It has been a while since we have posted to our blog. It isn’t because we haven’t had any adventures, it’s just because we haven’t posted! We’ve explored bushwalking tracks, holidayed to Cairns, Perth, Adelaide and rode our bikes up a crazy mountain and also ridden and camped around the state a couple of times.
Our latest adventure was a long weekend escape to the beautiful Mt William National Park for the June long weekend. As soon as the state government lifted the restrictions after the COVID-19 pandemic, we packed up and went!
After seven days straight of rain we have finally seen some clear skies once again. The rains cleared when we arrived in Rockhampton, but this was not soon enough. As we rode towards “Rocky” we were caught in serval downpours that required us to pull over and take shelter. Thankfully our wet weather gear kept us dry; however, the rain and humidity reduced visibility as our glasses and helmet visors continually fogged up. The craziest thing was the Queensland drivers. They sped, tailgated overtook and drove without lights in poor visibility. QLD drivers would have to be the worst in the country and that is saying something after our South Australian driver experiences! Below are a few images of our rainy trip to Rockhampton.
Waiting for the rains to end
Picnic table islands
Smiling (not Singing) in the Rain
Here’s a short video of the rains falling as we took refuge about 30km outside of Rockhampton
Today we videoed, well time-lapse photoed, our journey from Georgetown to Ravenshoe in Northern Queensland. The camera batteries went flat just before we got to Ravenshoe, but look at the road…wet sloppy mud due to road works. We had 2km of this muck to slip and slide through!
This ride took us from the dusty outback through the the tropical rain forests of Northern Queensland. The ride was full of wind gusts up 40km, single lane roads where we had to move to the edge of the road to let cars pass – imagine when what it was like when the road trains came by – rain, mud and much more! Georgetown to Ravenshoe (SD) – This is large version (90MB) Georgetown to Ravenshoe (LD) – This is a smaller version (14MB)
Enjoy 🙂
When we first started mentioning to people about our plan to ride around the country we were surprised by the number of warnings about kangaroos, camels and emus that wander across the roads. Over the last 11,000+km we have seen probably 10 emus and 4 ‘roos out of the “watch out for list”. What we have encountered in large numbers are cows! These beasts often lurk on the road – sometimes fenced in and at other times not. Thankfully they are all quite docile and haven’t run across in front of us. That not withstanding we are very careful when riding and are always on the lookout for animals on, or near, the road.
Where does the title of this post come? Well, in recent days we have been feasted on by mozzies. While staying in Litchfield National Park the mozzies were insane. So much so that we were held captive in our tent on our final night there as there were thousands of the pests between our tent and the tent fly. The bloodthirsty beggars still managed to attack us and we are both suffering from lots of “itchy bites”.
Another of the crazy critters we have encountered are the small northern Australian brown ants. These little pests joined us on one of our last nights in northern WA and stayed with us all the way through to Katherine (NT).
After setting up camp in Ellendale (WA) and securely stowing all our gear away we cooked dinner. It was then that we noticed the ants, but didn’t think too much about them as they were after all only ants.
The next morning when we were getting ready to leave I noticed that there were 1000’s of ants on my riding boots. I bashed them off and rinsed my boots with water as the ants were inside the boots! It was then that I noticed little dimples on the toes of the boots. The ants had chewed my boots! GRRRR. If that wasn’t bad enough – it got worse…they were in my helmet!
Apparently the ants like to eat grease, oil, wires and many other things…including helmets!
I had to pull my helmet apart and clean it thoroughly. The ants were everywhere and kept crawling out of every nook and cranny of my helmet. I washed my helmet and sprayed it with Aerogaurd to kill the pesky beggars. After two days of checking, cleaning and more checking and cleaning I managed to get rid of the ants from my helmet.
However, the tale doesn’t end there…they had also invaded our bikes 🙁 We discovered this when we arrived at the Gregory National Park. So, more ant drowning took place – we must have poured at least 20 litres of water over our bikes to get them off. But alas they kept on coming.
When we finally made it to Katherine Heidi bought some Mortein surface spray and I went to work spraying the bikes. Thankfully this seems to have worked as we haven’t seen ants for several days. 🙂
It is amazing (and painful) that how these little creatures can do so much damage and be so annoying.
As for the birds…lets just say there are lots of hawks cleaning up the road kill. The hawks are big and slow and often leave it to the last minute to take their last mouthful of dead animal before flying out of the way! Oh, they have also been known to swoop at us while we ride.
Kangaroos, emus and camels…who cares. The moral of the story is to watch out for the cows, hawks and especially the brown ants!
~SK
PS: I forgot to mention the Cane Toads…ask Heidi about the one hiding under the lip of the toilet bowl at Hayes Creek. 😉
It is a Sunday afternoon. Sunday May 17 to be precise. What could be more fitting for a Sunday, which is a day of rest, than to sit on a comfy couch drinking some fresh French Pressed Coffee and eating fruitcake at the lovely rural locale that is Bullara Station.
Sounds quite idyllic doesn’t it, well it is at 3.40pm. However, the journey up until this point was not so idyllic!
We left the Lighthouse Caravan Park 20kms north of Exmouth this morning in slightly overcast conditions with the weatherman’s prediction of 6-14mm of rain and headed for Bullara Station – a working station that has also turned to “Rural Tourism” due to the downturn in the sheep farming industry. Before we commenced the journey in earnest we called into Exmouth to purchase some supplies for the next few days and to once again fuel up our bikes. During our brief shopping expedition in Exmouth there were some gentle showers – in hindsight this was an omen for what was to come. The devil was in the process of endeavouring to invade the heavens not with fire and brimstone, but with rain the likes of which has not been seen since the days of Noah. Okay, my mum did tell me once or twice when I was a kid not to exaggerate…but this is no exaggeration!!!
All right, all right I’ll get back to the story at hand.
So, we left Exmouth – bikes fed and our supplies stowed. The further south we headed the greyer the sky became. Heidi and I had a couple conversations over the UHF comms units discussing whether the weather was bad enough to get out on our wet weather gear. I made the call to pull into the next appropriate and safe place off the road so that we could suit up. It was not long after I radioed that decision through to Heidi that the gentle showers that had started falling 5 minutes prior, became heavier. One may call it slightly ironic (if irony existed!) that we turned in to the road to a government facility. It was an observatory for looking in space and the heavens – the irony being that the heavens were soon to open up.
Looking once again like the Michelin Men we continued on our way. I guess it would have been no more that two kilometres down the road when the rains came and we were in a downpour. Thankfully our gear kept us dry. The major concern was the humidity as the warm air and cool rain caused the visors on or helmets and our glasses to fog up. Opening our visors to let air in to clear the fog was the only option, but this the let the driving rain get into our helmets. It was quite a dilemma. Due to the poor visibility we were riding VERY slowly and with our bikes lit up like Christmas trees! Headlights, high beams and driving lights on so that the on coming traffic could see up.
Thankfully the rain eased as we rode closer to Bullara Station and we looked forward to finding our accommodation, drying off and relaxing and resting on this Sunday afternoon, which is appropriate for the day of rest. How wrong we were!
Our day’s journey almost over we only had to ride the 1.2km drive into the Bullara. It was only 1.2km, but it is the worst 1.2km of road and the hardest riding we have had to do in our 6-week and over 7,000km trip so far. The beautiful red dusty sandy soil that makes the colours of the outback so distinct and memorably when mixed with a 40mm rainfall that has fallen in the last few hours turns the beauty into sheer terror. It was obvious that a number of sojourners had passed this way early today due to the recently created channels in the puddles, which were more like the size of lakes. We stopped at the entrance to the drive and turned off our ABS and traction control and ventured off into the unknown.
What is the unknown? Well, you will have to wait for the second instalment of this adventure Heidi takes up the fantastical tale that will soon become known as the Legend of the Road to Bullara Station.
A day from Heidi’s Diary as we head north from Perth Turquoise Beaches of Shark Bay Flies… and more flies
What a delicious day. It was an earlyish start. Not so much to see a beautiful sunrise – which it was – but very specifically to beat the flies. Unfortunately the little beggars were up early too although thankfully not in the plague proportions of the previous evening. We escaped by 8:30 and stopped at the Overlander Roadhouse for fuel and a freshly brewed jetboil coffee. The road north was dotted with a profusion of the native ‘beer bottle’ bush, it’s blight on the landscape only rivaled by the ‘toilet tissue trees which spring up near rest areas and camp grounds. Seriously people, it’s not that hard to clean up after yourself is it?! Anyway, the campground flies followed us north much to Steve’s immense irritation so we pushed on to our destination of Denham – a 120km detour off the main road. Totally worth it. The winding ribbon of road cutting a corridor through red earth and stunted bushland. The sun was warm, the ride beautiful, especially as the beaches of Shark Bay came into view and at that moment there was nowhere I would rather have been. There were hawks circling, flocks of galahs and a warm breeze for company. The easterly winds did start to irritate after a while though and we were thankful to arrive in Denham around lunchtime.
We were both looking forward to an afternoon off at the beach so checked in to the local campground, set up, devoured our classic lunch of banana rolls and then wandered down the one-street town to find a swimming spot. The water was turquoise and very inviting. A little cooler than expected but it made for a refreshing dip. With a warm breeze to dry us off we played with the camera on the beach and just relaxed. We had hoped for fresh fish for dinner but the local IGA wasn’t exactly obliging so we found the next best thing. Frozen local fish at the butcher…which we were able to purchase when he decided to come inside from his bench outside and serve us. Country time. Not very efficient but friendly enough. The remainder of a gloriously warm arvo was spent sharing a Little Creatures pale ale on the beach, catching up on some postcards and travel plans, downloading photos and basically just taking it easy. Sunset over Shark Bay
A beautiful sunset rounded out the day and we prepared our homemade fish and chips in the camp kitchen before retiring tired and content (and with considerably less flies for company!) A warm night. No sleeping bags needed today 🙂
Feeling immensely content and blessed to be on this wonderful adventure with my best friend.
Camp: Denham Seaside Tourist Park, Shark Bay.
Not long after embarking on our adventure it became apparent that the Push-To-Talk (PTT) button on Heidi’s bike was not working properly. My diagnosis was that the rubber grommet was interfering with the mechanism that established the connection/circuit. Thankfully the communication gear from Autocom is under warranty. A couple of calls to Dave the Australian distributor and a new part was express posted to WA.
(Image from www.blackbirdownersclub.eu/BOCFiles/BMW_K1200S_Bike-to Bike_inbouwklus/DSC08653_1.JPG)
I took the opportunity to pull Heidi’s bike apart today and replace the PTT while she was at the Perth Zoo lots of nieces and nephews, siblings and of course mum and dad.
To undertake the replacement I had to take off all of the panels on the bike and the fuel tank cover, fuel tank lock and the air filter intake. This was quite a time consuming task. Here are some pictures of the parts I took off the bike as well as the “naked” bike.
After cutting cutting what seemed like 1,000 cable ties I was able to remove the offending PTT 🙂 Sorry about the dodgy selfie! Of course the successful removal required a celebratory coffee 😉 Once the coffee was made I returned to the work shed, a triple car garage at the Jandakot Hotel, and got back to work. I installed the new PTT, tested the PTT with the UHF radio and then proceeded to replace the 1,000 cable ties to ensure the wires didn’t hang near the engine or any moving parts. Finally I replaced all of the panels and the bike was back together.
Heidi was very excited and grateful to have the PTT installed and working. She was, however, pleased and relieved that there were no broken bits or spare nuts, bolt and screws left over! 😉
It is hard to believe that we are almost at the 5,000km mark of our adventure. Since leaving home and riding to Devonport, where we left our fair state, and then arriving in Melbourne we have been riding flat out. No mothers, not flat out fast…just lots of kilometres :p
We had five days in the Adelaide area so that I could spend time with Josh and Ashlyn, two days at Port Lincoln and every other night of our two and half weeks on the road has been a one night stand 😉 We are both looking forward to visiting Leah and Paul in Albany for a couple of nights before continuing on to Dunsborough for a luxurious 4 nights in one place. What a treat – more than one night in a place and BEDS!
After time with the family in Dunsborough and in Perth we will head north and continue our one night stands complemented by some longer stays where the beaches are white and the is temperature hot.
~SK
PS. This post was created half a week ago, but we’ve only just found some wifi to upload it….
DOCCS – there are so many things to think of before taking off safely each day, so I’ve devised a 5 point check to make sure I don’t get 100 metres down the road and have to stop… or worse still lose something enroute. Yep, that’s me, still ridiculously organised 😛 So here it is: Up in the Barossa at the lookout over Eden Valley – a beautifully restful spot for a Sunday. This cross replaces a smaller version and is a tribute to the Christian Heritage in the area.
D – Devices – are the GPS, UHF, autocom unit and phone in place and plugged in?
O –Other stuff secure – panniers locked, straps attached, all items stowed, because china cups could crash heavily on the tarmac…as does a tent so we discovered! Thankfully that was safely recovered with only a grazed dry bag and few bruised tent pegs to show for it!
C –Chest strap on my Camel back secured? It’s really annoying for this to be flapping loose, and a real pain to try and do up with gloves on…think threading a needle with your toes….
C –Chin strap on my helmet – Ditto the chest strap except this is probably the most important checkpoint and easy to forget…oh and it also poses somewhat of a serious safety issue!
S –Steve – I always check in with my man for a kiss and a hug before we ride 🙂 We don’t take any of God’s blessings for granted, especially each other!
Apples – So, Sam’s trick really does work during mid arvo slumps. Riding along to a place called Robe yesterday and suddenly my eyes got heavy. Might have been the warm sun, or the good lunch but whatever the case I just needed a break (we promised each other that if we ever needed a rest or felt uncomfortable about anything we would speak up and say so!). Caffeine, energy drinks, chocolate and muesli bars just didn’t seem like they would cut it, and then I remembered Sam’s wisdom, a craft honed driving the many miles between Perth and Albany to visit his sweetheart Lisa back in the day. He used to eat a bag of apples on the trip. I opted for just the one…And it worked…Same again today. Winner 🙂
Now that I’ve gone all healthy apples on you I should mention our little ritual. Every day as soon as we arrive at our destination, even before stripping off the heavy riding gear, we set up camp (an old bushwalking habit). Tent erected, sleeping mats (THE.BEST.EVER) inflated, bedding organised (I even brought flat and fitted sheets…divine!) boots and helmets stowed, and then the ritual…. A swig or two of scotch. Mmmm…a very just reward for a great day’s riding and safe arrival at our destination. Riding wisdom dictates that you should never drink (of the alcoholic variety) until you’ve done your riding for the day. Good advice, but then it might as well be good drinking too. Cheers to our 12 year old single malt scotch 🙂
And while I’m working the segues…camping destinations. So far it’s been two hotels (Devonport and Melbourne – kind of an unavoidable necessity), two caravan parks (Apollo Bay and Portland), one National Park with no facilities camp besides a long drop and picnic table (Coorong National Park) and now tonight – a glorious river’s edge piece of ex-dairy farm that has been converted into a camping strip along the Murray by the original farmer. Basic facilities, but hot showers, toilets and a rudimentary camp kitchen. The location is stunning, literally camped on the riverbank beneath willow trees – pelicans and all manner of waterfowl to keep us company. But I digress. This point of this random observation is say that WikiCamps is the BEST app for travellers like us. Mostly because of the excellent information posted there by fellow travellers. Today it helped us avoid an absolute dump just down the road and find this less obvious gem instead. A lovely day at the beach – The Grange, Adelaide
We have had one major catastrophe to date. I don’t know why Heidi neglected to mention it. It is truly a sad moment, if not the saddest moment of the entire trip thus far. It all comes down to an addiction…CAFFEINE! Our beloved JetBoil gas canister died today. How are we going to be able to boil the water for our plunger coffee (yes, we have a coffee press with us) or our yet to be born nephew’s namesake coffee bags…Robert Timms. Yes Bunky, Heidi still expects you to call your first born son Robert Timms 😉 Never fear intrepid readers as we still have Heidi’s trusty 20-year old Trangia to boil the water for our coffee. And to ensure we never go without our coffee we will get a new gas canister when we get to Adelaide 🙂 Sunday evening in the Barossa Valley . Lovely campsite and a great bottle of red from one of our favourite Vineyards – Murray Street Vineyards.
The people you meet! We also plan to blog about some of our encounters with interesting locals along the way…and there have been a few! But that can be saved for another day. Stay tuned to find out about the prison break thug who was really just a harmless kitten, the ‘regular’ cabin camper who calls his morning beer coffee and plenty of other colourful characters 🙂
Not long after embarking on our adventure it became apparent that the Push-To-Talk (PTT) button on Heidi’s bike was not working properly. My diagnosis was that the rubber grommet was interfering with the mechanism that established the connection/circuit. Thankfully the communication gear from 
Once the coffee was made I returned to the work shed, a triple car garage at the Jandakot Hotel, and got back to work. I installed the new PTT, tested the PTT with the UHF radio and then proceeded to replace the 1,000 cable ties to ensure the wires didn’t hang near the engine or any moving parts. Finally I replaced all of the panels and the bike was back together.
