Day 14 - Home

White Cliffs Pub - behind it is the motel complex accom for the hotel
which was really good.

Pete adding a new link to the chain

Andy Strapz strap wrapped around the rear sprocket

Centre part of tread almost gone and tyre square rather than round.

My rose garden.

Hi All,
The final run home was supposed to be a cake walk, but we did have a few incidents along the way.

We left Hay nice and early. I was "over" riding on bitumen road and just wanted to be home and I think Pete was feeling a little of the same. There is no fun or joy for us on the road and today really did bring home how hard, tiresome and boring road riding can be. We had howling side winds all the way and the last 125km's it rained. Just holding the bike straight in your lane was a struggle and I was leaning to one side most of the trip just to balance the bike.

About 150km's from home we passed through a town called Heathcote and as we were leaving I suddenly had no drive. I pulled over and noticed my motorbike chain had come apart and was one long chain and no longer a circle. Oh Joy... Thankfully Pete had a spare chain link and he went to work. Given he was still in mega pain re his accident, he did a marvelous job and about an hour later he created a temporary fix. Speed had to be curtailed down to no more than 100 km per hr :( but given the weather that was about to hit us, that was not an issue.

We traveled maybe 20-30 km's and Pete suddenly fell back. He had stopped to pick up my thong. 2nd time he had done that. I stopped, turned around to ensure all was OK and I noticed something was wrong with my rear wheel. My Andy Strapz strap which was holding my thong and pannier to the bike came off and wrapped itself around my rear chain and sprocket. Luckily my rear wheel did not lock - that would have been rather dangerous.

We then hit the Melbourne rain. Both our rear tyres where almost bald in the centre being border line legal. I realy dreaded the wet weeather section and went around corners very slowly. I dropped into Mum's before going home.

This trip has been all that I wanted . The highlights have been;

• Mother nature - Animals and the scenery (ever changing colours of the desert reds)
• Sand riding - that boggie on my shoulder is now gone
• Innamincka - I would love to go back when it is cooler for about a week
• No drops for me :) 
• Pete was a great mate during the trip. Hopefully he gets better really soon.

Summary
+ 4,200 Km's
Visited the following states;
South Australia 3 times
Queensland 3 times
NSW once

Thats it for me. Hope you enjoyed my blog. Great to be home and see my roses blooming nicely.

Until my next adventure - Cheers Richard



Pete's Bit

Richard has kindly forwarded me his text to add my last bit as well - actually I also proof read his bit too :-)

In essence Richard overviews the day fairly well - not the nicest of riding conditions and firmly cementing my notion that the next bike must have heated handgrips - when we stopped at the Bakery in Echuca I could hardly feel the fingers in my right-hand  !!!  But in essence no complaints - we had 13 and a bit days of great to almost perfect riding so a few hours of misery was a relatively small price to pay.  Arrived home and almost emptied the hot water cylinder in one l-o-n-g shower and even turned on the central heating - city living certainly does have its benefits :-)  The cats have provided their normal reaction after a return from an extended trip - less than subtle distain.  Millie has taken some 3 hours to even front up and has now taken pride of place on the left knee - Milo is still missing in action though !!!  Talking about cats one of the funny (as yet untold) stories concerns Richard at Marree - he was lying in his tent and flexing his toes against his tent wall - the local tame pussy cat saw this as a game and attacked the mystery thing.  I heard the yell in the night :-)

Well 14 odd days touring the Oz Outback - a great experience and recommended for one and all.  Obviously motorcycling is not everyone's bag and I wouldn't recommend taking your new BMW 3 Series but certainly something to add to your "bucket" list.  Interesting people, interesting places, different experiences and so bloody Australian - so expect anything.  I spent some time taking to a Scottish couple in Tibooburra - they had come over to one of their children's wedding a few years back - stayed for a tour - loved it - came back again and hired a four wheel drive - loved it again - and then came back for a third time - brought a four wheel drive rig (Triton 2.4L & a Outback Camping Trailer) and were in the process of completing a long slow drive around the Oz Outback - no hurry because they "just love it".  Oh to be retired with money.

Richard's problem with chains - Hmmm, have carted that spare link now for over 9,000 kms through the Outback - I knew it was for a purpose :-)  Just further reinforces our notion that the next BIG one will be on shaft driven monsters ie 1200's - but will it be BMW GS 1200's, Yamaha Super Tenere's or even the new (soon to be released) Triumph Adventure ?

For those interested - both my rib cage and lower back improve every day but it's still damn sore when twisted the wrong way or asked to do something out of the ordinary.  Still trying to piece together what happened and can't really remember the first 5 ~ 10 minutes afterwards.  However I can certainly advise anyone that sliding down the road head and shoulder first at around 80 kph isn't one hell of a lot of fun and YES it's damn scary and YES it hurts.  Definitely NOT recommended and it certainly illustrates the inherent value of quality safety equipment.  And YES Outback medicine definitely works - it's easy to appreciate the reverence that the locals attach to the RFDS and the local clinic's.

All in all a great trip - Richard and I do travel well (even though he snores) and he's a great Nurse - I still don't like loose sand - Like Richard I'd definitely go back to Innamincka again - preparation is always important and probably an important point not mentioned yet - we had NO punctures.

Thanks for reading along.  Please contact Richard or myself if you want any further details and Richard can probably supply somewhere in excess of 400 pictures and plenty of video as well :-)

Until next time - see you on the road somewhere     
Peter

Day 13 Hay NSW

Second last day. We left White Cliffs early for Hay with the faint hope of maybe going a little closer to home, say Deniliquin NSW. The 95kms from White Cliffs to Wilcania was a great bitumen road and held soo many surprises re animals.

Many ppl bagged Wilcania and suggested it was a violent dump of a town and one you should not stop in. Like a red rag to a bull, once we arrived, we rode around the small streets of Wilcania to see what the place s like. Some very old buildings and great architecture but most other buildings had shutters or metal bars on the windows and if not, they had broken windows. We agreed - yes a dump.

Once out of Wilcania we got onto the Cobb Hwy and it was 130kms of good dirt road. We took it slower than normal as Pete was feeling a little precious. We arrived in Ivanhoe and waited 1:40 hrs for 2 hamburgers for lunch in the only place that was open, a small cafe which also had petrol. Very ordinary experience. Given the long wait for food and the 130km of dirt road, there was no hope to make Deniliquin as it would mean riding after 4-5pm and out here with the kangaroo's that is almost suicide.

So what animals did we see during the day.... goats, emus, kangaroos, stubby lizards, goannnas, large golden'ish coloured snake, a massive 2-3 metre black snake, rabbits, cattle and sheep.

Seriously we saw over 1,000 wild goats. Herd after herd and emus - in plague proportions. For about 300kms we stopped or majorly slowed down about every 5 km's to let some stupid emus try and hit us or let cattle, goats or sheep go by. Both Pete and I had some scary moments with emus today. One instance for me, the road turned left and had some small trees on the side. Doing about 70-80kms as I came around the corner an emu was running beside me (but about 10 mtrs in front) and I said out loud - "Oh Shit". A split second later, the emu turned towards me and passed about 2-3 metres in front of me. Brown pants ensured.

I also have another funny story about a family of emus but will leave that one for later. I wish I had it on video as I would win money on funniest home video.

Extremely exhausting day due to the high level of concentration required so an early night tonight. Looking fwd to my own bed and pillow tomorrow.

Cheers - Richard

Peter's Bit
Well we made Hay, showered and soon after headed out in search of Nurse Puffe's Parma :-)  The 130 kms of dirt was challenging today and I could only really manage 70 ~ 80 kph - especially over the hard ridgey sand - just too much hurty !!!  We did the last 180 kms on seal at an average speed of around 120 so just a high speed blast - however the cattle grids were interesting - travelling fast over on with a big lip and I think I didn't breathe for the next 150 meters.  Ribs are still sore but no bruising yet - typical soft tissue injury - seems o/k till you get it in the wrong position then it's just like someone has driven the proverbial bloody red hot poker right into the sore spot.

As Richard said the Emu's were fun - Richard went past four, two stopped and the other two started running parallel to the road just to my left ... I slowed down to about 35 and of course they both decided to dive across the road the closest one shot across about 3 metres in front of the bike but his mate tried to turn too quickly, lost traction on the seal, spun out and did a full barrel roll into the bush - feathers flying everywhere.  He hardly slowed down as he rolled up onto his feet an disappeared into the distance.  I was laughing so hard it took me some moments to reflect on how potentially dangerous the episode had been.
Well we both fairly tired and it's another big day tomorrow so it's nearly nite nite time - fingers, eyes and toes all crossed for no rain !!!

Most useless thing brought on the trip - heavy fleecy jacket for cold nights (however we have noticed tonight to be significantly colder than the Red Centre).

Most useful thing along for the ride - well after tossing up between my new Petzl Head Light and a reasonable supply of Panadol Forte I finially selected Nurse Puffe - his bedside manner needs a bit of work but I'd ride anywhere with him !!!

Till next time Cheers Pete

Day 12 White Cliffs - Recoup day

Goats and more goats

Dug outs, These houses have a front entrance / porch and the
remaining house is underground. 

Stumpy lizard

Jock's place - entrance

each mound represents a mine shaft. 1,000's of them.

Lodgings for our time in White Cliffs

Yogam - yes we are spending a lot of time in pubs, but it's not because we need the golden necter of a crisp beer in an air conditioned room whilst outside is 40 degrees. It is because in most outback towns, the town infrastructure is basically just a pub and houses. The pubs out here are the post office, place to purchase cooked food, accommodation (many outback pubs have an acre or 3 behind, where caravans, tents etc with maybe a cabin to hire), tourist info, petrol and avgas. The pub is the life blood for both tourists and locals alike. If you want to meet locals and hear a yarn spun, the pub is your only choice and the stories and language used is typical Australiana. Note - all stories are a little stretched. As we are on bikes, we are ununsual to most and ppl quite freely strike up conversations with us whether they are tourist or local.

Last night I conducted my nurse duties at 12:30am, 2:30am, 4:30am and then 8am. Pete is alive and kicking.  Sore, but am sure he will elaborate further.

It was going to be another hot one, so after seeing the nurses early this morning, we had breakie and checked out the sights of White Cliffs. All of the places we visited today were at the peoples residence. They dug another room or two to show off their wears into the hill. Yes - like in Coober Pedy, the folks here live underground. So we got to experience that lifestyle today and thankfully the natural cooler temps which go with being underground. Not a place if you are clastrophobic.

We visited a photographic studio which was cool. Purchased a pic of a massive red kangaroo and a stubby holder. We then headed off to a gem show room and whilst nice, does not hold a candle to Coober Pedy and then ended the morning at Jock's place. He is a grumpy old fella who puts on a fantastic show of his dug out and all the antqiue "stuff" he has collected over the years. Farming, mining and old household goods, many 100 years old. Once we got back, the temps were up, so both Pete and I retired into our respective rooms and both slept for a couple of hours.

Once we finally got our butts outta bed, we attended to bike maintenance and then headed off to the bar which was fantastic. I tried to chat up a local lady (I knew she was local as she was wearing jeans in 36 degree heat) and we striked up a great convo. Her and her partner muster sheep and goats and her partner is the pilot (fixed wing aus plane called a jumbuck) . When he rocked up the  4 of us chatted a lot of mustering, planes and some interesting war stories. Like I said in the intro of today, find a local in a pub and chat.

Heading home tomorrow. Only another 130kms of dirt then road all the way home. About 900kms and its home sweet home. Both Pete and I are dying for food which is not pub food. So hopefully we can do Indian on Monday night.

Cheers from me - Richard

Peter's bit
Just sitting outside to write a few words at 8 pm and Richard has announced it's a "cool" 31 degrees !!!  Slept reasonably well and Nurse Puffe did the nursing franternity proud with regular checkups during the night - getting out of bed to attend to important personal matters and top up on panadeine was a trifle interesting.  The head cleared up about 4 am in the morning and the shoulder / rib cage has improved but it's still bloody sore under any exertion.  As Richard indicated we went for a little tour today to visit a few places and to see if I could ride with a resonable level of control - all seems sorta o/k and we have just under 500 kms to ride tomorrow with approximately 130 of that on dirt / gravel.  Earlier today I got most of the control levers back in their correct approximate operating positions and we've both just finished cleaning air filters then I'm going to oil the chain and start packing for an early start tomorrow - sort of 8 ish.

Talking to the Oz Bush Pilot was interesting especially the story about a crop dusters plane with a damaged main wing leading edge that was "fixed" by stuffing with a doona (eiderdown) retained with chicken wire and secured with 100 mph tape !!!!  The visit to Jock's Place was most illuminating - not only the place and the collection but the laconic homespun philiosophy as well - opal miners are crazy, only pubs make money (the local one is for sale at only just $1.5M - reduced down from $2.5M), all politicians are bastards and the smartest person around here was his wife who walked out 15 years ago and never came back !!! Of course all prose was liberately decorated with that universal language of the outback where "fu*k" assumes all manner of meanings according to context or merely just used as a conjuctive to string a series of comments together :-)

We "dined" in town again this evening and it seems that Friday is the big night with some 30 ~ 40% of the population enjoying a beer at the pub or a meal at the local high class dinning establishment - the Corner Store.  As Richard says, with few exceptions, Outback food is somewhat predictable and is generally always served with ample chips ... but somewhat suprisingly not generally Tom Sauce.

Richard has just put his bike to sleep with a comment that "if she does well for the next two days - she can have next week off" - yes Kaz I am getting worried :-)

Well almost time for bed ... and what luxury - air conditioned complete with TV and both inside toilet and shower.  Almost heaven !!!

Till next time ... Cheers Pete

Day 11 White Cliffs

Glorious goats

Place I forget the name of. Sorry

Baby Tool Tree

Grown Up Tool Tree

Pete lost it here. Went through the rut (far RHS of track) and you can see his tyre marks on the right

Bloody Lazy bike - Lying down AGAIN!!!!!

Pete relaxing after accident - not really with it

White Cliffs District Hospital - even have their own ambulance

Pete about to be discharged. 

Waking up decantly late (8am) and finally departing Tibooburra after 10ish we headed off to White Cliffs. White Cliffs is a small opal mining town in NSW and would be say a small Coober Pedy.

The road from Tibooburra is called the Silver City Hwy which becomes the Calder Hwy coming all the way down into Melbourne. We have picks of the very start of the Calder Hwy, being dirt of course. The main dirt roads here are excellent. The Silver City Hwy was like  a  4 laned hwy made out of clay. There were some banked turns, I just wished for say 5 minutes of rain and my car. Drift for about a km around the corner. I would have sooo much fun.

We stopped off at a historic town (the name escapes me) about 40kms sth of Tibooburra. It was a gold mining town of yester-year and is now basically ruins and not worth the bother    :(

What was great to see on the way down was the wildlife. GOATS!!!! And me without my rifle. Stefan - missing out here. We saw many many herds of them, and even had a few that wanted to play kamakasi with the bike on the road. I did have a scare with emu's today. We have learnt, that an emu just standing there is ok, but once he starts to move you need to slow down. They are big flightless birds with a peanut for a brain. I had one who was running along side me - say 50 mtrs parallel to me and then he did the smart thing, decided to turn towards what was freaking him out. I had already slowed down, but really did hit the brakes as he was about to t-bone me. He passed about 10 mtrs in front of me and I was just amazed - if he had hit me - his whole force and weight nice and fwd - would do some real damage. Stupid animals. Once we stopped, Pete asked did I see one of the emus behind me. No, was my response and he said an emu came out of the bushes running and just missed my rear end.

Yesterday we had a couple of emus and one freaked out and run along side and then headed in front of me. So I let himgo by, but his mate was staying put. So I passed by the two (one left and the other on the right) and the stupid one then thought, hmm I better go back and then passed in front of Pete. Seriously stupid birds. I think if they had wings, they would get confused on how to fly. Is it both wings or left first and then right.

Attached are two pics of some Tool Trees. Baby tool tree and a fully grown one. Someone had created a sculpture with spanners, hammers etc to a tree like structure. People are bored up here and do create some interesting things.

We left the main dirt road which would have taken us to Broken Hill, NSW and headed for White Cliffs. Magnificent road (NSW gets my vote for best gov't roads followed by QLD).

What we do on the bikes is extremely dangerous. Pete had a major off on the Birdsville Track which I am amazed he walked away from. Unfortunately, Pete had another off today and was not so lucky. I was leading and every 3-5 min do my check - is Pete behind me and slow down or stop until I see him or his headlight and then continue on. (Safety first!!). I knew Pete was riding close so I knew he was not far. I waited for about 1 min and no Pete. I doubled back and about 2 min later, saw Pete standing next to his bike (which was being lazy and lying on the ground). Pete was dazed, like he was drunk. So I did what my vast training had taught me (no training by the way - just common sense). Secure the scene - OK - No Goats to hit and no stupid kamakasi emus. No fuel leaking from lazy bike. All oncoming cars could see us - tick.

Then checked on Pete. He had a very sore shoulder but thats about it. He told me what happened. So after giving him water and some TLC we righted his bike up. Then came the scary bit - Pete just lost all memory of what happened. Did I drop the bike, Which way were we going. He had no idea. I asked the question - what did we do over the last week - no idea.

What the???? My vast training did not include head trauma. Every min he would ask - which way were we going? Was he leading? How did the accident happen? I will be honest - scared the #$%^& shit out of me. Do I activate Spot and get RFDS (Royal Flying Doctor Service) or do we push on for the 22km remaining. Pete was confused but could ride and no visible injuries. So after ensuring his bike was OK, he hopped on and we headed for White Cliffs. 40kms an hr. Long ride in and thankfully the last 5kms was bitumen. The Garmin Zumo GPS is amazing. On the 22km trip in, I checked for doctors, found the White Clifs District hospital and plotted the course.

We stopped a few times and Pete did well. The District Hosptial up here is basically 2 nurses who call the RFDS if they need doctor advice. We arrived and Pete was still pretty groggy and disorientated. The 2 nurses tended to him straight away, got vitals which were all good and got further advice from the RFDS.
I left Pete in their great care and sorted out some lodgings. (Thanks Karen for your quick help on that front). Once organised I had a shower and went to see how Pete was going. The RFDS were ready to medivac Pete out to Broken Hill. (plane was currently in Adelaide) for a days obvservation. Head trauma is not a nice thing. He said no and I spoke to the nurse before I saw Pete and was a tad angry. However after chatting with Pete, he was back to his usual self. So against medical advice he is not going to Broken Hill and is now discharged . He has some major cartlidge / muscle damage to his chest and back.

So no plane trip for him but it means I need to walk over to his motel room (or call him) and see if he is OK every 2 hrs this evening.

Very traumatic day, but all ok. Will be an interesting trip home.
Cheers - Richard

Pete's bit
Well it had been a great ride down from Tibooburra (can almost handle the local lingo now) that was until about 22 kms out of White Cliffs.  Yeaph she was  BIG one - run into a big rut (apparrently it rained up here a few days ago) at over 80 kph - did alright until the end - pulled the front wheel over the lip but at that speed the back wheel kicked skywards leaving me in a front wheel down mode of travel on gravel.  Now those of you who are motorcyclists out there will know immediately that's not the best combination for ongoing forward travel ..... the front end went one way and I caught it, the rear hit the ground, the front went the other way and caught - then my momentum meant that the bike and I simply parted company ...... essentially I think I just went over the high side for a very painful landing.  Can remember much after that except for Puffy taking control !!!

All the protective gear seems to have worked well but I was obviously reasonably out of it for a while and the right shoulder / upper back and right rib cage were all bloody sore.  Richard packed me back on the bike and we headed for the local medical clinic.  What an interesting experience - Puffy booked me and after about three checks of vitals the local nurse pronounced that there was nothing broken and nothing seemingly untowards however that she would like me to stay there for nother two hours for observation.  Puffy pushed off to arrange accommodation and after about 3/4 hour the nurse came back to announce the RFDS wanted me monitored continously, put in a neck brace and immobilised in a pressure splint and furthermore there were also making arrangements to medivac me to Broken Hill for further observation and a scan.
I discussed the situation with two RFDS Doctors (including a Naiomi from Nelson in NZ) and at some length and the local Nurse -after careful consideration I politely declined the RFDS kind offer for relocation.  I was already feeling better and the two panadols were kicking in somewhat - although the shoulder hurt like hell.  I explained carefully to the Nurse that I could self monitor my condition and that I knew the symptoms to watch for - she was kind enough to give Richard her phone number and she also made him promise to look in on me every two hours during the night - just in case ...... Nurse Puffe.  I also have to go back for a further check in the morning.

In essence it was my own fault - I'm not sure how, but my attention wandered and I missed a glaringly obvious road hazard that was so bloody big Blind Freedy could have seen it - so NO excuses.
Thanks so much to the Melbourne Support Team that swung into action who immediately started to work out accommodation options in White Cliffs and how I might get back from Broken Hill.
So I'm hurting heaps but still in one piece and YES Richard has pictures !!!

Todays observations:
     Getting worried about Richard - he's started talking to his bike .......
     Having problems with my hair - Phil where are you with your hair dryer :-)

Rest day tomorrow .... more to come  Cheers Peter

Day 10 Tibooburra

Camping on the banks of the Cooper Creek @ Innamincka.

Gas or oil operation. There were heaps of these and oil rigs in the area.

Biggest fence in the world. Dingo fence. 

Dingo Fence - travels I think 5000km's or so. 

The is the start of the Calder Hwy. Up here it is called the Silver City Hwy.

Seriously folks. The border of Qld / NSW and the coppers put this sign up.
Middle of no where on a dirt road and they put this sign up. 

Tibooburra hotel

Innamincka to Tibooburra

Sitting here at the Tibooburra hotel, less than 30 degrees in the shade, having my ?? pint of beer... What a life :)  We spoke to a lot of ppl about the trek home, both before the trip and obviously travellers who had just completed certain treks. We had planned on tackling Camerons Coner via Merty Merty and going down the Old Strzlecki track. However the word from everyone was do not do it on a motorbike. Too dangerous.

4-5 bikers rocked up last night at Innamincka. The leader who arrived a few hrs before his mates regaled us of his trip. 2-3 punctures, gave his last rear tube to his mate and then let the group travel one way whilst he doubled back (got some supplies) and went another way (no one knew where or which way he went). He was about to run out of fuel and had run out of water and by pure chance ran into a Gas / Oil workers camp and they helped him out. He had a flat front tyre, no spare tube, no puncture repairs left, so he filled the cavity of the front tyre with clothes and rode it to Innamincka. When the rest arrived they raved about how hard and dangerous their trek was. 110 km's per hr in sand, stones etc and running 20 psi tyre pressure and they all had punctures, offs etc. It would appear they were first time adventure travellers, with no clue and no respect for what they are trying to do. Pete spent some time with them and after quiet reflection the leader realised how stupid and lucky he was. Up here a mistake could mean the end. We ventured onto the same trek they had done that day and it was easy peasy. Future Darwin Awards candidates riding bikes.

So with the advice given, we didn't travel via Camerons Corner but went through the roads cared for by Santos, the big Australian oil / gas mining company. The roads were absolutely spectacular. Some sandy spots which made you concentrate but in the whole, the best road conditions we have had for the whole trip.
I really did cherish my time in Innamincka and the touring we did around the place. Such a spectacular place and the absolute highlight of all my travels on a motorbike. I would go back in a heart beat. We did miss out on seeing Will's grave, so maybe next time.

The trip down was spectacular. The red sand dune colour, mixed with blacks of the recent bush fires and add the abundant rain over the season has this place looking glorious. The pictures do not do this area any justice. Do yourself a favour and come up.

No offs today and the bikes have been going well. I do have massive dent in my front wheel rim. You get that when travelling over 100kms per hr into rocks :) (loved it!!) I did have a tear in my eye as we past the turn off to Cameron Corner and slowling coming home as this trip has far exceeded my expectations. I plan on upgrading my bike to a 1200cc in the next 3-6 months but so far I am soo impressed with how things have gone.

The only downer is the prices for everything in Innacmincka. What ever it is, expect to pay +200% of normal price. Petrol - $2.05.60 per litre. Glad we did not need any emergency repairs or help up there.

Cheers till next time - Richard

PS : Maurice - you really reading this?? :)

Peter's bit

Have managed to prise the keyboard off Richard for a few comments :-)  Today was just a great ride, in slightly cooler conditions as well (if you've read Richard's comments above re the group from yesterday it's interesting to note that our average speed through the same area was 80 kph - safe, secure but still one hell of a lot of fun) and interestingly while we actually saw more traffic than we have before on most days I still felt we were more "remote" than previously - probably because it wasn't quite the main highway !!!

We've definitely turned the corner for home and it's fairly much downhill all the way :-)  Hard to call the rear tyre a knobbly any more because it's starting to get fairly non knobby !!!  Should get us home but will require replacement quite soon afterwards.

Was reflecting how well the bikes have handled the trip (so far at least) - dependable Yamaha reliability and the ability to accommodate everything we've encountered .... including throwing it down the road at at reasonable rate of knots !!!  The fuel consumption on these long outback sections has improved to give us in excess of 20 kms per litre but the bike does need a damn good clean - Oz Outback Red Dust just clings.

Till next time Cheers Peter

Day 9 Innamincka - Day 2

Coopper Creek - were Bourke passed away

Bourke told Wills let me die here. A day later he did :( 

Coolabah Tree

Camp 65 - where the dig tree is located and the area where Bourke and Wills missed their paty by 9 hrs and as a result passed away.

Road Train - for those that do not know - 1 semi will move all 3 trailers. When you see them on the dirt road, you just move over or stop, as they have right of way. Regardless of law. They can't stop in a hurry. Kings of the road up here and the dust they generate....

Innamincka Hotel

Relaxation day!!! Twice in the night I heard the dingoe's howling. It was aboslutely breath taking. It was like Brocky howling but add another 20 Brocky's doing it at the same time. The second chorus given by the dingo's a few hours later was the best, as you could hear them west and then in the east and then north with all corners of the compass the howls were coming. It was like they were communicating and everyone had something to say. Do miss my boofhead! (Brock)

Late start and headed off to see the site were Bourke died along the banks of Cooper Creek. Whilst it is a sad story, what a place to croke it. Heaven. I took a dip into the Cooper Creek and in the mid 30's degree heat at that stage, it was heaven. I really did not want to get out. When I did, back on with all the heavy and hot motorbike gear :( Why is all motorbike gear in Aus black? This aint Europe, it's fucking hot!! My next jacket will not be black, but I think that will be a struggle to find.

We then ventured to the Dig tree, another 60km's away. It was camp 65 for the Bourke and Wills expedition and what a place. Again along the banks of the Cooper Creek and it looks amazing. A plane load of tourists were next to the tree and we could not get great access to it. And I mean a plane load. There is an airstrip next to the Dig Tree with the plane open awaiting their return. Upon our return at Innamincka, the plane load of ppl rocked up. They are on a 2 day plane tour, Adelaide, (flying over Coober Pedy, Lake Eyre, Simpson Desert), Birdsville  (stay night), Dig Tree, Innamincka (stay night) and then off to Adelaide. Cost is apparently about $2K which is pretty good but I prefer doing it on bikes.

I had planned on staying an extra day in Innamincka, but after today, we will leave a day early. Head to Cameron Corner traversing 220 sand dunes which are clay covered however there are warnings as some of the dunes clay tops have been eroded and filled with bulldust up to a meter deep. That is scary!!!! Can't afford to drop into one of them.

Seriously - if you get a chance to come this way - go!! Chatting to a local, we said we (on bikes doing the full trip) are but a few of people who see the real outback. My ambition or dream was to do Birdsville on bike, but the highlight has been Innamincka and Cordillo Downs .

We are in the pub now relaxing after a few beers and Pete mentioned - hey they have snakes up here :) He knows I hate them and this area has snakes that if they just look at you, you have about 30 min life left.

HOT OFF THE PRESS - Awesome luck for us. A biker just rocked up into the pub and we started to chat. He was the leader of 4 bikes into Innamincka from Newcastle NSW. He had 3 flats and had to fix them on the road so the others went on. He beat his mates here which was not right, so he logged into Spot on my lappie to find out where his mates are. (Isn't modern tech marvelous!!!) Seems they took a wrong turn and are still 60km's away. As a result, we are not going to go the way we planned and go a different way - Innamincka to Epsilon to Santos to Tibooburra.

Chat laters - Richard


Peter's Bit
Yeah the road down from Birdsville to Innamincka via Cordillo Downs was one hell of a lot easier than expected - yes very tiring and the heat just sapped the energy but no real spincter (as in anal) moments.  Yes Peter did have another we bit of a drop - took a line through some deep sand a little too slow and just run out of road into the bank ..... hardly even exciting !!!  Richard has a photo and will no doubt post for evidential proof.
I think we have enjoyed Innamincka somewhat  ... there are public toilets and showers - the later costing $2 for 3 minutes so we pigged out and spent $4 :-)  The last 3 minutes being cold only - I'd probably have paid a premium for the cold !!!  The pub is definitely your typical Outback Experience except that everything is damn expensive ($5 for a Coke Zero), the food is very good quality (with chips of course) and there are three delightful Scottish girls behind the bar !!!  Oh and they serve iced water for free and also have an excellent collection of (very) up to date glossy magazines.  So I'm sitting in the Oz sun, drinking outrageously expensive Coke Zero and catching up on my reading :-)

As Richard has said we rode out to the DIG tree and the site of Bourke's death today.  I have to admit that even for a Kiwi it was at bit of an emotional experience and no matter what your own attitude to Australia's indigneous people, the Aborigines, is one can only marvel at their ability to survive in this challenging environment.  It is stated that Bourke did not relate to them and this inability to understand and learn was probably fairly instrumental in the failure of his return leg and his ultimate death.
However for me the real hero's out here were the Nusing SIsters over the years who provided medical care prior to the Flying Doctor Service.  They drove out and toured the outback in the cars of the period at a time when the environment was hardly tamed .... yes their motovation was God's work and it would be difficult to imagine anyone doing it without that kind of drive.

Talking about the RFDS (Royal Flying Doctor Service) it's amazing to see how the locals support this essential service - take a picture in any hotel and it's a gold coin donation, use a mobile phone in the front bar at the Birdsville Hotel and it's another gold coin donation, wear a base ball cap backwards and yes it's another gold coin in the pot ........

Well Richard is starting to plot our course for tomorrow so I have to give up the computer .... no doubt tomorrow will be exciting with another early start :-)

Till next time .... Cheers Peter