Day 1 to 86 – Wrap Up

What more can I say about this trip than I have already said. It has been a fabulous adventure around Australia taking 86 days covering 21,565km, consuming almost 1,300 litres of fuel, crossing all the mainland states.

Additionally I had 10 wonderful days with Robyn around Cairns (covering 1,145km) and another 18 days in a campervan (2,450km) around the SW of WA. That time helped me to complete this journey.

People often ask was I lonely? And the truthful answer is no, because I met some wonderful people along the way, riders and others, travellers and locals. So I wasn’t lonely, but I missed the friends in my life, and the intimacy that only a family can provide.

Would I do it again? The simple answer is Yes in a heartbeat. But I can’t see me doing such a long journey again. Robyn was kept busy whilst I was away, and the time shared on the trip was wonderful, but it doesn’t compare to the time we spend together at home and with family.

What would I change? Not a lot, if anything. Oh, other then not coming off the bike again, that was definitely a downer and I’ll be seeing what needs to be done with my knee over the next couple of weeks.

How was the bike? What can I say about Optimus Prime. He was fantastic, no better bike around and that is said with all honesty and sincerity. The fabulous riding position, the wonderful suspension and engine made long distances a breeze. Simply a fabulous all round ride. I could go on, but hey if you have ridden one you will know what I am talking about, and if you haven’t then you are simply missing out. Sorry.

Consumption (the bike not me)? The large fuel tank was invaluable. Although most fuel stops were within 200-250km in the more isolated areas, there were a few times where it was necessary to travel further. The large fuel tank, given the weight I was carrying, gave me a 500+km range, so fuel was never an issue. This range could fluctuate based on the conditions, road and weather, and on the riding style (twist of the throttle). Although given I sat on or about the speed limit this was always pretty predictable. As for oil I did not use one drop in all the kms travelled. I did an oil change in Darwin and a service (including oils) in Perth, but there was no need for me ever to top up the oil on the whole trip. As I said a simply fabulous bike.

GPS Equipment? Josie was invaluable. Firstly for navigation, although in the outback a map generally will do, it is nice to get confirmation of your direction, but more importantly finding your way around towns and cities. Secondly, the information that it gave me, such as distance and time to destination, and intermediate points, location of fuel stops and other information. And lastly, my source of music and stories that made the longer riding sections that much easier.

UHF Two Way Equipment? Not an absolute necessity but it did provide me with contact to other road users, especially the truck drivers ahead. I would let them know I was overtaking and thank them on completion. More often then not they would acknowledge me and wish me a safe ride. As I said not a necessity but nice to know that the bigger road users knew you were around.

Spot Messenger? An absolutely great piece of equipment I carried, and would use again. If nothing else it gave Robyn piece of mind that I was still riding and at the end of each day, I was safe and finished, especially in areas where mobile phone service was non-existent. It also logged my position and mapped that on Google Maps for my family & friends to see where I had been and where I was each day.

 

So in all, the pre-trip planning and equipment selection proved to be invaluable to making this adventure successful, comfortable and allowing me to end each day with a smile on my face. This is a wonderful country, the scenery, animals and the people. Not only were the other travellers terrific, but the locals I met and spoke with were always friendly and accommodating. If you haven’t seen it please do yourself a favour and see it, and then you will understand why all those overseas visitors and travellers just love our country and us as a people.

 

I would like to thank all of you who have followed me on this blog and shared my adventure. I hope that you have enjoyed reading about this trip almost as much as I have in doing and writing about it.

I want to thank all my family and friends for their emails and comments made on the blog. These were read and enjoyed and reminded me that there were people back home interested in what was happening. I especially want to thank my adult children for there comments and emails, with Kelly and Katie often giving me a smile or laugh, I always looked forward to reading your comments.

Finally, I want to thank my loving wife Robyn for her patience and willingness to allow me to indulge my passion for riding and my desire to see this wonderful country. Without her love and support I would not have been able to complete this trip.

So thank you all for allowing me to share this adventure with you. I know that we all have dreams, so just know that there is nothing like setting out to challenge yourself and to live your dream. If you have one to fulfil, what is stopping you, just do it. See yah!

Day 86 – Sat, 23 Oct to Home – Last Day

Today is my last day on the trip. I spent the morning with Glenn and co before doing the last section home. I couldn’t leave until I saw Oscar (6 yo) ride his scooter at the skate park ramps. He was a little put off by all the big kids (well teenagers) riding their bikes and scooters, cresting the slopes and doing flips. I think a little intimidated, but he summoned the courage and he was away. A couple more times at the park and I am sure he will be one of the daredevils.

The ride home would be uneventful up the Princess Hwy to Heathcote Rd, then through to the M5 and M7 to my daughter’s home. It would be lunch with Katie & David. I didn’t mention this the other day, for which I had a comment, but I had planned to have lunch with these guys (given they were going to be home).

Robyn escorted me this last stage through to Katie’s home at Marayong. Again it was wonderful to catch up with them. Katie, along with my other daughter Kelly were avid commentators on my blog throughout the trip and kept me in touch with home, as well as my use of terms like dongas. Dave is also a bike rider so the conversation did stray a few times on riding.

So after lunch it was to be my last stage, riding to home. I had such wonderful weather on this trip I knew it couldn’t last. This last part was ridden in rain. Along the way at the traffic lights another BMW F800GS rider pulled up beside me and he had just arrived from Perth (in a clockwise direction). Should I keep going?

No, home was waiting and Robyn was there (having left a few minutes earlier) with Kelly & Andrew and their kids Kimmy, Nessy, Sammy and my newest grandson, whom I had not seen, Ben (born in August).

The girls had not known I was arriving and my arrival was a shock. At first not believing their eyes, but then I had little girls all over me. I had left on the 2 Jul with them seeing me off and here I was home with all of them welcoming me home. It is really lovely to be home.

Day 85 – Fri, 22 Oct to Stanwell Tops

I hung with my grandchildren, drove them to school and had coffee with Wade before heading off mid morning from Canberra. After yesterday’s adventure I was taking it easy, straight up the Federal and Hume Hwy, onto Picton Road and then N up the F6 to Helensburgh turnoff for Stanwell Tops.

My eldest son Glenn and Pip and there lot of Trea, Maisie & Oscar were expecting me. Robyn was also driving down to spend the night. It was going to be a celebration, not only my return but also Glenn completing his last exam for his part time degree today. Study for the year is over and you could see it on his face.

As I left the Hume turning onto Picton Road it was in the low 30C but I could see rain ahead. I road through some heavy rain towards the end of Picton Rd and on the F6, but it cleared. However, as I pulled into Glenn’s driveway and carport the heavens opened and it hailed. What timing.

Robyn & Glenn were there to greet me and the kids arrived home shortly after from school. With Pip arriving it was time to celebrate, which we did with gusto. As I said, terrific to be with family again.

Day 84 – Thu, 21 Oct to Canberra

This morning started off like most others on this trip. Early rise, breakfast, pack and onto OP for a ride. I was heading to Canberra today and I would have all day to get there. No problems.

I headed N towards Wodonga then turned E onto the Murray Valley Hwy towards Corryong in NE VIC. This turned into another great ride through the countryside and along the S shores of Lake Hume. This is the first time I have seen the Lake full, well as good as anyway. The drought has obviously been broken and the Hume Dam is doing its job. The Murray River was also flowing as I rode along the S side towards Corryong. 

Here I refuelled spoke to another biker heading home from Phillip Island, the long way. I had plenty of time, still before lunch, which I’ll have in Tumut later today.

I decided to cross into NSW, then travel towards Tumbarumba then onto Tumut, Gundagai, Yass then Canberra. Well that was the plan. I headed out crossing into NSW at Towong and yep I’m in NSW, potholes and rough roads. Welcome back.

A little further on the sealed road to Tooma had a road closed signed so I took the detour. At the next intersection I took the road to Tooma (no closure signs this way) but gravel ahead. I travelled about 15km on gravel, climbing hills, wonderful views and back down into the valley. I reached the bitumen and found the road blocked – road closed. Bugger!

So I took the sealed road back to the start and checked what other way I could go. I decided to head towards Jingellic and then to Holbrook. I wanted to catch up on some time and I thought the best way would be not to cross the mountains again. So I was about to head out and a couple of bikers arrived and informed me that the bridge across the Murray at Jingellic was washed out. Great!

So it would be up over the mountain via Cabramurra. So I got to the turn off near Khancoban, about 20km from Corryong where I had refuelled. I looked at the odometer and it said that I had travelled 110km in all of this mucking around and I had lost 2 hours.

Up the mountain towards Cabramurra, about 60km in I was stopped by a Stop/Go man. It would be a 20-30 minute delay he said, they were clearing trees from the roadside. Well he could tell I was not impressed and I told him what I had been doing for the past 3 hours – getting no where quick.

After that it was a straight ride down to the Snowy Mountains Hwy into Cooma and then up the Monaro Hwy to Canberra. I arrived at my son’s home just before 6pm, it was 580km day, not my longest, but the longest riding day I had done.

It was wonderful to see Wade & Rowena and their gang of kids, Maddie, Charlie, Jamie, Hannah, Rita and the little one Alex. They were all hanging out for my arrival and I said to Robyn later that there appeared to be so many that I thought they had brought in some outsiders. Wonderful to be with family again.

Day 83 – Wed, 20 Oct to Harrietville (near Bright)

A wonderful day for riding; great weather, great roads and feeling on top of the world.

I had breakfast with Bob the publican at Lang Lang, the Palace Hotel if anyone is travelling this way. We chatted and had coffee. The hotel has been in his family for many a year, his grandfather built it and the family still own it.

On leaving I headed in a NE direction letting Josie have her way again. We criss crossed the country NE of Moe through Toongabbie, Heyfield (where I had morning tea at the Bakery), Maffra and finished up hitting the main highway north of Sale.

I passed through grazing country of the Gippsland, through the brown coal belt with power stations to my S, arriving at Bairnsdale around midday. It was decision time. Do I head further E across S Victoria and then N towards NSW at Cann River or Bega, or do I head up over the mountains towards Omeo and Mt Hotham.

I had looked at the weather for the day in all these areas so I decided to head towards Omeo. What a great choice as the riding through the mountains was fabulous (almost had to learn how to ride around bends again after all those straight roads of the past months). The temperature only dropped from around 23C at Bairnsdale to 16C at the top of Mt Hotham.

This took me up through the ski lodges and there were still remnants of the snow around the village and on the slopes from the winter just past. Well not actually snow now but compacted ice, which will not be around for much longer if this weather continues. Although, there was a small fall of snow late last week as that cold front passed through, so who knows how long it will continue.

After Mt Hotham I headed back down the mountain on the N side of the range, dropping from around 1,850m down to 450m at Harrietville where I decided to stay for the night. I was originally heading for Bright (about 20km further N) but this was such a pretty little town that I couldn’t resist staying.

I just got back from a walk to the School Bridge where I spoke to a local and his 11 year old granddaughter. The local school only has about 35 students, so this gives you an idea of its size. Obviously a jumping off spot for the snowfields, but also what looks like a lovely village for the summer.

So I am almost home, with plans to see my son and his family in Canberra tomorrow night, then my other son and his family N of Wollongong on Friday night, and most likely home on Saturday. We’ll see how things progress. Maybe if this fantastic weather and riding keeps up I may just do a U-turn and head back around the country again, the other way. On second thoughts, maybe Robyn would have something to say about that, so I better keep heading in my NE direction.

Day 82 – Tue, 19 Oct to Lang Lang

Where is Lang Lang you may ask, well it is a little N of Phillip Island on the mainland, SE of Melbourne. I am here at the Lang Lang Hotel, with Bob the publican, we are the only occupants tonight but it has been full over the weekend. He just filled me with a mixed grill that you could not jump over, literally. Thank you Bob.

Well what a day. I left Peterborough at 8am and I feel like I have been on the road all day, well I have, but what a day. I rode the GOR (Great Ocean Road) which was a huge amount of fun. I checked out all the sights along the way, but hey that is what  it is all about, see the sights, but ride the fabulous road.

 

I got to Bells Beach and missed the car parks and was heading back out again. I got about 2km down the road to the next turn and I thought, will I go back. I almost didn’t but hey I might as well as I am already here (you see I had been here before). So I did a U-turn and headed back to the car park.

I parked the bike and dismounted. I was taking my gloves off when a bike rider arrived on the other side of me. I acknowledged him and knew that another bike pulled in literally behind me (behind my back). I hadn’t turned and the guy revved his bike a couple of times. I thought what the hell is he up to.

I turned and it was Rod, yep Rod Vile, who I last saw up in Cairns all those months ago. He had been to the MotoGP, and he and the other guy, Steve were riding the GOR in an W direction. How bl..dy incredible is that. They only took the turn off to Bells Beach as a last thought. There is definitely someone out there organising all these “coincidental” meetings. Wow.

Rod, Steve & I talked for a little while and they continued W before heading home. I headed onward E, to Queenscliff (W side of Port Phillip Bay) where I caught the car ferry to Sorrento (E side). A great trip I literally paid the fare and rode straight onto the ferry, no waiting, great timing.

On the ferry I met Steve & Janet from England who had rented a bike and were doing a few days riding. He had just finished the Postie Challenge, Brisbane to Darwin. He had done a lot of riding previously and he said it was the toughest thing he had ever done. He went over the handle bars at one stage and cracked a few ribs. This didn’t stop him but hey would he do it again, and his answer was “NO”!

So I headed NE from Sorrento and ended up at this great little pub, SW of Melbourne. Not far now only a few days from home, so I’ll drop into my sons’ places on the way through. See you all soon. How was that, meeting Rod after all these months, bl..dy incredible!

Day 81 – Mon, 18 Oct to Peterborough

A wonderful riding day allowing Josie to take control and lead the way. Who you may be asking, is Josie. I’ll get to that in a moment.

Today I went from the Limestone Coast with white sand, all the shades of blue water, rugged coastlines, to wonderful farming land, with lush green undulating hills passing through cattle and sheet country and plantation forests.

I continued S along the coast from Robe through to Millicent. I then headed NE to the town, that has been very much in the news, especially last night, of Penola. Yes Saint Mary’s country town. I had morning tea here and it was interesting that this same weekend they were also celebrating the Coonawarra Shiraz Festival.

At this point I set Josie to take over the route. Josie is my female companion that has done the whole trip with me. She is very patient as I don’t always follow her directions and she simply recalculates and comes up with a new route. She is of course my GPS. I set the destination as Peterborough on the Great Ocean Road about 50km E of Warrnambool.

Her route took me through SW VIC, some wonderful farming country, along B & C classified roads. There was no traffic (almost no vehicles) and the riding was fantastic. I would never have found my way through, I would have simply stuck to the more major roads.

Overall a 420km ride today, I hope the weather clears for tomorrow. It has continued to fluctuate from sunshine, cloud, pouring rain and almost fog. Please clear as tomorrow I head E along the GOR, something I have been looking forward to for sometime.

Day 80 – Sun, 17 Oct to Robe

Today was only a short 320km ride through the country to the S of Murray Bridge.  I first checked out the river here at MB and it is obviously up high. The river bank grass is underwater and it is lush to the water edge.

 

I stayed on the S side of the river through to Wellington. This took me through some old dairy country. Some dairies were still operating on the small properties but many had obviously closed. I wonder whether this was an industry adjustment or the effects of a lack of water for the past years in the river.

Wellington is further S than Tailem Bend and required me to cross the River by ferry. Speaking to the ferryman he said that the river is now back to normal, some 2m above what it was only a month or so ago. The lakes only a little further S are now  full and he said that water was still proceeding down stream and they are now worried about damage being caused through flooding.

I guess this may be inevitable given the flooding in the Murrumbidgee over the weekend and the rain that has been falling through the west of NSW and southern QLD.

After crossing the river I rode further S and then a little W taking me around Lake Alexandria and Lake Albert, the lakes that the Murray River empties into, when it is flowing, which eventually empties into Southern Ocean, just down the road. Both lakes looked wonderful being full of water, I remember well the TV reports showing them as dry sand beds for as far as the eye could see. (Sorry about the photo quality but it was raining at the time.)

I rejoined the main S highway at Meningie and followed this road further S along the Younghusband Peninsula (how about that for a name) through Kingston SE finishing at Robe. A really beautiful riding day through farming country, with dairy properties, actually dairy stations, with lots of pasture being cultivated for lucerne hay.

I finished early enough to check into the pub for the night so that I could watch the MotoGP race. I wanted to see whether Casey Stoner could make it 4 wins in a row. Well by now you would know that he blew the field away, beating Lorenzo, the new world champion, by an incredible 8.6 seconds.

Robe looks like a wonderful place with the rough coast, white beaches and a real village atmosphere. A walk around town justified this place as a great destination

Day 79 – Sat, 16 Oct to Murray Bridge

I awoke to a still morning but rain threatened. The wind had settled overnight as expected and I was heading further SW, a good decision to stay an extra night at Port Augusta.

By the time I was ready to depart the rain had started and it was only 10C. I followed the Spencer Gulf in a SW direction until I reached Port Pirie where I took an inner route towards Clare and then Gawler.

I passed through a town with a wonderful name, Crystal Brook. A little further I entered the top of the Clare Valley, a renowned wine growing area, with the town of Clare being at its heart. A scenic town set amongst the hills and throughout this region there are some wonderful old public buildings and homes. Wines have been produced here since before the 1840’s, so Clare has a real history in the wine industry. Lots of Rieslings come from this area.

After doing a little sightseeing in the town I was going to stop and make myself some lunch and coffee, but it started to rain – well the heavens opened – and the temperature was down to 8C. So I decided to keep riding as the weather had been fluctuating between rain, cloud and sun most of the morning.

I had lunch a little further S and then climbed up to Mt Pleasant passing through forests and treed areas. I was actually on a nice country road with nice curves and scenery. Wow, curves and trees, the first for many weeks.

I nearly stopped at Mt Pleasant for the night but time was on my side so I continued onto Murray Bridge where I am based for the night. Dropping down from the ridge onto the Murray River plain gave fantastic vistas across the farming land to the S.

So today I had showers, rain, cold and sun, but little wind. Some parts were a bit windy but generally a really good day for riding. I hope that the wind will continue E faster then I travel in that same direction.

Day 78 – Fri, 15 Oct at Port Augusta

I made a decision to stay another night here and not move on, not because of the town, but due to the weather. The forecast for rain, but move importantly strong gusting winds were the reason. There is no hurry and I could see no advantage in moving on.

The decision was well founded when I road to the local laundromat and the wind was terrible. Like the rest of the E of Australia the wind was strong and the temperature cold.

I also went to the local tourist info centre and it had a fabulous permanent exhibition on the history of the region. Lots of physical and multimedia displays, exceptional good value and a most enjoyable few hours.

The weather is moving further E tomorrow so I will head out towards the Clare Valley and then E of Adelaide towards the S coast.

Day 77 – Thu, 14 Oct to Port Augusta

A fine day but expecting rain towards the end. So I left Port Lincoln riding NE up the Eyre Peninsula running along the coast of the Spencer Gulf.

Initially the countryside was familiar, riding through wheat and sheep country. To my left fields running off into the undulating hills, and to my right were the fields running off to the water of the Gulf. I guess you would know from my previous posts that I really enjoy this environment, or is it just the riding, I’ll have to think about that – oh, lets just agree it is both..

The towns along the coast are basically service centres for the local community, fishing and holiday ports. Towns such as Tumby Bay, Port Neill, Arno Bay, Cowell, all are fairly similar with their wheat silos and their jetty running out into the bay of the Gulf.

Once I headed N of Cowell the road ran inland more and the countryside was more in keeping to what I had following Ceduna – scrub countryside, with low bush, small and medium sized scrub and red earth. Still sheep country but as I approached Whyalla there was a mountain of earth which was obviously the result of mining.

The approach to Whyalla was wonderful, coming down from the top of a hill the plain opened out in front of me with the town some 20km in the distance, but visible for its industry and ships in the Gulf. Quite unexpected.

Whyalla is obviously a steel town, with the steel works on the coast, and everything coated with a red stain. I trust that that their dust control is better these days, which appeared so as the air felt quite clean.

The final 80km to Port Augusta saw the completion of the day’s riding. The Port refers to itself as the crossroads of the country, seeing the roads heading N to Alice Springs & Darwin, E to Sydney, S to Adelaide and W to Perth. It is also the crossing point for the N-S Ghan Train and the E-W Indian Pacific. Real crossroads.

 

The town is comfortable sitting at the top of the Spencer Gulf, and I decided to stay here tonight with rain expected. I’ll decide on which way to go from here.

I hadn’t realised that the Flinders Range came all the way down here – those are the ranges in the LHS photo above. They form a beautiful backdrop to the town and almost would be the backbone of the country.

Day 76 – Wed, 13 Oct to Port Lincoln

An easy day today, rose late and decided to do a short days riding. I had an interesting chat to the young publican where I was staying at Elliston. Apparently there are plans for one of the largest wind farms in Australia for the region. He is hopeful as this will bring people and money to the town.

Elliston is a small fishing/holiday village a little far from the main population base in Adelaide. Lovely beaches and bay, and allegedly abundant fish.

On leaving Elliston I took an easy ride S. I crawled my way, well that is what it felt like doing 80kph in a 110 zone. I simply didn’t feel in any hurry today. The country side was beautiful sheep grazing landscape. A lovely ride in the countryside as they say.

I called in to Coffin Bay, another fishing village but this time the centre for oysters in this part of the world. On leaving I headed for my final destination for the day at Port Lincoln, at the S tip of the Eyre Peninsula. I was here a little after lunch, had a look around and switched off for the day.

Port Lincoln is the tuna fishing capital of Australia, made a little famous by Dean Lukin who came from here winning the Gold medal in the heavy weight lifting class at the LA Olympics, in 1984 I think. Anyway this has one of the largest commercial fishing fleets in Oz, and the marina sure shows signs of this fact.

As I said a lazy day today, and worthwhile after the hectic ride across the Nullarbor – boy, is that part really finished already?