[JohnPhillips]

Got a bit of a trip loosely planed out.
Hope to visit Darwin, Alice Springs, Adelaide and Brisbane. Should be around 10,000 klm (6200 miles) depending on which way I go and I'll try to keep adding pic's to this post along the way.

WARNING: some of my pic's may show me and others driving on the left hand side of the road - don't be alarmed, it's the correct side here

Loaded Fueled and Ready to Ride
Look out Australia, here I come

 

[90b4032]

When you said OZ I thought you meant Kansas! Have a safe ride man!

 

[teejay]

Could this be the lead up to a Shark Week Down Under?

tj

 

[JohnPhillips]

I started this tread a few weeks back with grand plans of updating my trip as I went.
Extreme conditions killed my camera on the first day and cheap s#@t tablet wouldn't charge up after the first day.
I most certainly did the ride and did manage to sort the camera but missed a few days of pics. Back at work now but as I get the chance I will post up the ride.

Here's the first day. Townsville to Mt.Isa, about 575 miles

I was really looking forward to this trip so waking at first light for an early start was easy.
Great looking day for a ride.

Just a taste of the straight road to come. Knowing what lay ahead I thought a pic with trees would be nice and really pumping the water into myself I needed this stop anyway.

RoadGlide meets Kronosaurus at the dino center at Richmond. The bones this statue is based off are in the USA at Harvard. It's desert now but in prehistoric times this area was a massive wet land.

Last pic before the camera packed it in. This was 43c or about 110f.


Got to Mt.Isa, pitched my tent and hit the pool till sun down.

 

[JacktheBagger]

Great , keep them coming .

Hope to go under to my mates in Sydney and rent a Harley for a few weeks and show him what I think of his Beemer ..

He is headed to South America in a few weeks for a 24 day bike tour ..

JtB

 

[JacktheBagger]

Shark Week down under werks for me

JtB

 

[JohnPhillips]

Next two days covered about 950 miles.
I'm sure everybody knows what a hurricane is. In Australia they are called Cyclones.

Cyclone Nathan was moving along the coast toward Darwin while I was coming up the highway. I was confident I would beat the cyclone to Darwin but concerned that heavy rainfall would close a few roads.
Waited out the storm that never came anyway in Darwin and got my camera sorted.
This is as far north as you can get on sealed roads.

 

[JohnPhillips]

After a rest day with family in Darwin I headed east to Kakadu National Park then down to Katherine. Easy 350 mile day.

A word of warning. The Australian Salt Water Crocodile is an unchanged dinosaur, grows up to 15 feet and can take a full grown cow. They say you will never see the one that takes you.

The recent storms in the area raised a few creeks and closed all access tracks. This is about three foot deep.

 

[JohnPhillips]

Stopped at Jabaru township for lunch, about 5 miles from the Jabaru Uranium mine. Each has their own opinion on uranium mining in national parks, I'll keep mine to myself.
This lake is less than 100 yards from the houses.

and just in case I had forgotten a local kid came over and pointed out this sign.

I did try getting into a few places but it's one thing to see a easy way round for a bike but if don't know whats around the corner you could be in for a real struggle to get back out.

Snapped a few shots of the bush land


And one of this little monster trying to hide on a cement picnic table.

The clouds were starting to close in again so it was time to get going to Katherine and find a place sit out a storm. Only rode through one shower but 20 minutes after I found a motel it started pouring and rained for 10 straight hours. The local river rose from 3 meters to 12 meters over night, thats a rise of 29 feet, luckily still 5 feet short of breaking the banks.

 

[Shrug]

Awesome trip! Subscribed! I'm planning to trip to Oz next summer, riding a dirt bike across the Outback from Airlie Beach to Perth. Would rather fly in, rent a Harley, and ride the country like you. Still might look into that option.

Keep the pics and details coming!

 

[Nordic Berserker]

awesome , thanks for sharing your pictures John. some day ill make it down there , I have family down under

 

[Bikejockey]

When you said OZ I thought you meant Kansas! Have a safe ride man!

+1

 

[Bikejockey]

looks like an awesome trip

 

[JohnPhillips]

Awesome trip! Subscribed! I'm planning to trip to Oz next summer, riding a dirt bike across the Outback from Airlie Beach to Perth. Would rather fly in, rent a Harley, and ride the country like you. Still might look into that option.

Keep the pics and details coming!

That is one heck of an outback adventure. Less than 5% of Australians will ever visit many of the places you will see. Not for me however, the physical demands of a trip like that would be extreme to say the least even with back up vehicle and crew. A much shorter version starting and ending at Alice Springs would still take in the major sites and may be more suited to those of us who haven't been on a dirt bike this century.

 

[bucketlisthd]

Wow. Thanks for sharing.

 

[JohnPhillips]

I was a concerned after leaving the bike out in a tropical downpour overnight with just the S/E sock over the intake but she started up like nothing had happened.
Today's ride is back along much of the road I covered (with no camera) on day 2 and 3. Katherine to Tenant Creek. About 500 miles.

Still didn't get many pics. The whole area has had such a good (and rare) wet season that oppertunities to pull off the road without getting stuck are few and the grass is so tall you can't really see what's in there anyway.



Did get some pics of trucks. Starts out looking normal enough.

then you realize there may be more than expected.

And yes, that is the remains of an aircraft in the back ground. Pilot made a successful emergency landing on the road here years ago just to expensive to recover the plane.

 

[JohnPhillips]

So here's the whole truck, they are called Road Trains and are legal up to 54.5 meters or 179 feet. They often double this on private gravel roads.

Overtaking these blokes needs caution and respect. Just because your behind them don't mean they have seen you. Best to sit out over the center for a bit and when they think it's safe they will flash a turn signal, this means come on past (and don't mess about). When you get to the front roll off little, you don't want to going to fast as you discover what ever may have wandered on to road ahead while your view was obscured.

Millions of cattle take this ride each year from arid areas to fattening pasture and then to sea ports.

Back on the highway enjoying cruise control. This pic may have been taken at 60mph just checking the speedo.

The roads I'm on are fairly new. I found an old section still used for local access. This is what 1700 miles of 'highway' was like when I was a kid. The standard rule was 'size wins' if it's bigger than you get out of the way.

 

[JohnPhillips]

Next leg was Tennant Creek to Alice Springs. 300 miles of boringness, unless you know where to look. I spent my teen years in this area so big a day for pics.

After a flat 60 miles the road drops into an open valley containing these rocks.
This is The Devils Marbles

 

[JohnPhillips]

Another forty mile down the road I found this brand new rail overpass, it was not here last time I was but made a great vantage point to see just how straight and flat this road is.

Looking back to the north that tower in the distance is a medium wave repeater station. Thats how we got home telephones in 1973 and black and white TV in 77'. You may have click the bar to enlarge enough to see it.
Obsolete now we have satellite communication.

Quiz time - Who knows what this sign means. No idea? OK I'll tell you.
'No Speed Limit' yep go ya bloody hardest mate. Officially called 'open speed zones' you can go as fast as you please but the road is NOT fenced to stop cattle or kangaroo's and emu's stepping out. Also the next towtruck is 120 miles away. For the record my 2015 RGS with a S/E stage 4 kit plus pipe and intake did hit the 6600 rpm limiter in top gear. It was only for a moment before sanity prevailed, still I believe I am the 'legal top speed on a public road' record holder for 2015 RoadGlides.

This is Barrow Creek Telegraph Station, in use as a post office up till 1995

Stations like this larger sample dotted the country from north to south until the Radio Repeater towers were constructed in the 1960's.

Barrow Creek was also the site of the only unprovoked ambush style attack by natives on white settlers on record, or so I was told as a kid. Three men living next to the only reliable water hole for miles and naked natives wandering about, unprovoked my ass.

Modern tec in the background, solar elec. panels and plastic water tanks.

 

[JohnPhillips]

This is just a pic of open bush land. About 15 miles that way is the geographical center of Australia. I did go there as a kid but the local Aborigines hold native title on the area now and have decided it is 'no go for you white boy'. Don't think the RGS would handle the track in anyway.

Another sample of early settlement. This tiny Telegraph Station was also a post office and the last supply store for the hopeful heading to the gold rush a further 400 miles west on the Western Australian border.


This monument marks the Tropic of Capricorn, as far south as the sun gets in December. The opposite of the Tropic of Cancer. From here on I will be as far south of the equator as the southern half of the USA is north

By now the RGS was due for her 5k service. The bike shop in Alice Springs is the only one for 1000 miles in any direction and I wanted a lay day with family so a few day's in 'The Alice' it was.



I will be working the next 12 days straight so could be a bit before the rest of my trip makes it to the web.