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.