Another rideabout down under

[pevers]

As CanDman has already used my preferred tag line for my trip in Australia......

I'm going to use this thread for posts of our travels over the next few months. I'm coming to the end of my time in Adelaide and will be heading to Melbourne next week where Caroline will join me before we head to Tassie for two weeks.

I put together a short vid of some clips of the ride I did yesterday over the Adelaide Hills and out to the Murray river. I did these with my normal camera on a tripod - it's a bit of a pain having to find somewhere and then go back etc but the result is nice. I did have a Drift to mount on the bike but I cooked that going across the Hay Plain last month!!

Adelaide Hills 7 Feb

[The General]

  Wow, clever clips David. I`ve got a small tripod somewhere that I`ll now pack in the swag...

That Hay plains run is interesting and yeah, bloody hot!

I had the unfortunate circumstance to drive it at night following my son in law. (Both in cars). We arranged a signal with him using his blinker to warn of a roo siting and which side of the road it was on. I followed pretty close, but at one stage we dropped down the speed to below 60klm/hr. Suddenly both blinkers went off and I was on the brakes. A massive big red ran across his path and came back and faced me head on to punch me out of the way. I managed to stop, and was presented with this face off....Convinced he had won, he meandered off into the darkness....

I will never ride the Hay Plains, except in the heat of the day...and then, carefully on alert. (Yeah, Roos like Hay)

Can`t wait for the next episodes! 

[CanDman]

As CanDman has already used my preferred tag line for my trip in Australia......

I'm going to use this thread for posts of our travels over the next few months. I'm coming to the end of my time in Adelaide and will be heading to Melbourne next week where Caroline will join me before we head to Tassie for two weeks.

I put together a short vid of some clips of the ride I did yesterday over the Adelaide Hills and out to the Murray river. I did these with my normal camera on a tripod - it's a bit of a pain having to find somewhere and then go back etc but the result is nice. I did have a Drift to mount on the bike but I cooked that going across the Hay Plain last month!!

Adelaide Hills 7 Feb

...sorry ....don't get peeved...........well.........if it's of any consolation to you........my nic-name at camp used to be Tri-pod........I was in the bush one day...and I had to take a leak.....and.....anyways....you get the picture..... .
Seee u soon
Kev

[pevers]

Some short clips from our time in Tassie last month
http://youtu.be/mpmAiszciHs

[oldktmdude]

   Meeting up with Dave and Caroline in the morning for a coffee in Bermagui. Will be great to catch up with them and talk about the Rally and their future travels. Hope a few others from the Forum will have the chance to catch up with them on the rest of their journey around Oz.  Pete.   

[pevers]

Good to see you Pete. Thanks for the coffee. Now drying out in Sydney!

[CanDman]

Good to see you Pete. Thanks for the coffee. Now drying out in Sydney!

.....oh no......I have heard that it started to rain after I left and hasn't stopped......glad to hear your enjoying your trip though.....I will keep the kettle boiling and will look forward to your visit in July. Ride safe brother.....
Kev
PS......the wrist and shoulder are healing up slowly...but healing for sure.....talk again soon..

[pevers]

Greetings from England!

Apologies for being tardy about writing up our Australia trip. We had a fantastic time but here is the short version:

I have already posted about the early stages of our trip in Adelaide and Tassie. I did a (better) video from Tassie which is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSsMpJKMKrE

After the 30th Anniversary Rally at Jindabyne we spend a few more weeks in Melbourne before heading off to Penrith via Lakes Entrance (an overnight stay at Tony Mac's place), a day's rain delay in Merimbula, and a quick coffee with Pete (oldktmdude) in Bermagui. We met up with our old friend Pat at Jenolan Caves on what turned out to be our last day out on the FJ1100....



We had been having a few issues with the FJ - nothing mechanical, she never let us down - but it was a bit small for my left knee and the pillion seat wasn't doing Crumble's back any favours. Our friend Phil proposed a swap - the FJ for three months use of his FJR (just like mine at home) - and it wasn't a difficult decision much as though we were very fond of the FJ. Phil loves it and we know she's got a good home.



We spent a couple of weeks in and around Sydney visiting friends and old haunts for Crumble. We then continued north to Urunga for Crumble's birthday and then to Byron Bay for Bluesfest (brilliant time!).

Sacred Mountain Retreat, Urunga:


Bluesfest:



We popped in to see Rover and Julie for ANZAC weekend and a rideout with some of the FJ crew:



After this we decided to drop going to Townsville and Cooktown as our time was slipping away and we wanted to get to the north and north-west with plenty of time to enjoy it. It was a bit of a slog west across QLD to NT. It's a route I'd done before but this time we stopped in Mt Isa where Crumble did a placement when she was a medical student (her first experience of Australia!). We loved the sign: "Welcome to Mount Isa. Now you're a proper Australian" - and both of these Poms have been twice!!



The roads out through Longreach, Winton etc were pretty new, highly cambered, very abrasive and this combined with strong crosswinds from the right meant riding on the edge of the tyres and the tread was completely gone on the right hand side of both front and back tyres after 600kms of this riding!

We had a night at Barkley Homestead (second time for me) and by now the temperature was heating up a bit and our riding days started at sunrise and we tried to finish by 2-3pm in a place with a swimming pool! Mataranka was interesting - Thai dinner at the caravan park restaurant with an Elvis impersonator performing - surreal! We recommend a dip in the "hot" (tepid) springs - nice place. Katherine next and a dinner cruise on Katherine Gorge - not planned but well worth it. A couple of days in Kakadu Park with a boat trip out on Yellow Water. Into Darwin for a week - new set of tyres and a service - big shout out for the guys at Darwin Motorcycle Breakers. Very nice time in Darwin - apart from Crumble's aversion to spiders and the Huntsman who jumped out a book onto her!

Back to Katherine and turn west - are we really going to Perth?? Yes!


We stayed a couple of nights at Lake Argyll (very impressive but a bit expensive):


Then one of Crumble's must dos - a visit to the Bungle Bungles:



This was a brilliant day and well worth the time and money. Go now before the access to the area is restricted - it's very fragile. We even found a half decent map of Australia inside one of the rocks:


After this we enjoyed Broome, found Port Hedland interesting (!) and another of Crumble's must-dos: a visit to Red Dog:


My birthday present was a day swimming with whale sharks from Exmouth - absolutely fantastic day that we'll remember forever.


South to Perth:




A week in Perth visiting friends and realising that winter had set in. A few days over to Adelaide - some were very wet - and our only close encounter with wildlife. About 5km from the end of the Nullabor straight and at noon, a big Roo came out the bush to the left - he was going quickly and I managed to grab a handful of brake. He just missed us - inches - Crumble thought we had clipped him as he skidded across the other lane and stumbled up and off the road. I think he was just as surprised as us! The non-serious previous wildlife encounter was a parraket in the visor for me - my whole world turned green!!



Lucky Bay ferry:


A little time in Adelaide catching up with friends left us an early morning ride across the Hay Plain (strangely, one of my fav places in Australia!). New tyres and a service followed by a last ride on the FJR.




We enjoyed every day on our trip - we know how fortunate we are to be able to do this. There were places that were simply amazing and others that were interesting but not that we would recommend to go to for their own sake - but we had to pass through. We met brilliant people and were offered generous hospitality by almost all. Our trip, especially when we were on the FJ, always started conversations and almost always ended with "Good on yer".

Thank you to everyone we met for making our trip one will will always treasure - the places were good but the people made the trip.

For the technical minded:

On the FJ1100 we did 9,300kms, used 560lts of fuel at 6.1lts/100kms.
FJR1300 we did 15,700kms, used 935lts of fuel at 6lts/100kms.

The vast majority of the distance was done two-up with a full complement of luggage. The rear tyre of the FJ last 6500kms but the front didn't need changing before the swap.

The second set of tyres for the FJR lasted 10,000kms - I get a little more in UK/EU when two up touring but the tyres don't square off as quickly as they did in WA!! If I lived there I would go to the dark side and fit a car tyre to the back!

[X-Ray]

Fantastic report David, thanks for that! You two certainly have seen and experienced a lot more of Australia than I have yet, and I live here!! Its always a case of, yeah one day..... 

 

[stua1959]

Glad that u enjoyed your time here. Great report and photos

[Steve_in_Florida]

 

Excellent!

Steve

[roverfj1200]

Was good to meet you again David and Crumble.... So glad the trip went so well..

Cheers

[The General]

I`m in awe, when I think of you two. Great Company, Great Pics and a humble "get up `n go" to boot! Hope you keep in touch often.

Awelot adventure.