The Gibb River Road (GRR) Grrrrrr!(2nd-5th July)

We left Wyndham and headed up to the Five Rivers Lookout, this is where the Ord, King, Pentecost, Durack and Forrest River meet before heading out to sea. An awesome view!

A blast down the tarmac and we hit the Gibb River Road. We quickly discovered that despite being talked about as some sort of last frontier, it really is a well maintained piece of road.

Not far in we hit the first of a a few river crossings in the area, the Pentecost River. It was fairly deep and a very long crossing but we all made it through without any problems due to the fairly compacted rock bottom. I definitely didn't think it would go so well and I knew Scott would be puckering at the thought as he came over the rise and saw the water, but all went well.

More of the GRR and we headed up Kalumbaru Road to Drysdale River Station to camp for the night. The road was very rough and corrugated but luckily we could still travel faster than most of the other vehicles as we tend to ride above the corrugations.
The next day (3rd July) and an easier ride up the road to the Mitchell Falls turnoff. The King Edward River crossing was short, but pretty deep and had a wild bottom. Sam whilst wading to check it out had what looked like a brown snake swim past him! Poor Scott, we've decided to fit a periscope to the DR as he took another one of his customary swims. This time only a little water in the carby, we sorted it out and were on our way again.
A few more deep bog holes and we had a great trail ride to the start of the Mitchell Falls walk. The falls were amazing and I vow next time to take one of the helicopter flights as I'm sure it would be the best way to see them, but for now we're all on a bit of a budget.

After a night camping at the falls we headed back to Drysdale River Station for a refuel. The ride back was uneventful and great fun, even the river crossings went well. The only moment I really had was in the deep gravel at high-speed trying to overtake an old 60 series Landcruiser where I developed a high-speed tank slapper, and I seriously prepared myself for a big crash. Thankfully I just kept the throttle open and the bike stabilised. The driver of the 'Cruiser and I had a chat at the station and he mentioned that he thought I was going down under his wheels. The big KTMs with a load can be a bit unwieldy! We then headed to Mt Barnett roadhouse, had dinner and camped out the back near the river. We had a good chat to a couple of Tasmanian guys who had just competed in the Finke Desert Race and were now touring around the Kimberly before heading back. One of them, who was 58 years old I think he said, was the swinger on an outfit(sidecar) who won in their class. He also regaled me with stories of his 4 month bike ride around Africa which has done nothing but fuel my desires to ride over there.

From Mt. Barnett (5th July) we finished off the last of the Gibb River Road.

We did a bit of freshwater crocodile spotting with a guy at the Leonard River Snackstop. The poor bloke must have had throat cancer or something as he had to cover a hole in his throat to talk, but gee he loved his crocs.

We had lunch at Derby and ran into another British guy who was riding around on his own on a DR650. He had no idea what he was in for, but his attitude was excellent and he was playing it pretty safe as far as avoiding the remote areas until he was better prepared, a top bloke! From Derby we headed on to see the sunset on Cable Beach in Broome, dirty faces and all, I think we must have been a bit of a sight!

The Tour Bus and the "Bungle Bungles" Bungle(30th-31st June)

An early start and a blast up the tarmac to the Bungle Bungles from Halls Creek. We'd been warned about the first creek crossing and sure enough Scott and I both took a swim. Scott's bike ingested a little water and we flattened the battery of the DR trying to dry it out, all I can say is that I'm glad the KTMs have a kick-start as pushing and bump-starting the DR was a pain, made less pleasurable by old smarty pants blokes in Prados lightly mocking us for being outside the comforts of a Toyota. Nevertheless we got it going and as we took off I noticed that my digital speedo wasn't working and had some moisture in it. After riding for a couple of kilometres I decided it was silly to let it run with water in it and wreak it completely so I stopped and pulled it apart to dry it out and clean the dirty river water out. Whilst I did this Sam decided it would be a good time to destroy his knuckles and change his tyre to a new one that he'd been carrying. While Sam swore and cursed I scrubbed the dirty water out of the electronics in my speedo with my toothbrush. Both of us achieved our goals and with a working speedo and a fresh tyre on Sam's bike we packed up ready to head off. Just as we were about to leave another of the very few young people travelling through this area rocked up in a Rodeo camper asking if we were mechanically minded. We said "sort of" and asked them of their problem. A loud knock in the rear of their camper had them concerned, it turned out to be some loose suspension parts and Scott was straight on to it repairing it with his bike's tool kit. Once done Scott was rewarded with a couple of beers from their ice-box which he stowed in my backpack, to be consumed over the next few days, both warm and shaken.
The rest of the ride was excellent and we wandered through the awesome Cathedral Gorge after setting up camp at Walardi.

The next day (1st of July) we headed back the same 60kms back out on the excellent twist dirt road through some spectacular scenery.

At the deaded river crossing we decided to push the bikes through so as to not lose any more time de-drowning bikes. We got one of the bikes through when an off-road tour bus decided to go through. The rock bottom proved no challenge for him as it had for us, but the muddy bank stopped him dead. We pushed the other two bikes through and around him and waited a little to see if he'd get out. At one point an old bloke in a Prado tried to snatch him out, but that was never going to work due to sheer physics! It would have been a great promotion for Toyota had it worked.

By this stage the traffic was backing up in both directions and we didn't see him getting out any time soon, so we packed up and headed off. With no way around for the four-wheel drives it definitely would have changed a few peoples holiday plans. Ahhh! The joys of motorcycling, it was no problem for us!

The rest of the day was spent heading up to Wyndham, riding through the ever changing ranges and plateaus.

We set up camp to a pink sky over the majestic plateaus and dined on barramundi and chips.

The Kimberley...Who Knew? :-) (27th-29th June)

Well! I knew the Kimberley region was going to be nice, but as soon as we crossed the border the land changed for the far better. We passed though Gregory National Park and Timber Creek before having a look at the spectacular Lake Argyle. It may be incorrect, but I'm pretty sure it's the largest man-made freshwater lake. Basically the men who made it created a dam along the Ord River and we now have this amazing body of water, surrounded by the mountainous Kimberley.

The next day we did another one of our red-eye runs to Halls Creek via the Duncan Road. The terrain was awesome and the riding reasonably challenging. The last 50kms were at dusk and it was an amazing, windy ride through through the red, sunset lit hills. My vision just before we hit Halls Creek was terrible and I thought to myself that if a Kangaroo jumps out I'm not even going to know what I hit, and sure enough seconds after that thought a 'roo shot through my headlights, I didn't even have time to react! Thankfully no collisions with the furry little buggers.

Sam had consumed a little more fuel than I had and needed a small refuel from Scott's supertanker DR650. My fuel range had been calculated down to 500 metres from the Halls Creek service station! So there we were in the dark adding less than a litre to my KTM to get it up the road. I blame Scott entirely as I rode back about 500 metres early in the day to help him pick up his bike after a small fall. Joking of course!

The locals (read Aborigines) in Halls Creek were almost indescribable that night. Sam thought footy training was on down the road, but it was in fact a heap of the black fellows down the road with a skin full of VB(beer) and having their own self contained riot.

On the 29th we left Hall's Creek to have a look at the meteorite crater, Wolfe Creek. It's pretty impressive! As you approach the crater, it looks like a hill, but when you climb up and have a look it's a massive hole in the ground.

The ride back to to Halls Creek was excellent, everyone was in the groove and riding well.

That night we ran into an English guy riding a XR400 around Australia's outback on his own. He'd had a crash about an hour earlier and was looking pretty shaken, but physically OK. We offered our tools if needed and some advice on some slightly more protective riding gear before leaving him to it. Brave out there on his own I reckon.

All is well in the world and tomorrow is the Bungle Bungles!!!

Mostly Boring on the Bitumen(24th-26th June)

Our last day in Darwin before heading off into the Kimberly and we had a nice lunch down by the wharf with the sound of the V8s in the distance. Darwin was really quiet in the town centre as there appears to be no Sunday trading.

The next day we headed to the local KTM dealer to get a service on my bike so as to keep any warranty obligations after a small oil leak I'd discovered. From there we had an easy day down to Litchfield National Park and Batchelor. The local van park at Batchlor offers a free cocktail from their bar, but I think it's a bit of a local joke as it was thoroughly horrible.

On the 26th we toured through Litchfield National Park and had a look at the large termite mounds and the falls before attempting the dirt track back to the highway. This was stopped short after Sam and I managed to take water into the engine through a deep crossing. We got through the crossing ok, but I think some water must have lapped into the airbox. A guy in a Prado told us the next crossing was significantly deeper so before making Scott cross we decided to head back to the highway through the park and Batchelor. I hate backtracking but it made sense at the time and meant we could predictably determine when we'd be in Katherine.

We Meet an Australian Dirtbike Legend!(23rd June)

We're still in Darwin and will be until mid-Monday where I'll get a dealer service on my bike. It's almost got 10,000kms on it already in it's flat out being 2 months old!

We wandered past a Suzuki V-Strom this morning on the way to breakfast. We had a laugh as people tout these bikes as being an adventure bike in the same manner as KTMs and BMWs but I feel they're a bit too much of a road bike for the sort of stuff we've covered. It had a bash plate, knobby tyres, and a whole heap of other off-road gear on it.

Whilst checking out the V-Strom again after breakfast, it's owner returned. We were pretty sure we knew who he was and I stealthily threw a couple of questions into the conversation to confirm who he was before asking, "You're not Tony Kirby are you?". Sure enough it was him and after half mocing his bike we now know that with him riding it he could probably take it more places that any of us could. Lesson learned.

Tony told us that he was busily trying to get his gear in order, as most of it was sitting in Heathrow after being in Spain recently. Getting riding gear in a hurry is costly and difficult as he pointed out. He also stated that him and the crew he was working with have to be in Broome by Tuesday! They're definitely got a long couple of days riding, and we think we're covering some ground quickly!

For those who are unsure, Tony is the guy who created Sidetrack magazine in Australia. He's also been an editor of some of the other major dirtbike magazines here also. The Dual Sport Motorcycle Riders Association(DSMRA) is another asset to the dirtbike community that Tony was instrumental in creating. Anyone who wants to correct me on these details, please feel free :-)

We settled into a pub down the road from our new accomodation at the Comfort Inn. The pub has $3 Coopers Premium Lager schooners all day, a recipe for disaster, but we were all well behaved, I think. I also ran into Alan from my work at the pub, two unexpected sightings in one day.

Darwin! (22nd June)

It has been a long day in the saddle to Darwin but we made it. 760kms on these bikes is a long time as Lee and Banger will probably agree from their Cairns to Mackay run.

There were a few dramas early in the morning leaving Roper Bar. I took a wrong turn and Scott didn't wait for Sam at the intersection so Sam took the correct path. After crossing the bar, a long slippery river crossing I waited for Sam with Scott. He didn't come and after a while I told Scott to wait whilst I went looking for him back at Roper Bar. He's not there! Has he run off the road somewhere? Have the local black fellas taken him?

I crossed the bar again and Scott noted a sign to the Stuart Highway back the other way. At that point I realised what had happened and and headed off to chase him down.

We found Sam about to head back from Mataranka, he was concerned about what had happened and had been riding like a crazy man thinking we were ahead of him somewhere, cranky that we hadn't waited somewhere for him.

On to Darwin! WE arrived after dark to find no accommodation as the V8 Supercars are in town! Luckily, the movie crew from Bowen had stuffed up a booking at the Golf Links Motel and we got a pretty crappy room for $190 a night, such a rip off, but no option, even the campsites in town were booked out.

I've Got to Remember I'm not Actually IN the Dakar! (21st June)

I think we've all had a great day today, it was an excellent, and mildly challenging ride through Limmen National Park. It's such a diverse place over a few hundred kilometres and well worth it for anyone planning to travel in this area.

We had a good look at the Southern Lost City early in the afternoon. It was amazing with some fairly unique rock formations. We did a 30 minute walk around and left our gear with another New South Welshman who was born just near where we live. It's a stunning spot, however the shine was taken off it for Scott as his leg was a bit sore after it.

I really picked up the pace in the last half of the day and with Australian Safari dreams running through my head I had to get myself in check and slow down after numerous close calls. All part of the fun really!

I was keen to get to Roper Bar that night as there was a hot shower there if we had made it, but Sam and Scott for safety reasons wanted to stop, which was a good idea I realised after I calmed myself down from a great ride.

We camped just near Town River. It's a massive river by Australian standards and there were plenty of old blokes set up for fishing there. A really pretty spot.

Short-Lived Homesickness.(20th June)

I was having a crappy morning, my bike needed some maintenance, I was sick of carrying my spare tyre and the chore of packing my gear every morning was starting to get to me. Just homesick a little I think. We decided to fit my tyre at Doomadgee before we hit the road. It was a nightmare of an effort and were finally away by 11:30.

Yesterday I had discovered my countershaft nut had come adrift and the front sprocket was loose and held only in place by the cover. This had created an oil leak from the seal and I'm really hoping the bearing is not damaged. The oil doesn't seem to be coming out so much after tightening it so hopefully it won't bite me later.

We stopped an had a chat to the lady at the now closed Hell's Gate Roadhouse, it looks like it was a rocking joint before it was closed. The government had closed it down as it was an easy place for the Aborigines to access alcohol, which is a real problem in Australia for the overseas readers. Apparently it hasn't fixed the problem and the same guys just drive to Burketown, get full as a tick and then drive home. The problem relocated rather than solved, according to her it's very typical of the Queensland Government and they gain some much needed PR for closing down sites like this.

Not long past there we crossed the QLD/NT border, I think everyone, especially Sam is glad to be leaving Queensland after nearly 3 weeks there!

The ranges that we rode through just after the border are awesome, and so unexpected after the hundreds of kilometres of flat, red, dusty terrain.

From there it was more sandy, corrugated roads with a few river crossings thrown in for good measure. Scott, not happy with being cold and tired decided that a swim in the river would be fun and decided to go swimming with his bike as well! The poor bugger banged his sore leg again and was all wet, no respite for him in the freezing weather up here. So much for the Northern Territory being warm in winter, even all the locals are complaining!

Boroloola was a welcome sight as we expected another dump like Doom City the caravan park is nice and we had a hot shower to warm our cold bones. It also helped to remove a few days of ingrained dust from our skin.

Doom City! (19th June)

The day started with a casual ride around Lawn Hill NP, we really need to get over leaving our gear in places and just take the risk as we're starting to realise that we're missing out on so much! Riding through an area and not exploring it on foot is such a waste!

This was a very adventurous day it turned out as we somehow managed to get off the main track north through Lawn Hill to Doomadgee and ended up riding around in some cattle station.

At one point we came to a creek crossing that was off the main track, but we thought that we should stick to what looked like the main road, this is where it started to go wrong. Sure enough after riding through rabbit-holed tracks and deep mud for a couple of hours we decided that we'd gone the wrong way and should head back to the creek crossing.

The crossing was deepish, but easy enough and in 6kms I was on the main road and waiting for Sam and Scott to arrive. I waited for a few minutes and realised they were not coming. I returned to see Sam picking up Scott's bike and Scott limping around in pain. Not good. Scott had a medium speed crash in a mud hole and had become trapped under the bike until Sam arrived on the scene. He's hurt his leg a little but we're pretty sure it's not broken at this point.

We arrived in Doomdgee(Doom City we were warned) late, what a trashy place. In Sam's words it's hard to believe there are third wold conditions in the same country where we live so well. The local Aborgines live in a ghetto-like place here, they seem happy enough, but it just doesn't seem right in Australia.

The caravan park had been closed down and become a compound for the Army and Q-Build so we had to look outside of town for a campsite.

Where we went first was a track that was lined with drunked Aborigines, so we thougth it best to move on. A few kilometres out of town we found a suitable campsite above the river.

I Thought This Was Supposed to be the Dry Season! (18th June)

We were rained on very heavily last night in Normanton, apparently there was 40mm of the stuff!
we packed and headed off for what I had calculated, incorrectly, as a 230km day. I should have checked the itinerary! WE did 30 kms down the planned route but we had to turn back as the mud was too deep and we stil had over 100kms of the stuff. We should have listened to the locals who told us that the road would be impassable, but hey, it was worth a look.
We then took the main road to the Burke and Wills Roadhouse about 200kms south west of Normanton before heading 146kms WNW to Gregory Downs where we camped on the lovely shores of the Gregory River. Apparently the water in the Gregory flows from Papua New Guinee via an undeground river, amazing!
Whilst at the B&W Roadhouse we spoke to a couple of old fellows riding from Grafton up this way on CT110 Postie Bikes! They're not part of the real Postie Challenge, but they're still on a pretty cool adventure of their own.
At this point we're approximately 100kims short of Lawn Hill National Park, which we'll explore on the morrow.

Bird Killer Strikes Again. (17th June)

We put in the hard yards today on the dirt, covering 560kms and using the fuel in our jerrys. The road was not too bad but there were Brahman cattle everywhere. They're so funny when you encounter them, the process is something like:

• I brake, cow looks up.
• Cow is not sure if moving out of the way is required.
• The closer I get to the cow, the more it starts to look concerned.
• I'm now right near the cow and I stare him/her down.
• There's confusion! Who should yield? Well me of course, I make a shoo-ing motion with my head and the cow gets the message, it runs with all it's counterparts following.

Anyhow this process was repeated many times throughout the day, and it kept me amused.

Just outside of Normanton it started to rain and was getting late, there were 3 brown hawks on the side of the road and I slowed slightly, but then one flew into my path and I cleaned him up. I immediately performed a u-turn and went back to inspect the hawks condition, it looks a little dazed and scared and it's wing is up around it's neck, broken no doubt. I hopped off my bike and just as I was getting closer I heard a crunch and saw Sam carrying the bird off the road. I knew what the sound was it was the sound of Sam's size 10 crushing it's head to put it out of it's misery. What Sam did was the right thing to do as it would have died a slow death on the side of the road, but I just wasn't ready for him to do that. So, for the record I didn't kill the bird, Sam did!!! Jokes aside, he did the right thing.

We set up camp in a caravan park at Normanton and went looking for a feed. We went into the Purple Pub looking for food only to find that they weren't serving that night but the two girls behind the bar made us promise to go back for a beer later.

After dinner I went to the pub, whilst Sam and Scott had their showers, the girls were obviously happy to have some young blood in the place after serving the drunken locals for the last hour or so. I had a bit of a chat and they are Israeli backpackers working their way around Australia and this was their first shift. They're travelling for 6 months and are off to Darwin in a few weeks. After a chat about our bikes, whether we'd take them for a ride, guessing my age at 24(makes me feel so youthful!) and some exploring why they came to Australia, Sam and Scott arrived. At that point they completely left us alone, Scott;s beard must have scared them off!!! Actually I think it was more that the boss was floating around and they wanted to be seen working instead of chatting up such youthful men :-)

One of the local pissed parrots made a cracker of a joke about our bike trip being so fast that it had blown all Sam's hair off!!! Funny stuff!

Chillago-go! (16th June)

Well after performing a service on both Scott's and my bikes we hit the road around 1:30pm after a quick resupply.
Chillagoe is a pretty nice place with some awesome rock gardens on the entry to the town...and plenty of cattle to dodge.
We finally lashed extra fuel no the bikes with our flexible jerry cans as the journey to Normanton from here is a fairly long run with no fuel in between.
At this point it's great to have Sam on board and to do some dirt work on the bikes with him. After 2 weeks of being off the road he's pinging!

Heading South (11th-13th June)

The bulk of the trip up Cape York is now out of the way and now begins run down to Cairns to pick up Sam and get on with the rest of the ride around Australia. The trip is pretty sombre at this point, as the guys Scott and I are with are all finishing in a few days ready to head back to work. It feels as though the trip is over with our current company, it's hard to believe we've really only completed a tiny part of it.

Cairns is lovely and it's good to have a bit of a chance to check the place out. Sam is back on board now with brand new machine and buzzing to get on the road again, and I'm trying to get my enthusiasm back up to his levels. Once on the road I'll be kicking again!

The Tip! (10th June)

A cruisy day was had by Lee, Scott, Andrew and I. Mick and John were busy organising bike transport. Banger was off on a fishing expedition.

By about midday everything was in order for the Lowrider and its trip back to Cairns and we headed up to Cape York, finally!

The ride up was easy and it was good to finally reach the top of Australia. I must admit it was a bit of an anti-climax for me, but it's an achievement all the same.

Lowrider Down! (9th June)

From Bramwell Station we headed up the Old Telegraph Line. It was a bit tougher than our previous days riding from the outset, with some sandy sections and a few creek crossings.

Around 10-15kms in we came upon John on the KLR, nick-named "Lowrider" by Banger due to the bikes low-slung suspension and interesting aesthetics. John had a bit of a wobble in the sand and had ring-barked one of the native trees with the Lowrider. John had hurt his shoulder some and the Lowrider had a bent fork leg. The verdict terminal, John and the other two guys in his team headed to Bramwell to sort out transport back to Cairns and we headed off towards the "The Tip".

Lee, Banger, Scott and I stopped at Fruit Bat Falls for lunch and a swim in the awesome waterhole below the falls. On the way out we ran into Andrew and discovered that the Lowrider was heading North to the Cape bent bike and all!

By the Jardine River ferry we'd all regrouped and we all had a bit of a laugh at Johns bike and the fact that the bent bars compensated for the bent forks, to the point where John reckoned that he could hardly notice the problem. A gutsy effort to head up despite injury and mechanical inadequacy.

The Jardine River ferry was $33 return, the local Aboriginal council really knows that they've got the market cornered.

We headed to Seisia and we pooled funds and all stayed in the a-frame cabin that Andrew had organised.

Finally, a Truly Challenging Day. (8th June)

We left Chili Beach a little while after the other guys, knowing that we'd probably see them at the feared Pascoe River along the Frenchman's Track. This track would save us a lot of back-tracking, but would also provide some interesting challenges.

A few kilometres into the track, I had my first crash in deep sand, nothing major thankfully, just a bit of muscle required to pick up my heavy beast of a bike. The panniers with all the weight being basically past the rear axle really help the bike to get a whip up in sand, bring on the Simpson Desert!

We arrived at the Pascoe River and sure enough the three other guys were there assessing if it was possible to cross. It was obvious that we couldn't ride across as it was too deep and fast flowing, but some of the team thought that carrying the bikes over was a good plan. I was far from happy with the idea as it involved lashing logs to the front forks and the rear wheel and then a four man lift to carry them above the above waist deep water. Even Lee who I thought would be straight into it was unsure, but he suggested a trial run on the dry land before we made any decisions. At this point Scott and I still saw that we had too much at stake with another two and a half months of riding to come. We had to be more conservative than the others as they were only out for two weeks. I felt I had a responsibility to take an easier option as if something went wrong it would only add to the problems for Sam and our team.

The trial run went well, and confidence amongst the doubters lifted. I was still unsure and would reserve judgement until I saw a bike or two get across safely.

After four of the bikes were across I was starting to feel confident that the plan would also work for Scott and I. Scott was still unsure and I gently eased him into the idea until he really had no option. I was feeling confident that our bikes would be ok by this stage.

With all the bikes across we reloaded our gear. Mick and I were the last to leave and he asked if I was ok before leaving me to finish tying down my equipment. A few minutes later I was on my way up the rocky climb when one of my panniers hit the rock wall on the high side of the track and the bike speared towards the other side of the track before pitching me off and landing upside down in a deep rock wheel track. I thought I'd damaged the bike as the KTM's have a fairly vulnerable upper cowl that a normal dirtbike doesn't have, but upon inspection there were only a few deepish scratched on it and I was happy the bike was ok. The pannier that struck the rock suffered a puncture wound, but I could live with that as well. Now for the real solo challenge of the day. The bike with gear weighs over 200kgs and it was upside down. I'm 169cms and weigh about 75kgs with pretty flimsy arms. Mick was the last guy I saw and I knew that it would be an hour or so before anyone would come back to find out what had happened. I tried to lift the bike but could barely get it to the horizontal from its inverted position. I unloaded all the gear and had another attempt, no good. I could hear that Mick had stopped for some reason in the distance and I yelled out several times, I then heard his bike start and him ride off, obviously he hadn't heard me. At this point I convinced myself that I had no option but to lift the thing onto its wheels. I grabbed the bars and lifted (and screamed) with all my might and I got it horizontal and balanced it on my knees. I thrusted again and had it almost right. One last push and scream and I had it upright, covered in fuel and sweat. I was so happy with myself, as I knew I'd buckled up and got on with it as I had told Scott to do only a couple of days earlier. I reloaded my gear an headed off.

A few more kilometres up the track I came across a very wet Mick and his drowned DR650 beside a water crossing. A couple of four wheel drivers were with him and they offered us a couple of Cokes, top blokes! I needed to Coke more than I realised and Mick and I leapt into action. We removed his tank, emptied his airbox of water and removed his spark plugs. We removed the water from his bike and soon after it sparked into life. I left Mick and headed on to let the others know where we were. I told Lee I'd had a crash, and his response was "We've all had those", a fair call as in my absence he'd managed to scratch up his bike and break his front guard, a cracker of a crash he assures me, I'm just glad that everyone is ok at this point.

From there we headed to the Telegraph Road and Banger and I waited at the end of the Frenchman’s Track for Scott and Lee. After a while we realised they weren't coming and we headed back. A few kilometres back I saw what I thought was a rider lying on the ground and no one standing around him, this had me so worried that Scott or Lee had fallen and was in a really bad way, i.e. finished. It turned out that Scott had picked up a nail of all things and was changing a tyre. The body I had seen was all of Scott's riding gear laid out on the ground. I was so relieved that it was just a flat tyre.

We headed up to Bramwell Station in the dark, poor old Banger only had a tinted lens and a poor output headlight so it was a real drag for him. I passed the biggest snake I've ever seen on the road, its length was the full width of the road! Once there we had a roast dinner and set up camp, not too bad after a long day, and we went to sleep to the beautiful music of a generator.

Chili Beach...Pass the Coconuts, Love! (7th June)

Another easy day after leaving Archer River, a few long creek crossings and some more challenging terrain makes for a good day.

One of the new additions to our team, Mick lost his camera bag, which also contained $500 cash after falling off in one of the creek crossings. He headed back to find it after realising he'd left it on his rear mudguard to dry it out earlier. The poor guy never found it and did over two hours of backtracking for nothing before joining us at camp.

Lockhart River, an Aboriginal community provided an opportunity to resupply before heading to Chili Beach.

Out of curiosity we checked out Palmer Roads, a tiny fishing village, I think, there was a catamaran sailing around and a few fishing boats. A lovely spot!

Before camp a few of us had a bit of a burn up the beach and took some photos and video footage. The location also had phone reception on CDMA, so I borrowed Scott's phone and gave Mum a call to wish her a happy birthday. A great opportunity as phone reception has been basically nil around these parts, as expected I guess.

Chili Beach was spectacular, with coconut palm lined shores and some nice islands in the distance. The place is a little tainted by all the plastic bottles dumped by ships in international waters that are washed ashore by currents in the area.

Scott Discovers the Pleasure of a Heavy Bike and Deep Sand (6th June)

On the way to Musgrave Station we headed out to a large lagoon which had a track that consisted of 3kms of deep sand. I found the bike a real handful, but Scott found it to be no fun at all with three crashes. When I got to him he was pretty frustrated and upset. I told him to buckle up and use it as a learning experience, and practise in deep sand will pay off for our Simpson Desert component. A few pointers and his riding in sand has gone forward in leaps and bounds, really good to see.

From Musgrave to Archer River the road was an easy gravel affair. Banger had one of many near death experiences in one of the dips which had a creek crossing through it, he hit it at his customary "Warp Factor 9" pace and had more than a little sphincter puckering.

I called Sam from a payphone and it looks like he's getting a new bike as his is a write off. He's already put a deposit down and will pick it up on Saturday before riding towards Cairns to meet up with us and continue on. Great news!

My GPS has developed a fault and I'd crack it open except for the warranty, I'm not very happy about it, as it's definitely part of out safety equipment. I'll talk to a dealer in Cairns when we get back there.

Archer River Roadhouse is an excellent setup with great grassy campgrounds in amongst the more arid terrain. They've got great food, beer and showers, all of which we sampled. We had a well deserved swim in the river and had some tucker. We had a proper introduction into the boys on the other bikes that we initially saw at Cooktown. We met Andrew(KTM 640 Adventure), John(KLR 650/"Lowrider") and Mick(DR650), it turns out they're doing pretty much the same route as us and will join us tomorrow and camp at Chili Beach. I won't detail their profession, but I reckon if we get into any sort of trouble from here on in, then they might be just the blokes to have around. ;-)

Watch Out for Crocs! (5th June)

We added more supplies to out kit before making a lazy start from Cooktown. Whilst gathering gear I noticed a KTM 640, a DR650 and a KLR 650 kitted out very similar to us outside the local supermarket....more about them later!!

We headed North-West to Battle Camp the scene of some pretty brutal Aborignal/European fighting, unfortunately that's about all I know.

We crossed Laura River and stopped for some lunch, the guys on the aforementioned bikes were there and we had a short chat, compared notes and they headed off whilst we ate. It's always a great feeling running into like-minded people.

From there we headed North to Lakefield National Park, and headed for Hann Crossing on the Kennedy River for our camp. Lee and Banger ripped out their fishing lines and Banger almost managed to land a Barramundi in the croc infested waters. Our camp would have been within 15 metres of the part of the river that the Lonely Planet guide says is the local haunt for the crocs...I was definitely concerned but Lee and Banger were convinced it would be fine.

During the night I heard something walking around the tent, I knew it wasn't a croc, but though it could have been a pig as Banger had mentioned was actually a bigger threat than crocs. I yelled out to Lee for some sort of confirmation that I wasn't imagining things and turned out he'd already gone to sleep. Needless to say I copped it in the morning with the boys simulating my wails for help, with many added inflections let me tell you! Banger let on later that he didn't sleep to well after that as he was concerned that we might be under attack from a pig or some berko human!

Early in the morning I heard a couple of crocs "splooshing" into the water, at that point I shot out of my tent with me Leatherman knife exposed and stood with my bike. I'm not sure how much safety a cold-engined motorcycle offers, but I felt better knowing that I had something solid between me and the water.

In the morning Lee led me over the to the water to see if we could see some crocs. About halfway between camp and the water, Lee flung his arms back and nearly knocked me over, I immediately thought "CROC!!!" but it was actually a black whip snake. The snake didn't flinch, even when Lee threw a piece of pipe onto it. At that point Banger warned that it was playing dead. Lee gave it a little nudge with his fishing line and it slithered off towards my tent, thankfully it continued on into the bush. Not long after that Lee and I were sitting down and another one wiggled past us within about a metre! Obviously they had a nest up further and were coming down for a drink.

Time For Some of the Good Stuff (4-5th June)

Leaving Cairns without seeing much of it was a bit of a sore point for me, but the ride up the coast to Port Douglas was something special. Winding roads along some magnificent coastline topped off with clear blue water. A real highlight!

From there we headed up to the Daintree River to board the ferry, here we were charged a $3.50 for the service, far better value than the crossing up at the Jardine River which is apparently about $30 for a motorcycle and $80 for a car, and it's less of a distance across!

With misty rain and muddy dirt roads through the dense rainforest, it really was starting to feel like we were getting into the adventure. I started my hard run through to PK's Jungle Village where we were to meet the others, we were running late so I went for it.

When I arrived Lee and Banger were just pulling on the helmets, so we very nearly missed the moving target again! They were happy to see us and were keen to head off.

Within minutes of going through the rainforest, we came to a semi-deep creek crossing, Lee and Banger went through, but Scott's attempt was a little flawed and he had his first swim of the trip. Banger raced to his aid and helped him right his bike. I think he just wasn't ready to take on creek crossings as every one since then has been fine.

I've definitely decided that the steering damper was money well spent as the creek crossings were made a lot easier without the front wheel deflecting all over the place.

Onwards to Cooktown! On the way we came across Black Mountain which has some Aboriginal significance I think. It is a weird place with the whole mountain being made up of small black boulders, as the plaque says, "Is there anywhere in the world like it?"

We arrived at Cooktown and Lee and Banger went off to do some repairs on Lee's bike. Scott and I headed up to the lookout and admired the view out over the water and the town. We spoke to a few other tourists and a tradition of the trip began...."Who owns the blue bike? You've left your lights on". Since then just about everywhere we've stopped people have told Scott his lights are on, even if we are just getting fuel or stopping for a stretch of the legs. I could understand it if we were going in to get dinner or stopping at a shopping centre, but when you're standing right next to the bike? Good samaritism gone MAD! Since then every time someone on the team notices it...."Scott, you've left your lights on". He's definitely sick of hearing it.

Cooktown is basically the place where Cook beached the Endeavour and thought he was screwed due to the reefs in every direction, he managed to repair his ship and continue on, but I understand that he was pretty concerned at the time.

Another funny story relating to Cooktown is the local mayor in 1883, I think, believing that the Russians were going to invade, wrote to the Premier of Queensland in Brisbane asking for some arms and an Officer or small army. The Premier answered his call by sending one Scottish 1803 cast cannon, which is on display in the town, three cannon balls, two rifles and one officer. I hardly think that these token armaments were going to stop an invasion from the Russians!

We also had a funny night with a local publican who regaled us with many stories about the area, most of them about the threat of crocodile attacks. He told us that a lady had been taken getting into her boat and the jaws of the croc squeezed her body so hard her eyes popped out! He then went on to tell us that he'd had a bottle of red and quite a few rums...you be the judge! He also had a pretty tainted view on women and how they're all out to take advantage, and he made no effort to quiet his concerns whilst his partner was only the in the next room. Poor lady, she cooked us a lovely tea, and seemed really nice, but who knows what it's like behind closed doors I guess.

At the moment it's starting to sound as though Sam's bike will be a write off. This could be good news as we know there are two new ones sitting in Dalby about 500kms from Rockhampton.

Moving Target (3rd-4th June)

We left Bowen at approximately 8am and headed towards Cairns. We passed through Townsville which was incredibly hot and much bigger than I thought, then had some lunch at Cardwell. Cardwell is beautiful, the main drag runs along the beach and looks out towards Hinchinbrook Island, stunning!

The ride between Cardwell and Cairns was amazing, slightly winding roads through steep mountains and some rainforest. The massive mountains were being rounded up at the tips by huge thick clouds.

It is the third day of winter and here are Scott and I in Cairns swimming in the pool at 5:30pm!

We hear that Sam is camping in Yapoon a lovely coastal area near Rockhampton and Lee and Chris (Banger) will be waiting for us at Cape Tribulation the next day.

The Slightly Modified Adventure (30th May - 2nd June 2007)

It turns out that some of Sam's parts required for repairs are not available anywhere worldwide! Already the Austrian manufacturer of our machines has a bit to answer for, this would never happen with a Japanese bike.

We made the decision to hit the road minus Sam on the Saturday morning, we'd been in Rockhampton for a full four days with no resolution and it didn't sound as though we'd find out any more until the following Tuesday. It was a tough moment leaving Sam behind but chasing down Lee and Chris so we could at least have a bit of an adventure whilst Sam had his bike sorted out was the right decision.

Saturday was a hard blast up to Mackay to get our off-road tyres fitted before the shop closed. When we arrived with only about three quarters of an hour before the workshop closed the manager called us in to use the workshop to remove the wheels so his boys could fit the new tyres and tubes. That manager turned out to be a guy I "almost" knew! He was posted to Richmond in the RAAF for the same time as I was there, and was an ex-CISCON, the trade/mustering in the RAAF that works hand in hand with my old trade. We knew all the same people, worked only about 30 meters for each other, and I definitely remember his name used in conversation in the past. Once the connection was made he did a great job of looking after us, he fitted both Scott's and my tyres for free, and Scott didn't even buy them from him. A top bloke!

We had some lunch and continued up to Bowen(wood). Bowen is the location of a Hugh Jackman/Nicole Kidman movie being filmed. The locals had painted Bowenwood on the tanks that sit above the town. I don't think the Bowen(wood) has the same population or socioeconomic standing as Hollywood, but it is definitely a lovely spot, and getting a campsite was a nightmare.

A quick nip up to Flagstaff Hill to see the view and a look at the big Mango and we were ready to set up camp.

We discovered that Lee only made it to Cardwell so the moving target was getting closer!

"There goes the trip!"

Well we've had an incident already! For all those who predicted problems on the outset, we thank you. ;-)
We've had a fairly easy transition into touring life, the first two days were spent at peoples brand new houses, day one at Port MacQuarie, and day two at Nambour. Day three was a caravan park bush campsite at Tannum Sands just outside of Gladstone. A lovely spot in the middle of nowhere with a heap of nice new houses, so the local industry must provide excellent incomes. We had rain that night and the tents had their first test, even Scott's $30 mansion did the job.

We got off to an early start on Tuesday morning and were settling into the trip nicely. Bums were getting used to the discomfort, we all had a good nights sleep and it was a lovely day. Early in the stint towards Rockhampton we came across a few kilometers of stationary traffic caused by an accident further up the road. The GPS did it's job and found us a way around the problem, a dirt road that looped around to the back of Rockhampton, perfect!

We travelled the road and had our first test on dirt roads, and a couple of old creek beds which highlighted how awkward it is to ride a dirtbike with a 50kg load on the back, our bike bouncing and wobbling through the rougher patches. Overall the bikes were manageable and we were happy.

We entered Rockhampton at around 10:30am and were yabbering on the radio about past experiences here and the local sites, as we had through each location. About a couple of kilometers into Rockhampton Sam had been pointing out that MacDonalds was sporting a bull nose verandah in true Aussie style, at that point I was awaiting a response from something I'd said to Sam when I noticed he'd dropped back and I could see two orange things behind me instead of one. At this point Scott radioed through that Sam had fallen off. I ripped out a u-turn through a red light to head back to see what had happened. One more u-turn and I pulled up behind the accident to see a truckie running at warp speed towards were Sam and his bike were, at that point I new things were not looking good.

A little further up Sam and Scott were standing, thankfully, and looking at Sam's bike on the road. Sam had suffered a front puncture and the bike developed a tank-slapper which spat Sam off the bike and sent his bike heading towards the front of a truck. The front end of the bike was crushed and Sam and his riding gear suffered a bit of a beating. Sam's quote for the day as his bike was being hit by the truck, "There goes the trip!".

We're now a day in from that event and Sam is off at the medical centre with what looks like a slightly separated shoulder, but without an injury that will stop him from completing the trip. It looks like we may not meet up with Lee and Chris in Mackay for the two week Mackay stint as planned as we might be in Rockhampton for a week or so until his bike is fixed, but we had two weeks in our spare time budget for this very sort of thing so that's OK.

The bike shops here are not that helpful so far, but the insurance company has been OK. From our assessment we should be able to get Sam going temporarily, albeit a little uglier(the bike that is).

A special shout out to Mr. Green who apparently made several jokes about Sam going under a road-train before we left, well you may have failed this time as Sam only ALMOST went under a road-train. For all those who aren't now convinced of Greenie's true character, I'd also like to point out that he laughed quite a lot on the phone when we told him. Of course had the story been a little worse I'm sure he wouldn't have... :-)

Holy Crap.....BIKES!!!!

Well, one more sleep and we've got the beasts.

Sam and I checked out the 640s in their crates last Saturday and tomorrow we pick them up. About time I reckon, although to quote Sam, there's an element of "what have I got myself into".

To be sure it comes at a good time. We'll literally have 4 week until we head off. That should give us time to click up 1000kms or so on them, check that everything is running right and get the first service.

We've got a trip to Mudgee, as well as a trip to the Watagans planned to put some k's on the clocks. These should be mini adventures all of their own.

I've been having a go at packing over the last few days, we've already got our luggage so this is a relatively simple task of checking if all my crap is going fit in.

Anyhow...time to sleep...I'm keen to get that bit over with!!!

Holy Crap! No Bikes!

That's right! Just over 70 days to go and no motorbikes!!!

Sam has been talking to the KTM dealer about our steeds and has found out that we won't have them until the 30th of April. This presents some issues as we are all set to leave on the 26th of May:

• Little time to set the bikes up, both mechanically and weight distribution of our gear.


• Little time to run them in and make sure that they are ok mechanically.
  
• Little time to get used to riding them with full load.

But, it could be worse I guess.

For those who aren't' familiar with the machinery we've chosen: Sam and I will each be riding a KTM 640 Adventure(which can be seen above), whilst Scott will be riding a modified Suzuki DR650(http://www.suzukimotorcycles.com.au/modeldetail.php?intBikeID=116). Scott will no doubt have his bike long before we do.

We had planned to have them by about February, but despite being assured there were plenty available, it seems that every man and his dog watched the Lisboa to Dakar(http://www.dakar.com/) at the beginning of this year and snaffled every last one of the 2006 models up. Bastards!

The 2007 models are currently on a ship somewhere between Austria and Perth. It had better not bloody sink!

The good news is that I've had a bit of fun buying up equipment for the trip. So far I've got hold of the following items:

• Autocom Bike intercom, so we can communicate on route, and also listen to music.


• Garmin 60CsX GPS. I don't want to get lost!!!


• 80 Gb iPod, to assist with the boredom of some of the long transport sections.


• Canon IXUS850is camera, for obvious reasons.


• Sony HDR-HC7 video camera, this is about the best prosumer Hi-Def camcorder available at the moment.


• BlackWolf Dragonfly tent, has the ability to be tent, mosquito net and a fly shelter. And,


• Trangia stove, if you want lightweight cooking equipment, then check these out.

There's still a fair bit of kit to get yet, including some new riding gear, but we've still got a few months to sort that out. It anyone feels the need to buy a whole heap of cool equipment then just plan an extended trip away, you can justify buying anything!

In the mean time it's back to more planning!