It has been quite a few years in the "thinking" and now preparation, but Sheryle and I are heading to South America on 20 February 2024, to ride off on 23 February (which is my Father's 94th birthday as an aside). We can't wait, as it had always been a dream, and not one we could work through practically in the past.
However, I had a week to spare in late January and early February, so decided to ride my Harley Road King (currently my only bike available) to all State and Territory Borders so as to collect points for the annual "ABC's of Touring" Competition run by Harley-Davidson each year. My second purpose was to visit the David "Davo" Jones memorials of which there are three. Davo is a riding legend, and was the first "Far Rider" in Australia but was killed in 2009 competing in the Iron Butt Rally that year. My total ride was somewhat of a risk, given the heat of summer and risk of high rain falls. but it went very well, and I covered 8,691 kilometres in the end, having to avoid flooded roads in Queensland and return via Broken Hill instead of a sweep through central Queensland.
DAY 1 was to ride to Albury to photograph the Dealer and Victorian Border, then go onto Rutherglen and Zeerust where "Z" is a hard letter to find across the whole alphabet unless you live in Tasmania! I then wandered along the Murray River stopping at Swan Hill and Mildura, but finally making it to Renmark South Australia after a long and warm day. I was to learn many things on this ride, one of which is that my HD leather riding pants are very good in all weather, and very comfortable but now looking decidedly used. The second learning was that the softbag I had brought along with a sleeping bag and other gear made a great back-rest!
DAY 2 was organised to ride into Adelaide, a little to the south and meet with Steve "Wes" Wesbroom, who had previously been a Canberra Harley member but returned to Adelaide to work in the construction industry and be with his family there. I took photos at the two HD Dealers and then we headed to the "Big Scottie" quite an institution in Adelaide. Our tour took us to various small towns around the Adelaide hills including a long stop to chat over coffee, as you do. How I valued that time with a friend! Our drive then took us to Wilmington with a fantastic few corners riding through Horrocks Pass which was my favourite riding section of the whole trip. The first memorial for Davo is amongst the windmills at the western end, and I found the easiest way to find it was to type the Latitude and Longitude into Google Maps and ride right up to it! For those looking, there is also a piece of green plastic fitted into the fence wire, directly above the memorial on the right (north) side of the road.
I had planned to ride to Ceduna, the halfway point across Australia but I only made it to Kimba following an excess of socialising! Kimba is a non-descript town in SA but does have 24 hour petrol and some decent motels, one of which I chose. Prices for motels have all gone up now, with the $60 to $90 range long gone, and typically they are about $120 per night. Kimba is infamous for one key "hidden" attribute - it is the site of Australia's only Nuclear Waste Dump, taking materials from our one Nuclear Reactor at Lucas Heights in Sydney. Generally this reactor is used to manufacture medical items, and not weapons! However, the discussion about where the spent rods from our future nuclear submarines will be stored, is not over yet, and this is one location. Kimba also has a "Big Thing" being the "Big Galah" and large and very pink it is. I needed to photograph 15 big things to complete the list for 2024 and found the requisite number by the end of my ride.
DAY 3 started at 4:30am and I continued to ride west into the spectacular views of the Great Australian Bight. The aim was to make it to the Border Village, which is in SA but right at the border with Western Australia, which I did. The Eyre Highway goes right across the Nullabor Plain as you might expect and about 98km before the border is the very strategically placed "town" of Nullabor, with a fancy petrol station and cafe, and a Big Whale (Actually a small whale as it is not the "required" three times larger than the original!)
As soon as I fronted to the Border Gate for my "no fruit or honey inspection" I was surprisingly breath-tested, something that has not happened to me for a while, with cops from Eucla, about 10 km further on, obviously being ready-at-hand, and friendly. Border Village has a "Big Kangaroo" holding a beer can as its welcome image, plus simple cabins and very expensive petrol at $2.85 per litre. I booked a room and rode west a further 203.7km to Madura Pass, to visit the second Davo Memorial. This one is much harder to find and has defeated others, but it is on the North side of the road, just behind the SECOND "lane merging" sign. Turn right at the "Lookout" sign and return back (east) about 30 metres and park in the dust carpark. The memorial is on a 1 metre boulder, somewhat hidden by a tree on the top of the cliff. Other IBA members have left small stones under the boulder with their IBA number or name on them e.g. "Olaf #517". I returned to Border Village for the night having covered over 1,400 kilometres for the day.
DAY 4, I rose before dawn as for everyone on this trip and headed for the sea cliffs to the East for a photo, which was well done at this magnificent and serene place. I had seen only 5 kangaroos on the road for the first five days, but was wary and rode at about 80km per hour before dawn, allowing me to dodge roos, goats, rabbits, foxes and wedge tailed eagles of which there were many. Later I was to see wild horses and camels further to the north, but the Eagles were the most spectacular, often tearing chunks out of new carcasses on the roadside. There is no way to practically "cut the corner" (from Wudinna to near Woomera) to join the Stuart Highway north to Darwin, without riding on a very sandy road, so I headed to Port Augusta. My aim had been to have the killer "Big Breakfast" at local roadhouse, but I was half an hour early prior to their opening and decided to continue to Nullabor for that meal.
For this trip, choosing the right speed was very important. The maximum legal speed is 110km/hr, but this is too much at night and also means that the bike consumes far too much petrol especially when riding into a head wind, which was the case here. In calm conditions on a good road with no wind, I can easily make 430km to a tank of fuel, but often it was reduced to 320km or in one case 263km. I later chose to carry a small spare tank, so that I could run the 22 litre tank nearly dry, and on two occasions, managed to put more than 22 litres into it - clearly "running on fumes"!
After a very long day, I made it to Pimba and turned off to the east, to Woomera on the Roxby Downs to Andamooka road. Woomera is 6km off the Stuart Highway and is absolutely fascinating. I stayed at the venerable Rocket Hotel called Eldo after the launch supplier from EU. I had to walk up the hall to ammenties, but did not see a soul. Their restaurant and bar are replete with wall-sized drawings of rocketships. I talked with a few working locals, one of whom said he was working on a classified missile project, another was exploring for minerals (uranium and lithium) on Andamooka Station and the third was an individual who just said he was a "private gold hunter"! Outside, I walked in the semi-dark to the museum where there are about thirty rockets of various sizes displayed.
DAY 5 was a big one which strangely caused me a little concern, mostly due to the increasing heat as I headed north. The aim was to make the SA to NT Border and ride into the Northern Territory (my first time on a bike) to Kulgera to the "Big Tinnie". I left early to make some big distance in the cool air and loved every minute of it, right to the border where it was indeed over 100 degrees F. Kulgera is famous for the "Thousand Bras Pub" and so I sat inside slowly savouring a ginger beer and reading the messages on many of the bras hanging from the ceiling. At this moment a young lady from Switzeraland walked in, and it turned out it was her first day working at the pub, so she was receiving guidance from the local male managers. It was hysterical to watch, as she had just arrived from Europe the day before and was truly suffering in the heat and rather non-plussed by the pub. Foreign workers who take remote work for 90 days then get a one-year visa to explore Australia.
I turned about, and passed the one and only 130km/hr top speed signs that I saw, then returned to South Australia and headed to Coober Pedy, a total of 1300 km for the day. This place is the famous Opal Town, and is packed with workers, so finding a cheap hotel room was a challenge, but I ended up with a "walk-up". My shower had one tap - "warm" artesian water which was great! The day finished with thousands of white cockatoos crowding into the tree beside my room and shrieking the roof off in a spectacular display. In fact the recent rains made the bird life stand out, with huge flocks of Corellas, wild emus, and thousands of tiny green finches.
DAY 6 and I was determined to make it to Queensland, via Broken Hill, and took the road through Peterborough, with a short stop at the Toy Museum at Wilmington, where I had been inveigled to enter on the basis of all the old Landrovers parked out the front. There were two of Series 1's plus Series 2 and 3 plus a couple of Willies Jeeps one fitted with a 50 calibre machine gun. Inside is the largest collection of Meccano in Australia plus every guage of model railway set available. It was truly a blast from the past for me.
Beyond Yunta was my stop at the most remote Big Thing, the Big Dice, which are actually 24km north of Yunta and are reached via a gravel side track of about 1.5km. Few will visit this one on their Harleys!
That night, I took a cabin in the Caravan Park (possibly a better option than a motel room), had a swim in their pool and had a delightful evening at a BBQ with old friends and HOG members Grahame KIWI Cotterell and Sally. We chatted into the night, solving the worlds problems as you do.
DAY 7 I rode from Broken Hill and north towards the Warri Gate (The border entrance to Queensland) via Packsaddle and Tiboburra. Despite the pumps out the front neither had any petrol (!) but I did find some 91 in Tib, and stopped there for brunch after a visit to the huge Warri Gate (54km north in the Sturt NP) that guards the entrance to the huge and famous Bullo Downs Station, and to Queensland. The Tiboburra Central Cafe will prepare you a huge breakfast on request, and so I did not need to eat again for the rest of the day! I ventured through onto the gravel road to take some photos, but stopped after a couple of kilometres as it is unsealed for 153 Km to Noccundra. Sealing it has started at the north end, but its very slow. The locals told me they want it done, to support the trucking industry and to attract tourists.
On my return to Broken Hill, I travelled on an apparently "empty" tank for 35 km into town, looking for gas, and found it in time. I then headed east to Wilcannia, strangely one of my favoutite OutBack places, but stopped at the roadside rest area at the top of the rise that is Netallie Hill (18km to the west of Wilcannia) to meet the newish memorial to seven Iron Butt riders who have passed away or "ridden on", including the third memorial to Davo Jones. I realised that I had previously met everyone of the 7 people listed on the memorial when they were alive. This is a truly special place where I sat in the warm sun for some time, thinking of friends and enjoying the increadible view across the plains to the south.
In Wilcannia, one of the camp grounds and another Motel have closed, so I headed to the one camping area down by the billabong to the east and found a calming cabin with a nice view. Here I made packet lasagna and relaxed in the bush.
DAY 8 I was determined to get home, The shortest run of the trip at 951km, with a side trip to Albert and the Rabbit Trap Hotel, plus stopping at Forbes for my "F" for the ABC's. The reason was to join Sheryle for dinner with friends, which worked well as the days were heating up or moving to pouring rain in the coming week! Total distance was 8,691 km and given that two days were under 1000km, some of the others were fairly long, but what a blast. For the ABC's Competiton, I have all State Borders (except Tas), all 15 Big Things and all letters of the Alphabet except L and X, plus five Dealerships and five National Parks. My current score is 70 which is a little high for this time of the year!
I had forgotten how special the dawn can be, how unbelievably nice and helpful the country folks are, and who much there is to see, that I have never experienced. Australia is truly a very special place.
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