Phillip Island to Darwin, the last stretch.

Day 32, Phillip Island to Albury: On to the next party.

Today it is our turn to leave the island. We have an appointment with a Yamaha dealer in Melbourne. The XTs need some servicing and new tyres. Huub’s bike also needs a new chain. It’s an early appointment (08:30) and the traffic is light. So, way too early we arrive at Frankston Yamaha. We’re in luck, they open early and in no time our bikes are in the workshop. Within a couple of hours, we’re on our way again and the bikes are purring happily.
Originally we had planned to make the ride to Albury a lazy two day tour, but yesterday we heard that it would be appreciated very much if we could be there tomorrow morning. So no sightseeing in the hills but a fast ride on the Freeway.
Albury is a very quaint town on the Murray River. As we ride through the town centre we see many buildings the Uiver Crew may have also seen in 1934 and the main street is decorated with Uiver banners. And that’s why we’re here… to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Uiver (emergency) landing.
Ros Walls, our contact at Albury City, welcomes us at the hotel we’re staying at. She introduces us to Peter and Belinda, who will take care of us tomorrow. Peter is the Murray Conservatorium director and in charge of the Music at the Uiver dinner, We enjoy some drinks together and have dinner in the hotel. Then we’re off to bed, we have a busy day ahead of us.

Albury and the Uiver landing.

You may not know what happened at Albury in the night of the 23rd to the 24th of October, 1934. Below a quick summary.
The London-Melbourne air race had started on the 20th of October and one of the contestants was a brand new KLM DC-2, the Uiver. After three days, the Uiver is on second place in the speed race and first in the handicap race. Late at night, on the 23rd of October, the Uiver is getting close to the finish but gets lost in a severe thunderstorm. It has lost all navigational aid and the radio contact. The crew and plane are in big trouble. But the people of Albury has heard the plane fly over a few times. Albury has followed the London Melbourne race and the suspect (rightly so) that the plane they hear could be the lost Uiver. The following quick thinking action plan is set out: the streetlights are used to signal the name Albury in Morse code, and the local radio station calls upon all listeners in possession of a car to come to the local race track. On the track, all cars are lined up with the headlights on, thus creating a landing strip for the Uiver.
In the mean time, the crew of the Uiver notices the flashing lights but cannot make out the name ‘Albury’. They descend above the town and drop two flares to see what’s going on. Then Captain Parmentier displays some true airmanship and lands the plane safely on the Albury race track. A party follows at the Globe, and a lot of ‘for he’s a jolly good fellow’ is sung. The next morning, however, it becomes apparent that the planes has sunk into the muddy track. It is down to its axels. Again, the Albury population is called to the race track and a few hundred men pull the aeroplane out of the mud. To enable take-off from this short and muddy ‘runway’, all passengers and mail are left behind, as are the navigator and mechanic. Chairs are ripped from the aircraft and a fence at the end of race track is taken down. Capt. Parmentier en FO Moll succeed the third time and take off to Melbourne, where the second place in the speed race and First place in the handicap race is won.. As you can see, without the help of the Albury population, this had never been possible…

The party

Festivities begin at 11.00 on Friday the 23rd. We are invited to the opening of the new Albury airport terminal. That’s not all though, in the new terminal a beautiful café is situated, called the Uiver Café and Bar. Not only the name refers to the Dutch aeroplane, but the whole interior is in Uiver style. A beautiful mural shows Captain Parmentier enjoying a coffee at the bar while behind him the plane is being pulled out of the mud. Many news stations are present, ABC, a local station and the Dutch RTL. We’re glad to see the beautiful event gets proper attention.
Then Peter and Belinda take us to a Dress shop and we spend hours trying on 1930’s style clothes for the party tonight. The choice is made by what fits, which isn’t a lot, we’re big for Aussie standards. We both end up looking something like mafia outlaws.
The party is in a hangar at the airport. There is live music, food and drinks, and all important people from Albury are making their entrances. Also the Dutch ambassador and his wife are present. During before dinner drinks we hear a heavy drone and we see a DC-3, dressed up as the Uiver circling over the airport. On board are some VIP’s, including navigator van Brugge’s son and two grand sons. Then it’s time for food and more drinks, music and a very humoristic radio play on the event. A very happy evening.
At the dinner we were seated at a table with John, Chief Executive and John, board member of the Albury racing club and they invite us to the race track the next day. Besides it being a great opportunity to see the very same track where the Uiver landed, we would also love to see this typical Australian pass time, so we gladly accept.
Again we dress up as nicely as possible (with hats and all) and have a wonderful day at the races. We’re treated like VIPs en meet many very nice people. Oh yeah, we also loose 70 dollars as ‘our’ horses are not having their day…

Day 33, Albury to Merimbula: Over the Snowy Mountains.

Today we’ll cross the Snowy Mountains on our way to the coast. We are told the Alpine Highway should absolutely not be missed so we head for Merimbula. And they weren’t lying, this trip includes the best riding we have done so far. We leave under a blue sky and ride along an enormous reservoir, through hills and forests. We see a fields with emu’s and kangaroo’s and also have a pretty close encounter with a big Red standing on the side of the road, and only jumping away (!) when we get to a few meters from him. As we move on, the hills become mountains, steeper and more rugged. This also applies to the weather, dark clouds gather around the mountain peaks and when we approach Australia’s highest mountain, Mount Kosciuszko it starts to rain. By the time we reach Thredbo, it is only 6 degrees, we’re wet, cold and feeling pretty miserable.
Thredbo is a cute winter sports village and we find a cafe for coffee and hot chocolate and very nice cake and cookies. After this, we’ve regained courage to go on, and the rain has stopped. We do head into a pretty strong wind and move on as fast as we can to get out of here. And then, big surprise! The Dividing Range highlands are over and we descend down a very pretty steep road with many hairpin turns. The moist ocean air is being pushed up against the range and this results in a beautiful rain forest environment. We’re in doubt, now, do we attack this road, or do we take the time to look around? A touring car decides for us and we enjoy the scenery
We’re pretty cold, tired and hungry when we finally arrive in Merimbula. This was a fantastic day!

Day 34, Merimbula to Cronulla: Along the coast towards Sydney.

Thank goodness, the weather has cleared up a bit. We leave Merimbula through a pretty and quiet back road. 5 minutes on our way, a wallaby jumps in front of Miek’s bike. Hi! Miek stops in time and after another wink Wally jumps away. Caution, caution! The road condition does not encourage fast riding anyway: very winding and wet. Not that we mind, this is beautiful and joyfully we swing our way though the hilly forest. Then we reach the coastal highway and the fun is over. There is a lot of traffic (for Australian standards, which we have gotten used to by now, anyway).
We burn the kilometres away and make good time. Miek spots a echidna on the side of the road, alive! After another long riding day we reach Cronulla, just South of Botany Bay, where Captain Cook first set foot on the Australian soil. We stroll along the beach for hours, before we sit down to enjoy a wonderful Indian meal. Very satisfied we roll into bed.

Day 35, Cronulla to Turramurra: Visiting friends in Sydney.

Only a short ride, today, we’ll cross Sydney town centre to a North Western suburb called Turramurra. This is where Huub’s friend Auke lives with his wife Katherine. They moved from Holland to Australia, 2 years ago. Traffic is pretty busy, but the bikes are quite nimble and after a bit of searching and quite some lane changing we manage to avoid the tunnel and cross the harbour over the famous Sydney Harbour Bridge! Within two hours we’re in front of Auke’s house. We have hardly unpacked the bikes before Huub and Auke are in the garage, up to their eyebrows in one of Auke’s cars. Some things never change.
The next days are spent as proper tourists. We climb the Harbour Bridge, go surfing at Manly Beach and have tea with a view on the Opera House. The highlight, however is when Auke takes us to the Stockton sand dunes in his Land Rover. As it is on our way North and we have to move on anyway, the bikes go in a trailer, behind the Landy. We drop them off at a B&B and head for the dunes. Incredible! We drive through an absolute surreal landscape of white sand dunes and a wide beach along the azure ocean. The car takes all challenges without worry, although we do get stuck once and have to dig it out.
Then it is time to say goodbye. Auke has to go back to Sydney and we have to move on North for an appointment in Brisbane.

Day 36, Stockton to Nambucca Heads: Further North.

354 kilometres on our program today, a distance that we cover without problem in the bush. But the Eastern Coastal road is pretty busy. There are many road works and all the traffic result in us taking all day to get to our destination. The road is constantly going through a forest so we see nothing except a lot of trees. When we finally arrive in Nambucca Heads, we find a cabin on the top of a cliff with a view on the ocean. We go for a walk and a swim and enjoy some good seafood in the village.

Day 37, Nambucca Heads to Nambucca Heads: The Pub with no Beer.

We decide to stay an extra night in Nambucca Heads. Not to laze about at the beach. No, we want to visit the original Pub with no Beer in Taylors Arm. We know about this pub from a song by a Slim Dusty. Legend has it that back in the 19th century, the owner forgot to order his quota of beer in time and so became the proprietor of the pub with no beer. It has beer now, though.
The road to Taylors Arm, is a beautiful winding one. The pub itself is a bit overrated, but we enjoy a good coffee end become great friends with the beautiful pub cat.
When we move on the road becomes gravel. It is well kept, though and easy going. Then Huub reckons we have to turn right. After 15 minutes the road appears to come to a dead end and we have to turn around. We then continue on the original road until we get to a T-junction. Left or right? We decide on right, and it is a beautiful road through forests, but after 20 minutes, the road becomes a track heading straight into the mountains and after another 5 minutes the track is completely washed away, only a few ruts remaining. This can’t be right and we turn around, heading back to the T-junction. Only 200 meters after the T, the bitumen starts…
We have lunch at the General store of Bellbrook. The local pub could not be bothered, but that turns out to be in our advantage, the store keeper makes us two fantastic Hamburgers!! We also get to see the tea spoon museum. Here in Bellbrook, we find the biggest collection of tea spoons in the world! And we are extra pleased when we find one from our almost home town Alkmaar!
Well fed we continue our journey. Twenty K’s out of Bellbrook, the road turns into gravel again and a sign tells us the road is not open to trailers and caravans or any vehicle that weighs more than 2 tonnes. We soon find ourselves on the most challenging dirt track so far. Deep ruts in a very narrow track and a at healthy looking ravine on one side… This is exciting! As the road climbs and climbs we decide to concentrate on the road. A good thing too as the river stays below and ends up over 1200 meters below us. How do we know this? Because we later visit the Wollomombi falls, which plunges 1.240 m straight into the depths.
The way back to the coast is along the highlands over the Waterfall Highway. This turns out to be the best ride, never straight for more the 500 meters. Then we wind down a steep road through rainforest and waterfalls. It’s like a fairy tale, unbelievably pretty.
It’s getting dark by the time we reach Nambucca Heads. We eat some more seafood down town and when we finally get ‘home’ we fall asleep before we hit our pillows.

Day 38, Nabucca Heads to Byron Bay, Holiday! (think Madonna)

Up North we go, along the coastal road. Not much fun after our beautiful ride yesterday, but today is more about the destination. Now that we have finally found some fair weather, we have decided to enjoy a few days of sun, surf and sand at Byron Bay. The only noticeable event along the road is Huub’s close encounter with a big Monitor Lizard. Both Huub and Lizzy get away with just a bit of a fright.
Byron Bay is a very popular town with beautiful beaches and good surfs. There is also a very good diving site close by. There are lots of surf shops, alternative health shops, hotels, motels and restaurants. Its lighthouse is the most easterly in Australia. Nowhere in Australia have we seen so many tourists so close together. We are very lucky to be here in the off season, In high season it could all be a bit too much. Now we enjoy the livelihood, the strolls around town, the food and the beach!! We go body board surfing, diving and hike up to the light house. Holiday!
Day 39, Byron Bay to Toowoomba, Visiting Yamaha.
After three wonderful days playing around at Byron Bay the time has come to pack up and hit the road again. Today we ride to Brisbane, we have a meeting with Ray Howard at Yamaha Motors. It is a little way up the coast. After Brisbane we’ll head land inwards, and we won’t see the coast until we get back to Darwin. It’s busy, and it gets way busier the closer we get to Brisbane. And it rains…
We get lost a little in the city, but in the end we arrive at Yamaha headquarters about an hour early, we think. Ray just happens to walk outside to get a coffee, and he is very surprised we’re sooo early. Later we understand why: there is an hour time difference between New South Wales and Queensland. (Why?? It’s on the same longitude!!) So we’re two hours early, oops.
But Ray is flexible and fits us into his programme. We get a tour around the building which is gigantic as Yamaha Motors does not only comprise of motor bikes, but also covers water sport products (out board motors, jets ski’s etc) and quads and golf karts. The ware house is gigantic and we get a bit greedy….
Then Ray introduces us to his Boss, Mr. Steven Cotterell, Director and General Manager at Yamaha Motor Australia. This gentleman has the privilege to manage all of Australia and we feel very honoured that he takes time to have a good talk with us, asking about our tour and later checking out our bikes, with all the gear tied onto it. We suspect he has more important things to do, but we really enjoy the meeting.
After a good lunch with Ray, we meet the Yamaha PR department who take some pictures and then we hop back onto the bikes. Storms are expected from the East and we want to make a few good kilometres Westward to stay ahead of the bad weather. Fat chance, the highway is packed and on top of that, we get detoured. A truck has rolled over and the highway is closed. We get wet. Very wet. When we finally reach Toowoomba it turns out to lie on the edge of a high land plateau, and shrouded in thick fog. We ride with our heads in the clouds, literally!
When we check into a motel, our credit cards are not accepted. The storms may have done something to the lines. Huub gets to head back out into the rain find an ATM. Ah, a warm shower and a good bed have seldom been so comforting.

Day 40, Toowoomba to Charleville, Uiver? Uiver? What Uiver?

In the morning Toowoomba is still covered in fog. The motel owner reckons the fog will disappear around 7.30. And indeed, at 7.15 the sky breaks and the sun shines through. We quickly tie our baggage to the bikes and we head further West. At first the landscape is a bit like the American Mid-West. Fields of grain and silos. But it soon becomes rugged and empty. When we arrive in Charleville, the town is deserted. We eat in the local pub which is covered in aviation momentos. Charleville has always been important to aviation, it was a hub for Qantas and Amy Johnson landed here. And it was mandatory stop in the London-Melbourne race! The Uiver landed here, before it headed for Melbourne. But no sign of the Uiver. The dear old man behind the bar looks very glazy when we ask him about it, and he has been here for eons. Uiver? What Uiver? Are we mistaken?

Day 41, Charleville to Balcardine, Storm!!

Last night we did some replanning as we are way ahead of schedule. The coming stretches are not too long, so we have time to enjoy the scenery. Also, temperatures are now rapidly rising. We will try and leave early so as to get most kilometres done before noon.
A bit disappointed about the lack of Uiver trails, we depart Charleville on this beautiful morning. We’re back in the bush again and we see plenty dead kangaroos to prove it. Fortunately we also see some live ones. There is a fence running along this road and we expect our bouncy friends to cross it with flying leaps. To our surprise they don’t. With utmost care they crawl underneath the wires and hop off on the other side.
We have lunch in Tambo and fuel our bikes. As we leave town, we spot a ominous looking cloud on the horizon. Huub may be the resident weather expert, Miek doesn’t need any explaining on this one. It’s a thunderstorm and a mighty big one at that. For a while it seems we will just skirt around it, but than it expands and we are fully enveloped. It’s been a while since we’ve experienced a good tropical storm and this one is a beauty. Gale force winds, heaps of solid water and painful hailstones try to stop us in our tracks. But Miek is leading the way, with Huub quite literally following in her wake.
The storm seems to last for ever, but finally it lets up a bit as we enter the town of Blackall. A quick pow wow is called for and we decide to keep moving lest this bugger of a storm catches up with us again. The rest of our ride is spend avoiding and outrunning storms that keep trying to head us of. At times it really seems like somebody or something is trying to catch us… But we prevail and ride into Balcardine with our gear blown dried.
As our trip today wasn’t very long and we were racing storms most of the way, we have plenty of time to scout out the town. Balcardine is the birth place of the first labour union of Australia, a fact they are rather proud of. In 1891 Barcaldine was the centre for the “Great Shearers Strike”. The leaders of the strike would meet under the branches of a ghost gum in front of the train station, the Tree of Knowledge. The tree died in 2006 and a beautiful monument was erected on the spot it grew. We must admit, it is rather fetching and quite impressive.
Back at our motel, our host turns out to be the mayor of Balcardine. He is rather proud of the town and the surrounding region and tells us a lot of interesting things. He shows us some of the routes he travels through the bush and the trip he is planning next. He offers us the use of his car so we can go see the monument in the dark when it’s lit. Unfortunately the storms finally catch up with us and the resulting deluge prevents us from going anywhere but bed.

Day 42, Balcardine to Winton: The birth place of Qantas.

The next morning the rain is still falling and we become rather discouraged by this. Fortunately the weather radar (love that I-net) shows only rain over Balcardine, the rest of our route looks clear. We mount up and get the heck out of Dodge before the weather changes its mind. A few kilometres out of town the rain stops. By varying our speed, we are able to avoid the small showers still lingering around.
Our First stop today is Longreach, the town were Qantas made it’s first flights. Qantas stands for Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services and maintains a rather nice aviation museum at the Longreach airport. They still have their very first hanger here. Not only were company airplanes repaired here, the airline actually build some of it’s airliners here from scratch..
It’s quite a story and totally different from that of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, even though KLM is only 1 year older. KLM was a company founded with the support of a government and making it’s first revenue flight across the water to a foreign country. Qantas was founded by two WW I veterans with formerly military aircraft and engaged in barnstorming and scenic flight to garner interest. The single biggest proof of the huge differences in circumstances may very well be the time it took before Qantas made its First international flight.
After a few hours looking at planes and pictures it’s time to get going again, next destination Winton. All of a sudden we see three large kangaroos on the side of the road (live ones!). Just like the wallabies yesterday, these guys prefer to crawl under the fence instead of jumping it. Strange creatures indeed.
Just before we get to Winton we see one of those big bad black clouds again. When we are stopped on the side of the road we can see it’s moving away from us. We decide to give it a little bit of time and then slowly ride on. As we enter Winton, the streets are wet, but we are dry and that must count for something. (Trust us, it does for us…)
We’ve used the last of our chain grease this morning (we dutifully spray every day) we have to go out and get some new. And again we are surprised by this wonderful and funky country. We had kind of expected another dud town like Charleville, but after a 15 minute stroll we are compelled to change our opinion drastically. Strange shops and very friendly locals make for a very pleasant and entertaining afternoon.
We find our chain lube at Central Motors. But when the owners hear we know Ray Howard and are raising funds for the Dutch cancer Society they refuse any form of payment. Instead we must see the photo album of their bike trips. Not that we mind as Butch en Ros have made some great bike trips through their marvellous country
Across the street we find a general store in the true meaning of the word general. It would really take way to much time to list all the wonderful, weird and funky things we find here. We’ll suffice with the brand new, still in the original cellophane package, View Master disc and the book Huub bought. It was brand new and listed for $5,99 back in… 1972!

Day 43, Winton to Boulia: the Min Min lights…

Today were going for a bit of a detour as Miek has read something very interesting. In and around the town of Boulia people have sometimes been seeing weird moving lights. As not all of them were drunk, some of these sightings may actually have other causes then drinking home made liquor. These so called Min Min lights have so far never been effectively explained by scientists, adding to the mystery, speculations and number of tourist visits.
The road between Winton and Boulia, a single lane of bitumen through some serious bush land, is an old Cobb and Co route. Along this route once stood nine stations where the coach drivers could change horses and passengers could recover a bit from the harsh ride. Of these so called nine pillars of Cobb and Co, only one now still remains: Middleton. Once upon a time this was the most important of the nine, having attracted enough people to warrant it’s own police station, post office and school. Now only the pub and some sheds remain. There is a gas pump, but call ahead as fuel is not always in stock…
No, the only reason this place still exists is the helicopter cattle drover operation based here. Still, it’s a great place to visit. On the shady porch we meet a real camel man from the pioneering days. This weather beaten gentle man has seen the trains and plains come, replacing the coach services. Until 2001 he regularly travelled the Winton to Boulia road with a original Cobb and Co coach, pulled by a camel team he’d trained himself. He’s one of the few surviving pioneers who walked the outback in the days camels and horses were the only means of transport.
He lives at Middleton with his wife, son, daughter in law and granddaughter. Three generations living in the middle of nowhere, 200 kilometres from the nearest town. We’d only wish we had a few more days to sit here and listen to his stories. If only because he has seen... the Min Min lights with his own eyes.
We ride on and disturb and emu family feeding on the side of the road. After daddy emu has made sure his offspring is running in the right direction (as in away from us), he turns around and charges us holding his head low and his wings wide. We may be kind of thick at times but we are getting the hint. We accelerate away from the irate bird as we know physical contact with emus should be avoided at all times.
The landscape is drop dead gorgeous. Desolate, and empty with the occasional mesa in the distance. Then, all of a sudden, you pass a large herd of cattle congregating around an artificial waterhole. We stop at a look out on top of a steep hill. The information table tells us that this top used to be the bottom of an great inland sea. A mere 140 million years ago sharks, turtles, Ichthyosaurs and Kronosaurs swam here. The Kronosaurus being the top predator and the rest, including the 6 meter sharks, playing the role of Kronosarsnacks. Hmmm, cheery thought that, better get going again.
Arriving in Boulia we quickly check into our accommodation. We have places to go and Min Min lights to see. We find them, or what passes for them, at the local visitor centre. A funny, sometimes bit clumsy, fun park attraction tells the story of the lights and recounts some of the many eye witness accounts. We’re not duly impressed by the whole show. Still, at least we don’t have to go into the desert tonight. See, people who go looking for the Min Min won’t find them. No, if the Min Min want to be seen, they find you… Right ho, now where did we leave that bottle of moon shine?
But if you think the Min Min are the only or even the best reason to visit Boulia, you’re dead wrong. At the end of town we find the stone house museum. Yeah, that’s right. Stone houses here are such an exception that, if you happen to have one, you can turn it into a museum. Now, we’re not putting down the house. It really is quite nice, its interior authentic and informative. But the real nugget is hidden out back. Across the yard you’ll find the fossil shed. It’s mundane name and exterior do not properly prepare you for what you’ll find inside. The exhibition may be small, the fossils on display are anything but small. You’ll run into two meters long Ichthyosaurs fossils, one a female giving birth to a young. The range of turtle fossils is amazing and they even have a bit of Kronosaurus lying about.
The caretaker of this wonderful place is mr. Suter who will spend the better part of the next year cleaning up one of the Ichthyosaurs. Now, Mr. Suter himself is enough reason to visit this place. Being a self proclaimed former poacher, cattle rustler and black marketer, he has plenty entertaining stories to tell. If all of this isn’t enough, his little complex houses a large group of Ta Ta lizards. We have a great time watching the females run around, waving their front paws every time they stop running. The afternoon just isn’t long enough…

Day 44, Boulia to Camooweal: Fire!

Just like yesterday, we are travelling on a single lane road, this time following it North to Camooweal. The route takes us through beautiful rock formations. The only discomfort this early in the morning are the many locusts warming themselves on the black top. Boy, these suckers smart when they hit your arms or legs between the protection. Still, we are providing a useful service as this area is experiencing the beginning of a locust plague.
We reach the outskirts of Mt Isa turn left and leave this ugly industrial town as quickly as we can. Maybe the town centre is nice, we wouldn’t know. But the outskirts are downtrodden, ugly and depressing. We stop at the last gas station, grab some lunch and fill the tanks of our bikes. We spot a family travelling in two utes. It’s grandad, mom, pop and two little kids. The utes are loaded to capacity and are both towing a trailer loaded with construction machinery. Travelling these distance in this heat like this with two small children doesn’t look very appealing to us. We wish them luck and are on our own way again.
An hour down the road we spot dark clouds in the distance. It is pretty obvious that these are no rain clouds. No, these are bushfires en pretty big ones by the looks of it. As we get closer we can smell the smoke and the accelerant: these are controlled fires, designed to burn off al the dead vegetation before it builds up too much. It’s our first real, live bush fire and it’s a bit unnerving.
Our destination for today is Camooweal, a small hamlet in the middle of the outback. After a refreshing dip in the pool we spot the travelling family we met in Mt Isa. They are on their way from the East coast to Alice, moving as daddy has a job there and is tired of flying back and forth.
That evening we also meet a retired couple travelling around in a beautifully converted bus. As we swap stories we come to find out that the gentleman’s father was an eye witness in Albury on that faithful October night back in 1934… Unfortunately, he passed away a few years ago. After a nice evening we bid our new found friend a safe journey and turn in for a well deserved (and needed) night of sleep.

Day 45, Camooweal to Tennant Creek: Back into the dessert.

We rise early this morning, and as we start loading our gear onto the bikes, we find out we’re not the only ones. Everybody is breaking up camp, the family on their way to Alice has already left. We are almost the last ones to leave the parking lot. We ride until our tanks are almost empty, and fill up at the Barkley Homestead. When we sit down for lunch (again, one of those fantastic roadhouse burgers) we meet all our fellow travellers again, as this is the only roadhouse for hundreds of kilometres.
On we go and after a while the Barkly Highway ends and we turn South on the Stuart Highway. South? Yep, we’re not lost but we want to check out the Devil’s Marbles. We book into a motel at Tennant Creek for two nights. This afternoon we walk into town but it’s very hot and there is not much to see and do so soon we return to the motel to play around in the pool.

Day 46, Tennant Creek to Tennant Creek: Devil’s Marbles.

Tourist time! Let’s go and see the Devil’s Marbles, 100 km South along the Stuart Highway. We are back in the dessert and we feel…. right at home! This is the Australia we have come to know the best, and maybe even love the most. The emptiness, the far horizons, many, many miles away. The hills, sometimes rolling and gentle, then ragged and rocky. The colours, ranging from beige to a faint olive green to the very specific pindan red and the beautiful blue of the sky. The gumtrees big or small, and everywhere you look the Spinifex, the spiky grass that keeps the Australian outback together. The land is so fascinating. Will we ever tire of it? Maybe ever, but not today.
The Marbles were created when magma was pushed up to the surface. It was stayed under a layer of sand stone and pushed this layer up. While the magma cooled off, granite was formed, and when this granite cooled off more, it cracked. Millions of years of erosion left rounded clumps of granite scattered about. Very impressive. We walk between and on the marbles for at least an hour and take many pictures. Then we head back before it gets too hot. We’re in the pool before noon!
Day 47, Tennant Creek to Daly Waters: When you think you’ve seen it all…
No more delaying, today we really have to head North! On our way we see the result of many bush fires on both sides of the road. And at the horizon again big plumes of smoke. This is bush fire season. The land is so dry, it only needs a spark to ignite. These fires aren’t just bad, though, in fact, the flora and fauna is pretty much adjusted to an occasional blaze. Trees have thick, fire retardant bark and the seeds of some plants need a bush fire before they sprout. And all this happening just before the wet season is perfect planning, soon there will be plenty of water for the new life.
We stop in Elliot to fuel up and are in for a bit of a shock, the first three stations are closed! In fact the whole town looks deserted, and just as we are planning to continue our way riding only 80 K/Ph to safe fuel, a lady points us to the only petrol station still open, at the end of the town. Pfew! Now this is not an exception in the outback. The new generation of cars have a range of about 800, 900 kilometres on one tank. Certain roadhouses and service stations are skipped nowadays, and as most people depart from the bigger towns, it’s always the same fuel stops that are skipped. Elliot is obviously such a station. The fact these modern day oases are disappearing is a great loss for the local communities. Anyway, we are glad our tanks are filled up and to be able to leave this depressing town behind.
As we progress North, our surroundings are quickly becoming more green. The Wets are definitely coming, the first rain has fallen here already.
Then we reach Daly Waters. Once a telegraph station and post office. Later, a small settlement with a proper aerodrome. During the second World War, the aerodrome became an important base for bombers. There’s not much left now, a pub, a campground and a few cabins. And some buildings that appear empty. Still, this ‘town’ is everything but depressing. The pub is covered in flowers and flamboyant trees are in bloom everywhere, making it a shady place. Daly waters is very popular with the backpackers and everybody who comes here leaves a souvenir behind. This can be a business card, cap, thong, hat, you name it. Everything is organized and on display. One can literally spend hours browsing all these momentous.
And probably you’d have a great time doing it. But they also have a pool here and somehow it seems far more appealing in this heat. While soaking in the cool water, we meet a couple from Elliot. Turns out people drive from miles (or should we say hours) around to this place as it is the only pool in the area. And why not, Dutch people seem more than willing to spend hours trying to get to the beach. Here they drive two hours to sit in a 10 by 4 meter pool…

Day 48, Daly Waters to Katherine: Drag racing down the runway.

Today starts with a visit to the local airfield. It present form dates back to WW II and it’s been in disuse for quite some years. When we get there we are surprised the hangar and work sheds are open. We can even quite easily ride our bikes around the partly collapsed terminal building and enter the apron. From there it’s a short ride across to the taxi track and it doesn’t take long before we find ourselves on the runway. Hang on, two bikes on a few kilometres of straight concrete and no one else around? That’s a sure fire recipe for a drag race… It’s with considerable pride we can report that a Yamaha XT 660, fully loaded with gear and XXL size bloke, will do 158 Km/h. That’s on it’s own speedometer, on a flat surface in light and variable winds.
After this entertaining but otherwise completely useless exercise we continue our travels to Mataranka. Here they have wonderful thermal springs which are a blessing to swim in, regardless the weather. The water is crystal clear and the surrounding forest teams with Wallabies, fruit bats and all kinds of tropical birds. Now everybody who’s heard cockatoos or galahs knows these birds can be pretty noisy. Here they are completely drowned out by the racket of the fruit bats. Their noise is unbelievable. Then again, there are a lot of them here: when the colony peaks they estimate 250,000 bats call these woods their home.
We keep our wet clothes on as we gear up for the ride and it makes travelling a lot cooler and more comfortable. As we enter Katherine we cross our outbound route and so complete our loop around Australia. It’s a proud yet somewhat sad moment. We will be spending two nights so we can go visit the Katherine river Gorge.
A boat takes us up the River and our skipper cum guide tells us interesting stuff about our surroundings. Maybe the most impressive thing about this river is the change between dry and wet season. As we are travelling the river today, it’s depth varies from a few centimetres to about 35 meters. But when the rains come, the water level will rise by about 5 meters, on average.
But in 1998 a tropical cyclone dumped a fair bit of water in the Katherine river catchment area. The river rose by almost 21 meter, peaking on 20,6. The resulting floods were massive. To give you a reference, consider this. The bridge over the river in the town of Katherine towers about 18 meters above the waters in the dry. 18 meters, that’s a six story building, a fall from that height would more than likely kill you. Well, this bridge was submerged almost three meters below the surface of the riverback in 1998…

Day 49, Katherine to Jabiru: Going home, but not just yet…

It’s detour time again. We were supposed to ride up to Darwin today but decide to go and visit Kakadu National Park, the largest National Park in Australia. Not that we have enough time to really visit this massive place properly, but it’s the thought that counts. Kakadu is home to numerous endangered species of plants and animals. The only ones we see are the red tailed black cockatoos. Either way, a bad day on the road is always better then a good day at the office and this day turns out to be far from a bad indeed.
The Kakadu Highway is a true gem. Not your normal straight road it weaves and twists its way through the undulating landscape. It’s 200 Km plus of nice large radius curves that can be negotiated at full speed. The heat is insane but as long as we keep riding we’re all right. This is one of the top ten rides of our journey and we are enjoying every minute of it.
In Jabiru it is too darn hot to do anything useful. We go out to grab some lunch and buy some groceries. By the time we make it back to our cabin we are totally exhausted by the unrelenting heat and collapse on our bed.
As the heat is not forecasted to lift anytime soon, we decide to ride on to Darwin tomorrow. The sea and showers should provide us with some form of relief there.

Day 50, Jabiru to Darwin: End of a journey.

Today is the last day of our ride. We’ve so far have travelled almost 18,000 Km and with that have well passed our target of 16,000 K’s. In contrast with the road we rode yesterday, The Arnhem Highway is mostly straight as a ruler. Fortunately we’re pretty close to the mangroves to the North so the surrounding wetlands and creeks should be teeming with salties. This provides us with a menagerie of entertaining warning signs and a funny feeling when riding through swampy areas.
After a few hours we pass a few houses and the average time between gas stations (ATBG) falls from two to only half an hour. We are undeniably approaching human civilization. And then, almost without warning we pass NT Motorcycle Centre. That’s where we will be saying goodbye to our trusty bikes sometime in the next few days. It also means we have to turn right at the next light…
After 50 days of riding, spread out over 9 weeks we have arrived where we started. Our big ride is over and from now on we will be spending our time dealing with the aftermath and all the things that will need doing.
This, then, is also the last blog update from Australia. The next one will be uploaded from Grootschermer. That one will have all the statistics of our trip and we will be able to announce our sweepstake winners.

See ya in Holland!

P.S. For those interested: If everything goes as planned, we will be arriving Wednesday November 25th around 06:30 (that’s AM for you military time challenged folks), flying on the KL 838 from Singapore.

Wallaroo to Phillip Island

Wallaroo

This morning we’ll be meeting Flash who will take us fishing on his boat. Our host Mark drops us off at the jetty at 07:00 just as the boat is being put in the water. Esky’s filled with ice are loaded and the boat positively bristles with rods. It all looks very promising to us.
After a ride of about 30 minutes we’re fishing for squid. But the squid have other ideas and don’t want to be caught by us. We only catch a few and decide to up stakes and try somewhere else.
At this new spot, closer to shore we try again. This time we’re not only going for squid. We’re also trying to catch Garfish and Blue crab. In the process we’ll probably also get some Johnny Rough (Australian Herring). Again we start off slow, but then we start to reel fish in at a steady rate. The crab net is also doing quite nicely and after a morning of fishing the grand total is: 4 squid, 8 Johnny Rough, 12 Garfish and 15 Blue crab. This will be a good feed tonight!
The rest of the day is spent scaling and cleaning fish, turning squid into calamari and cooking crab (don’t ask). It doesn’t take long for us to realize that we have way too much food for four people and we decide to save the crab for a different day. Never the less, we have a big dinner and we still can’t finish all the fish and salads.
After a good night and quiet morning we’re off for Adelaide where we will visit an Indian festival. After a two hour ride we arrive at the park and are a bit disappointed by the scale of the festival. It’s rather small, but not to worry, the food is great! After having enjoyed the snacks and music, we wander into the city. Adelaide has quite a nice and different atmosphere. It feels like a mix of Southern European, San Francisco and New Orleans covered with an Aussie sauce. Good fun!
Later that day we see a few groups of people dressed up like zombies walking around. They all seem to be converging on a large field and we can only guess there is some kind of party going on. Boy, were we ever right, except the party is somewhere else and the field is merely the starting point. All of a sudden the terrace we are seated at is swamped by hundreds of living dead! Another interesting experience…
Our third day in Wallaroo is a quiet one. We have nothing scheduled and the day is spent by walking, blogging, watching the Bathurst 1000 and… cleaning crab. Miek and Lynn spend a few hours getting the meat out of the shells and turning it into a wonderful curry. Then the crab remnants are returned to the sea and the ladies go for a swim, in spite of the temperature (16) and rain. We’re going for dinner with Mark and Lynn to the house of friends of theirs: Neil and Sue. The curry is well received and Sue has cooked up a storm for all of us. It turns into a fun evening for all and Huub even get’s to ride Neil’s baby: a classic Ducati 900 SS (all original…).

Dag 28, Wallaroo to Robe: Storms!

We’re off again and so is the weather. It was nice enough during our stay, but now the sky is filled with cloud, rain and wind, lots of wind.
We ride to Lynn’s store to see if we can find some waterproof boots. Unfortunately she doesn’t have anything suitable in Miek’s size. Huub is lucky and finds a pair of boots. They are one size too big but warm and waterproof.
Mark and Lynn see us off and we head for Adelaide. The first stretch isn’t too bad, the wind being mostly at our backs and the showers mostly in the distance. But after Adelaide conditions get slowly worse. We fuel in Tailem Bend and turn onto the coastal road. Less than 10 Km down that road we stop to put on our rain trousers and to let a big black storm pass us. By varying our speed between 70 and 120 Km/h we are able to avoid the worst of the rain. But there is no way to avoid the wind and by the time we reach Robe we are dead tired and stone cold.

Day 29, Robe to Port Campbell: More storms…

After the tough ride to Robe, Miek opts for a restday. A wise call as the weather continuous to be atrocious. But today we have to get a move on. Not that the weather has changed, it’s just as bad as the previous days. Annemiek has donned plastic bags on her feet to keep them dry and off we go.
In spite of the bad conditions, the ride is actually quite nice. We leave the coast and enter the forests and meadows of South Australia and Victoria. Huub even spots a sleeping Koala high up in a tree.
As we ride on, we keep meeting more and more bikers, all heading the same way: East to Phillip Island. The route we’re taking is very popular with “bikies”: The great ocean road. Famous and infamous for it’s views, mountains and the many tight curves. Today we only ride a very tiny bit of it, tomorrow the rest.
In Port Campbell we quickly check into our cabin to get warm and dry. Then we go for a short walk and can’t help but notice that most of the town has been taken over by bikers and their machines. The familiar GP tingles are definitely setting in and after a good meal we crawl deep under the nice comfy blankets.

Day 30, Port Campbell to Williamstown: Rain and curves.

The next morning we are awakened by a hellatious shower beating down on the roof of our cabin. The noise is deafening and doesn’t really motivate us to get out of bed. After about an hour the sky breaks a bit and we start to mount our gear on the bikes. By the time we’re done it’s starting to rain again…
We decide to shove off in spite of the rain, Miek again with her plastic bags in her boots. This time she’s also wearing two pairs of socks…
We leave town as part of a convoy of bikers. Everywhere you look we see bikes, bikers, sidecars, the lot. Everybody heading to Phillip Island and, hopefully, better weather. We figure out that the average Aussie bikie is not used to the combo of rain and a twisty road. We travel at speeds that really have us worried, worried that we will fall over. On the other hand, it’s good that riders are respecting their personal limits and are not trying to show off skills they do not posses. Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule as we find out when we get some clear road ahead of us. A lone rider on his brand spanking new Suzuki V-Strom decides he needs to keep up with Annemiek, nearly binning his bike several times before he gives up.
We have a nice brunch in Apollo Bay and run into a bunch of riders from Manjimup, WA. They have ridden all the way here in this crappy weather. Hard core!
When we continue it’s more of the same: great road, gorgeous views, the occasional shower and slow riders. Boy, these guys would get the scare of their lives if they ever would ride in the Eiffel or Ardennes in these conditions. We decide to take it easy and not scare any of the locals. Miek is starting to consider herself quite the rider and adopts the nickname Stáh… (That’s star for those of you who haven’t heard Aussies speak yet.)
After a long and rather wet ride we arrive in Williamstown, a suburb of Melbourne. We park our bikes in Rob’s workshop; he runs a truck repair business. We met Rob on the Gibb where he was one of the crewmembers of the Variety Bash Fire engine. We’re staying the night at his place and spend a wonderful evening with him and his wife Sue. It turns into quite a late night, but that’s ok as we only have a very short ride to Phillip Island ahead of us.

Day 31, Williamstown to Phillip Island: To the racetrack!

The forecasts are quite good but obviously somebody forgot to inform the weather… It’s showers galore as we ride out and across the highlight of the day: the huge bridge across the river to the city. It offers magnificent views of the city on one and the bay on the other side. The traffic is pretty hectic and it’s slow going through town.
Fortunately, it gets much better on the other side of town and we cruise leisurely to our destination. But then, just 30 Km short of the Island, Huub is stopped along side the road. His chain has run off the rear sprocket! This chain has been causing problems for a while, showing excessive wear in spite of our daily greasing. In under 2 minutes Huub has the chain back in place and we’re off again. 20 Km down the road the same problem stops us again and after fixing it we limp onto Phillip Island.
The beach house we have rented for the GP weekend is great and we are allowed to check in early. After settling in we call our friends Auke and Catherine, who are on their way from Sydney. We leave the key for them and go meet our contact person with Yamaha Motor Australia: Ray Howard. Ray immediately takes us for a meet and greet with the official Yamaha teams competing in the Supersport and Superbike championships. We talk with Bryan and Jamie and the team owner who gets to manage all this. Bryan rides a R6 in the Supersports and is leading the championship ranking. Jamie competes both in the Supersports and Superbikes, being the reigning Supersport champion and ranked second in the current standings. These guys know what they are talking about…
Afterwards we are taken to the Club Y VIP pavilion. This will be our base for the next three days and we receive a warm welcome. We watch some of the GP free practices and some very close and exciting races for the national championships.
Back at the house we meet up with Auke and Catherine. They have suffered some car trouble on the way but Auke is a magician with cars and got the Landy going again. The four of us pile into the car and head for the Penguin Parade, a local tourist trap. Every night, hundreds of Little Penguins (no joke, that’s what they’re called) leave the ocean to return to their nests. As they are vey vulnerable on the beach, they cross just after sunset in large numbers. What undoubtedly started as a way to protect the dunes and birds, has turned into a “cleanthepockets” money maker. But fair is fair, it is good fun to see the little birds across the beach.
The next few days are spend at the track. We see a lot of good races. Bryan and Jamie maintain their lead in the Supersport rankings, we see Julian Simon (250 cc) and Valentino Rossi (Moto GP) take their respective world championships and see Casey Stoner win the Moto GP in front of his home audience. It turns out to be his birthday to boot. As the Moto GP winner is honoured, we are standing on the fronts straight and sing the Happy Birthday dear Casey with the crowd. (When in Rome…)
Then the great exodus starts and the island is relieved of thousands of bikers. We are staying on a bit, enjoying the sun, sand and sea. We even take some surfing lessons.
But all good things must come to an end and so will our stay here; tomorrow we have to go to Albury and attend another party…

Alice Springs to Wallaroo

Day 24, Alice Springs to Marla: Heading South again.

Today we want to ride all the way to Coober Pedy so we can have an extra day there, but due to the school holidays all accommodation is booked solid. Even Marla, a roadhouse in the middle of nowhere, has no room left. But at least they have shaded camping spots (or so they say), so we’ll head there.
Because the ride isn’t too far (only 458 Km) we’re not in a great hurry to get going. Alice hosted a big triker meet yesterday (Sunday) and we keep running into small groups on our way down. (For those of you who don’t know, a trike is the front end of a chopper welded to the back end of a car. So, for all practical purposes, it’s got training wheels…)
After about an hour we spot a bearded dragon in the middle of the road. Think of it as a midsize lizard with an attitude. Instead of running for safety, it adepts an intimidating pose, not really a smart move. Fortunately, we’re able to avoid a meeting of attitude and front tire.
Not long afterwards we see a monitor lizard ambling along the road. Again, not a trace of fear and Huub is able to get some nice shots of this impressive reptile.
When we arrive in Marla, Miek goes inside the office. She asks if there are any cancellations, just to be sure. The lady behind the counter looks a bit flabbergasted; she just received one not two minutes ago. That’s all right, we’re not proud, we’ll take it!

Day 25, Marla to Coober Pedy: Going underground.

There really isn’t anything to do in Marla so after turning in early, we’re on our way as soon as we wake up. It just a short run, 245 Km, to Coober Pedy and, save for a few monitor lizards and birds of prey, we don’t see much of interest.
Then, as we close in on Coober Pedy, the landscape starts to change. Everywhere you look you see small mounds of earth and stones. Sometimes by themselves, sometimes in lines or groups. Here and there we spot bigger ones and occasionally we come across mini mountains of the stuff. Could all this have something to do with Opal mining?
We ride to our hotel, a closed down mine itself and get rid of our luggage. Tonight we’ll be sleeping under more then 10 meters of rock, but for now we are going to visit a working mine.
It’s at this mine where all the riddles are solved. The small mounts are caused by prospect drilling. They use a 10 cm diameter drill to make a hole about 30 meters deep. If there are any traces in the muck coming up, they drill a bigger hole to inspect, causing the bigger mounds. If the prospects are good, they drill a hole two meter across to lower the tunneling machine. It’s this kind of work causes the huge mounds of rubble.
Opal comes in many guises but you can divide the lot into two groups: with and without color. The opal without color is called potch and is pretty much worthless. The stuff with color comes in various grades of quality and prizes range from dear to absurd. Needless to say we found plenty of potch…
After a fun and informative afternoon at the mine we head back for tea and a good night of sleep. Tomorrow we’re gonna go see the rockets!

Day 26, Coober Pedy to Woomera: Missiles galore!

The road from Coober Pedy to Woomera is straight, flat, boring and… gorgeous. The desert here deserves to be called desert, being as empty as we have seen so far. When the road rises slightly you have the feeling you can see forever. As we are riding through the Woomera Prohibited Area, the road and everything on it (including us) fall under military rule. Not that you’d really notice, or it would have to be absence of car wrecks along side the road.
We ride past huge salt lakes and cross the Trans Australian Railway coming in from the Nullabor plains.
Woomera was the British answer to the Germans Penemunde (the place where the V1 and V2 rockets were developed). After the Second World War the decision was made to build a huge testing and launching facility here to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles. It grew to become one of the most important development centres in the Western world. The base is now all but closed and the most vivid reminders of Woomera’s heydays are the numerous missiles, rockets and aero planes on display all through the town. We visit one the two major museums and come away with a nice impression of the successes and blunders of Woomera.
Walking down the streets we can’t shake the feeling we are on some American film set, something like JAG or NCIS maybe. To stay true to the theme, we sleep in the former bachelor’s quarters.

Day 27, Woomera to Wallaroo: Meeting friends.

For various reasons we have decided to skip Port Lincoln and ride to Wallaroo. We have been invited to come and stay a few days with or new found friend Mark, the BMW rider we met in Kalgoorlie.
But right now we are trying to sort out a bit of a problem. For the last few days we haven’t been quite sure about the time. Various clocks and people, even the television, seem at odds as to what time it really is. Fortunately we crack this one today: it’s daylight saving time. For somebody coming from the Northern hemisphere it’s a long shot, but we guess it makes sense changing to DST in October when you live down under. Curiously, the morning show on the telly still shows the time as EST, Eastern Standard Time, the viewers will have to add the hour themselves.
With that mystery solved we continue our way further South. We still keep running into small groups of trikes, remainders of the big meet in Alice. But that’s not all that surprising in a region where there really is only one route South.
We stop in Port Augusta, once an overnight stop in our original plan. Good thing it isn’t anymore as there is very little to see and nothing to do. Onward to Port Pirie, a quaint fishing village on the same gulf. It has a really nice main street with old buildings and a few museums. Of course, you have to always be wary when they call something a museum here. It might consist of only one small room jam-packed with old tools and some black and white photographs.
We visit the Shakka exhibition in the visitors centre. Shakka was a 23 year old female Great White shark that got caught in a line and drowned. (Sharks need to swim to breathe.) They made a cast from her body and the resulting model measures over 5.5 meter long, making her the biggest great White ever caught. She is a truly impressive sight!
After being properly humbled by the notion that there are quite a few sharks like her cruising just off shore, right here, we ride on to Wallaroo. We are welcomed by Mark and his wife Lynn and will be their guest for the next few days. Not that we’ll be sitting still: it’s fishing on Friday and Adelaide on Saturday. There we will be visiting an Indian festival. Jummy!

New Supporters!

We would like to list (and thank) the following people for their donations:

Leo Veger Amsterdam Netherlands 10 Km
Martin – Ulysees Perth Australia WA 4.5 Km
Addy Vrienten Uitgeest Netherlands 50 Km
Rob Serne Baarn Netherlands 100 Km

Kalgoorlie to Alice Springs

Day 16, Albany to Esperance: into the sun we ride

After a perfectly good night sleep in the Albany Hotel we depart at 09.00 for Esperance.
What do you know, the sun is shining! Today we have high winds but fortunately they are predominately from the West and at our back. The first part of the ride is through farmland and forests. Then we're back in the bush. We even see mountains in the distance but the road stays in the low lands. After about 5 hours we smell the ocean. Not long thereafter we reach our destination.
We check into a motel on the bay and make plans for tomorrow. We end our day with a nice walk along the bay and the jetty, see a huge sealion patrolling the shallows and have a great dinner in a nearby restaurant.

Day 17, Esperance to Kalgoorlie: A strange day indeed.

De road from Esperance to Kalgoorlie is mesmerizing. Everywhere you look you see gum trees dotting the landscape. The winds are still blowing and we are fighting quite a crosswind. The first 20 Km are a real challenge for Miek, struggeling to keep her bike on the road. But after a short stop and some useful tips from Huub she’s fine and starts enjoying the ride and scenery. After about 150 Km, the wind shifts a bit to the South and we pick up the pace a bit.
A few hours into the ride we come upon a fight in the middle of the road. Three drunken friends have run of the road, damaging the car they are travelling in. Now the tempers have flared out of control and they are really going at it (and each other). The car driving in front of us has also stopped and together we calm the fighters down a bit. The driver of this second car is a local, knows these boys and says he will “sort them out”. We gladly take his word for it and get back on our bikes.
Half an hour later we’re stopped on the side of the road again. A caravan/trailer has overturned and caused quite a mess. Fortunately nobody is hurt. We are told that help is on the way and we are not needed here. Sounds good enough to us and we climb back onto our bikes. As we ride away we ask each other what’s going on today: we haven’t seen this much mayhem on the road since we have set off from Darwin. A strange day indeed.
Around 2 P.M. we ride into Kalgoorlie, or Kal for short. Kal is a gold town, with is being the operative word. Gold is being mined and found here since the late 1800’s and the town reflects this. You kinda feel caught up in a surreal Wild West movie set. The buildings hark back to those early golden days and the main roads are wide enough to turn a camel caravan on. That last bit isn’t a joke either, the camel caravan U-turn being the exact specification used in those days. We see a lot of men walking around in soiled working clothes. As the evening sets in, they al seem to have showered and are now cruising the main strip in the low slung, sooped up utes and street racers.
We spend the afternoon applying for our permits (so we may enter aboriginal lands) en taking our trusty bikes to the local Yamaha dealer. We’re having nobbies (off-road tires) mounted as we have decided to ride the Great Central Road. The reports we have received describe the road to be in descent to good shape so we have decided to take the plunge.
As we walk back to our hotel we pass a “somewhat older” biker, Mark. Festooned in classic black leathers on his 1980 BMW R 100 named Brunhilde (Brunni for friends). On the back of Brunni he has strapped a mountain of luggage that boggles even our minds. He turns out to be a very friendly character with an easy laugh and a great sense of humor. He’s looking for his brother in law. They are travelling from the Adelaide area to Perth, but he lost his companion at one of the two (!) t-junctions they were to pass today. It’s quite a funny story and we exchange phone numbers and e-mail addresses. Then he’s on his way again and so are we! Onward to the local Thai restaurant and a good night sleep!

Our “free” day in Kal is going to be spent by playing tourist. As we exit the hotel we see a “somewhat older” biker on a motor scooter. We burst out laughing and tell him somebody is looking for him. He reacts quite grumpy and informs us he already found “the bastard”. Then Mark shows up and joins the conversation and asks us if his in-law is still being grumpy… It’s obvious that these gentlemen know each other quite well and a sort of comic relief situation unfolds before our eyes.
Then Huub turns around to find himself face to face with Lynn, the lady from the Yamaha store. She tells us that our tires haven’t come in. But before we can panic, she shows us the tires in the back of her car. Turns out she’s spent the best part of the morning driving around Kalgoorlie, tracking down tires for us. She just happened to drive by and saw us standing on the sidewalk. Talk about a coincidence, talk about service… Anyway, we pick out two sets and she rushes off to the store, reassuring us the bikes will be ready today.
Slightly confused by all these coincidental meetings we stagger off in search of breakfast. Afterwards we visit the mining museum that’s situated right on the main street of Kalgoorlie. There we get a nice insight in the life of the mining community of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Then it’s time to go collect our bikes. And one thing really should be mentioned here: the way we were treated at J&J Motorcycles and the level of service we received really is unbelievable! Two thumbs up and a very big thank you to the team at J&J Motorcycles! After we have literally been seen of by the staff, we go back to the hotel to regroup and make plans for dinner.
As we are contemplating our options on the balcony of our hotel, we meet a couple from Laverton, Maida and Paul. Laverton is our next stop and after a nice conversation we decide to visit them at their home the next day.
Then it’s off to dinner. We have a great meal at the local Indian restaurant. As we make it back to our hotel we are surprised by a live band playing in the bar. Did we mention our room is right above the bar..? Fortunately the music stops at 00:00 and we enjoy another good night sleep.

Day 18, Kalgoorlie to Laverton: Back to the Outback.

Before we leave Kalgoorlie all together we pop in at the Super Pit, a huge goldmine. And before you start thinking about shafts and tunnels, let us tell you that in this case the name is aptly chosen. The Super Pits is a big hole, a few kilometers long and wide and 400 meters deep. The machines used here are huge but are dwarfed by the sheer size of this mine. After a bit the car park is swamped with motorcycles, the Ulysses Bike Club is having a meet in Kal this weekend. We decide to make a run for it, but before we can make our get away, we have to tell our story yet again. Then one of the audience pulls out his wallet and donates all his change, $7,60 for the Dutch Cancer Society…
Then we’re off. Our route takes us through Menzies, a tiny town that’s been around for over 100 years. The old buildings are still there, making for a few quaint photographs. The local roadhouse is completely covered in license plates and metal signs. Interesting…
We fuel in Leonora where we meet a familiar feature from a corny country song: The pub with no beer! (Thanks Alwyn!)
Nowhere on our travels so far have we seen so many dead kangaroos on the side of the road as we do between Leonora and Laverton. We are saddened by all these dead animals and wonder why we see so many of them here. Maybe it’s something in the water as a goanna runs out in front of Huub’s front wheel. It’s a close call, but the collision is avoided by a combination of hard breaking and a course reversal by the big lizard.
Laverton itself is a small town at the end of the bitumen road. It’s only unsealed from here on out, no matter which way you go except back the way you came. The aboriginal/alcohol problem is painfully apparent here, which is a sad thing to see. We spend a very nice evening with our new friends en enjoy their stories, wine and a great mussel dinner.

Day 19, Laverton to Tjukayirla: Back on the gravel.

Today we’ll have a bit of a spin, travelling “only” 300 Km on unsealed roads. In view of this we make an early start. Fortunately the quality road is reasonable to good and we’re making good time. The road doesn’t resemble the Gibb much, which is a good thing as the distances here are about double! The first two things to strike us are the width of the road (at least four lanes wide) and the high number of car wrecks on the side of the road. In the coming days the width will vary, the number of wreck will not…
We arrive at the roadhouse around 15:00. The place is very tidy and colorful and it doesn’t take long before we meet Taylor (5). She’s the granddaughter of the proprietor and has to make do out here without any other children. She has three dogs to keep her occupied, which is a good thing. Still, we can’t shake the feeling she’s a bit lonely.
We have a late lunch and it consists of two huge burgers. We buy a BBQ package for dinner. When around 9 P.M. we finally feel like a bite, Huub fires up the communal BBQ and we dine under thousands of stars.

Day 20, Tjukayirla to Warburton: A bit of a disappointment.

Today we “only” have to ride 250 Km. The road is pretty descent and we arrive around 2 P.M. The contrast between Tjukayirla and this place is enormous. The grounds look a bit messy, the buildings are a bit drab, but worst of all: the roadhouse is closed! Turns out today is a WA holiday. After a bit of asking, complaining and lobbying, we receive the key to our unit. How or what we are going to eat is an entirely other matter… Why they didn’t tell us this when we called from Kalgoorlie when we made our reservation will remain a mystery.
We meet three bikers, travelling the road in the opposite direction. They’ve been having a rather rough ride, having lost a substantial number of their party to injuries. Wind, rain and poor road conditions have really taken their toll on this bunch, with crashes and punctures occurring pretty much everyday.
While we are contemplating our options for dinner, we are joined by Bucko. He comes from Tasmania and is working here at the roadhouse. He is a very avid biker and we swap riding stories back and forth. When he hears we are having our emergency rations for dinner, he disappears. After a little while he reappears with a black bean and beef meal, piping hot en very tasty. When we try to pay for it he won’t have anything from it. So we give him a T-shirt and a team-patch. Well, he earned them! Next year he plans to go to visit Africa and maybe ride through the whole continent. We hope he’ll be able to live this dream and wish him the best of luck!

Day 21, Warburton to Warrakurna: Crash!

We say our goodbyes to the group heading for Tjukayirla en wish them the best of luck. They are heading into the rain and we fear the worst for them. They don’t look all that confident and relaxed themselves either. We hope they’ll make it to the bitumen in one piece.
Our third day on gravel starts great. The road is firm and smooth and we make good time. Unfortunately conditions change and sometimes we really have to work hard for every kilometer travelled. Still, we are getting there, still maintaining a good pace.
But then fate strikes back. Only 30 Km from our destination Miek finds herself in a patch of loose gravel. She makes a tiny mistake, she closes the throttle just a bit. Immediately the front wheel digs in and she’s off. Fortunately she lands on her back, which is protected by her integrated back protecter and the partly filled water backpack. She walks away without so much as a scratch or bruise. The bike is also in good shape. Only her brake pedal is a bit bent, which is bent back by Huub.
As we catch our breath, a car stops. It turns out to be a police patrol, the first one we meet on an unsealed road (after riding more than1300 Km unsealed roads). After he hears we are allright he tells us what we can expect on the remainder of the road. Then he turns to Annemiek and tells her he thinks she is really brave traveling this road on a motorcycle. What he thinks of her mental state, he chooses not to mention…
The last 30 Km go off without a hitch and we are happy to arrive at the roadhouse. The atmosphere here is a major improvement over our last stop and after feuling up we go for a walk. We wander over to the Giles meteorological station. It’s too late for a tour but we see a lone dingo cross the road right in front of us, so our day is made anyway. A colleague of ours used to overnight here during one of his earlier flying jobs. A bit desolate but a great view Mark!
As the bikes are not parked behind a fence and the unlocked tail tanks are full we are a bit worried about fuel theft. We end up parking the bikes right in our motel room. A bit tight but very cozy.

Day 22, Warrakurna to Yulara: Sand, wind and dust!

Today we’ll ride our last stage on unsealed roads. Almost 290 Km of gravel and clay followed by more than 45 Km bitumen. Reports indicate a stretch of soft and sandy road so it’s going to be a killer and we know it. To make matters worse, we’ve found out that the weather is moving in. Looks like Pluvius has us in his sights again and this ride will become a race against the approaching rain. We’ve seen the pictures and heard the stories, we definitely do not want to meet rain on the unsealed road. The rock hard clay will turn to sludge that will be almost impossible to get through.
Not that everything is doom and gloom. The landscape is overwhelming and we spot wild camels and dingo’s. After 100 Km we are approaching the NT border. We know the road is poor in this area and as on cue we are confronted with soft sand.
The road remains sandy for about 50 Km. Then it turns into firm gravel and we pick up the pace. Travelling at speeds up to 100 Km/h our spirits soar. Too bad it only lasts for 20 Km, followed by red clay. Normally you can ride this clay pretty fast but not this time. It has rained the preceding weeks and passing cars have made deep ruts. After the road dried out it was graded, but this only served to fill these ruts with sand and dust. These conditions don’t hamper the cars much, their wide tires floating across the ruts. Our narrow tires, on the other hand, tend to sink into them. Not a great feeling, take our word for it.
To make matters worse, the wind has picked up blowing sand and dust diagonally across the road. Spotting ruts becomes impossible and sometimes blowing dust reduces our visibility to less than 100 meters. Progress is hard and slow.
Then, after much hardship, we spot a mountain range in the distance. These can only be the Olga’s! And that’s where the bitumen starts! The last 20 Km are pure hell, but we drag each other through them. And then, without warning, just 200 meters away, bitumen. After more than 1200 Km in four days, we are standing on a sealed road again. This is celebrated in style with hugs, kisses, tears and photo’s! And off in the distance, we spot…rain!
Tired but relieved we ride into Yulara. We know prices here are more akin to highway robbery and you don’t get much luxury in return. But we have decided not to let this spoil our victory. From a viewing dune behind our unit we watch as the sunset lights up Uluru (Ayers Rock). Later we devour our well deserved burgers and hit the sack.

It’s up and at them early the next morning: we want to go see the sunrise over Uluru. Unfortunately, the weather system that caught up with us last night, hasn’t moved on yet. We get rained on and the sunrise is thoroughly ruined by an overcast layer. As the sky gets darker instead of brighter, we decide to head for shelter. Our plans of a walk around the base of Uluru are scrapped in favor of a major sleeping session.
Later that day the sun finally peeks through and we go for a stroll around the resort, do some shopping and buy two cool hats. It’s Annemieks mothers birthday today and we celebrate in style with big slices of cheese cake. We climb the dune again to see the sunset but again clouds spoil the event. We’ll try again tomorrow.

Day 23, Yulara to Alice Springs: To the center of the continent.

For some reason it’s just not meant to be: clouds still cover the sky and we get rained on again. Still, we take some nice pictures and get on our way. This may be the middle of the desert but the combination of yesterday’s cold front, this morning’s rain and the stiff breeze blowing makes our ride miserably cold. Even when the sun finally beats the clouds for supremacy of the sky, it’s not able to break the severe chill.
After an hour we stumble into Curtin Springs Station, cold and stiff. We warm up in the sun drinking hot thee/coffee and eating a hearty breakfast. When our bodies start to approach the normal operating temperatures we get back on the road.
This is some of the barest land we have travelled through so far, we are truly in the desert now. The effect is a bit spoiled by all the rain of the last few weeks: the desert is green! Apart from the road kill and obligatory carrion birds we don’t see much wildlife. Traffic may have something to do with that as it has picked up considerably. We are almost the victim of a poorly executed passing maneuver by a car coming up from behind. Fortunately everything works out OK and we reach Alice Springs without any further drama.
This town, also known as Alice or The Alice is the only settlement resembling a city for many, many kilometers. The nearest town you could qualify as a city lays 1225 Km to the South. This makes Alice a very important town indeed, it being the center for every- and anything you can think off. Maybe it’s because of this Alice isn’t as picturesque as Kalgoorlie. But the atmosphere is nice and relaxed and the Sunday market is definitely worth visiting. As is the reptile center on the south side of down town. Miek, not being a great fan of snakes, handles a python and falls in love with a couple of lizards. We also walk to the waterhole that has given this town it’s name: the Alice spring.

Exmouth to Albany

According to the Australian Dive sites bible, Exmouth is one of te most beautiful places to have a look under water.As it has been 1 ½ years since we made our last dive, we do a refresher in the local pool.
The next morning we arrive at the Dive Centre at 7 AM. Together with some Aussies, a British and an Italian couple we board a bus that takes us to the harbour. The crew of the boat, a converted 30 tonne fishing vessel, welcomes us on board. The Captain himself presents us the Safety Demo, which is quite original.
On our way to the dive site (Muiron Islands) we spot whales jumping out of the water and splashing around with their fins. We see more of the whales on this trip then on our Whale Watching trip, but we’re not complaining. It is cold, though.
At the islands we get ready for our first dive. As it is pretty cold, most divers don two wet suits over each other and Miek follows this example. Four of us (the Italian couple and us) go down with divemaster Carl. The view is not very good, we’re only 16 m deep and there’s quite a current. But we see a stingray and barracuda’s.
On the second dive, Huub spots sharks. Miek skipped this dive as it was only 40 minutes after the first one and she is shivering cold, in spite of the two wet suits. Luckily Huub brought his underwater camera to prove he chased the sharks.
Back in Exmouth we say goodbye to our new friends, especially the Italian couple. The lady had also skipped the second dive and Miek and her had a good conversation while the others were away.
We have a wonderful seafood diner and turn in early. Tomorrow we’ll head for Carnarvon.

Day 10, Exmouth to Carnarvon: on the road again!

Packing our bikes is easy this time, as we have sent off all our excessive gear to Grungle Downs at Darwin, where we will pick it up at the end of the trip.
We fuel up and on we go, down to Carnarvon. Within 5 Km’ we spot Emu’s. The landscape is surreal, scattered with termite hills. We make a detour to up the hils to overlook the Exmouth peninsula. It is spectacular: a windy road along a big gorge, a view of the coastline and the beautiful coloured sea. The land is barren and sparkled with the pastel colours of wild flowers. The further we go down, the more colourful the flowers become.
We cross the tropic of Capricorn and arrive in Carnarvon early in the afternoon. We stay at the Fish and Whistle and have very nice pizza at the old Post Office.

Dag 11, Carnarvon to Kalbarri: A visit to the world’s first inhabitants.

We rise early and breakfast on cold pizza left overs (yummie). Today may be a pretty long ride as we are not sure where we are going. The original plan is to go to Denham and Monkey Mia, but Miek just found out a friend from her earlier Aussie years is now living in Kalbarri. We have not been able to reach her yet. It does not make a difference for the first part of today’s trip, we are going to visit Hamelin Pool and the Stromatolites. These bacteria have been on Earth for 3 billion years and were important oxygen machines. They produce rocklike formations, only half a millimetre per year, in very salt water areas and Hamelin Pool is one of the very few places where they can still be found.

We also visit the old telegraph office which has a very interesting history. As the guide is busy on the campgrounds, he lets us wander around alone. After we come out he will not let us pay the entry fee, which we then decide to donate to the RFDS (Royal Flying Doctor Service).
In the mean time Miek has spoken to her friend in Kalbarri and the decision has been made to go visit her, which will be quite a ride and it’s already 2.30 PM.
This ride soon becomes a very strange one. One moment we’re in the bush, the next we enter a countryside very similar to France. Green fields appear on both sides of the road, lined with pine trees and everything is very lush. This only lasts a quarter of an hour, then we leave the highway to turn into the road to Kalbarri and we’re back in the bush again. Are we seeing things, now?
In Kalbarri it takes a while to find accommodation and soon we are shook up with the bad news that Miek’s friend will most probably be taken to hospital as she has a blood cloth in one of her lungs. This is very unsettling but soon we find out that she feels better after proper medication. (At the time of writing she is out of hospital and doing much better.)
Kalbarri is a lovely town and we decide to stay an extra day. We want to explore the Murchison River Gorge and are not disappointed. A 26 Km long dirt track takes us to beautiful views and walks.
Later we visit the seahorse sanctuary. It is one of the two places in the world where seahorses are bred for aquarium owners. This way the breeders hope prevent the catching of the wild seahorses. As seahorses are picky eaters, the sanctuary also breeds a certain kind of planton, for which they make algae soup to feed on…. Now that’s what we call passion

Day 12, Kalbarri to Cervantes: Futher South.

Today Cervantes is on the agenda, home to the pinnacle dessert.
But upon leaving Kalbarri we decide to check out the surf at Jake’s point. Surf’s up and about 5 guys are riding them. Our hearts skip a beat when, in one great wave, we spot grey silhouettes behind the surfer. They soon turn out to be dolphins, and they really know how to appreciate a good wave. We stay and enjoy the sight for half an hour but then we have to hit the road. The country is not so empty anymore, we now regularly spot something manmade (besides the road), but the coastal road to Cervantes is again very desolate. We made reservations at the caravan park and there we quickly dismantle the bikes, as we have been suggested several times to visit the pinnacle dessert during sunset. This turns out to be good advise, the light is fantastic, a fascinating experience that can not be described in words very well, hence the picture.
But now we do have to ride the road in the dark. We’re on one bike and Huub rides down the 12 Km road at about 40 Km ph in order to be able to make a pretty controlled emergency stop in case a kangaroo jumps in front of us. And he’s so concentrated, we never sees the big Grey sitting a bit futher back and the snake enjoying the warm bitumen on the sideroad…

Day 13, Cervantes to Perth: A sentimental journey.

We plan to take an unsealed beach road down South, but soon we find out that this road is being sealed at the moment and the roadwork makes it impossible for us to ride it. So, it's back to the main road. Today we’re heading for Perth. Annemiek lived there with her family form 1981 to 1984 and to go back after 25 years is going to be a sentimental journey. It gets cold and soon it starts to rain. We stop at Yanchep National Park to see the Koala colony, but first we have a coffee and hot chocolate accompanied with great chocolates. Then we go see the Koala’s. They look very cute. But they are not as cute as they seem and can be quite ferocious when cornered. These Koala’s however seem quite contend…
After Yanchep we quickly reach the suburbs of Perth. We visit Miek’s old house which hasn’t changed much in the last 25 years. After that it’s on to our hotel downtown. After checking in we find out that we can drop off our trusty bikes at one of the local dealers. After our adventures on the Gibb they can use some TLC.
After dropping them off we walk back to the train statin. It's a weird sensation, being without wheels for the first time in three weeks. But we aren't given much time to lament: a pair of Kookaburrah start laughing and we can't help but join them.

We are staying in Perth for a few days, visiting friends en reliving some of Miek's memories. Miek's old friend Alwyn lends us two selfbuilt boats and we spend one afternoon kayaking on the ocean. We visit Penguin Island and see a plethora of birds but no penguins (of-course...). Then we paddle over to Seal Island and are greeted by two juvenile New Zealand Fur Seals. They are very playful and Huub joins them with his camera. After much splashing around it's time to go back. The seals follow us for a while. When they discouver we are really leaving we hear a mournful call and they disappear in the deep. A moment that we will never forget.
Next day we visit Rottnest Island, home of a colony of Quokka's. These cute critters were first discribed by Dutch sailors as a sort of big rat, hence the name Rattenest Island, which changed to Rottnest through the centuries. Quokka's are nocturnal and we are worried we might not get to see any. But after a very short walk we spot one. After taking a few pictures we spot another one and then another. They're everywhere and absolutely not shy allthough they won't let you touch them.
It's our last evening in Perth and we are going to have dinner with some friends in Fremantle. We have picked up our babies at the dealer and dropped one off at the hotel. Annemiek will be riding pillion so she can have a spot of wine during dinner. as we walk up the restaurant we greated warmly by... the Italian couple we met in Exmouth!
After a nice dinner we ride back to Perth. We haven't left Fremantle yet when a police siren sounds right behind us. We are being pulled over, turns out our tail light has burned out. Fortunately we are let off with just a warning. We promise we'll take the shortest way home and to have it fixed first thing tomorrow.

Day 14, Perth to Bridgetown: Jerry's mission.

First stop: motorcycle shop to get the taillight fixed. Afterwards we say our goodbyes to our friends. Fortunately our latest sponsor (Finn Kayaks) has outfitted us with some really nice warm clothes because the weather is turning colder and colder as we go further down south.
We are off to a late start and because we don't want to ride in the dark, we're trying to make good time. But traffic is bad, we even get to experience grid lock Aussie style (traffic light induced grid lock). South of Mandurrah traffic gets better and our average goes up. Unfortunately it begins to rain and this ride is shaping up to become one of our worst. The landscape we are travelling through is the opposite of the weather: green rolling hills, meadows, forests and winding roads. And then, just before we ride into Bridgetown, the rain lets up a bit, the sun breaks trough and we are treated to a beautiful rainbow. We can see the entire arc and both ends, a very nice welkom indeed...

Bridgetown is one of our main reasons for this trip. this is the place where Annemiek's father, Jerry, took up a mission that would occupy him for the next 15 years.
When the van der Ham family was living in Perth, Jerry would quite often take his motorcycle out for rides across South West Australia. During one of these rides he visited Bridgetown and discovered the war memorial there. As he looked at the names of the fallen soldiers he noticed a name he had seen before: L. Blechynden. He had seen this peculiar name before on the National War Memorial in Kings park in Perth. He decided to take a picture and as he did so, he was approached by a local man who pointed at a name, B.T. Hill, and said that that was his uncle. When the man heard Jerry was from Holland, he asked if Jerry could look up his uncle's gravesite. The family didn't know much about how B.T. Hill died, where he was buried or what his headstone looked like. Jerry agreed and did.
Back in Holland he now had the perfect excuse to go for a good ride. As he walked unto the war cemetery the first grave he sees is that of L. Blechynden. Soon he also finds B.T. Hill's grave and he decides to loop up al the graves of the Bridgetown boys. The last part of the mission is to go to Gallipoli. Annemiek joined him on this trip and together they put the final parts of the puzzle together.
Unfortunately, Jerry becomes ill soon after and he passes away in November 2006.
Annemiek's sister Nannet had sent the documents over to Bridgetown and Terry Linz of the RSL (Returned Services League) happily received them. He made sure that on the following ANZAC day, surviving relatives were presented with a certificate containing a photo of the graveside. Terry also set up an exposition of Jerry's project en this, we wanted to see.
Terry welcomed us to Bridgetown and even set us up in a very nice cabin (Hillcrest Rise Bed & Breakfast).
Saturday we arrived at the Bridgetown War Memorial for a special ceremony: the planting of a Lone Pine.
One of the battles fought at Gallipoli is the battle at Lone Pine. Before the battle commenced a lone pine stood in the no-man's land between the lines. After the battle was over, the pine was gone but soldiers collected seeds of which seedlings are still being grown in Australia. Annemiek was asked to plant one of these Lone Pines at the Bridgetown Memorial. What an Honour!
That night we are also invited for a very nice BBQ-dinner by the RSL. The evening is very much enjoyed by all and we even get to meet L.T. Blechynden's niece Lesley, who is 92 years of age.

After the RSL program we had planned a tour along the South West coast. Unfortunately the weather turns really bad and we end up spending a few extra days in Bridgetown. We were accommadated by Ton and Joke and their sweet dog Shadow. On sunday evening we are invited by Mark and Glen for a very nice dinner.
Tuesday morning the sun is out and we gear up the bikes.

Day 15, Bridgetown to Albany: Sunshine!

We say our goodbyes and stop by and stop off at the "Grumpy Old Men of Bridgetown", the local RSL toolshed. After a short guide tour and last goodbyes, we are on our way.
First stop: the Clouchester Tree. An old fir lookout, tourist may climb this 60 meter plus tree and enjoy it's beautiful vieuw. Huub can't resist the challenge, Mike is content to take pictures... from below that is. After an improptu bird feeding session we are on our way again.
In Wallpole we visit the canopy walk, one of the few like it in the world. We walk in the tree tops, looking at the ancient trees. We also walk the trail down below and after taking the obligatory toerist pics we are off again.
We arrive in Albany around 4 P.M and are behind the I-net PC's at 5 to finish this Blog...

Last but not least, it has proven to be impossible to update our site. Therefore we will be mentioning the nwe donations here in our Blog.

Menno Rigter Nieuw Vennep Netherlands 20 Km
Renate Mulder Amstelveen Netherlands 25 Km
Bouwmaat BBQ Alkmaar Netherlands 770 Km
Jos de Pee Leusden Netherlands 10 Km
Finn Kayaks Perth Australia 250 Km
Apex Club Bridgetown Australia 120 Km
Mark en Glen Norris Bridgetown Australia 6 Km
Lions Club Bridgetown Australia 30 Km
RSL BBQ Bridgetown Australia 66 Km
Bill Stockwell Perth Australia 12 Km

Second update from Oz

Once in Broome we decide to take a few days rest. We reckon we deserve (need) that after riding the Gibb road. And Broome is a great place to hang out.
We soon agree we shall go Whale watching, they're passing by on their way South, a great opportunity. A bus picks us up at noon en takes us to the beach. Actually, onto the beach (!) and stops next to a speedboat, on three wheels! Once passengers have boarded, it rides into the water until it's deep enough for the outboard motor to take over. Then the wheels are pulled up and off we go to the big whale watching boat. It takes the little boat 3 turns till all passengers are on board the big boat and then we take off at a speed of about 55 Km/h towards the whales.
Soon the skipper spots a sea snake, which disappears underwater quickly. A few minutes later we spot a big sea turtle. The turtle, which is about 80 cm across, stays afloat long enough for all of us to admire him. On we go, we want to see whales, but oops, dolphins! Three of them swim happily through the waters. And soon after we see another sea snake which does not hide immediately. Very impressive, this snake, and very poisonous, so we're told. After you've been bitten, you have three minutes to regret the fact that you came too close. Then it's all over. Luckily the snake has a very little mouth, and the fangs are in the back of the mouth, so it will have to catch your finger or earlobe or something. Good thing to remember if we go diving, we'll cover all little bodyparts...
And then, there she blows! A whale is spotted at the horizon. We slowly approach it and then it swam right underneath the boat! It is massive! Unfortunately it is not very playful at the moment so the crew decides to have a look elsewhere. Then we find a group with two babies, one not older than one week, but already estimated to weigh 400 Kg. Mother and child are nosy and swim next to the boat. Fantastic moment. That's also the end of the trip. The crew says it wasn't a very good day, but we're very happy and had a great afternoon on the beautiful ocean.
In the meantime a local saddler fixed Miek's saddlebags well and good. He picked them up in the morning and dropped them off at the hotel while we were at sea. Great service and job well done.
We head for the Internet café to finish the last posted blog en upload some pictures. This keeps us busy so long, when we're finished and want to go for dinner, all kitchens are closed so we end up eating a burger at MacDonalds...
The next morning we make up for the missed proper dinner with a good breakfast in town and after explore downtown Broome. We come across the old pearler's jetty, about 50 m long. We spend quite some time there watching the tide come in, along with blowfish and octopuses. An Aboriginal family comes out to fish. Mum does the actual fishing, Dad gathers the catches while the three little kids sit at the end of the jetty and teach us all about the fish we see. Such a great morning.
We go back to the hotel to sort our stuff. We've washed everything, even the bags, so everything has to be packed again. In the afternoon we lavish ourselves on oysters, Broome's specialty. We taste four different dishes, and can not say which is the best.
And in the night we go to the pictures! Now this can be done everywhere in the world but Broome has something very special: Sun Theater. It first opened in 1916 and hasn't changed much, since.
You sit in deck chairs, one half of the theater has a roof, the rest is open. So you have stars both over your head and on the screen. There was also a lizard on the screen which at one point sat right on Johnny Depp's nose ( we watched Public Enemies).
Anyway, we thought it fitting to sit in a cinema which once screened the London – Melbourne race and the Uiver landings.


Day 8, Broome to Roebourne: It's two for one day today.


Today we want to ride to the Sandfire Roadhouse. So we make an early start and arrive there at 11:00 AM, a bit early to call it a day. After a short powwow we decide to keep going and postpone the decision as where we will sleep until lunch. An hour and a half later we are having lunch in the Pardoo Roadhouse. The food isn't very good, but the girl behind the counter is doing her utmost to be friendly and polite. We can tell she isn't used to it...
During lunch we discuss our options and we think it's a good idea to combine two days of riding into one. We will push on to the Whim Creek Hotel. Because of the distance involved we think it is a good idea to call ahead. The line is busy so we decide to ride to Port Hedland, a mandatory fuel stop and call from there.
We've been on the road for about 500 Km now and various body parts (legs, necks and bottoms) are voicing their protests. Port Hedland is a local industrial center and not a very nice place to be. We gas up and try the hotel again, still we get a busy signal. A quick conference is called and Annemiek suggests we take the risk and ride on.
The landscape is predominately flat and monotonous. But, if you look closely you'll see that most of the grasses, bushes and trees are in bloom. The effect is very subtle, but the entire roadside is a carpet of colors, ranging from white via greens to violet. Very pretty.
Nine hours after we left Broome, we pull up in front of the Whim Creek Hotel. It's late afternoon and the sun is already on its way down. Small problem: the hotel is no (longer) a hotel but just a pub. As camping is also not allowed here, we have no choice put to push on to Roebourne, 85 Km down the road.
Now the race is on. As we have agreed back in Holland we will not ride in the dark, we try to beat the sunset. Just as the sun hits the horizon, we pull into the Roebourne campsite, 813 Km from Broome. We don't even bother with our gear, leaving it mostly on the bikes. Only the bag containing the tent is liberated and the tent stands inside a minute. After a quick snack we hit the sack and fall into deep sleeps in no time.


Day 9, Roebourne to Exmouth: Two days in one again.


After a good night sleep the world looks a lot better now. Because we made such excellent progress yesterday we decide to push on to Exmouth today. That way we will be two days ahead of our schedule again, days we can spend very well in Denham. It's only 590 Km, which is not all that much, compared to yesterday...
The view remains monotonous, flat, yet very impressive. The flowering roadside, the big skies, we are not getting used to it, yet. After a few hours we meet a couple of emu's. It's again a special moment, meeting these “Zoo-animals” along the road. Other than these big birds we see goats, big cattle and a snake. After a 7 hour day we ride into Exmouth on our reserve fuel.
We are staying in the Pot shot Resort Hotel. Our accommodation isn't as grand as the name suggests but the room is comfortable, clean and affordable. The restaurant offers very good food and the dive operator has an office on the premises. We think we'll be fine the next few days!