Incase you dont understand what this is about, engin is an Australian VoIP provider that allows “switchboard” numbers to be added for $5 per month to an account. This is great for saving money with 1300 numbers and provides local answer points that still come back to a single place. As we are migrating many customers away from Telstra (and hosting the VoIP asterisk system in the cloud at rackspace) this is a necessary function to determine where the calls came from.

Heres updated code that will work.

[ext-engin]

exten => _X.,1,noop(ENGIN STARTING)
exten => _X.,n,Set(ENGINH=${SIP_HEADER(DIVERSION)})
exten => _X.,n,Set(ENGINH=${IF($[${LEN(${ENGINH})} > 0]?”${ENGINH}”:”${SIP_HEADER(TO)}”)})
exten => _X.,n,Set(ENGIN=${CUT(ENGINH,:,2)})
exten => _X.,n,Set(ENGIN=${CUT(ENGIN,@,1)})
exten => _X.,n,GotoIf($[${LEN(${ENGIN})} > 0]?ext-did,${ENGIN},1:ext-did,${EXTEN},1)

just set the context for incoming calls to ext-engin and then this will send all calls back to the ext-did context with the appropriate target based on which switchboard number was used.

Heres some thoughts about the last 24hrs playing with the nexus one.

Nexus One – Good Points

• Fantastic screen. It’s bright, clear, hi-res and the animations are great.
• Brilliant google apps integration. (Including lattitude from google apps accounts which aparent’y can’t be done on any other platform)
• Close integration with things like SIP clients with the normal phone interface
• GPS reeption (inside a building, works great)
• Fast browser.
• latitude that ‘just works’
• Gmail integration that doesn’t rely on the old imap methodology. It handles threaded conversations.
• Great camera with flash
• feels thinner and better
• great google talk integration
• proper multitasking

Nexus One – Bad Points

• 3G dropouts. In 24 hrs, i have had 2 calls drop (I don’t make many calls) and have had other call breakup.
• Bluetooth is worse than the iPhone (which is pretty bad). I often have trouble getting A2DP connections working properly with phone calls etc. The iPhone gives you an option to select audio output options and therefore by selecting speaker, then back to bluetooth, it works again. the Nexus one, doesn’t have this option and stopping/starting the bluetooth, while it seems to fix the problem, takes too long.
• Finger sensors seem ‘wrong’. When I played with the HERO, i seemed to have to touch the screen a few mm above the point that i wanted. This is the same on the nexus one. I would be happy to believe it was my fat fingers but the iphone doesn’t have this problem.
• The gmail application, while it has some great features just feels wrong. I normally keep mail unread in the inbox as a todo list, this is harder to do in the gmail app. on the iPhone app, its easier.
• doesn’t support pinch gestures.
• has a totally useless trackball (well, sometimes its the only way to do something so useless is probably not the right word)
• still not enough apps

iPhone Jailbroken – Good Points

• with the purchase of 3G unrestrictor and longtitude, latitude works and SIP over 3G works.
• as much as I hate to say it, iTunes integration makes life easier than the options.
• wifi/3g switching just works

iPhone Jailbroken – Bad Points

• Apples restrictive policies on things like native google latitude support.
• the bluetooth support is crappy but still less bad than the nexus one.
• crappy battery life with no quick replacement option
• only manual upgrading of software/apps
• no multitasking

So in summary, I am going back to the iPhone and hope the next 4G iPhone addresses these bad points.

The US war on tourism was in full force and apart from their difficult on board requirements, this year they have a online form to fill in before you can leave. This must be done 72 hours before leaving and no-one reminds you of it. Luckily, I had read something about it and filled it in.

It seems, a Visa is a document telling you had permission to enter a country, the USA and Australia participate in the visa waver program so this means you don’t need one. That sounds great until you realise what a visa does for you. It gives you permission to enter the country, now we don’t have it at all.

So, weeks ago, i fill in an online form with passport number, flight number, date of entry, date of exit and address where I will be staying. This could have been a real time saver but no-one apparently reads this form.

On getting to the airport I discovered that they didn’t know about my form and asked me to fill it all in again at the check in. Oh well, it only 5 mins and not too hard. My docs were all organised and not too hard to setup.

I always find it annoying that the little green form you need to fill in to leave the country is only provided when you get to the airport so this had to be filled in also.

Anyway, After all this, I was sitting in Qantas club charging the laptop and phone up feeling quite good about it all.

The Flight was annoyingly long (although obviously expected) and during the flight, we were given a blue form that asked the same questions again. I thought, as others had, that we didn’t need to do this as we had filled in one online and one at checkin. Well the crew made a PA announcement saying that this was needed regardless of what was done online. I was also annoyed at this point that Qantas doesn’t give you one of those as its a dedicated USA checkin desk and they should know whats required.

On getting to LAX, I was a little pleased to discover they have about 50 little cubicles readily to rapidly process the incoming traveller and send them on their way.Unfortunately, on loser inspection, only about 5 cubicles had people in them. Bugger.

25 mins later, I was told with a little sense of ‘understanding’ by the staff that I also needed a green form and I needed to go back and start again. This had the tone of ‘why is everyone getting this wrong today’

Well, in a very Douglas Adams moment, I found the green forms in a drawer. There were no signs on it saying ‘beware of the leopard’ but it might as well have.

Filling in this form, with the same information they had from online, checkin, and the blue form, i waited 25 mins more and got through immigration only leaving them with the required left hand, left thumb, right hand, right thumb fingerprints on the scanner and a nice new photo of me.

My bags were dizzy from going around and around and after I was sniffed by the puppies, I walked out without further interruption. I think the customs part of it all is working quite nicely now, it was really painless at that stage.

The car rental documents I had said wait for a car labeled ‘JohnnyPark’. 20 mins waiting was aparently enough because it finally decided to turn up and took me to the car rental place.

On getting there, I noticed it looked pretty dumpy. They didn’t believe be I had paid and it took a while to work out that I had only paid insurance.

Well, I thought this would have been quite simple as when I ordered online I clicked all the insurance boxes.

Well, Aparently I hadn’t ticked the not offered fourth party insurance, swamp insurance, doorknob tax, foreign accent and foreign licence tax, internet booking fees and a ‘oh, you actually want the car you ordered’ fees which updated me to the car they had available.

It was nicely already dented and scratched so that saves me the worry of having to do it later.

Luckily the guy wasn’t there to see me getting in the wrong side or there would have been a ‘the steering wheel is missing’ tax. Ok, I was a little tired.

The Garmin satnav i took with me had the usa maps on it and after the 10 min warmup time when it looks at all the music files on the SD card to make sure they haven’t changed, it started telling me what direction to take out of LA.

About an hour later, I stopped at a Wal*Mart and decided to get some breakfast and coffee. I also picked up a AT&T prepaid card (after doing lots of research on the net) and some recharge cards for it. I also picked up a cradle to charge the phone (I forgot to bring the car charger) and I was set. In the car, I spent 30 mins on the phone to AT&T working out that the iphone cannot be used in the USA. After I told them that I was wrong, it wasn’t an iphone, it was a nokia, they processed it and told me they can’t do it on the phone, I needed to go to an AT&T store and work it out there.

Giving up on that, I started driving again. With 5 hours of driving, i needed to get moving to get there on time. about 2 hours later, an impromptu lane change encouraged me to pull over and get something to keep me awake. I pulled into a carpark of a service station and thought I would just get an hours sleep. The ads on the TV in australia telling me that nothing beets a little sleep is working I guess.

After about 15 mins of sort of sleeping, I overheard someone talking. In my dazed state (trying to sleep really hard) I started to make out words and realised they were talking about me. Aparently the 911 operator was interested there was a body in a car in a car park. I then got up (much to the surprise of the person calling) and went into the service station and told them I was going to have a sleep in their car park.

This worked far better.

After about 30 mins of real sleep, I went back to the service station feeling I should buy something after using their carpark, I bought some ‘energy drink’ thats only about 60 ml. The packet says its 5hrs energy and you should take only half at a time. I took it all and that, with the sleep I had, had me feeling great.

3.5 hours or so later, I was in Glendale (near Pheonix) and checkin into the hotel. Aparently theres a cisco conference here at the same time so the world nerd population could be in real danger if there was a natural disaster here.

I then went out to find an AT&T store to get this phone thing sorted. When I arrived, I explained that the phone person told me that it had to be done in a store. She called the call center and in 10 mins, had it working. I guess the store part is nothing special, you only have to know to ignore them when they say its not possible.

Anyway, I now had a phone (working for voice) with a revolving 100mb data plan. If I used my Optus card, this represents $2000 of data, locally its $20. I know the $2000 is AUD and the $20 is USD but it still seems cheper to me.

After getting some pizza to eat, I tried the data part and realised it was not working. Maybe I really can’t use an Australian iphone here with data. Again, Bugger.

I called tech support and after a while, realised I was being passed from AT&T to Apple and back again many times I gave up. I setup the laptop up with the wifi in the hotel ($10 USD per day) and googled it. Right, I needed to update the carrier file. After plugging in the phone to iTunes, updating carrier files and realising it didn’t work any better, I had to then start playing with the phone more seriously.

The WIFI here gives you a /30 address range and even with the phone and laptop both connected ($10 USD per day EACH) I couldn’t ssh between them as they weren’t on the same subnet and they were blocking port 22.

I then setup both the laptop and phone to VPN back to the office (other side of the world, via 2 translations, over PPTP) and finally they were on the same subnet. I could then SFTP in, get the carrier file, edit it manually on the mac here, re-send it back, reboot and WOO HOO, data works.

Apple (ok, optus) turns off the APN settings for a phone so that users can’t break it. It means that we also can’t fix it (and they can’t either) so the change I made tuened on the settings screen where I could type in the right APN and get it all working.

So, its now 23:30, the energy drink seems to still be working (I can’t sleep now after about 2 hours earlier) and decided to write stuff that is a) too technical and b) not interesting.

I also got the virgin mobile internet working for the laptop so I have connections everywhere now.

AT&T seem to block port 5060 so sip doesn’t work over 3G but I can live with that i think.

Anyway, tomorrow the Asterisk (astricon 2009) conference starts and I’m really keen to see what its like. I just hope I get some sleep soon so I don’t have to sleep in class.

Well, I thought the last trip would be my last to Vanuatu but with the Tec course happening, it seemed like a good idea.

The main issue with this particular dive destination, although its not alone in this problem, is the weight limit getting there and back again. We had a 20kg limit and had to take all our gear in that so its difficuly to say the least. On arriving at the airport, we found out that the dive travel company had not only told us the wrong number (it was 24kg) but they had also neglected to mention that as its a ‘sporting’ trip, we actually could just ask for and get a limit of 30kg. the 25kg I had therefore was not going to cost me anything as I had expected.

In the ‘Olden’ days, we flew on very small planes that had serious weight limits, these days however, the plane is a 737-800 all the say to Santo so I think its far easier for them to be flexable.

On arrival in Santo, as always, we were keen to get diving. I had a Hollis HTS harness and a single 65lb wing to use with twins so we had to go over the road to setup our gear with the dive operator. I had pre-reserved a pair of 300bar DIN tanks with bands so it was quite an easy excercise.  The diving was a little colder this year (26 degrees) where on other trips we had been 28 but its still fantastic compared to local diving tempratures.

Its strange that after a few days, ‘Island Time’ starts to operate and as easy as the diving is, you start to get lazy and not do every dive. As the dives are also long and deep, its nice to have some time out of the water to make sure you are diving withing your nitrogen limits.

As recently as four years ago, when I was in Santo last, the usual pattern was Wake, Eat, Dive, Reset Gear, Eat, Dive, Reset Gear, Eat, Sleep. The ‘Reset Gear’ was something that had to be done at the end of every dive and included things such as re-charge torches, re-charge cameras, download photos, then re-pack silica gel into the camera housing etc ready for the next dive. This trip however, with just a few years difference, its so much easier. The camera has enough storage for 3k photos, the batteries in the camera, last charged in townsville on the motorcycle trip a year ago, lasted well past half way through the trip before needing to be recharged again, and the torch, filled with 3 ‘C’ batteries, lasted the whole trip. The batteries at the end were donated to the dive operator as they were still virtually full as they have trouble getting decent batteries over there. The torch, incase anyone cares, was a Hollis 3×3 and is fantastic.

This trip was also the first real dives with my new Uwatec SOL computer. What a brilliant machine that is. As typical with Uwatec, the transmitters are not the best (I had a dive where one interfeared with the other and I had no SPG at all) but when they work the interface on the computer is great. I wish someone would make a Uwatec computer with all the information it provides, with the algorithm it uses, with an Oceanic transmitter system.

Every dive I had 2 computers (and extra depth/time piece) and apart from a single dive, they worked beautifully. The new PDIS (Profile Dependant Intermediate Stops) and the micro bubble radius consertive limits were great and I never once felt close to the limits of what we should be doing. Even on the last dive, when after about 13 mins at 45 metres we were heading back when another group silted out our exit, we had to go another way racking another 10 mins at depth, the computer of course did what its designed to do, calculate the required decompression because it was unplanned. I had over an hour decompression to do on that dive. I wouldn’t like to have to calculate the required decompression on that dive with tables. That dive alone justified the cost of the computers.

Santo has also change a lot this trip, last time, getting on the net was difficult at best but this time, theres lots of wi-fi available in the town and while its still slow (seems like shared dialup speed) its better than nothing. I probably checked things too much but its nice to know that everythings under control at home. Internet via the mobile phone network is still non-existant which is probably a good thing as it would be expensive anyway.

So, overall, I’m very glad I went. Its relaxing and amazingly easy to get some great diving in.

I thought I should however, let you know about a new certification available from Digium.

Digium are the people that create Asterisk. Its an open source telephony system we have been using at work for some years now and I have done quite a lot of customisations with it.

I thought I should try to get more real world customers and jobs with this technology rather than just setup my own systems and therefore wanted to get certified.

So, after a week in Melbourne, which only covers a small amount of the content in the exams, I am now a Digium Certified Asterisk Professional (dCAP #1360)

Just thought I would post something :-)

On getting into the room, I had to setup the wireless internet access (had to use Optus as 3 network sucks here) and re-configure the 3 laptops to use it. The kids have to share one but I think having 4 laptops here would be overkill. It is a holiday afterall.

So, with 3 laptops, 2 iphones, 1 ipod touch, 2 ipod shuffles, 2 nintendo DS, 1 wifi 3G router and an amazon kindle 2 we seem ready to be on holiday.

Its morning now, Christy is still asleep, each of us has his/her face buried in a laptop adn the TV on in the background I’m about to show Amy how she can use google chat with me so we can at least communicate while on the couch.

Firstly, when shooting, I was using four cameras (and had a friend also shooting). The order of the rehersal (I can only shoot the final dress rehersal) is different from the main show as they like to get the little kids home to bed earlier.

The show night program therefore is useless in working out what each photo was of. So, heres the new rules.

1. Syncronise all the clocks on all the cameras. that way all shots ordered by time taken will be of the same things.
2. Have a video camera shooting all of it (all 5+ hours) so that you can match the photos with the music and be able to put them in the correct categories. The video camera should also have the time code put on the screen and have it also synchronised.
This year, I had a pre-release copy of the show DVD’s available but the order made it difficult to match up. Also, during rehersal, there were some items repeated which was confusing looking at the photos.

The Lighting really sucked and was mostly too dark to shoot at fast enough speeds to make it blur free. I shot manual at about 1/500 on iso 1600 and tried to shoot at f2.8 for most of the single person shots and about 5.6 for group shots (to get some DOF back)

Also, as about 4000 photos were taken on the night, only JPG images were recorded to save time and space. of these about 3200 were available to the parents etc so thats quite a good ‘keeper’ percentage.

This year was also the first year that I wandered around on stage to shoot. I was waiting to be told to get off as I was in the way but it didn’t happen. It also allowed me to get some better angles I think.

Anyway, as always, this post is more for me to read next year rather than for others to get much benefit from but I hope you enjoyed it :-)

heres a small selection of shots that I liked for some reason or other.

These batteries alone contain heavy metals and corosive materials, the speakers of course had magnets etc in them and all this for a 30 second song.

I couldn’t think of a single thing these could be used for (although we could at least play the song again once I worked out how to reset them. once the contacts were closed on the device, the IC stays running and using power even once the song has finished.

This seems to me, to one of those things that in 100 years time, we (ok not us, but someone) will look back and look at the sort of things we do, like christmas lights, and wonder what the hell we were thinking to decide that was a good idea.

Linda, on hearing my amazement, said that they must be ok for the environment as they clearly had to pass a standard to be allowed to be sold didn’t they ?

Maybe we should have such standards. It seems the only thing stopping items like this being sold are people thinking and doing some research on whats in them and thats really too much to ask of people with lives to lead. We need some standards or at least an easy way of knowing whats good and bad to buy.

I have had some fun going back through old photos and giving them the treatment so heres my first few I’ve done. I quite like the effect but will try to avoid the ‘when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail’ approach and restrict it to things that will suit better in future.

Originally, Libby was going with me but a few days before leaving, she decided not to go. I ended up going with John and Gordon and sharing a room.

On the friday morning, we left the office (our normal meeting place) about 0730 and the three of us went straight to Berry. there we met up with the larger group (I know via Jim) and we had about 10 bikes.

Well, those guys ride fast. We ended up splitting up into two groups and somehoe I was in the front group. This required me to decide if i was going to keep up or get lost. I decided to keep up but it was an effort.

When we got to Narooma, we had lunch and I decided to go with the B goup. This was easier but I ended up with the A group after a while (I don’t know how) and after not wanting to go the same speed as the others, was lost after Brown mountain.

We had to stop for a motorcycle accident as there was a helicopter on the road. It took about 40 mins to clear and the people who had gone up to sticky at it, told us the guy was not dead so that was a good thing. If he had been killed, I imagine the guys would have ridden slower for a bit but they didn’t.

After re-meeting up just before cooma, we then went on to Thredbo. From Jindabyne to Thredbo, it rained (quite heavily) and everything got wet.

During the night, the rain was constant but just in time, at about 0830, it started clearing. We decided to go riding and found the weather just got better and better. Jinndabyne  was the first stamp stop and we made time for breakfast in the cafe there. Then on to Dalgetty. This year, we took the direct route and it only took 30 mins. Last year, when I wasn’t navigating, they found a much more interesting way that took about 90 minutes. Maybe next year Ill work out what they did.

Anyway, Dalgetty was as much fun as last time (heaps of bikes to look at) and John wanted to go to the steam engine show at Bombala. This involved 20km of dirt roads but he was insistant. So, an hour and a half later, including 20 mins of dirt, we arrived at Bombala and the Steam engine show. It also contained heaps of Diesel and Kerosine engines so it was lots of fun. Lunch here (sausage sandwitch) and then onto Cooma and Berridale for more stamps stamp and hand in the cards. We also got some supplies (read chocolate, ice creams and milk) and headed to the ski tube entrance for the mass ride. There, we saw the girls that we had seen along the way a few times and I got a photo. I think Libby would like one of these and i have a card to order one.

The mass ride, while seeming like a good idea, when riding it is no different to riding in a small group because you only care about the few bikes infront and behind anyway. It was still worth doing at least once so I probably won’t do it again next year. John had his video camera out and we got some video of the ride.

At Thredbo, we went to the presentation (and didn’t win the bike) adn then had pizza for dinner. After that, I was tired and decided to go to bed.

Sunday morning was a decision point for me, I had paid for sunday night at Thredbo (it was a three night minimum) but didn’t really want to stay another day. I decided to go home and the other guys wanted to do Charlotts Pass. So, onwards on to the pass and then out again. It was quite a nice rde and I was pushing it a little trying to lay the bike over a little more. On looking at the tires, I still have about 20 degrees to go but I can’t see myself getting there. It feels like you are leaning so far when in reality you are prety upright.

We headed to Canberra on the main road (which is still quite a fun ride) and then on to Bungendore (Stop for lunch) . This road takes you back into Golburn and is quite a nice ride. On getting to golburn, John decided he had an idea to get more interesting roads. 30 mins later we were lost and they asked me to use the satnav to get us out. I should have used the force for all it did for us as I had, on ,my last trip, told it I don’t like U-turns. It took us on dirt roads and after 25 mins of crappy roads, we got back to where we started and then progressed to Marulan. John had another idea but we decided to stay on the highway until the illawarra highway and then, its an easy trip via Macquarie pass to home.

Once at home, John decided it was time to get on one wheel so we got some photos.

Overall, we travelled 1500km in 3 days, saw snow and tons of bikes. Aparently about 2980 registrations for the ride were there so I imagine there would have been about that many bikes also.

Heres some images from the trip.

heres the bike all loaded up. Notice nothing strapped on the seat. I’m getting better at this.

First fuel stop.

Helicopter on road stopping us getting where we were going.

Dalgetty stop. This is looking only one direction but theres lots of bikes all around.

The engine show after the dirt riding.

Girls with funny hats. Libby will want one of these.

John after 3 days hard riding letting off some steam.

To get OSX to work under in vmware windows, add
ethernet0.virtualDev=”e1000″
to the vmware  (whatever the name is).vmx file (This lets the ISX client os see the ethernet card)

and to the

/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist

add some keys like
<key>Graphics Mode</key>
<string>1280x1024x32</string>

This should get it working properly.

I started at 126.2kg and today am 83.2kg (currently sitting at 43kg lost) , These days I can eat any type of food I like, although generally not much of it. I can even drink soft drinks (although it takes a long time and I really have gone off them).

I have before and after photos, without shirt but decided it wouldn’t be a good idea to post them here as I think people really don’t want to see it.

The other day I was watching the new ads that were telling me to have a waist less than 102cm. I’m currently 81cm so I finally am average. If I lost another 7 kgs, I would be ‘normal’

Just thought people would like to know :-)

Tonight however, I was distracted and sudden’y noticed myself getting annoyed. This happens sometimes when in the car and I discover someone has changed the radio station away from Local ABC to some silly teeny bop station. Anyway, I looked up and noticed that I was sitting in front of “Today Tonight”. I feel so dirty, I’m sure when I shower the water won’t be hot enough to wash it all off.

I wouldn’t really admit this sort of thing but was hoping someone could help me get rid of this depression I now feel.

I really can’t believe how crappy that show is.

Some things about the trip I wanted to write so here goes.

In total it was 10756k long. My shadow, travelled about 2m further than me as I started in the morning, ended in the afternoon. I was riding for about 133 hours, averaging about 80kph

Highlights from the trip for me were

• Riding to uluru
• Spending time with the family at night stops and tourist attractions.
• Spending time with my brother
• Seeing mt Isa and where I stayed many years ago
• being able to say I’ve done it :-)
• being self sufficient on the bike
• soverign hill
• flagstaff hill
• 12 apostles on the pretty good ocean road
• working out the waving protocol once and for all
• Riding through all the places I had looked at on google earth while planning the trip
• got to see how fast the bike could go (well, as fast as I was game to push it)
• getting uluru photos at night with stars out
• riding from 2 degrees to 34 degrees
• crossing the tropic of capricorn
• taking the kids on the back of the bike around uluru
• having Libby on the bike for some short rides

Things that are not highlights are

• running over a kangaroo’s neck
• hitting budgies at 130kph
• freezing cold mornings
• getting lonely when by myself at nights and at attractions (the last 2 weeks)
• cleaning bug guts off the visor every night
• a sore ass, back and neck

Overall I am very glad to have done it. I wouldn’t do the same trip again but am still happy about it. The bike worked perfectly (It would suck to not have cruise control) and all the preperation seemed to work out very well. Of all the stuff I took, I inly used about 50% of it but as there was spares and emergency tools/supplies etc, I would probably still take them again.

I think I would have to be really careful about travelling with someone even though by myself had lonely times. Theres proably a very smal set of people who I could travel with I’ve decided. I also think I may not be the easiest person to live with either.

So overall, I’m really happy. I’ve learned much about what I want, what I do and what I think is important. I had lots of time to think and blogging it made me remember it more than I otherwise would. I think next time, I would probably use a voice recorder and podcast it instead. That way I could rant while on the bike and would be more verbose. On second thoughts, this may not be a good idea as I probably rant enough already.

Also, as I went clockwise and we drive on the left, I think, all other things being equal, I travelled about 7.53m further than if I had have progressed counter clockwise so its true to say I went the Long Way Round.

The day was pretty unueventful as I have ridden on these roads before and its all familure. The strange thing about riding was that it was a 600k day and this has become normal. In the “olden days”, ie before this trip,  riding 500k was a big day and a ride to newcastle would still be a reasonable ride.

Anyway, I got home at about 2:15pm and are yet to unpack. Its nice to see Rosie (the dog) and Libby (the wife). I walked up to the school to get the girls (with Libby and Rosie) and they were happy I was home too.

Now, its back to a normal life again.

When starting the bike, the satnav didn’t start up. Now, this place, as I already mentioned, is really hard to find your way around in so I followed Marc (who uses occasionally but sparingly) to the cafe. I knew the satnav units should have a hold three buttons, turn around and touch your nose reset thing but I couldn’t remember it. I thought about removing the battery but its internal and aparently a real pain to get to.  So, without satnav, I just had breakfast and thought about it.

Marc ended up paying for breakfast too (thats two meals I owe him now) and I got to meet some other people and talk computer/bikes with them.

After that, I got the laptop out, plugged it into the satnav to try to get it to reset. No luck. Then I called the supplier and got an answering machine (it was 8:30) so I decided to use the backup satnav unit and go from there. This was difficult as its a different user interface, has no audio, and is harder to see.

About an 45 mins later, I was further down the road (at least I got out of noosaville) and had to get some fuel. I tried the supplier again and they answered me telling me to simply remove the battery. I was wrong about the batteries in this unit and it was a simple allen key to get them off. I now only needed a 1.5mm allen key to try that solution. As it turns out, I keep that sort of thing on my belt so 5 mins later, I had satnav, spoken prompts and music all back again. I really should know more about the technology I take with me and how to fix it.

On the way south, I saw a sign to Lismore and for no other reason than I was in Lismore hospital for a night when I was a kid, I decided to go there and look around. When I got there, I got some fuel for the bike, fuel for me and was bored in about 5 mins. Oh well, back to the main road (it was a 30k detour) and I was again heading in the right direction. When reaching coffs harbour, I really wasn’t tired, sore or bored so decided to head to Port Macquarie for the night. About 30 mins later, I was suddenlt sore, tired and it was getting dark (well, a little) so I stopped at the first vacancy sigh I saw. It was in Nambucca Heads and was quite a nice room. I then got to have a warm shower and try to loosen up some shoulder muscles before going to bed. I also got to have a $4 aero bar from the mini bar. I didn’t need to buy dinner as I still had lots of food on the bike so it was a cheap night.

I got up early but stayed in the room as it was really cold. My breakfast was delivered (pre ordered the night before) and I packed up and was ready to go about 8:30am.

The Rum tour wasn’t starting till 10am (I had to be there 15 mins early) so I had some time to kill. I went to a bookshop in bundaberg and asked for a short book just for a few days. The lady sugested, and I bought, a book called “Don’t tell mum I work in the old rigs”. Its really quite funny and interesting. I then went to a coffee shop. got some decent coffee and raison toast and started reading.

The book was so good, I almost forgot to get up at the right time but just made the tour.  I’m not really into rum (or any alcohol for that matter) much but am always interested in doing factory tours. It was quite interesting although I don’t think she (the guide) liked it when I asked if they get their timber from sustainable plantations. Aparently they are working towards it.

During the tour, they explained all their different varieties of rum and how they are made and how the differ. There was one that sounded interesting. its called “Royal Liquor” and was sugested for the people who don’t like rum that much. They only sell it there (you can’t even mail order it, it has to be purchased in person). Because I did the “Gold” tour, I got 2 free drink vouchers to try in the bar at the end of the tour. Bear (sic) in mind that its 10:45 in the morning when the bar opens and I’m not a drinker anyway but I asked for one of the royal liquor things. It was really really nice. I finished it quickly and wanted another but having no real tolerance to alcohol, and having to ride to Noosa, I decided to not use the other ticket.

In the obligitory gift shop at the end, I got some of the liquor, and while wondering how I was going to get it on the bike, saw a sigh saying that they have a postal service. I then got some more things and boxed them all up and freighted them home.

It was then time to go to noosa. My brother had finally sent me his address so I programmed it in and went there. Noosaville is like a maze. Without satnav, it would be really hard to get in or out of there. I got there at about 1500 and Suzie was there. Marc and the kids were not that far behind me and soon we were talking about old times and Marc was preparing dinner (apparently this is rare). I haven’t had a lamb roast for years so this was a nice change. I live in a vegetarian house and only get meat at work lunches etc. Even those times, I don’t eat pig, lamb or veal.

During dinner the family has a ritual called “happy/sad” where everyone gets to talk about what made them happy today, what made them sad, and what they want go get out of tomorrow. I really enjoyed this and would like to start something similar with my family. It gives an interesting perspective on what people think is important.

After dinner, I spent some time with Marc on the computer and hopefully solved some issues.

Just thought people might like to see them.

It took me a while to read it and after seeing the name, I went over and introduced myself. Theres not that many withnalls around so its interesting to find one, especially by chance. That’s Lex in the photo.

On leaving Bowen, I passed the Big Mango and took this photo.

Then, when I arrived at Mackay, I found the bike service place first so I could get somewhere close to sleep. I found somewhere a few k away and it was quite nice.

I got to the service place at 8am and wanted them to do the service quickly. They told me it would be 10am when its finished. I went to waste some time at a cafe and read the papers. At 10am, I went back to the dealer only to find it was still 30mins to go.

After I picked up the bike, I started riding out and decided to go to Bundaberg for the night (I was previously thinking of Rockhampton).

When I reached Rockhampton, the sky looked bad. The previous nights news said there would be 1mm or so rain (and confirmed by the paper I read that morning) so I decided to put some wet weather gear on. I’m quite glad I did. I had serious rain (although only for about 30 mins) that was going sideways, and again when I thought It couldn’t get worse, it started hailing. Hail really urts your fingers when it hits.

While riding, I decided I might go straight to Noosa and see if my brother could house me early. About 2 mins after programming the GPS, he called and said he couldn’t and I ended up in Bundaberg.

So, I’m now sitting in the hotel room (its cold and the aircon is taking ages to heat up) and I’ve already booked the tour of the bundaberg rum factory in the morning. Then, I’ll get to noosa by about 4pm and see some more family, although this family visit will be expected.

Then, Onto Coffs Harbour and Home.

heres some photos.

Me on the ski. This was quite fun.

My baby on the ferry. I was quite concerned it might get too bumpy and come off the stand.

This was the view after they cleaned a drain. Before this, my room door was a waterfront.

My bike all ready for a vry wet day. The rain cover on the backpack and the tank bag were both ineffectual at keeping water out.

I have decided that I’m the sort of person who needs a plan. When I go snow skiing, I always need to have a plan to get somwehere, when I get there I ust make a new plan and go somewhere else.

I was not really looking forward to today. I’ve been getting lonely and wondering what the point of all this was.

But, as I said, today I had a plan. I decided to spend $378 on a Jet Ski tour of Magnetic Island (all around it) and It was good to have something planned. I had to get up at 6:20. Normally I would already be up, but I set my alarm anyway. When it went off, I really could use some more sleep. Then, Ihad to find the ferry terminal and get on the RORO boat (Roll On Roll Off) with the bike. That was the 7:10 boat and I managed to find it. Aparently you need to go to the correct terminal if you want the prepaid ticket to work.

Then, onto Horseshoe Bay. I was there early because of requiring to get the early RORO boat and had an hour to kill. I found a great cafe that had really nice coffee and that, with some raison toast, last weeks paper and I was set for the hour.

It would appear that up here, people don’t seem to care what papers they read. In Alice etc, I expected this but not in Townsville. Anyway, As long as I hadn’t read it previously, its all good.

Then onto the JetSki tour. This was really really fun. They were the 4 stroke sealed engines (I had checked before booking) so they didn’t leak oil like the 2 stroke engines do. They had 155hp and were great. Along the way, we saw a Dugong. The ski infront of me (the Guide) almost ran over it (what imagery that would have been for a semi eco tour) but missed and we all got to give it plenty of space and watch if for a while. It can’t have been too disturbed because they are normally quite shy.

Then, at the end of that, I got back on the RORO and back to townsville to warm up in a shower.

Then, as Linda and David arrived in townsville, I went to see them and have dinner. This also gave me a chance to unload all the extra stuff I no longer needed (stuff that was only for desert travel like shovel, water bottles etc).

Now, its time for bed, Tomorrow I need to get to Mackay but as its only a short trip, Ill leave late and have an easy day. Plus, after some days of nice weather, It will be sad to leae Townsville.

The tourist information centre said the diving was crap, jet-skiing was really cold and beaches really cold and crap.

So, I went to a movie (the new Batman one) and when I came out, the sky was mostly blue, the sun was out ad it was definatly warming up. I got some shoes and on getting back to the room, 80% or the stuff is dry and the rest should be done tomorrow.

I went to the Tropical Queensland Museum and its quite good. Its like a mixture of the Questacon in canberra, the Maratime museum in sydney and the sydney natural history museum. Overall, its quite good and worth going to. It would however be much better with the kids and wife here. I’m finding that I’m not really a solatary traveller.

I also went for a massage today and hopefully that should help.

Tomorrow I will go onto the Billabong animal park and will see what its like.

In the morning, I felt better and decided to ride to Hugenden for the night (only 200k ish) and not have a big day. Well, when I looked outside, there was a lake at my front door and it was still raining. Not drizzling, but seriously raining.

The maps said that the road was sealed. I guess thats the problem with the english language. Sealed is present tense as well as past tense. I know which they meant on the maps now.

I was riding through water up to the foot pegs deep and it really really really sucked.

As I’ve mentioned previously, riding in rain is ok until you have to turn your head or similar because thats when the rain gets in. Well, today I knew I was riding through rain and made certain that every layer was setup correctly like gloves indide sleeves, wet weather pants higher and under the jacket, Jaked collar done up tight and inside helmet neck etc.

Well, that was all great for a while but there are these thingsd called road trains that stuff up all the plans. They put out so much water you just get soaked from every direction.

When youre riding normally, if you get an itchy nose, your visor opens and you can scratch (allbeit with a gloved finger). When its raining, you can’t do that as opening the visor breaks the seal on the top and water can come in. Thats not really so bad as it means you get a wet face but the real problem is that water comes on the inside of the visor which then gets between the fog shield and the visor and makes things like seeing whats on the road difficult. So, understandibly you don’t open the visor as seeing is important. Well, sometimes an itchy nose just won’t go away and you have to open it up.

So, by the time I got to Hugenden, I had a visor well and truely wet inside and out.

On the bike, I have a computer (apart from the satnav stuff) that tells me things like Tyre pressure, temps, fuel economy, average speed and distance remaining on this tank. When I left Wilton, the guage was reading 3/4 and the range was reading 600k (normally a full tank reads about 480k). I knew it was reading high but thought 3/4 of a tank would be heaps. Well, within 20k of leaving, it was reading 1/2 a tank and 250k range. Not so bad as the whole trip was only 206k. It always reads high and bu the time I was 80% through the trip, the range was reading less than the distane remaining to the next fuel. Bugger.

When I got to Hugenden, I had been riding on zero range for about 10k and I put in 21L of fuel (the tank is 24l) so apart from making me feel stressed, the range thing sems to serve no real purpose.

While filling up, and playing the sympathy card, I started speaking to the station operator about places to sleep and she told me that if history is any guide, If I spent a night there I wouldn’t be able to get to townsville as the roads would be closed.

I decidd to go to the next town. I was wet anyway and thought I couldn’t get any more miserable. Well, 200k further on, the wind came up and the fog rolled in. It sucked. I couldn’t see the front of the road train I Was following so overtaking was out of the question. The dirty air was making more even more wet and I was also getting hit with rocks. Also, If you think thurning your head gets you moist, every time youget fuel it gets worse as the gloves have to come off, the helmet comes off (servos get upset if you leave it on) and drips go everywhere. By the time I had done another 200k, I was freezing cold and soaked everywhere. I seriously don’t know how I could get wet underwear below 3 layers but I did. I decided to, when getting more fuel as I wasn’t going to get caught nearly running out again, change jackets. So now, I was 200k from townsville (should be nice and warm), wet and cold and hopefully getting no colder. I was now wearing a down jacket, had the heated seats on max and the heated grips on max. I really wanted to kill the person who tells you queensland is beautiful one day and perfect the next.

I was really annoyed when getting to townsville. Its bigger than I remember and the last 20k took ages. I had to remember what traffic lights were all about again. I went to the tourist information centre, of course had to take the helmet off again (it was now soaked inside and out including the linings) and try to find a room.

The one requirement I gave them was I wanted a bath in the room so I could thaw out (and help my back). She explained that again to the person at all the hotels she tried and finally found one (on the 3rd try) that had a bath. I was then booked in, put the wet gear back on again and, while trying to see through a visor that was really wet, found the hotel.

On getting checked in and getting all my gear in the room, I started the bath and then started trying to get the air conditioner going on hot. When getting undressed and back to the bath, I discovered the water was COLD. I called reception and explained that it was cold, his repsonse was that he knew it would be cold. How could it be hot when he only just turned it on? He then assured me it would be warm in the morning,

So, after finding out that the air conditioner reverse cycle function doesn’t work, I’m stting on the lounge under a blanket getting warm from the laptop.

At least theres a washing machine and dryer in the room.

Libby would be totally unimpressed with the room. Don’t misunderstand, the room itself is great, but as soon as I got in I dumped all bags and wet things across every chair and surface available. It looks like a bigger version of my desk at work.

According to the weather report, the rain should go tomorrow afternoon so that gives me 2 full sunny days in townsville to see the sights. Then, its onto Mackay and a bike service.

Lets just say firstly that its fantastic.

I’ve been to a few museums in my time and this one is done really well. Theres lots of models, replicas and original parts. There are video and audio areas and lots of things to read. They also made, in the cafe, the best coffee I’ve had on this trip so far.

They offer 3 tours, the 747 tour, 707 tour, and the 747 detailed tour with wing walk. of course, I did all 3. That with the museum was $115 so its not cheap but its worth it.

These were from the wing walk tour

This part is in the avionics bay. In the floor of the cabin, there’s a hatch and when opened, it reveals a ladder going down. This is where you see in all the movies where people have to go and wind down the landing gear manually. It also leads back to access the cargo area. This was probably the most fun parts of the tour.

This was the Flight deck of the 747 and would make a great base for a simulator…

After the tours, I had to leave (about 2:30) to get to winton. It started raining on the way and although it was not heavy, it slowed me down a little. My back and neck was also getting sore. I’m not really looking forward to the trip tomorrow and may have to cut it short.

In winton, I went to the wasltzing matilda museum. It was a series of ups and downs. The down first as I thought it was going to be crappy, then the realsation that it was $19 so should be pretty good (that was the up). Then I passed through the doors still on a high to a audio visual presentation that was quite interesting. There was another down when I realised that that was the best thing in there and the rest was a smaller version of ‘Kevs tracter museum’ (see previous posts) but not as good. Oh well, its only $19.

Then it was onto a supermarket as I had a craving for some chocolate. That solved, I also got some tennis balls to roll on to try to fix my back. It helped but not that well and I’ll get onto the voltarin tonight I think.

Tomorrow is the 650k ish to Townsville (or maybe one of the towns along the way if I’m too sore) and maybe some decent internet speed and hopefully a chiropractor.

I’ll have a few days there and hope to do lots of the local attractrions. The diving place called me and theres not much available but they hope to get me on the yongala.

I also was finally annoyed yesterday with the chin fur and decided to remove it. This will upset Libby as she wanted me to do it weeks ago and I wanted to continue the expiriment. Oh well, at least she may like me again when I get home.

I arrived at longreach about 3pm after going 650k. I’ve worked out the sore back thing with stretching, the sore elbow thing (the chiro showd me what to do with that) but I’m not getting sore shoulders and neck and have no idea what to do about it. Oh well, I don’t have many more big days so it should be ok.

I went to the Stockmans Museum and while it was interesting, It wasn’t what I had hoped it would be. Don’t get me wrong, its done very well, I guess its something I don’t find that interesting though. I then went out to get some dinner from a local take away shop and some newspapers.

Its now Tuesday morning and I have a 11am tour booked in at the QANTAS museum.They have the original (First QANTAS jet) 707 and a 747 there for tours and I will be doing both.

After that, I have 180k to ride back to winton for tonight (so its an easy day today) but 582k for tomorrow to get me to Townsville. I then, it would appear, have 4 nights there so I should be able to do some diving and see all the local attractions as well as have some relax time to read a book or so.

I’ll take some photos of the QANTAS stuff and post next time.

There, I purchased a ticket for the Riversleigh Fossil exhibit and the Outback Experience and Mine Tour.

Firstly the outback experience, its a small museum with some videos and rock samples. Quite interesting watching the videos but they don’t sell the DVD so I don’t remember most of it.

Then onto the Riverleigh Fossil museum. This was a typical museum with fossils on display and some re-creations of animals from 10 thousand to 50 million years ago. Its done quite well and the video at the start was also quite interesting explaining the situation that allowed so many animals to be fossilised.

The mine tour was next and although I was 25 mins early, they were waiting for me. I then updated my watch to Queensland time and apologised accordingly. This tour, which was something I was really looking forward to was what has become of the old underground tour. you see, in the olden days when I spent some time at Mt Isa, the underground tour was for older people (18 or over) and I was not old enough. I did the surface tour many times and really wanted to go underground. Well, apparently in the years between, someone got lost on a tour and sued MIM for damages after falling down a hole and breaking a leg. Now, the underground mine tour is in a disused section of the mine and is like an underground museum.

I was very disapointed when I found out about the change but went along anyway. The tour was very informative and really entertaining. I’m so glad I did it and would recommend it to anyone. It was also interesting to see equipment that was in use in the ‘olden days’ as well as some of the stuff they used when I was here 20 years ago.

I also went for a ride to where I used to live when here (My mothers house). Its had some work done although by the look of the yard,not for a long time.

Not much interesting to report until passing the Devils Marbles. This was quite interesting and just to make my fears of missing them seem silly, you basically drive right through them. I could spend lots of time there taking photos, it would be gret at sunset and sunrise, but I had to get moving on.

When I got to tennant creek, I got some fuel (3rd fuel for the day) and decided to get to Threeways for the night.
On arriving there, I was told there was no more rooms. I wasn’t that happy as it was either back tracking 25k to Tennant creek or heading on 187km to Barkley Homestead Roadhouse. Its the only roadhouse mentioned on my map so I assumed it was going to be substantial.
So, counting down the k’s (the last 50 always seems to take ages) I finally arrived, filled up and went inside to get a room (and pay for fuel, 4th fill up).
I was a little disappointed when they told me that there were no rooms left and I need a tent (which I left in the caravan in Alice this morning).
Bugger again.
The options I had were 187 + 25k back to Tennant creek or 280km to camooweal. I chose to proceed rather than going back. My shadow was getting long and I really really didn’t want to be riding at night. I had visions of starting all over again and needing to go the extra 200kmish to Mt Isa.
On entering camooweal (again with the last 50km taking ages) I found a room. The last 50k was even worse this time because the last 13 of it were in Qld where theres a 110 limit. IT seems so slow now that I’m used to a tad faster than that.
Anyway, the room they offered me was $28 with shared everything. I opted for the only other available room at $70 with its own shower, toilet, kettle and TV.
So, from me worring about a 500km ride, i ended up doing 990km.
I have tried to make some calls on the sat phone (no Optus here) and its not working either. The internet connection (Telstra) says theres signal only until you start to connect, then it goes away.

Its 189km to Mt Isa tomorrow so theres no reason to leave too early (but I probably will anyway).

I had to fill in forms, use HICAPS, pay the gap, get treated (they just ground down the sharp bits and told me to see my normal dentist when I got back.

At 1:15 I was back on the bike leaving there. Apart from the speed of the ‘service’, I’m not used to professionals running on time like that.

Anyway, this morning we went to the Telegraph Museum, then over to the Royal Flying Doctor Sercice museum. Both were great and very interesting. I’ll probably visit the RFDS again in Mt Isa as its their head office and may have more on display. I got to impress my family by taking off and landing in their simulator.

In the afternoon, we went to the ‘Cultural centre’ and It was very dissapointing. I’ve bene to other similar places before and all have been great. The only things about this one I liked were the natural history section. There didn’t seem

to be any Aboriginal information that I was looking for, just Beanies(for sale) art (for sale) and a cafe (that was not selling anything as they were closing). We did manage to get in just under the gates and get something to drink but I was afraid to get coffee from somewhere that doesn’t have an espresso machine. Yes, I know I’m a coffee snob.

This afternoon, I got into the van and got out the backpack with all the stuff I thought I might need plus the bags of ‘spares’ for this trip. I’ve sorted out what I think I actually will need (plus a shovel thing if I leave the bitumen again) and put it all in the mostly empty backpack. Without the camping gear, its quite light and should serve me well as space to put any extras I might buy.

I have decided to leave the boots/crocs here and buy some normal shoes in Mt Isa.

I also took no photos today so theres nothing to post here.

Tomorrow morning, I have about 550km to the Tree Ways then the next day, a similar distance to Mt Isa. Two reasonably big days but then theres a day off in Mt Isa to rest and see local attractions. When I was staying there many many years ago, I was too young to do the underground mine tour so thats something I plan to do this time. So, its the RFDS, Underground tour, new shoes and anything else the local tourist information place has to recommend.

I’ll post more probably from Mt Isa as Tennant Creek (near the Three Ways) won’t have much to offer in the way of internet access from what I’m told. I’ll also try to stop and get photos of the Devils Marbles (which are on the way)

19th Tennant Creek
20th Mt Isa
21st Mt Isa
22nd Longreach
23rd Longreach
24th Hugenden
25th Townsville
26th Townsville
27th Mackay
28th Rockhampton
29th Bundaburg
30th Noosa (Staying with my brother Marc)

From there I will be heading south but knowing me, I will probably put in some big days and get back early or find something locally to do and take longer. I really don’t know what will happen.

I also spent some time trying to sort out a service for the bike (BTW, the tyre lasted 8400km). Townsville was the place of choice but the Honda dealer that used to service BMW bikes, has shut down and no-one else, including the BMW dealer, has been given the ok to service them yet. So, a quick call to City Coast Motorcycles (Where I purchased my bike) and Martin quickly arranged a service in Mackay for me. When I first went to the bike shop in wollongong I was un-impressed but having got the bike there (and lots of accessories) they are really a good bunch of people.

Anyway, back to the Quad bikes, we spent about 2 hours riding around and looking at the station. It was quite interesting but as they have not had much rain this year, they are down to 3000 head (from the normal 5000) in 4000 square kms. Most of the dams were empty and they are relying on diesel pumping stations for bore water.

Then, we went west of Alice to look at the Standley Chasm and Simpsons Gap. Both were worth visiting.

You need to be here at the correct time of day (about 1pm today) to get the sunlight down the gap.

This is a river bed (with only a little pool of water above the surface) but would be quite impressive when running.

The girls got some stuffed animals (aparently the thousands they already have aren’t enough) and appeared to have a good time. We also attended a birds of prey show which was very interesting.

Those who know me, know I’m not a big walker. This however was a fantastic walk. IT took about 3.5 hours and after the initial climb up about 300 steps, it was quite easy and had some really interesting areas to walk through. I’ll attach some photos to this post so you can see what I mean.

After getting back, we had a pretty easy afternoon and then left about 9am to go to erldunda. I was there by about 11am and theres not much to do so I just waited till the van arrived and we then had a place to sit until the hotel room was ready.

That afternoon, we did a drive up to the metiorite craters (I wen’t in the car as I now knew that the bike was not good on dirt). They were interesting to see as they were my first craters.

This morning we left Erldunda for Alice Springs. I was here about 10:30am and immediatly looked for a bike shop for a new tyre. that took me about 15 mins to find and then about 1.5 hours to get the guy to fit it. IT seems like a good tyre but I cannot really tell. Its a soft compound so that means it will wear out sooner but will also provide better grip so its worth it. $364 well spent.

So, over the next few days we will be doing the attractions around Alice Springs and the West/East macdonald ranges.

The bridge across kings canyon at about 1/3 through the walk

A Tree

A view of people looking over the canyon. This was taken about 1/6 through the walk looking at prople about 2/3 through the walk.

One of the small gaps you have to walk/climb through

Theres lots of life up there.

a photo of the tree web thingies for Doug.

It seems similar to swearing to me. I don’t think there are any inherantly bad words etc but if a particular word can make someone feel, for want of a better word, bad, then you have to balance your desire to say a particular word with your desire to not make someone feel bad.

So, the decision seemed to come down to me wanting to climb (which would be interesting and have good views) with the owners not wanting me to. I decided,or the reasons outlined above, to not climb.

Anyway, today we went to the Olgas (Kata Titku) and did a canyon walk. It was quite fun and at only an hour long, was quite easy. In the afternoon, we took a helicopter flight over the Olgas and Uluru to get some photos and another perspective. Its quite impressive and its easy to see how a culture focused on animals and the land could make these important places.

I also find it interesting that as a people, they seem to stand alone in creating a ‘Sky Pixie’ thats not in their own image. It seems like a wholly more reasonable approach to inventing someone that looks like yourself as other cultures seem to do.

Tomorrow is the ride to Kings Canyon (about 300k ish)

It was only about 240km to Yullara and was quite an easy ride, even though the road condition is getting worse all the time. In SA, the roads were very good. nice shoulders, nice line marking and when repairs are made, they are made in large sections which makes it smoother to ride on. In the NT, they are really narrow, no sholders at all, and youre lucky to get line markings. They do make up for it by allowing you to go 130kph (although you generally don’t want to)

We took ages to get into the room as the resort was having issues with cleaning. We decided, as soon as we finally got unpacked, to go and see the rock at sunset. we had a quick lap (well as quick as you can, its a hige rock) and setup in the sunset photo parking lot with about 50 other cars. Some were making dinner, sitting on roofs sitting on chairs, all the sorts of things you wish you had thought of.

After getting some photos as the light changes (its really quite inpressive how quickly it changes colours) I stayes to try to get some shots after the sun went down. I’ve put some here. Remember, its a D300 and has a max shutter time of 30 seconds. The tripod was on sand and I was a little cold. I haven’t worked on these yet but the look ok i think (at least on my small screen here)

Tomorrow we will probably go to the Olgas or the rock for some laps with the family on the bike (everyone wants a go, including the in-laws). Whatever we don’t do tomorrow, we will do the next day so its a prety easy few days.

After our third night here, we are going to Kings Canyon for 2 nights. My tyre is getting a little thin so that will be first on the list for Alice when I get there.

I probably won’t blog in the next few days (unless something interesting happens) as its kind of a holiday within the holiday :-)

While I think about it, I think the days of the explorers were a bit overrated. Aparently he took months to get here (I did it in 2 days, including photos of rockets) and had cross winds to deal with. He did it over months and drowned a horse. I’m not saying I’m better than they were but the facts are hard to ignore.

Tomorrow we will be goig to uluru (244km according to the sign) and have 3 nights there, then 2 nights ar Kings canyon. All these days are only about 250km/day days between places so its a nice and easy break.
My bike has now gone about 6500k and my rear tyre is wearing a big flat spot. I know bikers say theres some cause for embarasement when the tyre, when removed, stands up by itself. It means you haven’t done enough corners. Well, there aren’t enough corners here and the tyre will most definately stand up by itself. Its down to the little rubbery nobbly bits that should tell me to change it (after 6500k !) but I’ll leave it another 1000 (till I get to Alice next week). I have decided to not go to darwin on this trip so the plan at the moment is
* Three ways
* Mt Isa
* cloncurry
* Mostly the way to Longreach (qantas museum)
* head towards townsville, maybe via Cloncurry if required
* townsville, maybe some diving
* then down the coast road back home

Darwin would have been interesting but 4 days riding to do a 1/2 day tour seems a little disproportionate.

in front of the truck to head the right direction and as its less then the bow wave, you end up in the left hand lane again with a sense of a job well done.
The first few times I did this, theres less of a sense of ‘making it in the big world of touring bikers’ than a sense of ‘making it in your pants’.

About 210k later, I arrived at Mulba (sp?) It was a standard roadhouse style place and I decided to get the Lighter fluid out of the panier to start the pocket warmer. You see, Leaving CP at 7:30 it was a little chilly. I now know that at 2 degrees, the bike warns of black ice, the hand/seat warmers are not enough, and m little fingers hurt when they freeze in place.

This was also the time I started my obsession with working out once and for all the waving protocol.
You see, Bikers have certain rules you must follow when you see another bike.

Rules are
If Harley (or similar) bike is coming the other direction, make no eye contact, simply pretend they are not there and soon

enough they won’t be.
If its not a Harley, you can
a) head dip (like a nod)
b) head tilt (sideways tilting) mostly from sports bike riders
c) head raise (like an upwards nod) Not sure if this is valid, I made it up today to see what happens.
If its the same brand bike as yours, you wave.

In cities, it doesn’t happen often, It seems to happen more the further you are away from populated places.
On these highways, being a long way from town, cars (and mostly people towing vans) seems to get involved also.

If its a long way freom a city, these seem to be the rules.
If its a person with a van
they will – probably life a few fingers.
you should – nod you head. I have tried many other options, but this seems to get the best response.
If its a Truck driver
they will – not even see you
you should – keep out of the way, try to keep the rubbery bits on the road as their bow wave hits you.
If its another bike
they will – wave, nod of both
you should – wave, nod and try not to enter their lane as you lose control of the bike by waving too much
If its another BMW
they will – wave, sometimes stand up
you should – wave wildly get ready to stop for a chat.
If its another BMW and they are going your way AND they are doing the same trip as you
they will – go with you until you stop, and have a chat
you should – immediatly proceed to chatting, picking out curtains and raising a family.
If its a cop
they will – either ignore you (hopefully)
you should – roll off the throttle and look like you weren’t going fast
If its a cop and they pull you over but don’t five you a ticket
they will – tell you that going fast is bad and they used to have a similar bike but not anymore
you should – feel grateful you are not getting demerit points and offer a polite reach around
If its a cop and you get booked
Dunno really, havent been booked (yet).

and planes. Theres a ‘technical’ museum ($3) that seems to be just setup by HAM radio people and is not really that

interesting. Across the other side of town (about 50m) theres the information centre and a better museum ($6). This one has

some videos and a coherent set of displays.
Leaving there, I proceeded to Coober peedy. Not much to see there but we did go to the ‘old timers mine’ and had a short

walk around. It was an old mine (started about 1916) and parts were converted to a house. I can imagine being an opal miner

and living in the mine. Diring dinner I would probably grab the salad form and start scratching at the walls. You would

either find some opals or make a new cupboard. Aparently I was the only one who had asked them about how they ran the cat 5

throughout the house without making them visible. It would appear that there are some parts of the world without saturation

cabling.

In the morning, I had an interesting discussion while getting some fuel.
Me: Pump 2 and 2 dim sims please.
Grumpy Dude: right. [proceeds to get food slowly]
Me: [notices credit card machine says Ready. Please swipe card]
Me: [swipes card]
GD: Which pump was it ?
Me: Pump 2
GD: [looking at machine] You already swiped!
Me: Yes, It said please swipe card
GD: Well theres nothing on it, you can’t swipe without something on it
Me: Aparently I can.
GD: But theres nothing on it What will I do now ?
Me: Well, Put something on it?
GD: But theres nothing on it
Me: Can we complete the transation with nothing on it and start again ?
GD: But theres nothing on it
Me: Yes, but the good thing about there being nothing on it, is there’s nothing on it. When you complete the transaction,

there will be nothing on it.
GD: [stunned silence]
Me: [chances tack, tries staring at him in silence]
…long pause…
GD: Maybe I can cancel it
ME: [not knowing weather it would be helpful] Yeah, maybe
GD: Look, pressing the big red cancel button cancels it. You can swipe your card now.
Me: But you haven’t put anything on it yet
GD: Oh, [ presses buttons ] there you go
Me: [swipes card]
Anyway, you get the idea. I eventually rode away with fuel and 2 free dim sims.
I didn’t think it would be worth getting into with him.

This morning, I left about 9am, and rode the 20 mins to adelaide to get some fuel (for me and the bike). After leaving adelaide, I didn’t put my feet down until port Augusta. I was starting to get a sore back and probably should have stopped earlier.

Things to note about todays ride. It reached 17 degrees, quite nice really. It rained again (aparently its also been raining at alice springs). 300km without stopping sucks.

The trains are long here (real trins, not road trains) and again I had very strong cross winds. Theres this pipe thing that started following me along the sire of the road at adelaide and is still here. I guess it sends something somewhere but thers no information available on it telling me what or where.

Anyway, not really much to tell other than the ride along mostly express ways, the terrain seems to have changed a little and we have more dirt along the sides of roads. Ok, we had dirt before but its a lighter colour and looks more like dirt. I still have not hit any animals making them dead and I hope it doesn’t happen.

Tomorrow is the biggest scheduled day of the trip and is about 550k (I did 650k the first day and thought it was about 100km too long). Hopefully I handle it ok. I will certainly not do it without stopping.

the sunset and my lovely, lovely bike. It may be unnatural but who can stand between me and my motorcycle.

The tractor museum. This disturbed me more than it should have.

The Big Lobster (ok, Larry)

The blue lake. Ok, it looks blueish here but looks grey in real life. Honest.

What we like to call in the trade “Hot Windfarm Action”

The girls at the flagstaff hill school in their ‘oldish’ school uniforms.

In about 30 mins of riding, I had seen many foxes, rabbits (both dead and alive), heaps of birds (eating the aforementioned dead bunnies) and no roos. There were sign everywhere telling me to watch out for the roos but I saw none (well, at least none still interested in breathing).

The temp dropped to 3 degrees. That really sucks as I hadn’t started the jacket heater yet. I stopped to get some fuel after about 90 mins riding (and get some instant coffee, raisin toast) and lit the pocket warmer. I had previously discussed said lighting with the owner of the petrol station/diner where I was and explained that there will be some flames while it heated up. When the flames happened, He looked concerned but, probably do to the previous discussion, didn’t try to put it out.

From then on, it warmed up a little, mostly going from about 6 degrees to actually hitting 12 at one point.

I arrived in Mt Barker and as the room wasn’t ready yet, went to the local shopping centre and looked around. Hoping for some decent coffee to wash the taste of instant ferom my delicate mouth, I discovered not much to help. There was however a computer game shop (I could get some NDS charges for the girls) and a phone shop (so i could get a USB charger for my archos). Then a K-Mart for some more time wasting and finally back to the caravan park where telstra service is ok enough to do some writing.

later….

We just got back from Adelaide where we visited the Haigh chocolate factory and went to see Kung Fu Panda. Both were quite fun.

Tomorrow we will head to port Augusta. Hopefully it will be warmer.

There’s one more thing that needs to be said. I believe everyone let me down greatly by not telling me it was going to be cold doing the south a week after the winter solstice.

Also, people have been dying to ask but no-one has yet the courage to bring it up. I know you are all dying to know what a well dressed bike traveller wears so, to save you the embarrassment of asking, here’s the soop.

1. BMW long thermal pants (these go over the underwear which is changed at least once per week)
2. Draggin Cargo pants
3. Long socks (knee length) that go over the thermals, under the cargos.
4. BMW boots, mid calf high.
5. Marino wool thermal long sleeve top (Kathmandu)
6. sometimes a tee shirt over it
7. Wooly neck warmer thingy
8. outdoor research wind proof jacket over the thermals
9. BMW jacket (although last years colour) goes over the lot to prevent ingress of road when I hit it at some speed.
10. BMW gloves
11. Nolan N102 Helmet with Autocom headset

So, you can see theres a bit to getting dressed in the mornings. And yes, I know the jacket (9) is in the girlie section of the BMW apparrel book and modelled by a girl. What are you trying to say?

Not much to tell really about this part of the trip. It was only about 350k to the next stop. I passed a wind farm (back in 2001 is was the largest in australia) but the photos are pretty crappy.

Then it was on to Mt Gambier and its blue (actually grey) lake. It was nice to sit in a macdonalds, get some rason toast and drink a decent coffee. After getting warm again, I went back to the bike and headed to kingston.

I arrived about 1hr ahead of the others and decided to see some parts of the town and of course the big lobster.

I rode into town (about 90 seconds riding) and saw the big lobster (about 3 mins) then went to the Big Lobster (ok, they want me to call it Larry the Big Lobster) tourist section. It was an empty room with a single touch screen information system which was off and parked against the wall with a sign on it saying it wasn’t working.

So, I was no about 5 mins into the hour I had to wait and needed something to do. I walked up the street to the, aparently, famous garden sun dial. The sun had by now however decided to hide behind clouds so the sundial was not quite working. I couldn’t even see a vague shadow. I then walked to the service station (with another tourist information section. Theres only so long you can look at chocolates, crappy magazines and fishing tackle.

So, 30 mins down and I finally had to go to the last resort. “Kev’s tractor Museum” was the name of it but please don’t get the wrong idea. Its not a museum.

When I was growing up, my grandfather had a factory and lots of stuff spread everywhere. My grandmother had things like pedal sowing machines in the shed etc. Aparently, this ‘museum’ was just people like that, just not throwing things out for a long time.

Where were all sorts of things that I consider junk that shouldn’t be anywhere, espescially a museum. I do however have to give it something, it does have a higher tractor co-efficient than most places i’ve been to.

So, still having 20 mins to kill, I went back to the park (via a long 5 mins drive to make sure nothing was missed) and met the others entering the park.