Had to contend with some corrugated roads - well, we thought they were corrugate, but Magnus said that they'll seem like paved road compared to the Gunbarrell - yeehah.
Pub of the day was Curtain Springs - quick drink before the run into Yulara. The DR was called on for some courier work. Adrian had picked up a block of XXXX Gold, but Magnus had already headed off in the truck. Add some duct tape and voila!
Before getting into Curtain Springs, we saw Mt. Conner which is somtimes called the fake Ayres Rock as that's what it can look like from a distance. Later that day, we got to see the actual rock - geez it's a big bastard - even from the distance we saw it from.
That night we stayed at Yulara which is the small tourist/resort village for Ayres Rock that has a campground, and several different levels of hotels with a small shopping centre. We had a meal at the Outback Pioneer Club thingo - got to cook my own steak - just as well I like medium rare :)
Early night as the pub is an 'outdoor' pub and the night was absolutely freezing - worst of all, we didn't have a campfire to sit around, so it was an early night. No real photo's from today.
Day 12 - Yulara (free day)
Well, given that we were only 20 kms from Ayres Rock, you'd think I would've gone to have a look, but I couldn't be bothered - dumb, probably, but I was happy to bum around the campground and the little village, change the oil in my DR, and generally take it easy.
So, again, no pics.
Instead, here's a brief run down on a typical tour day.
- Roll out of the swag at 5:45 and climb into my riding gear.
- The 'kitchen' was open at 6am for OJ and cereal, with the cooked brekky and the kettle ready in about 10 mins. During this time, there's a fair chance you get to shake hands with Doug. Who's Doug? Well, he becomes your best friend during the tour - especially those days were there are no 'facilities'. Doug is the shovel :) I bet he'd have some stories to tell.
- Generally brekky is done by 6:45ish.
- Then I start packing up my swag and tarp.
- The bikes get warmed up and we are rolling by 7:30 or so - just after Skippy hour (or so we hope). 10:30-11:00 is then smoko - it'll either be a bikky day, or a cake day (although once, we had a bikky AND cake - woohoo) with coffee, tea, or billy tea.
- Lunch is around 1:00-1:30 and is a wrap of salad and meat - and a beer if you feel the need.
- We stop riding, usually, by 3:30-4:00 - all things going to plan, so as to allow some time to get the fire started, the swag set up, and for Magnus to start preparing dinner. Dinner ranged from camp-oven roasts, tandoori chicken, several chicken curries, pasta, goulash type stew, and a chilli con carne.
- Then, to finish it off, some choccy is passed around the campfire. All in all, absolutely awesome food, and no-one went hungry.
- Anywhere from 9:30 to 10:00 was usually bed time.
Day 12 - Yulara to somewhere on the Gunbarrell highway
Morning was another bloody cold start - what is it with this place? It was so cold, that the boys from Nowra had bought some oven mitts the previous day to wear. Check 'em out
About 40 kms later, we came across The Olgas - they looked pretty cool.
We called in to Docker River which is an Aboriginal community which was a bit of a shock. On one side of the road was a house with several cars out the front in various states of disrepair, but on the other side of the road were quite tidy houses with chain link fences and barbed wire on them. Later in town, there were dozens of dogs just wondering around, as were the people. Just bumming around. Then there was the kindergarden which had 8 foot bars surrounding it. It's hard to describe, but it's not a good feeling, and I was pretty happy to get out. That's all I'll say about it.
Shortly after we crossed into WA where, according to Mangus, the sun shines warmer, the air is fresher and life, in general, is just better. Guess where he was brought up? :) The scenery along the Peterson Range was fantastic - rolling hills and pale ghost gums (I think they were ghost gums anyway).
We filled up in Warakurna which is a small community. The roadhouse has cages that surround the fuel pumps, but they only sell OPAL fuel which doesn't contain the odours for petrol sniffers to get high on - we had seen this previously at other places as well - the OPAL that is, not the cages. Not far from there is Giles meteorological station, which, even though it's located in WA, is actually a very small piece of SA and even runs on SA time! Bizarre. Here is where the grader that carved out the Gunbarrell Hwy, amongst many more, back in the fifties. It's called Len's Cat as Len Beadell was the bloke who was the surveyor for the Gunbarrell Road Construction Party. It had graded approx 6,000 kms through some of the roughest country around and had to do 5 passes for each km = 30,000 kms. Oh yeah, Warakurna and Gunbarrell Hwy are both songs on Midnight Oil's Diesel and Dust album - guess what I played on my PC that night :)
After that, we hit the unmaintained portion of the Gunbarrell - geez, was this a wake up. I had 34 litres of fuel on board and the road was basically a twin track of sand, rock and hardpack - constantly changing. The track is very tight in parts, and flowing in others. There's plenty of sticks, trees, and bushes that line the track - right next to the track. The barkbusters certainly copped a hiding - as did my jacket and, at times, my face! I was constantly over running corners (a common occurance for the whole trip now that I think about it - might be the reason I was called 'straightline' for a while around the campfire).
Just as I was completing a section that was a tonne of fun, I got pretty close to a camel - in fact, way too close. I saw that Adrian had stopped ahead, so had started to slow down, but was still doing 60 or so I guess, when out of nowhere, I see a camel start to run in front of me - he was all hooves and legs as he sprinted straight in front of me - at about arse height - I started to think "great, I'm going to not just hit a camel, I'm going to go straight up his bum!". Luckily I manged to hit the brakes in time for him to join his mates on the other side of the road without claiming a camel scalp. Time for a bit of a breather.
One of these bludgers caused me a bit of grief
Day 13 - Gunbarrell to Len Beadell's tree (on Gunbarrell)
More of the same today - great variety on the Gunbarrell - rock ledges that hide in the sand, ant hills that hide in the shadows, trees that jump out to knock your hand from the handlebars, sand and gravel and rock and.. I think you get the picture. As tough as it is, it's an absolute blast and was fast becoming the highlight of the trip for me.
The colours in the area are startling - especially given that the area has had such a lot of rain recently. The roads are a combination of red dust, purple gravel, white sand, mustard yellow gravel, quartz-like rock. On the edge of the road are small plants and scrub that is as green as anything that I've ever seen. Then, the vast majority of the landscape is made up of pale yellow/straw spinifex that is 4-5 feet high. The sky is picture perfect blue, and there's a few clouds about. It was stunning. I tried to take a picture of it, but it pretty much sucked, so didn't keep it.
One thing about the Gunbarrell - if you don't like the standard, or type, of road - just wait anywhere from 500m to 2 kms as it will change. Parts of the road have washed out completely, so there diversions. Also, the corrugations can be horrendous - they were shaking my head so badly that my specs would bounce which resulted in the whole world moving. I've not ridden or driven over corrugations like them before.
We came across a dingo that was sitting in the middle of the road - stopped not 20 m in front of us. Not until we were very close did he run off - pretty cool to see them so close.
The anthills are made out of concrete-hard dirt. I managed to hit a couple that were hidden behind a small plant, or in the shadows on the side of the road. I'll tell you one thing - the anthills don't move - you do, usually straight up with arms and legs all over the place. It was sometime during this day, or the next, that I managed to dent both front and rear rims. Oh well, I was pretty keen on getting some new flash looking rims anyway - now I have an excuse.
Anyone who likes trailriding, just about has to love this stuff - well, that's my opinion anyway. On this day, we didn't see another vehicle. Gotta love that!
One of the markers Len Beadell used to mark the Gunbarrell
More Gunbarrell - yeah...
Day 14 - Len Beadell's tree to just outside Carnegie Station Homestead
More Gunbarrell makes Marty happy. Still hard work, but it's such a great challenge - it's what made the trip for me. Due to the Gunbarrell being such a handful for some of the guys, we hadn't made great time, so we had to do a few more kms today, but still didn't get to Carnegie where we could have had some showers - but we wouldn't have been able to have a campfire. Fires before showers in my books, so I wasn't all that disappointed.
Yep Gav, that's where we've got to go...
Day 15 - Outside Carnegie Station to Lake Mason
Big day today - and extra 76 kms on what was going to be a big day anyway so we started 30 mins earlier - brekky at 5:30. We re-fueled at Carnegie - well, most of us did. We only had 350 kms to Wiluna, so I didn't fill up as fuel is pretty pricey here. It would come back to haunt me. Carnegie marks the end of the old Gunbarrell Hwy, but it continues on in a very different form to Wiluna. Once we entered the Wiluna Shire, the road really did become a highway - well, a very wide, well formed dirt road - not the track that we were used to. Actually, that might have happened the previous day - I can't remember anymore. It was sad to see the old track go, but we made way better time on this new road.
When we arrived at Wiluna - wow, what a shock. All of the shops have floor to ceiling roller shutter doors. The place was like a ghost town as well - no one in the streets at all - maybe the footy was at another town? Anyway, it was kind of spooky. I'd heard stories from my mates who used to work in two of the mines up here about this town - none of them good. Segregated bars, etc etc. When we arrived at the Wiluna Pub, there's a big sign that says "Welcome to Paradise" - well, in the words of one of the visiting chippies, "I don't want to see hell". When those guys arrived at the pub via the GPS, they thought they must have the wrong place - nope - that was it. None of them had a good word to say about it, and are flat out turning a 3 week job into a 2 week job so they can get out. We wanted to get a drink at the pub, but they can only sell Mid strength on Sundays - that's OK, we're riding anyway. Then we wanted to buy some more beer - again, they can only sell Mid strength, but they didn't have any left. Magnus had to go to the local cop shop to get a form signed so that we could buy full strength takeaway beer on a Sunday! It's a different world.
Anyway, the servo was closed - all of them! So, we took off for Lake Mason (our destination) with the fuel we had and we dropped off like flies along the way - getting a top off from the 5 jerries that were on the truck. I think everyone ran out of fuel, I ran out twice as I didn't put enough in the first time. It was an interesting trip anyway.
Lake Mason is an old homestead with some shearer's quarters, showers, and flushing toilets. Luxury, sheer luxury! We met a couple of old blokes who were detecting for gold in the area. We had a good chinwag around the fire. Andrew (the guy who cleaned up the roo on day 2) cooked up his first damper and it was a ripper. It certainly hit the spot.
Sick of bikes in my pics yet? Note the Gunbarrell-proof number plate modification.
Day 16 - Lake Mason to Lake Moore
Another early start so that Magnus could drive into Sandstone to fill up the jerries so that we could get into Sandstone to refuel. While waiting for him to come back, I noticed Adrian checking out my front tyre - it looked flat - it was flat. Luckily, Magnus had left our bags behind, so I set to work getting the tyre fixed. I found a thorn in the tyre that had been continually working it's way into my tube. I didn't have a spare tube on me, so patched it and prayed for the best - it's sill ok now several days later. I was pretty happy to have it all fixed by the time the truck got back.
We arrived at Sandstone (about 60 kms from our camp) in the morning and what a contrast to Wiluna. It is one of the prettiest towns I've seen. The roads from now on started to become very straight, wide and, well to be honest, boring. But that's going to happen when you compare it to the Gunbarrell.
By the time we reached Payne's Find we were ready for more fuel (and a beer). But once again, no cigar. The servo and pub had closed down for renovations. A couple of the guys bargained with the 'caretakers' and we filled up the jerry cans as much as we could - there wasn't much fuel left in the tanks - supposedly.
Lake Mason was to be our last campfire for the trip - so the guys were pretty psyched to make the biggest fire of the trip. Throughout the journey, the firest had been getting bigger and bigger. When we arrived, we discovered a tonne of firewood surrounded by sand - perfect for a big fire. At one stage we were sitting about 7-10 metres from the fire - it was a ripper. The night was topped off with an apple and sultana damper - wish we had've started making them earlier :)
Day 17 - Lake Moore to Fremantle
Well, a slightly depressing start to what was a depressing day. Fog and mist everywhere. The perfect setting for how I was feeling. We rolled the swags up for the last time. We rode some more straight roads and then hit the bitumen. Not a whole lot to report really. When we started to get to the freeways it was a bit of a shock.to be surrounded by so many cars. The next thing I know is we've rolled into Freemantle harbour and are having a cup of bubbles - toasting our crossing from the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean. Job done. Later that evening we had all met up again at Clancy's Fish Pub for our final meal together. A few awards were presented, and then home to bed for an early night.
A few pics of the pig in Freo - not very clean, but very well traveled. Number plate in tact as well.
There's no doubt that I've forgotten a lot of stuff, but it's how I've remembered it for now.
A few final thoughts.
- If you're at all remotely interested in dirt bike riding and seeing Australia, give Magnus a call or email. You can't go wrong with Outback Adventure Treks. Magnus is a top bloke who love a yarn, loves Australia and loves motorbikes. I can't fault one aspect of the entire trip. Book a trip now.. do it.
- The Dancing Pig - so far, I've been rapt with the way the pig has performed. It sits on the road, can be punted up a dune, glides over corrugations, and has performed flawlessly for the whole trip - so far!
- Mitas E09 tyre - I reckon it did bloody well in the long run. I'm still running it now, and will get at least 7,000 kms from it - the last 1000 on bitumen. Not bad for a knobby.
- Australia - you've got to see it to believe it - it's is fricken huge. The scenery is absolutely amazing. There are times it is boring, but that would have been less than 5% I reckon. Get out and see it.
- One thing I forgot to mention is the stars. We were lucky enough to see a partial eclipse of the moon. We also saw the moon rise in the most magnificent way. Until that moment, the night sky is amazing. I've never seen so many stars in my life - I got dizzy staring straight up at them all.
Report done for now - we'll see what happens on my solo travels next.
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