22nd and 23rd June 2010 - Parkes -to Mt Keira, Melbourne (Colin's trip)

Distance to Mt Keira 420kms to Melbourne 820kms

Total distance travelled by Colin 17,774 kms

This is a blog of the trip that Colin did after he left Alan in Parkes. He headed to Bathurst via Orange and stopped there for the obligatory spin around the Mount Panorama racing circuit, reliving his misspent youth from the 1970's when he went to the Easter motorcycle races with his rough mates. Colin visited the Motor Museum as well which had some racing bikes most notable of which was Wayne Gardner's 1987 500cc Honda NSR on which he became World Champion.

Colin was heading to Mt Keira to stay with Colin Bateman Senior who he had met by chance on the internet. He set off for the Blue Mountains and the rain started and the temperature dropped and he had a fairly miserable ride to Penrith where the weather cleared and warmed up. He had a good run up the ring road to the Hume FWY, Piction and then down to Mt Keira. Julie, Colin Senior's partner was there to greet him as Colin was not back from bowls. They made him very welcome and later Greg Bateman Colin Senior's cousin came over for a meal and as the say in Belfast the Craic was good! Colin Senior is a retired history teacher. Greg works part time to support his travelling habit - he was off to France soon. Julia works full time as a Pharmacist.

Colin left early the next day after breakfast for the drone down to Melbourne on the Hume Hwy. He detoured to Mt Keira lookout to take in the great views of the Illawarra coast including BHP's Port Kembla steel works. Then it was on to Goulburn for morning tea at the Paragon Cafe as recommended by Colin Senior and it was very good too. Colin also wanted a photo of the famous giant Merino. He stretched the fuel all the way to Gundagai where he stopped for lunch and the first good latte he had had for a while at Hungry Jacks. The Hume is almost all divided now except for a short section near Holbrook. The tyre was holding up well so the pace was upped a bit as home beckoned. Next stop was the State border on the River Murray then on to Wangaratta for fuel and a coffee at Macca's. The evening was getting cooler but Colin was warm enough and it became dark as Melbourne came into view. The rush hour was over so it was a quick trip around the Western Ring Road and City Link (no tolls for bikes) and then to Camberwell and home. Total distance for the trip was 17,774kms but that could be more as the odomoter seemed to be reading low. Alan got over 18,000kms on his odometer.

Morag was waiting and Catherine came over for dinner to hear the tall tales and true from the intrepid traveller. The bike was unloaded for the last time and parked against the fence for a well earned rest after the debris from a fallen branch off the big Willow tree next door was cleared away. The tyres were shot but no other significant problem was encountered by either bike. That may have made the trip seem boring. Most things went according to our plan and it was a very enjoyable and unique trip crossing every type of country and landscape around Australia. To do such a journey you need to enjoy riding/driving long distances which Alan and Colin did. Its a trip that they both highly recommend and would do again if they had the chance.

22nd June 2010 - Parkes to Sydney

Distance travelled: 454 kms
Cumulative distance: 17,974 kms

I had saved the odometer reading when I left Sydney on 3rd March which was 77,731 and the odometer reading when I arrived home in Sydney which was 95,980. This gives a total distance travelled as 18,249 kms which is a bit more than the cumulative distance above. Must be the trips to the pubs we had on the way.

Colin and I had breakfast at the motel in Parkes and after taking the mandatory photograph we parted ways., Colin heading for Wollongong and myself heading to Sydney. This photo is taken by the statue of Sir Henry Parkes the father of Australian federation. I took a detour to visit George and Eunice Bishop at their farm outside Cowra. Mandy Howard was there but Harry was off looking at a sports car in Albury. They had had reasonable rain during the summer and recently and the farm was looking good. George had nothing to complain about which must be a first!!! After morning tea organised by Mandy I hit the road about 11 am. There was a lot of roadworks on the road to Bathurst which slowed me up somewhat but I managed to keep a reasonable speed up. Coming through Blaney a truck had dumped its load of timber because it didn't negotiate a bend coming out of the town. Luckily he was travelling in the opposite direction to me so I wasn't held up. I could see clouds building up in the east and rain was threatening. By the time I got to Lithgow it was raining and freezing cold. Lithgow has got to be the most miserable place in the country even when the sun is shining. Riding over the Blue Mountains was wet and freezing cold. I had the grip warmers on flat out just to stop my hands from getting frostbite. Luckily the weather improved and the temperature increased by the time I got to Kurmond on the other side of the mountains. It was a slow trip from there to Elanora Heights because it was 3pm and the school speed restrictions were in place. I got home at 4pm, unloaded the bike and parked it in the garage still covered in 7 weeks of grot.

The trip has been amazing for the lack of any problems. Colin and I stuck to our itinerary except for the changes we had to make when cancelling our trip along the Gibb River road. We got on well even though our politics are somewhat different. Even the card games ended in a draw ... well sort of draw. I won the first game ( 3 to 13) by 250 points and he won the Cribbage by 73. The bikes didn't miss a beat and took everything we threw at them. No Kangaroos or Emus were collected much to my relief although Colin had a close call with a Wallaby in Katherine. We met a lot of interesting people and saw a lot of interesting places. It really makes you see just how big Australia really is and how people live in the small communities dotted all over the landscape. The scenery went from downright boring to absolutely spectacular. I would recommend the trip to anyone who wants to get a feel for what it means to live in Australia.

21st June 2010 - Coonabarabran to Parkes

Distance travelled 290 kms
Distance to date 17,520 kms


We watched the UK MotoGP and Moto2 from Silver stone last night and didn't get to sleep until 1 am, so a liesurely start to the day was called for. Casey Stoner went from last off the grid to 5th place which made it interesting. The morning was sunny and clear but cold so we rugged up to the max again. We had brekky at Gilgandra and Colin bought a paper to catch up on what was happening in the world. Seemed to be much the same things as when they left Perth.
The countryside was gently undulating farm land and we started to see sheep for the first time. The Goobang Mts made a pleasant back drop to the east. We were heading for Parkes and "The Dish" made famous by the movie of the same name which told the story of the part the Dish played in the televising of the Apollo 11 moon landing 1969. The Dish is a 65m dia radio telescope perched on top of a short tower that wouldn't look out of place under a Dutch windmill. It is set in flat farming area 20kms out of Parkes. The site was chosen for its lack of radio interference and low wind. As we walked from the car park we saw the iconic view of the Dish pointing straight up in its parked positiion at the end of a long avenue of trees. We watched three short 3D movies at the visitor centre and had a look round the display there. The dish started to move at 2 pm as it was scheduled to start an experimental program at that time. There was much humming of electric motors as the 1,000 tonne structure moved into place. The Dish was built in 1961 for the CSIRO and was fabricated in Germany. It was the largest radio telescope of its type at the time and used many innovative features that have been adopted around the World. Like Siding Springs it has been modified extensively to keep it up to date. It specialises in detecting elemental hydrogen and finding new galaxies and stars. Its role in transmitting the Apollo 11 pictures was a special project and it also helped collect data from the Galileo Mission for NASA.

We cruised into Parkes and eventually found our Motel. There was a Harley Fat Boy parked next to our room and we met Steve from Melbourne who was at the end of a trip around Australia and heading home. He had been on the road since Easter and had spent much longer in each place he visited. He knew David Cornfoot and his brother Marty as he lived in Epping. He even knew the Wollert Landfill!
The moon over The Dish (if y0u look carefully)

Tonight is the last night Alan and Colin spend together. Alan is riding home to Sydney tomorrow and Colin is going to Wollongong to have his tyre checked out by Colin Senior before heading home to Melbourne. Its been a great team with no arguments, dummy spitting or serious problems, even over snoring. The disappointment of not riding the Gibb River Road was soon forgotten as we found other places to visit. Otherwise the trip has gone exactly to plan and we have seen some wonderful places. Costs have been shared by alternating "shouts", which was a good way to go. The success at cards have even balanced out. We're both thinking of what the next "trip might be.

20th June 2010 - Warrumbungle NP

Distance travelled: 77 kms

Cumulative distance: 17,230 kms

It was pretty cool overnight so we donned all our warm clothes before venturing out to have breakfast at a local cafe. The motel's kitchen was out of action due to renovations? The Warrumbungle National Park is only 33kms from Coonabarabran and on the way there is the Anglo Australia Telescope (AAT) at Siding Springs. The observatory is located on the top of a hill/mountain at 1140 metres and has a great view of the surrounding countryside. It is funded jointly by the Australian and UK governments and is run by the Australian National University in Canberra. We went to the visitors gallery to view the telescope itself. Because it was daytime nothing was going on and the roof was closed. There was a small exhibition detailing the history of the telescope but it was not very inspiring. The mirror took four years to polish into the correct shape and has 2.5 gms of aluminium as the reflective surface. It is resurfaced on site every year. After the observatory we visited the national park itself. We checked at the visitors centre for some relatively easy walks as we reckon we had done the hard yards at Carnarvon Gorge. We took a 6.4 km walk to the Spirey View lookout and back. The path was in some disrepair from flood damage. A couple of bridges were damaged and we had to cross the creek by rock hopping. We actually came across a wild kangaroo feeding by the side of the track. Most wild life we have seen has either been in a zoo or running away at a vast rate of knots. The weather clouded over and started to cover some of the rock formations. We got to Spirey Lookout just as it started to rain so we took the mandatory photos and beat a hasty retreat back to the carpark. We returned to the visitor centre for afternoon tea consisting of a Magnum Classic ice cream. On the way back to the motel in Coonabarbaran it started to rain/drizzle so we put the hammer down to get there quickly. Tonight we are dining out at the local pub!!!

19th June 2010 - Cabarlah to Coonabarabran

Distance Travelled 584 kms

Distance to date 17,153 kms

Bob and Barbara provided breakfast at Jenny's house from their mobile larder in the Land Cruiser. It was a cool morning and we put on all our riding clothes: for Alan thermal underwear, long sleeved shirt, jacket liner and riding jacket: for Colin Tee shirt, jumper, leather suit, outer waistcoat and goretex jacket. The winter gloves were also used. Mabel gave us a more direct route through Toowoomba than the night before and soon we were on the road to Goondawindi: it was going to be a big day of riding.

We were back on the unloved Darling Downs but we could see a mountain range in the distance to give us hope. There was a nasty cold crosswind to add to our discomfort. It was 200kms to Goondawindi so we got there at lunchtime. It was a pleasant looking town and we had bangers and mash for lunch. Colin stocked up on his cash at the CBA ATM. The border with NSW was just south of the town and we stopped for a photo. Only one more border crossing for Colin to complete the full set. It was a nice sunny day but the temp didn't get over 18 degrees so all our layers stayed on.

We rode on to Moree and Narrabri through more interesting country with hills and forests. We stopped for a coffee in Narrabri before the last 120kms to Coonabarabran. This section of the road was through the Pillago forest which is an ancient feature of the area. The trees were getting bigger now but there were some large cactus trees interspersed amongst the gums - very strange. It was getting dark as the trees threw a shadow across the road. We were getting worried that the roos would come out, but in the end none appeared.

We booked into a motel and were glad we didn't attempt to camp with the very cold nights. We found out that there was a place nearby that held stargazing nights and as it was a very clear night we decided to go there before eating. It was run by an ex-ANU scientist who used to work at the Siding Springs observatory. He has four telescopes outside trained on different objects in the sky and one inside a small dome trained on Saturn. He gave an interesting talk about the solar system and the milky way. He had an amazing laser pointer with which he could point into the sky at a star or other feature. After the show he took people with Digital SLR's into the dome and fitted our cameras to his big scope and took pictures of the stars and the moon for us. It was really interesting show.

Riding back to Coonabarabran the temperature had dropped to 4 degrees and it was really cold on the bikes. Alan of course used his heated grips and Colin had to reach down and thaw out his hands on the radiators. We had take-away Chinese and watched the International Rugby. England beat the Aussies by one point after Mat Gitteau missed a penalty kick in front of the posts. Colin said they should check his bank account as Australia were favourites to win.

18th June 2010 - Chinchilla to Cabarlah

Distance travelled: 214 kms

Cumulative distance: 16,569 kms

Daniel and Frances took us on a tour of their property with Joshua, Libby and Bethany. We saw the new vegie patch with vermin proof fence and chook house. The bull was looking very contented as most of the cows were in calf. Daniel was trying to predict when each cow was going to calf. As well as 30 odd cattle they have a couple of horses grazing in a back paddock. The dam is huge and has never run dry since they have been there which is incredible considering the droughts they have been through. Frances put on a great lunch and Colin took the kids for a ride on his motorbike. Colin took the opportunity to wash his bike with Daniel's jet truck washer. I decided against washing mine as I was not going to remove the designer dirt I had collected all trip. Daniel helped Colin tighten up the bearings in his steering as he had all the required tools. We left the farm at 3.30pm and headed for Cabarlah just north of Toowomba. It started to rain near Dalby and became thoroughly miserable as we neared Toowomba. I was using "Mabel" to get us to the Cabarlah pub. She decided to play up on me coming into Toowomba and turned herself off. I eventually got her going again and she took us through some dark and narrow roads. At one stage we were on a dirt road which was in fact a road under repair. We trusted in Mabel and she eventually got us to the pub where we met Bob and Barbara Shaw and their friend Jenny who had offered Colin and I a bed for the night. We had dinner at the pub before heading for Jenny's place. Bob and Barbara had their Landcruiser and slept in their pop-top bed.

17th June 2010 - Carnarvon Gorge to Chinchilla

Distance today 437 kms
Distance to date 16,355 kms


Our leaving was delayed by having to wait for Alan to pack up his tent and having our cereal bought the day before when we thought there was no one else to cook our breakfast. Colin actually got up at 6:30 am due to general noise and a sore back and had a shower. Despite Takarakka not scoring well on the food front it had probably the best showers of our trip. We have developed a check list for showers; a soap dish and a place to put the shampoo bottle, a dry shelf to put your clothes, hooks for the towel and of course plentty of hot water. Some showers only had the last item. During the night we heard a pair of Wallabies hopping past the tents making a thump, thump noise and we saw them in the morning. One had a joey in her pouch. The Apostle birds were noisily marching around the tents as well and one was having a good peck at Alan's mirrors.

We had discovered an error on our route chart which left out 150kms of our trip to Chinchilla so the 3 hour trip was now over 4 hours. Colin called Frances to tell her we would not be there for lunch but by 3 pm. We rode the dirt back to the main road with no problems. The total amount of dirt riding we have done on this trip is 220kms which is a lot less than we planned but still a fair bit. We planned a proper brunch at Injune 100kms down the main road, but when we got there we couldn't find any where to eat so pressed on to Roma.
The road wound through the Carnarvon Ranges with great views of the sandstone cliffs we found in the gorge. This was the last country that could be described as picturesque for quite a few days as we were heading into Queensland industrial farming area called the Darling Downs with huge paddocks of grass or sorgum or such like. It was also very flat.

We had lunch at a Bakery in Roma and it turned out that the owners were a couple on motorcycles we met at Rolleston a couple of days before. Colin needed to get some more eye drops so he put his prescription into the chemist across the road. It was extremely busy and would take 1/2 hour so we refueled.
We had instructions on finding Daniel and Frances' farm and passed Frances on her way to pick up the kids in the Land Cruiser. They have 500 acres and run cattle on it. Daniel was working at home this week getting the house they had brought onto the property suitable for us to sleep in i.e. build the wall for the kitchen and finish the veranda. He normally works as a mechanic in a local farm machinery workshop. Daniel took us on a tour around the house and it was looking very promising with 3 bedrooms, large lounge room, kitchen, bathroom and laundry. Most of the rooms are nearly ready but the kitchen and laundry still need work. There was a new 6 burner stove and oven sitting in the lounge room ready for installation. They were living in a large shed in the meantime, which was quite comfortable. The wood burner was ready to heat the lounge were we were sleeping when we retired.

Soon Frances and the kids arrived, Joshua 9, Libby 7 and Bethany 4. The girls had been to a dancing class and Daniel had been to a guitar lesson. The children are all well behaved and different. Not having a TV probably helps them a great deal. They all find ways to play using their own devices and the great range of toys and equipment Frances has managed to accumulate for them. We had a great time with them and Frances turned out the healthiest meals we have had on the trip so far. We downloaded our trip photos onto Frances computer. She is a keen photographer and we saw some of the videos of the house moving and other famiiy events.

Colin photographed the most spectacular sunset of the trip by chance when he went outside to get something.