We have now both had a few biggish crashes. Mic is on 6 and I am on 4. 2 of my crashes were highsides at about 40km/h. Lucky no busted bones, just a few bruises and sore muscles. The voltaren gel works wonders.
It rained for day 2 of the Gunbarrel and all the way to Warrakurna (Giles). Luck the roads werent closed. Great Central road was 220km long a mud hole. Fun looking back, but not fun at the time.....
So from here we were supposed to take the Plenty highway to Urandangi on the NT / QLD border, but that is closed due to flooding and so is the Sandover Highway, so we will be using the bitumen highway to get to Mt Isa. Oh well, at least we will get there some how.
So now will give you a few excerpts from my diary.
Set off 1 day later than planned, but we are finally on the way
Shot south towards Augusta and Cape L:eeuwin for the official start point of the trip. 50km out of Augusta it started to rain and I didnt have my dry insert in the jacket. Oh well, a bit of rain never hurt nobody. Stopped in Augusta and put in the dry liner. Pushed on to the cape and met Maurine, Kelli and the kids. Took a few photos and introduced our 3rd travelling companion Drummo. (for those not in the know, Drummo is the third brother who could not make it on the trip with us, so we brough him along anyway without him knowing. Poor bastard)
Day2 Monday 6th 340km (911 total)
Set off after tightening a few bolts on the pannier racks and fuel mounts. Stopped at lake grace and grabbed cash from the bank. Chatted to a guy in the bank that was headed the same way as us the next day. Maybe see him on the way. 20km past Lake Grace, Mic's bike broke down. Fuel Pump shat itsself. Lucky we had a spare so we put that on and after 3 hrs were back on the road. Refuelled at Hyden and blasted onto dirt roads to the old Bounty mine and the start of the Holland track. We camped at the start of the track and looked forward to the next days tackling of the famous Holland Track with its pannier busting reputation.
Day3 Tuesday 7th 320kms (1231 total)
The holland track was HARD!! 5 hrs to do 148kms. a few good crashes along the way and we were both happy to get to the end. Battered and weary. And this is only day 3!!! I had a few slow speed offs in depe sand and so did Mic. Then Mic had a big off and crashed through some small(ish) trees. Lucky nothing busted. 20m from the end of the sand my pannier hit a tree stump and sent me flying over the handlbars landing on my left shoulder. Lucky to keep my collar bone intact. Got past the samd and into the last 10km of hard clay and mud holes. One of them caught Mic and into the mud he went. Bike was OK though. Then, just 2km later, showing his fatigue, mic came off on a perfectly flat straight bit of road. From there we agreed to just cruise easy to the end, 8km away. When we made it to tyhe end, we both gave a huge sigh of relief and sat down and relaxed for a while. After a rest, we blasted in to Coolgardie, refuelled and caried on to Ora Banda. Pub meal, hot shower and a good nights sleep.
Day4 Wed 8th 432km (1663 total)
Good roads, dirt and bitumen, via Kookynie, and ended up in Leinster wioth Al and Janny. We had a rest afternoon , serviced the bikes, and had a few beers with Al and Janny. Nice relaxing day. Tomorrow we head to the start of the Gunbarre Highway.
Day5 Thurs9th 380km (2043 total)
Headed East from Leinster. Got near Bronzewing and realised we might be on the wrong tracks when we pulled up next to a Cat 785 dump truck and a fitters ute. Oops.... we were on the Bronzewing sattelite pit to workshop haul truck route. Asked the fitter for directions to the office and the road north. He pointed us in the right direction and told us to watch fot the other dumpy headed this way. Didnt get a photo unfortunately. WOuld have been great to get a photo for the bikes in front of a 150t dump truck.
From the office we headed north on station tracks, through a big mud hole, (about 600mm deep)and finally onto the Wiluna/Carnegie road.
Day 6 346km (2389 total)
Got up early, band pushed through to Carnegie. Refuelled, filled all extra tanks and started the Gunbarrel.
First 180km was easy till we got the the Warburton shire boundary. Then it all truned th shit. I dont think theres been a grader on that track for the past 50 years. It was bloody hard work. Rocks, mudholes, corrigations, sand, deeper sand and even CORRIGATED SAND. It was bloody hard. Mic came off once, headed off road into some trees again. Whats with mic and trees!!! We met a guy in a Patrol towing a big caravan. Chatted for a few mminutes and carried on. It was good to know there was someone behind us in case something went wrong. We got to about 30km short of Beadell camp (where Mike and Rod camped a few weeks earlier). We stopped at 4:30 to run over the bikes with spanners and check EVERY bolt after the days corrigations. Then we saw out mate in the Patrol go past and we were along on the track again. Camped for the night and watched the rain clouds gather. Not a good feelingh being 220km from the end og the gunbarrel with rain clouds overhead......
Day 7. 463km (2852 total)
Woke up after a night of consistent drizzle dreading the condition ofthe tracks ahead. Onto the bikes quickly and underway. 35km down the track er caught up with our mate (bernie and Dennise) in the Patrol. He had leaking shockies and was a bit worried about making it in to Warburton. He was also a bit worried about us being out here with the rain about. So we all stuck together till the end ot the trail. Us up front calling out road conditions and hazards, him providing noral support and a backup for us if things turned bad. The last 100km of the Gunbarrel and Heather highway was almost as bad as the day before. I cam off once in a slippery mudhole. slow, no damage.
By the time we got to Warburton, it was bucketting down. Bernie bought us a cupof coffee and it was great. Cold hands wrapped around wark coffee cup. Niiiiice. Talked about camping at Warburton but the guuy at the servo said they expected 30mm of rain in the arvo and would probably close the road for a few days. So onto the bikes bloody quick and pushon to Warrakurna. Got there (near the Giles weather station) and booked into the "motel" Great night with another warm bed and hot shower. Old mate Bernie pushed on and unfortunately we didnt see him again after he went through Warrakurna.
Day 8 346km (3198 total) we slipped and slid out of Warrukurna the next morning after a night of rain. The roads were very slippwery and I just didnt have my groove on at all. crawling at 20 tyo 30, it was looking like a looooong day. Mic came past on a good bit and picked up the pace. Once up to about 80, it got easier. Sliding through the mud with momentum. Getting out of shape and just powering on to stay upright. Its a wierd feeling, getting into trouble and putting on wristfulls of throttle to power out of bad spots. Anyway, the road got better but then turned to shit after the WA / NT border.
Day9 Monday13th 506km (3804 total)
First up we called out to Yulara Autos and collexcted my spare tyre. my rear was still ion OK nick so I just put the spareon the top of my kit to carry it to Alice. Then off to the Rock. Again, its bigger than I expected.
Giot to Alice ion the arvo and booked into a caravan park for 2 days rest and bike servicing.
The adventure continues.........
