30.08.2014
The 30th of August dawned grey, over cast and threatening rain. We didn't care, it was holiday time and we were pointed at Perth. We wrapped ourselves up in winter warms and headed south. I wasn't going to go through Kangaroo Valley (The interesting way) because it was bloody wet and cold and there had been a storm the night before so there would have been a load of tree shit all over the road, so we hit the freeway and pointed our noses at Eden.In the first part of the journey I was really more excited for Jicki than me. I have done the route from Sydney to Adelaide several times in several different ways. Jicki has pretty much only every flown between cities (Give or take a few weekend getaways) so almost all of these roads were going to be new for her.
I took a shot of the speedo to be able to show exactly how many km we would end up travelling from coast to coast. This is in the morning as we were loading up.
So the first part of the journey was pretty much just wet, cold, grey and miserable. We reached Nowra and decided to have a bit of a break. Nowra has very few decent places to stay but surprisingly has several very good Cafes. We had been to the Hopper Society Cafe on a previous trip to Nowra (Thanks Lurch!) and had a great meal and coffee so we decided to stop there. I also remembered it had heaters!
Jick warming up
My Precious!
Drying out the helmets, they were soaked at this point
After warming up, sucking back coffee's and drying out we continued on, stopping at Batemans Bay to take pretty pictures of the estuary and the bike.
A Beemer in Batemans!
The run down the coast was pretty uneventful. For a state highway its actually quite a pretty road but its really not that thrilling. I was planning to do a scouting trip for the next International Run in October 2015 to Bermagui so we pulled in there as the sun was beginning to go down. If you can, come to the International, Bermagui is a lovely little town with lots of stuff to do and some great roads. The building below is the Bermagui Beach Hotel which will be one of the accommodation locations.
A Beemer in Bermagui!
We stopped for the night on the Sapphire Coast in Eden (also know as Bi-Fold bay). If you haven't been I can highly recommend it. Its a great little town with some great eats, a pub with an awesome view and a very nice little motel.
The view from our room
We dried off, warmed up and headed to the Pub for a very well deserved and very yummy meal and several large beers. Day one was over!
01.09.2015
The next day was everything we were hoping for. It dawned bright blue, completely clear and cloudless. The temperature hit about 20C by 8 in the morning and stayed there. The roads were dry and we were heading up into the mountains that separate New South Wales and Victoria. It was going to be a stunning day!This route is one of my favorite roads in Australia. Its not a fast road, its not the twistiest I've ever been on, its just a really nice run on a sunny day up through the low lieing mountains and across the border into Victoria.
As Jicki had never been this way we stopped and got the traditional crossing the border pictures.
A Beemer on the Border!
So at this point we are having a superb day, we have had a great breakfast, the weather is perfect for riding. Its a sunny day, its crisp and cool, its a gorgeous blue sky the roads are dry and I am cruising happily on my K1600.
As I am rolling down a short little hill I see a policeman racing out from the side of the road waving his hands in the air. I jammed on everything and pulled up to a stop.
We get off the bike and as soon as I get my helmet off the conversation goes something like this:
VicPol: Do you know why I have pulled you over?
Me: No?
VicPol: Did you see the tapes up the road?
Me: No?
VicPol (an explanation of how the tapes work)
VicPol: Do you know how fast you were going?
Me: No mate, Its a gorgeous day, its a great bike, I'm just cruising, I haven't looked at my speedo at all for a while, we are just cruising (Sweep arm to indicate the bike)
ViCPol: I have detected you at 141km per hour. This is a 100km per hour zone, would you like to see the evidence?
Me: No I believe you, I just wasn't looking at the speedo and we were just having a nice cruise, if I was trying to push it on this bike I would have been going a lot faster than that!
VicPol: (Laughter)
The chap from VicPol was a nice bloke who was hunting a club from the other side of the border and I just happened to run into his trap.
I think he knew I was telling the truth, he was very nice and friendly and he was stunned when I told him this was my first ticket in 30 years of driving. We shook hands and went our separate ways.
A Little Update: I met up with a mate at a party and we were discussing this incident. he asked:
"Didnt you see the $$ signs in spray paint on the side of the road?"
It suddenly struck me that yes I did remember seeing those symbols. Turns out this is a well known revenue gatherer. He could even describe exactly, the piece of road just before the intercept point. I bought the cops bullshit, he was out to make money, nothing more.
A Little Update: I met up with a mate at a party and we were discussing this incident. he asked:
"Didnt you see the $$ signs in spray paint on the side of the road?"
It suddenly struck me that yes I did remember seeing those symbols. Turns out this is a well known revenue gatherer. He could even describe exactly, the piece of road just before the intercept point. I bought the cops bullshit, he was out to make money, nothing more.
A present from Victoria
So we continued on across Victoria (at exactly 5km below the speed limit), stopping at various locations (Including the dunny shown below) until we made it to Torquay.
The intent was to use the freeway system to swing around Melbourne to the North and come down the west side towards Torquay where we were staying for the night. Unfortunately the GPS had a mind of its own and before we knew what we were doing we were coming along the the coast and through the heart of downtown Melbourne traffic.
We made it through despite several Victorian trucks trying their best to kill us and we headed towards Meba's place. We stopped briefly, said hi to Meba, organised to catch up the next day and shot down to the Torquay Holiday park to check in for the night. I have stayed the Torquay Holiday before and found them to be extremely Motorcycle friendly.
We checked in at the camp ground, had showers and headed out to find food. Just down the road from the Holiday park is Sujin Thai, there was no one in the restaurant but the takeaway business was thriving. We decided to sit outside, have a beer and Thai and it was well worth it!.
On several occasions when I have been away on the bike I have this tendency to randomly find really good Thai, in places that you just don't expect it. I discovered Beer Thai Garden in the Gold Coast with Aaron Dawes (The Mango Salad will blow your mind) and Jick and I found Sujin Thai in Torquay Victoria. If you are ever in either area I can highly recommend both spots!.
01.09.2014
The next day dawned bright and clear!No it didn't I'm lieing, it was dark grey and pissing down when we left Macca's to head into the GOR. We got up early, packed the bike and headed up the road to meet up with Meba on his 'Wing who would be taking us up through the Great Ocean Road.
Now I was really looking forward to this as the last time I came through the GOR we rode through a massive storm, it wasn't exactly a pleasant experience! So although this wasn't a storm we were still riding though a constant grey rain which did take some of the enjoyment away. However, if you are ever in this part of the world and have a bike with you, do it, the GOR is one of the best riding roads in the world. We still both had an awesome day riding the GOR despite the rain.
The GOR isn't a short road and as as the day passed it would stop raining in places and the sun would start to come out.
and then the rain would start to close in again...
We are headed straight for that misty bit up ahead...
Warrnambool. There is Gas and Food. Enough said really, Apparently there is a statue in the middle of town that looks like a dirty angel. Seriously, the locals are proud of this. We kept going.
We finally crossed the Victorian border and I could start to ride normally again. I stayed below the speed limit and absolutely would not cross that speedo line all the way across Victoria.
The first of very, very many sticky date puddings!
We pulled into Mount Gambier where we were staying for the night. Turned out I had booked one place and told everyone to stay in another cause I am a dumbass. So to be really, really clear for next time, when we stay in Mount Gambier, we stay at the Comfort inn: Silver Birch. The people that run it are really nice and friendly, seriously stay here, not that other place.
Wattsy had also arrived at the Comfort inn and was going to join us for a leg the next day. (Wattsy and Meba went to the right place, I was the only one going to stay in that other place - repeat yes I am a dumbass)
02.09.2014
We got up and had a lovely breakfast in the dining room and headed out. The day dawned blue skies and clear but cool, perfect riding weather!. We seemed to be through the rain!We all hooted up the coastal road towards Kingston SE and stopped for coffee at the Big Lobster.
Finding out Wattsy wasn't coming to Perth
Wattsy
It was at this point that I found out that Wattsy wasn't coming to Perth with us. Up until this point I was expecting myself, JR and Wattsy to be doing the trip with Wattsy and me coming back together. It was now I realized that I was facing riding back alone across across Australia. I have done big rides before and I am comfortable doing them, but this was 5 times longer than anything I had done solo up to this point and it was a daunting prospect. I had a lot to think about as Wattsy peeled off to head home to SA and Meba and us headed towards the meetup at Victor Harbor.
A little trick for young players using GPS's in SA. There are 2 different Kingston's in SA. One is called Kingston and the other is actually called Kingston SE. Make sure you set the GPS for the right one! cause they are in very different locations!
We headed along the Princes Highway through the Coorong National Park. Its a nice road, it has some really nice curvey bits, but its really the scenery you go for. Its a huge salt swampland that runs along the coast and its beautiful, especially just after its rained.
We stopped at Salt Creek for some photos. Australia had an oil industry!, who knew?
Beemer in front of an Oil rig!
We rode pretty solid all day and made good time. We stopped at Langhorne Creek, at the Bridge Hotel for what turned out to be rather tasty toasted Sandwich's!
Just behind us in the picture above, you can see the exit to the car park. It was at this point I very nearly had a very close encounter with a truck. A very large red truck.
We were slowed up to begin our pull out, I head checked and didn't see anything to my right so we pulled out into the road. As I was accelerating away from the turn at a reasonable pace I noticed a VERY FUCKING BIG red road train who had come round the corner in a 50 zone WAY too fast. It was at this point that I seriously learned to love the Beemer.
I dropped a gear and wound the throttle as tight as I could. The K1600 had been cruising along quite happily for the last several thousand kilometers, it just sat up and took off. Jick nearly came off the back (with the back box on!). I was in 3rd with the front wheel off the road before I knew what had happened and the truck was rapidly receding in my rear vision mirrors.
My god the K1600 can pull when you want it to and in this instance it absolutely saved our lives. I'm sure if we had been on anything less powerful that truck would have left us as a red smear. Meba said he saw me pull out, saw the truck come around the corner and really did think there was about to be a serious problem.
This is also the first time I saw the damn engine warning light come on. This was the first time I learned that you can ride a long way with that light on and that it goes away when you turn the engine off. Worrying about the damn engine light becomes a reoccurring theme for me throughout the trip.
The final cruise into Victor Harbor was leisurely with the exception of an adventure passing a fully laden concrete truck who's air bow nearly blew me off the road.
So we pulled in to the Camp ground and got settled. We headed out for dinner at the local pub which is just a nice amble down the road.
Sunset along the coast
KM Check
03.09.2014
The weather stayed over cast but the next morning it wasn't raining so we all headed over to Granite Island. I didn't get to do this little tour last time I was in Victor Harbor so I was really looking forward to it. We walked across to the Island from the mainland along the train tracks.
Granite Island from the mainland
Bronze Penguins
Granite Seal - this looks so real we actually thought it was a seal
The mainland from Granite Island
The rocky coast at the ocean side of the Island
We wandered around the Island for a while and decided to catch the horse drawn tram back along the railway line to the mainland. This is so cool and they look after the horses so well! .
Horses resting in their little house!
In the afternoon we could hear the
rumble of bikes and several of the local Adelaide guys pulled in including
Maddog and Wattsy again. It was also the first time on the trip that we saw JR
and Leanne who were to be our partners in crime for the whole run.
That night we all went to the pub
for dinner, the primary topic of conversation was the wether. A front was
pulling in over Adelaide and we weren’t sure what it would bring.
04.09.14
We woke up the next day to grey
skies and drizzle, Jick and I really weren't feeling like we were coming out
ahead on this trip so far. We had been rained on 4 days out of five and were
more than ready for it all to stop.
We packed up and headed north to
meet up with River. I initially thought we were going to loop to the east and north
of Adelaide and avoid the city. However it became clear we were going to pass directly
through the city, in rush hour, on heavily laden bikes, in the rain. I've definitely
had better days.
By the time we met River and had a
bit to eat it was clearing and we headed towards Port Pirie in lightening
skies. By the time we stopped for coffee it was clear blue and getting hotter
by the second.
SNOWTOWN
On our way to Port Pirie we passed
through some spectacular landscapes with Pink lakes and vast fields of yellow
Canola flowers! We stopped to take photos as Jick was fascinated by the Canolafields
FYI if you are ever riding across outback
NSW in Spring heading west from Parkes, you can see on one side of the road
vast fields of Lavender and on the other side of the road you will see endless
canola. In the fields are trees that have shapes mowed around the roots and
have deep green grass around them. It’s the most surreal landscape. It’s like
riding through a Picasso.
So as we were passing through the
area we decided we would stop off at the Snow town bank. If you haven’t seen
the movie or read the book you can find details of what happened here. The
township is a 30 second diversion from the main road heading west towards Port
Pirie. If it wasn't for the nutter who used it to hide bodies it would be a pleasant
little small town.
The Body in the Barrel
The Bank (Beemer in front of the Bank!)
This pub is literally to the right and across the road from the middle picture above
Weird Moment: The bank is directly
across from the pub, how the hell did nobody see what they were doing?
Weird Moment: We were set up
outside the bank taking photos and the guy who now owns the bank and lives in
it as a residence, came home and took his rubbish bins in!
We kept on going and stopped at Port Wakefield for coffee.
Weird moment: Riding along the freeway into Port Wakefield behind a house on a truck that was completely covering all the lanes, whole road totally blocked by a house.
Coffee time - The Pies are really good!
The Maddog!
We pulled in to Port Pirie which is
a really nice spot along the Spencer gulf. We stayed at Bentleys Caravan Park Port Pirie which is directly opposite the local sports club where we had dinner. By the
time we go to Pirie it was hot enough that all I wanted to do was to sit in the
room under the air con and have a nap!.
Dinner time at the Sports Club
Maddog!
River and Meba
Leanne and JR
All the way across South Australia we had started to see these huge silos from a company called Vitterra. The company must be massive and appear to control the movement and storage of grain across Victoria and SA. Every small town and every railway crossing seemed to have one of these huge silo’s.
