Brisbane to Broome - 9000kms in three weeks
 

When you travel solo you inevitably meet others along the way but I didn't expect to have two companions right from the start. Ziegfreida - from this point known as Ziggy - is my BMW R1200 GS Adventure, so named to remember the registration number beginning ZF.

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I bought the 2006 model Ziggy in July and left her for three months in the hands of BMW whiz Tor (and Donna) at Yandina on the Sunshine Coast. Tor worked his magic on Ziggy and had the machine purring, fitted with new panniers, a rebuilt front wheel that had a 1cm wobble, a rebuilt headlight housing that had been modified and broken and a range of other things from my list of demands. Completed, I collected Ziggy with a set of knobby tyres to complete a BMW GS off-road course on the Sunshine Coast. More about that later.

So who is my second companion? Well with the frenzy around the release of iPhone 5, I bought a new iPhone 4S. Why? With limited time and high demand on the 5 I was unable to get one in the time I had before I left on the trip. The 4s was readily available and had almost the same features, so it became my first smart phone, finally graduating from an old Nokia 'dumb' phone.

For the uninitiated (that included me until a few days ago) the 's' in 4s stands for Siri, the sweet sounding electronic assistant on the iPhone. My first experience with Siri was to hear a conversation between my niece Mel and her iPhone. I thought Mel was confiding in an old school friend until I realised she had a well formed relationship with Siri and had reached the point of asking Siri whether she was seeing anyone and what she was doing when not speaking to Mel. Siri had a well planned out answer, replying "You are the only one for me, Mel".

Whilst my relationship with Siri has yet to reach such personal levels, she will play my favourite Led Zeppelin track on demand and make notes for me about the subject of my latest photograph. Likewise my relationship with Ziggy is still in early days but after our first day touring together I think we will be a trio to reckon with!

I digress. This is a travel log. So my first day of this 24 day journey has started with 300kms from north of Brisbane along the D'aguilar Highway to Esk, around the Somerset Dam, through Toowoomba and Warwick, to spend my first night in Stanthorpe near the NSW border. Not exactly an epic journey for day one but served as a good introduction to the trip and shake out any packing or bike bugs. The packing worked well with no adjustments required and the bike ran like a dream, as expected. It did get very warm during the day - around 33 degrees - so I strapped my bike jacket to the back and just rode in my mesh armour jacket - thinking I wouldn't need to do that until I reached Western Australia - but it worked a treat and the rest of the ride was very comfortable.
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Just to update the history of this trip, I have been working remotely overseas for the last 18mths and in my last break I bought Ziggy. Having only intermittent Internet access, when I could I would read all of the threads about motorcycle travel and get inspired by photos and stories so it only seemed fitting I should return the favour. I have also been inspired by the Horizons Unlimited DVDs and between these two resources have researched tons of gear and have settled on the list attached.

It is difficult from a remote place to set up a bike and get the gear to carry because it was only in the last ten days I have been able to put it all together and see if everything fitted, was balanced and did not weigh too much. As per normal when one is new at this type of thing, I think I have too much gear and too much weight. But I will start at this point and cull anything I don't use in this trip, in preparation for future trips. So I had ten days to unpack all the gear I had bought and had sent to Brisbane, pick up the bike, do a two day off-road course with BMW, test ride a new 1200GS and F800GS, organise my ten boxes that represent my life off the bike and catch up with family.
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The course was run at Green Park near Maleny on the Sunshine Coast Hinterland by Stay Upright with BMW staff, specifically for the BMW GS dual purpose bikes. The instruction consisted of basic skills on dirt and rough paddocks interspersed with cows. Techniques included front and rear braking, getting used to rear wheel slip, brake and clutch control, proper positioning and weight distribution for off-road riding, figure eights on the flats and slopes, hill climbs and descents, and a creek crossing. This was interspersed with increasingly challenging rides throughout the park that ultimately included steep gullies - entering and exiting, manoeuvring on grassy slopes at slow speed. For the dirt bike riders amongst you it may all seem a bit elementary but for me and the other fifteen participants it was a great couple of days that challenged all of us and showed just how capable these large bikes can be off-road. Thanks Wayne and Steve.
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These photos are a setup of my gear

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Paul Nomad
 

Hi Paul,

All these packed up things look very interesting.
Maybe you can let us all know,whats inside. Worthwhile taking it along,what is great and what's a nuisance aso.

Cheers

MR

Thanks for the question MR. In the black 89L Ortlieb bag is my tent, poles and footprint, hammock, Sleeping bag, air mattress, bike cover and tripod.

I used everything in the bag. I was travelling from temperate south to the tropics so was testing tent/hammock to see what worked best where.

Hammock is no good with no trees and is cold on a cool night with a wind. However it is comfort plus in warmer weather - love it! It also comes with 360 degree netting and a huge parachute material tarp. Whole set up weighs 1.6kgs.

The tent is a three-person with mesh inner and large vestibule. Bit of a luxury for a solo traveller but is light (2.9kg) and roomy. When the sun comes up in the tropics it becomes an oven quickly. Outer shell can be detached from inner mesh.

Helinox chair is light, quick to assemble, compact and comfortable. I'm 183cm (6' ) and 90kg

Overall hammock and tent setup is overkill so working on a configuration that I can travel the world with.

Will discuss other gear in later posts.

Hope that's useful

PN

I left Stanthorpe by about 9am but not after a bit of drama. I had the Ziggy parked outside the cabin I was staying in, loaded her all up and had her idling while still on the centre stand. I rolled her forward off the stand and she started to overbalance away from me and fell on the right side and wedged against a wooden bench. Try as I might I couldn't lift the 300kg bike and had to eat humble pie as a couple of maintenance guys came to assist. Ziggy now has some green paint on the tank surround but at the time I didn't think to take a photo.

Travelled to Tamworth and caught up with my brother and his daughter and stayed the night there. It was good to catch up and we talked about family, kids, houses, money - the usual family subjects. Got all packed up in the morning and left by about 9.30.

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Day three was another beautiful day weather wise. All this time I had been riding just in my mesh armour as it was over 30C and too hot for the full jacket. I have removed the armour from the BMW jacket and it is much lighter, and I wear it over the mesh armour. It seemed the best way to have protection but deal with changes between hot and cold. I also left the waterproof liner in Brisbane and have a wet weather over-jacket. I'd read that the jackets (Rallye 3) are not waterproof and if wet take ages to dry. Once again trying to get the combination that will work for different conditions while carrying minimum weight and bulk.

I finished the day's riding just outside of Forbes, NSW and turned off into a dirt road to the Goobang National Park. It was about 22kms of good gravel road including 6km of more of a track, leading to the free campsite. I set up all the camping gear for the first time. The hammock I had used before on Christmas Island but the tent I had never erected so it took a bit of time to sort it out. Once all up though it was really quite simple and I will get faster at it each time.

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Unfortunately I had very little water with me and the creek next to the campsite was dry except for a few small puddles, and there was no water supply at the site. I had to be careful to save enough in case I dropped the big bike on the dirt road and had to wait for assistance. Fortunately that was not needed and I had a lovely night in the bush with some kangaroo visitors and plenty of bird calls to punctuate the night air.

It did get quite cool during the night and I discovered that the hammock is not so good when a cold wind rises and my sleeping bag didn't keep me warm although rated for 5C. As a result I retired to the tent at about 3am and it was cosy and windproof. Getting the use of the gear during the first time! That's a good sign that I've made the right gear selection choices.

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Day 4 was a long day, riding for around 600kms to Shepparton in Victoria. There were some long desolate and hot stretches along the way through West Wyalong and down to the Victorian border at Tocumwal. I met up with another rider on a 650 v-strom Suzuki who was packed to the hilt. He explained that he was from Melbourne and had ridden to Townsville to see a friend for a day and was on his way back home. His gear was packed very high and he had Andy Strapz soft panniers, the whole setup weighing 280kgs! I was amazed because Ziggy weighs around 300kgs and is a much bigger 1200cc bike. When I was packing it was important to me to keep it simple with panniers and one bag, which I have been successful in doing. The thing I wanted to avoid was having a high load behind me and raising the centre of gravity. Doug seemed quite content with his setup and bike so I guess it was working for him.

Finally on arrival to Shepparton I was feeling pretty exhausted and booked into a motel and had a long shower. I unloaded Ziggy and took her to a carwash to get her all spruced up for the visit to the big smoke in Melbourne.

Just to touch on more of my gear and packing, I carry two packing cubes - one with my clothes (lightweight trousers x 1, lightweight shorts x 1, sports shorts x 1, board shorts x 1, Short sleeve and long sleeve lightweight shirts, two t-shirts, 3 pair of socks, 3 undies and a slim thermal jumper/sweater); the other with wet weather pants, jacket and over-boots, also an evaporative cooling vest.

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These pack into the left hand pannier above the toolkit/puncture repair kit, compressor and first aid kit

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Quite a methodical approach !
 

Thinking of doing a lap after i finish work up here in Queensland ,so will follow your journey with interest.Noel:D

Looking forward to an up-date.
 

Also just new to the GS world. Going to Tassie in Feb. Looking at going to Broom via Darwin May/June. Hope your trip is going to plan?

Cheers
Bundy.


BMW1200GS

Melbourne - Motorcycle Expo!!
 

Day 5 I woke refreshed after sleeping well in the comfy motel bed. At $105 for the night that would be my total budget for two days in Central and South America. Australia is expensive! Then again camping is easy and safe, and with ample national parks it's simple to camp for a few days then motel it to have a bit of luxury and spread the cost.

I rode the two hours to Melbourne where I stayed with friends for the weekend. This is me arriving

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By chance the Melbourne Motorcycle Expo was on at the Exhibition Centre. We went for a few hours on the Sunday and I replaced my boots with some Forma boots from the Andy Strapz stand. My old boots I bought a couple of years ago and they were the cheapest I could find to get me riding, and they were on-road only boots. They were ok but I had been looking at the Forma boots for a while.

I bought some motocross boots earlier in the year when I was riding a Yamaha WR450 through jungle tracks on a remote island in the Indian Ocean - my previous home for almost 18mths.

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For that purpose they were excellent, but for dual purpose touring, i found them very difficult to walk in off the bike. The Forma's are a hiking boot at the bottom with supportive motocross-style clips up the leg, and I have found them very comfortable on and off the bike. I love to visit National Parks and do some hiking to remote places, so the boots are in their trial period. So far so good.

Of course I looked at bikes at the expo. I love Ziggy but I'm always keen to see what other brands are bringing out. KTM have a new 1090 (or similar) with much of the covers and fairings removed, making the engine more visible and accessible than the 990 Adventurer. Moto Guzzi had their new Stelvio 1200, Yamaha and Suzuki had their Tenere and V-strom, and Ducati the Multi-strada.

Gotta love the new HP4
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But riding a BMW I spent some time on their stand and was fortunate to meet Simon Thomas from 2ridetheworld.com, who was there with his wife Lisa talking about their 10 year journey travelling around the world on a couple of BMWs. I managed to snatch about 10 minutes of Simon's time to talk about bike choice, things that work and don't work on a long trip, and travelling the world in general. I found Simon a very relaxed and engaging guy and on bike choice he offered this advice,
"Do you get on your bike every morning and just love to ride it? Then this is the right bike for you to take around the world."
He went on to say that he had met people in his travels who had sold their old 'trusty' wheels that they loved, to buy a bike they thought would be 'right' to travel long distance on. Many returned home because they hated riding this 'right' bike everyday.

At this stage it would be good to have photos of some of these bikes and of course me talking with Simon and Lisa, but I haven't!

Note to Self: Take more photos at opportune moments! :oops2:

I also talked tyres with a guy on the Compass Expeditions stand who just led a tour on an 1150GS from London to Magadan along the Road of Bones. He used Heidenau K60s and did 17,000kms over all terrains. I might look at those when changing tyres later in this trip.

After a few hours immersed in everything motorcycle, I went back to my friend's place to prepare for my next day of riding.
This is me leaving (arriving and leaving photos compliments of Ramona Lever Photography)
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Melbourne to Adelaide
 

It's always great to spend time with my dear friend Ramona and her beautiful family. They have adopted me as one of their own. If you are in Melbourne and looking for beautiful photos for women and couples, look up Ramona at Ramona Lever Photography.

After the expo I packed the bike, said my farewells to my lovely friends and headed off for South Australia - via Mount Gambier in the South East. I learnt some very good lessons today!

Note to self: Always carry cash when travelling. doh

I had a couple of opportunities to get money from an ATM in Melbourne but passed them up. I also had an opportunity to fill my bike with petrol but figured there's always more up the road. Not this day!!

I rode west past the Cat's (AFL) heartland, Geelong, and along the Hamilton Highway towards Hamilton. In my wallet I had no cash, about $3 in coins and of course my credit cards. After some time I notice the fuel getting low so I pulled into a petrol station in a small town but it was closed. At this stage I realised the reality of driving through a regional area on a Sunday afternoon, where you could expect most things to be shut. It was around 4.30pm and I decided to push on and try my luck. My computer told me I had about 60kms left in the tank and it was still almost 100kms to Hamilton, a larger town where they would have 24 hour fuel.

I pushed on to the next town about 30kms away and they had an open petrol station, but it was here I discovered that a Telstra sub-station had had a fire last Thursday and that EFTPOS was down throughout a large part of the mid-west of Victoria…right where I now found myself. Having no cash and a now useless credit card, I decided to take my chances at the next town and if everything was still down I would just find some accommodation and stay the night.

At the next little town, the pub was open and the publican informed me that they had no petrol bowser in the town and no accommodation, and that I had no choice but to continue on to the next town. My computer was telling me at this stage I had 20kms left in the tank and the kind publican told me that the next town was 20 miles (30kms) away and with a chuckle said, "good luck mate".

I had little choice so continued through some beautiful rolling hills of sheep and cattle country at a gentle 80km/h to conserve fuel. It became a battle between my GPS and my fuel readout. They both came together at 10kms to go and counted down as I approached the little town. Apparently there was a petrol bowser there that had 24 hour access through pre-paid credit card and 'hopefully' is was not affected by the Telstra breakdown.

As my GPS read 2kms to go my computer read 3kms, so I was winning, but I had still not reached the centre of town by the time the GPS said zero. I pulled up next to the bowser with one kilometre of remaining fuel on the computer! I put my card into the machine and waited for a minute until it told me that it could not connect with the bank. :censored:

EFTPOS was down!!! :helpsmilie:

This was a slightly larger town and across the road was an open pub. The kind publican had a fuel card that operated without EFTPOS. Although I had no cash I was able to give credit card details and ID so purchased $20 of fuel that got me to Hamilton. I pulled into a van park, purchased a room with my card and all I needed was a good feed. Fortunately there was a fish and chip shop across the road so I ordered chips, a veggie burger and a couple of drinks. They cooked it all up, handed me the food, then told me, "Sorry cash only. We don't accept cards."

AHHHHHHGGGG!!!

I left the van park in Hamilton and headed across the border to South Australia and visit an old friend in Penola. Timmy and I go back over ten years when we studied together at university.

In early 2007 I visited Timmy and a group of us went trail riding, with me on a Suzuki DR250. We had a great time and I managed to snap off the clutch lever which we replaced with a pushbike lever that was a lot shorter than the original, making the clutch hard work. It wasn't always the easiest ride!

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This was my first ride for 26 years and sparked the interest and passion for bikes I had as a teenager. Now I'm planning a round the world trip. Thanks Timmy!

I left Penola and rode to suburban Adelaide and spent the next five days with my son, daughter in law and two grandsons aged 2 and 4. Only a month earlier their great grandmother (my mum - aged 74) had visited them, driving her camper van essentially along the same route I rode to get here. Apparently travel is hereditary.

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GMA on the plate stands for Grandma

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Ann Geddes eat your heart out!!
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Note to self: remember to take kids out of boxes before riding off...

Fantastic! I hope to be following in your footsteps sooner rather than later.

Great luggage setup by the way

The ability to cook a decent feed while camping could save alot of money.

Can I ask whats in your kitchen Paul?

Hi ShaneBaby,

I have to admit to being tardy finishing this ride post!

I took my old Trangia which used to be the lightweight cookset of the 1980's but at 2kgs I found it a bit too heavy, so I'm in the process of lightening up the kitchen! I carried a collapsible plate and cup, collapsible 10L bucket, titanium cutlery, tongs, wooden spoon; two pots and frypan come with the Trangia, a 600mL fuel bottle, all in a waterproof bag.
I carried a couple of days food at a time in a 'fridge bag' (cheap from supermarkets) strapped behind the Ortlieb bag.

Once I finish writing up this trip I'll discuss my gear further.

Enjoy your planning!!

PN

Farewell Adelaide
 

After six days with my son and his gorgeous young boys (4 and 2 years old) I headed off. I'm never going to be the typical grandfather (Pa). I try to get to Adelaide two to three times a year and have done so for the last four years since the first was born. It's great watching the kids grow up and they are both old enough now to know who I am and can follow my travels. I love spending time with them, but after living in Adelaide for 20 years I left in 2007. It's just not the place for me.

I left early morning to the waves of the kids. It is always hard to leave them but I now have 11 days to travel 5000+ kilometres to northern Western Australia via the Nullarbor Plain and Perth. I travelled up to Port Augusta and turned left and travelled along the Eyre Highway to Ceduna. It was a big day on the bike (750kms) but I was keen to get some serious mileage behind me. I have to average 500kms a day to get to Derby WA on time for work, so if I can do a few bigger days it will give me the chance to have a day off and see some of the 'must sees' in Western Australia. It will be my first trip to that state.

I stopped in a caravan park on the Ceduna foreshore and set up the tent before laying a tired body to rest. It's great to be able to use the camping gear I've been researching and buying online, and so far it is all performing well.

Unfortunately my photo taking was again lacking!

Ceduna is the take-off point for the Nullarbor or a welcome resting spot after coming across the other way from Perth.

I headed off early the next morning and filled up with fuel, knowing that it would be several hundred kilometres before the prices would be somewhere near reasonable again. I use premium (95 or 98 Octane) for Ziggy and it has been in the vicinity of $1.60 a litre, but when available on the Nullarbor it is likely to be well over $2 a litre.

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I pushed out a 650km day which took me across the nullarbor and over the Western Australia border. There is a time difference when you cross the border so after about seven hours of travelling it was still only around midday Perth time, so I pushed on for a bit longer but found I was needing breaks more often.

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Nullarbor Cliffs

About 150kms into Western Australia I found a free rest/camping area so decided to pull up early and set up camp for the night. It is very dry and the dirt is dusty and sticks to everything. My riding pants are already looking the part after the dirt camping area in Ceduna - despite being in a van park - and now this fine dust is covering everything. All part of the journey, camping in Australia.

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I cooked my first meal of the trip in the trusty old Trangia that I've had for about 15 years and got to use some of the other camping gear I've brought. Besides tools, anything I don't use in this four week trip I'll cull out and not take with me around the world.

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I feel like I'm travelling with too much gear, too much weight - about 35kgs all up (I since have done an accurate weigh and it is closer to 55kgs!!)

- but some of it, particularly some electrical gear, is for when I live and work in Derby so had to bring it with me. It hasn't added much (so I thought) and I guess I'm trying to cover all climates with the gear I have. Having a spacious tent is a nice luxury and in fact that is what I consider my luxury item - as discussed in the Horizons Unlimited DVDs.

I've learnt a lot from those DVDs and I guess if you are carrying camping and cooking gear, it is always going to be heavier and greater volume than without. Certainly travelling in Australia I would always carry camping gear. An unpowered dirt-based site cost me $25 for the night in Ceduna and motels or cabins all cost upwards of $100 a night. This can be an expensive country to travel in. :glare:

It appears though that in Western Australia there is a large number of free camping areas such as the one I am writing this from, and is well used by the 'Grey Nomad' set in their camper vans and caravans. There are also lots of rental vans with travellers from Europe and Asia most places you stop.

I've covered over 4000kms on Ziggy since I left Brisbane and she is purring along beautifully. The bike could not be more comfortable. I love the upright seating position and being a heavy bike with ample power makes the travelling easy. There have been some strong cross winds, and many trucks, and Ziggy just holds her line, has a bit of a wobble here and there from a side gust, but basically is well suited to this type of riding.

So now the sun has gone down on what has been a relatively cool couple of days across the Nullarbor with temps in the low 20s (Celsius) as opposed to the often high 30s or more for this time of year.

Inspiring story.
 

Your equipment is top notch ,enjoying reading about it.Noel:D

:funmeteryes::thumbup1:

The long way across...to Perth
 

I packed up the camp with the sticky dust and headed to Perth. Western Australia is the biggest state in Oz and has the longest straight (145kms) and just simply big distances. It was a day of riding until the next stop or a roadhouse, stopping and getting fuel for me and Ziggy, then heading off again.

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At one roadhouse I met up with another biker. He was a German guy travelling east on a 650 Tenere. He was packed up with some odd soft bags and had 50/50 tyres on the bike that had obviously seen some dirt. He is here for 12 mths and has already finished 3 months.

No Photos!!:oops2:

As the ride continued, the wind picked up from the north and was quite gusty at times. Particularly in the farming areas where there were no trees to stop the wind seemed to be the worst. The large road trains coming in the opposite direction started to pose a problem. I had learnt the properties of the wind surrounding these trucks when there is no other wind. The combination now of a wind from my right and trucks passing me on the right caused a whole new turbulence. Each truck felt like it grabbed me and shook me from side to side as it passed, and at times two or three trucks would pass and each would repeat their violent buffering.

I'm glad I wasn't on a lighter bike!

I pushed on that day until I was near Kalgoorlie and stopped at a small town outside of Norseman and camped. It was right next to the road and the large road trains came rumbling past but surprisingly I still slept well. At least the sunset was great!

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Arrive in Perth
 

Packed up camp and had a toast and coffee breakfast and headed to Perth. It was still nearly 600kms so this was to be another big day. Once again long roads and the wind had picked up so more of the same battering from the trucks.

It's always a bit challenging coming into the traffic of a city after thousands of country kilometres, and even more difficult at peak hour, which it was. I stop-started my way through slow heavy traffic until I reached a friend's house in the northern suburbs and was there welcomed with a refreshing shower and delicious Indian food which Dee has a reputation for cooking.

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The following morning I battled the traffic again to get to Perth and the BMW dealer who I had booked the bike with a couple of days earlier. They fitted the Heidenau K60 tyres and changed the engine oil.
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Ziggy had now reached 25,000kms (17,000 when I bought her).

The new tyres were magic! So smooth around the corners it felt like I was doing ballet, they were so manoeuvrable. I went for a long ride around Perth and suburbs to enjoy the combination of new tyres and no luggage for a short time.

That night I went out for dinner with my hosts and their fishing club. It was a great night and ended with a few people coming back to Dee's to play pool and have some drinks. Very enjoyable social night.

Again no photos!!:oops2:

Left about 9.30am after a long cooked breakfast with my wonderful hosts. They are real people people and love having visitors and I felt very spoilt and well looked after.

Before long I was back on the open road and the Indian Ocean Highway had been suggested to me to travel north on instead of the Brand Highway. It was a beautiful ride with miles of massive sand dunes, mostly vegetated with a huge variety of plants.

Along the way I stopped at the Pinnacles, a large number of granite fingers pointing up out of the sand.

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I rode on to a small town called Northampton, just north of Geraldton, with a small caravan park in it and set up camp again. My tent was still a bit damp from my last stop and did not take long to dry out in the weather that was getting warmer as I headed north.

Geraldton to Carnarvon
 

**Apologies for lack of photos!!** Funny story though!

Usual morning routine before hitting the road again. After seeing the sights along the coast I pulled in to a town called Kalbarri and picked up some supplies, particularly some extra water. I'm carrying about 5 litres. As soon as I left the coast and headed inland it became very hot. The temperature hit 41.5C.

The heat caught me a bit unaware and I decide it was a good time to put on my cooling vest - an evaporative cooling material that you put on wet.
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Of course I had not pre-planned so the vest was dry and I didn't want to use my drinking water supplies to wet it.

I pushed on until I came across a 24 hour camping area with a river and water. I stopped and walked to the edge of the water and my boots started to sink into the black mud. I saw kangaroo tracks so I figured the water was drinkable and should be fine to soak the vest.

As I lay the vest on the water surface, the material started to soak up the water. The water was shallow and just under the surface was more of the black mud. It took me a minute to realise that it was putrid, decomposing mud and I had just soaked this awful smell into my vest.

It was unwearable. It was unbearable! I looked around and there was simply no other water at this place so I strapped the vest to the bike to dry out and figured I would be riding hot until I could wash out my vest. Fortunately about 80kms on, there was a structure with two large water tanks at a parking area. It was the first I had seen like it but it was a great idea. Two large rooves angled in to catch the rainwater and fill the tanks.

I stopped and pulled out my collapsible bucket for the first time and washed the vest. It needed two lots of detergent and five rinses to get the majority of the smell out, but it worked and I rode off with my wet vest on and a noticeable decrease in riding temperature, as the mercury hovered around 40C.

I pushed on through more long and try hot straight roads and decided that due to time constraints I would bypass the Shark Bay area that leads to Monkey Mia where you can feed and swim with dolphins. I eventually stopped at Carnarvon, booked into the nearest caravan park and slept like a baby.

The vest story made me laugh!sounds like something id do.:D:D

Thanks Noel...only wish I'd thought of taking photos..especially of my frustrated face!!

I've been a bad Nomad...
 

Not only is it seven months since I updated this trip report, but I've also been a nomad with wings clipped. Bogged down in working though will allow me to complete Broome to Brisbane this coming December - across the top :stormy::stormy:, and has also set me up and allowed me to plan for a trip around the globe...yep, Nomad Round the World - coming to a blogspot near you in 2014!

Now I'm getting ahead of myself and first I have to prove I can finish a trip report! Here goes...



10 Dec 12 - Carnarvon was a nice town and because I went into the first van park I had seen, I paid a premium and missed seeing the several other cheaper van parks on the other side of the town. However, newly refreshed, I headed north again and took the turnoff to Coral Bay.

It was a place recommended by a number of people so I decided to take the 150km detour to have a look. I rode through some very deserty dry country, flat with few trees and with the temperature approaching 40C again.
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Coral Bay was a very welcome place with a beautiful bay and stunning coloured ocean, with many moored yachts resting on the placid water.
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I drove to the end of the road where a carpark was situated, parked up and went for a welcomed swim in the water.
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I bought some lunch at one of the many cafes and contemplated my next move.
I thought about staying the day and night here until I looked at the maps and realised that I was still 1800kms from Derby - the distance from Brisbane to Cairns - and I needed to be there on Friday. After my refreshing stop I decided to push on and see if I could get some more miles behind me.

I filled up my water and headed out of town towards some of the most barren and hot areas of my trip. As I drove away from the coast, the temperature rose and rose quickly up to 40 degrees and beyond. I stopped when it reached 44 degrees to take this photo of my computer readout,
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and then it climbed to a stifling 45 degree, before reducing again to 43C for the next few hours.

The landscape had become more sparse and void of trees and the colour of the sand and dirt became a bright yet deep red. Sand dunes started rising out of the flatness covered in stumpy spinifex tusks and as I passed through them at the ends, the red was dazzling.

The road kept going and the heat kept heating and finally I rejoined the Highway to head north. After another couple of hours riding and another couple of stops to drink water I stopped at a roadhouse and pitched the tent on the only patch of grass for $10 No photo doh

Fires, long roads and other bikes
 

11 Dec 2012
I rose early at dawn, packed up camp, had breakfast and headed off. I had been told about this leg of the journey where the highway veered inland to travel east and followed the contour of the coastline in that direction towards Kurratha and Port Hedland. True to the stories it was hot, straight with little to see. There was not a lot of vegetation and the land was very flat, the roads very straight and to survive this ride I had to stop regularly and drink water and stretch my legs.
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My bike jacket was now permanently stowed in the bottom of the waterproof bag and I rode in the body armour and cooling vest. Along the way there were a couple of fires in the distance and I wondered whether I was going to cross paths with them.
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I arrive just outside of Kurratha and decided to have a look at the town of Dampier on the nearby peninsula. I took the heavy vehicle road and straight away I could se this was a major mining town, with a suburb of identical roofs and their attached air-conditioning units. I came to a T-intersection and there was a four lane highway confronting me…brand new with high sure lights and loaded with trucks and traffic. No photo again! doh

I turned left and headed towards Dampier. The roadworks were not only fresh but in progress, and I crawled through a couple of kilometres of 40 and 60 km/h speed limit areas. The relentless sun soaking into this new city of bitumen and concrete made for an unpleasant and very hot ride. Next trip report will have more photos! :nono:

Finally I went through a pass between some hills and an older suburban looking landscape opened up and the winding road lead to the bay. First impression was the beautiful colour of the water and all the boats in the sheltered man-made harbour. However as my eyes took in the whole scene there appeared some large transport ships for ore and a huge loading jetty. This was indeed a mining town.

It's hard to feel like a tourist here as the mining world has a harsh feel in tough country and aesthetics for the eye not a consideration. It is a jungle of concreted, machinery and harsh heat that picked me up and flung me north along the highway as quickly as I could to get away from this earth consuming monster.

I didn't bother stopping at Kurratha for more of the same and decided to push on to Port Hedland for the night, not expecting a much more pleasant place there.

Barely three kilometres from the junction that connected the North West Coastal Highway to the Great Northern Highway that forged it's way through the mining centre of WA, I was stopped by a bushfire crossing the road.
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I was one of the first few vehicles there and I stopped near a truck who was getting reports from the radio. The road was going to be closed for at least a few hours.

I had seen a hotel about 50kms earlier and I thought it would be a good time to turn back and pitch the tent after about half an hour of being parked in the sun. I turned around and rode about 200 metres before I saw another BMW motorcycle stopped in the traffic.
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I met Lyndsay then and he told me that the hotel I had seen had been closed for about a year. I stayed and met a few other people and waited to see if the road would clear. Lyndsay was from Broome and was riding an R1200 ST - a more road oriented touring version of the R1200 Boxer engine. He was returning home after three and a half months - 20,000kms - touring in NSW and Victoria.

We chatted with a group of people until about 4pm and I decided to go back to a campsite a few kilometres back by a river, and set up camp. Lyndsay agreed and we headed back, fortunate to have our camping gear. All the other motorists had to make a decision to either turn back or wait it out. Most went back.
..Ok it's not the right location but it is the hammock I used!
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I was a pleasant night in the hammock interrupted at about 10pm by a procession of cars heading past, indicating that the road was now open and people who had been waiting at the other side were free to head to Kurratha.

At last in Broome
 

12/12/12
There had been a lot of talk about this day being the end of the world, end of the Mayan calendar and general doomsday. Seemed like a good day to ride my bike in a remote part of the country!

Lyndsay and I rode together for part of the journey after getting fuel in Port Hedland. He was on his home stretch and was keen to get home and he has a different style of riding to me - fast. He preferred to sit on 140-160km/h whereas I am more of a plodder in comparison, happy with 110-120 as a maximum, and stopping to explore places.

Lyndsay took off into the distance and we arranged to meet in Broome where I was invited to stay the night. I 'plodded' along and made a turn off to 80 mile beach. It was a dirt road made muddy from a recent downpour and took me the 30 or so kilometres to this iconic long stretch of beach.

I went for a bit of a walk to stretch my legs and have a look at the beach which indeed looked to be about 80 miles long, stretching away into the distance in both directions.

I stopped at the next roadhouse, still a good 200kms from Broome, and had a hearty lunch before tackling the final leg. I arrived in Broome at about 4pm - some four and a bit hours after Lyndsay, and he and his wife Tina were wonderful hosts, cooking up a nice tray of roast veggies for dinner.

I slept well in the guest bed, then decided to pamper myself for the next night and stayed at a resort on Cable Beach - king size bed, swimming pool and breakfast included. I had found a very good deal on the internet and paid hundreds less than their standard price for the room.

I spent the day exploring parts of Broome and had the best home-made iced coffee I have had at the ice-cream shop.

So this was almost the end of my journey except for another 220kms to Derby where I will be working for the next six months. It has been a great journey of 9000kms and my trusty BMW I call Ziggy has purred through the journey without as much as a hiccup. There are lots of areas I skirted past and this trip could easily be done over months, rather than just a few weeks.

My intention was to try out the bike which is new to me, try out all of my camping gear, and see if long distance motorcycling was the thing I really wanted to do, or just a dream that seems a lot more romantic than the day to day heat, flies and sore bum can attest to.

The result is a resounding thumbs up. My gear/packing needs a bit of tweaking but for the most part I used all I had taken and all the gear performed perfectly. Ziggy is certainly a heavy bike and to be honest I did not have time to take her off-road, but the few times I did I felt the adrenaline of a 300kg bike swaying in mud and sand beneath me. I still have some reservations about taking her off-road and I know I need a lot more experience, but I plan to tackle the Gibb River Road after the wet season, and if I can handle that I will feel that I am finally ready to tackle the world on my trusty steed.

It has been an awesome ride but did not last long enough for my liking. I think a two year trip around the world is just what I need…stay tuned!

Broome, Derby, The Kimberley!
 

Having spent the last 10mths living in Derby at the gateway of the Gibb River Road - an iconic remote destination with big country, big storms and big boabs, and stunning gorges - I've assembled a few photos of my time here
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Photos of The Kimberley
 

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Gorges and Rock Art - The Kimberley
 

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