Notes from my mate Hennings ride from Albury to Alice on his old r75/5. (This was his update and I will post it as emailed to friends.He has a way with words and is up for any adventure. In early 60s now and his bike has done about 500 thousand miles on the clock. I am sure he wont mind me posting his tales) Gday, Departed Albury thursdee 10th July for Steves 60th w/e via Caffine fix at Vivian & Bruces in Wagga Wagga. With burn blister in left palm all was in hand to battle the mid winter cold, arriving Ryde @ 8.30pm & settled in to some nibbles & red & verbal dioreah after the well earned hot shower!!!! For a few days did se chores, Steves 60th, serviced bike with new $40 2nd rear tyre fitted at Joy & Adrians, visited olde friends Di & Ian then set sail wednesdee for another older mate, Ray in Wauchope via Nabiac M/C museum. Still bloody cold en route Margarets for arvo tea in Lismore to arrive Anne & Toms near Canboolture for cuppla nights. Was given a guided fang in them there fantastic hills. Then Tom escorted me, to make sure I left c/w with packed lunch in my baggage, to Towoomba to arrive at St George show ground at the end of a folk & poetry w/e. $10 for a camp oven dinner & breaky & slept on the stage. $85-$140 for single accommodation in either hotels or caravan parks made this a good decision. The camp oven chef, a quiet country lad, said that his mate n him hold the record for most sheep shorn by a team of 2 shearers in one 8 hours day which is 709 sheeps. I think thats 58 seconds each @ about 32 blows per sheep. Good effort eh!! Rise, shine & after in the library & posting excess baggage to Darwin, the 11am departure got me to Thargamindah & tent erected by 5pm next to 4 yuppie GS1200s & 2 Nippon bikes & fully loaded supported 4WD + trailer. Also here is Australias first steam powered street lights. Well you wouldnt believe it, just after my 3am wee break, one of the gents started screaming & shouting as if having a heart attack moment. I waited for a bit & heard his mates voices- so all was in hand, mmmmmmm. Upon rising In the a.m. I was informed that the said dyeing gent nearly did!!!! Having a 1 foot thick air bed, sleeping bag type doona but there was still a need to have a heat from the gas stove on all night!!! Would you believe it, the poor buggar nearly died. He had been to the Pearly Gates but found his way back, a very close one indeed. 4 hours in the hospital & he was set free. OH! I failed to mention a hot water bottle as well. We meet up again in the Innamincka common that night. On arrival I was greeted by Geoff, Tony & Lloyd who had kindly cooked me dinner. Foresight, surely not!! So far the ground dwelling fauna has been sheeps, cattle, road kill & Wedgeys, dead pigs, emus, cats, no reptiles except for 4 lizards, dingos, goats, only a few police, horses, Brolgas, roos but no camels ........ yet!! Aerial fauna has been plentiful. Well who would believe that at my age Ive finally bought mini gas cooker for travelling!! Hot porridge & coffee for breaky - luxury. Generally the land scape has benefited from recent rains. A rest day Innamincka & enjoyed some good fellow happy campers. Also the excess fuel consumption, down by ~20% ish, was a result of wholly carby diaphragms which I replaced my spare not so wholly ones whiched helped a good bit. Thursdee 24th was to be the 480 kms dreaded olde/new Strezlecki Tracks combo. Reports ranged from good to shitfull to bulldust to 100 miles of stony roads. Well 8 hours later after about 80 kms of intermittent bulldust ( yep a few sphincter moments without a dump ) & about 30 miles stony/gravel saw me in Lyndhurst. I wish that I could ride the BMW to its full capacity. Then on to Historic Farina for a quiet evenink. This was a bustling town in the early 90s. Now that the Oodnadatta Track is 2kms away its just the sandstone remains, which are well worth a look of what once was. The campsite is well worth a sleep!! I slept in the open without tent, an omen. After rising @ 8am, porridge with coffee I noticed a broken tube in the L/H pannier rack. A job for $30 at Maree. Also lunched & wifid - as you do. 5 months to Xmas & the $40 tyre is still going strong!! All fixed & fuelled Coward Springs was the go, 130kms via a few olde Ghan bridges & the arty works of metal!!!! As always the bore here is worth the dip & camp but have a soapy shower afterwards as the mozzies can smell you, even through jeans & jumper. I was gunna sleep (omen) out but the mozzies made me erect the fly in haste. No moon means looking at the exceptional star display, with binoculars that increases 100 fold!! Both Farina & Coward Springs are worth a 2 night stay cos one could/should ponder the past along with the wonderful nothingness here, along with great facilities. An observation that Ive shared in the past without reply is this!! When us humans watch something pass by us we anticipate & our head follows smoothly, eg. a race motorbike. However, if you watch a cow as you ride past its head mooves to where you are but when it gets there youve mooved on. Then repeats that in continuous moovements. Got it?? Please comment. Humour me!! Now back the ride at hand. Shared a fire with fellow bikers travelling with family & friends in 4 wheel thingies, great company. It is a bit lonely one my own but meeting fellow happy campers daily & at day stops is a fair trade off. Breakied & packed got me to WC 10am. Refuelled for security. What great roads - 203kms from William Ck to Oodnadatta. In 2.5 hours. Lunched & fueled then travelled through the Painted Sands. Great new road & a must do. Now camped by the railway about 520kms south of Alice. The 1200kms of dirt roads were unhappy event free with plenty happy ones. Tyre pressures @ 15 & 25 psi made for the great handling. Its that quiet & flat here that when I yelled out Good Morning there was no echo & no answer. Travelling to Alice Springs was event free but slow cos if fuel consumption & tyre preservation concerns. The weather got warmer once into Northern Territory with some great landscape. Now camped with Tony, John, John, Anthony, Lloyd & Geoff & we are all getting ready for the roads to Drysdale Station. My $40 Sydaney rear tyre barely made it & hopefully diaphragms & tyres today. After wednesdee Ill be out of phone service till 11th August. Thanks to all the above mentioned for their hospitality etc, its made this adventure just so!!!!! cheers Henning.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 09:53:07 +0000
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