AUSTRALIA 2019/2020

Ride to Esperance today passing through Stirling Range National Park and to the towns of Jerramungup and Ravensthorpe for fuel. These are the towns that look significant on the map but only have a population of around 500 people. The ride through the national park was pleasant and then just mile munching to Esperance.

Esperance itself is quite big and home to the deepest port in Southern Australia. Built in the 1960’s and enlarged in 2001. Checked in and found a pub for dinner then bed.
 

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Next day was a ride along the Twilight beach Road which is part of Tourist Way 358, a scenic route passing some of the best beaches in Australia. Took the road up to Ten Mile Lagoon wind farm, first commercial wind farm in Australia, established in 1993 and still operating. Then continued the loop past the Pink Lake, which wasn’t pink, before heading back to Esperance for lunch.

Found the local museum so paid it a visit, it was a bit chaotic in its layout but had some interesting exhibits and was air conditioned ! The tractor is a Saunderson – Gifkin 1907 Model built at the Elstow Works in Bedford England and used on a farm in Melijinup until around 1930. After that a ride out of town for fuel and some more pictures before heading back to shower and find a pub for dinner before getting a early night. Tomorrow is the start of the desert road crossing.
 

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The start of the desert road crossing, 355 miles. First part of the day was the ride from Esperance to Norseman up highway 1. Nothing spectacular just a typical Western Australia outback road with scrub and a few stunted trees along the road and desert beyond. Got to Norseman and had a bite to eat at the servo where I filled up and discussed the next part with a fellow biker heading the other way. He confirmed there was fuel in Balladonia so off I went with the heat creeping up from the low 30’s to over 40 C.

Fueled up in Balladonia, had lunch and replenished the camel back ready for the 90 mile straight. Australians are very literal, the road is 90 miles long and it is straight. Stopped for the obligatory photo by the sign and headed off with the temperature topping 48 C. At that temperature you need to cover everything, don’t open the visor as it’s like sticking your head in a hot oven, drink plenty of fluid and eat salty stuff (good advice from Sgt Bilko). It is also hard to keep concentration for 1 ½ hours on that type of road in that heat, but you need to as vehicles coming the other way are not always on their side of the road. Made it to Ciaguna where I had booked a room in the roadhouse to make sure I had a bed for the night. Got there late afternoon so filled up and walked into the shop, the place was nice and cool with the air conditioning going and it almost floored me after the high outside temperatures. Got a chair to sit on until I recovered and checked in.

Advice was not to shower straight away as cold water can give us old folks a heart attack so laid on the bed a while to cool off before showering and heading to the servo for dinner and a beer. You don’t know how hard riding in very high temperatures is going to hit you until you try it.

The place was filling up as the evening drew on with lots of roadtrains crossing from the east so early night for an early start to try to avoid some midday heat.

Turns out the next day the road to Norseman was closed in both directions due to bush fires, I was lucky.
 

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Up early for coffee and it was 17 C in the morning, a big change from the 48 C of the day before, had to put a fleece on under the jacket. Car park was fill of road trains so packed the bike and headed off to cross the Nullarbor, a 330 mile leg. The first 50 miles were an obstacle course of dead kangaroos all over the road from last nights road trains, the birds were having a feast.

There are a number of scenic turn offs along the road, dirt tracks to the coast with viewing points, only a few 100 yards long. I took every one, even those only a few km apart, as I will probably never get back here and it would be a shame to waste the opportunity. As I travelled East they got better, the camera doesn’t do justice to the coastline.

Not a lot of traffic on the road but a few campervans, Travelers Autobarn seemed quite popular. Chatted to a few people who all thought I was a bit crazy crossing the Nullarbor on a bike, I didn’t see the big deal myself.

Had booked a place at the Nullarbor Roadhouse which turned out to be full for the night due to the road at Norseman being blocked due to fires. Chatting to the owners they said the road was expected to be blocked for a few days at least and the Ciaguna Roadhouse was fully booked with people sleeping in their trucks and cars.

The roadhouse was pretty decent for being in the middle of nowhere, with an interesting sign on the back of the room door showing all the different snakes that might be outside trying to kill you! Dinner and a beer in the restaurant and a chat to truck drivers before retiring for the night.
 

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Another nice morning as I loaded the bike and took a picture of the whale outside the roadhouse, no idea. The plan was to go to Elliston but accommodation was full so I headed for a caravan park in the little town of Venus Bay, and little it was. The park was full as it was holiday season and a lot of people were out playing in boats and fishing. Another thing I noticed is that Australians do like a jetty.

Windy day riding and I spent a lot of time on the wrong side of the road to try to even out the tyre ware, the rear was beginning to resemble a slick and was not going to make Melbourne so rang the hire company and confirmed a tyre change in Adelaide.

Stopped for lunch at Streaky Bay, love the old pubs.

Crossing from Esperance to Venus Bay was just under a 1000 miles of mainly desert and scrub but nevertheless an experience.
 

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Heading off to Port Augusta in the morning I took a bit of a scenic route through Cowell where I stopped for lunch. First accident of the trip there, managed to fall through an inspection hatch in the floor. They had cut the floorboards out but not fixed them back properly as one side was floating in mid-air, good job I had the boots on. Poor woman had only rented the place 2 months and was mortified, no damage no big deal, better me with boots on than some woman in high heels. Left Cowell and passed an interesting sign. Rear tyre was not going to last much longer and was beginning to affect the bike handling on some of the less than perfect roads.

Can’t say there is a lot to recommend here, went for a walk up to the water tower to get a view of the town and then wandered through, seemed a bit dodgy so headed to the local pub for the usual dinner and beer before tomorrow’s trip to Adelaide and a new tyre.
 

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Not sad to leave Port Augusta so over the bridge and on towards Adelaide for the Christmas Holiday.

Well it finally had to happen, I crashed the bike. Missed a turn and rather than turn around I took a 2 km hard packed road, except in the middle it wasn’t. The sand took me by surprise and down I went. Snapped the bracket holding the clutch lever to the handlebars so had to cable tie it back on, bent the gear lever and twisted the bars. Picked up the bike and retrieved the pannier that had come off and rode to the next service station. Tool kit was missing a few bits so borrowed some from the petrol station and straightened out the bars and gear lever. Rode the remaining 200 km into Adelaide with clutchless downshifts so save my bodge job.

New rear tyre fitted in Adelaide as mine was now illegal and the owner of the garage fitted a clutch lever and cable from his own F800GS as he didn’t have one for a F700GS. It needed a cable swap as the ends are different but it worked a treat. Not a scratch on me but I imagine a few bruises will make an appearance.

Shower in my luxury apartment, Adelaide Dress Circle Apartments on Ward Street, North Adelaide. Secure parking and a washing machine.
 

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Headed down the hill to the oval, only a 10 min walk, and into the city for a look around before heading back to O’Connell Street which is full of bars and restaurants for food and beer.
 

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We ended up at McPeake Motorcycles in 2018 the Australian leg of our trip. We had both of our 800GS’ serviced there.
The 16th of November 2018 according to my diary.
He seemed to know his stuff, the bikes completed the lap of Aus alright anyway....and a bit more.
 
Hot in Adelaide so decided to walk into the city for a proper look around. It is very easy to get around as the city itself is not that big. Bit of history the city was named in honour of Queen Adelaide, consort to King William IV, 1836. The city is listed as national heritage site with the centre in a grid with wide roads and large public squares. It’s also known as the city of churches.

It’s a fairly clean city but there were a surprising number of beggars on the streets, far in excess of those seen in Perth or Darwin. Down by the park with the statue of Queen Adelaide is a good indoor market selling a wide variety of foods. The university has a gallery next to it with an interesting exhibit about the first crossing by plane from the UK to Australia – more history lessons. There was also a dog exhibit with cool models outside.

Adelaide is not a huge place but apparently the most livable city in Australia, probably due to cheaper housing and a good but not oppressive climate.

Now the history lesson,

In 1919 the Australian government offered a prize of £A10,000 for the first Australians in a British aircraft to fly from Great Britain to Australia. Of the six entries that started the race, the winners were pilot Ross Smith, his brother Keith Smith as co-pilot, and mechanics James Bennett and Wally Shiers, in a modified Vickers Vimy bomber.

All the entrants were First World War veterans. Keith had served with the Royal Flying Corps but didn’t see active service. Ross served mainly with No.1 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps. He was twice decorated with the Military Cross and three times with the Distinguished Flying Cross.

The Smith Brothers took off on the morning of 12 November 1919 at around 8am from the snow-covered Hounslow aerodrome. The six entrants staggered their departure with each planning a differing route from Europe through the Middle East to India, then through Indo-China to Indonesia and on to Australia.

At 4.12pm on Wednesday 10 December 1919 the Vickers Vimy successfully came in to land at Fannie Bay in Darwin, flying on to Melbourne to win the race. The total journey took 135 flying hours over 28 days. The Smith brothers and their crew had made aviation history making the first flight from England to Australia.

The Screw were greeted by almost the entire population of Darwin. Among them was the Northern Territory Administrator, Staniforth Smith, and Lieutenant Hudson Fysh, who went on to found Qantas in the following year.
 

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More city photos.
 

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Adelaide looks quiet. Where is everyone?
 
It was early Christmas Eve and some photos were taken on Christmas Day, it was quiet.

Christmas Day was spent just wandering around a bit before my traditional single person Christmas meal.............................meat pizza followed by mint ice cream and beer in front of the TV. Living the dream.
 
Left Adelaide morning of the 26th December and headed south to Robe, which is one of the oldest towns in South Australia founded in 1847. Worked my way down the coast along a lagoon which was pleasant but now awe inspiring, might be becoming jaded at all the travel and finally pulled into Robe. Nice enough place and quite big so checked in and took a walk up to the headland to see the cliffs, the old prison walls (not much left) and the Cape Dombey Obelisk which was erected in 1852 to assist ships and their navigators to the safe entrance into Guichen Bay. Apparently the obelisk is a famous landmark and is of special local historical significance.

It stands 40 feet (12 metres) high and is visible on a clear day at distances of up to 20kms out at sea. Gold was discovered in Victoria in the 1850’s so a huge number of ships arrived in Robe. During the Victorian gold rush, more than 17,000 Chinese people landed at Robe and walked from there to the goldfields in Ballarat and Bendigo - distances of more than 300kms (187 miles). This was due to a very pricey per person landing tax in the state of Victoria - the tax was more than their ships fare from China – see even in the old days they got you with taxes.
 

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From Robe it was across the last of South Australia and into the great state of Victoria heading for Halls gap in the Grampians National Park. Pleasant ride there through some nice little towns and entering the national park saw a sign warning about bush fires in the area and to keep listening to the radio! Found my way to the village of Halls gap which was surprisingly larger than I expected and quite busy. Headed off up the mountain with somewhat wayward steering as the front tyre was now worn to an interesting pattern and with the number of tight slow speed hairpins combined with the weight being on the back tyre resulted in the tyre wanting to steer the bike.

Made it to the first stop at Reed Lookout for some spectacular views over the valley. Met an Aussie guy who had ridden his 800GS for 4 hours to get there. After that it was a ride through to mountains to the lake, which is actually a reservoir, before heading off to Boroka Lookout on Mount Difficult Road. The road wasn’t that difficult if you managed to avoid the huge potholes that appeared out of nowhere, some filled with loose gravel, and the parts where the tarmac was missing. Well worth the ride as the views were awesome over the plain towards Lake Fyans and Lake Bellfield.

Back down the mountain which was much better with the additional weight on the front wheel and into halls gap before heading to Stawell for the night. Nice room in the Coorrabin Motor Inn and a 15 min walk up to the Diamond House Heritage Restaurant & Motor Inn for a nice dinner. Of kangaroo steaks. Retired to the bar for a long night chatting to the owner and the barmaid and sampling the local beer before staggering down the hill to bed.

Next stop Melbourne, wonder how much it has changed since I lived there in 1989 - 1990
 

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I've been following this a really enjoying it. Even more now coz from Adelaide on to Melbourne and up to the sunshine coast we have been a few times (infact we set off for Melbourne tomorrow) . All this has inspired me to plan a trip with my son who lives out there . Thanks.
 
The last leg, I was going to ride the great ocean road but there was no accommodation to be had for miles and all the advice I got was to avoid it as it would not be a pleasant ride due to very high traffic volume and very low standards of driving by visitors.

Headed off mid-morning taking the easy main road to Ballarat before pushing on to Melbourne. Getting close to the city it looked a lot more built up than I remember. The West gate bridge was in gridlock due to roadworks so the slow pace gave me time to look at all the new high rises to the west of the city and in the old docklands area. Over the bridge and through Melbourne and headed down the coast towards Phillip Island where I was due to meet a friend at the Bakehouse in Grantville at 3:00 pm. Rolled up and parked at exactly 3:00 pm, not bad after travelling half way round the world, 6000 odd miles and 4 ½ weeks travelling across a continent.

Spent the night at a farm cottage before riding back to another friend who was putting me up in his apartment in Melbourne for the week. He brews his own beer from scratch, not of this kit stuff, so a night of sampling was had.

Next morning it was off to the Melbourne depot of BikeRoundOz to hand back my steed after a good clean and hopefully avoid any additional charges for damage after my off.

The remaining week or so in Melbourne was spent visiting old friends from when I lived there, drinking far too much and a road trip down the Great Ocean Road which was packed with cars.
 

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Melbourne has changed a lot, there are a lot more high rises and its development has spread. The south side of the Yarra river is much more developed and they have a casino there amongst the hotels and restaurants. There was no gambling back in the day, only the horses at the TAB. If you wanted a casino you had to take a coach trip over the boarder to New South Wales!

So the end of an epic trip, what are the stats and what have I learnt:

Time away – 6 ½ weeks
Distance travelled – 9,811 km (6,132 miles)
Petrol used – a shit load (Averaged around 4.2 Ltr/100 km = 413 Ltrs at average $ 1.65 a Ltr = $ 681 = £ 370 not bad)
Crashes – one (broken clutch lever, bent gear lever, twisted handlebars – fixed clutch lever (took one of his own bike to keep me going) and new rear tyre at McPeake Motorcycles, Adelaide mcpeakemotorcyclesbmw@hotmail.com and managed to avoid any charges from BikeRoundOz)
Beer drunk – lots of many different varieties
States ridden in – 3 (Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria) – I flew to Darwin. It does mean I have visited every state and state capital in Australia though.
Country Australians are very different to town Australians.
Country towns are little more than villages to us.
The girls at the Auski Roadhouse near Karijini are awesome. Roadhouses in general are great.
Spare fuel cans expand more than you think and leak in the extreme heat.
Washing fuel off your skin with water from a Camelback only makes it burn more.
Riding in temperatures of 40 C is uncomfortable and at 48 C is just plain miserable.
Klim Induction Jacket was very good in all but the most extreme heat (over 40 C) and made riding comfortable, needed a fleece at temperatures below 20 C.
Klim Switchback Cargo Pants worked great at keeping me cool.
SIS (Science in Sport) Hydro Tablets at 2 per Camelback fill make the drinking water taste nice, Camelbak was good at keeping the water cool for most of the day even in high temperatures.

Been back a few weeks now and my thoughts are dominated by “where do I go next ?”.
 

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