2nd Outback Trip to Birdsville and Back 2017

Hi all

We recently completed our 2nd big trip on our DR’s our first being to Cameron Corner in 2016.
Link to RR
http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/to-the-corner-country-we-go.1167760/

The Riders
Hugh (OnaVee) returned to riding in 2009 after a hiatus of 31years to say I was rusty would be an understatement, more like ceased up.

His first choice of bike on return was a V-Strom 1000, the first time he took it on dirt he came a gutser and broke his collar bone.

Ange (Gota) obtained her bike licence in 2008 and settled on a Suzuki GS500 as her first bike which she road solo to Tasmania from QLD about 6months after getting her licence.
She then moved onto a V-Strom DL650L2 in 2011.

Since meeting we have done a number of long distance trips on our stroms mostly on tar except for our trip to Ayers Rock where we attempted the road from Louth to Tilpa.

The stroms at Shindy's Inn

We went down the eastern side but Ange had an off in deep sand and so a tactical withdrawal was done to the nearest bitumen.

Gota's Down under bike


Later on the same trip we did complete the lower section of the Oodnadatta Track through to Coober Pedy and that is the extent of our dirt riding/experience prior to our Cameron Corner trip.

Ange is still not comfortable on the dirt and finds the whole thing terrifying.

Hugh has found his inner child but unfortunately it’s all a dream as his aging body soon showed him the truth.

The Bikes

We bought 2 bog stock standard DR650’s second hand and have equipped them for outback adventure riding with no expense spared….


The Trip

On packing the bikes we became concerned that we had over packed and went over our gear a number of times but could not see anything we did not need.

The first 3 days was a straight tar run through Roma, Quilpie and Windorah spending a night at each on the way.

Roma


The Big Bottle Tree




Gota in front of a big windmill in Roma


Morven sheepdog artwork


The dog




The sheep


Morven Historical Park The Kerosene Tin Hut




Old machinery






The Heritage Inn


Just because your in town doesn't mean you can let your guard down for wildlife on the road



Later That night the roo's moved in after the green grass.

Sunset in Quilpie


Quilpie artwork cattle


sheep


St Finbarr's Church Opal Alter and Christening Chalice




After leaving Quilpie we detoured through Eromanga for a butchers hook.

Dinosaur sculptures done by local cocky tax payer dollar $0






Government commissioned sculpture Tax payer dollar $WFK's




Who would of thought this was true

but apparently it is.



We then stopped for a cuppa at the rest stop at Gummomo Waterhole near Kyabra Rd (which is now all bitumen).



birds nests under the roof


While at Windorah we stayed at Coopers Cabins which we would highly recommend if looking for accommodation (very clean cabins, ripper feed and all the drinks are $5)

Windorah Solar Power Station


Coopers Cabins




That's all for now so stay tuned for part 2

Cheers Gota and OnaVee

Great stuff...did you fill up at the oil refinery...?

Thanks glad your enjoying it
No we didn't need to as we had plenty of fuel in the tanks.

Cheers Gota

Nice, those DR's look very nice. Looking forward to the rest.

Hi all
Part 2 for you......

We wanted to try and experience the whole trip as much as possible and had decided beforehand that we would camp at Deon’s Lookout or Betoota. The owner at Coopers Cabins said Betoota was full of bloody big burs so Deon’s it was.

After leaving Windorah we stopped for a cuppa at the rest stop before hitting the dirt and Ange went to the ladies and was gone so long Hugh thought she was hiding in the as she was very nervous about the upcoming dirt.

Informative sign about the local snakes.....interesting that only 2 out of the 16 were non-venomous



Info on the plains


Hugh putting the billy on for a cuppa


Better make sure the tanks full........not even a challenge for the Safari's


A mate stumps had ridden his DL650 out to Birdsville about a month beforehand and advised the roads were V-Strom friendly and a superhighway.

Turn off to Birdsville and the start of the dirt


A super highway it was not in Ange’s opinion, it had deep sections of gravel, corrugations and sandy sections not to mention the ignorant 4x4 going the opposite way and not slowing down while passing showering you in shit.

It started off OK


and then the gravel started getting deeper and a clear track was harder to find


We arrived at Deon’s Lookout unscathed.




Ange was buzzing and felt like she had been shaken around more than a James Bond dry martini.

We set the tent up and scrounged up a bit of fire wood and put the drone up in between the wind and took a bit of video.




The view and sunset was spectacular rather amazing considering we had spent the last 3 days on long flat plains and would spend the next few on the same.
On approaching Deon's you would not of thought you would get such a spectacular view of the fulfilling emptiness well worth the stop.

The view out over the plains






Sunset








Aerial shots of Deon's






We later had a bit of a fire and listened to the old couple’s music while they waltzed around inside their van between domestics.

After a feed of Campbell’s fully loaded something and some Deb mash potato with onion and a hot drink we decided to retire.
The wind picked up substantially during the night and we didn’t sleep much, it was like being in a tumble dryer.

The next day we packed up and headed to Birdsville on the tranquillity of bitumen but once again it was an evil attempt to play with one’s mind according to Ange as it ran out.

We did the detour to have a look at Betoota


The Betoota Hotel no longer open


And stopped to look at the Dreamtime Serpent.




The road was an improvement over the previous days except for the odd section of gravel and the section the grader was working on and that the water truck had just been over turning it into a slippery clay surface for a few klm’s.

The grader was leaving a large central mound of gravel and loose dirt


a re supply for the water truck we had passed


We did hit some more tar about 30k’s out of Birsdville but it didn’t last reinforcing Ange’s theory that someone was playing cruel joke.

arriving at Birdsville


That's all for now so stay tuned for Part 3

Cheers Gota and OnaVee

Looks like an awesome trip . I'm with ange tho , my ring puckers with dirt roads .
Is she finding the DR easier to handle ?

Hi ozzyal,
Yes it was a good trip

I do find the DR easier as it's smaller and lighter on the dirt so the v-strom is for tar trips now.
The suspension on the DR has been set up for me and the bike was lowered via the suspension so I can pretty much flat foot it.

The only thing it hasn't done is help with my confidence on the dirt I seem unable to locate my mojo

Cheers Gota

Hi all,
Part 3 for you all.

By the time we arrived in Birdsville Ange was spent and so Hugh made inquiries about a donga.
The ones located in the park had shared facilities but for an extra $10 Hugh could get one around the corner from the Birdsville Hotel with an en-suite so being the true gentleman that he is and no expense being too much that’s where we ended up.
After unpacking the bikes we headed to the bakery for a pie and a well-deserved cooling ale/bourbon.

Birdsville Bakery


The famous Curry Camel Pie


We met a fellow female rider on a KTM690 who was heading to Paris and had left Sydney 5months ago. She had an encounter with an emu in her travels but luckily no damage to her or the bike.

That night we had dinner and a few expensive drinks at the Birdsville Hotel $25 for a glass of beer and a Jim Beam & coke can and then dinner was $107 for 2 steaks and one red wine.

The Bar




Thought this was good


A puppy dog waiting for his master


The next day we had a day off the bikes so we transferred pics and video’s from the cameras to HD and checked over the bikes and had a walk around town.

That night we had dinner at the bakery which is doing dinner 4 nights a week, we had a 300g Black Angus crumbed steak with chips and salad for $19.50 washed down with some $5 stubbies and $6 JB&C cans we would have stayed here all night however they had a bush balladeer known as the Darling of the Outback reciting poems and singing her own work but unfortunately we found her quite painful on the ear drums and so moved over to the pub which the same drinks that were costing $25 the night before were now under $20 WTF.

The next day the wind was blowing a gale and we headed out to the dunes of the Simpson, we got to Little Red and Hugh’s inner child took over and he had a crack at Little Red and rode up to the top but knowing my skill level is not up to sand I didn’t as we still had over a week on this trip and I didn’t want to risk injury.
We did however walk up and took some pics but we were getting sand blasted so headed back to town.

On the way out








Dune shots

I made it YAY














Tracks in the sand






Desert flowers




Sturt Desert Pea


Flowering wattle




Corella's in flight


Birdsville side


Simpson Side


The bikes




On the way back to town we had a strong crosswinds.


We passed 4 KTM990 riders on their way out to Big Red.

Here is two of them


On returning to town we headed to the bakery for a drink and a pie and spoke to bloke who was doing an east to west crossing and the local cop had asked him to drop a tyre off to a motorcyclist who had been stranded at Poeppel Corner for a few days to which he agreed.

The KTM 990 guys pulled in not long after and we had a good chat.

We did the touristy thing around town taking some happy snaps

The starting gate


The Horses


The Camel Train


The Artesian Bore (don't wash your vehicles with this)






You really don't want to need this VERY EXPENSIVE rescue costs involved


The Birdsville Hotel


The Royal Hotel


Later that evening we shared a table with the KTM 990 riders (sorry can't remember your names) in the pub. We had a meal and a good chat about their trip and ours and their unfortunate mate who was taken out by an emu in the Flinders Ranges we hope he makes a speedy recovery.

That's it for now so stay tuned for Part 4

Cheers Gota and OnaVee

Hi all,
Part 4 for you all....

The next day we hit the Birdsville track heading to Mungerannie.


Yeah right.....



Sturt Stony Desert.....good name very fitting






The first 150 km or so was absolute snot if it wasn’t gravel and gibbers it was bull-dust holes some as wide as the track.

We passed some homestead turnoffs this is Pandie Pandie


Bull-dust hole






Luckily the bull-dust holes were mostly visible and not very deep


Corrugations


Sections of gravel some shallow and some deep


Gota plugging along


Ange was having a hard time of it and progress was slow.
The original plan was looking doubtful after Hugh spoke to a couple of locals who advised the snot continued “for quite a while yet” fortunately quite a while turned out to be about 10km’s and we came across what Ange would call a super highway baby’s bum smooth hard packed clay 100kph was reached on this section so we were back on track for reaching Mungerannie.





We arrived at Mungerannie and while Hugh refueled the bikes I went in to see about a room as it had been a hard day and we didn’t feel like camping.

Mungerannie Pub


Hugh came in we had a drink and started chatting to Phil.


Meanwhile 2 more bikes pulled up and refueled.
One of the riders came in and told Hugh he had left his lights on and would turn them off for him on his way out, what a nice chap so Hugh had another beer or 2.
On returning to the bikes to move them to our salubrious accommodation for the night his bike would not start as the battery was flat but Ange’s was fine.

That night we had a chat over dinner to the 2 riders that had pulled in and it turned out one of them was on his first ADVride on his new Africa Twin.
We had a few more drinks and a chat with Phil and partner before retiring for the night.
The next morning Hugh found some jumper leads and jump started his bike.
He decided to take it for a blat down the track to put a bit of charge in the battery and on doing a u-turn to head back to the pub he had a game of 52 pickup as had forgotten to put the lid back on his tool tube which was also missing.

It turned out the AT had a flat front tyre which luckily they were able to fix using Phil’s tyre changing equipment.

Some pictures from Mungerannie





Not bloody likely........

The next morning we headed for Clayton Springs


The was a few cattle grids on the way so here is a view from below


We thought this was funny... what about the rest of the road as it's all like this or worse


On the way we crossed Coopers Creek


And stopped to look at the M.V. Tom Brennan






Panorama of Coopers Creek


When we did our Ayers Rock trip on the v-strom 650’s in 2014 we camped at Clayton Springs where we found the perfect hot tub at 38-40C crystal clear and no odour it was heaven and so we had always planned to stay there again except this time it turned into a night from hell.

On arriving at Clayton we set the tent up and while Ange inflated mattresses etc Hugh did a dash to Marree for a few cold drinks.

A lovely couple from WA who were traveling around with their camper trailer invited us to share a meal with them.







Hugh saw this a bearded dragon on the way to Marree for supplies




About 2am Hugh got up to answer the call of nature, crawled out of the tent (new to us) and proceeded to trip over the guy rope doing a full face plant onto the hard packed ground.
This resulted in a lot of bleeding and swearing also a smashed phone screen.
The next morning revealed a swollen hand many cuts and grazes to the nose and forehead (On returning home a week later we were to find out the nose is broken nose but not the hand).

That's it for now so stay tuned for Part 5

Cheers Gota and OnaVee

Hi all,
Part 5 for you all...

We packed up then headed down to Marree where we refueled and took a few happy snaps before moving on.

Ghan Railway Train




Ford Blitz as used by Birdsville Mailman Tom Kruse


Wooden Camel


Lake Eyre Yacht Club


Then headed for Lyndhurst with a stop at Farina.

Leaving Marree the road is open


Stone statue outside Marree




Shingleback Lizard on the way




At Farina












old machinery at Farina


We had a feed at Lyndhurst in the BP servo and the food and drinks were really good (last time we went through Lyndhurst this was closed despite the BP website saying it was open this was to be a refueling point for our v-stroms. We arrived here with our last fuel warning flashing only to find no fuel luckily a compass expedition support stopped and gave us 5L each to get us to Marree).

I had had enough of dirt and Hugh's nose and hand were swollen and painful so we headed south to Quorn and the Austral Inn instead of going to Arkaroola.

Leigh Creek stopped for a pic in front of the big tyres


Start of the Flinders Ranges in the distance


The Austral Inn at Quorn


Kangaroo Schnitzel


After Quorn it was a tar ride all the way home which turned out to be 5 days of bloody gale force crosswinds.

We stopped in Orroroo to take some more happy snaps









We continued on and decided to stop in Peterborough at the Take a Break Cafe our usual stopping point when passing through they have nice food and we took some more happy snaps.









We stopped at our usual stopover in Cobar at the Great Western but the last few years obviously haven’t been kind and the rooms have declined to the point we had slugs in the shower the next morning and the food was below average.

The obligatory Cobar sign photo




Between Cobar and Gilgandra we stopped in Nyngan before doing a slight detour and ran down to the Centre of New South Wales.

Street art in Nyngan


The Big Bogan, Nyngan


The tallest mail box we have ever seen


Another Shingleback Lizard


The Cairn




We stopped at the Trangie bakery for an absolutely ripper toasted sandwich and hot drink.
Our overnight stop in Gilgandra was the Gilgandra Motel for $98 a double in an absolutely immaculate room and had a fantastic 3 course meal in the Chinese restaurant next door.
After Gilgandra we headed for a friend’s place at Bingara via Gulargambone, Coonamble & the Pilliga.

Gulargambone Galah's




Coonamble water tower


On leaving Bingara we headed straight home taking our usual route avoiding the highway as much as possible.

Before leaving we had the Dunlop 606 fitted to the rear which we ran at 28psi on the way out dropping to 22psi on the dirt and for the rest of the trip. Hugh’s thought’s being the higher pressure on the way out would put more wear on the centre of the tyre thus allowing the nobs on the side to be saved for the dirt and once we hit the bitumen the lower pressure would mean even wear across the whole tyre.

The front tyre was an MT21 which has hardly worn at all and was a bit skatey when first fitted but settled down after a few hundred k’s.

We did a total of 4333km and the bikes ran flawlessly (apart from the battery booboo)

It turned out that all the cold weather gear we had packed was the only thing we didn’t use.
Our previous trips to Ayers Rock and Cameron Corner were done at the same time of year and they were bloody freezing.
Everywhere we stopped the locals were saying that they had not had a winter and the 30+ degree temps we had reflected this.
It’s rather ironic that our coldest day was the last day from Bingara to Brisbane not going above 15 degrees till almost home.

Hope you enjoyed our RR

We will add a link to our video from the trip when we have made it.

Cheers Gota and OnaVee

Great trip, Great write up!

Thanks ballbag
working on vids now so hope you enjoy them as well.

Cheers Gota

Hi all,
We have put together the first video.
Hope you enjoy



Cheers Gota and OnaVee

Great video, loved the drone shots at the lookout!

Excellent video, great work, really enjoyed that

Thanks it's a pity it was the only time we got to fly for the whole trip due to the wind.

We will get to work on the next one soon.

Thanks it's a learning curve this video stuff but they are slowly improving.

Cheers Gota

Id love to know how you did the bike on the map bit 0:25 to 0:60, that really gets the attention

Glad you liked it
Thought it would add something different to the video in the way you show the route.

That was done with a Travel Route Software package we recently got.
It's the first time using it though.

Cheers Gota

Nice one, makes for some great memories

Yep that's why we do the video's and RR's.

Not only to share but so when we are old and decrepit we can look back on them with fond memories.

Cheers Gota