End of blog, 24.10.2010. 568km, Molesworth, Tas

Well I hope you all enjoyed the story of my big adventure. I'm back at home at last and heading back to work tomorrow. Last week I worked for 3 days in Sydney for the NRS and then back to holidays. Brian and I took the bikes (Brian has an F800GS BMW) and we had a great days touring in western Gippsland, visiting some friends and finding some fun roads. Unfortunately I forgot my camera that day, so no piccies (sorry). Friday, I helped Brian and Rose in the garden for the morning, before repacking the bike and after fond farewells to two most wonderful friends headed for the boat back home. The boat ride was nothing interesting, except that I had to buy a cheap tee shirt as all my clothes were ready for the wash. Called into Devonport on Saturday morning for a cuppa with good mate Wayne and then down the boring Midlands Highway to home. Yesterday afternoon and today was spent washing clothes and cleaning the bike.
In summary - it was a good trip. Highlights were Cobbold Gorge, the sunset at Karumba Point and Lawn Hill, all spots I missed seeing in 2006 due to the Cyclone Larry floods. Low points were failing to make Cape York and the Birdsville Track. I am now very aware that I needed to be 30 years younger, on a much lighter bike and with much greater off road riding experience if I was to complete those two challenges. Maybe I'll do them with a 4WD one day. However the bike was everything I could have wanted, Comfortable, reliable and smooth over the more than 10,000km of the trip. I am very much a fan of the BMW R1200GS. Thank you for following my adventures. I am not sure what will be my next big adventure aboard the big lady, although New Zealand is looking pretty good. I will let you know, when it happens. Cheers.

Waiting to board the Spirit of Tasmania back home

Days 39 to 42, 17.10.2010, 410km Mt Eliza & Phillip Island

Pre race rider parade - that's Rossi

The Island - check out the mud

Well the big trip is nearly over. Over the last few days I have had the privilege of being pampered by Rose and Brian, who as always have been extremely good to me. Firstly, I had to give my bike a serious clean and wash some clothes. I helped Brian and Rose in the garden cutting up some trees that had fallen down in recent winds. After that I took the bike into Frankston Yamaha to get new tyres fitted. The old ones were completely shot. I missed Friday at Phillip Island as the weather was diaboliocal, non stop wind and rain. Saturday I went down to Phillip Island despite the wind and rain. Walked through a sea of mud and sat with Wayne and Sue to watch the qualiying sessions. Casey was fastest. Today I was back at Phillip Island. The weather had cleared and despite the mud, managed to check out the GP Expo and do some great shopping. The racing was fantastic culminating with Casey Stoner wining the GP. What a buzz. A super weekend despite the weather. Tomorrow, I am flying to Sydney for 3 days work, but after that I have 3 more days left of this adventure before I get home. I'll let you know how that goes. Cheers

With Wayne and Sue at the Island

Day 38, 13.10.2010, 422km, Mt Eliza

On the Queenscliff to Sorrento Ferry

Interesting stone walls around a large farm built in the late 1800's

Finally slept well last night and had an early start today. The rain blew out last night, but the day started overcast and cold. I got going at about 9.30am. After Casterton I visited Wallon Falls for a look and had a coffee and a cake at Hamilton. It was only 400km to Melbourne, so I just kept going. I made the excellent decision to head for Geelong and catch the Queenscliff to Sorrento Ferry. It was a lovely relaxing way to finish the day. The greeting from my good friends Brian and Rose was wonderful as always. I am now relaxing for the next couple of days cleaning  and fixing the bike, looking forward to Phillip Island and the MotoGP (the weather forecast isn't great).

Wallon Falls near Hamilton

Day 37, 12.10.2010, 422km Penola

This nasty little bloke used to live around here. Thank goodness he's extinct

Inside the Narracoorte Caves





Fabulous, lovely Coonawarra

An interesting day for sure. I left Ouyen after a bad nights sleep. Don't know why, just a restless night. Maybe it's because the trip is coming to an end. Anyway the fgirst part wasn't very interesting. Crossed into South Australia at Pinnaroo and headed south through Bordertown where I had a coffee. As I headed towards Naracoorte, the weather started to darken and by the town it had started to pour. It didn't take too much thought to head towards the Naracoorte Caves. MeiYu and I had visited here about 6 years ago, arriving too late for the tour. No such problem this time. I had a nice lunch at the cafe and then did the self guided tour through 'Wet Cave' followed by the guided tour through the main cave. All the time it continued to pour. It was still raining by the time I left, but fortunately by Coonawarra it had stopped. Just the same, I was pretty wet, so I stopped at Penola at the caravan park, where the cabin is nice, but very expensive. After off loading the gear I went back into Connawarra, where I visited Patrick Winery, had some lovely tastings and bought a couple of very nice bottles for Brian and Rose, who I am staying with this weekend. Tomorrow I will head back into Victoria. I'm thinking of going back via Ballarat to get some new tyres on the bike. The current ones are very low and may be cause for some grief from the Victorian Police who will be out in force for the Gerand Prix.

The long straight road near Pinnaroo

Day 36, 11.10.2010, 533km, Ouyen

Bit of a nothing day today. I left Griffith with some regrets. It is a lovely place, where I could easily spend some more time some day. The rest of the day was just an endless procession of farm land. I had a nice coffee and pastry at Jerilderie before I crossed into Victoria at Barham, headed up the Murray to past Swan Hill and turned left for Ouyen. There was stuff I could have had a look at around Kerang and Swan Hill, but I have been there before and as always I'm looking for new roads and new experiences. I was last here in this caravan park at Ouyen 40 years ago when I was just a pimply 18 year old on my 350 Honday twin. Incredibly the place hasn't changed a bit. It's still run down and grotty. Still, it's cheap and it's a bed. Last time I slept in my tent. Lord I'm getting old!! Tomorrow should be more interesting.

The Bridge across the Murray River at Barham. It's very old by Australian Standards

Entering Barham on the Murray River

Day 35, 10.10.2010, 6km, Griffith

A giant orange chicken - entered by the local KFC store

Griffith Orange Festival sculpture. The plane is an ex WW11 plane now a city feature

Griffith Orange Festival - check out the giant chainsaw

Today is sunday and not much happens on the road, so I took the day out from travelling. Besides the Bathurst Car Race was on today and I wanted to watch it. However before I did I rode into Griffith township firstly to visit the local market, which was fun. After a coffee and cake I then went further and visited the Griffith Orange Festival. At the festival local community groups and businesses all create metal sculptures in the local park and cover them in oranges and grapefruit. A delightful silly bit of fun, which promotes this regions greatest export - oranges. I really like Griffith. Unlike so many rural towns this place has real life to it, although they seem very scared by the coming reductions in water allocations proposed by the federal government. I hope they do okay despite that. Ah well back on the road again tomorrow. I'm going to head to Melbourne by taking a big loop through the east of South Australia.

Griffith Market - this guy had the biggest oranges  had ever seen

Day 34, 9.10.2010, 386km, Griffith

View of Griffith township from the hill behind town

Close up pof Pattersons Curse

Fields of Pattersons Curse - very pretty, but hated by the farmers

Orange Grove at Griffith

I sure can tell that I am back in the south of the country. I was cold today. An unusual feeling after the sweltering tropics. I was late on the road today; just having trouble getting my act together, but when on holidays that isn't a problem. Besides, I wasn't planning on going too far today. I had a look at the old Cobaer Mione before I left. Cobar used to be a huge mining town until the gold, silver, lead and zinc ran out. It's trying to survive on tourism and I noted that there are some new smaller mines opened up, trying to find another profitable ore body. Good luck to them as living in the semi desert wouldn't be a lot of fun. I continued heading south on the long 263km non stop trip to Hillston. What was amazing was the huge amount of Pattersons Curse in the area. If you don'y know Pattersons Curse is a purple weed which was brought to Australia as a garden plant. It has escaped into the bush and become a major problem, ruining huge areas of pasture as the animals won't eat it. It looked pretty though. Hillston was a small sleepy, pretty little town, so I stopped at the local bakery for a coffee and a pie, not wise as my stomach is still giving me some problems. After that it was another 100k to Griffith, where I have a nice cabin for the next two days. Griffith is a huge agricultural town, where orange orchards are every where mixed with large and small wineries. In addition to watching the Bathurst Car race tomorrow on tv, I'll try and get out for a look at some of those over the next couple of days.

Part of the old Cobar Mine area - it really is quite huge