Welcome everyone to the Enduro riders Blog site.
We hope you will enjoy the next few weeks of our ride around the main island of Australia. All four of us will try to make entries on to the site as we move around the Continent. Please bare with us as we are all relatively new to this type of technology. Our proposed start date is the 24th of April so Please WATCH THIS SPACE.
One week to go and the riders and wives have a table booked at the Thirsty Wetta in Otorohanga as a last get together.Colin and son Liam are heading home from town with a trailer load of farm supplies wanting to get unloaded, have a quick scrub before heading into Otorohanga for the last supper with the other riders and wives.
All the planning is done, bikes organised, panniers packed, MP3s loaded. We all cant wait to get on the plane and head to the land of Oz.
Nowra to Sale 678 km
Km to date: 840
Av Km/day: 420Nowra to Sale 678 km
Km to date: 840
Av km/day: 420
After the rain yesterday it was a beautiful clear day on the Princess Highway heading south.
Henk forgot to close his tank bag and saw his prized $2 shop reading glasses bounce out and land on the road. By the time he got back to them a road train had ground them to dust.
Sydney to Nowra 162 kmHenk, Mike and Robin arrive in Sydney over 3 days.
Robin has a little bit of trouble clearing Customs with the Street Bob but by the next day is "Out on the Highway, lookin for adventure", heading south planning to meet the Transalps in Wollongong.
Henk and Mike have some minor issues registering the Transalps but are on the road late afternoon of the 24th April.
Traveling through pouring rain they get to Nowra and find a motel with a drying room to dry out the gear for the next day and a dinner to get a meal.
Its been 12 months of planning. Meeting every 2 weeks for a coffee & discussion on where, how & when to do an overseas bike adventure.Background
The original plan was to do a trip through southern and east Africa linking up with a group from Te Awamutu Bible Chapel that were going to be in Zambia helping with a building project for a mission school in Jan '08.
January is the rainy season in Africa hence not a great time to be getting out of our comfort zone on a bike.
Somewhere around Portland/Warrnambool to Snowtown 727 km
After a frosty start Henk & Mike rode for 11 hr along the south coast calling it a day at Snowtown north of Adelaide. Roo and Emu road kill all over the place. Have seen lots of Roos grazing right on the edge of the road. Definitely need to watch out for these fellows, they could make a big dent in your bike.
The Transalps finally caught up to Robin on the Street Bob today.
Snowtown - Ceduna 634 km
Total : 2861 km
Average: 572 km/day
Ceduna - Norseman 1203 km
Total: 4064 km
Average: 677 km/day
Norseman - Albany 697 km
Total: 4761 km
Average: 680 km/day
Henks bike wouldn't start this morning but after a bit of pushing and shoving it burst into life and ran like a bucket of "s-h-one-t" for about 7 km. Had a play round with the plugs and seems to be OK now.
Fighting very strong winds and getting blown all over the road for most of the day along the south coast. Passed through beautiful Esperance, extremely tired but need to push on to Albany for Robins bike service tomorrow.
1st full day off the bikes.
Honda dealer in Broome very helpful. Lowered Mikes suspension, changed chain & sprockets, changed rear tyre and serviced bikes.
Caught up with Mikes nephew who showed Henk & Mike the sights of Broome including the famous sunset at Cable Bay.
Chance for washing and shopping. Henk went straight to the lingerie shop. The skid marks on the undies that went skidding down the road with his tyre a couple of days ago meant that they were now unserviceable!!!
Now into serious fly country. Hard to eat on the side of the road without taking in the odd fly or three. Given up shooing them away, just munch them now.
Temps over 40 c during the day. Very tiring riding, need to stop more often. Haven't seen a live Roo in WA yet, but a dead one did find its way onto Mikes seat! The locals say that the Roos have gone inland with the rains but are now making there way back towards the coast, so will need to be extra careful from now on.
Mandurah - Lancelin 213 km
Total 5823 km
Average 647 km/day
Short day today as parts were needed for the bikes. Henks bike needed new chain & sprockets. The back tyres are starting to chop out so will carry a spare set from here. ( Henks heritage wont let him change his tyres until the tube is about to poke through the canvas).
Rode through more bush fires today, some burning right up to the edge of the road.
Henks spare tyre fell off and rolled down the road along with his undies and socks.
Broome - Derby 629 km
Total 8561 km
Average 570 km/day
Port Headland - Broome 605 km
Total 7937 km
Average 610 km/day
Very hot and tiring riding. Long straight roads again. Had to stop 6 times for powernaps on side of road today. Rear tyres wearing much quicker now due to heat and coarse chip on road.
Mike had a close call with a pair of dingos running out at him. Fortunatly Henk was there stop them carry "Baby Mike" off to thier den. Both bikes ran out of fuel within about 10 km of each other. Head wind is taking a tol on fuel range.
Katherine - Darwin 307 km (Kakadon't)
Total 10306 km
Average 572 km/day
There are 2 ways to get to Darwin, via Kakadu Nat Park or bypass Kakadu i.e. Kakadon't. Will do Kakkdu on the way back down. Confused?.......check out a map of Northern Territory.
Henk & Mike casually stopped to take photos of a bush fire on the side of the road, then saw it jump the road 50m in front of them. Time to get out of here!!
Lancelin - Carnarvon 845 km
Total 6470 km
Average 647 km/day
Darwin - Katherine 554 km (Kakadu)
Total 10860 km
Average 571 km/day
Derby - Turkey Creek 708 km
Total 9269km
Average 579 km/dayHenk had another snake rear up at him as he rode by. Mike got caught up in a small twister but managed to stay on the road and on the bike. Have seen loads of birds on the road and all seem to want to attack the helmets.
Total 7327 km
Average 610 km/day
Henk and Mike will be going up the Gibb River Track in a couple of days so Robin and the Hog have gone on.
Turkey Creek - Katherine 730 km
Total 9999 km
Average 588 km/day
Plenty of dead cows on the road and man do they stink. Temps still over 40 c. Crossed into Northern Territory. Roads a lot more interesting with more bends ranges and rock formations.
Henk still not changed his rear tyre but getting real thin now.
Cape Crawford - Mt Isa 825 km
Total 12231 km
Average 556 km
Katherine - Cape Crawford 546 km
Total 11406 km
Average 543 km/day
Yesterday turned into a rest day while Henk & Mike waited for a new chain to arrive for Mikes' bike. It has been hard find parts, so had to fit a non o-ring chain in Broome. That chain is now knackered after only 2300 km.
Croydon - Mareeba 500 km
Total 13392 km
Average 558 km/day
Heading to the E coat again. Will need to spend some time preparing bikes and bodies for Cape York. Had e mail from Ian Coates. ( Intrepid Round the World (RTW) traveler since 1999) Ian comments on the failed attempt at the Gibb River track saying "The Gibb River Track is like a Sunday afternoon drive c.f. Cape York!!!!! ( Ian always travels with his teeth in his pocket!!).
Mt Isa - Croydon 661 km
Total 12892 km
Average 560 km/day
Mareeba - Musgrave 384 km
Total 13776 km
Average 551 km/day
Left Mareeba this morning in heavy tropical fog. Had best breakfast yet in the Loboloco at Mt Molly.
Found a place at Lakeland to leave panniers so as to lighten up the bikes ready for the challenging conditions ahead on Cape York. Unclipped all panniers and tankbag, packed essentials into a PVC dry bag and strapped it onto the topbox pannier frame. There will be no more tar seal from here to the top of Cape York and back. It should take about a week.
Morton - Cape York 284 km
Total 14360 km
Average 531 km/day
Musgrave - Morton 300 km
Total 14076 km
Average 541 km/day
As the track heads further N it's getting more difficult by the Km. Met two BMW riders at Musgrave who had had enough and were turning back.
Now less than 11 deg south of the equator and 150km from PNG. As the intrepid travellers planted the NZ and Dutch flags in the top of Australia Henk turned to Mike just as Hillary turned to Tensing at the top of Everest in May 1953 and said proudly "We've knocked the bastard off".
Spent the rest of the day chilling out in +40 deg at the Cape resting bodies and repairing bikes before starting the decent tomorrow.
May 25 Cairns Qld - Proserpine Qld 618 km
Total 16057 km
Average 501 km/day
Set off in the rain today. First rain for 3 weeks or more. There was a big Ulysses meeting in Townsville today, bikes everywhere. Saw more cops today than have seen in the last 5 weeks. Henk was keen to meet up with some of his old Ulysses buddies, but there wasn't really time.
May 30
Off to Canbera to see the Queen.........No that can't be right, Ossies don't believe in the Queen..................It must be off to Canbera to see Kevin Rudd.
Inspired by NZ National MP Shane Ardern and his driving of a Fergy 35 tractor up the steps of Parliament buildings in Wellington a few years ago................Henk and Mike decided introduce themselves to the Prime Minister, seen as they were in town that day. They were sure that Kev would want to see the bikes even if it was just to see the damage that Ozzie outback roads could do to Japanese bikes.