TBR Australia Rides

G'Day,

Perth, after a few days business meetings finally picked up my trusty BMW GS8 "Bumble Bee" from a mate in Fremantle / Western Australia, the bike was trucked over from Sydney / NSW and arrived a few days earlier.
Early October 2011, great weather to kick off another run in the Aussie Outback tackling part of Australia's Longest Shortcut, by far one of my favourite rides through the vast and beautiful Australian Outback: http://www.outbackway.org.au

This Western Australia Outback ride included the famous http://www.goldenquesttrail.com
"Gold! Gold! Gold!" was the euphoric shout that echoed globally in the second half of the 19th century. This was the era of the great goldrushes that ignited passions, fuelled economies and created massive migrations to some of the world's most remote regions.
The Golden Quest Discovery Trail takes visitors on a journey through the vast landscape of the Eastern Goldfields (Western Australia), revealing the region's vibrant history and its rich amalgam of natural, Aboriginal and European heritage.

Well, first stop for the last 10 years, as every time I am over in Perth ~ the holy grail of beer drinkers...
Little Creatures Brewery in Fremantle: https://littlecreatures.com.au to meet up with mates.

The usual walk around the waterfront (Fishing Boat Harbour) just nearby Little Creatures Brewery.













Everyone into decent tunes knows him I'm sure....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bon_Scott

Outback ride preparations and loading up the bike..... remember when dealing with the Outback, don't forget the six P's: Proper Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance.

O.k. I'm in.

Perth, early morning start heading out of town....

Lunch stop in Coolgardie....

Staying and meeting up with mates in famous Kalgoorlie (home of the Super Pit) for a few days off-roading, cold beers and some meat burning...

After a few relaxing days in Kalgoorlie, hitting the road up the Goldfields trail, http://www.goldenquesttrail.com towards Ora-Banda: http://www.orabanda.com.au

After two cold ones at the historical Ora-Banda Inn riding onwards to Siberia: http://www.exploroz.com/Places/61556/WA/Siberia.aspx
"To Hell or Siberia" in Western Australia was the saying during the 1893 gold Rush and nowadays only the old Cemetery with a few graves and dangerous mine shafts remain.

The usual road-kill on the shoulder on the short tarmac road up to Menzies from Siberia.



Menzies, another famous stop along the Goldfields Trail, lots of history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menzies,_Western_Australia

As a long time license plate, road and highway sign, gas station memorabilia collector admired this particular petrol station outside Menzies....

Just up the road outside Menzies is the old Menzies Cemetery is, regrettably, the final resting place of well over 100 men and women who succumbed to typhoid fever.
Typhoid was a major killer all over the goldfields from the early years of the ‘rush’ and, at the time, its causes were only just beginning to be understood, but there were a growing number of individuals from the medical community who were suspecting contaminated water was involved. They were right...

The Menzies Cemetery is not only one of largest on the goldfields, but it also features a number of ornate ‘headstones’ cut from tin.

















Menzies Golf Club, ride in the middle of the dusty dry Outback.... they planning a yacht club next the blokes told me in the pub down the road....

A lengthy pit stop at Niagara Dam, the mobile bar opens for the afternoon and sunset....
Niagara Dam - a concrete gravity dam in the most unlikely of locations. During the usual dry periods the dam level can range from half-full to nothing more than a stagnant puddle of muck.
However for a couple of years after some good cyclone activity in the region the dam is a popular destination for its cool waters.

Thong Tree between Niagara Dam and Kookynie Ghost Town...

Next overnight stop at the famous Grand Hotel Kookynie in the outback of Western Australia....
The Grand Hotel is a Historic Goldfields Hotel situated 200k's north of Kalgoorlie in the old townsite of Kookynie.
It was Built in 1902 and is a good example of the architecture of the period.
The Hotel is a pleasant blend of old world charm and tradition and hidden modern conveniences. http://www.takeabreak.com.au/menzies/goldenoutback/grandhotelkookynie.htm

The living ghost town Kookynie....
Kookynie is a town located in the Eastern Goldfields region in Western Australia. The name of the town is believed to be an aboriginal word which means 'water hole' or 'spring'. From being a busy town with a population of around 1,500 in 1905, Kookynie has become a ghost town with around 77 inhabitants in 2006, decreasing to 13 in 2010.

The town originates from when gold was discovered close to the present townsite in 1895 by a group of prospectors including W.A. Miller who took up the lease of the Englishman mine in the same year. By 1899 the townsite was declared by the government and was gazetted in 1900. The town was named by Mr Beaumont, who managed the Lady Shenton gold mine.

By 1905 the town was lit by electricity and the main employer was the Cosmopolitan Proprietary mine that employed over 500 men. Other mines included the Britannia and the Cumberland Niagara Champion Proprietary. The town was an important distribution centre for other towns in the area such as Yerilla, Yarri, Yundamindera and Edjudina.

Kookynie grew at an impressive rate on the back of a gold rush and by 1907 the town had a population of well over 3,500, a public swimming pool, eleven hotels, a brewery and received four trains a day from Kalgoorlie.[4]
Today Kookynie has one pub and hotel to serve the tourists. For a Western Australia ghost town (and there are many) it is surprisingly intact. A walk around the ruins reveals that Kookynie was once a surprisingly large town.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kookynie,_Western_Australia

The dangerous stretch of Outback track from Kookynie and on to Laverton (golf ball sized gravel all along the track), plenty wrecked cars along the gravel track called Old Laverton Road ~ well, not much of a road....

Going to slow taking pics with my point + shoot camera, tipped the bike over in the deep bull-dust... no harm to rider and bike.... love the endless deserted Outback roads....

The Goldfields Trail starts in Coolgardie and two ways to do the trail, partly up the trail to Laverton and straight on to Ayers Rock / Alice Springs and Winton to my usual last stop in Brisbane or the loop back down the other side via Lenora / Gwalia to Coolgardie.

This trip going only the Discovery Goldfields trail loop, turning around to get back onto the trail here in Laverton as another Perth - Alice Springs to Brisbane run is planned with a mate that has never been in the Aussie Outback in the future.
Perth >>> Alice Springs >>> Brisbane run goes along The Outback Way "Australia's Longest Shortcut" = http://www.outbackway.org.au





Bit of a stopover in the hotel and pub on the way to my overnight stop