A STORY BY KIM PEDERSON FOR
INTERNATIONAL MOTORCYCLE TRAVELLERS @ http://www.rio.com/~tynda
5-12-95
Left John's (John Parjel at Airlie Beach, Australia) place and went on my own up to Cape York. Didn't quite make it to the top at Bamaga as I got quite sick at Archer River Roadhouse, stayed for a few days and went up to Weipa but I wasn't feeling right so turned around and went back to Airlie Beach.
A combination of food poison and heat stroke got me, it averaged about 37 deg Celsius during the day. Too hot for this boy. Also the road was real bad in places with continues corrugations about 3 inches deep and 5 inches apart, heaps of real soft sand and bulldust.
Came off the bike a couple of times but had no damage. Soft sand gets you, you're right when you are doing 100-120k's, then you realize you're on soft sand and slow down which means more weight on the front wheel, the front digs in and next you realize that you ain't got no control, really gets you heart rate up aðand properly shorten your life a few years.
Also my pannier rack broke where it was modified in Oz, can't trust others to do a good job, but I welded it up OK and no more trouble after that. I guess that makes it a mk2 model, the reason I didn't make you one, ha. There is NO way you could do this track 2 up, unless you do it straight after the wet season when the roads have just been graded. Also the scenery doesn't change much after you leave Cairns (on the main rd), however the amount of snakes on the road makes it real interesting, wouldn't like to run over one though, it might not like it and get mad with you. There is a lot of really interesting places on Cape York- but very hard access, rough tracks and petrol is hard to get.
Got back to John's place, had a wash and left for Mount Isa and carried on to Darwin, where my flat mate's brother lives but he wasn't home. Had a fair bit of trouble getting a decent new rear tyre but eventually got one in Darwin. Had a quick look around Kakadu and Lichfield National Parks. Stayed at a place called Annaburroo between Darwin and Jabaru, a real beaut it was but you had to watch the suicidal wallabies if you went riding early in the morning as they hide in the grass and jump straight at you when you pass, takes another few years out of you, even that they only stand 2 feet tall.
Went south, stayed at a place called Edith Falls, very nice, headed for Alice Springs and Ayrs Rock. Alice Springs is a nice place, very central to all the desert tracts and the temperature was pleasant, around the 25 deg in the middle of the day. From here I headed to Ayers Rock via Kings Canyon, which is about a day ride away, 700k's, all very spectacular. From Ayrs Rock I headed south towards Cooper Pedy and did the last bit of the Gunbarrel highway. Definitely getting colder, have to wear gloves in the morning but midday is still nice and mild. Cooper Pedy is a strange sort of a town, 52 different nationalities live here, all digging for Opal. Most of them live in dugout due to the extreme heat during summer. Interesting and definitely very different. Headed south to Adelaide which is just another big city, but still nice especially after the desert. From Adelaide I went through to the Snowy mountains where I spent a few days with a mate and then up to Sydney, where I shipped the bike back to NZ. Just under 20.000km round trip. Getting ready for Russia now!
Highlights:
Most of Northern territory, with it's easy riding and good weather, 2-3 weeks are enough unless you want to do some of the desert tracks. You can travel very light in this part of OZ as long as you stay on the highways. Cape York with it's very challenging conditions, would - do it again but on a Honda XR200 trail bike.
Going back for: North-western Australia and some of the dessert tracks around Alice Springs.
That's it folks, hope all is well and have a good trip to OZ.
KIM
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2 DEC 96