Day 4: Peterborough to Wilpena.

Our 'plan' was somewhat out of kilter because of yesterday's debacle, so we didn't really have plan when we woke up this morning.  Pub brekky wasn't until 10:00 and the cafe next door wouldn't open till 9:00, and we wanted to be gone before then, so it was a quick cuppa from the residents lounge (which we drank on the veranda), and pack the bikes.   I noticed a slight (but steady) breeze, which felt a bit ominous, but disregarded it.



We were all ready to go, but Bruce couldn't find his keys.  Pulled all his bags and pockets apart, but no keys to be found.  So back up into the room and there they were, under the bed!  Keys in hand, he re-packed his gear and we fired up.





Out onto the highway and were were stopped within a k, for road works.  A ditch-witch was digging a water trench along the road-side and making a hell of a mess. We watched and waited as the wind collected all the diggings and carried them away.  "Hmmm..." I thought, "this wind is getting stronger!"  15 mins later, the lollipop man said we could go and we followed a tip-truck out of town, with the wind blowing the contents of his truck to the 4 corners of the globe.  "Hmmm..", I thought, "this wind is getting UGLY!"  Before we knew it, we were riding headlong into a gale, one of those winds that physically make you change lanes, even when you had no intention of doing so!

Mercifully, the township of Orroroo wasn't far away and we stopped here for some breakfast.



After a feed and a descent coffee, it was back out into the wind.  Now, I know we bang on about it, but high winds at high speeds are downright unpleasant.  You watch your riding buddies getting blown all over the road, waiting for your turn.  You sh!t yourself when a truck passes the other way, not knowing if it's gonna suck you towards it, or blow you back the other way.  You battle with your helmet, which is trying to turn 360 degrees on your head.  You want to hold it still, but are too scared to take you hand off the bars, so your neck muscles work overtime just so you can see where your're going!  It wasn't fun and we were all relieved when we pulled into hawker for fuel.

Another note, my BMW 650 usually gets around 270ks before the reserve light comes on.  With a load, we're down around 240ks.  With this wind, we were lucky the be getting 200ks!

At hawker we re-fueled and considered our options.  No one was happy riding in this wind and pushing onto Maree in it was just out of the question.  So Bruce made a few calls and we set upon an over-nighter at Wilpeena.  We had intended to stop there the night before, so we were sorta-kinda gonna be gettin' back on schedule!







With rooms booked and a destination set, we took off, noting how much more pleasant the riding was now that we were in the lee of the Flinders Rangers.  The run into Wilpeena is very pretty and we stopped at Arkaba Lookout for a squiz and a few pics.  But as soon as we got off the main road, we were assailed by the wind again!









By this stage, Pete had assume the identity of captain America (due to his fancy new jacket), and started channeling his inner Usain Bolt for iconic poses!






We continued on until we got to the lookout at Pugilist's Hill and decided to go up.  It was a spectacular view lat time Onion and I made the ascent, but we suspected the wind would spoil it this time.  We were right!  It was so windy up there, that we were afraid to remove our helmets for fear they'd be blown away.  Also, just maneuvering the bikes was a tricky exercise, so we took a quick few photos and got the hell down!















Back on the road and we took the last little trip into Wilpeena Pound Resort.  We checked into reception, but were told the rooms wouldn't till 2:00, and it was only 1:00.  How can we kill an hour?  Off to the bar!!  We had a couple of beers and some lunch and then headed to our accommodation for a shower and a catch-up with the internet.  We had a little walk around and checked out some native wildlife.  Did some maintenance on the bikes and watched the clock till it was dinner time.  After dinner, we chatted with some other residents for a bit, but were all feeling a bit smashed, so an early night was on the cards.



Just over 200ks (forward) for the day.  I reckon we did just as many backwards!

Day 5: Wilpena to Farina.

One of the (many( beauties of a trip like this, is the lack of any real time-table.  Apart from the first night, we hadn't pre-booked any accommodation, figuring that if there was no motel or hotel vacancy, we could just pitch our tents...ANYWHERE!  Such was day 5.  We had sorta/kinda expected to be in Wilpena on the 3rd night away, but now we had sorta/kind caught up, for as much as it mattered.

So we left the resort after a good night's sleep and a hearty breakfast.



We fueled up and the first thing we noticed was the lack of wind!  It was glorious, with clear blue skies and warm sunshine.  We headed to the road out and took the scenic route via the Buneyaroo Gorge.  This was/is a spectacular ride through this area.  With a number of (dry) creek crossings, narrow gorges and steep rock walls.  We encountered another group of (around 10) riders and stopped for a chat.  Exiting the gorge, we stopped for a re-group and headed toward Blinman for lunch.









The route to Blinman took us along the Razorback Ridge Road, with more stunning views of the Flinders Rangers.















Before long, we pulled into Blinman for a pie.  last year, I reckon I had the best pie I had ever eaten, here at Blinman.  But alas, this time I was disappointed.  Still, it was yummy!  Pete managed to find a Twin for his Africa Twin, and the two Honda guys chatted for ages.





Other travelers always seen to want to chat to bikers and we were happy to oblige.  They look at what they're carrying, then look at us and wonder how we can get by for 2 weeks with what we pack!  From Blinman, we bee-lined it to our first camp for the trip, the historic site of Farina.  A small township that was established as a wheat growing area back in the late 1800's.  But the weather was not kind to this type of farming, and the township died some time later.  Now, enthusiasts are 're-building' parts of the town as tourist stops, but for us, it was just a very pretty spot to put your tent up for the night.







I'd printed up a heap of AMTRA stickers and we put them at various places along the way.



Onion found the remnants of a dead dog (?)  Pete thought that he just looked a little parched and that perhaps a wee drink of water was all he needed to spark him up!



We made our way into the campsite and set ourselves up, before going off for a walk through the ruins.

(to be continued).

Onion and I had stopped at farina last year, and found the camp-site to be clean, spacious and cheap!  An honor system is in place for payment and it looks like people are happy to abide.  We all started to un-pack our gear and set-up our tents etc.  it wasn't a race...but I won!









Once set, Onion, Willie and I went for a walk into 'town'.  I like trying to photograph these buildings/ruins, lots of angles to capyure.

















After a stroll, it was back to camp for dinner and a sit around and chat.  There's no real fire wood around, so we burned some dried bracken just for effect.







As soon as the sun went down, it got cold...REAL COLD.  So without a decent fire, we watched the stars for a bit then (I) went to bed early.  The quite was broken by a rider who had just pulled in, riding solo in the dark.  D!ckhead.  The others chatted to him a bit, but by now I was toastie in bed and wasn't gettin' out for nothin'!

Around 250ks today, and no wind!  Bewdifuuul.

I forgot to mention yesterday......

En route to Farina, we were happily scooting along at the speed limit of 110kph (Pete was in front), when we came around a bend and there was Pete having a chat to Mr Plod.  The cop had his lights flashing, so (according to the Victorian road rules), we were obliged to reduce speed and pass at 40kph.  A few problems here, the first was that in the 100 meters or so, of seeing the cop's lights and hitting the brakes, the likely hood of slowing was remote.  The bigger issue was that in South Australia, the law states that you have to pass a police vehicle at 25 kph!  That was never gonna happen!  And Mr plod was not impressed, giving Pete a right earfull about our reckless behavior blah, blah, blah.  Pete's conversation with this member did not go well, but I'll let him fill in any details.  Suffice to say that Pete copped a hefty fine, as a trade off to having his (and our) bikes impounded!

We eventually stopped a little further up the road to wait for Pete, before continuing on into Leigh Creek for fuel and a right rant from Pete when he arrived!













The old train bridge made for some interesting photo opportunities.

Day 6: Farina to Mungerannie

This morning we broke camp, loaded up and headed towards Maree, and the start of the Birdsville Track.  It's only about 60ks to Maree, along the Outback Highway, but most of it is serious dirt/gravel and it took just under two hours.  Upon arrival to Maree, we headed straight to the fuel stop, then into the roadhouse for some toasties and a coffee.



Some of the crew hadn't been here before, so we had a wee tour around (it doesn't take long) and then it was out to the turn-off to the 'Track'















The bitumen lasted for around 500 meters, then we were into the 'dirt'.  Like the Oodnadatta Track, the surface is constantly changing, from softish sand, to hard packed dirt, then to crystallized sand and then to blue metal, or the worst...a type of scoria rock the shape of little pyramids, just waiting for an un-suspecting punter to land on and tear holes through his skin!  Anyway, we kept a reasonable pace along here, adjusting speeds depending upon the road surface.

Along the way, we came across the remnants of another old homestead.  For the life of me, I can't understand why anyone would try and carve out an existence in this inhospitable wasteland!













A little further along, I spied a group of wild horses.  There wasn't much other wildlife around!



Then we saw a sign that said 'water over road'!  "Yeah", I thought.  "Like that's gonna happen!"  But sure enough, we saw a glimmer on the horizon.  Willie sped off into the distance and jumped off his bike, grabbed his camera and hoped to get some shots of us careering through this ford.  We, on the other hand, had a different idea and having not seen a wet road for 1000kms, shat our collective selves and rode through at a snails pace!  Big, tough adventure bikers!  The ford appeared to be fed by a bore that was tapped and welled by a nearby 'shed'.  It was a weird thing to see out here.















Not much further along, we reached the turn-off to Mungeranie, which in fact, is simply a pub with accommodation and a camp ground.  The bar was quintessentially outback Australian, with its weird ceiling decoration of hats, underwear and human hair!  It was however, our first stop for a few quick beers and to book in.



Onion, Willie, Bruce and I opted to pitch our tents and camp the night.  Pussy Pete and Girly Geoff booked into a 'honeymoon' suite, which was so small, they had to spoon all night just to fit into their (separate) beds!

I set my tent up under a sparse tree, thinking it would give me some protection from the warm afternoon sun and possibly some potential dew in the morning.  I noted that there was a nasty, low hanging branch and thought it prudent to hang some stuff on it whilst setting up.  This worked well.



Once my tent was up, I started chucking my hanging stuff in, the last thing being my jumper.  It was then time for a shower, so I grabbed my towel, zipped my tent and POW!  walked straight into that F#@*ing branch!  I don't mind telling you, it dropped me to my knees and I saw stars.  And being right on the forehead, I bled like a stuck pig.  Regaining my composure, I carefully headed to the shower, washed and put a band aid on my still bleeding noggin.  Then I carefully returned to my tent, got dressed and headed to the bar.  Upon arrival, the others asked why I had a band aid on my bumper.  I told them I cut myself shaving!  They bought me beer.

We drank for a bit, had dinner, chatted with some other travelers then made our way carefully to our chosen abodes for the night.

Around 300ks for the day.

Day 7: Mungeranie to Birdsville.

Today heralded 'stage 1' of our trip...Birdsville.

It was a warmish morning when we got up.  I don't remember breakfast, but I assume we had something simple around the camp.  Before packing up, i strolled around the camp-ground and took some pics of the vehicles reminiscent of the days of Tom Kruse, and his pioneering transport ventures from Maree to Birdsville.  If you don't know the story, look it up!













Then it was back to the camp and pack up.  We headed to the bowsers to fuel up and said goodbye to the pub.  It was all smiles as we prepared for the next trek.











And we were off.  Another sunny and bright day, warm but not hot, perfect for riding.  Somewhere along the way, I noticed Bruce's chain guard flapping around, so pulled him over and we performed the only road-side repair to date.









'The Track' stretched out for miles ahead of us.  Barren, if not boring, but iconic none the less.



150ks out of Mungeranie, things took a turn for the worse!  As mentioned earlier, the surface of the track changes every few kilometers, and with the Birdsville Races and the Big Red Bash having just happened, the road had been pounded into oblivion by thousands of vehicles traversing it.  We hit a patch or road that (to me) seemed softer, sandier and deeper than anything we had previously encountered and I wasn't quite ready for it.  My front end started to wash out, left to right, right to left. On a trail bike, you'd simply get up on the pegs, shift your weight back, gas it and lighten the front end and ride out of it.  Not so on a desert camel!  By the time I realized I was in the sh!t, it was too late to react (not that shifting my weight was gonna make any difference) and I got into a horrid tank slap (at 90kph) and resembled little more that luggage that had come loose.  I thought I could ride it out, but alas the tyres bit and high-sided me through the windscreen and I did a perfect one-point landing on my head, before bouncing onto my shoulder and onto my left side.

Now, there are bits about this that I don't remember.  I don't remember exiting the bike.  I don't remember hitting the deck, but I do remember getting to my knees.  I think your body/brain knows that sh!t is about to go down and just says, "I'll take over here, this is gonna hurt, so I'll just shut down a few things!"  Whilst on my knees, I did a quick body check and ascertained that there wasn't too much pain.  Adrenaline was coursing through, so I had no real idea, but I took my helmet off and Geoff and Onion (under my instruction), got me to my feet and walked me over to a shady spot under a tree.  We conversed and worked out that I was generally OK.  I worked out that I had done something to my ribs, but there was no sign of neck/back injury, although my head was a bit foggy.  I told Onion where the sat phone was, and he fired it up.  Eventually, it connected and he called 000.  He was put through to the Ambulance and tried to make them understand where we were.  I know the Ambos have a protocol to follow, but it wasn't gonna work here, so Onion quoted some GPS references to the operator and she said, "Oh, you're there!"  She contacted Birdsville medical center and they dispatched a 4WD ambulance.

A couple of side points here.  Firstly, we'd borrowed a sat phone from Robbo.  It had no credit (which we knew), but worked when ringing 000.  We also had 2 epirbs and a Spot, but didn't deploy them as we wouldn't have been able to communicate with the ambulance (which become important later).  So the phone was a good thing to have.  Secondly, Onion has an app on his phone called "Emergency +".  It records GPS positions via satellite, so requires no phone service to operate.  I now have it on my phone.  GET IT, it's good!





Soon after the accident, Mick (a random solo traveler) was flagged down by Geoff and told of out predicament.  He was happy to load me into his car and start taking me north, while the ambulance was coming south.  Given that Birdsville was 190 ks away, this would effectively reduce our wait time by half.  We used the phone to advise the ambos of this development.

In the mean time, the boys picked up my bike and parked it.  Onion put a note on it to advise that there wasn't an injured rider walking around.  They threw all my luggage into Mick's car and we headed off.  Onion took a few pics of the carnage and the fancy footwork that my bike had done before spitting me off!

So now I was sitting in Mick's car, trying to stay conscious.  His air con wasn't working properly, and this didn't help my state, but I kept talking and responding, 'cos I didn't want him to have to contend with me passing out.  After a little while, we caught up with Pete and Willie, who were ahead of us.  I gave them a brief account of what had happened and advised that the rest of the gang was not far behind. 

About an hour later, we caught site of the ambulance.  My relief was palpable!  We pulled over and the lovely Jess came and checked me out.  Apparently by this stage, I was looking very grey.  So she stuck a canular into my hand and started pushing fluids.  The got the stretcher out and the transfer commenced.  Once on the stretcher, I said that I wanted to get out of my riding pants.  Jess produced a set of heavy duty scissors, but I said: "Wait, I'll take 'em off!"  She looked at me askant, but I advised that I had knicks on, so all was OK!











Once in, my new mate Jess and I (and our driver), u-turned and headed back to Birdsville.  It was a bumpy ride, much less-comfortable than the bikes had been, although at this stage I was much happier with the stability of 4 wheels.  It took us about 90 mins to get to Birdsville and all I could see was the dust cloud (out the back window), of where we'd been.  I passed the race track (apparently), but didn't really take notice of anything till I got to the medical center.  

Upon arrival, I was checked out by a RFD Medico, who checked me over with an ultra-sound to see if there was any sign of internal issues, then he and Jess had a chat about what to do.  They kept me under obs and the medico flew out.  The boys arrived an hour or two later and gave me my phone, so I could make the fun call to my missus.  That went OK.  I told her what I knew, that they were deciding whether to fly me to Mt Isa or not.  The boys went off to the pub for dinner and I lay in the center biding time.  Eventually Jess told me I was flying out and that the plane would collect me at 10:30.  That soon changed to 11:30.  Stop press, 1:30 AM.  No, now 2:30!  So at 2:30 I was bundled into a small plane.  Finally, I got to travel first class!  The flight took 90 mins and I arrived in Mt Isa at 4:00.  Straight into another ambulance and into casualty for a CT scan.  The results were sent to Brisbane and I was told I had bruising of the ribs, mild concussion and a lacerated spleen.  I was then admitted to the surgical ward.  Doctors came, doctors went and after 2 nights I was discharged.  My missus had flown up to be with me (bless her), and we spent another night in Mt Isa before making the flight home.

And that's where my part of the adventure ends.  I'll leave it to someone else to fill in the rest.

A few observations.

Carrying a sat phone is a good idea.  I've poo-pooed them in the past, but even with no credit, I'll make sure I have one when I'm next doing a trip like this.

The TAC is brilliant!  From the very first phone call, they've been nothing but helpful and considerate.  Within 7 days, we were already being reimbursed for out-of-pocket expenses.  To date, they have covered my wife's flight to Mt Isa, her accommodation, my accommodation and flights back home, car parking, postage for the return of my luggage, drugs and medical appointments and chiro appointments.  Fantastic.

The RFDS is also a wonderful organization.  Worthy of any donation possible.

Swan Insurance have also been very good.  I'll have an excess to pay, and lose my 'rating 1' cover, but I don't really care.  At this stage, my bike is on it's way down (Adelaide I believe), and will make it's way to Melbourne soon, to be repaired and re-united with me.

And last, but not least, my fellow riders.  A great crew who looked after me (and each other) subsequent to my mishap.  they all stepped up and performed brilliantly.  Thanks guys, for everything.  A good bunch in a sticky situation!

Great saga Serge - glad to hear things are all coming together.

Very interesting to read what was covered by the TAC - I never would have expected the spouse's plane flight to be reimbursed.

Think I might just download that app now....

Adventure riding - Hmmmm

Hey Serge - looking at your bent bike pics, did the GPS survive? did the screen come with the adjustable top flap?

And a question for the group - do you think the luggage loads could have been less? ie. What would you not take next time.