CHASING THE HORIZON

BURN RANGA BURN

Well dear reader as it has been nearly a month since retuning from my last trip, and I feel I am now well overdue to head off on another epic adventure.
This morning I will set of into the burning furnace that is western QLD and outback NSW. Destination Lake Gairdiner SA to witness all the shenigans of Speedweek 2013.
For more info Check out http://www.dlra.org.au/

I have been trying to get to this event for the past 3 years but each time the weather has caused the event to be cancelled. This year it looks to be all go although rain currently falling in the west may mean I still won't make it.
Forecast is for showers and 42 degrees and already roads are being closed. You can follow my spot tracker here.
https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=5f565115a7a7980fb

If for some reason I stop moving (and I am not at a pub) it means one of the following has occurred.
A. The bike has shit itself (quite likely)
B. I am up to my ass in black mud. (somewhat likely)
C. I have passed out from heat exhaustion and have perished. (Also quite likely)

Either way if any if the above occur, could someone please come out and bury me before the meat ants turn me into a goremet meal.

If I make it to Broken hill I will be picking up the Ranga from under a park bench and he will accompany me to the lake for a few days. After that we are off to the thriving metropolis of Ivanhoe NSW for the Burn Ranga Burn festivities.

Will try and update as I go but no idea if they have the internets out there yet.

Should be fun eh? I cant understand why I couldn't get anyone to join me. What could possibly go wrong?

Nindigully scenery

Massive day to kick off with. Started with a quick stop at the bike shop my favourite son works at to pick up some chain lube. I think he shafted me though.

From there I headed into the beautiful Lockyer valley. Least it looks good now cause it has spent the last 2 years under water. That bridge with the truck on it was 2 metres underwater just 2 weeks ago.

Continued on up the range and out the Millmerran rd. Had a pee at this teepee and considered spending the night there but it was too early to stop. I did however make a quick stop at the famous Nindigully pub for a refreshing beer. I highly recommend calling in and checking out the backpackers.......I mean the memorabilia behind the bar.

How bout this weather eh?

My plan from Nindi was to head to Dirranbandi just cause I haven't been there before but the ominous signs at Thallon meant a 50 Kay back track to St George and out the main road. This in itself was a mission with all manner of wildlife determined to take me out at every opportunity. Had a couple of reasonably close calls with both Emus and Roos so the last 100 Kay's into Cunnamulla was a scenic cruise.

Checked into a salubrious motel room. (Not) and nice meal at the pub. Did 960 Kay's today and am totally rooted. Tomorrow the fun should start in earnest if the roads are open otherwise I have some serious backtracking to do. Very hard to get up to date road info from the locals. Even the coppers don't know what's going on.

Another track marked off my Map

The Bulloo downs river track is one I have wanted to do for ages but every time I have been out this way it has been closed due to flooding.
This morning started with a 220 Kay transport to Thargomindah and I was pretty pleased when I arrived and saw the road sign. 

The road starts as a well formed dirt road but after Bulloo Downs station it gets real interesting. Very similar to Walkers crossing in SA in as it is a huge flood plain with what resembles a track passing through. Lots of shallow creek crossings and a few slippery patches. Certainly wouldn't have wanted it much wetter. By midday the clouds were building so I pushed as hard as I could to get out in case any rain fell. Then I would have been well and truly fucked.

Had a great time though and a hint if you intend to do it. There are tracks going everywhere, mostly to avoid flooding and The Garmin maps I have are totally useless out here. I could have very easily taken off on a few wrong tracks if i was relying on the Garmin's. The shonky maps are much better but still not 100% right.

Checked into the very nice Family hotel in Tibooburra and had a about 4 million refreshing delicious to recuperate. A great night talking shit with the locals.

Tomorrow is straight down the Silver City highway to try and find which picnic shelter the Ranga is asleep under.

 

Tibooburra pics

Tibooburra is a very cool town. Took some pics while wandering around.

The walls of the pub are covered in bizarre murals done by some famous artist whos name I cant remember.

Packing for Packsaddle

Had a great night with locals. Tibooburra family hotel is a great pub. Call in if you going past or better still spend the night.
I woke up feeling surprising good after 4 million gins and 2 million beers. Me and my riding mate Got away nice and early with a plan to have brekky in Malparinka.

Unfortunately the cafe was closed as was the pub, the servo, the bank, the post office and every other bloody place. It's basically a ghost town. Buggered if I know what the 3 residents of the place do for fun.

 

 

I set off for Packsaddle and kept myself entertained by avoiding all the very friendly wildlife and in particular the kamikazi bush chooks. There were hundreds of the stupid things. Next time I come out this way I'm packing a 9 mm.

The Packsaddle roadhouse isnt much to look at but they do a huge brekky made all the more enjoyable by all the nubile young things wandering around with sore heads from a huge 21st last night. If I had if known I would have pushed on and gate crashed it. Oh we'll never mind.
Next up the search for Ranga.

 

Where's Ranga?

The search for Ranga began in earnest after Breakfast. Those that know him will be aware of his fetish for sleeping in unconventional places. I checked a few likely places but didn't find him.

I knew I was getting close when I came across this tree. He had obviously passed thru recently leaving a trail of destruction and broken hearts in his wake.

 

And not longer after I found him. Recovering from a big night last night and just as I expected asleep under a park bench. Fucking vagrant.

Port Agutta

So with the Ranga safely found we set off for our destination for the day of Port Agutta.
Had a bit of trouble at the quarantine crossing when they wouldn't believe me that the Ranga wasn't feral. They finally let us through when I used all my charm to convince them they he was sorta house trained.

Then we settled in for the long haul.

 

Searing hot so we Had to stop for a rehydration stop at the Wilmington pub then a interesting but fun run over Horricks pass which I did one handed while filming Ranga. 

 

 
Set up a basic camp close to the pastoral hotel.

Into the wild

Guess what I woke up with. No it's not what you think. I mean the swamp monster. Scary hey?
 

 

Had a great night in the pub. Met Si who gave us the inside info on speedweek having been several times. Also met Zoozanahha who was mildly entertaining in a very drunk, very large breasted phycotic, Slovakian female weight lifting sort if way.

We did a quick tyre change on Frankenbike then set off with Ranga leading us straight up the only one way street in town straight into an oncoming police car.
Fortunately he was a friendly mr plod and simply wrote us off as dumb ass tourists.

Quick stop in Iron Knob (you though that's what I meant about this morning didn't you) for water.
Then into the desert we go.

Lake Gairdiner Salt Lake races or Speedweek for short.

Just had a great couple of days on Lake Gairdiner. What a place. The road in was in great condition and a high average speed was maintained.

 

Mt Ive station is the last bit of civilisation before heading into the furnace. They also take their security quite seriously.

We refueled, had a refreshing ice cream, then headed into the lake. Was quite a sight that greeted us.

Met up with Sammo , Mikey and Jared. Sammo is a professional stunt bike rider in china. True story. Mikey is from the UK and Sammo is taking him on a whirlwind tour showing him all the cool places in Australia. Speedweek was his introduction. What a baptism of fire. 48 degrees and no need to buy dinner as we are full from all the flies we have eaten. Mikey loved it. Right up to the point where heat stroke hit and he passed out. The rest of us did our best to keep as hydrated as we could. The heat eased ferocious. Several riders and drivers were treated for heat stroke. We did our best to stay out of the sun but it was all to much for Mikey and they made the call to head for cooler climes. Hopefully we will see them in Ivanhoe on the weekend where's its only going to be 45 degrees.

Speedweek

Speed week is awesome. Loonies come from all over the place to see how fast they can go on the salt. It's Australia's version of Bonneville.
The Ranga and I set up camp and basically collapsed but we got up early and headed down on to the salt to check all the bikes and other contraptions.
Was great fun. All the racers were really friendly and just as interested in us as we were in them. Some of the homemade engineering is brilliant. Then there is the mega buck teams. Some guys just have too much money.

Speedweek Pics

 

 

 

 

Kingoonya

So by lunch time on the second day, we also had had enough. The event is not very spectator friendly and after checking out the pits and watching most of them have a run we were getting a bit bored. Plus it was tinking hot out on the salt.

They need to have a spectator area where you can see them going past at speed. I have seen postie bikes accelerate faster than some of those guys.

Nevertheless it was great fun but in discussion it became apparent that neither the Ranga nor I had ever been to the Kingoonya pub. Never mind that it was 250 klms away through the SA desert in the wrong direction to where we needed to be. It had to be done. And what a great ride it was. The temp had dropped to 900 degrees so it was a bit more comfortable than the lake. But a great road and a bit of fun in the sand dunes to boot. Makes up for the sand dunes we didn't see in Peru last month.

We were close to death when we arrived at the pub but John the publican soon had us rehydrated although he did call me a poof when I asked for Gin.
Met Lisa from the SA dept Of dead dingos or something like that and had a great feed. Highly recommend this pub if you are within 500klms and thirsty. Fuck knows where we are going tomorrow.

Dumb and Dumber miscalculate fuel.

Sam you will be pleased to know I put clean undies on to day. 1 down 2 to go.

Awoke to the soothing sound of the passing 4 kilometre long freight train going past our room window. That did mean though that we got to see a brilliant sunrise.
Had a coffee and chat with John the publican then set off for Glendambo for a nice brekky.
Pulled into Woomera for a quick look. The bikes are going like rockets. ( that is to say they are likely to explode at any minute )
We bought some fuel at Kimba but due to the Ranga not paying attention at School a serous Miscalculation was made with the result being that we both ran out of fuel 35 klm north of portagutta.
Was great fun pushing the bikes to a road side rest area in the 42 degree heat. Luckily my RACQ Membership is up to date. Would also like to say a big hi to all those passing motorists who drove straight by as we pushed our bikes along the road. Not one stopped to offer help. Fucking assholes.

Anyway it's all good and we had a lovely picnic while waiting.

So the nice man from the RAA turns up in a tilt tray. Talk about overkill or did the lady on the phone tell him it was a KTM and he was just thinking ahead? After he had very kindly fuelled up our bikes we sheepishly thanked him and I gave him a couple bucks to buy a beer all the while telling him what a dumbass Ranga is for miss calculating how much fuel we needed. However if the truth be known we both got caught out by the $2 a litre fuel price and we got less fuel than we thought.

Camp Clare

Ranga reckoned he knew someone in Clare and they have nice wine, so thats where we headed. Had some sammiches at the pub while we waitied for Julie to finish work.

So Julie comes to meet us and takes us back to her place where we set up camp. Place is a bit if a dump but luckily there is a waterhole out the back where we washed off the days grime. Julie took us out to an excellent dinner at the pub. The wine in this area is fantastic.
The chatter in Clare this morning will be hitting the Rev limiter. What was that woman doing with those two grubby men while her husband is away for work. Sorry we missed you Neil but huge thanks to you and especially Julie for looking after us. Oh and don't buy a gold wing all the other kids will laugh at you.

Dodgy beer and Wasp stings.

Was a slow start to the morning. Had to boil the billy several times to get the coffee going. Thanks again Neil and Julie. Had a great time in Clare (and your billabong)

We stopped in Auburn at the Cogsweb cafe. Very bike friendly and great food. The lady was extremely friendly and got her husband on the phone and made us tell him all about our trip. Was hilarious.

 

From their we found some brilliant back roads that led us to our morning tea stop at Mt Mary pub. Great pub and really nice publican but after we had a beer both Scrawny and I both felt ill. Does beer go off? Would have been the first beer for the day out if the Keg so perhaps that had something to do with it. Nearly had to stop a couple of times to throw up but fortunately kept it all in and after a subway sammiches om Renmark. we both felt much better. Also got stung right between the eyes by a wasp. That was fun.

Meandering along the Murray.

After lunch in Renmark we found another awesome sand track that took us down the NSW border fence. Was some high speed shenanigans going on. Was great fun although blistering hot. I think it was about 500 degrees so good training for Ivanhoe on Saturday.
We picked up the Murray river and Scrawn was very tempted to dive in.

 

Crossed the border into Orange County and have set up camp on the banks of the Murray. Our camp site as a very nice view from the patio.......um I mean the tent awning and we had a lovely dip in the refreshing billabong.

 

Weird shit ya see

It never ceases to amaze me about some if the weird shit ya see on these trips. Like this - hundreds and hundreds of snow skis set up along the side of the road as some sort of road markers. All the middle of absolutely nowhere. Buggered if I know what the story is. If anyone knows please let me know.

 

Had a visit from Ron a local rider in Mildura who had been tracking us on the spot. Here's the link again for those too dumb to find it on the first post (Daniel)

https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=5f565115a7a7980fb

Ron brought along a lovely bottle of local wine so we cooked up a goremet dinner of uncle bens lasagne and polished off the red as the sun set over the Murray river. Was so romantic.
Was very nice to meet you Ron and thanks for the vino.

Mungo Man

The Mungo man is thought to be the oldest evidence of human occupation on planet earth and he was discovered right here in the The Mungo national park. Apparently when his remains were found not so long ago they were thought to be 40000 years old. Below is a pic of one of his descendants and what he would look like today. 

Mungo national park is a huge sand dune that had been formed into a series of wired sand sculptures by the prevailing winds. The best part about it though is the 40 klm one way race track......umm err sorry tourist circuit that circumnavigates it. We had a ball chasing each other around all the while dodging the errant wild life that was trying to kill us.

Into Ivanhoe

We did a lap of the dunes then headed off on the road to Ivanhoe.

We found a lovely little spot to have a break and a snack. The locals were very welcoming.
The run into Ivanhoe was great fun across the sand dunes.

 

We have set up Chateau Ivanhoe. (Yes we really are camping for the next 2 nights)

Tomorrow about 60 guys (and a couple of girls) will start arriving from all over the country and we are going to get very drunk, eat lots of red meat and generally have a good time. Should be fun.

 

Burn Ranga Burn

So throughout the morning they descended on the tiny Hamlet of Ivanhoe. In just a few hours the population was increased by 50%. Stories were swapped and lies we're told. The publican was a very happy chappy.

The ranga pud is special shirt on just for the party. He sure is Prudy.

 

Ivanhoe even has its own residential aboriginal Ranga.

News started to filter through about speeding tickets with numbers that resemble phone numbers. A couple of boys unfortunately didn't make it Cartwheeling their bikes in the dry and soft conditions. Fortunately No serious injuries but apparently there are a couple of very second hand bikes lying in a spoon drain if any one is interested.

Wheelies? What wheelies?

Allegedly there were reports of helmetless wheelies being performed in the Main Street. But I know nothing of this.

Also alleged is that Sammo gave an impromptu stunt performance that included high speed stand up wheelies. Burn outs, stopies and all manor of highly skilled manourvures and on any bike that just happened to on hand the time. Weather the owner was present or not.

The local copper just turned a blind eye. Was brilliant fun.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Hard beds and sore heads

Was a huge night and it was great to catch up with everyone again and met a lot of new people. Was some very sorry looking heads around this morning as everyone packed up and set off for their various homes all around the country. Can't wait to do it again next year. I think this video sums up perfectly what the weekend was about.

 

 

Sadly that is basically the end of this epic ride. Have had the best week and seen some fantastic places. Also will be able to mark off a few more roads and tracks of my map when I get home. Did about 5500 klms all up.
The ride was made all the better by having my little Ranga mate along. He is great fun to have on these rides and make no mistake he gives as good as he gets. Cheers Thommo your a legend.

I am holed up in a dodgy motel having done about 900 klms today. I was going to try for home but perhaps I should have gone to bed earlier last night. I have also just heard that Thommos bike has shit itself on its way home to Melbourne. Not sure what the problem is but hopefully not to serious.

So there it it is. What's next I hear you ask? Well you have heatd of Debbi does Dallas right? Well that's nothing. Next month Pinky Tuscadero does Tassie on a postie. Should be hilarious.
I hope you have enjoyed following our travels. I am genuinely intrigued and dumbfounded at how many of you check in each day. This trip has averaged about 500 unique views each day. I would love to know how you found it and what you think. Send me an email and let me know.

Cheers
Guy x

 

The fat lady screams

And you all thought yesterday's post was the end of it all didn't you. As is often the case I don't post the last days ride home as it is often a case of blasting down the road via the quickest route possible and nothing exciting ever happens. Not today though.

I made it to Moree last night and was absolutely trashed, so grabbed a motel room. Awoke bright and early and decided it was too nice a day to just drone down the highway so set a quick look at the map and I was off via the scenic way.

Had a quick brekky at the bakery in Warialda, then off again. The weather started to get a bit gloomy at this stage, but I didn't really think much about it . Little did I know that Sth East QLD was experiencing yet another of the massive wets that we seem to be getting too much of lately. By the time I pulled into Stanthorpe I was freezing cold and saturated. Still didn't think to much about it though. Was having a great time. The rain became heavier and the roads started to get a bit slippery, but still no real issue.

 

Pulled into Dagg falls and thought to myself shit there is some water coming over,Haven't seen it like that before.

 

From there the weather just got worse.

Visibility was terrible and at the queen Mary falls the road has been closed indefineatly due to a massive landslide. Apparently 2 Klm's of road has been washed away.

 

No problem I think I'll just head back out through white swamp, an area I know pretty well. There were a couple of little creek crossings but nothing to serious at all.

And that's when the trouble started. I arrived at one crossing that looked pretty harmless however half way across the bike stalled. Wouldn't have been an issue except that I am a short ass the crossing was loose gravel. As often happens when I crash I put my foot out down but lost my footing and the bike toppled over and off the side off the crossing. Into the water and washed downstream. I was sitting on my ass in the creek watching my beloved bike float away.

It ended up submerged about 50 metered down stream. I was able to pick it and put it on the side stand, but there was no way I could get it out on my own.

I was total saturated and so was my iphone and my sat phone. Both failed to turn on.

At this point I decided to activate the help function on my spot Tracker which sends a message to the contacts I have set up that I need help, And shows them on google maps exactly where I am.

This sent my support contacts into a frenzy. I knew Sam would be panicking, so After securing the bike to a tree so it wouldn't float away any further, I walked 2 Klm's back to a farm house where a very surprised elderly couple gave me a cup of tea and let me use the phone.

Sam had already summoned a recovery team consisting of my son Jared, my mate Chris and his son Mitch and Krystyna and Madeline. ( 2 German backpackers that are staying at my house for a few days)

It was going to take them a few hours to get to me , so headed back to the creek and set up a tarp as the rain was still failing. Had a great little picnic and another nice cup of tea as I sat and waited.

 

I was very surprised to see the local copper arrive. One of my mates Buzz and also Ron from Mildura had seen my help message and got concerned that I was injured. I told the copper that I was fine and just having a cup of tea and as he didn't have a winch on his car he wasn't much use to me and sent him off on his way after offering him a cuppa.

It was 3 hours or so before everyone arrived and I was pretty cold and pleased to see them by the time they got there. We hooked up the winch on my car and dragged the bike out of the Creek.

 

The bike came out surprisingly well with just a broken mirror, but it is going to need some serious love in the next few days to get all the water out of it.

In hindsight I should have just gone down the highway, but in all seriousness I have ridden across creeks far worse before. If I didn't lose my footing everything would have been fine. As it happens I was not hurt so its all good, but I might be a bit more cautious next time.

 

Huge thanks to everyone who was concerned for me and for all the messages. Also a massive thanks to Chris, Mitch, Krystyna, Madeline, and of course Jared and Sam for dropping everything they were doing and coming to get me.

Hopefully Tassie will be a bit dryer.

 

Posted with Blogsy