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Background.
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As the other holiday plans got cancelled, I decided the best thing to do was
to take a bike around Oz. Plenty of holidays available from work, so the
preparations began in earnest.
The first thing to do was purchase a bike. The KR-1S just wasn't going to
cut it (250 2 Stroke). Something big - real big. Hmmm.... The choice was
down to a ZZR-1100 or CBR-1100.
After a couple of weeks of looking and chatting with various people, I
settled on a 2nd hand Blackbird. Black, 6000km and 1997. Looks like a brand
new bike. Handing over the requisite piles of cash I moved on to fitting the
machine out for the journey. Panniers (Non Fango), sheepskin seat cover and
topping up the rest of the camping gear.
Now, prepared for the journey, it was time to go. Firstly, a big thanks to
Geoff Morgan for helping me out with many things CBR related.
18th Dec. Perth - Albany.
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The first day was pretty simple. Head to Albany. The Albany Hwy looked too
straight, so the choice was to go via Bunbury and the South Coast Hwy. Great
Choice!. Getting to Manjimup was pretty boring. Lots of straight roads, lots
of cops.
Once past Manjimup, the road changes to forested and twisty. Not tight
stuff, just lovely sweepers that you could do all day. In fact, I did! The
stretch of road is about 200Km with barely a straight section, or car in
sight.
Arriving in Albany , I set up camp for the night at the Middleton Caravan
Park. The beach side was really nice - but extremely windy (as the next few
days were to prove!). They had the carols by torchlight there that night.
There was no way the wind was going to allow candles to stay alight....
19th Dec Albany - Norseman
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Leaving Albany at 7am, I hit the first decision point - Coastal road (Sth
Coast Hwy) or via the Stirling Ranges. I chose the latter as it seem to
offer some interesting sight seeing.
Well, there wasn't much to see for the first 100K or so. Just lots of
straight road. Getting bored, I decided to wind the bike out on a few
sections wanting to see how it handled at high speed with all the panniers
attached. Even at speeds well above illegal it was lovely but fuel
consumption took a *big* nosedive. Hmmmm... stick to something more
moderate....
The road from Esperance to Norseman was pretty uneventful. A few trucks, a
few corners and a helluva cross wind again.
Spent the night at the Norseman backpackers (Lodge 101). Nice crew there.
Well worth staying at.
20th Dec. Norseman to Nullarbor
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Woke to find grey skies. Not good - as grey skies were accompanied by drops
of wet stuff. Put on wet weather gloves but kept the dark visor and sunnies
(helps cut out the glare off the rain).
The original intention of the day was to get to Eucla and stop over night
there. However, it kept raining. Nothing heavy, just light drizzle and
drops. The price of the DriRider Highlanders paid for themselves on this
stretch. The wiper blade embedded in the two first fingers is priceless!
Every road train left a lovely smear across the visor. One quick wipe and I
can see again.
After arriving at Caiguna, looked at the rear tire. Uh oh.... tire wear a
little quicker than I thought! Granted the rear had 8500Km on it by then,
but them wear indicators are mighty close to the surface and I've still got
1500Km to get to Adelaide.
Things didn't improve much for the rest of the journey. I arrived at Eucla
to find it drizzling again and no hope of it clearing. So I decided to press
on after changing the visor to clear but keeping the sunnies.
Slowly it got darker. It would have been fine except the combination of rain
and dark started making it harder to see where the puddles were. The last
twenty Ks to Nullarbor were not the most pleasant, so I decided to call it a
day and took a Motel room there.
Question of the Day: Isn't it horrible riding in the wet on a motorcycle?
Nope. Unlike many riders, I really enjoy riding in the rain. It is so
relaxing in a different sort of way. The brain can't think about anything
else except keeping that bike on the road. Ignore the world and enjoy the
ride. And, for those wondering, no I didn't get wet at all. Gloves, R-Jays
riding gear, Alpinestar Gortex lined boots kept me dry as anything. It
certainly pays to spend that little extra on decent riding gear.
21st Dec - Nullarbor to Pt Augusta
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Woke again to find it pissing down with rain and windy again. Ho hum.
Getting used to this now. Departing at 7:30 with a bunch of cars I was going
to aim for Adelaide or Pt Augusta, skipping the original scheduled stop of
Streaky Bay. I'll leave that for the return trip from the east.
Today could be read as more of the same as yesterday. Lots of showers.
Stopped at Bunda cliffs, but could barely see the ocean, so kept going.
Once at Ceduna, the rain cleared but the skies stayed grey. Stopped off at
Penong for fuel and then again at Ceduna for some more (only 80Ks later).
The reason; I wanted to do an economy run to see how far I would get. Going
across the top, I'm going to need to do at least 270Km without a petrol
station. Previously I'd done this, but without the panniers, and the best
I'd done with them was 230K. From here to Pt Augusta was 261K, so that would
make a nice test.
Perfect! Arrived with using only 17.5L out of a 22L tank. Lots of range left
if I stick to 110Km/h. Also arrived with a sore butt and shoulders, so
crashed the night at the caravan park. Nice Chinese at the Pearl Garden for
dinner too.
22nd Dec Pt Augusta - Adelaide.
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Short trip this one. Getting up a little later, I wandered off down the road
to Adelaide. After passing a couple of signs to the Flinders Range area, I
finally gave in to a sign saying "Pt Germein Gorge". Gorge, that means windy
road doesn't it! You betcha! After 3000Km of straight bloody roads, a corner
or two would be nice.
I wasn't to be disappointed. Lots of tight little 40-50Km/h corners. Boy was
this hard work after all the straight roads. A big bike loaded up with full
panniers, fuel and a tank bag doesn't help in the handling department
either!
Anyway, I can recommend that road to everyone. Great for scratching. Once
through that I followed the inland roads down to Clare. Here there are a lot
of straight roads followed by a lot of sweepers. Great cruising at 120Km/h.
You can't take the sweepers that much faster because the roads are so
crappy. Not potholes, but patches on potholes. Makes the front end of the
bike jump around a little, but great fun none the less.
Also scared the shit out of a few car and truck drivers that I went past
too. Sometimes there were stretches that you couldn't get around, but once
it opened up, dropped back to 4th and opened the throttle. From a bike
peacefully wandering behind, to a missile going past like they were standing
still in less than 3 seconds! Wonderful feeling that.
Anyway, things were getting real worrisome now on the tire front. The last
couple of hundred km had been good for wearing out the sides, but the centre
was well down on the wear indicators. Deciding that something needed to be
done now, I wandered off into Adelaide in search of a Honda dealer.
Driving down Main North road, things were starting to get desperate so I
thought. Lots of cars, and not a bike dealer in sight. Ah ha. A second hand
dealer, best call in and ask for directions. "Ah, you missed the Honda
dealer about 500m up the road?" DOH!!!! And there they were. Bills
Motorcycles.
Wandered in and asked for a rear tire. Not expecting much, I also inquired
about a 12000Km service. It's a little early, but considering that
everything would be closed for the next week or so, I'd be well past due.
Amazingly, they did some shuffling and fitted me in right there. I'm
absolutely stoked! I didn't expect anything and I get a service on the spot.
To make matters even better, they had a loan bike for me - a ZZR250.
Yippee!!!!
So off I wander into Adelaide in full touring gear on this gutless 250
(well, compared to the Blackbird!) looking really odd. Great fun anyway,
trying to get lost and then back to the dealer in time.
Anyway, I can't thank Bill's Motorcycles enough for fitting me in like that.
They pushed aside other work to get me in. Thanks guys!
Ended up camping the night in Gawler Caravan Park. (I'm a glider pilot and
it's close to the airfield that I'm going to visit tomorrow.)
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End of Part 1 - Stay Tuned for Justin's
next on-the-road update
On Tour Around Oz - By Bike!
97 CBR 1100XX
90 KR-1S
Stereo on Wheels: Doof-Doof Boy.
Look for the blue hair and a motorbike....
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