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Continued……..
With only a few hours of daylight left in order to reach Cameroo Station (-29.243167,145.139802 paste the co ordinates into Google maps to get an idea of the location). We still had a 150km run up a rough rutted and sandy road, that had the potential to throw all manner of wild life at you including Emus, wild pigs, goats, huge cattle and of coarse those brainless Kangaroos.
About 40kms up the road, up ahead in a haze of dust I could see a flashing light and as I got closer I could see the whole group of riders stopped on the side of the road. My thoughts were “this can’t be good”, and I was correct. I could see a rider laying on the road and another off to the side getting treatment.
A Kangaroo had taken one of the crew out and his bike cartwheeled, landing on the handlebars of the bike following him. Both riders were not in real good shape, with arm and rib injuries. With no phone service, Lefty jumped on his KTM and headed back towards Bourke trying to get into phone range in order to call an Ambulance to convey the lads back to Bourke Hospital.
With daylight ours quickly running out and still another 100kms to go through a veritable zoo of kamikaze wildlife, it was thought best to get the group going again. The group took off with Charlie sweeping the group on his own and I was to wait for Lefty to return and the two of us would make the final run together.
This 100km run, I am not embarrassed to say was the most intense 100kms of my life, we were belting along at 120kmph on a road that was throwing surprises at us left right and centre, bearing in mind I was riding a 22 year old bike that I had initially only paid $200 for!
We finally rolled into the Cameroo Station just on dark, to be greeted with one of the most welcomed beers in my life!
As it turns out Camaroo Station isn’t the most exotic location I have been to in my life, with a over supply of sand, dust, flies and a myriad of creatures taking refuge in the toilet bowls, I am glad my wife didn’t decide to come along!
the following day a lay day, we were left to our own devices to explore the Station. We decided we would go and find the river, where one of the guys decided to take the station’s rowboat for a bit of a run. Not a smart move on his behalf as no sooner was he out in the middle the entire group on the bank realized we had an never ending supply of cow patts to bomb him with!
After we left the river we headed 8kms across the station to an artesian bore to check out the hot water bubbling up out of the ground,
It was here that one of the boys ran over a small wild pig , he managed to not crash and stop in time to capture it before it got up and ran away, all the while I was waiting for it’s mother to come tearing out of the bush and have a go at us.
The rest of the afternoon was spent fairly casually, a few beers and a heap of laughs topped off the afternoon nicely
More to come…..
What a crazy 6 days on the bikes!
So much has happened during those 6 days a report would end up like Lord of the Rings!With a planned leaving time of 12 noon Wednesday, I was just in the process of getting kitted up when my phone rang, it was Toes, our support driver on the Phone. With him having left before us, I had a feeling this wasn’t a call I wanted to take, as it could only be bad news. I was correct as he informed me that the Ford Transit van had broken a timing belt 70kms from town and it was going no where!
Not a great start! I then had to run around getting his ute and trailer up to speed to take on the trip. I then loaded up the NX on the trailer and headed west to meet up with the stranded support vehicle. We quickly transferred all the gear into the ute and trailer, I unloaded the NX, kitted up and I was finally on the road headed west on the bike!
As we were planning to meet the main ride on day 2 at Nyngan we only had to make it to Tamworth on day 1. Charley and I set a cross country route via Nowendoc in order to avoid the main roads and both bikes ran smoothly all the way and we saw some country new to us both. First fuel stop was at the thriving metropolis of Nowendoc
From there we headed off towards Nundle where we got a bit directionally challenged and it wasn’t until I saw Chaffey dam that I realised we were headed in the wrong direction.
We finally made it to Boony’s place, just before dark and promptly had a few beers to celebrate with the rest of the boys that were joining us on the ride. Maybe one or two more beers were consumed than there should have been.
A few of the bikes and the support ute
In order to make the long run across to Nyngan and early start was required and 6.30am saw us riding off.
Yes I know some clown put a KTM sticker on my headlight
A rest stop somewhere near Barraba
The old KDX 175 was flat out at 80kms ph and had self oiling brakes!
Damus was all thumbs up
The dust off the road trains was something to be seen!
AS we neared Nyngan the clouds rolled in.
About 5kms from Nyngan the heaven opened up and we finished the day in flogging down rain.
Thankfully I had booked a cabin and we didn’t have to camp in the rain.
Another big night on the juice ensued and plenty of laughs were had, thankfully a takeaway bottle of Wild Turkey was too expensive at $65 and we told them were to stick their bottle. Otherwise if we had gotten the bottle, we would have gotten real messy I think. With another big day ahead on the bikes a hangover of monumental proportions is probably not the best thing to start the day with.
Charley and I were sweep riders for the Nyngan to Cameroo section and with 40+ bikes in front of us it was going to be a long day! Especially when a DR250 took off ahead of me at 25kms per hour in a cloud off acrid smoke and making a bizarre hissing noise! Thankfully the DR only made it 700 meters up the road before expiring and I made the call that it was going on the trailer as I wasn’t going to follow that for 400+ kms at 25kmph!!!
Especially when some of the roads were so straight they just disappeared off into the horizon
Being sweep riders gave us a chance to pull up and take a few photos from time to time
The offending DR250 on the trailer,paint something KTM orange and you can only expect issues!
Pez on the mighty 460 four! This thing has the sweetest note at full song!
Matty on the Mighty SR250, you may notice that his feet are strapped to the bike,that is because he is a paraplegic and has a great outlook on life and nothing is gunna stop him from having a good time, what a dead set legend!
The ride leaders, TB and Lefty
We finally rocked into Bourke at about 2pm for lunch at the pub before doing the last 150km dash to Camaroo Station. That’s where things really started to get interesting.
To be continued……………
I made some “minor” adjustments to the old NX last night, thanks to Nick From Teknik for rebuilding my spare set of forks, as the ones that were in the old girl were leaking pretty badly. It turns out my spare set weren’t all that flash either as someone in the past had jammed two rubber door stoppers down the tubes to give the spring a bit more pre load! :blink: :huh:
Anyhow, I got the forks in and she is ready to roll (hopefully) :whistle:
Rego is sorted, I even managed to score consecutive plates for the team NX machines!
It has been a very time consuming but satisfying project, considering this is how the bike looked when I purchased it off Kram for $200 a year or two ago.
I have lost count (or don’t want to know) how much I have spent on the two NX’s to get them up to speed for this Adventure but I am sure it will work out that it has all been worth my while in the long run!
Thanks to those that helped me get them both sorted in one way or another and a huge thanks to everyone who has put their hands in their pockets and donated some hard earned for Down Syndrome NSW.
And a big Thanks to TB for sorting out a route that will no doubt be a beauty!
Cheers
MickGood stuff Boony, it doesn’t hurt to tank people for the support you have been given!
While we are at it, I best thank Rock Motorcycles in Port Macquarie for their donation of 5 litres of oil (we are gunna need it) and MudnTar Motorcycles from Wauchope for the snazzy set of mirrors they gave me for the old girl.
I have spent the morning tinkering with her this morning and tidied a few things up and decided I didn’t like the front tyre so I changed that as well. Now she is sitting up on the stand waiting for the other set of forks that have been serviced by Teknik to arrive. Once they are in she is ready to roll!
Trailboss wrote:micknmeld wrote:If you just want to donate to the Old Bull team tally go to:Be a team player :laugh:
My tally goes to the team total……….so all is good.
Jeffro wrote:Boony wrote:This blood y honda betta make it!!! :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: :cheer:
BoonyIf it doesn’t you will end up in Toes travelling love shack
: D :kiss:We are taking a spare XR600 in Toes’ wagon just in case one of the bikes expires!
