If you can make sense of this random rambling then you are a better person for it! And I will not validate any lies told over the past 4 months......
Lets due the numbers:
US mileage 18,700=30,030km
Started from Sydney(New South Wales) on 23 June, moving counter clockwise and got to Kinglake (Victoria) on the 24 September.
Number of nights in a tent..........too many and started to smell like my socks
Number of nights sleeping between sheets.......
Number of OZ black boxes of fine red wine consumed......
Number of BIG green bottles of Victoria Bitter beer..........
Number of cell phones thrown from a cliff....1(Vodafone)
Number of days that I wore the same set of clothes......15.....just kidding!????? my socks will only know
Bad:
1.NZ freight forwarder, just outright incompetent
2.OZ freight forwarder customers broker, just did not know what they were doing costing me in excess of $2500.00 in car/cabin rental fees
3.Coffee, does no one have pot coffeeeeeeeee? This espresso crap glues you to the ceiling with caffeine!
4.Sandy/bull dust roads, corrugations
5.No senior discount at the Kalgoorlie brothel
6.Top Tourist Shady Glen caravan site Darwin along with the attitude of the manager
7.Meeting the unexpected Roo or wild stock on the open road
8. Road house menu.....Christ is there anything out there that is not deep fried and 10 days old.
Good:
1.The Australian people,
2.Caravan groupies
3.The open road
4.Beer and cheap black box red wine (2 litres)
5 Big 4 caravan sites at Alice Springs, Katherine and Robe and the Top Tourist caravan site in Coobowie.
Mechanical: BMW F650 GS Repairs
Front forks seals, front forward sprocket replaced, wheel bearings for front and rear, tyres (2 sets), chain, 5 oil changes, seat recovered.
Motorcycle tools: Bead breaker, long tyre irons, extra tubes for front and back tyre, air compressor that plugs into the 12 volt bike system, torx tips, tool bag, assorted nuts/bolts, litre of oil, can of lubricant, 24mm wrench for oil plug, assorted BMW bike repair parts,
Motorcycle Clothing: Dri-rider jacket, BMW trousers, suspenders, SIDI boots, Shoei Helmet(had to be tossed from damaged of me going airborne once too many times), winter gloves, summer gloves, balaclava, AERO tech inner jacket, thermo underwear, scarf
Accessories: North Face 4 season 2 man tent, sleeping bag, inflatable air mattress and pillow, 2 one litre fuel containers, 4 (1) litre water bottles, assorted nylon ties, clothes pins, washing up liquid, wet-ones, paper towels, reading material, a complete set of Hema 4WD maps of OZ, OZ Motorcycle Atlas, head lamp, radio, 40 gig hard drive, camera battery charger, electrical plug adapter(US to OZ), plastic Ziploc bags of 1 gallon and quart size, rubber mallet
Cameras:
Canon 20D SLR digital(failed completely).
Canon G5 point and shoot camera(LCD screen failed)
GPS: Garmin 60Cx: Australian V7 Mapsource software loaded. GPS would at the odd time freeze up on the track that it was recording. You had to stop and remove and reinsert the batteries to get the system working again. Or the GPS would lose all Mapsource data and the courser had you out in Never, Never land some where.
Clothing: 3 pr of socks, 2 long sleeve shirts, 2 pr of shorts, one long sleeve rash guard and 1 Tee shirt. And 90% of the clothes will be burned or treated as Hazardous waste as I have received notice from the Honolulu Quarantine that I will be deloused with DDT on arrival.
Emergency backup:
1.Cell phone (very doubtful in the outback)
2.EPIRB: emergency beacon tied (406Mhz) into satellite system
3.Medical flight insurance: will fly you back to the USA and will attempt to recovered your bike if possible
Food:
Breakfast: A banana and a cup of coffee or juice
Lunch: If I missed breakfast, then at the first fuel stop it was Mrs. Macs Beef Pot pies. This would sit in your stomach like a 40 pound weight.
Dinner: A package of biscuits, onion dip and either wine or beer.
I generally carried on the bike banana's and trail mix.
Ugly: Vodafone. If anyone ever decides to buy, subscribe to this company while in OZ you should be shot, quartered and buried and run through with sheep dip. This company is the worse of the worse for everything it stands for. Buyer beware!!!!!
Reference Reading:
Crocodile and Buffalo Hunter Tom Cole
The Territory Ernestine Hill
The Great Australian Loneliness Ernestine Hill
The White Divers of Broome John Bailey
Mr. Stuart's Track John Bailey
Northern Patrol, An Australian Saga
R.H.Pilmer
Common Wildflowers of Western OZ
Down Under Bill Bryson
A guide to plants of Inland Australia
Phillip Moore
Batavia's Graveyard Mike Dash
Life in the bush- Bio of Len Beadell
Mark Shepard
Cattle Duffers of the Outback Frances M. Boyle
Mail for the back of Beyond John Maddock
Out of the bush Len Beadell
Thoughts for the un-traveled road:
I would have loved to do the major dirt 4WD roads but going out by yourself would be just asking for trouble and the availability of fuel is crucial.
The ideal solution would be to travel with another bike and a support vehicle. And take a bloody course on riding in the sand!
What I will really miss, once I am back in Hawaii, is the open road and the freedom that you feel riding the bike. Would I do it again, yes, and again by myself.
I would time my trip to coincide for the wild flowers(Sept/Oct) in Western Australia, that’s if it ever rains out there.
Norm Garon
The Grey Nomad
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