Day 28 Fitzroy Crossing to Broome 400 KM's

Day 28 started with packing up the tents and heading to the roadhouse for breakfast... John was still having trouble with his tent with condensation which meant the tent and sleeping bag where wet.. I did not sleep as well as I would have liked..

The ride to Broome was boring with long straights and nothing so see ... Stop once for fuel .

Arrived in Broome around lunch time for 4 days of rest before we head to Karratha on Monday..

No more updated until we are back on the road... 

Day 27 Kununurra to Fitzroy Crossing 650 KM's

We had a pleasure stay at the Kununurra Country club....  Early start with breakfast in the room ( with bowls) we headed out of town towards Hall Creek.... This road takes you to the heart of the Kimberley, the scenery is stunning and you have to see it for yourself to appreciate the vista... My best explanation is Australia's Grand Canyon... We passed the turn off to the Bungle Bungle about 50 KM's ... Which would have added a 100kms to the trip so we decided to push on... The temp reached the mid 30's so the hydro packs where get a lot of use... 4-5 litres per day.  Pulled into Halls Creek for fuel and water and headed to Fitzroy Crossing....

A couple of surprises in Fitzroy Crossing... It's has a fantastic caravan park and its "dry" you cannot purchased alcohol too takeaway... 2 bars where you can drink on the premises ...

We made the decision to camp as the motel accommodation was expensive..this turned out to be a good decision, camping under the stars was fantastic ...the sky was clear and with no light it was an awesome sight... I saw the international space station come by...

Tomorrow off to Broome...

Day 26 Katherine to Kununurra via Lake Argyle 615 KM's

Relatively easy day today.... We had breakfast at the over priced IBIS in Katherine and headed off... The temp was already in the mid 20c so it was going to be warm day... The scenery as you get toward Victoria river is stunning, we stopped for fuel and a quick look round.... The scenery just got better and better as we came across Timber Creek... Quick top up of fuel , an apple and we headed off... We decided to take the road to Lake Argyle and the Ord river... The road is 34 KM's of the best scenery you will see in Australia...The Kimberley ranges cannot be described ...the colours and different rock formations are incredible...

We stopped at the lake for more pictures... 1,000 square kilometres and a shore line stretching 900kms ... With and estimated 30,000 fresh water crocodiles, 26 specifies of fish etc etc ... Pretty awesome and requires more time to investigate....

After fuel and a chat to locals we continue back to the highway and on to Kununurra.. 

We booked ourselves into the Kununurra Country club.... Off to Fitzroy Crossing tomorrow.

A note to add from yesterday 

While I was riding a large wedge tail eagle took off and flew direct into me while i was at 130km/hr ... It was glancing blow as a ducked to the left the bird hit the right side of the windscreen then hit the right mirror which was dislodged and flew away (after nearing collecting a caravan) none the worse for wear.

Day 24 Tennant Creek to Katherine 673 KM's

Day 23 started with a quick breakfast of Weetbix and Tea (see pic) Note to self bring bowl and spoon next time... We departed Tennant Creek and headed north the temp was cool but soon warmed up to 30c so it was not long before we stripped off... 

We detoured into Daly Waters which is an Australian must do.... We had a cup of tea , took some pics and continued the journey... The first 400 KM's of the day always seem go go quick next 200 KM's drag.... We stopped a couple of more time before riding into Katherine... Accommodation was not much good so we decided on the IBIS again the price was ridiculous ... The main criteria was a TV so we could watch The Voice... 

We decided to ride out to the Katherine Gorge which turned out to be a waste of time... Unless you take a tour you cannot see anything... Pity..

Back at the IBIS now having a squealing pig ( savvy b) and updating the blog..

Knackered would be the way to describe how I feel.

Day 23 Mt Isa to Tennant Creek 661kms

Speaking for myself I was very please to be leaving Mt Isa... What a dump...full of bogans .

This was the first night of the trip I was crook... I but it down to a beer at the Buff ... Bogan headquarters...  We did find a very nice bar later where a much better class of person resided... They even sold Little Creatures on Tap.... I also thing John and I where on the social page of the Sunday paper.... A young reporter took our picture and was sort of interested in our story...

Anyway with Boganville (Mt Isa) behind us we headed to Tennant Creek ( will it be better!!!)  Most of the journey west was pretty boring until we spotted  a couple of camels in the distance... We had to stop ( see pic) the camel was pulling and old striped out Suzuki 4x4. John spoken to the bloke for a couple of minutes and determined that he had been travelling around Australia for over 10 years with theses 2 camels... Amazing.

We arrived in Tennant Creek and collectively shook our head... What a dump.  We found a motel ( which was not bad albeit the price was ridiculous ) and battened down for the night...   Pizza and then watched the ABC (separately of course.)

Peter I add in a road train just for you.... Hope you like it?

The bike is what happens if you don't do maintenance.

Day 22 Hughenden to Mt Isa 535kms

Not much to report today.... We got away around 8 and knocked off 250 KM's before we stopped for a bacon an egg sandwich and coffee at the BP roadhouse... This is becoming a daily ritual. The Roadhouses have become our saviour as we ride in to small one horse towns... I recall a comment by John before we left Fremantle 3 weeks ago " a road house you have got to be kidding".  

The first 450kms was boring boring straight the only excitement as dodging the road kill... And there was plenty off it, the most we have seen on the trip... We rode into Cloncurry the hottest place in Australia at 51.3c .... It was a lovely 23c when we arrived.. The ride and scenery from Cloncurry to Mt Isa was awesome ... The centre of the outback... we passed a Burke and Wills monument on the way..

Booked into the Ibis in Mt Isa...l not sure what will happen for the rest of the day but I am sure beer and food will be involved...

Not many pics today

Day 21 Undara - Mt Surprise to Hughenden 392 KM's

We head off fairly early after a cup of tea and headed to Mt Surprise for fuel and breakfast.. This is where I realised that we where heading in the wrong direction ... We we heading up to the gulf rather than Charters Towers... It's hard to believe but John met an old NMHG MD from China at Mt Surprise Small world. We had a quick chat took some pictures... I figured out that we had come 60kms in the wrong direction so back on the bikes to the turn off we missed the previous evening.... Fortunate really as we would not have spotted the railway carriages... 

We stopped off for fuel before we tacked a section of road 258kms of gravel and bitumen... Another surprise moment a truck driver gave me $20 for the charity.... People are amazing....

The first section of the road was fine then it got really difficult.... Story of the day John dropped his bike in a tricking section... All I heard in the headphone was "mayday mayday" I am down , I looked in my mirror and John was rolling on the ground ( very theatrical ) . I turns around stop, everything was fine so a took a couple of pic before we lifted the bike up.... The remaining 3 hrs where tough either of us could have been down at anytime.... It's was great to see bitumen again...we rode in Hughenden and checked into a motel... Both of us totally stuffed...

Beer time...

 

Day 20 Cooktown to Cairns then the outback (Undara) 494 KM's

An interesting day which started in Cooktown and ended somewhere in the outback after a wrong turn.. Great ride from Cooktown down to Cairns to get our rear tyres... We stopped off at the "roadhouse with legs " for breakfast but where disappointed with 2 old boilers servicing... Anyway the breakfast and coffee where good... Got into Cairns just before lunch, headed to the bike stop where Cameron quickly fitted the tyres $270 bargain...cheaper than Perth.

We fuelled and headed up the Atherton tableland on the Savannah Way... We started to run out of daylight at forty mile scrub where we made the wrong turn towards Mt Surprise... We passed a few very crappy places along the way (according to John)  so we push on to find somewhere better to stay... We came across the sign to Undara ( John suggested we go and investigate) a stroke of genius... A great place where you stay in old train carriages... ( see pics ). We had to get past the wild life and cattle ... A few heart stopping moments .