Sydney(NSW) to Mount Isa(QLD)
While watching on with interest as the “round Straya” crew knocked over the miles and destinations, there was no inkling for Hydro that he might join them at some point. A few weeks before their planned completion, it was learned that the team was splitting up and Russ would be coming down the coast first. A few texts exchanged with Russ, and plan A was to meet in Yeppoon and then head back down for a few days to Sydney. At some point Russ set the hook, suggesting “of course you could do the big loop and meet us in Mt Isa!”. Game on – rare window with work, and basically with 5 days to go until necessary departure, decided to give it a try. The plan was to ride “up the guts” of Australia from Sydney to Mount Isa and then carry on around the last part of the “round Straya” mega tour. Managed to get new tyres on the Monday, dumped my oil on the Tuesday, spent next couple of days figuring out what to pack to be self-sufficient and set off in disbelief on the morning of Friday 20th May. 14 days later, had completed 7815kms with the last 5 or so days partnered with Russ – he is a great supporter of gratuitous kilometage … and red wine … both which suited my tastes, especially coming in fresh at the end of their tour.
Day One 20/5/22 Sydney(NSW) to Nyngan(NSW) 561km
Refusing to touch a freeway so the fun could begin as soon as possible, and with Galston Gorge still blocked, the ride out was via Berowra Ferry, Cattai Ridge, and up through the turf farms to dodge Richmond and get on the Bell’s Line over the mountains at Kurrajong. Weather was kind but brisk riding out with some mizzle over the mountains and cool temps most of the day from 6-12 deg. Stopped at Molong to absorb the fact I was really going and rest the bum, and then it was pretty much onto Nyngan. A short diversion to Tomingley for petrol, and rediscovered what a well made potato scallop tastes like. Kevinn later commented when he saw my discovery on the group chat that he feared for my weight after what they had all dealt with over the past 40+ days – Roadhouse Food! Paid a quick visit to the “Big Bogan” before checking into the motel. You could fire a bullet down the main street of Nyngan at night without risk, and I wandered down to the RSL, where I managed to be second in line for dinner like a good retiree at 6pm, only beaten to the punch by the local Trev, who was after the $12 fish and chip special. My digs had a good view of the elevated railway line (post 1990 floods), and some resident chickens which made me feel at home.
Day 2 21/5/22 Nyngan(NSW) to Charleville(QLD) 680km
Starting to feel out back now. Cool temps setting off. Some great red dirt, and plenty of standing rain in paddocks and roadsides from recent heavy falls. I was told by several folks you won’t see the outback any greener than this – or at least, not with so much grass. One thing that stood out as the KM’s passed by was how many long stretches there are where there is simply nowhere you could stand a bike up on the shoulder in case of a flat – especially with the mud. I tried to put those thoughts aside after picturing my bike laying upside down on a slope deliberately to fix a tyre should that be required. Today was my first introduction to road trains – plenty of them. Their main merit is they drive slightly slower than the speed limit of 110 most of the time for fear of flipping themselves over, and a motorcycle is the ideal vehicle for making quick work of passing them with room to spare. First petrol stop was Bourke – after hearing the phrase “back of Bourke” for so long, I expected something a little more – no doubt in its glory days, it was a vibrant town, but now pretty well run down and doggy. This is where I was first exposed to the highest grade of petrol being the lowest grade – 91. I still haven’t fully reconciled this even after the trip given most vehicles don’t prefer it. Anyway the Beamer soldiered on and didn’t hear any scary pinging from the engine. Dropped into Cunnamulla for next fill-up, a nice town I wanted to eyeball with an extended family member referring to it so many times due to her family farm being in the vicinity. Cunnamulla is also the start of the Matilda way which traverses Cunnamulla – Blackall – Longreach – Winton – Cloncurry – Karumba for 1812km. I followed it all the way but for the side trip to Isa to meet the boys.Riding on to Charleville, I took to counting emus for entertainment and as a defensive posture, scanning side to side continuously as they are known to literally fixate on you and run into you. I counted 73 – this was emu country. A surprisingly good restaurant was across from the motel with a great steak, and a bottle of 2017 Cape Mentelle Shiraz capped it off. The main attraction in Charleville is the “Bilby Experience”. Skipped it.
Day 3 22/5/22 Charleville(QLD) to Barcaldine(QLD) 404km
Temps nicely rising as I’m moving North. Having made good progress out of Sydney, backed off the kilometage a bit today and got in early to Barcaldine to enjoy 28 degree afternoon. Dead quiet on a Sunday, but managed to get a beer at the local railway hotel, and dinner at the motel which has the most popular dining room in town. Again, I was first in line for an early meal, talked to some locals and sat with Frank who own’s Crocodile Dundee’s Walkabout Creek Hotel that I would later see in McKinlay. I was excited by this nostalgic reference, but when I later dropped into it, it looked like a cheap movie set – back on the bike and out of there. Barcaldine has a landmark known as the “Tree of Knowledge”. It’s fame is apparently derived from three shearers unions meeting under it for 1891 Shearers Strike. At the foot of the tree, the Manifesto of the Queensland Labour Party was read out in 1892 leading to the formation of the Labour Party in Queensland. The town also was named by a relative of the person who hired me into Honeywell 34+ years ago. His family (the Camerons) had/have a sheep station in the area, and a long stretch of preserved old farm machinery featured near town was a project that his father oversaw for the community.
Day 4 23/5/22 Barcaldine(QLD) – Ilfracombe – Longreach – Ilfracombe – Barcaldine – Ilfracombe(QLD) – 322km (162km essential; 160k gratuitous)
A nice short run planned today into Longreach. Had to get accommodation at the Wellshot Hotel in tiny Ilfracombe before Longreach due to everything being booked out in the area as I learned due to the Queensland Opera doing nightly concerts down the Matilda way. I poked around in Longreach for the afternoon, enjoying the Stockman Hall of Fame and having a quick squiz at the old Qantas planes at the Longreach museum there. Went back to Ilfracombe to check-in and found that my Booking.com confirmation was worthless “coz their computer had been down and it hadn’t been translated onto their paper booking log”. Nothing back in Barcaldine (the opera was staying there tonight taking 25 rooms where I stayed last night), nothing in Longreach. I got one dodgy little cabin next door in the caravan park – phew. After got that sorted, the bar attendant at the Wellshot talked me into the Opera. She had seen the night before near Longreach and was raving. I looked it up, and it was back down the road in Barcaldine, $20 tickets online. I committed – one of the smartest and dumbest things I have ever done at the same time. Road back to Barcaldine 80km in lovely afternoon light, got a couple of bourbon and cokes and Nobby’s nuts for my private tailgate party while I waited for the opera to set up. They had workshopped a couple of the local schools and the kids opened up, which was all good fun. I was the only one without a chair, so sat in front and made friends with some old birds, taking their photos, etc. The opera was great, under a beautiful sky. Now the exciting end to the evening – 80km in pitch black with long grass to the roadsides, with road trains coming every few minutes (I had wrongly thought they might stop at night). I stuck to 80km/hour, concentrated like hell with fingers covering brakes, and watched road train after road train approach – it was so straight, you would see them for several minutes as they gradually approached before ripping past. Finally one came from behind, and I managed to get to a rest stop before it caught me, and then dove in behind to use its huge lights to see the last 20km into Ilfracombe. Having got home safely, I convinced myself it wasn’t a completely stupid thing to do while having a red wine to calm the nerves. All’s well that ends well, right? Would I recommend it? No!
Day 5 24/5/22 Barcaldine(QLD) to Winton(QLD) 237km
Another shorter day so could stop and enjoy the Age of Dinosaurs museum, fossil lab, exhibit just before Winton. Put in a few hours there and it was very well presented, positioned on a “jump up” as they call it in Queensland – a rocky uplift above the plains. Beautiful spot even before you took in the dinosaur stuff. It was very absorbing imagining what it would have been like “around 19 million years ago”. A new exhibit called “The March of the Titanosaurs” had just opened. A few dedicated women had relocated a set of dinosaur tracks from a farm over 60km away. Meticulously computer mapped, labelled, and over 150 trailer loads hauled up to the exhibit and reconstructed over 4 years. A fabulous building encapsulates and protects it. Then onto Winton which had a very nice feel about it. Grabbed pizza at one of the pubs on the main street and watched an amazing sunset evolve as galahs found their spots to roost in the pink/orange light.
Day 6 25/5/22 Winton(QLD) – Lark Quarry Dinosaur Stampede – Winton – Kynuna – Cloncurry – Mt Isa(QLD) 701 km (469 essential; 232km gratuitous)
Today was the big day to meet up with the boys in Mt Isa, and then ride on with them for a couple of days to Cairns before Russ and I split off home. The entire time so far, I had not felt as if riding alone as the mission the whole time was to converge in Mt Isa and felt like I was on the same virtual/parallel tour for the days thus far. Today was meant to be moderate, under 500kms, but having got all excited by the dinosaurs the day before, I decided I needed to do the full experience and ride out to Lark Quarry in the morning and back to Winton before progressing to Mt Isa as planned. That out and back was 232kms, with half of that slippery gravel and dirt. The road had been closed until a few days before from flooding. Got in the swing of it after a bit, however riding a fully loaded BMW with the front wheel washing out now and again in deeper gravel is not the easiest way to follow your first coffee of the day – scenery was spectacular. The location around the exhibit was awesome as was the exhibit itself, housed in situ in a special building in the middle of nowhere. Loved seeing all the wildlife, and the flocks of budgies were really cool. After that, it was hand to throttle to get up to Cloncurry. After a lot of green open plains, not long before Cloncurry, you saw more interesting structure and trees. Passed through Cloncurry after doing a ride-by of the Flying Doctor museum. The road to Mount Isa was a good ride – plenty of nice sweeping bends and lots of red hills – very different to what had seen so far. And as you come over the hill into Mt Isa, the mine and its tall stack just sit atop the town – quite remarkable and familiar from my early days at work spending time out in the west at the bauxite mines and alumina plants. Russ had arrived just ahead of me and checked in – as first point of business, called him from the bottle-o for preferences, took a photo in front of Bob Katter’s office – it was just there when I looked up from the petrol pump… And then Andy and Kevinn met up with us for motel drinks on a very warm afternoon before heading out for a great dinner. From here, will revert back to Russ’ blog for the remainder. Already been one of the best times of my life, and still 8 days to go!
Silver Foxes Motorcycle Club Australia 