Feeling the Strain
Sunday 26 October 2014
Australia 2014 - (19) Monkey Mia to Dampier
Is it really only 8 weeks since I started this adventure? It feels a lot longer. And the strain is starting to show. My right hand is seizing into a claw and, as predicted by everyone Ive spoken to, its getting hotter and hotter. Ive been having to get up at 5 am to try and do as many miles before 10 oclock (when it seems to get furnace hot) as I can.
Ruby is feeling the strain too. Her chain is now like a piece of wet spaghetti and her rear wheel is almost completely bald. Yesterday, she also started choking, as if she was going to cut out, and I wondered if a fuel line was perhaps getting blocked.
After leaving Monkey Mia, I went to Carnarvon to see the One Mile Jetty, and also to find a Honda dealer who could nurse Ruby back to health, but he couldnt fit us in and recommended booking her in with North West Honda in Karratha 600 km away. This done, we left Carnarvon the next day and had a reasonably short day at 252 km to Coral Bay. By the time I got there I was in a stinker of a mood. I hadnt spoken to anyone nice in days and was in desperate need of a good chat. Luckily, Phil, an ex-pat from the UK, turned up on a Triumph Tiger Evolution about half an hour later and, like a bee to honey, I swarmed around him, begging for company.
He was great guy and spent the whole day with me, showing me around and letting me drivel on endlessly about life on the road. It was so good to have someone who understood the ins and outs of motorcycle riding in Australia and who was happy to explain some of the mysteries Id encountered, such as hundreds of diagonal trenches that run off the side of every road - theyre used to drain water off the road surface when it floods.
Yesterday, I almost ran out of fuel. Id added up the distances involved from my atlas and reckoned I should have just enough to get from Coral Bay to the Nangaturra Road House some 253 km away. Id used 91 km worth of fuel getting Coral Bay but I hadnt completely filled up my tank at the last fuel stop so had a few litres less than usual. As I rode along I could see the fuel gauge dropping rapidly. I could have filled up at Coral Bay, but Id been given strict instructions only to put 91 grade unleaded in Ruby and nothing higher and as Coral Bay only had 95 grade, I had decided not to risk it. As I went past the 136 km mark that Id calculated back to North West Coastal Highway, I started panicking Never ride past fuel I kept saying to myself. Surely it couldnt be far now? After another 6 km I rejoined the highway and emptied my 5 litres of spare petrol from my jerry into the tank. It was only 101 km to the next road house so should I should make it.
Thankfully I did and the rest of the trip was uneventful apart from Rubys coughing fits. A guy at the campsite in Karratha said it was probably the fuel overheating in the tank. Bloody hell, if thats the case, Im going to have a hell of a ride to Darwin!
Fortunately, shes due her 8,000 km service tomorrow as well as a new tyre and chain, so Ill discuss the coughing with the garage when Im there and see if theres anything that can be done.
Today, I took a ride out to Dampier to see the Red Dog statue. Red Dog was a dog that became famous in the 1970s as he befriended most of the people in the town. They made a film about him a few years ago which I absolutely love so I couldnt come this far and not see the place where it all took place.
Back on the road again tomorrow, after Ruby gets the all clear - just a short hop to Port Headland, then a huge run to Broome the next day.