Two weeks, 10,000 miles around Australia, 300 photos and one sore ass! - Page 14

lowrpm · 04-27-2007, 08:18 PM

More red rock.

lowrpm · 04-27-2007, 08:20 PM

This is the Timber Creek Roadhouse, 160km further on from Victoria River RH, but still on the Victoria River itself, and still in the metaphorical shadow of the escarpment. I'll show you in a minute. I got fuel here, 300km into the day and almost halfway to my overnight stop at Kununurra.

lowrpm · 04-27-2007, 08:23 PM

A little out of Timber Creek was a narrow rocky track that looked like it might actually climb the escarpment itself, so naturally, off I went for a look.

aspad · 04-27-2007, 08:24 PM

Great report. Thank you.
Did the road train force you off the road. Did he know?

lowrpm · 04-27-2007, 08:24 PM

It was pretty steep in places, so I didn't stop for too many pics, but the detour was well worth the trouble in the end. That's the Victoria River itself down there.

Lobby · 04-27-2007, 08:39 PM

Since you're riding a GS Adventure with a 30 gallon tank, why do you feel the need to carry an additional gas tank?

Have you needed to use the gas already?

Are the distances so great between gas stations over there?

lowrpm · 04-27-2007, 08:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aspad

Great report. Thank you.
Did the road train force you off the road. Did he know?

The road train back in western Queensland forced me off the road in the sense that, when one of them fekkers is coming, YOU GET OFF THE ROAD!
There is no alternative. I stopped there and then tried to remount the bitumen after he'd gone, so the accident wasn't really his fault. This has happened to me before (true - almost exactly the same, only much worse

). Did he know? I have no idea, but I can tell you that he did not care. They own the road; you are roadkill.

On a previous trip I thought I could just slow down and ride in the dirt on the side of the road when there was an oncoming road train. This error of judgement catapulted my ZRX1100 off the edge of an embankment through 8-foot tall grass into a deep ditch on the road between the Burke & Wills Roadhouse and Cloncurry in the gulf. I broke the rear brake mount, bent the right handlebar vertically (down), lost a mirror, bent my luggage rack, ripped my clothes, wounded my leg and foot and got grass and dust into everything I owned. That was not a good day. By comparison, this was a minor misadventure.

This is that bike just four days later after a guy in a muffler shop loaned me his welding gear and a big hammer. The dealer in Mount Isa had a mirror that fit, and I was back on the road. This was my first lap of the continent, by the way.

lowrpm · 04-27-2007, 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lobby

Since you're riding a GS Adventure with a 30 gallon tank, why do you feel the need to carry an additional gas tank?

Have you needed to use the gas already?

Are the distances so great between gas stations over there?

Lobby, the greatest distance I ended up doing between available fuel on this trip was about 300km, so no, I didn't need it in the end. However, had I been able to stick with plan A, riding from Normanton to Burketown, then continuing west to Borroloola in the gulf, I surely would have needed it. It's more than 550km between fuel stops there if Hell's Gate is closed, and it's all rough dirt. Then there's the Gibb River Road, which was on the schedule for day 12/13 etc. That's another big one and all dirt. But with even highway fuel stops being a couple hundred km apart, you only need one to be closed for whatever reason and you are in the shit, big time.

lowrpm · 04-27-2007, 08:48 PM

But I digress. . .

Back to my escarpment. Another view from the top, showing the highway heading west.

lowrpm · 04-27-2007, 08:49 PM

. . . and a bit more of the river to the east.

lowrpm · 04-27-2007, 08:51 PM

Back on the flat, the highway opens up for quite a ways, and the heat gets pretty fierce.

lowrpm · 04-27-2007, 08:53 PM

I know it doesn't show very well, but this is just to demonstrate that that game we played before - the one with the roadside anthills pretending to be 'roos and the 'roos pretending to be roadside anthills - is very much in vogue out here in the west too. Keeps you from going as fast as you otherwise would, I can tell you.

lowrpm · 04-27-2007, 08:55 PM

I can not be bored riding through this country. Everything you look at is amazing.

lowrpm · 04-27-2007, 08:56 PM

In places the road winds back among these. . .

lowrpm · 04-27-2007, 08:58 PM

Smile country.

04-27-2007, 08:18 PM	#196
lowrpm ^OP Tar Baby Joined: Jan 2006 Location: On the ribbon of black, Melbourne, Australia Oddometer: 1,311	More red rock. __________________ CBR1000RR 09, 1200 GSA Two weeks, 10,000 miles around Australia, 300 photos and one sore ass! Red Center Australian Desert Ride Going nowhere fast. Around Australia on pigs with wings. lowrpm screwed with this post 12-31-2008 at 05:27 AM

04-27-2007, 08:20 PM	#197
lowrpm ^OP Tar Baby Joined: Jan 2006 Location: On the ribbon of black, Melbourne, Australia Oddometer: 1,311	This is the Timber Creek Roadhouse, 160km further on from Victoria River RH, but still on the Victoria River itself, and still in the metaphorical shadow of the escarpment. I'll show you in a minute. I got fuel here, 300km into the day and almost halfway to my overnight stop at Kununurra. __________________ CBR1000RR 09, 1200 GSA Two weeks, 10,000 miles around Australia, 300 photos and one sore ass! Red Center Australian Desert Ride Going nowhere fast. Around Australia on pigs with wings. lowrpm screwed with this post 12-31-2008 at 05:28 AM

04-27-2007, 08:23 PM	#198
lowrpm ^OP Tar Baby Joined: Jan 2006 Location: On the ribbon of black, Melbourne, Australia Oddometer: 1,311	A little out of Timber Creek was a narrow rocky track that looked like it might actually climb the escarpment itself, so naturally, off I went for a look. __________________ CBR1000RR 09, 1200 GSA Two weeks, 10,000 miles around Australia, 300 photos and one sore ass! Red Center Australian Desert Ride Going nowhere fast. Around Australia on pigs with wings. lowrpm screwed with this post 12-31-2008 at 05:28 AM

04-27-2007, 08:24 PM	#200
lowrpm ^OP Tar Baby Joined: Jan 2006 Location: On the ribbon of black, Melbourne, Australia Oddometer: 1,311	It was pretty steep in places, so I didn't stop for too many pics, but the detour was well worth the trouble in the end. That's the Victoria River itself down there. __________________ CBR1000RR 09, 1200 GSA Two weeks, 10,000 miles around Australia, 300 photos and one sore ass! Red Center Australian Desert Ride Going nowhere fast. Around Australia on pigs with wings. lowrpm screwed with this post 12-31-2008 at 05:31 AM

04-27-2007, 08:48 PM	#204
lowrpm ^OP Tar Baby Joined: Jan 2006 Location: On the ribbon of black, Melbourne, Australia Oddometer: 1,311	But I digress. . . Back to my escarpment. Another view from the top, showing the highway heading west. __________________ CBR1000RR 09, 1200 GSA Two weeks, 10,000 miles around Australia, 300 photos and one sore ass! Red Center Australian Desert Ride Going nowhere fast. Around Australia on pigs with wings. lowrpm screwed with this post 12-31-2008 at 05:43 AM

04-27-2007, 08:24 PM	#199
aspad Gnarly Adventurer Joined: Aug 2004 Location: Sydney, OZ Oddometer: 480	Great report. Thank you. Did the road train force you off the road. Did he know?

04-27-2007, 08:39 PM	#201
Lobby Viel Spass, Vato! Joined: Nov 2003 Location: San Antonio, Tx Oddometer: 25,820	Since you're riding a GS Adventure with a 30 gallon tank, why do you feel the need to carry an additional gas tank? Have you needed to use the gas already? Are the distances so great between gas stations over there?

04-27-2007, 08:49 PM	#205
lowrpm ^OP Tar Baby Joined: Jan 2006 Location: On the ribbon of black, Melbourne, Australia Oddometer: 1,311	. . . and a bit more of the river to the east. __________________ CBR1000RR 09, 1200 GSA Two weeks, 10,000 miles around Australia, 300 photos and one sore ass! Red Center Australian Desert Ride Going nowhere fast. Around Australia on pigs with wings. lowrpm screwed with this post 12-31-2008 at 05:43 AM

04-27-2007, 08:51 PM	#206
lowrpm ^OP Tar Baby Joined: Jan 2006 Location: On the ribbon of black, Melbourne, Australia Oddometer: 1,311	Back on the flat, the highway opens up for quite a ways, and the heat gets pretty fierce. __________________ CBR1000RR 09, 1200 GSA Two weeks, 10,000 miles around Australia, 300 photos and one sore ass! Red Center Australian Desert Ride Going nowhere fast. Around Australia on pigs with wings. lowrpm screwed with this post 12-31-2008 at 05:47 AM

04-27-2007, 08:53 PM	#207
lowrpm ^OP Tar Baby Joined: Jan 2006 Location: On the ribbon of black, Melbourne, Australia Oddometer: 1,311	I know it doesn't show very well, but this is just to demonstrate that that game we played before - the one with the roadside anthills pretending to be 'roos and the 'roos pretending to be roadside anthills - is very much in vogue out here in the west too. Keeps you from going as fast as you otherwise would, I can tell you. __________________ CBR1000RR 09, 1200 GSA Two weeks, 10,000 miles around Australia, 300 photos and one sore ass! Red Center Australian Desert Ride Going nowhere fast. Around Australia on pigs with wings. lowrpm screwed with this post 12-31-2008 at 05:46 AM

04-27-2007, 08:55 PM	#208
lowrpm ^OP Tar Baby Joined: Jan 2006 Location: On the ribbon of black, Melbourne, Australia Oddometer: 1,311	I can not be bored riding through this country. Everything you look at is amazing. __________________ CBR1000RR 09, 1200 GSA Two weeks, 10,000 miles around Australia, 300 photos and one sore ass! Red Center Australian Desert Ride Going nowhere fast. Around Australia on pigs with wings. lowrpm screwed with this post 12-31-2008 at 05:46 AM

04-27-2007, 08:56 PM	#209
lowrpm ^OP Tar Baby Joined: Jan 2006 Location: On the ribbon of black, Melbourne, Australia Oddometer: 1,311	In places the road winds back among these. . . __________________ CBR1000RR 09, 1200 GSA Two weeks, 10,000 miles around Australia, 300 photos and one sore ass! Red Center Australian Desert Ride Going nowhere fast. Around Australia on pigs with wings. lowrpm screwed with this post 12-31-2008 at 05:47 AM

04-27-2007, 08:58 PM	#210
lowrpm ^OP Tar Baby Joined: Jan 2006 Location: On the ribbon of black, Melbourne, Australia Oddometer: 1,311	Smile country. __________________ CBR1000RR 09, 1200 GSA Two weeks, 10,000 miles around Australia, 300 photos and one sore ass! Red Center Australian Desert Ride Going nowhere fast. Around Australia on pigs with wings. lowrpm screwed with this post 12-31-2008 at 05:48 AM

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: .
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode