Friday 07/11/08 - Bathurst to Bilgola
Fairly relaxed morning, packed up in no particular hurry, with only 200 kms to go to home.
Seems kinda unreal that this is finishing, but I guess it's been in our minds for a few days now, it seems strange that tomorrow, I'll be sure of what day or what time it is.
Took off to Lithgow but stopped shortly afterwards wanting atleast to get a couple of pics of rural Australia, to show that in many places the red dirt is hidden by top soil and lush grass.
The Blue Mountains were now looming majestically in the distance and soon enough we were drinking a coffee in Lithgow in their shadow.
Road up the mountain out of Lithgow is a beauty and then joins on to an even better one, the interestingly named " Bell's line of road". For those who don't know it, it's a favourate of Sydney bikers, a fast, testing road which runs along the top of a ridge line, and offers sensational views across the mountains and valleys. Unfortunately though the road surface was terrible and being our last day, and feeling like I was riding a horse, (not a feeling, I've ever felt comfortable with) we took it easy and enjoyed the magnificent scenery. Rode down the lovely Bellbird hill (You can actually hear them, if you can switch yourself off from the sounds of the engine for long enough) and into North Richmond, Richmond, Windsor, and then off piste again towards Pitt Town and Moraya before Galston and down into the gorge. It was a potentially perfect ride through, with no traffic in front, but I was riding "ugly" and Hanako's clutch was slipping due to some heavy duty oil additive I'd given her to try and cure her growing addiction to 25W-60 .
And then we there, back at our little road side spot above the gorge, where almost all the rides I've ever done have started.
We acknowledged it, smiled a little and hugged, a great moment.
Then redonned our armour and headed home.
For me coming down Tumbledown Dick hill (on Mona Vale Rd), and seeing the Ocean in the distance is always a special moment, and always tells me I'm home.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Almost there...slow motion...Bogan country
Thursday 06/11/08 - Cobar to Bathurst
Only 700 kms from Sydney now, but talked about it last night and decided to do do 2 hops than one long ordeal, the kms around Sydney, definitely take longer and neither of us had any wish to spend an extra couple of hours in traffic at the end of the day..especially not our last one.
So...took it pretty easy packing up and rode fairly easily, listening to music, when a large Green sign appeared in the distance. " Welcome to Bogan country", to any family and friends reading rhis outside of Australia, this may not seem unusual except perhaps the word, So have added an Aussie website to provide further education.
http://www.bogan.com.au/definition/index.php
Anyway it seemed funny to me at the time !
Stopped in Nyngan for a couple of hours, talking to locals and soaking up the sunshine with a few of the locals. Rode on through Trangie and Narromine to Dubbo, a lovely town, which I was expecting to be fairly small, but wasn't. The whole cafe culture, "Sophistication", is alive and well there , in a good way (The food and coffee's excellent).
Road from Dubbo to Orange was lovely, rolling hills, green and gold paddocks, dotted with patches of Pattersons curse(Purple flowering weed) and stands of large gums.
Filled up in Orange and decided to go one more session to Bathurst. Every town we come to now, however small it appears on the map is big, busy and bustling, the difference of perhaps 200kms is a whole new world and a reminder that home is close at hand.
Very fast ride to Bathurst and I guess another indication of the proximity to Sydney...I think it was rush hour. Rode around Bathurst and set up in a Caravan park on the the Kelso side of town.
Ate at the local Kelso pub, and then chatted to a Dutch couple back at the park who were just setting off...Tonight is our last night...only 200 kms to Sydney
Only 700 kms from Sydney now, but talked about it last night and decided to do do 2 hops than one long ordeal, the kms around Sydney, definitely take longer and neither of us had any wish to spend an extra couple of hours in traffic at the end of the day..especially not our last one.
So...took it pretty easy packing up and rode fairly easily, listening to music, when a large Green sign appeared in the distance. " Welcome to Bogan country", to any family and friends reading rhis outside of Australia, this may not seem unusual except perhaps the word, So have added an Aussie website to provide further education.
http://www.bogan.com.au/definition/index.php
Anyway it seemed funny to me at the time !
Stopped in Nyngan for a couple of hours, talking to locals and soaking up the sunshine with a few of the locals. Rode on through Trangie and Narromine to Dubbo, a lovely town, which I was expecting to be fairly small, but wasn't. The whole cafe culture, "Sophistication", is alive and well there , in a good way (The food and coffee's excellent).
Road from Dubbo to Orange was lovely, rolling hills, green and gold paddocks, dotted with patches of Pattersons curse(Purple flowering weed) and stands of large gums.
Filled up in Orange and decided to go one more session to Bathurst. Every town we come to now, however small it appears on the map is big, busy and bustling, the difference of perhaps 200kms is a whole new world and a reminder that home is close at hand.
Very fast ride to Bathurst and I guess another indication of the proximity to Sydney...I think it was rush hour. Rode around Bathurst and set up in a Caravan park on the the Kelso side of town.
Ate at the local Kelso pub, and then chatted to a Dutch couple back at the park who were just setting off...Tonight is our last night...only 200 kms to Sydney
NSW...but still out the back
Wednesday 05/11/08 Yunta to Cobar
Upand going earlish for the 200kms to Broken hill, again very similar to NT, with the low scrub, red dirt stretching out to the the horizon. In Broken Hill the overcast sky cleared. Stopped for a coffee and a chat to more motorcycle heads and then went for a look over the local area from the top of the slag heap.
Rode east to Wilcannia, through a vast ever changing landscape, a real feeling of space, with no time..
Stopped in Wilcannia for a roast beef roll and gravy...ahhh...roadhouse food. Wilcannia looked like a nice old town, but fair amount of Aboriginal kids just hanging out for something to happen, strong feeling of lack of purpose and direction, not dissimilar to the famous Turkey Creek.
261 Kms on to Cobar - Wild west still, masses of Red/Orangey dirt , high and then low scrub in places, sometimes stands of Eucalypts in the beautiful barren landscape, but always that massive blue sky.
Way to much wildlife last 100kms into Cobar, Roos, Sheep and thousands of Goats, and more Roo roadkill per km, than at any other place on the trip.
Set up on the edge of Cobar and shot into town to the RSL - classic country chinese cuisine :-)
660 kms today, a fair slog, but good, both bikes hanging in there...go the girls
Upand going earlish for the 200kms to Broken hill, again very similar to NT, with the low scrub, red dirt stretching out to the the horizon. In Broken Hill the overcast sky cleared. Stopped for a coffee and a chat to more motorcycle heads and then went for a look over the local area from the top of the slag heap.
Rode east to Wilcannia, through a vast ever changing landscape, a real feeling of space, with no time..
Stopped in Wilcannia for a roast beef roll and gravy...ahhh...roadhouse food. Wilcannia looked like a nice old town, but fair amount of Aboriginal kids just hanging out for something to happen, strong feeling of lack of purpose and direction, not dissimilar to the famous Turkey Creek.
261 Kms on to Cobar - Wild west still, masses of Red/Orangey dirt , high and then low scrub in places, sometimes stands of Eucalypts in the beautiful barren landscape, but always that massive blue sky.
Way to much wildlife last 100kms into Cobar, Roos, Sheep and thousands of Goats, and more Roo roadkill per km, than at any other place on the trip.
Set up on the edge of Cobar and shot into town to the RSL - classic country chinese cuisine :-)
660 kms today, a fair slog, but good, both bikes hanging in there...go the girls
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Port Lincoln ..across South Australia
Tuesday 04/11/08 Port Lincoln to Yunta
Left Lincoln about 8 and rode up the east coast of the Eyre Peninsula towards Port Augusta, riding was hard running into a strong head wind, getting battered.
Went to stop at Arno bay for fuel, and as sometimes happens out in the wilds, none available, only 25 Kms to the next fuel stop, but inland.
It was a lucky move as we got out of the head wind, off the main road, and into some nice twisty riding roads upto the small town of Cleve, filled up then headed upto Kimba.
Kimba to Port Augusta, was like being back in the NT, Red Dirt, Red Rock, heated up from cool in Port Lincoln to hot to Port Augusta. Passed by Iron Knob, a massive Iron Ore mine and then onto Port Augusta, where we stopped for lunch and then headed down the Adelaide road before taking the turn off at Wilmington towards Broken hill.
Road from Willimington to Yunta was beautiful, firstly up and over a range and then out on to a massive plain, late afternoon sun again lighting up the low scrub and rural land, huge vibrant blue sky, streaked with skinny clouds.
Massive landscape, had the feeling of floating through a painting. When we got off the bikes in Yunta, remarked to Geoff, "That was like a religious experience".
Yunta was pretty small with a little old pub, and since we were still looking for a night in a classic Aussie pub, we decided to stay rather than camp.
Pub was good, food was great, classic simple country cooking (read...heaps of meat)
We however were the only people there apart from the publican and his wife, who were also bike riders and so it went on..
Left Lincoln about 8 and rode up the east coast of the Eyre Peninsula towards Port Augusta, riding was hard running into a strong head wind, getting battered.
Went to stop at Arno bay for fuel, and as sometimes happens out in the wilds, none available, only 25 Kms to the next fuel stop, but inland.
It was a lucky move as we got out of the head wind, off the main road, and into some nice twisty riding roads upto the small town of Cleve, filled up then headed upto Kimba.
Kimba to Port Augusta, was like being back in the NT, Red Dirt, Red Rock, heated up from cool in Port Lincoln to hot to Port Augusta. Passed by Iron Knob, a massive Iron Ore mine and then onto Port Augusta, where we stopped for lunch and then headed down the Adelaide road before taking the turn off at Wilmington towards Broken hill.
Road from Willimington to Yunta was beautiful, firstly up and over a range and then out on to a massive plain, late afternoon sun again lighting up the low scrub and rural land, huge vibrant blue sky, streaked with skinny clouds.
Massive landscape, had the feeling of floating through a painting. When we got off the bikes in Yunta, remarked to Geoff, "That was like a religious experience".
Yunta was pretty small with a little old pub, and since we were still looking for a night in a classic Aussie pub, we decided to stay rather than camp.
Pub was good, food was great, classic simple country cooking (read...heaps of meat)
We however were the only people there apart from the publican and his wife, who were also bike riders and so it went on..
Eyre peninsular...it's a secret..
Monday 03/11/08 Streaky Bay to Port Lincoln
Set of out of Streaky Bay around the headlands, but too much dirt for the girls to handle, so set off on the bitumen road to Port Lincoln. Stopped in at Venus Bay for Petrol, cuppa Tea Luv, and a picture of the bikes on a fishing pier, Geoff had been hanging out for this since seeing the opportunity the previous night in Streaky, only problem was we couldn't turn around at the end...strange looks from a couple of fisherman..."does the ferry go from here" says I, reversing the caravan as gracefully as possible.
Venus Bay was gorgeous, beautiful scenery of bays, islands, sandbars, that magic aqua water first seen in WA.
Stopped at Talia Caves and Bay for a look then onto Elliston for lunch.
Scenery changed shortly after, riding over desolate limestone hills dotted with the occasional sheep and then about 40k before Coffin Bay went back to rural with large stands of gums flanking the roadside in lush green grass filled meadows.
Stopped at Coffin bay fuel, oysters and then Tea (No beer at the shop sadly). Learned how to shuck our own oysters by the locals and then after more chat, followed there advice and headed out to the park.
Coffin Bay NP was for me one of the most beautiful places I'd seen so far, great little windy road up and over sand dunes carefully giving quick glimpses of the scenes ahead. Took a left to Golden Island and all of a sudden we were on the coast, scenery was spectacular, endless white sand beaches, Limestone Islands, wild seas, beautiful bays and the same crystal clear azure water.
This place (Eyre peninsular) seems a bit of a secret, no backpackers or international tourists and very few Australian tourists except South Australians ! It was a great tip to come here!
Went on the 30 odd kms to Port Lincoln, camped down on the water, checked the bike out after having a little front wheel speed wobble, for Geoff to discover one of the nuts at the bottom of my front forks, (holding the wheel on) had vibrated loose....nice one..
Then headed into town to the Pier hotel, for "scotch on the rocks", fillet steak with Oysters kilpatrick...another tip from a coffin bay local...who says hairy bikers can't live it up occasionally, Geoff on the other hand was dreaming of 2 minute noodles..... :-)
Set of out of Streaky Bay around the headlands, but too much dirt for the girls to handle, so set off on the bitumen road to Port Lincoln. Stopped in at Venus Bay for Petrol, cuppa Tea Luv, and a picture of the bikes on a fishing pier, Geoff had been hanging out for this since seeing the opportunity the previous night in Streaky, only problem was we couldn't turn around at the end...strange looks from a couple of fisherman..."does the ferry go from here" says I, reversing the caravan as gracefully as possible.
Venus Bay was gorgeous, beautiful scenery of bays, islands, sandbars, that magic aqua water first seen in WA.
Stopped at Talia Caves and Bay for a look then onto Elliston for lunch.
Scenery changed shortly after, riding over desolate limestone hills dotted with the occasional sheep and then about 40k before Coffin Bay went back to rural with large stands of gums flanking the roadside in lush green grass filled meadows.
Stopped at Coffin bay fuel, oysters and then Tea (No beer at the shop sadly). Learned how to shuck our own oysters by the locals and then after more chat, followed there advice and headed out to the park.
Coffin Bay NP was for me one of the most beautiful places I'd seen so far, great little windy road up and over sand dunes carefully giving quick glimpses of the scenes ahead. Took a left to Golden Island and all of a sudden we were on the coast, scenery was spectacular, endless white sand beaches, Limestone Islands, wild seas, beautiful bays and the same crystal clear azure water.
This place (Eyre peninsular) seems a bit of a secret, no backpackers or international tourists and very few Australian tourists except South Australians ! It was a great tip to come here!
Went on the 30 odd kms to Port Lincoln, camped down on the water, checked the bike out after having a little front wheel speed wobble, for Geoff to discover one of the nuts at the bottom of my front forks, (holding the wheel on) had vibrated loose....nice one..
Then headed into town to the Pier hotel, for "scotch on the rocks", fillet steak with Oysters kilpatrick...another tip from a coffin bay local...who says hairy bikers can't live it up occasionally, Geoff on the other hand was dreaming of 2 minute noodles..... :-)
Euchla, Aussie Bite and into South Australia
Sunday 02/11/08 - Euchla - Streaky Bay
Left Euchla about 8, and hit the road running along the great Aussie bite. Many spectacular view points with the road running in most places within a k from the cliff edge. Stopped at the Nullabor roadhouse, and soon after the scenery changed to massive, featureless open plain, a bit like Cammoweal on the QLD/NT border, after a while, 100 kms or so, changed to lovely open woodland and then as we got to Nundaroo, into rural farm land. As we filled up there had a chat to some people who'd followed us along the way, tipped us off to see the Eyre peninsular on our way across South Australia, plan changed and off we went, still had a while to go to get there and passed through Ceduna, before heading right down the Eyre. Streaky Bay was about 100kms on and is a lovely little fishing town, reknown in Sydney restaurants for their Scallops, typically none were available there ! Found a great little camp spot down on the bay, and watched the Sunset and Pelicans. More chatting and advice from fellow campers set us up for the next day, but unfortunately made us late for the pub, where we eventually arrived to late for food.
Our idea off time has flown out the window, never actually driven/ridden through so many timezones before and we'd given up changing the time on our phones. The only thing we wanted to know was, what time do the roos come out around here ?
Left Euchla about 8, and hit the road running along the great Aussie bite. Many spectacular view points with the road running in most places within a k from the cliff edge. Stopped at the Nullabor roadhouse, and soon after the scenery changed to massive, featureless open plain, a bit like Cammoweal on the QLD/NT border, after a while, 100 kms or so, changed to lovely open woodland and then as we got to Nundaroo, into rural farm land. As we filled up there had a chat to some people who'd followed us along the way, tipped us off to see the Eyre peninsular on our way across South Australia, plan changed and off we went, still had a while to go to get there and passed through Ceduna, before heading right down the Eyre. Streaky Bay was about 100kms on and is a lovely little fishing town, reknown in Sydney restaurants for their Scallops, typically none were available there ! Found a great little camp spot down on the bay, and watched the Sunset and Pelicans. More chatting and advice from fellow campers set us up for the next day, but unfortunately made us late for the pub, where we eventually arrived to late for food.
Our idea off time has flown out the window, never actually driven/ridden through so many timezones before and we'd given up changing the time on our phones. The only thing we wanted to know was, what time do the roos come out around here ?
Nullabor dreaming (of a sunny day)
Saturday 1/11/08 Belladonia Roadhouse to Euchla
Left Belladonia hoping for a moderately nice day...something a little overcast perhaps...Weather had other plans, and shortly we were riding through heavy showers. Even so, Nullabor was beautiful, got more beautiful in the shower breaks..., mixture of nothing...very low scrub, medium scrub, and red dirt. Rode steady, stopping every 200kms. Just above Madura was a stunning view as the road dropped down to the lower plain, almost endless view and then the cloud closed over it...Stopped at Madura to eat and hope that the weather would change, so I could take so photos of the pass, but yep, didn't get those shots....
In one of the rain breaks, came across a massive Wedge Tail atop a dead Kangaroo in the middle of the road, he would have stood a metre high, and refused to move as I approached, slowed right down, and just as I got to him, slowly lifted off..
About 40kms West of Euchla, we sighted a strange phenomenon before us....Blue sky and then heat...beautiful....Went down to the old telegraph station behind the beach dunes, almost enveloped in sand...Leo had requested a photo, as had been through in '74, I thought he said with the bikes in front of it...Geoff tried....
Left Belladonia hoping for a moderately nice day...something a little overcast perhaps...Weather had other plans, and shortly we were riding through heavy showers. Even so, Nullabor was beautiful, got more beautiful in the shower breaks..., mixture of nothing...very low scrub, medium scrub, and red dirt. Rode steady, stopping every 200kms. Just above Madura was a stunning view as the road dropped down to the lower plain, almost endless view and then the cloud closed over it...Stopped at Madura to eat and hope that the weather would change, so I could take so photos of the pass, but yep, didn't get those shots....
In one of the rain breaks, came across a massive Wedge Tail atop a dead Kangaroo in the middle of the road, he would have stood a metre high, and refused to move as I approached, slowed right down, and just as I got to him, slowly lifted off..
About 40kms West of Euchla, we sighted a strange phenomenon before us....Blue sky and then heat...beautiful....Went down to the old telegraph station behind the beach dunes, almost enveloped in sand...Leo had requested a photo, as had been through in '74, I thought he said with the bikes in front of it...Geoff tried....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)