Aussie Life to the Max

Home again

r_d_touring — Fri, 5 Jul 2013 12:40:00 GMT

Home again after 71 days and 22,665km's by motorcycle. What a great experience better even than I imagined. It is nice to be home though and sleep under a roof in my own bed, but I will miss the roar of the engine and the awesome night sky till next time. Many have askede what was my favorite place. I think ikt had to be where I was at the time. Every place, every day was unique and it is to difficult to compare.

The big thing now is to relax, get back to work and begin to plan for the next ride.

Enjoy life to the full and keep the shiny side up'

Later

Rick and Dave

Uluru and the Centre

r_d_touring — Thu, 27 Jun 2013 18:33:00 GMT

We've just landed in Townsville, it's been a demanding trip with lots of ground to cover. We got down to Uluru, Kata T'juta and King's canyon. Again the weather and desert were atypical. It was raining and cold at Uluru, but we were treated to the spectical of water cascading of of the rock. I will upload some photos of the waterfalls. I'm told it is a rare sight that only a small percentage of visitors get to see. However, we did miss out on the sunset on Uluru do to the cloud cover.

We left Alice on Sat 22 heading north and hoping for warmer weather after a frosty morning. We made three ways that evening, Mt. Isa the next dat then headed north to Normanton and had a look at the gulf. Two more days have seen us arrive at Townsville for a family visit. The ride is nearly over next week this time I will be at home and the trip a memory. The ride has lived up to the expectations I've had certainly been a ghighlight of my touring experiences.

Alice Springs and the MacDonnell Ranges

r_d_touring — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:03:00 GMT

We've been in Alice a few days now and will try and get up to date. We got to the centre on Friday and went as far as the Ross homestead in the East Macdonnells. If you get a chance to get down this way take the opportunity to drop in there. The historic old homestead pub is worth a visit itself. We also got to run into Trephina gorge, sadly N'dahla gorge was beyond the capabilities of road motorcycles. The East Macdonnells were truly magnificent, another [place we found just by chance as it is not a place usually advertised in favour of some of the larger gorges in the Western ranges.

Saturday we packed up and headed west to Glen Helen Gorge where we set up camp for two nights, through the next couple days we were able to explore some of the more accessable features. I think Oriston Gorge and Standley chasm were the outstanding features, though Glen Helen itself with it's large permanent water hole was interesting as well. Tommorow we are off to the south to visit Uluru, the Olgas and King's Canyon. Then sadly we must start heading home but to make it interesting we go via Normanton.

When we get to Townsville we will upload the pictures of our next leg. Looking forward to seeing wife and kids soon but it will be sad to finish this amazing trip of a lifetime.

Litchfield, Kakadu and katherine

r_d_touring — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 20:56:00 GMT

So much to see in the top end. Litchfield was an amazing place spectacular waterfalls, cataracts, rockpools and pockets of monsoonal forest. I could have stayed another week, but, time is running out. Kakadu was a bit of a fizzer, really most of what you could see from any decent road was the same sort of bush, savannah you everywhere up here. The tracks are still closed because the wet was late this year and you would need a 4wd anyway. The only other way to see anything was by air or water and the tours are expensive, still, I wouldn't have minded a croc cruise. Did see a salty on a river bank but to far away to see much detail, mostly about Kakadu I remember the mozzies they were nasty. Katherine, however, now thats an interesting place got to explore 3 of the gorges and they are really worth seeing, got some nice pics and a close up of a freshie croc. Also had the opportunity to swim in an excellent rockpool under a waterfall.

Will be back on the road tommorow heading south and will have a quick stop at the thermal pools, the on to the devils marbles. We expect to be in Alice Springs on friday. We only have a few days to do the area as Di needs to catch a plane back to Brisbane on tuesday. Im afraid after that we need to start heading back. The adventure is not over yet still North Western Queensland, Normanton to Cairns then the run down the coast to home.

Photos: Road Trip 2013_3

r_d_touring — Thu, 6 Jun 2013 16:17:00 GMT

Darwin

r_d_touring — Wed, 5 Jun 2013 20:04:00 GMT

We are in Darwin Di will join us tommorow she is flying in from Brisbane. I will be heading down to Lichfield NP tommorow I hope all the mozzies stay up here. The weather has been kind 32 through the day and sunny with mild nights. This will no doubt change as we head south. The plan is to stay in Lichfield 2 nights then a couple days in Kakadu before we head down to Katherine. We will update from there as it is doubtful we can get internet in the parks.

Kimberleys

r_d_touring — Sun, 2 Jun 2013 22:58:00 GMT

Spent a few nights in Kununurra resting up. It's our last night in WA Broome to Kununurra was a mixed bag. The western Kimberley's or at least the part we could see was savannah, it was an interesting stop in Fitzroy crossing Geike gorge was a great place to visit and the bar at the Crossing Inn was certainly an eye opener. After traveling east beyond Hall's Creek the Kimberley's got intereating and more like what we expected. Rugged peaks and jumbled rocks amongst the savannah not to mention thousands of termite mounds everywhere. Wyndham was a real frontier town kind of surprising for WA. So far all the towns had been dominated by new and expensive houusing and facilities financed no doubt by the mining boom. Hard to figure after traveling hundreds of kilometers through empty lands with not a house to be seen then entering a small town where the average price of a 600 m2 block costs over 250k.

Kununnurra is a progresive town as well, the spectacular lake Argle dominates the area along with the Ord river. This has the advantage of having a large and reliable water supply, so a lot more agriculture here with plenty of expansion likely in the near future.

Off to Katherine tommorow then on to Darwin, WA has been a great adventure and I need to come back as we have barely scratched the surface. Still just over 4 weeks to go and so much to see I don't know how we will fit all of the things we would like to see in NT in the 2 weeks we have alloted, I expect it will be lots of travel and flying visits in the next fortnight.

Will update hopefully from Darwin where we will upload the pictures from the Kimberley's.

The North West, Karijini to Broome

r_d_touring — Tue, 28 May 2013 20:59:00 GMT

Awesome few days in Karijini, the gorges were amazing at least the ones we could get to on road bikes. At least I'm getting regular exercise on the walking tracks. We are currently sitting under a poinsiana tree in Broome having a cool drink, weather was in the mid 30's today and is still mild at 7pm. Heading down to the beach for moonset to see the 'ladder to the moon'. Apparently as the moon sets it highlights the ripples in the mud flats and appears like a stirway or ladder reaching to the moon. The sight is quite famous here and we are lucky to be here at a time when the moon is in the right phase the skies are clear and it is at a reasonable time. Dave may be able to get a photo on his camera.

Riding has been uneventful for the last couple days, fromm Port Hedland to Broome just 620 kms of flat scrub semi desert or flat spinifex plains, it's greener than usual though because of the recent rains.

Kalbarri

r_d_touring — Mon, 20 May 2013 19:52:00 GMT

The stop in Kalbarri has been a great experience. Like the Pinncles we were told it was a good place to visit , but had no idea what it would be like. The coastal cliffs were imressive but the gorge in the national park was truly spectacular. Heading north the Monkey mia tommorow then will take a detour inland to Karajirri NP. (Hope i spelled that right).

West Coast, Augusta to Cervantes

r_d_touring — Sat, 18 May 2013 20:17:00 GMT

Just got into Cervantes about 250 kms north of Perth. A wealth of experience in the last few days. We camped in Augusta and got my first look at the Indian ocean. We followed the coastal (Caves road) north a pretty road but not spectacular. However after camping the night in Yallingup we got a major surprise. The next morning we were heading to the beach for a look, we came over a small rise and saw several large waterspouts in the bay. There were three large ones with at least two more forming, got some excellent pics of them.

We headed north after that bit of excitement and spent two days in Fremantle, this was a time to get oil changes for the bikes and doing some needed shopping, also took in a movie. Saturday morning and back on the road headed for Cervantes and the Pinnicles. OK I must admit even though I was told to visit the pinnicles I had no idea what to expect. Tens of thousands of limestone pillars rising from the sand in a surreal landscape. Totally unearthly. It was certainly an interesting and remarkable stop and I'm glad it was suggested.

Heading north again tommorow (well duh) and we're looking forward to visiting Kalbarri NP again this is a suggestion from the locals and again we don't no what to expect. So far all the surprises have been wonderful. Will post more pics in a few days when we camp somewhere with service.

Esperance, Albany and the South Coast

r_d_touring — Mon, 13 May 2013 21:02:00 GMT

We hit some bad weather in WA, I think WA must mean Wet Australia. After the storm in Norseman we headed south to Esperance. Esperance must be one of the prettiest cities in Australia, white sand, secluded bays and crystal clear water. We stayed over at Cape le Grande NP. The idea was to spend two nights as we felt we deserved a break after the big run across the Nullarbor, Ceduna to Norseman. However, the weather had different ideas and we ended up spending three nights to try and ride out the rain. After the third night we took a chance and packed up even though we were dodging light showers. We had a good run despite the weather and made a loop through the spectacular Stirling ranges to Albany. Today Monday 13 May we visited Cape Torndirrup in the morning a took a short ride to Walpole, this ride involved a scenic route through the Tingle forests of the south coast. We tried the tree top walk in the rain, even wet it was impressive.

Flinders, Eyre Penninsula and Nullarbor

r_d_touring — Wed, 8 May 2013 19:38:00 GMT

Right, now we are back where we can get some internet. To update, we left Adelaide and headed north to the Flinders. Had a great ride on good roads. The country started out nice and green near Adelaide getting drier the further north we went. Time we got to the camp grounds at Wilpena Pound we had passed through some rugged and dessicated country. After setting up it was to late to explore so just had a walk around the campsite connecting with other campers and the few others on bikes.

Next day was for exploring we thought the 3.2 km walk to the Pound would be not to challenging, problem was, that was just to the old homestead site. Signs then indicated a 400m walk to the lookout, so we did that then the signs informed us it was the lower lookout and it was another 400m to the upper lookout. I think that 800 meter walk/climb was about 10kms strait up, but I made it. So our easy grade walk turned into an 8km epic trek. That afternoon we went on an easier exploration, dropping the trailers and jumping on the bikes, we went as far north as we could go on the bitumen, the gravel roads were to rough for our street machines. Dave had a close encounter of the Emu kind a bit of luck and skillful riding got him out of trouble. I've lost all respect for the thinking power of those stupid birds. Wouldn't have been so bad except there were about 7 million of them in the 60kms to Blinman.

As interesting as the Flinders were we needed to move on, 10 weeks is only giving us enough time for highlights, it is likely I will come back here at a later date. We headed west and south to Port Augusta and the Eyre Penninsula. A 500 km ride took us to Port Lincoln where we spent the night and were able to arrange new tyres for the trailers. We hit our first unpleasent weather on this stretch but the showers were brief and caused no real problems.

After the tyres were fitted we headed north up the west side of the pennisula and got our first views of the Bight. We took brief stops in Venus Bay, Elliston and Streaky Bay. Hope you enjoy the Photos. We continued to Ceduna where we spent the night and stocked up for the crossing of the Nullarbor.

Tonight (Wednesday) we are in Norseman having crossed the Nullarbor in two days of driving 1200 kms. It is pouring rain ATM we were lucky to get here and find a cabin before the storm got here. The Nullarbor was both as spectaculor as has been described and as boring. Great semi arid scenery, spectacular cliffs on the few spots you could safely approach, but Km after Km of ... more Kms. Including the most boring stretch of road in Australia, 145.6 km's without a bend, a bikers worst nightmare. Never-the-less it was not an adventure I would trade. We did it, we crossed the Nullaebor.

Adelaide and Fleuriou

r_d_touring — Thu, 2 May 2013 21:42:00 GMT

Had a run down to Victor Harbour, SA has so many excellent roads and marvelous scenery but a cold wind out of the south. Ran the Chain of Ponds road on the way back, truly motorcycle heaven in the Adelaide hills. If it wasn't so darn cold here I could move in just for the roads. We got everything organised for the run up to the Flinders tommorow. Already one week used but I am having such a blast.

Adelaide

r_d_touring — Wed, 1 May 2013 17:29:00 GMT

Today was exploring the Adelaide area. First was a run through the Adelaide hills, these roads are not for the novice or faint hearted rider. We rode the Gorge, Gumeracka, and Corkscrew. Not only does this area have amazing MC roads Adelaide has to be one of the more scenic cities I've ever visited. Checked out city centre and the Adelaide fore shore. This is an area we likely visit again when we have more time,

We will be off to the Fleurieu peninsula tommorow we will inclede a couple more challenging rides including the Chain of Ponds ride. I will post more photos tommorow before we head to the Flinders ranges and across the nullarbor.

Mt. Gambier

r_d_touring — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 17:56:00 GMT

We arrived in Mt. Gambier last night around 7 pm. The trip through NSW and Victoria went well. We never spent any time there as we've been through the area on other occasions. We spent today exploring the attractions around Mt.Gambier, Dave made an excellent tour guide as he used to live here. It was cool by Qld standards with a stiff onshore breeze, to cool for me to be comfortable. Loading a few pictures for you to have a look at if I can get this site to work for me.

Photos: Road Trip 2013_2

r_d_touring — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 17:47:00 GMT

Photos: Road Trip 13

r_d_touring — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 17:12:00 GMT

ride photos

Getting Started

r_d_touring — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 16:51:00 GMT

Dave abd I have been heading out on road trips for eight years now sometimes joined by our wives and Rob Flett. We've just about everywhere on the east coast including Tasmania. A trip around Australia has been in the planning stages for several years. Now it's all come together and we are heading out on Thurs 25 Apl. 2013 for a 10 week epic ride.

I will be riding a suzuki GSX1250 while Dave will be on a Triumph tourer (I forgot the model oops). We are both pulling trailers to have space for a decent amount of gear to make camping comfortable, also eliminates the time-consuming strapping on gear to the bike.

First stage is to head to MT Gambier in SA where we will spend a few days exploring, will update from there.