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Being the sometimes adventures of Clint and Charleen Lovell, motorcyclists
of Brisbane, Australia

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18-04-10

Around Oz

Where we are in 2010
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Day01	Day02	Day03		Day04	Day05
Day06	Day07	Day08		Day09-10-11	Day12
Day13	Day14	Day15		Day16	Day17
18 to 25	Day26	Day27-28		Day29-30	Day 30-31
Day32	Day33	Day34		Day35

Around Oz Day 35 25 March 2010 723km

Last Day. I dragged myself out of a rather nice hotel bed and staggered about getting ready. I was away by 6:30am. Straight into the sun. That helps.

I had decided, even though I was eager to get home, to make one detour. Another game played by FarRiders is a game of Tag where one rider takes a photo of their bike in front of a landmark and the challenge is for another to be the first to take a photo of their own bike in the same location. First to get the new photo online has the Tag. There have been occasions where two riders have taken the photo but only one gets it online first.
I had been alerted that the current location of the tag was not far out of my route. Only a hundred or so extra kays, so I aimed the GPS at the location and set out.

I took the Warrego from Mitchell to Chinchilla then wound my way up to Proston and then the tiny town of Hivesville. Old WingRiders will remember this town well. Got the shot and uploaded it to the laptop but could not get a good enough signal to get online.

So after a nice hamburger at the cafe, the subject of the photo, I headed for the nearest town on the way home, Nanango. After refuelling the final time for the trip I found a park and this time had good coverage. Uploaded the photo and as I was the first to get it, I also uploaded the next location, a photo I had taken earlier in the day at Amby, near Mitchell. Queensland FarRiders are preparing to ride as I type.

From Nanango to home is a well known route for me so I didn't have to think much about where to go. Keeping within the speed limit was a good idea though as my speed was checked by radar no less than three times. That is about as much as the rest of the whole trip, except for one day in Victoria as I got near Phillip Island.

Home at last, but the bike was a mess. I hadn't removed bugs from anywhere but the screen and lights since leaving Kununurra so I had a goodly collection.
Out with the pressure gun and soap and got to work. The back wasn't too bad luckily - it is better later in the day than the mornings.

I finished up and had it nice and shiny just in time for Charleen to get home from work.
Big reunion. But you can look at pictures.

Total kilometres for the trip was 15720 according to the GPS, but there was a few days when I didn't use it, going Melbourne to Phillip Island and back, so I'd put it at about 16,500 all up in 34 days. 14 days were spent practically stationary so averaged about 800km per day while on the road. Longest day was 1838km in 18hrs 12min.

I hope you all enjoyed reading my ramblings and the pictures. Stay tuned to the main blog page for the next big adventure.

Cheers

The new Tag spot at Amby

Lovely park of Qld bottle trees near Proston

The Tag picture I was after. Looks like they changed the name from Road Kill Cafe to Road Side Cafe

SquashBug City

Tubby time

That's better

GPS TrackLog for the whole trip.

Around Oz Day 34 24 March 2010 1140km

Another day of long straight roads. This is the hard slog home for me. Only stopping for fuel and water - for me. The back is hurting and I'm trying to ignore it. But the roads are not helping. It isn't a Qld thing as Camooweal to Mt Isa is a great road after a quite rough last 100km in NT. But once leaving Cloncurry on the Landsborough Hwy the roughness sets in. This major road is in need of an upgrade.

I managed a few photos, but apart from it all being nice and green, there is little to see. I can only take photos on the move using cruise control so it is a bit difficult to get shots of towns.

Home tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it.

Sunrise on the Never Ending Road

Way too much of this

Boots getting near to need cleaning

Hard to get a shot like this, but it helps pass the time

Getting late in the day

Around Oz Day 33 23 March 2010 1409km

Got underway early at 5:15am. It was still quite dark as i was now running on Qld time. Only half an hour different from here so might as well.

The speed limit is 130kph, but in the dark I consider it a good idea to keep well under. Mustn't out-drive the headlights, even with the GoldWing's excellent beams. I saw a couple of wallabies, but none to worry about.

It slowly dawned on me. No - really. Then the sun came up behind a few clouds. Long straight roads make for not much happening, but I had my podcasts which I had not listened to for a few days, so they helped me while away the hours.

I found that running at 130kph into a slight headwind can cut over 50km from a tankfull of fuel. I found this out about 40km from Three Ways roadhouse. Lucky I'm still carrying the spare 5 litres.

So the day was pretty much ride 600km - turn left - ride 600km. Stop for fuel now and then.

But it was worth the time as the countryside is nice and green and very pretty. Contrasting to many trips I've sone through these parts when it is nothing but brown.

I got to Mt Isa and decided to keep going to Cloncurry, not too far away and it was still light. I found a nice motel and settled in.

Memorial to Charles Todd, builder of Overland Telegraph Line and a distant relation to me.

I caught up with a couple of Ulysseans on the road

Getting closer to home

A case moth lavae clings to the sign

Looking forward........

.......looking back

Back in home state.

Approaching Mt Isa the countryside is nice and green.

This evening I heard another friend, Rusty, has crashed on his way home from Albany. This adds to John and Lily's altercation with an eagle a couple of days ago, resulting in their bike becoming a wreck. Rusty is injured and in Adelaide hospital. Not good.
Even worse, my ailing and aged uncle John passed away this morning down south in Batemans Bay. So it is a sad end to the day for me.

Around Oz Day 32 22 March 2010 521km

Time to get under way again. Enough hanging around Kununurra. So it is pack up the bike, say bye to Nadeen and head east.

It doesn't take long to get to the NT border and the speed can pick up from here. The road is quite picturesque and currently fairly green. There are large cliffs of dark red rock to wind between and wide open spaces under grass that stretches as far as the eye can see. most of the time.

I changed the clocks over to NT time and lost an hour and a half. One of the down sides of travelling east.

The day was pretty hot, around the high 30's, so a nice cool drink when I filled up at Timber Creek was welcome.

From then on it was just another couple of hundred in to Katherine. I decided to get a nice motel and be nice and comfy before putting in a bigger day tomorrw.

Ready to go.

Welcome to NT

Around Oz Day 30-31 20-21 March 2010 5km

Sorry but this is not very exciting. I've been lazing around Kununurra trying to get a little less back pain. It is improving with every day.
Yesterday evening there was a reception at Nadeen's gallery for some visiting scientists so I went along to help out where I could. Had to sit down a lot though.
We ended up being invited out to the PumpHouse restaurant for dinner with them all. Had a great evening discussing local issues with a Professor of Biology, a DNA expert and several other academics. Along with some old friends from our tour-guide days in the Kimberleys.
It was a pretty good night.

Anyone passing through Kununurra should not miss Lovell Gallery or The Pumphouse Restaurant. Shameless plugs.

I also went for a short ride today and managed OK so I will be on my way in the morning. Not too early and probably not too far. Keep an eye on the SPOT.