So I got on the ZX9R C-2 and started riding which in turn led to the first leg of this story.  Parts 2 & 3 will follow shortly.   This first leg details my experiences on the way to Sydney to join up with some friends, before heading down to PI for the GP which will be Leg 2, followed by PI-GOR-Adelaide-Perth which will be Leg 3.

Of course after 5 PM is not the best time to be travelling the roo-infested country roads of Western Australia. After clearing the city limits and passing through Northam, Cunderdin, Kellerberrin, Merredin and Southern Cross, I finally made it to Coolgardie before calling it enough for the night. I stayed in a reasonably priced hotel next to the Coolgardie pub (how convenient) and made use of the close proximity to the pub to consume quite a few Beam & Cokes before retiring for the night.

Saturday morning saw me up and at it around 7:30 on my way to the next fuel stop at Norseman (180 km) and the Eyre Highway.

The stretch after Norseman is the longest distance between fuel stops at any point of the West-East journey, just over 190 kilometres.   About 100 kilometres into this I passed a bloke on a ZXR 750, he caught up a bit further down the road and we started riding together.

Having not learned my lesson last time I crossed this stretch, that lesson being that too much throttle uses too much fuel, I again ran out of fuel 182 kilometres after Norseman, about 10 kilometres out of Balladonia.

Luckily around 20 minutes later a Ute pulled in and offered me some juice out of a Jerry can they had in the back.   I gladly accepted and got underway once again.

At Balladonia I met up with ZXR 750 man who introduced himself as Darren (Not the infamous Darren that is featured in a few other of these travel stories). Darren was taking the southern route to Darwin, for a Navy posting, via Whyalla firstly to catch up with some relatives before commencing the northern leg of his journey.

The piece of road after Balladonia includes the longest completely straight bit of sealed road in the world. Ninety miles of absolute straightness with the only amusement available being dodging any emu’s that happen to wander into your path.

The next fuel stop is Caiguna where fuel was around 114 cents a litre. It is only 64 kilometres through to Cocklebiddy. You can skip that one and do the extra 92 to take you through to Madura Pass if you choose, which is - gasp - on a hill. Believe me a hill is quite exciting after the boring stretches you have traversed before here.

Next is a 183-kilometre stretch to Mundrabilla followed by another 66 kilometres through to Eucla. There is actually some reasonable scenery along this stretch to help relieve the boredom. There is another fuel stop roughly 12 kilometres after Eucla at Border Village, which funnily enough happens to be on the WA-SA border.

You now have a 185-kilometre stretch through to Nullarbor roadhouse. It is worth taking the time to stop at a lookout or two along this stretch as the views from the cliffs are quite spectacular.   Especially after the scrub type scenery you have experienced over the past 6 hours or so.  

This is Darren and his ZXR 750 a bit closer to the cliff edge than advisable.

Yalata Roadhouse is 93 kilometres further on from Nullarbor and only has fuel available until 1800, so we did this stretch in just over 25 minutes to get to Yalata well before 6. This bit brought on the worst fuel economy I have ever experienced on a bike, 13 litres of juice in 93 kilometres. This means that if I had kept going I would have only made it another 46 kilometres or so, which would have drained the 19 litre tank dry in under 140 kilometres! Note to self – restrain right wrist.

It is only another 60 kilometres further on to Nundroo, well within a sane tank range from Nullarbor should you be travelling after 6 PM and fuel is unavailable at Yalata. 

Another 80 kilometres saw us arrive at Penong, we duly called into the pub and inquired as to how much it was for a twin room, the $40 quoted sounded quite good so we commenced a tab and started having a few bourbons while getting to know each other.

The drinks slid down the throat rather well after a 1200 kilometre day for Darren and a 1400 kilometre day for myself. Well the $40 tab ended up being a $220 tab by the end of the night, need I say more. The Penong pub is one of the cleaner places to stay on the trip across and is probably about the best place to stay after traversing the Nullarbor.

The next day saw a slightly seedy pair of travellers up and at it around 0800 to complete the 73 kilometre stretch to Ceduna, then through Wirrulla (91) before stopping at Poochera for Fuel (another 48 Km), passing through Minnipa, Yaninee, Pygery, Wudinna and Kyancutta. Then 89 kilometres across to Kimba, followed by 89 kilometres to Iron Knob where Darren took his turn off to Whyalla. 

I continued the journey on my lonesome.   Another 70 kilometres saw Port Augusta and some lunch at Hungry Jack’s the home of the Whopper, which in my opinion is the ultimate form of culinary excellence.

About 50 kilometres past Port Augusta, Whopper repeating on me to my enjoyment, I took the turn off through Horrocks Pass, which is the way to Sydney via Broken Hill. Horrocks Pass had lots of tight bends and I was forced to learn how to use a gearbox again, much to my enjoyment.

I continued on, fuelling at Peterborough, Yunta, Mannahill, Mingary and Cockburn before crossing into New South Wales and stopping in for fuel at Broken Hill.

Now I was thinking how small NSW looked on a map of Australia and how little I had to go to Sydney, before I saw a sign reading 1200 and something kilometres to go! Oh this will be all right I think to myself I am in NSW now, it is full of people and there will be towns all the way, boy was I wrong, (note to self – look at and take map next time).

The next fuel after Broken Hill was around 70 kilometres to Little Topar, where I fuelled up ready for the next 125 kilometres through to Wilcannia. The wildlife was becoming more frequent with plenty of stock also on the road. It really makes me think Australia is a third world country sometimes while traversing the outback, I mean are you telling me that the farmers cannot afford fences to keep their stock in. This is criminal and displays stupidity at a quite incredible level. Road Safety – what a joke.  Climbing off pedestal now.

I was planning to stop in Wilcannia but the town did not look at all welcoming, so I decided to keep going through to the next fuel stop around 100 kilometres down the road. When arriving at said fuel stop it was now quite dark, so I inquired as to the availability of accommodation, of which there was none.   So I grabbed a Snickers and a Coke for a sugar fix to keep me alert for the next dark 160 kilometres through to Cobar.

A few truckies were sat at the outside table with me and we got to talking.

"You planning to ride through to Cobar tonight young fella" – Trucky 1

"Well there is nowhere to stay here so I guess I will have to" – Me

"I stay at Hotel International every night" – Trucky 2 referring to the cab in his International Truck

"You got a knife with you" – Trucky 1

"Yep" said I

"Well keep it in your pocket because if one of the pigs takes you out he and his mates will come back and do you in" – Trucky 1

"You what"

"Them pigs are evil bastards take my word for it, if you come off out there they will do you"

After uttering lot’s of unprintable expletives, I put one of my knives in my closest to get to pocket, another in the top of the tankbag and headed off at around 60 kph for Cobar.

This was the most dangerous bit of road I have ever traversed, stock and Kangaroos’ were everywhere. I did see one pig, it charged me and I managed to throttle on so it just missed the back wheel, take my advice readers, do not ride this stretch in the dark, I don’t even think I will do it again during the day.   This is the real Wild-West, a bit like something out of a Cowboy movie.

Got to the Cobar pub after a long 1600 kilometre + day in the saddle and got stuck into many beers with the bar manager. We got to talking bikes/cars/travelling. He told me of a bet he and some mates had participated in a few years ago - somebody bet them that they couldn’t do Cobar to Kambalda (near Kalgoorlie) in under 24 hours. Apparently they done it in driver shifts and got there in 22.5 hours! That trip is nearly 4000 kilometres. If it is true it is quite an achievement.

The Next morning I travelled through Nyngan then turned left at Nevertire to do the Oxley Highway. It started raining heavily around this time so after traversing some of the more boring bit’s of the Oxley I then turned South again at Gilgandra. Through Dubbo (KFC for lunch), Wellington, Orange, Bathurst, still raining heavily, Lithgow, Katoomba, really pissing down hard now, and Springwood before heading into Sydney and some dryer weather to complete the final 900 kilometre day of this stretch.

All up distance was nearly 5000 kilometres with my little detours,  time taken = 69 hours, when you take into account that I stopped to party three times I reckon that is pretty good going.