An Australian lap attempt.....anti clockwise

[OnHellas]

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[OnHellas]

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[Gimlet]

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There's a spectacular blowhole at Kiama just south of Sydney when you get back round that way.

This thread is bringing back some happy memories for me. Did a similar circuit with my other half 18 years ago but we were in a car and we went clockwise.

[OnHellas]

Due to the lack of facilities at Red Bluff we stayed just the one night. After a tasty breakfast at the laid back mans cafe we headed off, back along the dirt road.

Go back along a road or track can be a funny thing. This time the 10km to the junction with the main track seemed to take but a few minutes. The sandy section was a bit harder to ride today but again, seemed shorter.

After that the corrugations, ripio to those that have experienced them in South America, went on and on....and on. A bit like me, but worse....I hope.

Anyway, the 70kms were risen without incident and nothing appears to have fallen off of the bikes, happy days.

We rode back to Carnarvon and stopped for fuel and a cuppa and also to make the plan for the rest of the day.
I didn’t want to ride any further, Sarah did, but for some reason I’d had enough.
I didn’t fancy the tent either so we had a quick Booking.com search and a motel was booked......for two weeks time!
Bugger!!!

Luckily the lady on reception was able to swap the dates for us, we got the last room.

Later on we decided to eat in the hotel restaurant. On leaving the room we saw a Belgian registered 4x4 coming in to the car park. We have seen very few foreign registered vehicles in our time here.
I mentioned a chap that I’d met on the Heroes Legend Rallye back in 2012, a said how he offered technical support to people doing longer trips. I actually only missed him by a day back in 2016 whilst riding through Mexico.
Unbelievably I then saw his car. A Land River Defender with “Desert Foxx” written down the side.
After the “Hi Wolter how are you” bit and the following incredulous looks and exclamations we had a beer. Then another one followed by dinner and a drop of red wine.
A nice evening, a total surprise. I’d only seen him twice since 2012, once in the docks in Genoa, Italy and again for the 2015 Libya Rallye in Morocco.

I don’t know if it was the drinking, we didn’t have much, but the next morning was one of our “shall we stay another night” situations.
We did. It gave us time to replace the lost hairbrush......it’s all glamour this travel lark.

[OnHellas]

We’d stayed in and around Carnarvon for far longer than we thought we would, 7 nights in all.
Time to go south, ish. We rejoined Highway 1 and set off, under clouds. They quickly disappeared but we have started to see clouds in a much more regular basis. Different from a while back further north. The good thing though is that we seem to be away from the scorchio situation we’d been in.

Destination Denham. The road to the coast is listed as a world heritage drive. It didn’t disappoint. Fantastic views over the bays and surrounding areas.
Denham itself seems a bit run down. The familiar sight of a seaside tourist town out of season.
Still, at least the campsite had a space for us. Such joy!
Actually it’s a nice spot, a few meters from the beach and with very clean facilities.

We had planned to go to Monkey Mia today but we had an email about our Third Party Insurance being incorrect. We decided not to ride. Fingers crossed. After a fraught wait for a call back from the broker after we emailed them the chap assured us all was OK. The ride continues....tomorrow.

Today is back to the glamour, washing clothes, getting supplies.

[OnHellas]

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[OnHellas]

With the insurance worries behind us we booked the into the campsite for a third night and set off to yesterday’s destination.
Monkey Mia. It’s a National Park with a resort type place in it where they feed the dolphins a few times a day.
We weren’t sure about it and after paying the $15 per person entry fee to the National Park, we quickly made our judgment on the place.
Wonderful beach, beautiful sea, lovely dunes.....all spoilt by a flat out tourist trap.
Yep, we’d done it to ourselves again!

Never mind, a couple of hours people watching and a light lunch kept us entertained. We were to late to see the Dolphins, I’m glad really. It must nicer to see stuff naturally, even if they are further away and you just get a glimpse.

There were wows today though, mummy Emu and six babies wandering about in the road. Extreme caution is called for, they can just head off in random directions by all accounts, and young following a parent....we’ve all seen the chaos in Tescos.

In the way back to Denham we stopped off at a wow. Little Lagoon. Shallow turquoise waters with soft sandy beach and virtually no one there. The water is extra salty as it evaporates so quickly and there is very little fresh water as it hardly rains here.
We did see a film about the area but obviously I’ve forgotten half of it and can’t really explain the rest. It is all amazing though, honest.

Back in town we fuelled up the bikes ready for the off tomorrow. We aren’t planning to go far so there’ll be no hurry packing up.

Still a 10/10 day so don’t worry that we’re not enjoying things, it’s still......

Two happy people, two happy bikes!

[OnHellas]

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Neither of these pics are of Monkey Mia or Little Lagoon, sorry. I’d let my phone run flat and didn’t think to use Sarah’s.

These two are from Denham.

[redbikejohn]

Hi there! Really great read so far. Been meaning to dip into this for a while but only just started last night so not that far in yet. Just wanted so say I appreciate the effort and enjoy the style of writing plus we seem to share the same semi cynical view off the world. We have family in Aus but can't ever see us doing such an epic journey.


Ps ...... try holding camera/phone the right way up when taking pics

[OnHellas]

Hi there! Really great read so far. Been meaning to dip into this for a while but only just started last night so not that far in yet. Just wanted so say I appreciate the effort and enjoy the style of writing plus we seem to share the same semi cynical view off the world. We have family in Aus but can't ever see us doing such an epic journey.


Ps ...... try holding camera/phone the right way up when taking pics

Thanks for the positive feedback. We are enjoying the trip a lot. I prefer to think my view of the world is from a point of realism rather than flat out cynicism

Thanks for the photo tips, I think that I’ve cracked it....most of the time anyway.

I followed the link to your website and I reckon that we may have chewed some of the same dirt back in the day.
Me and a mate used to do Chiltern Hills events on a sidecar. EML chassis with a CR500 engine. (Sorry if we got in your way )