22nd Jan: Alice Springs
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The plan for today was to get up early, look at a couple of the canyons
along the West MacDonnell Ranges and then head to Kings Canyon, which is
down near The Rock. Then the following day, I'd meet up with James and
Julia at Uluru. As always, these are subject to change :)
The first stop of the day was Standley Chasm about 50K out along the road.
Some nice tree-lined areas and sweepers with the back drop of the rising
sun breaking on them from the east made a spectacular sight. The Chasm
itself was a nice little walk. It contains a waterhole, but there's no
swimming here. I soon discovered why. As you walk out along the dry river
bed, you come into a great overhanging section and the waterhole. If you
happen to look down at your feet rather than up at the wonderful scenery,
the ground looks like it moves every time you take a
step. Closer examination reveals thousands of tiny frogs about 10mm long.
In the waterhole, there's fish - big fish - about 10-15cm long. Here we
are in the middle of a huge desert and there's fish, frogs birds and
wallabies.
Walking out of the Chasm, another rider pulls up. Beau is an American on
tour that has bought a Suzuki Freewind (650 single enduro type bike)
locally. On the back he has Roseanne, a travelling friend from Sydney.
Something caught me as strange - ah... the Gearne race boots and gloves.
Not your standard off-road gear!
After a quick change of pleasantries, I head off to the next stop at
Simpson's Gap. This is privately owned place, so you need to purchase a
ticket to visit ($4). On the walk between the bike and the shop, I get
greeted by the usual "Nice bike, what is it?" By now, I'm fairly used to
this and give the standard "Honda, CBR 1100" answer. You can never tell if
the person owns a bike or doesn't know schmick about them. In this case,
the guy is an American and owns a R110GS. Actually, two of them - one in
Europe and one in the states. Naturally, a long chat about
touring ensues. During this time, Beau turns up! Cool, a potential
riding partner for the day?
Simpson's Gap is a smallish gorge through the mountains, but really
spectacular scenery during the hour surrounding midday. If you're
adventurous, you could keep climbing right up the gorge, but I had to turn
around because I still wanted to get to Kings Canyon for the evening. Upon
returning to the shop area to replenish body fluids (it's now around 40
degrees!) we pull out the map to find a waterhole. Before heading off, I'd
like a swim. Looking through the list, Beau finds a couple of interesting
ones. Unfortunately, they all have at least a couple of Km of dirt road to
get there. After the last effort on dirt, I'm very allergic to such
adventures. In the end, we settle for Ormiston Gorge, it's the furthest
away (another 100Km) but has a gorge and swimming, fulfilling the
requirements for Roseanne and myself. Also, if the swim is quick, I can
still get to Kings Canyon.
Well, lots of long boring straight roads later (surrounded by gorgeous
scenic hills mind you!) we arrive. Swapping into the speedos and leaving
the clothing on the bike, we head off towel and cameras in hand. Turning
the corner in the short walk finds an amazing swimming hole. It doesn't
take long before we're all very wet and much cooler. After an exploratory
swim (this place is huge, must be at least a kilometre end to end of deep
swimmable area) I head back to the river bank opposite the place we've
left the gear.
Suddenly a loud crack erupts overhead and echo's up the canyon. Ah – an
outback thunderstorm! About 10 seconds later, the heavens open up and
we're dashing across the river to get towels and camera's under cover.
Having done so, we sit waist deep in water with the rain belting down
around us. There can be no better way of describing "This is Australia".
Somewhere in the middle of this I suddenly realise that all my clothing is
drenched. A quick dash back and I'm standing under a thatched roof with
clothing that is partially soaked and lots of leaking water. So, we decide
to have a coffee and wait the rain out :)
15 minutes later and it's bright an sunny again, we're warmed up from the
coffee and wondering where to go. Low on petrol, I need to wander down to
Glen Helen Gorge to fill up. Arriving there, Beau spots a helicopter joy
flight. Bugger it. Let's go for a fly, I'll stay another night in Alice!
The ride back was fun. Two up on an enduro bike does not make for fast
sweeping cornering. We stop a couple of times for photo shots of bikes,
mountains and various other things. Once the windy roads come up, I fly up
the inside of Beau on a fast right hander and disappear into the roads
making use of the Territory's unlimited speed road.
Ended up crashing the night at Melanka Hostel after the usual beers and
story telling in the adjoining bar.
23rd Jan: Alice Springs - Uluru
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Ok, so let's try again. This time I head south in the direction of
Uluru. With plans now changed a bit, it's the rock direct this time.
Most of this trip is the usual straight, high speed territory roads.
With 200Km for the first leg to Erldunda, I cruise at around 160Km/h.
The second leg from Erldunda to the Ayers Rock Resort is just shy of 260,
so I need to be much more conservative at 120Km/h. Once on the road for
the second leg, I pick up a half decent tail wind. 200Km into the trip and
I still haven't hit the 1/2 tank mark yet. Normally, at that speed and the
gauge is about 1/3.
The resort out here is like an oasis. Mind you, a very expensive oasis.
Out of interest, I grab a listing of the room prices. The cheapest, and
this is off season, is $124 per night! Hmmm, no air conditioned comfort
for me, the camping ground it is. The resort was built some time after the
Chamberlains, so there's little risk of dingos steeling my bike :P
All of this has happened before midday. But by now I'm sweating like
crazy. Today is a mild, balmy 38 degrees. Yesterday was 45! While here,
I'd at least like to see the Olgas and the Rock. Maybe a day tour to Kings
Canyon. To find out what options are available I wander to the tour
centre.
After spending a half hour perusing the various brochures (include the
Harley tours one...) the best choice seems to be with AAT Kings. Lots of
flexibility with a 3 day pass and the cost isn't too bad. OK, so it's $300
for that plus a day trip to Kings Canyon, but I felt it was worth it. Also
playing on my mind at this stage was the state of the bike. It had around
23,000Km on the clock with a service due at 24K. Similarly, the rear tyre
was starting to get pretty worn. Ideally I'd like to get back to Perth
before doing a service and putting on a new tyre.
From Uluru, Kings Canyon is a 600Km round trip. Also, after 5 weeks on
the bike, sitting back and watching the countryside with someone else
driving seemed rather appealing.
The afternoon was spent on the first tour of Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) with a
Sunset viewing followed by a BBQ. The Barbie was pretty impressive just
because of the BBQ truck itself. Plenty of good tucker including a lot of
'roo to eat.
Wandering back, I meet up with James and Julia again. They'd found the
bike cleverly hidden behind some bushes and set up camp near me. On the
way out here, they'd passed a guy on a VFR who'd snapped his chain. Not
good, but they couldn't help him as their trailer is not the sort that you
can load things like a bike onto.
I fell asleep on the ground mat looking up at the beautiful dark skies of
outback.
24th Jan: Uluru
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Well, really it is Kings Canyon (now known as Watarrka) today. The trip
starts with a 5am pickup. At the first stop near Mt Conner (the largest
flat top mountain in Oz) I pick up a conversation with the bus driver
(Geoff Brown). Nice guy. Owns a VFR750 too! He's done a bit of touring on
it, but nothing major. Today is his last day before a 5 week holiday.
Unfortunately the wife and kids want to come too :P
Following breakfast of bacon and eggs at the Kings Creek Homestead, we
arrive there, stock up on water and set off. All this and its still only
8:30am.The walk is really interesting and definitely a test for the not so
fit. Many of the older participants elect to head back halfway up the
first hill climb.
The scenery and history around here are wonderful. Up here are the spots
from where some of Pricilla Queen of the Desert were shot. About half way
through the walk, you come across the Garden of Eden. The name is pretty
appropriate. A waterhole surrounded by cliffs 30-50m high and a small
trickling river that has palms and eucalypts down it. The swim here was
wonderful and refreshing as the temperatures were now on there
way skywards.
Following the walk, we have lunch at the Kings Canyon Resort. Not bad food
here and there's some cricket on the telly. Wandering out to the bus at
the allotted time I'm met with the driver walking around with a set of
pliers and screwdrivers. Curious, I follow. It seems that the key went
into the ignition and promptly snapped off! No starting the bus now. Many
frenzied phone calls to the company head mechanic result in nothing
useful. Finally Geoff gives up and just pulls out the wires and
hotwires the bus...
The rest of the day followed uneventfully. Much of the stops were
occupied with the Geoff and I chatting bike talk when he wasn't playing
tour guide. Arriving back at about 6pm, I'm too stuffed to go on a sunset
tour of Uluru. A small dinner and fall asleep under the stars again - to
the sounds of about half a dozen rabbits tearing up the undergrowth
(they're an introduced pest in Australia and at plague proportions in many
areas).
25th Jan: Uluru - Coober Pedy
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Today starts with a sunrise tour of the rock. Not only was the rock a good
show, but also the sky as well. Unfortunately most people here were didn't
even notice what was happening behind them.
Following such a wonderful start to the day, the only option was to
continue it by jumping on the bike again for the next destination: The
opal town of Coober Pedy.
The first part of the ride was pretty uneventful. As it was early, the
really strong headwinds weren't so bad allowing some decent range of the
bike. However, it was starting to get hot very quickly. Erldunda was a
chance to refuel body and bike then set off for Marla around 200Km away.
However, upon reaching Kulgera (70Km from Erldunda), I was already thirsty
so stopped for a drink. Imagine my surprise when rolling into the servo
I'm greeted by the site of some old vintage bike stacked up
with touring gear. I just about fell of the bike at that stage.
Upon closer inspection, I find a BSA single of some description (never did
find out the details) with a set of knobblies, hard panniers and a couple
of bed rolls strapped on the back. After taking a couple of photos, I
wandered into the shop to find the owner and get a drink. I was 50%
successful: drink but no owner. Downing the drink (it was _hot_) I start
suiting up again when I hear some yelling. Ah - I suppose the guy with the
yellow shirt that has BSA in big red letters all over the front and back
must be the owner - I'd walked straight past him while he had his head
stuck under the bonnet of a sick car. Naturally a long chat
about bikes followed :)
The BSA, as mentioned before, is a single of some description. He comes
from Belgium and this is the second lap of the world that he's done on the
bike! Actually, the knobblies are the second set of tyres he's put on the
bike one set lasts him the entire trip! The bike came in from Malaysia
about 2 months earlier and he has to be in Perth by mid February for the
next leg up through India and back to Europe. There's a lady travelling
with him as pillion so you can imagine the sorts of speeds he'd be getting
to on an old, heavily loaded bike like that. I thought I was having a
tough time with the heat at 120km/h, but at 80 it's got to be shocking.
Mind you, I departed with a large case of envy too. An original BSA, still
on the road doing serious work rather than just vintage rallies.
The rest of the day continued uneventfully. When travelling and staying in
Coober Pedy, there is only one place to stay - Radeka's Hostel. This is
carved into the ground where you sleep in comfy open "dorms". Naturally
the place is full of backpackers and also really popular with the biking
fraternity in Oz too. After the usual walk around the town, I feasted on 2
minute noodles for dinner and hit the common areas and bar. Spent most of
the night educating a young American kid on cricket (I think it was Oz v
Pakistan game) and then playing pool with the local bus driver and a
couple of girls who were also staying there.
Continued.............. |
