CHASING THE HORIZON

WELCOME

Gday and welcome to my blog.
I created this blog primarily, so that my family and friends could follow my progress on a 4 week 10 000klm trip across Australia, that I undertook in  August 2007. Since then it is grown to include several other rides I have undertaken. The reports were done in real time via a mobile phone handset, so they may read a littIe weird from time to time, But I am sure you will work it out.

I hope you enjoy the following pages and I am looking forward to adding many more trip reports.

 

 

 

CHASING THE SAFARI AUGUST 2007
Myself and 3 of my friends (Gaz,Nev & Mick) will be leaving Brisbane on the 12th of August on a trip that will take us up through Central QLD to the Gulf of Capentaria, across the Savannah way through the Northern Territory and into Kunnunurra, Western Australia, where we will pick up the 2007 Australian Safari and chase it down through Central Western Australia into Perth, where the bikes will be loaded into a container and shipped home, while we Fly.

We will be camping out along the way with the occassional stop over at outback pubs etc.
I will be attempting to keep this blog up to date via mobile phone, while I am away, so check in every few days for updates etc.

Should be fun :-)

Cheers
GUY

THE BIKES

We will all be riding KTM adventure bikes on this ride. I have a 2006 model 640 adventurer. The other guys will all be riding KTM950 Adventures. I chose the 640 because of its awesome record of reliability and off road performance. The 950 is no doubt a better long distance cruiser, but having ridden a few I decided that the 640 was a better option for me.

I have spent the last few months setting the bike up to suit me and the type of riding I intend to do on it. Modifications include:

High mount front guard
Removed 1 front disc (twin discs are too powerful for offroad use)
Fitted APR Engineering side stand bracket & KTM side stand. (bike only comes with centrestand)
Mattard Sculptured seat so I can touch the ground.
Fitted SXC muffler and rejetted to suit.
Removed anti pollution crap.
Touratech head light guard and rear rack.
HID headlight upgrade.
Mattard pannier racks.
Chris Barnes carbon fibre tank guards.
Andy Bagz panniers.
Andy Bagz AA bag.
Dunlop 606 tyres front & rear with ultra heavy duty tubes.
Ram mount for my Garmin map60cs GPS unit.
Sleepy Hollow seat pad
KTM grip heaters
Kaoko cruise control
ProGrip Gel grips.
Motosportz steering dampner with APR Engineering post
Stenhouse racing axle puller

I also changed to a 15 tooth front sprocket, but will change back to the original 16 tooth for this trip.

It was only a week ago that I decided to go on thIs trip, so the past week has been chaotic, racing around trying to organise everything I need before we head off.

I will be heading down to Brooms Head this weekend riding my 450 exc and will use the opportunity to do a systems check on all my mini systems camping gear. etc.

More soon. :-)

LAST MINUTE CHANGES

Only 3 sleeps to go and it has been chaotic. I decided i was'nt happy with the way my pannier bags were attached to the racks, so Spoke to my mate Chris from APR engineering who before I knew it had knocked up a new rack which is awesome. Thanks Chris your a legend. Huge thanks as well to Mattard from Styleride for powdercoating them for me.

Also found out that we have 2 more blokes coming along for the ride. John "Homer" Hudson and Greg Poole will be joining us on their 950's. Homer will be with us till Kunnunurra, where he will jump off his 950 onto his KTM Australia 450 exc and race the Safari. Can you believe that? and people are saying we are mad. :-)

Drinks at Story bridge hotel friday night if anyone wants to come along.

READY TO GO

Finally ready to go. The bike is loaded and as you can see its a tight fit. I will have to go easy on the pies during the trip. :-)

Going out for a nice dinner with Sam & Jared to night.

We leave from the Story Bridge hotel 8 am to morrow morning. Next post from somwhere in the outback.

See Yas wouldnt want to be yas. :-)

DAY 1 POOLIE TAKES A DIVE

We got away from the story bridge on time. Thanks to all those that came to see up off. Enthusiam was high. In fact too high. Just 10 klms into the dirt and about 40klm nth of Jandawae' Poolie took a dive on a tricky sandi corner. Thankfully he was unhurt - and the 2 week old 990 was patched up enough to keep going although it is looking pretty 2nd hand. We made it to Taroom and had a great feed and a few beers. Otherwise all is good. :-)

day 2 crash 2

We rose early and after a huge breakfast we did some makeshift repairs on poolie's bike and checked over the others. Rode some fun roads west of Springsure. All good until we ran out of light. Roos and lots of cattle. Not to be outdone by Poolie Gaz has castwheeled his 990. Thankfully again he is ok. Too dark to asses damage but it doesnt look too serious. Is going to be a firesale on 990's when we get home. All crashes for the trip now accounted for. (we hope)

day 3 crash 3

Spent the morning effecting repairs on Gaz's bike. Some heavy duty tools were involved. (see pics) Homers bike also had a front brake issue which explains why he is so fast into corners. Left Aramac at lunch time. Called into Muttabarra to check out the muttabarrasausarse and yes i do have one. :-) we are now into the real outback. Gaz was so impressed he decided to pull over to take a pic. This is when Nev pulled a late braking manourver and slammed into the back of gaz. Both bikes now look like they have been dragged behind a roadtrain. I spent the day picking up roadside litter. I an the proud new owner of a fuel bladder and a swag. Mick says there his but i am not so sure ;-) . We are in Richmond and so is the Carlton united brewery roadtrain which means free beer. :-)). The boys are on song. Is going to be a long ugly night. Someone tell me if all the pics are working. Cheers Guy.

FW: aye karumba

Day 4 and incredibly there were no crashes. I know, i cant beleive it either. Panadol was on the breakfast menu for some. (not me Sam) and it took a while for some to get going. Nev says we are not to stop if we see the Carlton truck again. The ridding today was good fun on some deep sandi track. There were many close calls. I have discovered the best technique for the sand patches is to first yell shiiiit or something similar, close your eyes, Stab the rear brake, go down a gear then gas it. When the handlebars stop hitting your knees, open eyes and resume riding as normal. Seems to be working so far. :-) We rode some of the Gulflander rail track this afternoon, which was great fun. had a beer at the purple pub and enjoyed a local domestic dispute in Normanton before a high speed run into Karumba for an excellant seafood dinner including oysters barra and prawns (imported from se asia). Mt isa for service and tyres tomorrow. Need sleep now.

a few pics

day 5

We made an early start and it was a cruise down the bitchy to bourke and wills roadhouse for lunch. We then took the road to kajabbi. This is Nevs fathers hometown which goes a long way to explaining why Nev is the way he is. The movie deliverance came to mind as i did a lap of the place. Gaz, Homer and i did a run into lake julius for a look , while the others headed for mt isa. About 50 kays from isa we came across Nev stopped on the side of the road with what seemed an electrical problem. A tilt tray was called and Nev and bike were uncerimoniously dumped at the local ARB store where Mick traced the problem to a crook fuel pump due to dirty fuel. The rest of us serviced our bikes and got our tyres changed. Huge thanks to Glenn from ARB for helping up out. Btw, yesterdays sandriding tip only applies to straight sections of road. I learnt today that if deep sand is encountered on a corner, SHIIIT!!! should be replaced with FAAARK!!! All other steps remain the same. Hope your enjoying the ride. Guy :-)

bio - mick

Amazingly i have received an email from some guy in nth caralina usa who is following our ride. He wanted to know more about the guys on the team so here goes. First up is Mick (jockey) Ditman. Aka shrek. Jockey weighs in at 175kg and makes his 990 look like a mini bike. Mick lives at Airlie Beach and has the keys to several extremely large luxury motor yachts which also means he is my new best friend. :-)

bio - poolie

Have a bit of time while Nev does an oil change so heres The story on Poolie. A mild mannered family this man transforms when on the bike. If you need your bike cartwheeled at 140 Poolie is your man. Will soon be opening a KTM wrecking yard. Stay tuned for opening specials on 990 bits. :-)

Adel's Grove

Was raining and cold when we left isa. 330 klm to Adels grove, half of which was fun dirt road with the first of our creek crossings. Apparently Poolie & Nev had some issues with the slippery creek crossing. Also some black soil which was a bit slippery. I had a jerry can split and spill fuel all through my clothes which is nice. :-( Adels is an oasis in the middle of nowhere. Crystal clear swimming hole. buzz wanted to see some pics of our camping setup so one is attached. It takes a while to put up, and it is a a bitch to carry on the bikes, but i feel the effort is worth it after a long day. ;-)

King Ash Bay

Interest in our travels has been incredible. Most blokes are envious. Most women think we are insane. Except for Gladys from Cairns who is on a evergreen bus tour. She told me that if she was twenty years younger she would jump on the back with me. I thought it was to be the start of something beautiful. Alas she had to get back on the bus back to Cairns to get another blue rinse put through her hair and her dentures cleaned. Samantha it Looks like you are stuck with me for a while yet. ;-)
We rode the kingfisher track today thru lawn hill station which is bigger than some European countrys. Was awesome fun and the little 640 was able to pick off some of the big guns on the tight and twisty tracks. We refueled in Doomagee then a 400klm high speed blast into Borroloola for fuel. We them headed for King Ash Bay where we set up camp. The boys chatted with our new friends Roy & Natalie who are on their own adventure in their 4wd. I met up with some friends Neil & Jules who cooked up an awesome camp oven roast chicken dinner for me. We watched the sunset over at least 2 bottles of wine . Have decide i want to be a grey nomad (sorry Jules "gypsie") if i grow up. Did i mention that i passed Nev today ? He really needs to to lift his pace.:-))) .

Bio - Nev

A 55 year old demon on wheels is Nev. Carries boiled lollies around in his pocket which makes everyone nervous. Also likes to reverse park his bike at high speed into other peoples bikes which also makes everyone nervouse. Despite his diminutive size he survives on 1kg rump steak and chocky milk. He also beleives that motorcycles fall over unless they are doing
140klm/h.

The drama continues

Was a big day yesterday. We said goodbye to Neil & Jules and had brekky in Borraloola. Then the start of a 400 ride over some very rough roads and deep creek crossings. We had a few bike dramas on the big ones including open heart surgery on one and goods has broken the ponies back. (cracked the rear sub frame) Cant say which one. Gaz also contined the theme by once again throwing his bike away. He is a a bit banged up but otherwise ok. He says he wanted marching scars on the other side of the bike. Were some very tired boys in Roper bar and on beer. Fortunately a local bore driller took pity on me and gave me a can which was the best beer i've had in a while. We also had to cook up our own meal. Those ration pack things taste great when your hungry. Every one slept well. We are currently having brekky in Mataranka. Will check out the hot springs them down to daly waters for a beer. Top springs pub tonight :-).

bio - Gaz

Aka Gary o crasher. aka Heinz the Austrian ski instructor. Gaz is looking to outdo poolie in the destruction stakes but needs to crash increase his dismount speed above 50 klm/h if he wants to taken seriously. Gaz supports an entire village in Mexico via his investment in the Corona brewery.

Bio-Homer

John "Homer" Hudson aka Fritz the Austrian ski instructor is our resident philosopher , theorist, insomniac and Safari racer. When we get to Knurra he will jump off his shetland pony ktm950 (which he broke the back of) and straight onto his factory KTM Australia 450exc and take on all that the safari has to offer. And he will do well if the past week can be used as a guide. Insanely quick and the only person i know that thinks a fully loaded 950 swapping at 160 is "great fun" Homer believes that only trials riders should stand up and your not in the zone unless the tacho and speedo are in the red bits. Stay tuned on lots more on Homers progress.

bio-me

I am Guy 43 capricorn, I like long walks on the beach and am looking for a lady........ah shit wrong website. As a profesional I can't show you my face, but rest assursed that I am the only sane and sensible person on this trip. Always touring along at the rear of the field, at a safe speed its me that picks up the luggage that falls off and I scrape up the bodies off the road and am the one that has to carefully walk the croc infested creek crossings so that the others can safely traverse them. Its also me that has to apologise to the other road users after they have been used as a mobile chicane. Tis a heavy burden I carry. :-))) Hope you are all enjoying my ramblings. The boys are loving getting your comments and emails. Keep em coming. Guy :-)

The 640 takes a stage win.

The hot springs were fantastic and all the grey nomads got a shock when I dived in wearing my riding gear. It was a leisurely tour into Daly Waters where we had a beer and a run in with the law. Apparently Gaz went through a red light and the local copper pulled a gun. :-) we then had a 245 klm special stage into Top Springs and despite the best efforts of the other competitors and last nights Thai chicken curry I was able to hold on for the win, my record winning time included having to stop to have a crap in the woods, so it was a very good result indeed. Will be a big night tonight and I would just like to thank my sponsors Johnsons Baby wipes and imodiom. Of course the excuses are now flowing thick and fast, but jockey takes the cake by getting a flat tyre and arriving into camp on the same truck as a house. The things some guys will do hey?

is this the end (or just the start)

Was a big night of celebrations at top springs. Although there was some consternation when the stage winner was denied the presidential suite by general gaz who was calling the injury card. The rest of us were despatched to the dongas out the back. The ahh bottom end woes are also fixed. However all is not rosy. This morning's preflight checks revealed the 640 has paid the price of victory. The left hand rear indicator lens has copped a stray rock. We are desperatly trying to express airfreight a replacement, but this could be the end. ;-) The tempory repairs to Jockeys tyre lasted until 50 klm from Knurra. A mercy dash was arranged. A few of the race teams are here including the honda and ktm teams. The 690 rally's are sex on wheels. Will take more pics tomorrow. Flash dinner tonight at the country club with the boys from croc racing in Darwin.

the team expands

Had a tough day today slept in till 7 then a nice brekky. Serviced the bike then took a walk around checking out the hardware. Some very trick machinery. Met up with new team members Tommy, Tim, joey and Marcel whe is homers mechanic. We know have the extra luxury of a motor home that we can utilize which is fantastic.. Tim arranged a sunset cruise on the lake. Beer pizza and an awesome sunset. Life is good.

lake cruise postscript

A flat battery on the boat cut short the cruise but fortunately we had plenty of beer and pizza. Huge thanks to Scott & Hamish from BP Kunnunurra for taking us out. We have also been graced with the presence of our very own team loser "lard" who is sporting a very smart TL cap. Will have to have words with JB about this particularly because Lard is letting the team down buy walking around with a bottle of water in his hand. Yes water, this is not the Mick that I know. JB WILL NOT BE HAPPY WHEN HE HEARS OF THIS.

bungle bungling

Today me mick katherine and Lyn took a plane ride over lake argyle and the argyle diamond mind to the bungle bungle's where had a 1 hour fligt in a helicopter at low level with the doors off. Was an awesome ride and highlight of the trip so far. This afternoon was spent getting the bikes ready for the blast down the Gibb river road tomorrow.

And away they go (but not us)

The safari got away this morning amongst much fanfare. Our boys were all feeling good he not a little nervous. Goods is in good shape. Lard was nervous but in high spirits. Vancoy was also in good shape. Scott & Mick looked ready to go. As for up we will late getting away as a bourke of the 990' are continuing to have electrical issues. While waiting i took a run out to Ivanhoe crossing but it was a bit too deep and east running to attempt on my own. If you fall off you become croc food.

And then there 5

We spent the morning uswtn get Poolie's bike but alas it was too technical for up or anyone else so it is going home in a box. Poolie will fly into Broom and jump in the van or jump back on the pony. RIP one 990. Thanks to Scott Helan and little hamish for all there help. Fantastic people. Tim the toolman will side Homers shetland pony to Broom The rest of of us loaded up and headed for Wyndam where we checked out the 5 rivers lookout. Rated as one of the top 5 lookouts in the world,(not sure who rates them) It is the junction of 5 of the largest rivers in Australia. Amazing place. We rode the Cockburn ranges track (where Nev scored a flat tyre) to the Gibb River road and as it was getting dark we decided to check into El Questro station. another awesome spot and I will be coming back to check out this area some more for sure (i promise Sam) . Tomorrow the Gibb River road to Broome.

Gibb river road

With us running a bit behind yesterday, tim the tool man (now known as just tool) awoke us at sunrise by holding the pony on the rev limiter for a few seconds. On the way out of EQ I a small detour down a very sandy track into EQ gorge. The other boys waited on the main road as the loaded 990's handle like brisbane river ferrys in these conditions. Shame as they missed the 5 naked swedish backpackers swimming in the waterhole. Unfortunately my camera was playing up so on pics but trust me would i lie to you. ;-( it was then a high speed blast along the gibb river expressway. Spectacular scenery and the deep and long Pentecost river crossing. A quick look in at derby them 200kay of bitchy to Broom just in time to catch the sunset.

swept away by broome

Today was meant to be a boring drone down the bitchy but actually turned out to be a great day. I decided to get a headstart on the other boys as they go much faster than me on the road. I spent the morning looking around Broome including a blast down cable beach which was good fun especially as it is a nudist beach. :-0 . Them began the 600kay ride to port headland. I stopped in at a place called barn hill station for a swim which was fantastic. Not long after i came across young Phil who is doing the safari tour on his dr650. He had cartwheeled across a ditch and destroyed his bike. He was very lucky to only have some skin off his bum. His bike was a write off with busted cases. Refuelled at the sandfire roadhouse which is back in business after a recent fire. camping tonight at the showgrounds. Small problem with front wheel spacers on the 640 but i have some new ones to fit in the morning. All our racers are going fine and in good shape.

nev wins 600 kay special test

Spent the morning getting the axle spacers sorted then off on a 600 kay track into the gold mining town of Newman. The change in scenery was amazing. The redest dirt you have seen. Todays first safari stage was brutal and the last stage was cancelled but even as i type its 9pm and most of the bikes and cars are not in. will be a long night for some. Jeff took over the reins of the pony today from tooley who has been relegated to the van because of anti social behaviour.

640 takes class stage win

As i posted last night was a big night for some. Was heaps of carnage. Nick was late in and had to do an engine change. Mark eland has 3 broken ribs. Were lots of busted cars and bodies. Magnus from croc racing and i were able to complete a 50 klm special stage which i was able to win. No matter that Magnus had no rear brake. Spectators were quite surprised to see a fully loaded bike blasting through the stage. The other boys went exploring an old gold mine ruin. We are camped tonight in Meekathara Homer had 3 crashes today and is feeling a bit second hand.

meeka-leonora

The boys were intent on continuing thier high speed blur tour of WA so i decided to check out some of the special tests and some of the scenery. the course is very fast and suits some of the big hp bikes more than the smaller bikes like Homers 450 but he hp going ok. Didnt see any of the othe boys to day but by assuming they are ok. I stopped for lunch in a little place called sandstone and did the tourist drive armoumi the old hold mind and brewery. Also checked this cool rock formation called London Bridge. Next stop was the historic Cindy sub where i learnt of a unique WA phenomina known as skimpys. This is skimpy Zoe .There is one in every pub. We camped in an old shed out the back of the back of the white horse pub in Leonora which hp approx the same lattiude as Brisbane. If you look West you might be able to see us. You will definatly hear us. ;-) tonights stop is Kalgoorlie where i an told the skimpys are thick on the ground. ;-o

kalgoorlie

Was a cold morning in Leonora. Had the michelin truck fit a new rear tyre then rugged up for the 200 kay ride to Menzies. We are deep into mining country now and the landscape has been decimated. Just huge piles of dirt everywhere. Had a quick beer at the Ora Banda pub then into Kalgoorlie. the safari surface park was full of grass burrs so we decided to stay at a pub. Checked out the massive superpit mine 1000ft deep hold in the ground. The little dots in the pics are huge dump trucks. Did the tour of a few of the skimpy bars then a reasonably early night. We have decided to skip the york stopover and head straight to Perth to get an early start on loading the bikes into the container tomorrow. This will also give us more time to look around Perth. The York to Perth leg is just a tour in anyway Looking forward to meeting up with Buzz who is flying in for the finish.

And the winner is???

Was a late start again this morning as gaz had to do his hair after a big night. A couple of us took another ride out to the superpit for a look in better light. Its was still a bloody big hole. We needed permission to ride the track we intended to ride and as we couldnt get it it was looking like a bum numbing 600k ride down the bitchy. This looked like being the first day that we havnt ridden on dirt so me and My new best friend Magnus the Swedish love god [i'm over jockey ;-) ]found a bit of twisty dirt road and some rock to have a play on. The rest of the ride was through some pretty country side. The bikes are now loaded in the container ready to be shipped home which leads us to the question of who won? So even though it wernt a race lets look at the facts.[its always a race] Poolie didnt win because his bike went home in a box. [he did do a great job driving the van though] Nev didnt win because he didnt complete the course his bike spending some time on a truck near mt isa as did Jockeys whos bike shared a truck whith a shed. Jeff & Tim only rode a few days each so they didnt win. Now Homer would be in with a chance except that he used 2 bikes and had a fleet of mechanics to service his bike every night and he broke the ponys back anyway. Which leaves Gaz and me. Now he it were a real race 2 crashes in 3 days and the fact that your bike is being held together by race tape, ratchet straps and chewing gum......well i will let you decide who won. The 640 was just fantastic. It just needs a wash and a service and it will be right to go again. Oh yeah it also needs an indicator lens. The safari finishes to morrow and i will post more pics to morrow. cheers Guy :-)

some pics

The next few posts will just be some pics from our renter red pocket tour of Perth.

pics

pics

pics

pics

pics