Onion and I decided we wanted to go for a ride.  

He'd booked some time off work and had spent 4 - 5 weeks in Italy with his family, which gave us a 2 week window of opportunity from around the weekend of 29 - 30 July.  that weekend, as it happened, clashed with the Harrow Vinduro, so I suggested we leave on the Tuesday after the event.  This gave me a day of prep after Harrow, which all sounded good, but the reality was that I'd probably hurt myself at Harrow and stuff the ride.  So I made the gut-wrenching decision to forgo the event .  But that meant we could start our adventure earlier  , so we did!

So the plan was to leave on the Friday before Harrow, ride to Harrow and spend the night with my Vinduro mates.  With that sorted, I loaded the BM to the gunwales, waved good bye to the family and set off.

I met Onion at his place, waved goodbye to his family and set off (again). The basic plan was to avoid the boring run down the Western Hwy, so we headed to Castlemaine, then through Maryborough to Stawell, onto Horsham and down to Harrow, arriving around 5:00 (just in time for a beer).

We'd booked into the pub for the night, so we made our way there and got settled into typical Harrow Friday night festivities with the crew.

There was a possibility that some beer was consumed.

Total distance for Day 1: 480ks.

Day 2:

We started (not too early), from Harrow having bade farewell to the crew.

We headed towards Edenhope, up to Kaniva and crossed the Border at Bordertown (where we stopped for lunch).

From Bordertown, we mad our way through Keith and up to Pinaroo, battling horrendous head winds, which dropped our fuel economy from (the normal 30ks per litre) to around 18ks!  From Pinaroo we were planning on going to Renmark, but once we got to Loxton, we'd decided to call it a day and booked into a motel there.  The winds were still strong, but were from the North and it was surprisingly warm (around 26 degs) and we walked around pre-dinner.

There was a possibility that some beer was consumed.

Total distance for Day 2: 400ks

Day 3:

It was quite warm (and nowhere near as windy) as we left Loxton.

We headed to Taylorville and onto Cadell, taking in some of the lovely riverside scenery along the way.

We wondered if we should stop for a few!

Until hitting Barra for lunch.

From Barra we looped around and headed for the delightful fly-speck known as Yunta.  Now, let me tell you a little about Yunta.  There is NOTHING at Yunta, apart from a Pub and a fuel/roadhouse.  Now, you might think that a pub is all you need, well......  It was Sunday night and we pulled into the pub.  We asked the lovely Debbie if she had a room for us and the answer was (obviously) "yes".  So she showed us where to park and lead us to our room, which had 2 beds and that's it!  Debbie explained that "some people come out here and expect to find the Ritz!"  I didn't expect the Ritz, but I'd hoped for a little more.

 Anyhoo, we changed out of our riding gear and headed to the bar, which housed 3 people (Debbie and 2 locals).  We drank and chatted a bit and Debbie advised that as it was Sunday night, the bar would be closing at 8:00.  It was now 6:00.  We asked about dinner and she advised that it would be served between 6:30 and 7:30, so we ordered.  The sun was setting and the sky looked pretty, so we went outside and took some pics.

By the time we returned, the 2 other drinkers had left, leaving me and Onion (and the lovely Debbie) alone in the bar for dinner.

At 7:45, Debbie (and her husband who had arrived by this time), turned of the front lights.  At 7:50, last drinks were called before shutting of the till.  At 7:55, Debbie started mopping the floor and at 8:00, we were ushered to our room.

And that's all I have to say about Yunta!

There was a possibility that some beer was consumed, but due to time constraints, not much!

Total distance for Day 3: 385ks

Day: 4

After the trauma of our night at Yunta, I was happy to get going on the 'real' part of our ride, starting with the dirt road from Yunta to Wilpena Pound.  

We fueled up at the road house and had brekky there too (Debbie don't do brekky!)

Then rode to 'the track' for the obligatory sign-post photo shoot.

Now, take notice of this last photo, as I will be referring back to it later!

We headed of in dry and dusty conditions, reveling in environment these bikes were designed for.  The run out to Wilpena was glorious.  Spectacular scenery, due the the vast baron-ness of it all.

The creek/floodways offering a little bit of different scenery as well as being the most likely spot to encounter some wildlife.  And a good spot to stop for a snack.

It wasn't long before the rock formations started to grow in size and the awesome Flinders Ranges came into view.

Now, it was around this time that I posted some pics on Facebook and my missus asked why there were so many shots that contained bikes in them.  This is pertinent to the story.

 We continued our ride into the Pound, gob-smacked by the ever changing canvass unfolding around us, when at last we arrived at the Wilpena resort.  We headed to the reception and I went for my wallet, but alas it was not there!  I checked all my pockets, tank bag and luggage, but no sign.  I started going into a bit of a panic and re-traced my steps, back to when I last had it.......... YUNTA!  I'd paid for fuel!  So we called the roadhouse and asked if it was there.  "No, sorry!", was the answer, but the girl gave me the phone number of the local copper.  I called him and asked if it had been handed in, "No, sorry!" was the answer again.  So I started to realize that I must have dropped it en-route.  So I went back through the pics on my phone of where we had stopped.  The shot above revealed nothing.  The shots from our lunch stop revealed nothing.  But then, you guessed it....... YUNTA!  The shots from the signpost I mentioned earlier came into view!

The curse of YUNTA had struck again!  My wallet had fallen out of my tank bag and landed next to my rear wheel.  And there it stayed, all day!  When I saw this pic, I called the local copper again and told him.  "I'll go have a look", he said and 15 mins later, he called back and reported that he had it!  My relief was indescribable, although we were now separated by 275ks of dirt track, so we decided that he'd post it home and I'd sponge off Onion for the rest of the trip!  Simon (the copper) was fantastic, a credit to the force and I hope I'm never again guilty of maligning the Police.

I phoned my missus and told her of the developments and explained that's why we take so many shots with the bikes in them!  I was a happy man.

There was a possibility that lots of beer was consumed.

Total distance for Day 4: 275ks.

Wow - the odds against actually seeing your dropped wallet in a photo must be huge!

And well done to the Yunta copper for taking the time to chase it up for you.

I enjoyed ya report Serge, apart from losing ya wallet it looks like you & Onion had a great trip, thanks for sharing it with us.

If I didn't have Max i would like to do a trip across to Perth the long way, on my KTM 1050 adventure bike, but I can't leave Max for that long.

Frankieboy wrote:
It's not finished yet!

Serge C wrote:
Good, I'm looking forward to more mate.

Day 5:

It was cold but clear as we packed the bikes this morning. we headed to the petrol pumps to re-fuel the bikes and I noticed that my bike didn't feel right!  A quick check revealed a flat front tyre.  I put some air in it, but it came out as quick as it went in.  I pondered for a moment, trying to remember if there had been an 'event' that would have caused a puncture, but nothing came to mind.  I did have ONE spare front and rear tube, but was reluctant to use it this early in the trip, so Onion produced a bottle of green slime and suggested trying it.  Bugger me, it worked!  Given that we were only 50ks from Hawker (and last services for a while), we hot-footed it down the hwy to the tyre place, where they had ONE ONLY 19 inch front tube.  I pulled the wheel off and they removed the old tube.  We inspected it to find it was actually a 21 inch tube stuffed into the 19 inch tyre and the hole was actually a rub-wear on one of the folds.  So, at least I hadn't caused the flat, although I will be having a chat with my mech!

Anyway, with bike up and running we decided to do a fuel-burn down the hwy to Maree.  We had intended to go to Arkaroola, but we'd lost a lot of the day already.  A quick top-up at Hawker and we were off.

The scenery was still stunning along the tar, with the Ranges ever-present over our right shoulder.

We turned into Parachilna for a look around the historic Gahn railway siding and hotel.

We headed to Leigh Creek for supplies and fuel, then past some road-side ruins at Farina, more memories of a by-gone era.

And finally into Maree, the last 100ks or so alternating between tar and gravel.

We booked into a 'donger' for the evening.

Had a shower, got some fizzy, adult refreshments and joined the Grey Nomads around the camp-fire for dinner, libations and a chat.  I was feeling pretty knackered, so I headed to bed while Onion stayed up and went hand-to-hand combat with his bottle of Johnny Walker.  Somewhere during the night, I woke to the sound of rain.  "This'll be interesting", I thought!

There was a possibility that some beer and whisky and bourbon was consumed.

Total distance for Day 5: 340ks.

Dissapointed Serge, not one photo of the lovely Debbie (is your missus still checking the site  )

Looking forward to seeing the pink place again.

Lefty should be feeling warm and fuzzy.