Distance travelled: 679 kms
Cumulative distance: 15,655 kms
Had a great nights sleep at Ross and Vicki's place after playing 500 with Barry and Elaine until 10.30pm!!! I'm not sure who won but it was good fun.
Vicki cooked beautiful bacon and eggs for breakfast so I left with a full stomach at 7.45am. There was not much traffic on the way to Bowen but there were quite a few cops. It was the Queens birthday monday holiday so I had to keep to the speed limit. Luckily the oncoming traffic flashed their lights to warn me of the men in blue. When I was coming into Mackay the traffic slowed to a snails pace. There was a grey nomad dragging his mobile castle at a very sedate pace at the front. A couple of rebel bikies roared past me trying to get to the front so I tagged on behind them. The road from Mackay to Clermont was quite quiet so I wound up the throttle. There are a lot of coal mines in the area and I saw a train which must have been a kilometre and half long. I was riding along beside it (passing it) which felt weird. I refueled at Clermont and got talking to another motorcyclist who said he had come down from Charters Towers. I asked if he had seen an egit in red leathers on a Honda VFR 800 (Colin). He said he had as he was leaving the Belyando Crossing roadhouse.
The roadhouse was rationing the fuel to $20 per customer as they were very low. Colin was OK but there were three KTM bush bashers wanting to fill their 30 litre tanks so they could get back out in the bush. They couldn't persuade the owner to let them have any more so they were thinking of staying the night and wait for the tanker. I waited for a while at Clermont to see if Colin would turn up but he didn't so I headed for Emerald as it was threatening to rain!!! The road from Clermont to Emerald was pretty ordinary and there were a few spits of rain. I booked into a cabin at the caravan park in Emerald and waited for Colin. His bike makes a bit of a racket since he removed the final baffle to scare off the roos, so I heard him coming loud and clear. We went to the local tavern for dinner and played Cribbage back in the cabin. I managed to peg Colin's lead back to 69. Colin was making all kinds of excuses for his poor performance but I know it is my superior playing skills and good cards.
Cumulative distance: 15,655 kms
Had a great nights sleep at Ross and Vicki's place after playing 500 with Barry and Elaine until 10.30pm!!! I'm not sure who won but it was good fun.
Vicki cooked beautiful bacon and eggs for breakfast so I left with a full stomach at 7.45am. There was not much traffic on the way to Bowen but there were quite a few cops. It was the Queens birthday monday holiday so I had to keep to the speed limit. Luckily the oncoming traffic flashed their lights to warn me of the men in blue. When I was coming into Mackay the traffic slowed to a snails pace. There was a grey nomad dragging his mobile castle at a very sedate pace at the front. A couple of rebel bikies roared past me trying to get to the front so I tagged on behind them. The road from Mackay to Clermont was quite quiet so I wound up the throttle. There are a lot of coal mines in the area and I saw a train which must have been a kilometre and half long. I was riding along beside it (passing it) which felt weird. I refueled at Clermont and got talking to another motorcyclist who said he had come down from Charters Towers. I asked if he had seen an egit in red leathers on a Honda VFR 800 (Colin). He said he had as he was leaving the Belyando Crossing roadhouse.
The roadhouse was rationing the fuel to $20 per customer as they were very low. Colin was OK but there were three KTM bush bashers wanting to fill their 30 litre tanks so they could get back out in the bush. They couldn't persuade the owner to let them have any more so they were thinking of staying the night and wait for the tanker. I waited for a while at Clermont to see if Colin would turn up but he didn't so I headed for Emerald as it was threatening to rain!!! The road from Clermont to Emerald was pretty ordinary and there were a few spits of rain. I booked into a cabin at the caravan park in Emerald and waited for Colin. His bike makes a bit of a racket since he removed the final baffle to scare off the roos, so I heard him coming loud and clear. We went to the local tavern for dinner and played Cribbage back in the cabin. I managed to peg Colin's lead back to 69. Colin was making all kinds of excuses for his poor performance but I know it is my superior playing skills and good cards.
Colin rode to Charters Towers with Ron Johnstone and poor Ron was half frozen by the time they got there because he hadn't put his jacket liner in. They had breakfast together while Ron thawed out. Colin had bought a small jar of hot English mustard to use for the bacon and eggs he and Alan usually had for brekky, because cafe's often didn't have any. He produced it in Charters Towers and Ron produced a pepper shaker he always carried for the same reason. When they went to check the plumbing the waitress cleared them off the table and they had to retrieve them from the kitchen. Fr0m Charters Towers Colin decided that as he was free to set his own pace he would turn up the wick a bit on the 200kms run to the next petrol stop at Belyando Crossing. He enjoyed himself at about 140 kph and pulled into the service station with a big grin on his dial until he looked at his rear tyre. 
It had worn square as had the front and now looked like they w0uldn't make it all the way to Melbourne without some gentler treatment. The Scorpion Syncs must have a soft compound in the centre of the tread and can't be caned like a normal road tyre.
It had worn square as had the front and now looked like they w0uldn't make it all the way to Melbourne without some gentler treatment. The Scorpion Syncs must have a soft compound in the centre of the tread and can't be caned like a normal road tyre.
On the way down to Emerald Colin passed through the open cut coal mining area of the Bowen Basin. He saw a huge dragline in the distance and took a detour to the Blair Athol mine for a closer look. There were also enormous spoil dumps and a long overland conveyor. This delayed his arrival in Emerald and so Alan got there before him. This gave Alan plenty of time for Blog duties!
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