2014 ride with the wife... A trip In Oz

[roverfj1200]

Well we have had this planned for some time now and the waiting has a real drag....

With no firm plan and only a few points to fill Julie and myself packed up the FJ and headed into the sun set. With three weeks to use and a big country to explore what could be better.

We headed out of Brisbane and made our way out to Warwick and down the New England to Armidale for our first stop. The next day we head into Walcha and down Thunderbolts way Bucketts way to Gloucester. So far the Weather had been nice but had warmed up a bit. As we were only a hundred kay from the coast we headed to Forster. With a motel set and a beer in hand I looked out at the FJ to see the rear wheel on the ground while on the center stand..NOT GOOD. On inspection I find the lower cup had broken of the shock. A few calls and some thinking my spare was in the mail (express).



This would take a few days and left Julie and me time to explore Forster on foot. A few days well spent as it is a lovely place with a heap of things to see.



With the shock arriving early two days later I was able to fit it and we did some exploring on two wheels. Next day we headed to Victoria stopping at Yass for a night. Heading down through Wog57's stomping ground had my thoughts thinking of the times I was lucky enough to have meet him.

Old Hotel at Tuena

With the weekend being the time we wanted to catch up with family a long slab run to central Victoria was done getting us into Lancefield late afternoon. With 1300km covered in two days by Julie which is a great feat.

With the weekend spent with family we head over to St Arnaud for one last catch up. Then into Halls Gap for a run through the Grampians and down to Portland to visit my very missed Grandparents. Then on the Mt Gambier and the Blue lakes.




Next we headed to Goolwa and the Murray mouth and a look around Victor harbour.





North now and on to the Barossa Valley and to Broken Hill...








West now to Cobar and a over night in Nyngan.

Moree next for a few days soaking in the hot pools. But before I leave Moree the need to replace tyres showed up as a daily check showed the front had blistered. With 10thou on them the Shinko 009's were off and replaced with Angel GT's. And a Dash home. In the 3 weeks we covered 5800km and had a most excellent time...


Cheers.

[FJmonkey]

Good write up, nice walk about on two wheels.

[roverfj1200]

Rough map of the trip.


https://maps.google.com.au/maps?saddr=Michel+Court,+Petrie,+Queensland,+Australia&daddr=Armidale+NSW+to:Forster+NSW+to:-32.3884275,150.4817947+to:-34.053477,149.3382688+to:Yass+NSW+to:Lancefield+VIC+to:-36.8740431,143.8027832+to:-36.6492505,143.2078267+to:Portland+VIC+to:-38.059387,141.1024864+to:-37.4745115,140.0260384+to:-36.9810741,139.8039274+to:-35.4597322,138.757985+to:-35.4848476,138.7724991+to:Victor+Harbor+SA+to:-35.0261648,138.8077323+to:-34.6570206,138.886308+to:-34.4977392,138.9838958+to:Broken+Hill+NSW+to:Moree+NSW+to:-28.2053032,151.5744101+to:Brisbane+QLD&hl=en&ll=-33.504759,146.645508&spn=21.111583,28.256836&sll=-27.839076,149.842529&sspn=5.613534,7.064209&geocode=FZoNYP4dVh0eCSkBeqiCdfuTazEVQ7miHU-Wsg%3BFVpjLv4dFEEKCSl9XEbd25-fazHAKUSQtAkGBQ%3BFfP3FP4dDiQXCSmZk36e4Dl0azFwoUOQtAkGBA%3BFbXKEf4dgiv4CCnZ9_oZrXwMazGWEmSXDy0eOw%3BFZti-P0dnLjmCCk_I07zKg4RazH8Eo_yFpSptg%3BFYVY7P0d-zXgCCnvBM5SURkXazGA5EOQtAkGBA%3BFVAqx_0dNlGgCCkrw0KL06fXajGwfqAwpHkFBA%3BFcVYzf0dn0GSCCnPvTsVJsHQajFAMOQOpHkFEw%3BFd7G0P0dki2JCClhx1pqz0LQajHAEakOpHkFEw%3BFZfhtv0dcrVwCCkRCnpjaJidqjGg1aAwpHkFBQ%3BFYVCu_0dlg1pCCl3CwWHyAieqjEQd38OpHkFEw%3BFTEvxP0dtqBYCCmb07976P-fqjHxZExJVDYDEw%3BFa62y_0dFz1VCCmxIXrE6G61ajFgn4FJVDYDEw%3BFWzt4v0dYUdFCCnDJdTn_8q2ajEAKX9JVDYDEw%3BFVGL4v0dE4BFCCmBr5UmaMq2ajERtBJJVDYDEw%3BFTWA4f0d5TdDCCmhI-zQXk6xajHAw45iVDYDBQ%3BFQyL6f0dtAlGCCmJISDoZTG3ajGh4ltJVDYDEw%3BFQQt7_0dpDxHCCkTCSXAseK5ajFBhzRJVDYDEw%3BFTWb8f0d17lICClf0PHiaOm5ajHNSx8MtrScvw%3BFW5kGP4dMJZuCCnNwlLeYDPvajFwAUSQtAkGBA%3BFeBoPv4dZ2buCCnpJDIYmHKnazHQukOQtAkGBA%3BFQmfUf4ditcICSkTwEKZwu6XazHAoWZY8e4AEw%3BFV3TXP4d2fMeCSkz0pOsmleRazFAr97zWqMCBA&oq=Brisbane&mra=dpe&mrsp=21&sz=7&via=3,4,7,8,10,11,12,13,14,16,17,18,21&t=m&z=5

[aviationfred]

Looks like the two of you had a wonderful time. Thank you for sharing, the photos are great.


Fred

[movenon]

Thanks for the write up and photo's. Helps on a cold winters night here. 
George

[Firehawk068]

This is awesome!
Thank you for posting up the adventure............................And Kudos to your wife for climbing on with you for the ride!
If I could get my wife to enjoy touring half as much, it would be amazing!

[Steve_in_Florida]

Just curious, was the Mad Max/Road Warrier stuff real movie props, or just "inspired"? (I smell a tourist trap with a Wez lookalike running around all wild-eyed, shaking hands and giving autographs!)



Steve

 

[roverfj1200]

Just curious, was the Mad Max/Road Warrier stuff real movie props, or just "inspired"? (I smell a tourist trap with a Wez lookalike running around all wild-eyed, shaking hands and giving autographs!)



Steve

 

Some of the stuff is from the movie and some is recreated. Lots of photos from the making of the movie there and good information.

Some cars are copies like the interceptor as the real one is in a collection in the US.

[Bones]

Good stuff Richard, me and Chris did a road trip a couple of years ago but we were in the car. Same as you, a couple of weeks spare and no firm plans, just winged it as we went, it's a great way to see the country.

I'll say one thing, that bike of yours will never gather cobwebs from sitting around. 

                                                          Tony.

[ken65]

good stuff alright, loved the photo's,  bloody big place we live in.

ken

[ribbert]

Man, ain't that what it's all about.

You, the missus, the bike, the open road, plenty of time, no rigid plan, love it!

Looks like you a great time Richard but dang, you sure don't look excited on the outside.

If you tell me you never took a cheesy photo standing in front of the big lobster at Kingston, I won't believe you.



........about to burst into a rendition of a Pub with no Beer

You sure took in your share of desert country, I love it out that way.

Good luck to you and glad you had a great trip without incident, except the shocker. You're a lucky man having a wife that likes to ride. I've done close to 100,000 kms on the FJ, my wife has accompanied me for about 2 kms, to collect her car from a service.

Hope you took plenty of photos, we don't get to do trips like that often.

Roll on March!

Noel

[roverfj1200]

cheesy photo Bike in front of the big lobster at Kingston. Not this trip had some wet weather and rode through this time.

[Mark Olson]

excellent trip and ride report, thanks for sharing.

[roverfj1200]

........about to burst into a rendition of a Pub with no Beer[/i]

Pubs had plenty of BEER...

[X-Ray]

Nice, what an epic journey!