|
|
 |
|
On the road |
|
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
| Finaly on the road. We started the journey this morning in slight rain at the Indian Ocean. I had to use the shovel for the first time after trying to ride the beach with the overloaded KTM... Counters were reseted, a last view back at the sea and we were off. The rain was bader the afternoon and it wasn't exactly the temperature we'd expected in Oz. First touches with raod trains and a suprised David after overtaking one of them and realizing there was a car in front of him coming out of the road trains fountain. We found a nice and cheap hotel just before sunset in a place called Dalwallinu, not yet the outback but near of it... |
|
|
|
Need a Shovel
|
|
Nice Weather
|
|
Still Paved
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Outback |
|
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
| In the outback. Quick ride to Paynes Find (a roadhouse on the Great Northern Highway) this morning. We filled our rear tanks and the spare water canister/bags for the first time and headed for the first pist, direction Sandstone. Not to bad, a wide and easy pist to ride, although we all needed to acclimate to the pist and the bikes weights. Not a lot traffic on the pist, maybe 5 vehilcles during all of the afternoon. We stoped about 100km in front of Sandstone just in time to build up our firt outback camp. Pretty strange to know there is nothing for 100km in each direction and you stay there for the night. And pretty strange to accustom to the noises out there... |
|
|
|
First Outback Camp
|
|
Realy?
|
|
Paynes Find
|
|
|
|
What a night
|
|
Good Morning
|
|
80km/h
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
First Adventures |
|
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
| We had our first adventure - or at least sort of. We left our first outback camp thuesday early in the morning. Easy pist to Sandstone where we filled up water, petrol and food. After deciding NOT to go to Just-Fucked-Meekatharra (sorry, running gag...) we headed direction Wiluna, the starting point of the Gunbarrel Highway. Everything went alright until I realized after checking the GPS that we were riding in the wrong direction for at least 15km. Ok, nothing happend and we turned back just to realize that we were not able to find the track we wanted to go for, even if it was on all maps we had with. Another ok and we spent the night anywhere near the point we expected the track to be. Next morning we strated to search the track just following the GPS in zigzg course for at least a hour - throught the naked outback. We found it finaly where we expected it to be but about 10km after the point it should have started - it was abadoned. Quite a funny track, sometimes not even existing for some km and then reapered as a "direction" on the ground. After about 30km and our first fall downs in sand we finaly reached the alive part of the track and were able to do the rest of the journey to Wiluna quite easyly. That's where we are for two days now, preparing the bike and us for the Gunbarrel. There is a sign in the pub: "Last pub for 183km". But this means direction west and we're going direction east. Today we know there isn't a pub for 1939km in that direction as there isn't even the possibility to buy a beer for a long long time... |
|
|
|
1st Fall Downs
|
|
1st Dead Animals
|
|
1st Dead Vehicles
|
|
|
|
Art
|
|
Realy, that's the Track
|
|
I'm Allright
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Carnegie Station |
|
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
| First part of the Gunbarrel was easy. Nice roads and only some sand. The pist must have been just lately graded. Unfortunately we had the first more serious accident: David hitted a stone coming out of a corner on a stony part, balanced for a few meters and fell finaly hard on his right side where his engine cover hitted a big stone. Good luck nothing serious happend to him. And good luck only his engine cover was a deformed and nothing serious happend either to the engine nor to the tank. After some tinkering we were able to go on and reached Carnegie just before sunset. Just to eplain where this is: Carnegie is a settlement of 4 or 5 houses sourrounded by the pure ouback - there is nearly nothing for 350km in each direction. And Carnegie is the real starting point of the Gunbarrel Highway. |
|
|
|
The Easy Beginning
|
|
WB's Round the Corner
|
|
Outback Style Repair
|
|
|
|
May you find shade and water
|
|
Last Pub
|
|
Wiluna
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On the Phone |
|
|
| |
| |
|
| Kudi here, letting you all know that I'm well and that I'm ready to cross
a big desert. About 500 km without anything. I will write again if I reach
the next Internet access point, wherever, whenever.
(Phone call from Carnegie Station) |
|
|
|
Camp Ground
|
|
Carnegie
|
|
The Petrol Station
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Gunbarrel Highway |
|
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
It's hard to express what happend out there after a few days passed by. After all we made it and we and the bikes are in more or less good shape. I think it was the first time in my life I had to realize how addicted we are on water and food as well on technologie once you're off the beaten track. And I found out where my physical borders are...
But what happend: We left Carnegie and the first part of the track was as easy as the day before. Until a sign in the other direction sigalsed the 'Shire of Wiluna' which means that we just left it. The road turned imediately in the most difficult track I ever riden on. Corrugations up to 10cm in high, having a clearance sometimes less that 50cm. The agreeable speed of these corrugations was laying beyond 110kmh which was much too fast for this sort of piste und my riding skills. If not corrugations then it was sand. Sometimes deep sand for km after km. If not sand than a stony mountain track with big stones or/and deep holes. And the absolute speciality of the Gunbarrel, probably the worsest of all: Heavy corrugations and deep sand at once. There was no easy part for more than 300km. Always beeing shaked like hell. Somtimes riding at 40-50-60-70-80kmh through deep sand, getting faster and faster, not beeing able to slow down cause you didn't want to risk to fall down (braeking in sand is a very funny thing), hoping the sand ends soon.
The first day (Saturday 13th) ended after I, heading, fell down in deep sand and 2 of the 3 follwing bikes did as I did. There were 5 more fall downs on the following 500m and we decided the point next to the road is an absolute nice place to stay for the night. Exhausted. The only good thing that night was that Bernhard and I saved a can of VB each which we enyojed later the evening.
Sunday continued as Saturday ended and we were not able to do more than 137km through all of the day. By 3pm we had another 150km to go to Warburton, the next petrol station. We didn't meet a single vehilcle for more than 36 hours. Water was at 50% and petrol aprox at 40%. I have to say that was when I hitted the rock bottom. I fell down the bike 5 times in less than 2 hours, always in sand, not beeing able to find out what I was dooing wrong (the mounting of my lugage system was broken which made my back beeing absolutely uncontrolable - but I didn't know it by that time). What saved the day was the fact that we meet a vehicle and that there was water in a bore near the 'Len Beadell Tree'. Another 30 Mins later we reached the junction Gunbarrel/Heather Highway where we stayed for the night, another outback camp.
Next day was easier, Heather Highway until we reached the Great Central Road. I had another fall down on the Heather and was starting to loose confidence in my riding skills. Anyway, finaly we made it to Warburton and counted the losses: Davids and Bernhards engine covers were both deformed, bikes full of scratches. David had his hand burned a few days eralier and Bernhard had headache after hitting a stone with his helmet. Isabels bike was quite ok, only a few scratches but she had some headache and one of her hands was hurting. I lost both mirrors and one indicator plus some scratches in the tank, trowsers, jacket, back protector and helmet. I had a bump on my head and both hands were hurting. And finaly I found the reason why the bike was so uncontrolable...
The repair of my mounting was a quick outback-style repair: Went to the petrol station asking if there's a workshop in town. A phone later I was on the way with two bottles of Coca Cola (no beer in most aboriginal communities allowed) and another 15 Mins later I had 2 new plates (steel instead of alu this time), all done for free!
Uf - Len Beadell, thanks for the Gunbarrel!
We met Frank, another bloke who did the GB, just a few days later on a Africa Twin. He told us he'd thrown his lugage into the outback - just to survive - if he hadn't met a Jeep taking his lugage to Warburton. |
|
|
|
Beloved Gunbarrel
|
|
Saved the Day
|
|
The One and Only
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
More Gunbarrel |
|
|
| |
| |
|
| Just a few more Gunbarrel impressions... |
|
|
|
Exhausted
|
|
Lunch
|
|
David & Isabelle
|
|
|
|
Two Cans of VB
|
|
Do you see the Road?
|
|
Camels
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
More Gunbarrel II |
|
|
| |
| |
|
| ... and some more |
|
|
|
... the Corrugations
|
|
You can't see...
|
|
Geraldton Historic Bore (?)
|
|
|
|
Mountain Track
|
|
That's easy to ride
|
|
Uff, Geat Central Road
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thunderstorm |
|
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|
| Always if you think it canot get any worser the outback has a new surprise for you. Leaving Warburton yesterday morning it started to rain. The first 50-60km were quite easy until the heavy rain begun. FUUCK! The Great Central Road isn't a difficult track usualy - unless it's wet. 200km on a slippery, sometimes flooded dirt road. Wet and cold we managed somehow without any fall down to reach Warankurna Roadhouse and the Gils Metrological Station. They have an average of 26mm of rainfall for all of October in this area. When we had riden through it was 60mm in 6 hours - the first thunderstorm in 6 years time. Thanks Petrus! At least, beeing stucked for a day, we're able to do our homework and service the bikes. |
|
|
|
Thunderstorm
|
|
Beeing Stucked
|
|
Giles Metrologican Station
|
|
|
|
The Couple we met on the GB
|
|
Warankurna Roadhouse
|
|
This Thing made the Gunbarrel
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
