It’s exactly a year ago that we were cruising through the south end of Western Australia, having crossed the Simpson, traversed Gibbs River Road, dipped into the Pilbara and revisited civilisation in Perth.

A year on and I still think about the trip regularly. I’m now living overseas but Dad, Jonny and I are constantly emailing each other saying ‘We were in this place today, doing so-and-so’. Good memories.

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to get back on the bike for a few days just south of Barcelona, Spain. After doing a bit of research on advrider.com, I found a company with a good reputation called Trailbike Tours. Based on the comprehensive website, a good choice of rides and excellent reviews, I booked a two day ride with Dave, the owner.

It was fantastic to get back on the bike again and see some new scenery. Not only that, but Dave is a terrific guide in all respects. He accomodated all my needs in terms of budget and riding requests, and did so happily and without any fuss. On top of the excellent riding, including stopping off in some beautiful little Spanish towns, there was an over-abundance of good food, and of course, the requisite beer (or few, and with sangria) at the end of the day’s ride! Good riding, beautiful scenery, delicious food and a friendly and knowledgeable guide – definitely recommended – traibiketours.com

Well, I hope that one day soon this website will be alive again with new posts, new photos and new stories. Until then, we still love receiving comments and queries from people setting off on their own adventures – so don’t be shy!

This guy seems to flaut all of this. He has taken a road bike and ridden it around the world. Truly incredible. Respect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iITomfFclpM 

Well they also like to report on their adventures, and wrote a review of their trip in which we feature! Everything they say is how it happened, it is really well written and captures the feeling and experiences of our journeys. The only thing with which we would differ is that the reason we rode ahead of them is not because we needed to maintain independence, but because we felt terrible about crashing their trip already! So we rode ahead to give them space and collected our gear at the designated point at the end of each day…

Anyway, it makes for some fun reading as you get to see our trip from another’s viewpoint. The comments that follow his report are interesting too! Here it is:

http://www.exploroz.com/Forum/Topic/59635/SIMPSON_BIKE_TRIP_REPORT_JULY_2008_long.aspx

Hang on! Charley Boorman is in Australia? We couldn’t believe it! And not only that, but he was pretty near to where we were! This was truly incredible – this whole trip had been inspired by his journeys around the globe by motorbike, and here we were finding out that he was right near us. To make it more amazing, this guy gave us the number of his manager and his itinerary. We rang her straight away and discussed how we could meet up with them and have a chat…

Unfortunately we were heading different ways. Charley was already going down to Alice, whereas we were heading east on the Gibb River Road through the Kimberleys. We were invited to meet him in Sydney, but when he gets there we’d be on our way to Perth, and ask much as we wanted to see him, we weren’t cutting our trip short by that much!

To make things even more uncanny, Charley appeared on The Morning Show, like we did (although we’re sure he performed a little better). Apparently Larry Emdur mentioned what we were doing to Charley, who expressed his pride at the knowledge that he has inspired others to get out and explore the world. Charley wrote us a beautiful note which was very kindly emailed to us.

Charley rode into Sydney from Wollongong with an entourage of around 350 riders. Our good mate and expert Ed from MCA joined in on the ride and said it was fantastic. So when we head back to Sydney, we think we’ll take that route too – but without the entourage!

If you are an Adventure Rider or any other form of motorcyclist and you want to deal with people who have a combination of experience, great customer service and a genuine interest in what you are doing, go no further – MCA is at 36 Wentworth Avenue, Sydney.  Tel no. 02 92615182.

Here are just a few of the things they did for us (no exaggeration):

1. They made a totally unsolicited donation to the National Breast Cancer Foundation in support of our ride;
2. They spent at least two hours discussing and drawing a design for the brackets for our panniers and wouldn’t charge a cent;
3. We needed three new rear tyres (Cheng Shin) sent to Darwin, together with some other items. MCA did not have the tyres in stock, so they ordered them from the distributor. The next day they were concerned about the time it would take for the tyres to be delivered to MCA and then for MCA to deliver them together with the other items to Darwin – so they sent the other items immediately and asked the distributor to send the tyres directly to us. No thought about the fact that 3 tyres were already on their way from the distributor to MCA and MCA would end up with these in stock. We only found out about this when we ordered the next 3 rear tyres to be sent to Perth and they told us they already had them in the shop from the last order!;
4. We ordered 3 front tyres to be sent to us c/- the Post Office, Coober Pedy. They again organised for this to be done directly from the distributor in Adelaide in order to save time. The distributor used Outback Couriers, who advised that their depot is John’s Pizza in Coober Pedy. (Turned out to be one of the best pizza and pasta meals we had on the trip and why not collect your tyres at the same time!). MCA were a bit concerned about us getting the tyres and we had two voicemails from them and one from the distributor telling us exactly what the arrangements were, just to make sure nothing went wrong;
5. For us, this one beats them all. In another package which they sent to us at Coober Pedy, we found an A4 sheet of paper with a message written on it from EVERY member of staff at MCA.  Similar to a birthday card you get in the office!  There were a few “wish we could be with you”s which made us feel really bad for about 30 seconds; combined with encouragement and best wishes from everyone. Find us another store (any store, not just a motorcycle accessories store) who would give the thought and the time to doing something like this;
6. On our return to Sydney, before going home, we stopped off with a few beers and said hi. The reception we got was amazing - their interest in and support for our trip was second to none!

Thank you MCA! You have earned customers and friends for life!

Well, we can vouch for that – but we did it in 6 hours (including changing the front sprocket on one of the bikes because we were becoming concerned about the chain and sprocket wear)! We were able to do this because of the experience we gained from crossing the Simpson Desert. We now knew how to attack sand dunes, and could do so with relative ease even while carrying our panniers with all our gear.

From Glendambo the only way to Coober Pedy was to go east back to the Stuart Highway and take it north. But on our map there were a few other tracks, all within an area entitled ‘Woomera – Prohibited Area’. We thought it was the detention centre, and knew not only that it was closed, but also that it’s pretty obvious that we’re not there to bust out any refugees, so if we get caught we’ve got a good chance of just playing the ‘we’re lost’ card. But after consultation with a local, we were informed that our assumptions were incorrect – it wasn’t Woomera the detention centre, but Woomera the missle testing area! That’s a little different, no? We still took the track through Woomera, but did it a hell of a lot faster than we would have otherwise.

We made it to Coober Pedy at nightfall, and went straight to a Motel to wash and warm up. Lying on our beds watching the Olympics with the door open (to waft out the smell of our boots and socks), ‘Shane’ wandered in. Shane lived in Coober Pedy and was enjoying a few bourbons that night, and seeing our open door decided he would say hello. After introductions all round he informed us that he works in a mine and because we were such nice blokes he would take us on a tour the next day. He said he could get us by security by saying that we were his cousins. We were a little doubtful as to how successful this would be because Shane was as dark as Aboriginals come. Failing that Shane promised us that he could get his hands on sticks of dynamite for $5 each, and that blowing things up really was a lot of fun.

It was really truly unfortunate that we couldn’t spend the day with Shane as we had to put on new tyres and then start heading south to the Flinders. Blowing up stuff is actually a lot of fun, and sticks of dynamite for $5 is the cheapest we’ve ever seen… But we saddled up the next day and rode through the spectacular Moon Plains to Oodnadatta, where we spent the next night in very basic (!) accommodation at the famous Pink Roadhouse, before covering 630km the following day to get to Blinman, where the beauty of the Flinders begins.

On the ride with Klaus one of the guys told us that his wife had breast cancer, but because it was detected quite early on they were able to deal with it quite quickly. This was a really fitting end to our trip. We were not really near to meeting our target, but with the good work of organisations like the National Breast Cancer Foundation, we knew that every bit was making a difference and that hopefully one day a cure will be found.

Returning to Sydney came with mixed emotions. After spending 8 weeks on the bike, for hours each day, and being with each other 24 hours a day for the whole time, I think we were ready for a bit of a rest. We had accomplished what we wanted to, saw everything we had hoped to see, not had any major problems, and completed the trip in the alotted time. There was not much more you could ask for, and we were satisfied and proud with what we had done.

On the other hand, the thought of giving up these bikes and a life on the road was horrendous. We were on a trip where we woke up every day and straight away did something we love, and did it all day. We saw some beautiful places, met some incredible people and came away with a bookful of stories. How could we give this up? The other tough thing was readjusting to being in the city. Adhering to traffic rules, seeing traffic lights, noticing how many surveillance cameras there are in the CBD – these things are the direct opposite to the outback we just experienced for 8 weeks!

But missing our family took precedence over any of these worries. It was so wonderful seeing them all again, and having a Friday night dinner. We wanted to stop by Katzy’s on the way home to grab a burger, but Dad wanted to see Mum so much that he wouldn’t let us! We were all so happy to see our family and be back in that comfort zone. So we’re sure that it will take time to readjust and be rid of the pangs of desire to be back on the road, but we are happy to be back with our family and to have accomplished what we set out to do.

In the Flinders this got progressively worse and on two of the bikes the chain started slipping. We knew that we had to do something about it. We made a few phone calls and found out that they only way we could get replacement parts is by going down to Adelaide… putting us out of our way and meaning that we would not be able to meet Klaus and ride with his group. We rang Klaus to tell him and he suggested that we meet them anyway – he had one spare chain and sprocket, and we could ‘band-aid’ the other one. This made us a little happier and we set out for Renmark….

But we could feel, see and hear how bad the chains actually were. There was no way we would risk getting to Renmark, riding through the Sunset park, and heading home. So we stopped off in Port Augusta and went to the only shop in town, Northern Motorcyles. They couried the parts up from Adelaide and set to the bikes straight away. In probably the quickest time ever, we had new chains and new sprockets (the old ones had teeth missing…). We were off!

We had a great time with Klaus and his group, ‘Mueller’s Men’. The riding was great, the scenery beautiful, and the people wonderful. It is telling that not one person out of this group donated less than $50 to the Breast Cancer Foundation – a really great bunch of people to ride with.

And then it was towards home… and minus 3 degrees in Yass – an absolutely terrible way to end the trip! We had to stop every 50kms to put our hands on the exhaust to warm up…

For this, we also have to thank Mike. You are a true champ and mensch – thank you for all your support, enthusiasm and hard work! 

If you’re around, pop in to Bunnings Artarmon for a dog and a chat – on the above dates, between 9am and 3pm. See you there!

Since our last update:

• We had some more amazing trails along the Nullarbor – for skiers, we can best describe riding these trails by the following analogy – like doing a continuous black run, but with a throttle and brakes to speed up and slow down when you want to .. and you never get to the bottom. The ride continues for as long as you want!;
• We saw Southern Right Whales so close we could almost lean down and touch them…  One amazing statistic – the calves which the mothers nurse in Australian waters this time of year grow at the rate of 90Kg per day!;
• The Nullarbor ends at Ceduna and from there we did a left turn and headed straight up towards the Centre again – along the Googs track (again, not on most maps).  Our Hema Great Desert Tracks Atlas & Guide describes the Googs track as follows on Pages 86 and 87: “You’ll need at least two days to traverse Googs Track – a journey that has been described as a cross between a Simpson Desert crossing and a run up the Canning Stock Route (albeit a mini version)”  It goes on to say: “.. Be warned: Googs track is heavily corrugated for the most part and has some steep dunes. Some dunes are 25m high”.  Well, we can vouch for that – but we did it in 6 hours (including changing the front sprocket on one of the bikes because we were becoming concerned about the chain and sprocket wear) and then went on to reach Coober Pedy in time for the most magnificent pink sunset.  It was a HUGE day – Coober Pedy is a further 300 – 450Km away from the end of the Googs track, depending on which route you took and we can’t tell you which one we took.  Why? Only because one of the routes goes through an area marked “Woomera Prohibited Area”, apparently because of missile testing! Anyway, you can guess which route we took, but we got there;
• After Coober Pedy we continued towards the Centre to Oodnadatta and stayed at the famous Pink Roadhouse. We crossed the Moon Plains (or Desert), an eerie and unique experience – see photos;
• If you look at a map you will see we were now pretty close to the Centre again and we had a toss up between doing another Simpson crossing (West to East) or heading South through the Flinders Ranges, which we had heard are very beautiful and then meeting up with the legendary Klaus Mueller, who happened to be running one of his regular 3-day rides through the Murray-Sunset Desert a few days later;
• Tough choice, but we chose the Flinders and meeting Klaus and we made the right choice! After another HUGE day of 620Km getting from Oodnadatta to Blinman in the Flinders, we spent the next day riding in the Flinders, including a private 4WD track from Rawnsley Park and finished the day at Orroroo;
• Next day we did a 100Km detour to Port Augusta to get some new chains and sprockets on two of the bikes and then another 300Km to Renmark to meet Klaus, his wife Helen and what must be the most decent bunch of riders Klaus has ever managed to organise for one of his rides;
• They rode on Saturday, which by now you will have gathered we do not – so we hung around Renmark and then when the sun went down, we did a careful and cold 175Km to meet them in Murrayville – now in Victoria for the first time on our trip and that wrapped up all the States for us except ACT and Tasmania!;
• Sunday was the most fitting finale for our trip we could have imagined. Klaus’s wife, Helen, kindly offered to take our panniers in the support vehicle and that gave us the opportunity to ride the 650s a bit harder and have an extra bit of fun on them. We even had our first puncture in the whole trip - not much tread left on the rear tyres and a stick went straight through the tyre and heavy duty tube. Great time for it to happen because Pete and Greg were on hand to do all the work – thanks 
  guys!;
• At the end of the ride, Klaus pulled out $300 as his and Helen’s donation to our cause and started to make a speech about how Alan should be voted father of the year and so on. Alan quickly shouted him down, but not before he had inspired everyone else to donate and we walked away with $800 in cash from the most generous group of guys who can also ride pretty well and know how to have some serious fun too – thanks again guys!;
• After that finale, we could have walked home and still been content. In fact, it was so cold on the bikes the next 2 days (1,000Km) that we probably should have walked – it would have been more comfortable!;
• But we gritted our chattering teeth (MINUS 3 degrees out of Yass in the early morning on the last day) and arrived back in Sydney Tuesday afternoon.  We went straight to the National Breast Cancer Foundation to deliver some cash and they gave us the most amazing reception ever. We then met Sharon and Sara at school, hopefully didn’t make too much of a spectacle, took Sara to ballet and then went straight to Motorcycle Accessories to complain about their poor service – see separate blog being posted about this AWESOME team of guys and girls who did everything they could for us, short of coming along (which most of them would have loved to do) to make sure we had everything we needed;
• The bikes are now sitting in the bike shop, getting tyres put on and a few other things, and unfortunately are being readied for sale… If anyone is interested in a DR650 in perfect condition, only two months old – give us a shout! We can meet at the bike shop.
• Total Kms covered – 17,500! 

This was our quick update, with detail to follow!

Thanks again for your interest, involvement, enthusiasm and support!

Alan, Ben and Jonny