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King Strucky wrote:
You’re a fair dinkem Unit your highness,
I know where the front of that Goat hide is………….the prince (your son) was wearing it when you were in Canberra so his friends didn’t see him (how embarrassment!)
So, with this new title you have been bestowed……..I gather any future ride partners will have to undergo ASIO/ FBI/ CIA / Physc./ Prostate/ Chicken Pox etc etc etc checks before being given the official go ahead to accompany you? Further to this, if someone overtakes you, do they have to bow or curtsy? At every creek crossing, does a fellow rider have to lay down in front of you so can ride over them and stay out of the water/ mud etc? I mean, is there a procedures manual that OBT’s have to study before each ride or what?
Pleb Crash
So, we arrived at Cameron Corner, greeted by the Lightning Ridge Giant Emus’ gimp boy and the Beemer Baron!
It was great sitting down with them, listening to where they’d been & what they’d seen. Their route looked like a rippa. The lush & undulating beginnings of their trip would soon give way to the dry, flat, dusty desert innards of our island continent, what a contrast!We fuelled up, grabbed a room, charged up what had to be charged, TB & I changed our rear tyres (lovingly supplied by the Boulder Brothers – much appreciated gentlemen), checked things over, then cleaned up & joined everyone back at the ‘Corner Store’
A few regulars were on hand, like Phylis, the dog fence person – don’t call her a lady or she’ll be into you! And side kick. She had a few stories….she says the sand can build against the fence in no time to a point where you can step over it. So that’s why the fence patrollers are constantly on the move. We had a beaut meal, a few ales, some more tales, Ace & Pete played with their new found friends (Phylis’ baby goats) then we retired for the night.
On our way to our room, we all noticed how beautiful & clear the night was – it has been great to see the Milky Way again! Living in a big city these days, you don’t realise some of the little changes. Most city kids wouldn’t know it exists! or what the night sky really looks like!
In the morning, we got ready & went over to the actual corner maker post. Took some photos, had a look at the fence and then hit the road.
The ‘Ten’ twins lead the way, hooked up with their bluetooths crapping on about stuff in general. Back over the sandhills we went. Like the boys have already told you…..somehow on the way in yesterday, we missed seeing a hazardous section on top of one particular hill. An area about 10 metres long that consisted of powdery undulating bulldust. It almost bought Pete & myself undone. We heard later on that this section had claim quite a few victims in the previous few days. Lucky we both kept the bikes straight, because if the tails had whipped out…it would have ended in tears…..and plenty of damage! I hope those others are on the mend without too much discomfort. We slowed Ace & Strucky down to avoid a drama and continued. We soon arrived at the famed ‘Yellow Bus’ site…however, someone had coated it with invisible paint! It wasn’t there! It seems that once again, the majority of people have been screwed by a selfish minority! As TB said before, the result of continued abuse of the area, with the dumping of rubbish and graffiti, the owner buried it.
We turned south here, to use a terrific track that links up with the Strezlecki further down the line. It was a really nice twin trail. Up & over many sandhills & along the troughs….it was a cracker.
Once back on the main track, I was a little surprised…this was the famed ‘Strezlecki Track’, originally a route a bloke took in the mid 1800’s to drove some stolen cattle down from Queensland. I had visions of it being an old, rutted out, single width goat track! However, it’s a 3 to 4 lane wide, flat dirt road. Well groomed and well used. Plenty of Grey nomads and heavy vehicles use it. You still can’t switch off though, because there are many areas of deep, soft wheel tracks and plenty of good size rocks, all hiding in wait to knockdown the careless or inattentive rider.
The country is magnificent. Thousands of square kilometres of nothing – it’s a big place! I was loving it all. We had left behind the desert sandhills, the country had gone back to being as fairly flat – just like the channel country up north. The road is still dipping regularly to allow large volume of water to drain south when the need arises. We came over a slight rise…….and wayyyyyyyy off in the distance, barely visible on the horizon, were these tiny rounded shadows. I stopped & took a photo, not a very good one. These, as it turned out, were the Gammon Ranges, the Northern reach of the Flinders Ranges.
As our journey continued, these ‘rounded shadows’ progressively grew larger and larger. We soon left the main track and opened a closed gate. This was a memorable few hours. It was a really nice twin track. We were running over flat pasture land, weaving through stands of trees & bush. It dipped in and out of what seemed to be 100 dry creek beds. At the same time, the mountain range seemed to be growing larger & more impressive by the minute. We hadn’t seen such an imposing landmark since we began our trip. The creek beds were amazing. Beautiful ghost gums standing like soldiers guarding the beds until next time the rain water needed to escape. We stopped in one such creek bed to boil some water for some lunch & a coffee or soup. I’d hate to be stuck in one of these beds when the rush of water was draining away from the ranges!
We knew the next couple of days were going to be stunning! We continued on, skirting the foot of the ranges, getting a sore neck from looking to my right all the time. The colour and ruggered, weathered appearance of the ranges was magnificent. I would have sucked the Tenere Twins dust for another few days if I knew I was going to witness this! Once we were at the foot of these ranges, if we could have gone 4km in a straight line over them, we would have saved about 60+kms going around this range and up the valley to our nights stop at Arkaroola. What a great day
More later…………….
I’ve been longing to see some of Outback Australia since I was a little kid. I can still remember sitting, watching, being mesmerised by the feats of the Leyland Brothers – tripping around in the early 70’s. Showing everyone ‘Off the beaten track’ all over Australia.
I did take a about 9 months off after I finished my apprenticeship when I was a youngster, back in 1988, to travel around Australia in my Landcruiser Ute. Other than going from Lawn Hill NP-Camooweal-Tennant Crk-Alice-Rock-Darwin-Kakadoo-Katherine-Kimberleys……I stayed pretty coastal.TB told me about the trip he wanted to do, so I tentatively put my hand up. I had tossed up morphing my XR650R into an Adventure Wagon……but I couldn’t bring myself to do it to her, it just didn’t seem right!
So, after talking to a few different people, mainly TB and knowing the budget available….I decided to buy a second hand Yamaha XTZ660 Tenere. After a month or two, I found a 2009 model that had hardly seen the dirt, with only 8500km on it. TB set me straight on what I needed to do to her, and off I went (that’s a story for another day)The trip seemed an age away……….I was still unsure as to if I could actually go. I mean, running a small business with a part-time driver as your only back-up….it’s a big call to disappear for 10 days….especially when you’re the sole bread winner.
So, months became weeks, weeks became days, days became day, day became hours…and off I went. Arrived a TBs’, loaded his bike and gear, hooked up Petes’ trailer with his bike already attached. I then sat in the Passenger seat (as usual when TB is about) and off we went – headed for Petes’.
Pretty uneventful – Pete was ready to go. He had a Six pack with him – we toasted to our trip – and off we went bound for Trangie. A pretty quiet trip…….after that beer at Petes’ I just dozed off……and then woke up at our destination…..How good is that?
We were greeted by Em & Rich, had a few ales, unloaded the bikes and gear and retired for the night.
TBs’ Sis cooked us some eggs and toast etc – a great start to the trip.We were off…..
It was pretty uneventful whilst on the bitumen, except for Petes’ exploded rear tube. We picked up a few spare rear tubes in Bourke and kept going. Out of Bourke to the Queensland boarder we were introduced to riding fully loaded bikes in some fairly soft sandy roads with a few little bulldust spots thrown in for good measure. It’s certainly an eye opener, your brain says slow down, but you learn fairly quickly that any sort of rapid deceleration or braking will usually spell disaster. So, you lean back, power on and if that starts going pear shaped – drag the back brake a little.
We arrived at the boarder, took some photos & opened the gate at the Dog fence. Then we had the best Steak sandwich at the Hungerford Royal Mail Pub – and maybe a few beers. There was a heap of Cash pinned to the ceiling ready for the Flying Doctors’ Donation Tin
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Then on to Eulo we rode, but their bowser was blowing fuses. We then had to sprint to Cullamulla to fuel. The ride back to Eulo at Dusk was a fair dinkum nightmare. There were so many ‘bush roos’ on the side of the road. That is, short bushes that you SWEAR are real kangaroos – but aren’t.
The girls at the Eulo Pub cooked up a ripper meal that night and day 2 couldn’t come fast enough.
We made our way to Toompine for breakfast – it was excellent. Another area opened up by mining many years ago – Opals I think. Can you imagine traveling out to here in the old Cobb & Co stage all those years ago? Or doing the week long mail run from Charleville. Our hostess told us it was going to be a big day up the road in Quilpie today! – 3 kids rugby league games…gotta love the country.
We fuelled in Quilpie and continued to Windorah. We camped out the back that night.
In these first 2 days and the 3rd to come, we were travelling across some of the largest water carrying areas of this country. The Paroo, Warrego, Thompson/ Coopers Creek, Barcoo, Diamantina and Bullo rivers. The great majority of any rain that falls on the Western side of Queenslands’ Great Dividing Range ends up either in the Darling or in Lake Eyre via these rivers – Google map it, it’s incredible – I’d love to see this Channel country in flood…….from a helicopter.
As a result, the roads are constantly dipping low to allow for flooding. It’s quite daunting imagining these areas with water flowing through. There are also some pretty deep & aggressive erosion channels right next to the road.
We hit Birdsville around lunch. The town had a bit of a buzz about it. Tugboat Bills’ ashes were to be buried on Big Red on the edge of the Simpson Desert in the next day or so. There would have been a hundred bikes around town. Plenty of them camping on the riverbed. ‘Not us hardcores’ We had a relaxing arvo ‘socialising’ at the Pub (an expensive passtime).
The next morning after stripping all the gear off our bike, we went and had a look at Big Red and a few other sandhills. We had a play for a few hours, it’s a magic place. You find yourself looking westward and wondering what it would be like to cross the other 1100+ sandhills! Like Boulder & Fish did – I reckon you’ve got to give it a crack at least once in your life!
It was another stinking hot day, so we had an easy arvo, again – ‘socialising’, having a look around town & checking & prepping our bikes for our departure in the morning.
We had heard that the Walkers Crossing track, which joins The Birdsville & Strezlecki Tracks, was now open, for the first time in over 4 years. We decided to forego going to the Bourke & Wills Dig tree in favour of doing the Crossing track – a great decision in the end. It was very sandy with plenty of wildlife……but Man, what a ride! It was exhilarating. After the good stuff you find yourself travelling through the Gas field region. You do have to be switched on though, because the roads can confuse you. The mining roads are very well maintained due to them having to support tankers & other heavy vehicles. So you don’t go on appearance alone.
We continued on through the Strezlecki Desert, over the Merty Merty rollers – the waves of sandhills that are magic to ‘roll’ over. You stay to your left and are constantly on edge because you can’t see over each hill and are unsure there’s not some nanga coming the other way on the wrong side!
It was like that this all the way to Cameron Corner. It was a terrific first 5 days. It was great to see Strucky & Ace, all cleaned up & showered with beers in hand – a beaut welcoming party.
More later……….
