The bike made it! I should never have doubted it. It needs an oil change and a new front tyre quite badly but other than that it seems to be in good order. I don't know how far I went. A long way. I don't think I'd do it again. That is a bit of an insult when talking about travelling Australia. There are people that go round and round and round until they die. It's like they are looking for an escape, either off the island or from their impending demise. I have friends my age who pretend they read this blog that have done it twice. I wouldn't do the Eurovelo 6 again and that makes perfect sense, but to not do another lap of Australia suggests there is something wrong with it.
There is something wrong with it. It's a really long way without much to see. There is a small sized countries worth of stuff in a country that is massive. To go around the outside really means to take a blind path where there are long, long stretches of nothing.
That isn't to say I wouldn't travel Australia again, I just think there is a better path or a more manageable amount. Blindly following the coast isn't the way to go.
When I visited Grandma and she showed me her scrapbooks from one of her 5 trips blindly around the coast, she had a list of likes and dislikes, or best and worst. I can't remember most of her categories so I'll make some up.
Best free camp - Shelley Beach near Albany (Balgal Beach north of Townsville is second)
Worst free camp - Probably Bingal Bay. It wasn't actually free but because there was no space I was put in a driveway for free. The place itself was nice. Otherwise one of those dusty roadside stops.
Best paid camp - the Daintree was nice, in the forest, but Wagait Beach was great, because they gave me dinner and let me sleep in a bed. Fardooleys Bushcamp in Rockhampton was good too, but mostly because the old bloke had built a bar and was giving away his moonshine.
Worst paid camp: Mango camp in Broome. Backpackers in Australia suck.
Friendliest locals - Wagait Beach by a mile.
Unfriendliest locals - Probably Normanton. The people were fairly horrible. Hell's Creek would likely get the award if it wasn't for the White Dogs keeping the locals busy, by my interactions with the locals were quite friendly (one asked me if I wanted to buy a painting)
Favourite region - The south West corner of WA. Lots to see and do and great roads to ride.
Least favourite region - the empty bits.
Most paid for accomodation - camping $35 at Onslow. Hotel in Townsville was $70
Best attraction - swimming with the dolphins and sea lions. Lava Tubes were a distant second but also pretty amazing.
Best national park - hard to choose between Kakadu and Cape Range. Probably Cape Range (ningaloo reef), it was pretty special.
Most overrated place - Litchfield National Park. It was fantastic, but the grey nomads rated it so highly it had no hope of living up to expectations.
Most rich and diverse culture - hahahaha Australia hahahaha
Longest day - 550km day 2 on the Nullarbor.
Shortest Day - around 50km, from Balgal Beach to Bingal Bay I think.
Most road trains - Port Hedland to Karijini
Highest concentration of caravans - Camooweal to Katherine, and then at the tourist information centre at Katherine.
Most highway patrols - from the border to Gundagai (4). Right here is probably second.
Closest call - a bloke cut me off yesterday, but the dumbass towing his caravan up to Wallaman Falls was the closest I came to wiping out.
Best beach - Lucky Bay near Esperance (by a long way)
Best waterfall - Elizabeth Falls
Best gorge - Katherine Gorge
Wild animals spotted - reef shark, sea snake, shit loads of colourful fish, some dull fish, whales, kangaroos, different types of kangaroos, quokka, Emu, cassowary, echidna, koalas, platypus, more kangaroos, dolphins sea lions, dingos, salt and freshwater crocs, every imaginable bird, heaps of snakes, thorny devils, sleepy lizards, reflective hole dwelling spiders x1000000, goannas.
Animals strangely not spotted - (living) (wild) wombat, possum, (wild) camels, brumbies.
Animals I wish I spotted: Frilled neck lizard and a quoll, which I'd have brought home with me.
Most expensive fuel - $2.10 at El Questro (I think)
Cheapest fuel - dunno, I'm not a grey nomad.
Best chicken parmi - Mount Surprise. They are probably second for most unfriendly locals but they know their way around a chicken parmi.
I can't think of any more categories.
So that concludes the trip. I suppose I should go back to work. I'm going to buy another bike. An xsr900. I don't know what I'll do with the Klr. There really isn't any other bike quite like it. I recently learned that when it was first released back in 1987 it was marketed as a triple sport. A road legal dirt bike that can tour long distances. No other bikes really balance that line quite as well.
I think I could make back what I paid for it, but I have a feeling ill regret selling it. I'm much better at riding on the road now but still pretty shit on the dirt.
Anyway, one last photo, the sunrise this morning from my nice, sheet less, rubbish strewn bed.
Thanks for reading, Mum and Matt.
Congratulations on making it brother! I only gave you about a 20% chance of making it :-)
ReplyDeleteI read this post pretty much the day you posted it but only got around to writing a comment now... haha thanks for the shout out!
> There is something wrong with it. It's a really long way without much to see. There is a small sized countries worth of stuff in a country that is massive.
Haha, nailed it!
Might I add, that there was probably no reason to do it on a motorbike too? Imagine how much more comfortable it would have been in a Ford Falcon station wagon, with music and air con and heating, and even passengers for company? The only positive I can think of with a bike is substantially lower fuel costs.
If you would like to see a large sized country worth of stuff in a small country, please come and visit NZ. You would definitely see loads of (dead) possums on the road. Literally one every km, no joke.
> Most rich and diverse culture - hahahaha Australia hahahaha
You do have the aboriginal culture but I guess it's not very welcoming to hairy motorcyclists?
I meant to ask, why didn't you visit Uluru? Too far out of the way?
XSR900 looks like a pretty cool bike. But you should test ride some others too before deciding.
I just told Aga that you've finished your trip, and she asked "Sore bum?".
Nz will be my next trip. I intended on visiting Uluru but the climb is closing at the end of this month so it is packed with people trying to climb it before it closes. I figured I could come home, work for a few months then do another trip in school holidays when I have the new bike (a mini loop that cuts through the nt so I can take advantage of those 130km/h roads). The savings in fuel were pretty significant but if I did it in a little Suzuki jimny it'd probably be as cheap and I wouldn't have had to skip some dirt sections because I wasn't up for it. Nz though, it must be amazing for riding.
ReplyDeleteAny recommendations for other bikes? I'm thinking something with an upright riding position, relatively tall, road bike. The triumph street triple is a similar (probably better) bike that ticks those boxes but is a bit expensive.
I need to decide what to do with the klr. I'd like a lighter off road bike, mainly for zipping down the beach.
Tell Aga my bum is like iron now.