After almost 18 months of preparations we left Amsterdam and headed off for Perth.   This is the account of our project and the ups and downs Down Under.

We were picked up at the airport in Perth by Gary and Helen and our liaison officer Hank. After some acclimatizing we started with the acquiring of the necessary items i.e. rations, fruit, vegetables, etc. also the Toyota Land Cruiser, Willem’s XT 600, the two-way radio and some other necessities. We got the bikes checked and were all clear to go.

Saturday, drizzle and rain leaving Perth. First sign of trouble. Fried's machine wasn't working correctly. Hmmmmmm. After about 50 km's the same problem.

About 200km's from Perth we stopped for the night and made camp near a roadhouse.  The next day we decided to leave the highway at Paynes Find and head off towards Wiluna by way of Sandstone. This was an unpaved and graded road so a nice beginning to our off-road tour-de-force. As it had rained heavily the previous weeks the road was in various conditions.

Dry and dusty with some corrugation and further on baked mud with ruts made by the occasional truck or car. It was in one of these ruts that Harry lost control and was catapulted at a speed of approx 70 km/h. Not very pleasant to say the least. Damage to the bike wasn't bad. Harry was okay.

We had t o drive back to Mount Magnet for a new handlebar. From there on through Meekatharra and due east to Wiluna. Approx. 40 km's before Wiluna - Fried heard this awful noise coming from his engine. The engine was inspected and partially dismantled. Alas no clue. Fried set off again only to stop again after 10 km's. Engine had blown and locked up. Willem towed him to Wiluna.

In Wiluna Fried called his friend Dick in Holland and asked him to grab another engine, put it in a crate and take it to Schiphol airport. Dick went to work straight away. In the meanwhile - Fried called the Dutch automobile association (ANWB), as he was a member with international coverage they said they would arrange transportation.

We stayed in Wiluna for the next 6 days. The weather was fine except for the very cold nights (near freezing).

After a few days we were all dying to get underway. These were trying times for us. By Saturday Fried was able to pick up his engine in Perth. Gary and Helen met Fried and Willem half way!

Fried mounted his engine and the next morning we were off again.

Because of the heavy rainfall the past weeks Well 1 up till 5 were not accessible. This meant we had take the Gunbarrel highway until Granite Peak Station

Fried had to stop. The same problem with his bike, dismayed to say the least.  After taking off his tank bag and taking a test ride the solution presented itself....his tank bag suppressed the air vent tube thus creating a vacuum in the tank.

On Tuesday the 28th of July we turned off to Granite Peak station and arrived at Well #5. Yes, we were actually there. After many months of preparations we had reached the actual beginning of our mission.

After drooling for about half an hour we continued on towards Well 6. The track was abominable. It had all the nasty components compressed in the 20 odd km's to Well 6. It had heavy ruts, deep sanded ruts, rocky stretches and to top it off and gravel filled tracks (it was like riding in ruts filled with marbles!)

Finally we reached Well 6 (Pierre Springs). The well had been rebuilt and we had a chance to have a bit of a wash. We made camp under the shade of gum trees. At night is was very cold. We registered minus 7 degrees Celsius just before dawn. Due to the temperature we could not leave too early. It was too cold to ride and stay alert. Until Well 15 we left only after it had warmed up a bit. This was generally between 8 and  9 o'clock.

We left for Well 7. The vehicles were all doing okay.  The track itself changed quite frequently and we encountered corrugation for the first time on the CSR. The occupants in the truck bounced around and the others were contemplating whether to ride with their mouths open or closed (just to save the fillings).
We also encountered our first dunes here. Not especially high but difficult enough. There is a certain technique of attacking these but Cees and Harry had yet to understand the implementations of these. Fried and Willem were eager to show how. They turned out to be quite fun.

We had planned on a 100km's a day but we were no where near that. Travelling the CSR by bike is totally different than travelling in a 4-wheel drive. Both concentration and physical exertion are heavily relied on factors when riding motorbikes through this kind of terrain.

We travelled on, tyre pressure was still as low as 12 psi on the bikes. We had agreed on travelling 10km's and then re-grouping. This worked out fine although it didn't speed things up but at least it was safe and allowed a certain amount of freedom.

Every now and then we did encounter other travellers (just one biker!) and were generally greeted with "So you're the Dutch group travelling on motorcycles" or "The mad Dutchmen".

Thursday 30th of July. A nice ride to Well 17 and Durba Springs. What a pleasant surprise. An oasis in the vast desert. Durba Springs has a natural camping area. The next day we took a day off and cleaned up, washed our clothes, checked the bikes and did other menial chores.

Saturday, July the 30th we left Durba Springs in the rain. We hadn't actually counted on rain in the desert but there you are, unseasonal rains.

Between well 19 and well 20 we had to cross Savory Creek. We were warned not to cross at the usual CSR crossing point but to back track the creek for about 7 km's and cross there. One thing we didn't feel like was wading through grimy mud and salinated water to retrieve a motor or worse, a bogged land Cruiser.  The division line between track and seething mud was centimetres. Off the track and you're bogged down.

We were able to cross further down stream, so we travelled the 5 or so km's back to the official crossing point.

Finally we arrived and took to some higher ground.   It kept drizzling, we were very tired and most of us just want to sleep.

The next morning we cleaned our bikes as well as possible, greased the chains, then packed our stuff and were all set to leave. We were well behind schedule by now and some of us were in anticipation of aborting the mission at well 33 and taking the Kidman track further on.

We carried on with our trip stopping off at certain points along lake Disappointment. It was a great day. Track conditions varied, very comfortable dried mud flats, very tricky muddy stretches, corrugation, dunes and dry creek crossings. All of us were enjoying the trip thoroughly. Obstacles were getting to be less of a challenge.  We arrived at well 22 in the late afternoon.

The next morning we were all in good spirits. Okay, filters back in place, chains lubed, nuts and bolts tightened.....

Cees approached, "I think we have a major problem". "I don't think we'll be able to solve this one", Cees said, he was very downhearted. He had snapped his fork mount while tightening the bolts (metal fatigue it appeared). No way we could repair it out here.

Cees was devastated, he understood that we could not go on with a bike in this condition. "Yes we can, we can go on, no problem", he attempted. On an even road maybe but when your bike is subjected to such exotic forces no way it will survive. We rode very carefully to the fuel dump to pick up our fuel and there we would decide what course of action we will take. After 30 km's of mainly corrugated track we arrived at the fuel dump after passing well 23.

Okay now what? After ample deliberation the options narrowed down to - end of the mission, the end of the CSR for us. 

Spirits were low. We did our best to overcome the disappointment and focus on the rest of the trip. Even if we didn't achieve our planned goal we were still in the Outback, we were still in Australia, we were still in one of the best places on earth to be (at least for us). We were still riding the bikes and we were definitely aimed at making the most of it.

So the Talawana track it was to be. We figured it would take about one and a half days to reach Newman (approx. 450 km's). It took us the best part of three.

Due to the heavy rainfall the past weeks stretches of track were flooded or at least muddy. This made travelling difficult at times to say the least. The XT's were used as scout bikes to find out what the best bypass would be for the 4-wheel drive. At one point the 4-wheel drive really got stuck. It was just before a creek crossing.

After a few hours effort and some perseverance it slowly but surely was freed. The feeling afterwards was well worth the work we put into it! Willem drove back and we loaded up the truck again and made camp some 2 or 3 km's further on. The next day we encountered more mud, a piece of wire got entangled in Fried's front brake, Willem's carbs got flooded with water etc. etc. Finally we reached the North-South Highway and ...the paved (yuk) civilization. This was to be the end of our unpaved Outback experience. The tires were inflated to normal street pressure and we continued on to Newman.

The next day, Thursday the 6th of August, we decided to have a rest. Cees' motor could be fixed and we could think about our next course of action

We decided on using the rest of the journey as a holiday and travelling first of all up to Karijini National Park and then through Tom Price and Hamelin Pool. From then on we would travel south and stop at Coral Bay, Carnarvon, Kalbarri, The Pinnacles and on to Perth.

On the way to Coral Bay (near Nanutarra road house) Fried's engine started playing up again. It sounded like trouble, bad trouble. End of the line for Fried. What bad luck. Two engines gone. How is it possible? We dismantled his bike in Nanutarra and loaded it into the truck.

Once in Perth (Fremantle) we got the bike and truck back, returned the radio and got the bikes crated for their return journey to Holland.

From Perth we flew to Darwin, had a brief look around and the next day we were underway back home. Not with a feeling of disappointment - but some what richer. Knowing that you have done something which you will always remember. Something which has given you more insight and trust. Something which has asked both physical and mental perseverance.

And an experience with six people who up till then had only (for the most) known each other for a relatively short while and who under demanding circumstances had learned to trust each other and to rely on each other. Even though the main goal was not reached it was still an adventure and as Cees put it, comparable with a boys book adventure with commando-training aspects.