Here's a short synopsis of some key bits of the trip (excluding Phillip Island). There are some interesting stories about security guards at the track to add some entertainment in between the racing :-D . More on this later.
The Grampians were great - Loz's route in to the area made sure we did some great roads going in and coming out. Wildlife was an issue here as a wallaby did a Bathurst on Loz and they just missed each other. Reminiscent of Wyangla Dam, Steve, except we were coming down the mountain, Mt William appropriately enough, not up. The Grampians would make a good long w/e ride. With some amazing scenery and roads - although picking the times to do them outside of wildlife peaks would be interesting. We had trouble getting a feed here as a Monday evening was not conducive to the pub bistro or pizza bar extending their hours. So, we ended up in the Quarry Restaurant and had a great meal although a little more upmarket than our original plans and a couple of bottles of red to wash it down. This style of dinning seemed to set the standard for most nights of the trip :-) The dessert didn't live up to the quality of the mains unfortunately.
Kangaroo Island was a great location, not great roads, but lovely sights and the ferry ride over just adds another dimension to it all. I really enjoyed the views of both flora and fauna. We also lucky that the only fauna we saw was the Fur Seal and a pod of dolphins playing around the ferry on the way over. The island's name sake was elsewhere on holiday as there wasn't one too be found, (but some evidence of them on the sides of the roads). We circumnavigated the island, fueling in the am and then PM to make it back to the ferry (about 80k from Kingscote where we fueled up). All up about 375km on the island, and we got in 4 touristy activities. A good meal in the pub (run by a couple of Kiwi's) and then the ferry back to the mainlaind. The trip back was interesting as Tim had charmed all the old ladies in the morning and now set his sights on a middle-aged (well our age actually) irish tourist, touring the island with her sister. It was all in good fun and no harm done :-)
The ride from the island to Clare was a buzz. The Adelaide Hills have some of the best riding roads in the country - and nobody lives there! Well Alexander Downer does as it's his electorate, probably shows why no one else wants to live there. Amazing really, the distances range from 60-30km from Adelaide and yet the area stretches over 100km from south to north. Given electorates are about 80,000 to 100,000 people, the size of the electorate shows how low the population density is and that definitely improves the riding!
Up through the Hills to Birdwood and a couple of hours exploring the National Motor Museum there. Even if you're not into cars, it's a great place to visit to see the cars of yesteryear. Their bike collection is relatively modest so I wouldn't go there solely for that. Birdwood is quite a pretty town originally named Blumberg but renamed in the anti-german feeling during the great war. At least 2 shops, including the pub have retained the original name.
After Birdwood we did a quick flit through the Barossa including a stop off for a tasting at Peter Lehman Wineries - lovely couple of ports there, well picked Tim. Then on up towards the Clare valley and the town of Clare. This is quite a respectable size town, and only the second place we hadn't pre-booked accommodation. And what do you know, there was little to be had. We found some self contained apartments that had a standby rate of $130 a night and tried to get a room. All that was left was a single. The lady manager was quite taken with our biker charm, well our bikes actually, and range the country club they were affiliated with and proceeded to haggle us a twin room with extra bed (she was going to drive out to us) for the same price! We ate in the restaurant on site and with some wine and a few beers proceeded to eat and drink 50% more than the nights accommodation bill :-)
Next day, on the road about 8am and heading up through Gladstone for fuel and breakky at the roadhouse, and then on to Laura (a sizeable arty little town and the birthplace of C J Dennis), the dead (almost literally) town of Yacka and through to Melrose for a much earned coffee at Bluey Blundestone's Blacksmith shop. A real working 19th C blacksmith shop now turned into a cafe. Waiting for the shop to open at 10am (it is the country you know!), we did a trip up to the war memorial just below the summit of Mt Remarkable. Quite a good view and the mountains provide a source of water, but it wasn't quite "remarkable" :-) .
From Melrose we pushed on to Port Augusta via Horrocks Pass (don't know the name of the mountain range, but I expect Loz does), was a real treat after some of the roads we used getting there. It was made more interesting on catching a 4wd ute and just as I'm about to overtake he swerves to miss 2 x 10litre water containers in our lane, I dive between them, then blast passed - it's not nice being behind another vehicle and not being able to see the road ahead.
The furthest west we made was just over the Spencer Gulf at Port Augusta. The waters over the Gulf are a brilliant blue, it was a shame it was a flying visit and we didn't get to try them. We did embibe of a Coopers at the Port Augusta Hotel just to get into the spirit of the place :-) It was a real buzz seeing the road sign here, the only directions from here were Perth straight ahead and Darwin to the right :-)
Flinders Ranges - what can you say! A magnificient mixture of outback Oz from flat arid plains to spectacular mountains - photos don't do it justice. The dirt roads in the area are awesome for showing the terrain and the view. Nothing a road bike can't handle but there are some "technical" bits in some of the gorges. Doing this dirt riding gives you a chance to really see the Flinders from a number of perspectives. It would also be great to have a couple of days there and do some of the walks and maybe even the scenic flight. We'll have a couple of interesting stories about this part of the trip later.
Interesting observation of the week: Sth Ozzies actually have an accent of their own and sound a bit like kiwis. And there seems to be more Kiwi's there than Bondil. Considering the relative populations, no mean feat. Given we went to Kangaroo Island and saw the NZ Fur Seals, which inhabit the south east and southern coasts of Aust right round and including the Bight, we reckon the Kiwis hitched a lift on the back of the Fur Seals.
To cap it off, the trip home from Broken Hill was completed in 12 1/2 hours elapsed, for over 1150kms and 5 fuel stops. Not bad in 34 degree heat for most of the day. I drank over 5 litres of water/powerade on Sunday on the way home. Thank god for the camel back. I actually felt I could have done another couple of hundred km (although I think my backside disagreed) so staying well hydrated really helps the fatigue. The only dangerous part of the trip was some clown in Nyngan pulling out onto the highway right in front of me in a toyota landcruiser. I had to swerve around him to avoid a hit - and this at only 50kmh. Makes a joke of our speed laws when I was perfectly safe at over 150kph when away from idiot drivers. Outside Nyngan I stopped to water the plants (gotta do your bit in a drought) and put on the MP3 player. I went through two sets of batteries before it died again just after Lithgow :-) Great way to stay alert on those straight country roads and I think that helped with me feeling relatively fresh when I got home.
At Cobar Laurie and I found the high speed running had been melting our rear tyres, mine significantly worse due to the extra weight (of the bike of course). Loz's chain was also cactus by then so we decided to slow the riding down to legal limits to keep the heat down a bit. It worked, I think I have all of 500-1000km left in this tyre, one that was new 1 week before leaving for the Phillip Island GP.
My pics are up here: http://westcom.no-ip.info/bikes/NetRides/2007/MotoGP-and-VIC-SA-Tour-Grampians-KangarooIsland-Flinders/
That's it for now, this was meant to be just a brief synopsis of the ride. There's plenty more to add, and I'm sure Tim and Loz can add some details and other highlights of the trip.
Oh, before I forget, our loveable larrikin romeo Tim, has a great story about Broken Hill I hope he will share :-)
Loz will be handcrafting a DVD of our experiences, which I'll also put up on line if that's ok. I'll put Tim's pictures on line as soon as he has a chance to send them.
Thanks to Loz for his planning expertise, and both he and Tim for great company on an extraordinary ride. Cant' wait for the next long one!
I now have over 27000km on the bike and it's not yet 10months old and have only 1500km to go to reach 300,000km on motorbikes since hopping back on two wheels just over 10yrs ago. Next milestone will be 500,000km :-D
Last Updated: 22/10/07. Copyright © Russell Cook 2000/2007. mailto:ruscook_oz@yahoo.com.au.