Day 1

G'day everyone. Great start to the trip. Firstly we met with Dave and the staff from Anytime Fitness and were presented with a $500 donation outside their soon to be opened 24 hour gym in Bayliss street. While there, we were met by the Daily Advertiser and Prime News to do a quick progress story. After a few photos and a quick chat with those gathered, Aaron and I suited up and rolled out of Town.

Our first stop was at Gundagai for a potty stop and a drink. At that point Aaron said his butt was not too bad. We remounted and headed for Yass. About 30 Km's from Yass I got a tap on the shoulder from the little fella so we pulled over for a quick stretch of the legs, he was starting to feel a little bit of "Hot Seat". (For all the non-bike riders, Hot Seat is where your butt starts to feel hot, no matter how cold the temperature is. If you don't remedy the situation by moving about on the seat or getting off for a while the seat soon feels like it grows teeth and starts to bite).

We arrived at Yass and gave the Bird a drink. Not bad, 189 Km's and only 10.3 litres of the good stuff (5.4 L/100Km's). Once fuelled up we set off again. After I peeled into the nice left hander that curls back onto the Doom Hwy (Hume Highway) I felt a small shift on the bike and then noticed a little 'thumbs up' creep into view from behind which made me quite happy. My boy likes corners. We are gunna have a great time! (Don't worry Dad, I'm not being silly, just introducing Aaron to the world of angular bliss.

We next stopped at the Big Merino at Goulburn for a photo with the big fella and a quick bite for lunch. After 1 more pit stop I decided to break free of the Doom and check Aarons' resolve over Razorback. The Bird and the boy took the detour in their stride and it was a pleasant change to the life sucking boredom of the highway. I must make special mention of the bloke in the Toyota Town Ace. If Toyota do choose to enter the V8 scene, I have found their man.... I'm buggered if I know why he's wasting his time as a courier, he could make real money driving for any race team, or has Top Gear sent the STIG to test big white S*%!heaps in Australia? On more than one occasion I could see daylight underneath one or more of his wheels, left or right.

By the time we stopped in Camden, the temperature (and our excitement) had risen and it was time to test the venting in our jackets. We polished off the rest of our water and headed for Nanas.

By the end of the day we had shuffled (took longer than expected) 490Km's under our wheels and busted Aarons' cherry. He no longer is an around the block rider. This boy is on his way to being a long distance Iron Butt. So for now we'll sign off and catch you all later. Thanks for dropping in.

Marty and Aaron.........Ps sorry for the late post, still having some issues with the computer and it's wireless connection.

Day 2

Lazy day today.

We both got haircuts. Aaron caught up with some cousins and played silly buggers down the paddock. I caught up with a mate and got to drool over his new GSXR 1000. Damn sexy bit of kit. 

We have a few little jobs to do before we set off again on Friday. I need to make a rack to fit  my gearsack to, Fit my new Radguard, wash the bugs off the Bird and get Aaron a set of earphone earplugs. Oh yeah, and fix the bloody computer.....again......

At the end of the day Aaron said it was good to give his butt a rest from riding. 

Copul8r

Marty..............

Day 4

Hi everyone,

Day 3 and 4 had not much new to report. Got my rack fitted (thanks very much George), Radguard is inplace and Aaron can now listen to tunes. Might help him stay awake during the boring bits and he will be an absolute authority on 80's music by the end of the trip because were taking my ipod.

Enjoyed the rest, caught up with some family and friends. Now we are ready to get cracking again.

If the weather's fine we should have a real nice ride up the Putty Road.

copul8r guys.

Marty...............

Day 5

Hello everyone,

Just before we left this morning we were greeted by a couple of great mates of mine, Bully and Flash.  They had decided to escort us some of the way as we headed to Tamworth.  So it began, we bid the family goodbye and quietly rolled down the street. First stop, Wilberforce, to top off the fuel tank and make one last check over the bike before we hit the road proper.  It was then time to introduce Aaron to one of the classic Sydney biking roads, "The Putty".

Despite the amount of roadworks being carried out, Aaron was able to experience what this road means to motorcyclists.  Flowing tarmac, good weather and the soft smell of spring flowers (along with the odd bit of roadkill). This was a ride to remember.

We took a short break at the old halfway house (unfortunately it burnt down a few years ago) then continued onto Singleton where we all had a bite to eat.

After a tasty snack and a cool refreshing beveridge we bid farewell to our escorts (thanks heaps fellas) and continued on towards Tamworth.

As we approached Murrurundi we pulled into a servo and met up with a fellow called Trevor (and a lady who donated $20 just because I lifted a fuel can for her).  As it turned out Trevor had heard of our little adventure and, taking a great chunk of his time, he not only lined up a radio interview with J.T. on 92.9 in Tamworth but also arranged a photo op with the local paper. Both of these organisations seemed happy to help promote the ride and the cause we are seeking to assist. Many thanks to both and Trevor, mate, you're a legend. I'm sorry we did'nt have more time here in Tamworth, but next time I pass through town we're going for a beer, my shout.

We then paid a fleeting visit to the Powerhouse Motorcycle Museum on the northern side of town. In what seemed like only moments we had we meandered between the remarkably restored classics and dazzling dream bikes for nearly an hour and had been allowed to soak it all in well past closing time. We would love to have stayed longer but the time of day just did'nt allow for it. If you like motorcycles and ever pass this way, you would be doing yourself a disservice by not taking the time to look over some of the best presented bikes anywhere. Entry is just $7

Anyway just to summerise, we had an excellent ride today (except for the swarm of bees at Scone) and Aaron is already turning into a great pillion.  He said that being able to listen to music while riding makes a huge difference.

Well that should catch you up for today.

Catch you all later

Marty...............

Day 6

Hello all.

Well today we woke to the tinkle of rain, not exactly what I ordered. Anyway, we saddled up and slowly rolled down the road towards Armidale. It was quite a bit cooler today.

Our first stop was at the Moombi lookout. It afforded us a very nice view back down the valley, allowing us to observe the thin veil of cool white mist still settled into some of the lower areas in the valley. The lookout was constructed in 1938.

We shivered on down the road (it was only 8 Deg for most of the morning) and having had my fingertips go numb somtime previously we dived into a Reviver stop on our way into Uralla for a warm cuppa. Margaret and her friend seemed to be as happy to see us as we were to see them and were keen to support our ride (thanks ladies). We got to chatting and before long we had wasted the best part of an hour. We hit the road again when we finally got a break in the conversation. Those ladies could talk the legs off of a table. Having talked to a few locals found that the course we had set was now best left to those with dirt bikes. That was no real problem however because we had plenty of alternatives and chose to go to Glen Innes.

Because of the weather we made quite slow progress and had KFC for lunch at Glen Innes.  After lunch we headed down the Gwydir Hwy. With the exception of the weather and the last 30 km's into Grafton this is a funtastic road.  There is a nice mix of corners and like I said the before the surface is good except for the last 30k's into Grafton.

From there we had a mixed bag with the weather and after getting both sets of gloves wet I had to ride the last 20kms to Ballina without gloves..

I was nice to park the bike today. Both Aaron and I found it to be quite a testing day.

Very short day tomorrow so I think we may just have a bit of a sleepin.

Too tired to type anymore, so I'll leave you good folk for now and catch you all real soon.

Marty............................

Day 7

Hello campers,

Today started with the undeniable fact that we are going to get wet again.  I don't know what is happening, I specifically remember  ordering days of 22 deg and bright sunshine. So far we have had enough rain to end any drought, anywhere!  Before breakfast this morning my dad emptied his rain guage (30 mm in the last 24hrs) and by the time we left for Tenterfield at 3pm we had amassed another 19mm. I'm kind of over it at the moment.

Anyway back to the trip. Dad accompanied us today. Cool hey, 3 generations on the one ride. As I said, we left Ballina at about 3pm and paddled our way to Lismore. We again gave the Bird a drink of the good stuff and the headed for the hills. It did'nt take long to confirm that the flash new dayglo, hi-vis, hi-tech all singing, all dancing jackets we bought for the trip (at the insistance of the minister for war and finance) are more about giving ding-a-ling drivers something to aim for on the road, rather than keep out any rain. I mean, I've taken baths and got out dryer than wearing this stuff.

Enough of my carry on. The road that links the Ballina Coast to the thriving metropollis of Tenterfield is known as the Bruxnor Highway, suffice to say that this piece of tarmac would not be out of place in anyones top ten list. Even at the end of 189 km's of drizzle, rain and crap I landed with a smile. But I have just two words for  anyone wishing to use this road as a private racetrack, Bastard Kangaroos. BE AWARE these clowns could really put a very quick end to a fun afternoon. We got upclose and personal with one of these jumping idiot fence posts today as he decended onto the same piece of road I had anticipated using. In the end, it was either the acoustic qualities of the pipes on the Bird or my screaming like a little girl that had him chuck a U bolt, scramble up the bank and bugger off into the bush like all hell. We got to meet 2 more of his mates later but thankfully with a bit more warning.

We checked into the Jumbuck Motor Inn (VERY bike friendly) and went across the road to the organised dinner. While at the dinner we were introduced to and addressed by the organisers and met a few of the other attendees. There were 2 highlights. Firstly we watched the Mighty Dragons defeat the Chookies (you know what they say Bull, second place is the first looser) and secondly Aaron became a bit of a star when the attending film crew wanted to hear more about him and his story.

Tomorrow, the official start to the ride, we will meet at the local museum and grid up for the start of what will surely be one of the long distance swims  of all time, yes, the forecast is for rain AGAIN... 

The story at the Jumbuck Motor Inn seems to be that there is secure undercover parking for bikes  and if enough roll up (8-10 or more) the owners, Rod and Julie, chuck on a barbie for you all.  Good facilities, Fox and free internet.

Anyway, that'll do for now.

copul8r

Marty.................................................

Day 8

G'day all,

Today we woke to the deafening sound of...... wait for it....... silence. Thats right, no rain. Could this be a dream? I ran outside in sox and jox and to my amazement, the ground was dry....... the sky was clear....... IT IS A MIRACLE. Well maybe not quite a miracle but it sure was a damn sight better start to the day.

We hurried to get ready and rushed off to breaky.

After breaky we gave the bikes a quick wipe over to clean the road grime from yesterday and because of this we ended up arriving for the group photo about 10 seconds too late. Oh well, I'm sure there will be plenty more.

No sooner had we rolled out of town and we arrived at the NSW / QLD border and Aaron was able to span time (NSW has daylight saving so it's one hour ahead).

Once in Queensland I could feel the burden of oppressive taxes, fees and charges lift from our collective shoulders. No longer are we in imminent danger of killing, maiming or otherwise destroying life as we know it, simply for daring to throw a leg over one of those mechanised two wheeled death machines.  We were also not robbed when attending one of those liquid energy outlets.  However all is not grand in the land of Queens. It did'nt take many more miles to pass beneath our tyres for the stupidity of bureaucracy to raise its ugly head. There were a number of signs telling drivers not to drive when tired because they may crash into a tree. These trees being some 10-15 metres from the roadside. Fair enough at face value but these signs were placed four or five in a row supported by 2 steel poles and inserted into the ground just 8-10 feet from the roadside.  I just dont get it.

After passing Warwick the landscape changed. It was now farming land with rich dark brown sometimes black soil and healthy looking crops and grazing land. We continued on towards Toowoomba and found that although the weather was threatening to storm, it stayed dry and became quite warm. We had various stops to drink, stretch, clean bugs from visors or whatever. But by the time we rolled into Goomeri (the pumpkin rolling capital of Australia) it was high time for lunch.

After lunch we charged towards Bundaberg with the finish line for the day soon to be in sight. There were some unexpected delectible corners and we finally had reason to let the bird spread its wings. In no time flat we had removed the chicken strips from the back tyre and decapitated the Michelin man.  Approaching Bundy the bush around us gave way to a plethora of healty looking cane farms and open paddocks. We finally made it to our room and crashed onto the bed for a while (long enough for the teeth marks from the bike seat to fade.) Today was our longest in the saddle and both Aaron and I were feeling the pinch.

Off to dinner soon, chat later

Marty..............

Day 9

Hello Boys and Girls, Today was brought to you by the words Long and Hot...

We woke to overcast conditions this morning but by the end of breakfast the sky had cleared. We got some quick directions from a local then loaded the Bird, suited up and scurried out of town.  It sure was taking a long time to get out of town. About 20 mins and 20 km's from our start we arrived at the beach. The Beach?????? Bloody hell... A quick check of the map shows us that we are about 20 km's from where we need to be. I hate to backtrack but in this instance there was no alternative.

Once back on track, we asked the Bird to spread it's wings and in no time we were soaring with eagles, turning bends into corners and reducing the distance deficit. While throwing a splash of fuel into the Bird at Mirriam Vale  we were approached by two fellows (No doubt attracted to the gorgeous dark swoopy lines of our land missile) who spoke to Aaron about what we were up to. Aaron, being the diplomat he is, had them digging in their pockets to hand over donations before they left. Thanks guys...every dollar counts...  Incidently, the footy mascot in Mirriam Vale is the magpie, same as Aarons team.

We were now just in front of the last support vehicle and we intended to keep it that way. With the exception of a quick stretch it was 'go' all the way to Rockhampton. We paused long enough for a photo at the Tropic of Capricorn, some real fast food then again onto the open road.  We refueled the Bird and downed a bottle of water at Marlborough faster than a V8 supercar pitstop then returned to blaze the trail to Mackay.  Just 70km's from our destination I needed another drink and once stopped Aaron found he had a broken butt.  This pitstop turned into 45 min break and as the last support vehicle passed we remounted to complete the day, arriving a little later than first expected but still before dark.

The first thing to catch Aarons' attention at our digs for the night was 'the pool'. With the day being as long and hot as it was we both quickly carried our luggage to our room, ditched our riding gear then bolted for the little blue puddle, jumped right in and lowered our body temperature and tempers by more than a few degrees.

After the best part of an hour playing silly buggers in the pool we cleaned up, got dressed and went out to dinner. While wandering the streets we found that there sure are a lot of parrots in Mackay. We nearly had to yell to each other at times to be heard over the birds. As the warm glow of sunset dimmed into night we sat down to a tasty chicken salad and topped it off with a chocolate banana split, then enjoyed a stroll around town before returning to our room and retired for the night.

see you later

Marty................

Day 10

After a crappy sleep I woke about 4:30 and started to pack up our gear. I woke Aaron about 5:30 and we were ready to roll by just after 6am. Not knowing just how far to the next fuel stop, we gave the Bird a drink and then ambled out of town.

We pulled up a short time later to watch the harvest of some sugar cane. A first for Aaron.

I find that while you ride a bike you have a lot of time to entertain yourself and it can be strange what your mind will sometimes turn to.  I looked at the Tacho, not for any particular reason, but it got me  thinking about how many times the engine will spin over the duration of the trip. Using the fact that most of the journey will be completed in top gear (doing 2000rpm @60km/h) and allowing a small percentage increase for warm up, towns and the mountains. I estimated that the heart of our big black beast will spin about 33 million times. Not that this has anything to do with anything, it's just what I was thinking of.

We stopped just before Bowen and took a picture of the Big Mango. Just as we left the parking lot and as I was putting my visor down I was visited by a horrible little bug with a REALLY BIG stinger (maybe a wasp). The little mongrel jabbed his stinger into my lip twice. (note to self. Visor down THEN move off).

We pulled into Bowen to have breaky but I was quite surprised to find there were no food outletts near the water. We did however notice that there were a number of murals (not graffiti) around the town, and in fact Bowen is known for them. We eventually settled on Slack Macs (McDonalds) for our nourishment and soon returned to the road.

Once on the highway my mind wandered again. This time it was on old work colleague. Some of you out there will know him, many others were not that lucky. His name was Keith Tobin.  He was also a rider and he loved his Suzuki GSX1100GKE. I wont bore you all with the details of my memories but the theme of it all centred on how Keith was a TOP bloke. Some may have found him a little abrasive but I think that rose from the fact that Keith didn't suffer fools. I remember though that Keith was not only generous with good advice but was a bit of a father figure to some of us young fellas in our chosen career. Keith was riding on his trip of a lifetime when we lost him and upon reflection, we are all poorer for the loss. Ride on brother. 

The ride up the coast was quite amazing. There are large areas of open cane farms that are boarded by sharply rising hills erupting from the ground. A heavy mist sat low over some of these hills as they stand in stowick silence providing a very imposing backdrop to the lush pastures and cane farms.

We filled the Bird at Ayr for the final run into Townsville and arrived a bit after 1pm.  We have, since then,cooled off in the air con and written these notes , however I think it's time for a dip.

catch you all later

Marty.......................... 

After our swim, we spoke to a couple of the other riders, then had a tub and went for a relaxing stroll along the beach precinct that the locals call 'The Strand'. The weather was nice (24ish deg) but it was quite windy. We happened upon the "Hotel Allen" and had a chicken and pyjamas along with a, wait for it, $4.20 small glass of Coke. When told the price I asked the barman if I could borrow his phone. He asked me why and I told him I needed to call crime stoppers, I found Australias Most Wanted stick up man. He didn't respond as he walked away.

Anyway, that'll do for today

copul8r

Marty................

Day 11

WOOO HOOO Free day......

First, we went in search of the local honda shop to get a transfusion for the Bird. Simple enough except as soon as I walk into the service area I am told by the Service Manager "Don't even ask for anything today, I've already got three guys off that should be here." I replied "Well I was just after an oil change because we're off around australia tomorrow". After a bit of back and forth I decided it was best to do it myself, bought a filter and on the way back to the motel Aaron spotted the Suzuki dealer FUTURE SPORT MOTORCYCLES. I walked in, had a conversation with the Service Co-ordinator Beck and after hearing of our situation, she cleared the decks and had fresh blood in the Bird in no time at all.

We returned to the motel just in time to join some of the other boys on a trip to Magnetic Island.  On the boat to the island Aaron found himself the centre of a few girls attention (as can be seen in a photo above). While there Aaron just about blew a fuse begging and pleading for a go on a jetski. We eventually got on to one of these 130 hp sea demons. Before long we were skipping over the water, bouncing from wave to wave. Aaron was champing at the bit to have a drive and once in place he opened the taps and had the beastie bouncing off of the rev limiter in no time. The general belief is that kids have no fear, however I'm starting to think it is actually no sense. The last thing the jetski guy said was that if we break it we buy it and Aaron seemed intent on buying himself a jetski today. The nearest we got was on a hard right when he managed to dig the nose into the water and had water washing over the side of the thing. A judicial amount of gas had us launch out of the water and sprint off again. We eventually made it back to dry land and wandered along the shoreline until we reached the Marlin Bar. There we sat and enjoyed a cool drink with some of the locals.

Once back on the mainland it was a rush to get dressed and ride to the top of "Castle Hill" that sits in the middle of Townsville for a photo and film thing for the organisers of the ride. What an unreal view. After this it was again time for dinner and by using Aarons logic that there wont be any pizza shops in the middle of Australia we had Pizza for dinner.

Not much else to say

Catch you all later

Marty...............

Day 12

G'day everyone,

I forgot to mention last night that the Bird developed a serious case of the tom tits with the slow crawl up the hill and decided to bubble it's way to 108 deg. Although I was very unimpressed with this type of carry on I thought a night out in the cold would allow it to cool the hell down. This morning we got up with the sparrows, packed up and headed out of town. By the time we hit the highway the Bird was again getting hot under the collar. Nothing too unusual in traffic conditions. So we continue on. After a while of cruising at around 100km/h on the open road the temp gauge was still way too high and was fluctuating between 96 and 103 deg. I decided that discretion was the better part of valour this time and returned to Townsville. Honda were again too busy to help but that didn't matter because the crew at Future Sport Motorcycles dropped everything and came to our rescue. After performing a number of operations on the black beauty the team were unable to decide on an exact cause for the overheating. They did however, go out of their way to make sure everything seemed right before sending us on our way. I would again like to thank Beck and Damien for the quick attention we received and the eforts they went to to resolve our problems. If ever you are up this way and need assistance or servicing, make the team at Future Sport Motorcycles your FIRST port of call and tell them that I sent you.

After leaving Townsville, again, I decided to give the bird a chance to either put up or shut up.  It was threatened to either get better or get traded, simple as that. The hours that followed gave it plenty of chance to drop its lunch, but to my delight it just got back to doing what it does best, eat miles at a considerable rate (and boy was it hungry).  With the time loss we had suffered so far it was going to be a fuel stop only system for the rest of the day.

Just after leaving Huendon and having about one hundred or so kms to Richmond we passed a sign that read 'Rough Road Next 34kms', what I didn't see was the hidden fine print that must have said "and that's as good as it's gunna get". I mean I have finally found a road that makes Blacktown roads seem like they're well constructed superhighways. 

By the time we pulled into Richmond the Bird was expelling hot air from deep within like a rampaging bull. I felt like Mr Motorcross and Aaron had been bounced off of the seat so much he had earned a pile of frequent flyer points. But the Bird had done itself proud and kept the temp gauge hovering in the very low 90's. I can live with that on such a hot day. 

We aquired our digs for the night, quickly changed clothes and went for a tour of the Dinosaur exhibition at the Info Centre (well worth the cost).  As soon as we got kicked out of the Info Centre (closing time again) we headed for the local watering hole to wash the dust and bugs from our mouths. The first one did'nt even touch the sides and when I ordered the second before the barmaid had finished with my change, I was called aside by the publican and told that if I wanted any drama I might as well leave now (or words to that effect). When I asked how on earth she had formed such an opinion, she said "As soon as you walked in here I saw you size up every one in here and I know your type).  So after advising her not to give up her day job to become a profiler for the police (or words to that effect) I made it quite clear that I had herd that the biggest and best meals in town were to be found here and I was quite prepared to test that theory out (we also discussed how it is not possible to have half a steak. By definition, even if you cut a large piece of steak into a smaller portion, it is still a steak). Any way I must say that it was an unreal feed and anyone that remembers the old Commercial pub meals at Junee, You'll understand what a great rap that is.

So after eating some poor kids pet for dinner we walked home to  the most salubrious accomodation yet. The bed was a four inch block of foam lying on a piece of plywood and was a foot too short, mind you, I've stayed in much worse and the three most important criterium were met. 1; no mozzies and 2 airconditioning (even if it sounded like it was trying to release itself from the wall and go kill something) and 3; no mozzies.

Too tired for much else

Goodnight, copul8r

Marty......................................

Day 13

Hi all.

We had an early start today. Up at 5 showered , packed and out the door by 6. We rolled out of town as quietly as possible. No sooner had we left town and we had to take evasive action to miss a couple of stupid sheep.

First thing I noticed on the open road was that the Bird had returned to normal, spot on 83deg. It was a beautiful morning, hardly any clouds in the sky, slight cool breeze and everything must have still been asleep because it was so quiet great time for a nice easy ride.

About 80k's out of town we were approaching a bird pecking at road kill. The closer we got we realised that it was either a large Kite or an Eagle. About 200 yards or so from him he turned to face us stamped his foot on his meal and puffed up all of his feathers. As we passed him on the other side of the road he eyeballed us. I guess he really wanted that meal.

At about 7am we stopped at Julia Creek and had breaky hearty full breakfast. Not one of those hi-bran low fat muffins and a mocha latte city type breakfasts but a true Aussie bush breaky, about 5 rashes of bacon, two eggs, tomato, baked beans, 3 sausages, four bits of toast and a large chocky milkshake. "I guess we won't be needing lunch today" was Aarons call as we were suiting up to leave. We also fueled the Bird then motored on to Cloncurry, the birth place of the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

When we finally found the Royal Flying Doctor Museum it was closed. Shame that, Aaron was really looking forward to that particular place. (Remember I'm also trying to turn the trip into a big school excursion. If the boy is going to miss several weeks of school he's going to learn something while we're away)

We arrived in Mt Isa a bit after 12, booked into our room, had a quick shower then headed to the mine museum and display in the middle of town. We got lucky and were placed on the mine tour because there had been a couple of cancellations. After paying the $71 to get on the tour we were told that for commercial reasons we were not allowed to take cameras. What a load of rubbish that ended up being. They took no pics underground in the mine and the one they took above ground (and wanted $10 for) was no different to what we took in the change room.  While there was a lot of good info given to us on the tour it was nothing that couldn't be read in the museum so I feel the tour was a bit of a waste of money.

We returned to the motel after a spot of shopping and got ready for dinner. Although this dinner was pre booked and numbers were firm and provided to the venue months ago we ran out of food before every table had been fed. While I was standing waiting for the staff to invent something for dinner (I ended up getting some sort of chicken surprise), my big mouth son had told either enough people or the right people that it was my birthday. So of course everyone sprang to their feet and sang happy birthday to me. It wasn't that I was embarassed, that boat sailed long ago, just that I was trying to keep it low key. Everyone finally got fed and after a few drinks and a few stories we all headed for bed.

That'll do for today

copul8r

Marty............... 

Day 14

Lightning crackled across a dark, gun metal grey sky in disjointed shards of white light while thunder boomed and echoed to every corner of civilisation. Sheets of rain tumbled from the sky and soon formed rivulets flooding across the parched red landscape, filling gutters and erupting from overflowing storm drains to form oceans of standing water surrounding islands of pavement.

This is not actually what greeted us this morning, but with the talk last night of the approaching storms and a slightly overactive imagination when I woke today and heard the sound of rain, this is what could have been.

The fact is however that it was  more a heavy drizzle to very light rain that greeted us. Still enough to require wet weather gear, but not enough to keep it comfortable in said gear. I also figured that with the success our jackets had shown in previous rain events I didn't even bother closing the vent zippers. To my surprise, and once underway I didn't really get all that wet and the rain stopped before the border. We stopped at Camooweel and fueled up just before crossing the border into the Northern Territory. What an anti climax the border turned out to be. Just a small sign QLD/NT BORDER, thats it. But I now understand what is meant when they say Big Sky Land. It really is quite impressive.

Less than 1/2 a klm into the NT we were greeted with a sign informing us that we wont explode into infinately tiny firery specks of dust if we exceed 110 kph. In fact should we dare to be so bold and brave we could actually, legally, do 130kph. So I mustered all the courage I could beg, borrow and steal, closed my eyes, hoped for the best, slowly, carefully tightened my grip on both the handle bars and life as I knew it and gave it a go. Believe it or not punters, I am still here now to report to you that the pencil necked, seat sniffing, butt licking small minded robot revenue collectors and Pollies in NSW, Qld and Vic are all telling us lies. My life didn't suddenly stop, my heart didn't explode and I dont think I need any special kind of treatment or counciling to asymilate when I return to the land of the eternal Big Brother.

Some distance down the road we approached a group of bikes parked on the verge. Naturally we stopped to see what had happened and if everyone was ok. We soon learnt that Ant (one of the hobbits, so called because three of the guys come from "the Shire" or Sutherland Shire to everyone else) had some how picked up a piece of fencing wire that punctured his tyre. By all accounts he did a great job haning onto his heavily loaded KLR650 with a rapidly deflating rear tyre. After finding Ant had no spare tube on him we decided the only remedy to the situation 100kms or so from anywhere was that some would ride ahead and get help from one of the support vehicles and we would stay with Ant for at least some moral support, company and safety.

About an hour and a half later the sad, lonely looking KLR was secured atop a trailer, it's rider was ensconced in the rear of the air conditioned support van and we were on our way. We continued on at warp factor 9 and arrived at the Barkly Homestead just as most were finishing up with lunch. Lunch was really expensive but really nice and considering that it really is in the middle of what is rapidly becoming nowhere the price is probably warranted.

From there on the road became ever straighter and hotter. We were stopped by a road crew kicking back relaxing in the 38+degree afternoon and were warned to be careful for the next 10 k's or so because the road they had already laid hasn't yet set. Apparently the road surface was a smouldering 64*C and the tar won't set at such high temps. No wonder my feet were burning from the soles up, can't wait to see what it's going to do to the tyres.

This brings us to Tennant Creek. A town with approx 3500 residents and 45 overworked and under resourced cops. I had a conversation with one of the Territorys' finest and he informed me that they are so understaffed that they dont task anyone to traffic duties, they simply have too many other important things to do than collect a few bucks for the government. He also said that in the past 3 months on the Stuart Hwy (the road to Darwin) there have only been 4 reported crashes, they were all single vehicle incidents that happened mid morning and said to be due to fatigue. None were fatal even though the vehicles had been travelling at or around the posted 130kph.

But I digress. We quickly unpacked our gear and again made a bee line for the pool. This time we were greeted by one of the most refreshingly cold pools (read spanner water) I ever remember diving into. On a day when it was said to be around 38 deg it was a welcome change. We played ball games in the pool until  late afternoon, then tended to our laundry and readied ourselves for dinner.

We enjoyed a nice dinner and some banter about Ants misfortune then retired to a comfortably cool room  for a full, good nights sleep.

Catch ya later

Marty...................... 

Day 15

Greetings.

Today we woke to a nice blue sky and the promise of rising temperatures. We first took care of a nice bit of breakfast, loaded the bike and joined the gathered bikers awaiting instruction for a mass ride out of town. The time came and we all rolled into the street and headed north. Once outside town limits we picked up the pace and closed formation as we approached the predetermined location. My guess is we looked good. Just after the filming of the mass ride Aaron and I peeled off to fill the Bird and put some space between the mob and ourselves.

Once back on the road we chose a speed that suited us (instead of a forced pace in a group ride) and continued up the Stuart Highway. The landscape had some dramatic elevation changes, rocky outcrops and vast flat plains. The further we travelled north the larger the trees became. Closer to Tennant Creek the flora had a more scrubby appearance dominated by acacia type plants and grasses. The further north we travelled we began to see the re-emergence of trees. Not the towering monoliths of temperate rainforests or the giants of Victoria's Black Spur region but stands of gum that seem to have been given a new lease on life by recent rains as depicted by all the lush recent growth.

As we continued north, the heat, as promised, began to climb. In fact the rate at which the temperature rose would have given a sane man vertigo. It was remarkable to see the road disappear into a distant blur heat haze and feel the radiated heat burning at the soles of my boots as we traversed this wide land. I do believe I now have a greater understanding of the unforgiving power of nature.

When we  arrived at  Elliot to get a splash of fuel we found many of the local residents just laying in the shade drinking. There were a few however repainting  the fence at a local community building. We quickly left this sad little town and and continued our trek north.

We took a lunch stop at the famous Daly Waters Pub and found it lived up to all expectations and stories. Inside there is a large collection of shirts, flags, bras, undies, singlets, money and business cards from all around the world. All of these items have been signed and left by their owners who must make a donation to a charity in order to leave them. Fantastic idea. The burgers we ordered were monsters, in fact Aaron failed to finish his. We downed another cool drink, accepted the inivetable and suited up to return the relentless scorch of the Stuart Highway in late Spring.

Our last fuel stop for the day produced a couple of choices  because while the fuel left in the tank may have gotten us to Mataranka I had intended to fill up just to be sure, but upon arriving at Larrimah  we  found the fuel station in charred ruins. Now came the 64 million dollar question, should we continue and have faith in our fuel useage calculations, risking being stranded without fuel in the heart of the never never or wait for the support crew to get some fuel from them.  Discretion won the day as Aaron was really beginning to feel the stresses of the heat and I don't think he would have coped very well if stranded out on the road waiting for help. I got the last of the water from our bags, which was now hot, gave Aaron a swig to wash his mouth and poured the rest into his jacket.  Thankfully the support crew arrived a short time later and we replenished the fuel in the Bird, got Aaron some fresh cool water and again poured some into his riding gear. Aaron was offered a ride in the van for the rest of the day but to my surprise he chose to stick it out on the bike. After checking that he was sure he was ok to continue we remounted and wasted no time getting to Mataranka.

Upon arrival at the famous springs we were informed that we had no aircon in our room. Not a huge deal we had been told this earlier. We then found our room, which is in a dorm type area. The closer we got to the room, the worse the feeling in the pit of my belly. We swung open the door and were slammed in the face by a gust of hot damp smelly air. The next thing we noticed was that there were no windows, it was an inside room. With the blistering temperature having a definite effect on my attitude at this point in time I decided to just chuck our gear in the room, go have a swim to cool off, then with a cool head reasses the situation. We spent the next 5 hours or so in the cool clear waters of the natural thermal pool cooling down and relaxing after what turned out to be quite a harrowing day.

By the time we left the pool the weather had cooled a lot. We climbed the creaky narrow staircase went to our room to find it was still blisteringly hot however. With no alternative accommodation we went downstairs to have dinner and stay cool not returning to our room until about 10:30.

Lets continue this story later

Marty............... 

Day 16

I really could have continued writing this any time through the middle of the night. Even after wetting ourselves down and having the fan on as fast as we dare it was really difficult to get to sleep. 

My annoyance and dissatisfaction of the living quarters at this location should in no way be seen as being annoyed with or ungrateful to the organisers of the ride because in absolute truth I think that the team at the Steven Walter Foundation have accomplished a remarkable number of tasks to ensure our ease and comfort on this journey. What I do think has happened is that they have fallen victim to a poorly operated  and maintained venue that survives on the legend of it's spring water pool. In contrast to this run down facility, every other venue on this remarkable journey around this vast land has, even if basic, been a clean and well serviced facility.

Our room had no ventilation, the beds were rubbish, the smoke alarm had been disabled, the fan was hanging by a cord, some people had complained of bed bugs, although I found no evidence of them and to put it simply it was just too bloody hot to sleep in. If we were to travel some 600 k's the next day I had to have a good nights sleep and that just wasn't going to happen here.

Aaron and I packed our gear and headed to Katherine.

We found suitable accommodation, placed our belongings in our room and headed for Katherine Gorge. What we found on this tour was a very peaceful place. I didn't find the gorge to be much different to similar areas along the Nepean or Hawkesbury rivers near Sydney, just on a larger scale. I do think however, that it would be a sight to behold during the wet season. From the stains on the gorge walls, during the wet season it would have a multitude of waterfalls cascading from various places and heights along the length of the gorge system.

After completing the tour we spoke with a couple of the others on the ride, in particular Joe (Harley Fat Bob) and Matt (Ducati Multistrada) and learned that just before the gorge tour they had jumped in the river for a quick dip to cool down. Unfortunately for Matt, he forgot he had his $600 glasses on his hat when he jumped and when he surfaced they were gone. They spent a few minutes looking for them before the tour and they were going back to have another go. Aaron and I offered to give them a hand. Matt was sure he had a good idea of the area they were lost in so we all jumped in and started to duck dive the 10 feet or so to the muddy bottom. The water was quite murky and visability was limited to about 3-4 inches so we resorted to groping around in the vain hope of stumbling upon them. while we were busy, a couple of the hobbits had been on a helicopter flight and were amazed at the number of crocs in the river..WHAT???? We had just done a cruise of the river and saw no crocs at all. We had been told by the guide that the croc cages were used after the monsoon season to catch the occasional croc that travels upstream during the floods but they said nothing about the place being full of freshwater crocs year round. AARON  GET OUT OF THE WATER!  They guys reassured us that the freshies are more affraid of us than we are of them. I Bloody doubt it. Just as I was swimming to the edge to get out Matt surfaced and amazingly displayed the glasses he had lost. Great finish to a fun afternoon.

As we walked back to the bike before returning to Katherine I made Aaron promise to say nothing about swimming in the croc infested waters to Mum until after we get home.

We walked around Katherine for a while soaking up the local atmosphere in the balmy evening before stopping at a pub for a juicy steak dinner then returned to our room for the evening.

Now for that good nights sleep.

See ya

Marty..................

Day 17

Have a guess what sound I lay awake listening to this morning.  Rain, but not your average everyday garden variety rain, this was proper rain. The stuff you read about in the news paper headlines.

By the time Aaron and I were on the road the water filled most of the gutters and this made going a little slow at first. It's just as well though, because in the first few miles we encountered some wildlife that were a little slow to clear the road. The road eventually cleared and the rain eased and it became a very pleasant ride.  One of the things I love about motorcycles is that you hear, feel, see and smell the journey, and today, in the wet outback of Australia, there was a freshness in the air, instead of the usual putrified rotting flesh of some recently deceased animal. Not the freshness that you find in the city, that is more like the settling of the smog, smoke and dust, but a freshness that signifies the renewal of life. There are smells here that have a familiarity but you can't really put a name to them. It's not pot pouri fresh or even new car fresh, but it is a friendly bombardment of scents that helps me relax and even though it's raining I am really enjoying this ride.

The final 20km's or so on the approach to Victoria River are a revelation.  It's my guess that the day the guy drew up the plans for this road,  someone had stolen his ruler and he had to make do with a protractor. God bless the ruler thief because this is a fine motorcycling road that snakes its way through some truely astounding landscape formations. We arrive in Victoria River for brekky and give the Bird a drink.  It's now dry and warm enough to ditch the wet weather pants. We continue west and we are soon swooping from apex to apex again. We took on enough fuel to reach our destination at brekky but we stop again in Timber Creek for a stretch.

Shortly after this break we encounter a small rain shower, not enough to break out the wets again. Another 100 or so k's down the road we again face a darkening sky but this time I really should have stopped to get my wet weather pants because in no time we were hit by rain again, but in biblical proportions this time. Water is soon standing on the road, the sides of the road begin to flood and we are experiencing occasional hydraplaning. We reduce speed accordingly and battle on.

As we reach the NT/W.A border the rain has stopped and I am soaked to the bone. I think the border inspector took pity on us as he only checked our tank bag. Their main aim it seems, is to stop the transport of fruit and vegetables between the states and act as a quarantine to reduce the spread of Cane Toads. As we left the inspection station however, there was a cane toad looking back at them as if to say, Ha, I made it.

As we approached Kununurra we encountered some more of the previous rain, again we slowed our progress but on one particular left hand corner it seems we had not slowed quite enough. The front tyre hydraplaned and when it lost grip with the tarmac the front end tried to tuck. I think my foot slipped off of the foot peg and my foot slammed onto the ground and dragged until the front gained grip. I wont be so presumptious as to say that it was my skill that kept us on the bike because the way I see it we certainly had a good deal of luck.

We headed straight for a servo at Kununurra and as if the rain wasn't enough, some flip had spilled a heap of diesel onto the wet concrete. Fun times.  We finally made it to our hotel room, peeled of our saturated gear, had a shower and went for a meal.

While at dinner we noticed Matt was seated at the bar and was wearing a tutu. They say that curiosity killed the cat but this cat simply had to find out the story behind the tutu. As it turned out, one of the guys from Queensland brought along a tutu, presented it at a dinner last night and proclaimed it must be worn the following day by whom ever the organisers deemed had committed the greatest or funniest misdemeanor of the day. As it turned out, word of Matts' little mishap with his glasses soon spread and he was chosen to be the first to wear the tutu.

Note to self. Don't mess up...

Shortly after dinner we returned to our room to catch up on our homework for all those interested enough to keep logging on and turn all the riding gear in the hope that it may dry by the morning.

Thats it for today. The next leg is around 650km's and it seems it too will be wet

Catch you all later

Marty......... 

Day 18

We had a nice dinner last night and were informed by the organisers that the days' rain was a small preview to what is expected tomorrow. All I could think was, you've got to be kidding.

As usual, today I woke before the alarm  at 4:40.

I took a peek out the window and to my surprise found that there was no monsoonal deluge and earth cleansing flood.  In fact, there was an amount of clear sky. In an instant I decided to wake Aaron, load the Bird and get out of 'Dodge'.  As we made haste to square things away I noticed that nearly everyone had woken about the same time and had similar thoughts. There were people walking in every direction, some with clothing, some with bags and others with bike covers and locks. Everyone had a purpose and was intent on making the most of the unexpected dry weather.

We were soon on the road and found the early miles quite easy and comfortable. We were again riding through some spectacular scenery and were enjoying the bends that swooped between and over the hills until our progress was slowed when we spotted a dingo ahead in our path. I slowed to walking pace so Aaron could get a good look at him. He was keeping pace with us about 40 feet from the road running through the grass. When I stopped to take a photo, he stalled for a moment then turned and ran into the bush.

After knocking over the first 200 odd km's we took a break for brekky at the Turkey Creek Road House.  We soon remounted and got underway to try and stay in front of the rain that was sure to raise its head again. We made it all the way to Halls Creek before we had to dive for cover from the rain and took the opportunity to fill the Bird.

Now head to toe in our water repelling garments (ha), we again took to the road and prepared for the imminent down pour. We were not disappointed. Visability dropped to about 80 metres and the road soon became a stream. Thankfully we were better prepared than yesterday and the deluge didn't last as long. The weather soon cleared and again warmed up. We arrived dryish at Fitzroy Crossing and cooled off in the nice cool pool.

Short ride tomorrow so we might just sleep in a bit and have brekky before we go.

Catch you later

Marty..............

Day 19

Hi everyone,

Just a quick catch up from last night. We were told that one of the fellows dropped his bike while doing a U turn. Simple enough to do, just a little embarrasing. Not this time. Unfortunately, as the bike rolled forward and fell on its side his leg was caught under the pannier (a box attached to the side of the bike to hold luggage) and broke the two lower bones in his right leg. He was flown to Perth today to have it pinned and plated and will rejoin the ride as we pass.

Anyway,  we left Fitzroy Crossing at about 8:30 after a well earned sleep in and meandered our way through the last of the stunning Kimberly region with its flowing well built roads and dramatic red rocky outcrops that rise above their talus slopes to high plateau.  The further we rode, the flatter the landscape became. The sharply rising outcrops that have filled both the near and far horizon gave way to open grassed plains that were becoming more heavily wooded. Not like a forest or traditional Aussie bushland, but trees were becoming more frequent than the lower Acacia type scrub that has been the dominant flora through the Kimberly region. It became flatter and straighter. Aaron has mentioned that he doesn't like the flat straight bits because it's boring. I let Aaron in on a little secret, when there is less to see or occupy your mind riding, these are the times that allow you to think of other things. I'm not sure that he fully understands this yet, it may just have to come to him in time.

Today , I got to thinking what an eclectic bunch of people we have on this ride. We really do have a wide cross section of the community represented, teachers, retirees, government employees, buisness professionals, I T sector, nurses, paramedic and many others. There really is only one thing that is common to everyone, one thread that unites us all, motorcycles.

So the question then is, what is it about motorcycles that attracts so many and different people? Even those that don't actually have a bike are often attracted to them. Is it the speed, the freedom, the beauty of form or just the image?  I really can't speak for anyone but myself and I'm sure there are many different reasons for the apparent lure bikes seem to have but what I can say is I couldn't count the number of times I have been approached by complete strangers when out and about on the bike and not just the one I have now. It is any motorcycle. People will use any excuse to start a conversation. The weather, oppressive speed laws, is it hot in what I'm wearing?, how shiny it is, the mileage it gets, I used to have a...., whatever, it doesn't really matter, but one constant is kids will always ask how fast does it go?.

Maybe this goes some way to explain the attraction. I have heard some prattle on about the risk taking nature of humans and how certain risky adventures release endorphins to give a natural high. So if this is my reason for riding, so be it. All I know is I love riding motorcycles, always have, even before I had one. I was just a kid when the bug bit me. In fact, it was the first day of 4th class. I was at a new school and my teacher roared down the school driveway on a Kawasaki Z 900. The sound, the shiny bike, the apparent speed. I knew then that I was going to have a bike. I wasn't quite sure when or how, but I was going to get one some day. After school I would run down to the car park just to watch her ride off. Although I'm now sure she was only idling down the driveway, back then it was like standing on the grid at the start of a GP. 

Motorcycles certainly aren't for those who want to blend into the background. In fact the only time you won't be noticed on a motorcycle is when that idiot driver runs you down. "Sorry officer, I didn't see him".

Anyway this brings us now to Broome. We arrive mid afternoon to a humid and hot 38deg ,get all of our gear up the stairs and into our room and find that the aircon is leaking water all over the floor. We attend reception to inform them and are surprised that instead of fixing, what I'm sure is a small problem, we are moved  to another room. We go back up stairs to gather our things, grab  the first armful, arrive at the new room to find that they have given this room to another couple as well. Again we go to reception and are given a third room, this time on the other side of the resort. It was time to enhance my calm, woosarr. We finally finish carrying all of our gear from one end of the place to the other and then find out that the telly doesn't work, WOOSARR......Eventually it is all fixed and we head off on a double decker bus tour around Broome. Not a real big place, but there sure is some expensive real estate here. Median house price at last sensus was $650,000 and there are many well above the million mark. Seems I wont be moving here anytime soon.

Rest day tomorrow, might give the Bird a well overdue scrub up.

Copul8r guys

Marty................

Day 20

Hi everyone,

Sleep in today. After the room debacle thing yesterday we decided that we would take a very relaxed approach to today. We got up late and set off on the Bird to find the Bike shop  (Its due for an oil change). After 15 minutes of not finding the place I relented and went to ask directions. Turns out that I was looking in the wrong direction .

We finally got to the shop, wandered in and faced the usual sorry, not today. However this time they guys were only too happy to allow me to use their facility to do the change myself.  We completed the change (thanks guys) and then headed back to the hotel to cool off.

At 4pm a bunch of us met outside reception, caught a maxicab to Cable Beach and began walking to meet the organisers of our camel ride. We were all introduced to our respective camels. Our camels' name was Horrocks and he was the alpha camel, so we were leading the bunch. He was named after the man who first brought the first camel to Australia, John Ainsworth Horrocks. The ride was nothing too amazing but once you get used to the rocking and rolling it is quite relaxing.

One thing I can say about Cable Beach is that the sunsets are absolutely amazing. What did surprise me was the number of locals who visit the beach nightly to have a drink or dinner while the sun sets, but I can't blame them, it's just a nice place to be.

We finished our ride and strolled back along the beach to enjoy the peace of the place and then returned to the hotel and had dinner.

Lights out. See you tomorrow.

Marty............. 

Day 21

Greetings.

Had another good sleep in then went for a walk around town. Finally settled on something for breaky. After breaky we found the laundromat and decided to make the most of the time available.  We completed our domestic duties and then headed back to the hotel to watch Casey Stoner SMASH the opposition to pieces in the Australian Moto GP.

After the race we headed to the pool to cool off and swam for a few hours.  Later we took the Bird for a visit to Cable Beach to enjoy the sunset and took 1 or 2 pictures while we were there. After another glorious sunset we headed to the local pub where I started to make new friends.  I asked the woman behind the counter for 1 adult and 1 child roast dinner. She asked how old Aaron was and when I told her he was 12 she told me that the child rate was for 11 and under. I told her that I understood her position and then asked for 2 beers. She looked at me funny and said "2 beers?"  I said "yes, 1 for me and the other for the little adult you just charged me for". She replied  "it is an offence to buy alcohol for a minor". So I reminded her that she just charged me for an adult. Her judgement, not mine. After some further discussion she offered me my money back so I could leave. I told her I am eating here I just wanted to point out to everyone in the line how stupid the management of this place is.

We got back to the room after dinner and started to pack for an early get away.

Catch you later

Marty...............