It took 17 hours to cover 1434 km complying with all the protocols:
Bully Protocol......substantial beef meal every five hours
Hydration Protocol.......start the ride with wet riding gear because you left your Camelbak mouthpiece valve on then put a weight on top of it above your riding gear
Nullarbor Protocol....stop at every fuel station and pay $1.90 to $2.00 per litre for fuel
650 DR Protocol......only travel as fast as the slowest bike
Headwind Protocol .....only ride in a direction that is being buffeted by crosswinds or into headwinds
Wildlife Protocol......reset you heart pacemaker and warm your twin front discs every 100 kilometres as an emu, kangaroo, roadkill bones disguised as bitumen appear at the last minute
Spandau Ballet Protocol.....do a mandatory 360 degree pirouette on mud at least once in the journey
Brilliant trip despite the elements. Small turn up from WA. Water everywhere with even the road shoulders being hazardous. A millimetre off the bitumen and trucks were sinking in 150 mm. A B Double was bogged on the road shoulder for hours. Water across the road. Dead camel roadkill at Balladonia. Recently rolled ute. Norseman Hyden Road closed. No reports of anyone camping at the 90 Mile Straight. Jamie and Digger turned up after taking 10 hours to do 130 kilometres to get from Forrest to Eucla. They had to ride off the track in most places due to mud. Digger dropped his bike within metres of starting (Digger... note some relevance to this thread). Apparently they did not look that "dry" when they crossed the Eucla checkpoint and were breathalysed.
The smiling Dave Ward (Albany) came with a dozen of BMW Clubs members from around Australia via Streaky Bay having picked up a bike in SA.
Spandau Ballet, Fast Rhino, Dinga Bell and Robin "isn't the 2014 badge brilliant" were also spotted at the event.
Photos to follow.
Bozo
Last edited by Bozo on Mon 03 Aug, 2015 12:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
The forecourt of the Border Village is normally packed with motorcycles of all types...not this year
The bikes were all parked up at the accommodation
There were still a few diehards in the camp area across the road having a birthday party and bring gifts of a heritage tyre, a reconditioned gear box, chocolate and Jam
Dry wood for the fire was brought from 130km away by trailer
Digger and Jamie did not move far from the fire after their arduous journey from Forrest
G'Day Slackers....bet you never thought you'd hear from me again.
I enjoyed the section east of Rawlinna...it was a little slow going in parts but we did make Forrest in plenty of time. Not much to see along the way...lots of 'remoteness'. Good therapy
You don't have to have a long neck...to be a goose
Never expected to see this. There was an internment camp for Italians out here during WW2. You'd be a fool to try and make a run for it....there's nowhere to go. Maybe the previous government could have learnt a thing or two from the government of the time. It may have solved one of the problems.
Disclaimer...the thoughts or opinions expressed blah,blah,blah.
You don't have to have a long neck...to be a goose
At Forrest, we stayed at the old 'Met' depot. Hot water, kitchen and even a visit to the museum for $20. Worth the stay over. The place gets busy...lots of light aircraft, 'rallies' of different sorts call in (the vintage tractor crowd were booked in for overnight a few days after we left) and occasionally small tour groups call in. The population use to be 50 during its heyday. Now there is two....the manager and his missus. We didn't purchase fuel there...we had enough between us to make it to Border Village. It started to rain overnight. The manager said it is unusual for the rain to come that far inland.
'Yeah; right'!!!!
You don't have to have a long neck...to be a goose
The rain started heavily the following morning at 7.30am. By 8.00am it was clear it was not going to stop so we decided to 'chance it'.
I lost it within 200 metres and stretched the left hamstring. A further 100 metres up the road the same thing happened...same hamstring. That set the mood for the rest of the day. I was surprised to hit Eucla before nightfall. I thought we were going to spend the night out there. Had to travel along the side of the track, mostly in first gear. Jamie ended up in a wombat hole and there were a few more close moments. Not my best day in the saddle.
You don't have to have a long neck...to be a goose
I spent Sunday licking my wounds and did some domestics....shower, laundry, trying to fatten up.
Took the old eyre highway the following day....great road. Interesting although still a little treacherous in places. Called into Koonalda Homestead which has been abandoned since 1988 (the new eyre highway was sealed in 1976). Interesting place....still largely intact. Outside walls were built using old railway sleepers. Great car graveyard. All range of makes and models...typically Holden wrecks and a sprinkling of American muscle. Even British Leyland was represented. Why you would want to cross the Nullarbor in a mini minor back in the day is beyond me. Must have been real Adventures (or crazy Japanese tourists).
The homestead was obviously a refuelling stop for travellers back in the day as well.
The homestead is in the background...I can't resize the photos so the bowser may be missing in the photo
Back to work Slackers!!!
You don't have to have a long neck...to be a goose
A bit of "deja vu " re the mud covered bikes from when Bo and myself rode into Forest a bit wet then too.
Been following you're trip and a bit disappointed you didn't get to Maralinga being so close ish .
Also saw how the red bit for heavy rain ( on the weather) just happened to be where you guys were ..
Now get off that bitumen and get back to work riding properly.
Great pics
Interesting what you mentioned about the vehicles crossing the Nullabor in those days Digger.
I drove over from Northern NSW on leave to Perth from the Army in 1974 in a 2 cylinder Honda Scamp N360cc car with my then wife and son on board.
Road was as rough as they come but made it through ok. (Couldn't sit down for a week after though) and promptly traded the Honda in on a Datsun 180B for the return journey. Man that was luxury compared to the Honda.
Great exciting days and yes it was an adventure crossing the Nullabor in those days before it was sealed.
Thanks for stirring up old memories mate.
Cheers
Swampy
"I love a sunburnt country, a land of sweeping plains.
Of rugged mountain ranges, of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons, I love her jeweled sea.
Her beauty and her terror, the wide brown land for me."
When a lot younger we would do the Nullabor every Xmas, first time I remember was 3 boys, 1 dog and mum and dad in a Datsun 1000. Next year was a Datsun 1200 ( luxury ), Datsun 1600 and in 1976 a Datsun 180b.
I did it in 84 in a Datsun 1600 with a trailer behind and then in 86 in a Holden HX wagon ( which expired near the Kambalda turnoff, most expensive tow ever ) haven't driven it since but have ridden it at least a dozen times .