Gone, Again... ( Random Adventures in Oz )

so, where was i..?

oh yeah...

about 150km into a 300km 'shortcut'...

nothing for 300km except dirt/rocks/sand/dust... no cars, no towns...

me, stopped in the middle of the road checking if i've missed a turn, when i hear, somewhere behind me.. "geez, we'll probably scare the shit outta the poor bugga".. :eek1

i think to myself...huh? what the ...?

i turn around and see 3 blokes stumble out of the scrub...

"you lost mate?" one of them says as they walk towards me...
(i think to myself, no, but it seems like you blokes might be..)

"nah mate", i reply "just checking where i am, you blokes just out for a sunday stroll??"...


anyway, it seems they are doin some work on an abandoned homestead in the scrub, and had just gone for a walk to see if a shed they built 20 odd year ago in the scrub to keep their bikes in was still there....

so after a bit of banter, one of them says "your front tyres lookin a bit flat.."

i have a bit of a look and yep, front tyre is dead flat... that would explain why she's been floating arount so much i think to myself..

so the lads say 'bring her into the homestead, we've got some tools and stuff, give ya a hand..."

"ok, where is it?"

"see thet little clearing about 50 metres up on the right...turn in there, and go about 200 metres..cant miss it..."

so off i go, and within minutes i'm parked out the back of an abandoned homestead along side a couple of utes full of tools, and the billy is on for a cuppa...

up on the centre stand, a bit of weight on the back, some timber under the bashplate and the front wheel is off..

first time ive pulled the front wheel off...to easy..

first time i've popped the bead/tyre off the front of this bike...piece of cake..2 minutes tops





so the rim has 2 flatspots and a nice dent.....

(i had one of the lads point at it just in case you couldnt see where it was... )




a bit of bashing with a mallet and some timber made it "better"... not purfect, but "better"..

the tube wasnt so good, it has 3 cuts about 2cm long each... decided to put in my spare rather than patching them up... i'd patch em later if i needed to...

so in 'not much time', the wheel was back on, the renovations were inspected, some tea drunk and the 'guest book' signed... and,

wait for it...


i..

was..


gone...again..



after a while, the road beacame a bit more civilised




but still, i was pretty happy when i finally got to the end of the dirt..



i rolled into Condingup, and fuelled up... and since i was only about 20km from what was to be camp for the next few nights, including New Years Eve, i figured some beer might be needed too..



then it was off south... kinda happy to be almost at my 'destination'.. it had been a long hot two and a half days...

i came over a rise, and there i was..Duke of Orleans Bay...

checked the time... yep, beer o'clock..






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so it was late arvo, 30th December...

The plan was to stay for NYE and then head off on the 2nd..

It seemed like a good place to stop for a few days




I had sent over a new back tyre on the roof of a mates 4x4, as my back tyre wasnt quite ready to be switched out before i left home...

Could have gotten a little more out of it still, but i had the new one here so the switch was gonna happen...

took 3 days to change the back tyre..

first day, got the wheel off then had a beer..



then went exploring..




course ya gota have an exploring companion...




not a bad end of the world...
looks like a good spot for some snorkeling..




NYE came along, that invloved getting the tyre off the back rim, having a beer, and going fishing in this monster..




not a lot of luck fishin today...




but did have some luck with the snorkels...



Nighttime came around, with the big feed, lots of beer/wine/scotch and rum, fireworks on the beach, and daylight before sleep..

oh, it was also a full moon..




next day, thought it would be a good idea to sweat some alcohol out.. so put on the new back tyre, and stuck it back on the bike..



the plan was to leave tomorrow, but i was pretty relaxed, and everyone recond i should stay another day or 3..they had plenty of food and i was more than welcome.. hmm, we'll see..

so my departure day came around..

and..

my bike was all back together with fresh rubber on the back..




so...


i did what needed to be done..




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I just love the beach shots you took, the white sand beaches are absolutely beautiful. Lucky man to be able to camp out there and have a swim in the morning. Loved the ride report, look forward to future instalments. Thanks for letting us have a peek at your neck of the world.

i had a beer and went snorkelling again!





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i ended up staying another 2 or 3 days....

those days were spent..

yup, you guessed it..




diving for abalone..




.



which proved quite succesful each morning..





kinda 'interesting' looking creatures.............




anyway, in amongst all this glutony, i decided i should go for a spin back east a bit.. so headed off on a daytrip back into Israelite Bay..



it was a hot day...and another sandy end of the world..



and to be honest, after 5 or so days of swiming and drinking beer etc, i wasnt really in the headspace to tackle 200 odd kms of sand and 40 degree heat, just to look at a bay, then turn arounds and sweat/bash my way back to where i came from...



so i turned around...

and headed down into Cape Arid National Park instead...

Israelite Bay, being so harsh and remote, could wait for its own trip, at possibly a more suitable time of year



Cape Arid was just as hot, but not quite as sandy... lots of corrogations though!!





havn't quite worked out how to best capture corrogations on camera...any ideas?




so i spent the day in Cape Arid, ran (almost literally :eek1 ) into the ranger on a narrow sandy track to a beach..

ended up running around this beach.. till i got bogged to the bashplate in soft sand with the tide coming in...:eek1

ended up tipping the bike over and dragging her around to get out once the water was about 2 feet away from her...



stopped here for a late lunch..




then gunned it back to camp...for a nice swim and cold beer.....


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ace ride report GA,i loved looking at your fotos,stunning,you sure live in a beautiful (and warm) country.

so i stayed for another day or 2, i took the bike around to a boatramp and gave her a hose off after being dragged around in damp beach sand etc yesterday...

then of course she needed to go for a spin to dry off..



not quite sure if going for a spin along another beach was the best way to dry her off after me just washing all the sand off her...oh well..

anyway, there was time for a bit more snorkelling...



time for some more Abalone eating



but then it really was time to get on with this trip.....

tomorrow morning i would be Gone Again...




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Enjoying your short to the point comments and fantastic pics.

Looking forward to more

so after maybe 5 days camped out at Duke of Orleans Bay, it was finally time to move on...

i'd stayed longer than i had planned, and as much as i had had a fantastic time, and wouldn't trade it for the world, i was now "running late"..........

So i awoke on this fatefull "leave" morning... packed... and then had the big "pancake" breakfast... lordy me that was good.. but by 9:30am, there was no more hiding the fact...i was about to leave..

after 5 or 6 days (i could work it out if i really wanted too) it was well past time to bugger off...

so after pancakes, the farewells happened..and i was...

yeah, you know it...

"Gone..

off thru "Cape Le Grand" National Park..
past "Frenchmans Peak"...



and on thru the rest of the National Park...



really had some spectacular beaches... kinda thought i was up in the Whitsundays....



quite amazing how blue the water was down this far south....



really was spectacular...




So after leaving "Cape Le Grand" National Park, i headed into Esperance...

Time for some email's, lunch, ADV updates etc..... oh and bought a book...cos i though i might need it "Siddhartha" by Herman Hesse... not sure why, but just mosseyed into a bookshop in Esperance and picked it up...


then it was off again..

ducked down into Stokes Inlet....



not too much in there, came back out, and on the way out, got a Bee/Wasp down the sleeve of my jacket... and of course it started bitin.....

biatch!!

anyway, it was as itchy as hell for a few hours, but i survived

so i buggered off across the South Coast Highway, and then down to Hopetoun...

Hopetoun provided some take away beers (from a barmaid that apparentely had "the same helmet as me".......)
and some fresh meat etc...

then it was hightail time off into the "Fitzgerald River National Park"..


apparently its a really high value conservation area.. (even read the odd term "biosphere" about this place)




so anyway, it was late arvo, the climb up out of Hopetoun was pretty spectacular..



after the climb up, it was almost time to think about where to camp...



figured i still had a way to go before i found camp...


finally, cutting down towards Fitzgerald Inlet, it looked like i'd find a place to camp... which was good, as it was getting late in the arvo..




so i wound down and hit Fitzgerald Inlet....



and decided, given it was almost sunset, that this would do as a spot to stay the night...........







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up and a quick bath first thing in the morning..


then pack up a nice camp..




and back out on the road..



looked like it was gonna be another good day for riding..



I'd started thinking that i was now 'running late'...
probably shouldn't have stayed so long at Orleans Bay...never mind..

i started to get a wriggle on, hit Albany for lunch (and a swim!)



then continued to follow the coast around to Denmark... (good cold beer at the pub!)
also picked up some stuff for dinner, checked the maps and was off again..

by now the scenery was changing...not so arid, lotsa big trees..

i was hoping to get to Walpole that night, a have a few beers at the pub... in the end i was too knackered and instead of hitting Walpole, though a little place called "Peaceful Bay" would be more suitable...

seems lots of other people had the same idea, the caravan park was chokas... but, since it was just me and a bike/tent, they let me in, but i had to stay in the 'new' part of the park... not lush lawn yet, but a quiet end..

shower, dinner, read, bed....

next morning i woke up to some drizzle.. i'd been on the road 10 days and hadnt had any rain yet, made the most of it and had a sleep in..

oh and breakfast in bed (cherry ripe and chocolate milk constitutes breakfast doesnt it? )

anywho, finally got around to gettin up..



continued the lazy morning, and eventually rolled out of Peaceful Bay...






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Wow, that was awesome. Thank you!

whadayamean "was"...... Its still going!

thanks but!



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great report, look forward to reading the rest.

Thank You. I have always dreamed of visiting Australia. You make me want to redouble my efforts! Great ride reports. Wish I knew what you were talking about most of the time, but I get the general idea. The pictures are awesome. Got an abalone recipe to share? I'm looking forward to the next installment.

I'm lovin' this RR, great pics and report. The fact that you're camping out makes it that much more gooder...that's right...I said "gooder". Looking forward to more!

This ride report is COOL !!!!!!

so from 'Peaceful Bay', it was off into the Walpole National Park..

big tree country...

after windin around the forrest for a while, it was time for a walk.. Valley of the Giants style...




lotsa big trees out here..



pretty cool walkway too... although it tended to flex n bounce a fair bit...:eek1



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and some more trees...




and one last gratuitous tree shot....



ok, one more... this one with me in it....



anyway, enough walkin...time to get back on the bike..



nice end of the world this...

real quiet, 'sept for the growl of the 800, and the really cool sound of the leaves flickin up as i ride thru...



couldnt believe how many kangaroo paws grow out here, heaps of them...



guess they are called 'wild' flowers....



still hadnt made it to Walpole....




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Ya Treehugging nomad. Get on with it before you disappear again. I hope you're not going to mention any of the local rides we've done. Excellent read so far, mate. Sorry to see you were forced to drink VB. No South Australian should have to suffer like that on tour.

yeah, it was a choice between VB and XXXX


and XXXX, welll thats just


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