Kevin Withnall

This morning I left Alice at about 8:30 ready for a 500km ish ride. I wasn’t looking forward to a longish ride after quite a few days off but I didn’t really have an option. The ride passed pretty smoothly. Crossing the tropic of capricorn shortly after leaving alice it was all going quite quickly and smoothly.

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).

Well, today, being my last day in Alice Springs, I was fortunate enough to get to a dentist. I called at opening time and begged. I was told they would squeeze me in at 1pm so, at 1pm, I was on their door step.

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)

I have just made some plans (in order to get the bike serviced etc) and heres what seems to be the go so far.

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.

This morning, after trying to find a dentist as I chipped a tooth last night, we ( Libby and I ) went on some quad bikes on a cattle station for some fun. The quad bikes were more successful than the dentist finding as, aparently, if you need emergency dental treatment, you need to wait 4 months for it.

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.

This is a local ‘theme’ park that has many local environments setup. From sandy desert to semi arid areas it seems to cover what you would expect from central australia. It would be easy for this park to be tacky but its not at all. If you’re coming out here, you need to go to this park. The portable MP3 players are great and have track numbers printed on signs around the park so you know what to listen to.

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.