K11 Owners Group

[boxerNZ]

REAL OUTBACK AUZ
by Darryl Applegate
Starting to plan a bike trip in January 09 in Auz somewhere and decided to go for Brisbane to Birdsville via Longreach, and return via the Birdsville track, Peterborough, Brokenhill and back to Brisbane. 6000kms, 2000kms of that in dirt.
There are four of us: Cliff from Brisbane (my older brother) XR650 with a larger fuel tank, a small givi box and some throw over bags; Murray (my younger brother) and his mate Mike, both from Rotorua on 2 rental F650s with just a large bag strapped on to the rear seat each, and 1 tank bag supplied by the rental company; and myself from Whangarei riding an ’88 Honda Transalp I bought on Ebay Auz, with tank bag, throw over bags, and a gearsack rear bag. I fitted knobbly tyres: Mitas 09 rear and a Pirelli on the front. The XR had Mitas 70/30% road/offroad tyres and the 2 BMWs had semi off-road tires fitted.
We kiwis decided to leave New Zealand on 27th April and return on 12th May.

Monday 27/04/09
We arrived in Brisbane 11.30am on a beaut sunny day. Murray and Mike had to go up to Noosa to pick up the rentals. I was met by Cliff and taken out to his place in Ipswich where our 2 bikes were waiting, mine had to have some pannier frames fitted, which proved to be a pain as being registered as a solo bike, the holes where the racks mounted were partly welded up.

Tuesday 28/4/09
We had planned to meet Murray and Mike in Kenilworth around 11am, 200 odd kms away, so an early start should have been in order, but of course a few drinks last night made us slower leaving.
Cliff and I finally left Ipswich 8.30am, another beaut sunny day. A little cool to start off with but a great start. We took the scenic route past the Wivenhoe dam with twisty roads and was nice green farmland interspersed with bush. The road into Kenilworth was a single narrow road with one lane bridges. As we pulled into the gas station in Kenilworth Cliff’s XR gear lever broke. The man in the garage directed us to a Honda dealer in Gympie about 60kms away.
Murray and Mike arrived so we headed to Gympie to hopefully get a new lever. After riding around Gympie we found the Honda shop we wanted and yes they had a gear lever. The guys there were really friendly and helpful and fitted it for us with no charge for labour. By now it was around 1pm so we headed off towards Dalby our overnighter, via Bunya Mountain National Park. This was a neat little side road through the mountain approx 50kms, the mountain being the only elevation in an otherwise flat farming area. Great views were had from the top looking towards Dalby.
Arrived in Dalby around 5pm, however accommodation was hard to find as all the travelling workers seem to book the town out. We ended up having to take 2 rooms, each only having 1 double bed, and blokes being blokes we wouldn't share the beds, so two of us opted to sleep on the floor. Ironic considering that coming from a family of 12, we had often had to share beds. After a few beers and a good feed at the pub we were ready for bed, around 650kms today and only 1 tea break.
Wednesday 29/4/09
I was the up early and took a stroll around town before the shops opened. We hung around till 9am so Cliff could buy a new pair of work boots as the new motorcycle boots he had bought in Ipswich weren't comfortable. Only a short 130kms of straight flat road in to Chinchilla for breakfast, plenty of cotton fields out this way and coal trucks with 3 trailers on. While getting ready to leave Chinchilla a bloke who rides an F650 told us a how he did a trip through the Simpson Desert, fully loaded, crashed in the sand and had to be airlifted out. He suggested an interesting back road to a good pub in a place called Cracow around 200kms away much better than the straight main road. This was the beginning of picking dirt back roads on our trip. We had 100kms of good single tar road to the Dingo fence then another 100kms of rough rutted soft bull dust to the Cracow pub. The pub was much like the Puhoi pub near Auckland. We were the only ones there being a week day. A couple of beers to wash down the dust, and were then off to Moura for the night. Again, we stayed at a pub with motel units. Around 500kms today.

Thursday 30/4/09 April
We left around 9am today for another long day of riding, heading for Tamba. We got the straight boring 300 odd kms out of the way first, then turned left at Springsure off the Dawson highway, onto a back road. This should be good, as there’s only 50kms of seal, but 250kms of dirt, sand, gravel, and rock. Time to start concentrating as the road keeps changing with big pot holes, some filled with sand and others filled with bull dust. If you get it wrong here you could be off in a second. The other guys had bikes with better suspension than my old Transalp, but this didn’t seem to matter that much as the bike and I worked well together. While crossing the Great Dividing Range I saw ahead something brown on the road, thinking its most probably some animal shit, I veered to the left of it and Murray, who was following behind me and to the right saw it strike at me. It was a Brown snake. Lucky for me it missed. Todays ride was fast with speeds up to the limit of the bikes and ourselves. We stayed tonight in Blackall at a motel, but we did have a pub meal tonight. Today I had to carry 5ltrs of petrol and even then I only just made it to the gas station in Tamba. Did around 650kms today.

Friday 1/5/09
A short ride today. Blackall to Longreach 210kms of straight sealed road, not too many cars though. We left around 9am, another beaut sunny day.
On the way out of Blackall we came across 2 utes full of dead kangaroos heading home after a nights shooting. We had breakfast at a café next to the gas station in Balcalding. We arrived in Longreach around midday, here we needed to try to get a fork seal replaced for one of the F650s. First we tried the Kawasaki shop, but they said no don’t have the part or the time to fix it, next we went to the Honda shop on the other side of town, they had the part but no we can’t fit it for you try the shop next door. Well the guys next door were the good guys and said they were rather busy now but you can use our workshop and our apprentice while he’s waiting for some parts on another job. Well the apprentice ended up doing the whole repair and they only charged us $40 + parts.
Now its 2pm so off to look for a motel, we managed to find one right in town, with a pool. As it is a hot day, we’re straight into our togs and into the pool and boy was the water cold. We then had a late lunch and looked around town for some cheap fuel cans as tomorrow I will need to carry 12ltrs of extra fuel as we have a 380km ride with no gas stations. The 2 Hondas seem to be using about the same amount of fuel, but the BMWs were using a lot less. I ended up buying 3 x 4ltr bottles of water then emptying them.
Longreach is where Qantas first started from. So they have put a 747 aircraft right beside the main road. Mike thought this was an airport until he saw the sign ‘Museum’.
As it was Friday we thought we might have a late night out drinking, but the town was dead by 11.30pm so we gave up and went back to the motel to sleep...

Saturday 2/5/09
Today, Longreach to Windorah,380kms mostly in dirt.
We tried to leave Longreach early but there was nowhere open for breakfast. We left around 9am after filling ourselves, bikes and fuel cans. A few kms out of town the road changed to a single lane which, means if a large truck comes along we have to move out of its way onto the dirt as there isn’t enough room for both of us. We then hit the sandy bull dust road, however in good condition. We only saw a few cars on this stretch of straight road with not much to look at as we were surrounded by scrubland and sand. We came across a car on blocks with one of its wheels off, no one around so hopefully they had got a lift to a township.
Just outside of Jundah we came across 1km stretch of road, flanked by the names of towns travellers had come from. These were made out of stones. While chatting to some locals we were advised of an interesting road which would follow a riverbank to Windorah, but somehow we took the wrong turn and although we reached Windorah, the river remained elusive.
We filled up at the gas station only to find a blind man behind the counter taking the cash. All on trust I suppose. He’s been running the gas station for the past 20 years. Next stop is the pub around the corner to have a beer and book into our room for the night at the local pub. Mike being ready to have a shower jumped on his bike to ride around the back to the motel rooms. While he was doing this one of the barmaids told us that the local cop told her to warn us to use all the right road rules (as Mike had not used his indicator to turn left) or else he may have to fine us next time. Amazing as here we are nearly 3000kms into the centre of Auz not many people or traffic and we get a warning for this, well he must be bored.
Gee we are lucky he hasn’t seen how we have been riding.
Also today we came across some ruins of a pub that had been bought by the local farm stations then purposely closed down to stop the farmworkers from getting drunk. It was the only way they could keep them performing their jobs properly. Today’s dirt roads were easy riding was easy as they were mostly straight and the surface was like a 4 lane highway, well looked after.

Sunday 3/5/09
Before leaving Windorah I filled up my spare can with fuel. We only had 300kms to get to Birdsville, but the Transalp was hungry on fuel, (or was it my riding it too hard) the road was soft with pot holes full of bull dust or sand. If you got out of line with the tire track other vehicles had left, it became a fight to get back in line. I found the best way to ride through the holes filled with bulldust and sand was to drop two gears and give it heaps. If you didn’t the front end would bog down and then you would have to fight your way out, or even go over the handle bars.
We came up behind a truck and because there was so much dust, it was too dangerous to pass it the legal way, so we overtook him on the left.
Ten kms down the road we came across Cliff, flat out on his back in a bulldust hole beside his bike. He had hit this hole wrong and now was very sore, lucky we only had 30kms to Birdsville where we could get him checked out. I think his pride was well hurt here, as Auz is his country, and besides that, he’s riding the only real dirt bike.
Once in Birdsville we filled the bikes up and headed straight to the famous Birdsville Tavern for a well earned beer. Found our cabins round the back. While Cliff was resting we went and had a bite to eat at the café. I had a kangaroo pie. After tea Cliff decided he should get checked out as he was getting quite sore. The doctor reckoned he most probably had a couple of cracked ribs and gave him some strong pain killers as he knew the only way out of there was for us to ride.

Monday 4/5/09
We left Birdsville around 9am for a 170km ride down the Birdsville track to Mungerannie, travelling a bit slower today due to Cliff’s condition. The road was easier to ride as the surface was well packed and like a 4 lane highway in most parts, but you still had to concentrate as the wind was quite strong and would push you off course. Due to the floods they had out here 3 weeks ago some of the road was washed away and big mud ruts were left and you needed to go around these or else be buried with the bike. We were surrounded again by arid tussockland, no trees to break the horizon. The road would change in colour from brown, to red, to yellow and white, and this is what we looked at most of the day. Didn’t see much wildlife either, the good thing was we never got any bugs on our visors, only dust.
We had a few cars overtake us on this stretch due to our reduced speed. Each time we stopped I would have to kick start the XR for Cliff as Murray and Mike were too short to hold the bike up. This took some practice as I haven’t had to kick start a bike for a long while. We arrived at Mungerannie close to 3pm, filled the bikes ready for an early start then into the pub for our usual beer after a good ride. We had a feed too, the best bacon and egg roll since Brisbane. We booked into what they called a motel room, these were rooms at the side of the pub with only 2 single beds in each the size of a garden shed. Most rooms were taken though, not surprising as there is nothing else around apart from the hard ground. We went and had a soak in the Artesian water hole.
While in the bar that night Cliff’s mobile rings and the whole pub goes quiet in disbelief. This fooled everybody, as why Cliff could get a call when there was no reception out here. The ring was only a manual prompt to tell cliff its time to take his pills. Most of these outback pubs seem to have English people working behind the bars. The couple here only arrived in Brisbane last week and were sent out near the middle of Auz to work. What an abrupt change of lifestyle from a big city to outback Auz.

Tuesday 5/5/09
Today we had hoped to leave early, 7am but that never happened. Weetbix for breakfast, easy riding today 100kms of dirt then onto sealed roads again. A nice little town is Maree with some older buildings and of cause the Ghan trains. After a feed and fuel we set off south towards the Flinders Ranges. The road and country side started to change here into green farmland and mountains. Stopped at the town of Hawker for a cuppa and more fuel, turned left here and headed to Peterborough for the night. This was a smaller road with some great corners, much more enjoyable riding. Time was getting on, so we used a bit of speed. We had a few kangaroos racing us, and then they jumped out to cross the road, luckily with enough clearance for us not to panic. This made us slow down a little more for the trip into Peterborough, a great old town with lots of old buildings and notably, the meat works for horses. (I had stayed in Peterborough back in the mid 80s on the way to the famous World Ends Rally.) We ate out in the Restaurant connected to our motel. I was the only one willing to order kangaroo steaks and boy were they great. (You could still see the tire marks though).

Wednesday 6/5/09
Weather’s a bit cooler now we are in SA and back on the simple straight roads with traffic and cops so our riding habits had to change. We stopped for gas and decided to have breakfast here in Yunta. Talked to some guys here on old Brit bikes, who had ridden from Melbourne and were en route to Perth. The bikes were well overloaded with gear, and one of the bikes showed the evidence of an overfilled gearbox - a spattering of oil over much of the rear of the bike, including the tyre.
Easy ride from here into Broken Hill. This town brings back memories, as I attended the Broken Hill rally here too, back in 1987. We had trouble finding accommodation here as there was a Country Women’s Club meeting in town. Lucky for us they were a bit fussier in where they stayed, whereas we managed to find the local pub with cheap rooms.
Mike’s rental bike needed a new chain, sprockets and a rear tyre, but the rental company would only put on a new chain, so while this was being done we went and had a feed and a walk up the big hill to an old coal mine that is now just a look out. This was crowded out by the Country Club women. Back in ‘87 I actually went down into this coal mine.
Thursday 7/5/09
We actually got an early start and headed out towards Wilcania, a boring ride as the road is rather straight. Wilcania is a dead town with not much going for it, a lot of drunken Aboriginals, even at 9am. We filled up with gas and turned left heading for Tilpa and back on some great dirt roads, following the Darling River. This road was rather rough and lots of soft spots. They had even afforded some ‘road works’ signs warning us of rough sections, yet the sections were no different to the rest of the road. We arrived in Tilpa close enough to lunch time, so a beer was needed as well as some food and petrol. Not much else out this way. We crossed the Darling River Bridge to the east side and followed this road into Bourke, (again I have ridden this road on a road bike 2 up, a Kawaski GT 750 shaft drive, overloaded as we were doing a trip around Auz - now that was a hard ride as the road was still wet in parts from rain.) This time round it was dry, a better bike, and riding solo so I had some fun.
Friday 8/5/09
From here on to Bourke Mike’s bike kept blowing fuses and he was getting worried that we might have to tow him for the next 100km. Stayed in a Backpackers as again the accommodation was booked out. We ate tea in a rather busy pub. In the morning Mike went to hunt for some more fuses and bought around 10 just in case. From here on, it’s sealed roads with hardly any bends. Came across an emu, that had been half squashed, but was still alive in the middle of the main highway, so we stopped to put him out of his misery and the only way we could do this was to find a large rock and knock it on the head, but this was harder to do than we thought and took several goes.

Saturday 9/5/09
From Bourke to Moree we could see our trip coming to an end. Cliff and I would head to Goondiwindi for the night and Murray and Mike would head for the coast. From here the riding and roads seemed basic, compared with our experiences of the last two weeks. Now we are in farm country and have to look out for sheep.
Sunday 10/5/09
Arrived back at Cliff’s in Ipswich, Brisbane at around lunch time. I got straight into cleaning the bike, oil change and fixing the speedo, while Cliff quickly showered and headed off to see his girlfriend who had been bugging him on the whole trip. Unexpectedly, Murray turned up so we fired up the barbie got some beer and invited some of the family over.
Monday 11/5/09
A lazy day for me. Murray left to return to Noosa and hand over the F650.
Tuesday we met at the airport and flew home.
I sold the 88 Honda Transalp 2 weeks later on Ebay Auz fore more than I paid for it. Result! I will miss it though, as it did a great job.

photos
http://s844.photobucket.com/albums/ab3/darrylwhg/Real%20Outback%20Ausi/


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_________________
R80G/S1986
R1200C 1998
650 Vstrom 2019
All roads are good, keep riding

[drikko]

Took you a while to write that up!! It's an incredible area out there aye, as a young man 30+ years ago I spent a couple of years working in the opal mines south of Windorah and west of Eromanga, learnt a lot about how to survive out there and bush driving. You need a lot of respect for nature when you go off the beaten track like we did.

Well done and I would like to do that trip on bikes one day but will have to learn how to ride on dirt first!

BTW next time you see a brown snake on the road run over the bugger, we had one in the house a while ago, dangerous and aggressive bastards, fortunately my son was there to chase it out......
_________________
K1100RS '97
Laverda RGS 1000 '84
Jim Young Trailer Sailer 5.7M WB

DISCLAIMER:- Anything I say may have been when I was drunk so please don't take it personally.

'Bigamy is having one wife/husband too many. Monogamy is the same.'
Oscar Wilde

[boxerNZ]

Yea I,m a slow writer
back in 86 I did a trip from Sydney, Adelaide. through the centre(dirt) to Darwin,across to Caines up to Cape Tribulation , Fraser island, Brisbane and back to Sydney. mostly camping 2 up on a Kawaka GT750 worst bike I owned, since then BMWS
_________________
R80G/S1986
R1200C 1998
650 Vstrom 2019
All roads are good, keep riding

[merlin geikie]

Thanks Boxer.

Inspiringly good ride report... great great country

All the very best Mate and thanks for coming over and doing it.

[SugarHillCTD]

Darryl,

Thanks for the trip report and pictures

I think I have seen more of the world through the K11OG than in all those National Geographic magazines.

John
_________________
John & Cathy

'92 K100RS4V Pearl White SOLD
'04 K1200GT
IBA Several-SS1k, BBG, 50CC NYC to S.F.

[Karlos11]

What a great ride report! And the photos, awesome! Makes me want to get a trail bike and do the same in the vastness of the Outback. Thanks for sharing
_________________
Carlos
'95 K1100 RS

[boxerNZ]

Hi John
Good to here u look at the world ,but I think it's time u got out and rode it
_________________
R80G/S1986
R1200C 1998
650 Vstrom 2019
All roads are good, keep riding