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7th Jan (cont.)
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After wandering out of Brizzie, I headed up the coast towards Noosa. The
coastal scenery was quite good, but traffic was crappy as could be
expected. The biggest thing I noticed was the commercialization of the
coast from when I was here last time. This was reflected at Noosa itself.
The caravan parks were all gone. The one that I'd stayed at last time
(Sunshine beach) was in the process of being bulldozed for a set of
apartment blocks!
Frustrated and angry, the next choice was to continue up the coast.
Remembering the conversations from the day before, I made tracks towards
Tin Can Bay.
Once off the highway, the road was wonderful to ride. A lot of fast
sweepers through some really nice forested areas. The road was recently
resurfaced giving lots of grip and few bumps so a constant 140Km/h was
quite comfortable and traffic (what little there was) not difficult to
pass.
Arriving at the Rainbow Beach turn off, a split second decision to travel
there instead was made. It worked well. Pulling into the local caravan
park on sunset to be greeted by a South African couple who showed me
to the tent sites (I'd pay in the morning). Again, we swapped bike talk.
They had a BMW 1150GS back home and do quite a lot of touring there.
The day was topped of with a twilight swim in the surf before collapsing
into bed.
8th Jan: Rainbow Beach - Gladstone
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Today could be summarized as a day of highs and lows. A subtitle could be
- CBRs were not designed as dirt bikes.
After a wonderful hour of surf at dawn, I decided to head off inland to
have a look at the forests and some country Queensland roads. Screaming
through to Maryborough via the back roads gave me a chance to really wind
the bike out. Again, more slow sweepers through pine plantations
frequently saw me throttling back to 160Km/h "just in case".
Heading inland I wanted to head to Woolooga via the back roads. From the
Maryborough turn off it was more high speed cruising through lots of open
forest. The roads are quite open for the first 60 Km, then turn into
smaller one lane, but still tarred roads through wooded farmlands. Things
started getting tighter in the corners.
A couple of sets of 60Km/h twisters and then you're greeted with "Windy
roads, next 6Km". Yippee! Followed by "Crest". and then "Gravel Road" - Oh
Shit! That's not in the brochure! Oh well, nothing to do but tough it out.
*shrug*.
About 6km later and the gravel ends and tar begins. Travelling through
Kilkivan and then filling up with fuel at Murgon, the next destination was
Gayndah via one of the forest roads.
Heading to Hivesville and looking at the turn for the chosen road, a sign
greeted me with "Gravel Road, next 51Km". Deciding discretion was the
better part of valour, I chicken out and headed further west through
Proston and then up north to Gayndah.
I was really enjoying myself. Counting the number of cars on one hand and
cruising a mixture of single and dual lane tar road at 120Km/h.
At one single lane section, a 4WD passed me in the opposite direction. As
usual, I slow right down to 60Km/h or less when passing traffic in this
stuff. There's dirt on one side I don't want to go in and the car has to
put in one wheel. This time I wasn't so lucky. A white lump flicked up out
of the rear wheel and impacted with the usual crunch, tinkle sound. DOH!
Reaching over the front of the bike while slowing down, everything felt
OK. Brakes work and handling still felt fine, couldn't be too bad.
About 20Km later, and wondering what damage had really happened, I decided
to stop and inspect. Oops! I'm missing most of the headlight and a good
chunk of the right side of the top fairing! This is not looking good. I'm
not going to win any concours comps now! No point crying over spilt milk,
so I jumped back on and headed onwards.
Getting to Gayndah, I head north towards Eidsvold. After heading through a
couple of servos on the way into town, I discover none on the other side.
The second failure of the day struck. Attempting a U-turn halfway up the
hill, I try to turn around and avoid the gravel on the side of the road (not
a good place to have DCBS - ed'). Losing balance of the bike, I lay
it gently over on the right side. Quickly righting it, I jump on and ride
away. Then I try to put my right foot onto the peg and just about loose it
under the muffler! The peg had snapped of completely. Wonderful, just
wonderful.....
Filling up with petrol, I head back and pick up the wayward peg and head
up the highway. Now I really need to find a resting place. Gladstone it
will be.
At Monto, there's a sign to Gladstone (161Km), or keep going to
Rockhampton. If I take the Rocky alternative there's an extra 50Km to the
trip. I'll take the shortcut and as a bonus won't have to refuel again.
Nice road this. Hmmm... road sign says something about steep grades and
tight corners. Cool, this could be interesting and fun with no foot peg.
After about 80Km, There's another "Gravel Road" sign. Hmmm.. OK, I can do
this. After 12Km of gravel, there's this little town called Kalpower. Stop
to check where I am on the map. A sudden despair drops over me. 50Km of
gravel one way or 60Km the other, but it's probably closer. The shorter
road has that sign again. I'll stay with less curves and steep roads when
traveling on gravel thanks.
The next 2 hours were extremely hairy. I'm not the best of dirt riders and
this bike really isn't cut out for it. I survive, but barely. No damage to
the bike except the top box left bracket has suddenly disappeared (it has
been coming loose every day). Some makeshift repairs involving fencing
wire, duct tape and a strap I had under the seat for such emergencies and
I'm on the way again.
Pulling into Gladstone I find the first hotel and collapse for the night.
Today's stats are:
300Km with no foot peg
75Km Gravel road through a state forest without said foot peg
850Km all up.
Loss of headlight, partial front fairing (will need to be replaced), foot
peg and top box bracket.
9th Jan: Gladstone - Mackay.
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I'm all out of heroics today. Highway travel all the way.
Before leaving I manage to bodge together the passenger foot peg into a
main peg. It will do until things get fixed later. Note to Mr Honda: You
should make front and rear pegs partially interchangeable! At least make
them use the same size pin so that we can swap them over when one brakes -
I'm sure that's a pretty common thing when a bike gets laid over.
10th Jan: Mackay - Airlie Beach
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Fairly quiet again. Spend the morning recharging the Mobile phone cards
(prepaid) and contacting the Townsville Honda shop. Parts are organised
(new front tyre, headlight, and the 18000Km service). The service is
organised for Thursday (4 days away).
Airlie Beach is another camp site. After setting up, it starts to rain
again. Luckily this time I'd set up a Hoochie to keep everything dry (some
light sprinkles on the way up). A boat tour is organised for tomorrow so
there'll be nothing happening on the biking front. Just being a
tourist.....
End of Part d - Stay Tuned for Justin's next
on-the-road update
Part E
Justin Couch
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.... |
