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.


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.


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.


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.

These photos are a setup of my gear

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.



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.



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.





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.







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

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