Heres a shot taken on that day.

It was surprising that after about 2.5 hours riding, I still was comfortable and hadn’t got a sore arse yet. After a phone call to the sheepskin seat cover people the night before, I had a message telling me that It was ready to pick up. I arrived in berry about midday and picked it up. Within 10 mins, I was sore and over the next hour, became progressively more so.

Since then, I’ve removed the sheepskin and have ridden again with no other problems. I guess the standard seats are fine after all.

On Saturday, I installed the Satnav cradle and mobile phone cradle. Both allow charging while riding and are both usable in their mounted positions. I also installed the control buttons for the UHF radio but have yet to find somewhere to install the radio itself.

The Tank Bag was late in arriving so I have not yet seen what its like to ride with. Ill pick it up monday if my work schedule allows. Maybe the UHF kit will fit inside there.

I’ve now travelled about 550km and will hopefully get it to 1000km shortly for its first service. Then I’ll take it away for a camping trial to ensure all the storage is setup correctly etc for the big trip later this year.

Anyway, so far the bike is great (ill post photo soon) but there appears to be a new problem, every time you stop people want to look at it and talk bikes. I’ve never had this problem before (only having a scooter) and we will have to wait and see how much of an issue it is. Maybe if I don’t make eye contact with people I can get away without a chat.

1. I wanted more adventure and was a little scared spending all the time with my extended family, having every stop planned
2. I needed planning to that level to ensure accommodation was available through the busy areas (Alice gets very busy this time of year)
3. The GAHN no longer takes motorcycles
4. Bikes Only (the motorcycle shipping place) only picks up every 2 weeks and I have to drop in a bike when they are there
5. Storage for bikes is hard to get on a Sunday (when I was to arrive in Darwin)

So, it turns out that all this extra planning had become too hard, expensive and ruined ‘idea’ of the trip.

The solution, which I am very happy about, is to not stop in Darwin. I have decided to do the trip as planned till Alice, then ride with no fixed distances or stops until I get home. Of course I have a path in mind. Most of the southern part has been well worked out to a high level of detail but after Alice, its more of a guide than a plan.

I’m quite excited about just being able to ride every day until I get sick of it, then find somewhere to stop. I will have a tent and all required camping equipment so I can either find somewhere to stop off the side of the road ,stop in a hotel or anything in between. I have allocated 2 extra weeks for the return part of the trip and it should be easily do-able. Now the trip has almost doubled in distance (from the original version where I did lots on a train) but it seems very exciting.

It also means that I need to service the bike at some point in the trip so I think Mt Isa (if there’s service available) would be a good place. I have lived there briefly for a while years ago so it should be good to be able to spend a day or so there again. Last time I was there, I was too young to do an underground mine tour. Now age is less of a problem :-)

I will have a mapping GPS with me so any changes in destination for the second half of the trip shouldn’t be a problem. I would still like to head to Cairns (I don’t know why) and would also like to visit Longreach. I guess I will just have to see how the time is going and how I feel if I get there or not.

Having just finished the book ‘Long way round’ and am currently reading ‘Long way down’ I am really in the mood for some adventure. The only downside is being alone which has its good and bad points. I also have both of these series on DVD as well as the Charlie Boorman ‘race to dakar’ series. All very inspiring stuff.

Good things about being alone on the trip

• I can go when I want and stop when I want
• No worries about accommodation
• Lots of time to ‘think’ and just put distance on the bike
• no worries about any personality clashes (apart from my own, very special personalities)

Bad things about being alone

• If anything happens you’re alone (no-one to help)
• Travelling is more fun in a group
• sometimes its nice to be able to talk to people about the trip
• Sharing gear (we only really need one camping stove per group)

I’ve been doing lots of touring reading lately and the basic rule seems to be that the longer the troup, the smaller the group you would be able to tolerate. Maybe its good to go alone but I still think if one of my friends wanted to come along, it would be much more enjoyable.

Anyway, heres some details about the trip now…

Distance 9118km
Duration 38 days
Leaving on Friday June 27^th 2008
Returning Sunday Auguest 3^rd 2008
Average distance per day 239km
Max riding day 539km (Port Agusta to Coober Peedy)
Estimated cost of fuel (4.9L/100km @$1.60/L) $714.00
Estimated cost $1500.00

Costs

• exclude food (have to pay weather at home or not)
• exclude most of first 3 weeks accomodation (with family who wants more expensive style)
• exclude cost of bike (If i included this, its the most expensive trip I have ever had)
• include $50 per day camping style (most camp sites are only $20 per day)
• cost of time off work (This is a killer. About what the bike costs)

Things to be seen include (but obviously not limited to)

• Eden
• Lakes entrance
• Ballarat
• Great Ocean Road
• Port Augusta
• Coober peedy
• Alice Springs
• Uluru
• Kings Canyon
• Tennant Creek
• Mt Isa

I will have good internet access for most of the trip so hopefully I’ll be updating this site. I also will be able to do work if required. I will have good comms (mobile phone) for 90% of the time on the road so work is less of a concern now. After having a discussion with some people at work, they assure me that I’m not needed anyway :-)

Link to google map

This is the planned route.

Its a BMW K1200GT (Their current recommended touring bike) with ASC (Traction control/stability control) ABS, and RDC (transmitters in the tires to send pressure info to the on-board computer) and ESA (Electronic suspension adjustment), I’ve ordered with it a top box (the paniers are standard) and a tank bag. This with my other bag which sits where the the pillion passenger sits I should have lots of storage.

Things to do now…

• Work out what nights (dates) will be spent where so we can book accommodation
• Work out who wants to come along
• Bike to (car/bike) comms (UHF) Getting it into the helmet is a problem.
• Pre-set GPS points in phone
• Install blue-tooth GPS on bike with phone charger
• get place for ipid to sit on bike
• complete a Stay Upright advanced rider training course.
• get my backup gps, satellite phone, EPIRB, vsheet etc

Before the trip, I need to put at least 1000k on the bike and get it serviced. Also, I was thinking of going to dubbo or someplace similar for a test overnight to make sure I’ve worked out whats needed.

So far, theres still no-one else going. I have the inlaws going with their car / caravan to be able to meet up with (at least from Ballarat onwards) so that makes the trip more secure. I can keep tools/spare fuel etc in their vehicles and not have to carry them all.

Also, as the trip will be covering Victoria in winter (and then up to the centre where its a little warmer) I will be able to save non-used clothes in the van.

Even though I will probably be seeing them most if not all nights, I still want to carry all gear thats needed to make sure I know whats needed. This way the next trip will be easier if I don’t have support. Also, If others come along, I may only meet up with the inlaws every other night or so.

Libby and the kids are talking about going with the inlaws which is great because even without riding, it should be a great trip and the kids can get to see more of Australia.

I voted (and it was unanimous) that the trip be moved to July 2007, start on a Friday morning (to be able to meet the train on time) and finish in Darwin (to make it cheaper/easier to fly out and get the bike(s) out)

I now have to order my BMW R1200RT shortly so I have it ready by the day I leave. Theres a 3 month wait but I want a 2008 build so timing will be interesting. I also want to be able to get the 1000km service done before going.

I’ll also be blogging the leadup to the trip and thr trip itself so people on the RSS feed can see whats going on.

Currently the plans are to do the southern part of the trip in early(ish) 2008 or early (2010) so its possibly a while away. I also need to get a new bike (probably the BMW R1200RT) to do this on and then install boke-to-bike comms etc.

We also need to get the group organised to do a First Aid course first and possibly some other basic survival training for the desert sections (the second half of the trip, to be done at least a year after the first)

Each trip should take 3–4 weeks in total.

If you are interested in coming along, please let me know. If you want to do it in a car (and be a support vehicle) also, please let me know.

Currently we have

• John (Friend from next door at work)
• Jim (Friend and security person)
• John (Friend and electrician)
• Aldo ?
• Ian ?

And David and Linda in a support (car + caravan) role.

It was the first decent ride I had done on the new scooter and I had a great time.

Friday
We left Friday morning at about 9am, then had to immediately stop to get everyone fueled up and tires checked. It was decent weather but as it had been raining all week, we were prepared for some rain. Because of this, we decided to go out via Picton road rather than up Macquarie pass as we normally would. The plan was to just get out of the coastal areas as soon as possible and the weather should be better inland a bit.

Well, It started raining while we were on Picton road and got progressively heavier. The scooter is good as its somewhat protected but I was still wet. Only your pants really get wet as the jacket is water proof, and the helmet fits nicely over the the collar. I had gloves on and heated hand grips to it wasn’t too bad. By the time we got to Golburn, we stopped for fuel and something to eat (breakfast).

John didn’t arrive (I was only with Aldo) and after a few calls/messages we discovered he had gone further to eagles nest and we would meet him there.

This was also the first ride where I had setup my helmet comms (normally just blue-tooth for phone calls) to also play music from my i-pod. It was fantastic and made the whole weekend much more fun. I normally listen to audio books but while on the bike, needing to concentrate is important so music was the only sensible choice. Many people ask if its harder to hear traffic etc with music on and the answer is pretty much ‘you haven’t been on a bike much have you’. Once in the wind, you can’t hear much anyway and at slow speeds, where traffic is important, you can still hear it.

After meeting up with John and Marina, we went on to michaelago for more fuel (for John) and then on to cooma to pick up our passes and get some lunch. It was quite cool to see all the bikes everywhere.

We then made the short leg (60km or so) to Berridale and went to the pub there for a while. When gearing up for this leg, the sky looked menacing so I was thinking about putting on the wet weather pants. ‘How wet could it possibly get’ I said quite stupidly. Well, on that leg, we were riding through the heaviest rain all day and lightening was hitting all around us. I was thinking about how much worse this could get then noticed the rain started to hurt (my elbows stick out). On looking down, I noticed hail stones hitting my arms and hands and bouncing off and sitting over the instruments on the bike. They were only about 1cm long but they still hurt. My pants were very wet.

Once at the Pub, I decided to get fuel (the 20km fuel on reserve meeter said I’d done about 10k) but due to the weather, they had no power. We rode to Gabes farm to see if he had spare fuel but found out he had none. He was just loading his tank (yes a tank, you know, the army things) onto a low loader to take to the cooma auto show the next day. He also had a very nice open fire going so we could dry out some gear (like gloves, helmets, jackets, boots, and pants)

After a while, the power returned so we left and went back to Berridale to get fuel. After this, its only a short trip (another 60k or so) to Jyndabine where it was still raining (so much for the weather forecasts). We picked up our keys for the accommodation and went to move in. Its kind of nice with only what you can carry as its easy to get everything organised. I had the under seat storage, top box, 2 saddle bags and another bag where the pillian passenger would sit. With this, I had so much room I could still put all bike gear away when we stopped.

We went out for dinner and to a pub for some drinks then walked home.

Saturday
In the morning we went back to town for some breakfast then started the ‘snowy ride’ component. We decided to only do a few stops and the weather was fantastic. The riding all day was great, heaps of bikes around but not too many and not having any time pressure was great. In the afternoon, we had to go to Thredbo to put in our cards (stamped at each checkpoint) to win the goldwing. I took the chair lift up to the top to get some photos (see below)

After coming back down, We had coffee in a local cafe and decided to get back out of Thredbo before all the other bikes. On leaving, we were apparently the last out before the ‘mass ride’. This ‘mass ride’ goes from the ski tube entry to Thredbo but only about 350 bikes decided to do it (with police escort). It was great to be going the other direction and see them all.

Then, it was just back to Jyndabine for dinner, live music and then back home again.

Sunday

On Sunday, we had decided to get up early and head over to Gabes farm for breakfast. This was quite an easy leg and the weather was still great. After a nice relaxing breakfast, we started the ride back (This time, John was staying down there so it was only Aldo and myself). We took some back roads etc and had a great ride. It was about 1600 when we got back to Kanahooka (Aldo lives at Dapto) and then had to unpack and get everything clean. It would appear that all the rain encouraged the bugs to come out and at almost every stop on Saturday and Sunday, we were cleaning helmets of bug guts.

Anyway, heres another photo of Dalgety (the bridge that seems specifically designed to annoy riders)

Obviously, with these photos, I was playing a little and shot them all in HDR.

Heres some more general photos from the trip (not done in HDR obviously).

My scooter (Yamaha T-MAX 500) in the middle amongst real bikes (Thats Aldo’s on the left)

John and Marina on the Ducatti ST3s (1000cc)

Aldo on his Suzuki (900cc)

I think I’ve decided to try to do a longer ride and this will require a new bike. Currently I’m thinking of a BMW RT1200.

Heres the current plan….
Doing the great ocean road, then on to Adelaide, then on the Gahn to Alice for a week. Then ship the bikes home and fly back.

the following year, fly to Alice (get the bikes shipped to Darwin) and get the Gahn to Darwin (I’ve always wanted to do the train trip) pick up the bikes from Darwin, Ride across to Cairns, Townsville and then on back down the coast.