a gum tree catching up on this ride report…not easy with the pleasant distraction of a gorgeous sunset slipping below the adjacent ridge, wallabies hoping around camp and those wild looking Aussie parrots pumping out a Jurassic park sound track.

It’s been a LONG time since I actually had a real ride report to post,..thats actual riding..not posts about shipping, or taking up space in a hospital, or sorting through medical bills as I swap out ice packs.  I’m back in saddle…and its never felt so damn good.  I’ve always tried to keep pushing through even when things got mean,..seemed irrational..and cost deeply in all aspects, but its always paid off, and this is no different.

Following a route traced out by Locky(the OZ pannier guy), I rolled west from Brisbane into the Great divide mountains.  It was a much different way than I’d originally set out on so many months ago on that freeway through Tawoomba.  This time I traded fast highways for country lanes with no centerline,..roads that twisted in and out of mountains, through lush rainforest and over swollen rivers on creaky old one way bridges.

Due to my usual late start (always tough to get your kit right after being off the road for a while), I’d finally made camp well after dark.  As I expected, locky had set me up right,…a quiet spot along a river off the old Grafton road, a ways out from Glenn Innes.

This camp had A LOT of critters.  Under the light of my headlamp I was pulling my tent off the bike of the bike when I heard a rustle in the woods.  Glancing up I was alarmed to see a furry white thing twice the size of dog bolting right at me.  Totally spooked, I jumped to the side putting the motorcycle between me and the incoming creature.  It stopped just on the other side of the bike about three meters away from me,..staring me down and huffing a bit. Sure,..it was furry and cute..but it had .,..crazy eyes!  The cute furry ones are the ones you got to look out for …like those drop bears they keep warning me about J.   Realizing it was just a wallaby, I relaxed a bit and enjoyed the company.  I think it was maybe the light that brought him in, cus I turned it off and he bounced away.

Everyone I meet seems to have their own opinion on the bizarre behavior of kangaroos and wallabies or wallaroos.  Some say light makes them do weird things.  I met a guy that says he’s had 3 kangaroos hit his motor home.  He didn’t hit them,..they actually charged across the road and slammed into the side of his caravan.

Of course anyone that drives in the country around here has an enourmas roobar in front to fend off the ,.”the mongrels”…as one trucker refers to them.

Speaking of roobars…my buddy Perry recommended I strap a KTM to the front of my bike as a sort of modified roobar (good knock on KTM! I get enough jokes from them on my BMW…ahhh the pic I could pull together with photoshop!

I also had the pleasure of 4 foot python in camp the other day, as well aas a plethora of cool lizards.

When I walked over to this lizard,..he flattened himself on the ground, lifted his head and stuck out bright blue tounge.

I had the company of two other campers in the area.  Both of which invited me over for a “cuppa”. I’ve got hand it to the Aussies,…they know about camping.  I’ve seen camping rigs that put our land yachts back home to shame.  None of those low riding super RVs..what they’ve got out here is something better. Its camping with comfort, but with out comprisming on 4×4 capability.  Were talking,.. pop out tents,..big tires, snorkels,..extended range fuel tanks..and of  course the roobar.

The old Grafton road is ADVrider territory,.. remote, no fences,…so many good river front camping I gave up logging them into my GPS.

Following Locky’s route description I turned off the middle of the old Grafton to continue a 97mile dirt route through the mountains.  The road was a blissful track tracing ridge lines and offering expansive views of the river valley below.

In a full day of riding I passed 3 other vehicles.  As for people,..only a few ranchers working their herds by horseback in valley pastures.

The sunlight was fading fast as I hit the tarmac and rolled for Moonan Flats.

I’d been clued in that Moonan flats was a meeting place for ADVriders heading out to the rally at Karua River.  It’s a one horse town off a dirt road.  Even though it was 1130 at night and pouring down rain,..finding these boys was easy.  About 30 two wheel adventure machines were parked around a pub that was clearly the happening place.  I hardly had my helmet off when I found myself with tasty brew in my hand and surrounded by the sort of folks you might expect to run across in Aussie bar in the middle of no where…we weren’t short on character in this pub.  It was hand shakes, laughs and a lot of good natured jokes on me (you gotta expect a certain number of jibs when you roll around covered in BMW patches)

It was great fun,..with great people.  It was well after midnight when last call came and we stumbled through the down pour out to the tents.  I gotta hand it to these guys,..every year they come out here, to ride through the down pour and hold a soppy wet camping rally.   It rains every year, and they know it,..but it doesn’t deter them a bit….cus they’r dedicated riders

I had whole slew of new riding buddies by the next day…and just pulled in with them as we rolled up over the Barrington Mountains to the  Karua River Rally.  Was good to be riding in a group for bit.  The paved roads are full of bikers,..but its not every day you get this many duel sport riders together in one spot.  These guys were good riders,..pulling hard and fast around those gravel bends.

I was truly impressed with extensive assortment of bikes.

It wasn’t some flashy bike week rally,…where your kit consists of entirely of a towl and spray bottle to polish your chrome every few hours.  This was more about riding whatever you got…what ever appeals to your sense of adventure.  There were old BMW Airheads,…rocket fast KTM dirtbikes,…Hondas, Kawasaki’s, sidecar outfits, many that I’d never seen before….there was even a diesel drink’n Einfield.   There were two ways in,..both were back woods dirt routes through the rainforest.

While riding the pass I pulled over to help out an older fellow on a R80 who’d just taken a flat.  I pulled out my plugs hoping for a quick puncture repair, but he’d bent his rim on rock in a bad way.  Never having had to deal with this on my spoked GS rim, I figured he was in trouble. But the guy just grabbed a big rock…hammered in the rim,..and we used my compressor to blow it up.  To my amazement we were back on the road in a few minutes.  Leave it to the R80 boys to show you how to keep it going with a little rock bashing.

I haven’t been to many rallies, but this one would be one my favorites.  I couldn’t walk twenty feet without being invited over to a campfire to swaps stories, meet other riders,..and tell lies over luke warm beer….”No shit…there I was” type stories..the best type.

Its hard to imagine a better place to meet riders and make contacts. Invites flowed like the booze. I was offered places to stay all over, which ultimately led me to Perry’s place in Sydney following the rally.

Perry is a legitimate ADVrider who both rides and builds bikes.

Only he could turn a Ducati Monster into trail bike (I’ve seen the pics).  I didn’t know it when I met him at Moonan Flats, but Perry doesn’t have legs.  An accident with a train as a child left him as a double amputee.  This guy has done more in life than most folks who’ve got all their limbs.  Truly an inspiration!  And he can barbecue a steak better than anyone I know! Thanks to Perry, his wife, and two wonderful kids,  I had a very rewarding experience in Sydney.

I spent a couple days riding various dirt routes through the Blue Mountains west of Sydney.

Aside from great rides, a big highlight for me was seeing a wombat (which no Australia experience would be complete without). OZ has a lot of nasty poisonous things,..but at least most of them are no match for my alpine star riding boots.

I’ve seen some wild look’n snakes,.,,but most of them crawl off the dirt road before I can swing back around and get a photo.  I was warned not to run over snakes.  Some guy out west ran over a king brown or something…. The thing got stuck on the undercarriage of the car…then survived long enough to get revenge at the next fuel station when the guy was refueling…he didn’t make it.  You only get stories like that out here.

Camping gives me that opportunity to witness what crawls around the woods out here.  As I was reaching for a my tea, my head lamp light reflected off two little eyes on a log next to me…..damn! they’ve got some big spiders out here,…never seen a spider with eyes big enough to reflect off my headlamp….I just tucked my pants into my riding boots,..dont need any 8 legged residences look’n for meal in my pants. If it comes any closer, I’m retreating to my tent.   I’ve also scored all sorts of new 6 legged stowaways on the bike.

They make good riding partners…never complain,…don’t weigh much,..always agree with me…and taste good when dipped in Nutella (okay…telling lies again…although inevitably something crunchy always ends up in my camp coffee).  Speaking of food,..check this out,..when you order a standard hamburger in Australia, you will find between the buns…a beef pady, lettuce, tomato,  pinapple, sugar beat, and a fried egg…..why…cus this is F*&*cking OZ…there’s no rules here!

Its no secret that one of the richest parts of traveling is meeting locals, being invited into their homes,..and getting a snapshot of their lives.  By chance I met up with Verity at a diner in Oberon.  Conversation eventually led to all my questions about local wildlife, and it turns out that she is running a sort of volunteer animal rescue at her home.  I was stoked to be invited to meet her collection of wallabies and wallaroos.

The wallabies, wallaroos, kangaroos..often end up as road kill cus they gravitate towards  the roads in search of the green grass that grows alongside( one theory)(the other being that they are just there waiting to ambush caravans)  So inevitably there is a lot of animal carnage on the roads.  Verriti has rescued several of  young from pouches of killed wallaby mothers.  Because she hand raises them,..they are super friendly…and absolutely love a good scratch on the chest.

As we went out back to have a look at her motorbikes, a big clidestale named Ben came around to check in on us.  I never thought such massive and powerful animal such as clidestale would be so social and friendly, I’d say it’s a credit to Verity’s skill with animals.

Her son Luke,…let me in on some his secret tad pole snaring tricks.

I’m now working out a  plan to head west towards Alice Springs with a few stops in between…its time to take the old girl to the desert.

you can always tell its my campsite due to the certain yard sale appearance.

An Tribute to Locky

Its been a pretty rough start for the Australia leg of my tour…but Locky turned things around for me and got me back on my feet…or wheels I should say.

Thanks to him I’ve got a motorcycle again.  He took me in, gave me room, full access to his shop, and ultimately helped me accomplish in 3 days,. what would have taken me weeks.  Locky dropped his current projects and spent his days with me tearing off the subframe, rewelding it, reinstalling it, fixing various components, fabricating parts, and attaching a new rear rack,…and installing a beautiful pair of tough-as-hell panniers.  (will give full report on these as I tour)

This guy is a super cool dude, brilliant with motorbikes… and I can not communicate in words the gratitude feel for the amount of time, effort and materials he freely invested in me.   Thank you Locky,…been real good knowing you!

Locky and his 1100gs (he’s not running his own panniers, because they are selling faster than he can keep a set long enough to mount to his own bike…thanks for putting another biker first…again)

Now that I’m a biker with bike again…its time to start turning the adventure touring back on.  The Kaurara river Rally is definitely on.  As long as I can keep at least one of Locky’s panniers between me and the grim reaper’s bulldozer,..I’ll make it there!  I hear its gonna rain loads.  I’m so thrilled to be back on a bike and camping after this whole recover ordeal,..that I couldn’t care less…rain,..sandstorms,..cyclones,, what ever. Hope to have the opportunity to meet some of you guys out that way.

After the rally I’m thinking about Sydney….since its there.  I’m not a big city guy,..but I figure I should see it.  (Brisbane was a pleasant surprise,..any place that has natural climbing walls in the middle of the city gets high marks in my book)

Following Sydney,,..I’m shoot’n for Alice.  Then….if its open..the gunbarrel.

Tim always clues me in on the best Australian intel

vid  comes from The Gruen Transfer episode 10. The section called “the pitch” where ad agencies come in to make funny ads.

Just received this map of Australia over email from an Aussie friend,..had to share!  Thanks Tim, only thing missing is the big rig with a D9 bulldozer on the back.