Two weeks, 10,000 miles around Australia, 300 photos and one sore ass!

[lowrpm]

Every year I get the chance to take a couple of weeks off and get some serious helmet time. This year was going to be the Big One again - Highway 1 pretty much all the way round the coast of Australia. It ain't as tough as it looks though - there's plenty guys out there a lot harder than me (the record for this ride is actually less than a week!!!). It's not a regular 'tour' either, because I wasn't really going anywhere - my destination was the same point as my departure - Melbourne - and I've done the same ride twice before. In the process I sat inside my helmet thinking quietly for 18 days and solving all my problems (as you do), covered 16,750 km on perhaps the longest single highway in the world (any nominations for longer?), had a face-plant run-in with what we Aussies lightly refer to as a 'road train', killed a kangaroo with my right boot (instead of being killed by it), and suffered bird-strikes on a regular basis including near-misses with man-high emus. . .

And don't worry - I won't post all 300 photos, but I will pick through them and try to show the ones in focus!

Anyhow, here's my attempt to see an entire continent through a helmet visor on my two week break . . .

[lowrpm]

If I leave early morning Friday before Easter, I can stretch my trip to over two weeks because there's a holiday on April 25 here in Oz. Anzac Day - time to remember all our war dead - and there's been plenty for a country with our population. Anyway, here's me looking proper dorky in my shiny BMW clobber at 5.20am, about to slip into the dark rain. Yep, raining already and my feet are still on the damned ground. . .

[lowrpm]

I know there's a lot of blokes from other parts on this forum, so here's a quick and rough idea of how big Australia is, in case you didn't know. Pardon the crayon drawings.

[lowrpm]

Anyway, Day 1 was pretty uneventful. It rained nearly all day, with just a few openings for decent photos. Here's one in South Gippsland a couple of hundred km into the ride. Just a beach, nothing special.

[TouringDave]

Post away Low! let's see the pics!

[lowrpm]

They got a cute pub at Tarwin Lower, but sadly not open at the crack of sparrows'.



It rained all day nearly, so I just kept riding. Didn't even take any photos all the way to Engadine on the southern edge of Sydney where I propped for the night around 5.45pm. 1205km for the day and bushed. Not a bad start though.

[El Diablo]

Need 299 more pics

[lowrpm]

Like yesterday, raining again at 6.50am as I jump on board.



It rained again for the first 400km or so, which created limited photo opportunities, but eventually there was a break so I stopped for some fruit.

[lowrpm]

There's a lot of interesting little towns on the New South Wales north coast. The road seems to follow a pattern of riding alongside a river toward its mouth, then passing through a town and over the bridge before heading inland again. Nearer the coast, it wasn't raining, but every time the road went inland, there it was again.



This is Macksville, I think.

[lowrpm]

Weather still crap, so this was the best shot of the bridge I could manage.

[lowrpm]

The sun even came out for a minute, so I had to stop.

[lowrpm]

Pretty windy though.

[lowrpm]

Aside from those brief spots of sun, it was wet all day again, but I managed 1130km for the day, finishing in Nambour for the night. I was disappointed with my failure to get good photos because that was one of the main reasons for my trip, but with all the rain, it just didt't seem like a good idea to get the camera out. Also, in those conditions I just don't feel like stopping. Too uncomfortable, too hard to get going again.

[lowrpm]

Incredibly, Sunday morning was more of the same. By now I'd ridden 2500km - and it was still raining. From a photo point of view, this was going nowhere fast, but I knew it'd get better if I just held in there.



I basically rode all the way to Sarina without stopping because the rain was so heavy. It was only when I reached town that the sun came out. This is the pub I ended up staying in for the night.

[lowrpm]

The pig had to share a parking spot with some beer. I told the guy there I didn't mind - at least I wouldn't be lonely. For some reason he moved the beer into a secure lockup! Trusting bastard. That's my room on the end.