Episode 26 - Silver City and Murray Valley
 

After Peterborough, we took Barrier Hwy east, and crossed the border from South Australia to New South Wales, heading to Broken Hill which is the second largest city in New South Wales. Broken Hill is Australia's longest-lived mining city since silver ore was discovered here in 1883. It is also known for its solar plant completed in 2015, which is one of the largest in the southern hemisphere.

During our stay in Broken Hill, we went on an interesting walking tour and visited a few historic buildings, some of which present beautiful wrought ironwork. We noticed that many of the street names around the town centre are named after rocks and minerals, e.g. Argent Street, Cobalt Street, Crystal Street. You will see in Episode 26 some scenes taken from the Miner’s Memorial on top of the hill.

Then we rode on Silver City Hwy south, crossing Murray River at Wentworth and then entered back in Victoria, along Murray Valley where we saw many mature growing and diverse plantation.

The video is 9.5 minutes long.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4256/...2453375d05.jpg



https://youtu.be/F5NJY0TfsHQ

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4258/...7d11a16390.jpgDSC_1075 by Claire Girard, sur Flickr

Sculpture by Pro Hart, Broken Hill

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4287/...6ca09e303d.jpgDSC_1076 by Claire Girard, sur Flickr

On Argent Street, Broken Hill

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4205/...02ce61a0b3.jpgDSC_1082 by Claire Girard, sur Flickr

The Palace Hotel, Broken Hill

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4235/...45a67d875d.jpgDSC_1089 by Claire Girard, sur Flickr

Episode 27 - The Great Alpine Road, Victoria
 

We left Wangaratta on a cold sunny morning and headed south on the Great Alpine Road. As you will see in Episode 27, we were a bit surprised by the first signs of frost appearing near Harrietville. Riding the Great Alpine Road was very pleasant, however it seemed our ride going up would never end, reaching the highest elevation at Mount Hotham Alpine Ski Resort, as the temperature was going down and down… :helpsmilie:

We were surprised to see how busy the ski area was with lots of skiers and snowboarders around, and certainly felt a bit ‘out of place’ on our motorcycles! We were anxious to get to our hotel in Omeo before darkness, and to warm up.

The next day, we continued on this lovely road, towards Bruthen and then to Nowa Nowa.

I would love to do that ride again… in summer!!

The video is 18.5 minutes long.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4256/...17b73558fe.jpg



https://youtu.be/guAFQkj7kas

Episode 28 - Wilson Promontory Nat'l Park, Victoria
 

From Nowa Nowa, we rode on Princes Hwy to get to Lakes Entrance which is along the south coast. There's a nice lookout just after the town. From Sales, we rode on South Gippsland Hwy to Wilsons Promontory Nat’l Park. A very nice ride although a bit cold at this time of year!!

You will see in Episode 28 that we were greeted by lovely colorful birds at Tidal River. We went up to Telegraph Saddle near Mount Oberon to see the view and as we were coming back down on this narrow road, we were almost hit by a car. :thumbdown:

We stopped for lunch at the Tanaki Airfield where we were able to see emus and kangaroos quite close.

The video is 13 minutes long.

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https://youtu.be/ZvoTFCCP4wM

At Tidal River Visitor Centre

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4264/...39745b6436.jpgDSC_1096 by Claire Girard, sur Flickr

Squeaky Beach

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4290/...c901e1c9cb.jpgDSC_1097 by Claire Girard, sur Flickr

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4262/...96ae5f1a73.jpgDSC_1099 by Claire Girard, sur Flickr

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4256/...d6635d1989.jpgDSC_0002 by Claire Girard, sur Flickr

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4287/...7ce9f2f950.jpgDSC_0005 by Claire Girard, sur Flickr

At Tanaki Airfield

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4290/...ccf96c792b.jpgDSC_0009 by Claire Girard, sur Flickr

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4206/...7b5db80091.jpgDSC_0021 by Claire Girard, sur Flickr

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4116/...68f5f0c25d.jpgDSC_0030 by Claire Girard, sur Flickr

Closing Remarks
 

We were in Australia for 110 days and rode about 21,400 km mainly on paved roads, some very twisty and hilly, others very flat, straight and awfully boring but always worth the journey!
We found a country that offers an incredible diversity in wildlife, scenery and climate. We also witnessed the most spectacular sunsets and night sky never seen before.
We came back home with our heart and mind filled with countless lasting memories!

Special Thanks to HU Members who provided extraordinary support throughout our journey in Australia:

• oVe Gehrmann, Melbourne
• Shirley Hardy-Rix and Brian Rix, Castelmaine
• Beth and Arran, Brisbane
• Nicolaas van Buuren, Adelaïde

Thank you for all those who followed our blog during our trip, provided feedback or simply said that they enjoyed it!

Also much appreciated, the incredible time we had chatting with locals especially bush campers, sitting by their campfire or sharing wine, and people from all over the world who we met and spoke to during this trip. We found incredibly friendly and welcoming people throughout our adventure.

Thank you all for making it so lovely!

It was such a wonderful trip that Claire decided to return to Australia in November and will find her GS650 in storage in Melbourne. She will attend and present at the Snowy Mountains HU Meeting and then go ride in Tasmania for a few weeks, with some breaks to enjoy hiking.

Some statistics:

Here's a summary of all expenses incurred during our 110-day motorcycle trip in Australia, excluding the air fare.

- Accommodation: Mostly camping (41 free, 34 commercial campgrounds or national parks, 30 nights at friend’s place and family, 5 hotel rooms);

- MC Cost: Net cost for 2 motorcycles = Purchase – Sale (including all cost related to the sale such as Roadworthy Certificate and advertisement on the web);
Note: Since the G650GS has not been sold yet, we used an estimate based on the sale of the R1200GS. The sale price represents 88% of its purchase cost, therefore the net cost for one motorcycle was basically $2350 which makes it a very good deal, a lot cheaper then renting MCs;

- Activities & Travel Equipment includes Travel Guide, Motorcycle Atlas, Nat’l Park Entrance Fee, Tourist and City Tours, SIM Cards and Cell Phone Plan, a second External Hard Drive, Camping Gas, Travel Insurance, etc.

Basically per person, comes up to $70 daily or $375 per 1000 km.

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Only one tire puncture during our journey, no other problem at all during the whole trip besides we had to replace one rear tire before the end of the trip due to its worn state after 18,000 km.

Home, sweet home… Some thoughts

We left home in the middle of our winter (January 25th) and came back, almost six months later in the middle of our summer, just in time for the heat wave… and quite some backlog work waiting for us!

Our ‘Canadian’ motorcycles are running well but are very different from our GS! We quickly realized how bad the road condition is where we live compared to Australia. At least, we get to ride on the right side, not the wrong one… ;-)

And, it is so lovely to prepare home cooked meals and to have the facilities at hand that we rarely had during our trip!

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4304/...f98252fd_b.jpg

Back soon for our next adventure!

Richard and Claire