The off centre runs get you to some of the more interesting places in OZ. Provided you are prepared to accept the challenge of riding via the interesting routes you will be well rewarded. If you do have a problem the trick is to fix it and keep moving. Allow for the possibility that you will have a problem in your planning so that you have days off where the repair can be done and possible the washing too. If you can do 1,000 km a day plan on 500 km a day... give your self plenty of time. That way you will make it. Being in front of the rest has the advantage that they can back you up. Being last you may find no one behind to help!
This run was a gorge run! I saw so many gorges. All different like fruit, which is better an apple or an orange? All you can say is I liked Geikei gorge best for its scenery. Carnarvon for its walks. Edith falls for the swimming. Litchfield was too crowed after the Kimberleys. Kakadu was better for me than Litchfield. Lawn hill is good but I would not make a special trip just for it, it is a long way from anywhere.
For the entire trip (2 months) it did not rain, or at least not enough to put on the wet weather gear. One night in Broome it did sprinkle on the tent, but that was dry by the morning, and that was the entire rainfall for the two months. The tent was wetter from dew about 3 times during the trip.
14.5 km/l average fuel consumption about $1,200 in fuel costs, 16,000 kms, 3 rear tyres, no rain to speak of.
Geikei -my 'best' for scenery. Giekie gorge has white rock where the wet season floods wash the rock, and red above this. Do take the time to see it during the day and once again near sunset when the red colour is emphasized. It can be spectacular.
Windjana - ok for fresh water crocks.
Windjara gorge is much taller than Giekie but lacks the colours, being more grey than red. Stepping on the fresh water crocks is a problem, they just lie on the sand so you don't want to walk backwards to get a good view.
Lenard River gorge is a very steep cutting into rock by the river. The rock is grey, and difficult to climb due to the steepness.
Bell - best swimming on the gibb. The gorge is a plunge pool and amphitheater probably caused by the water.
Manning River - Manning gorge is a longer walk, but over the river through some vegetation that is rather nice. Some good views to be had of the surrounding country too.
Galvan's - small, 10 minute walk the easiest to get to.
Diamond - Diamond gorge is a fair way off the gibb river road (100 kms), Mornignton station is cheap if you bring everything yourself. This gorge has more variation in a short distance that I saw in the other gorges.
Barnett river gorge is about 30 km north of the Barnett river road house and a one hour walk in from the end of the 4wd track (where the boad tree is). It is a steep drop to the river with good swimming. And scenery at the gorge.
Chamberlain - $33 for a cruise. Chamberlain gorge is a tall red gorge. Crocks are a possibility so I would not swim here. The cruise boat goes to an Aborigine art site, you can do the same by using a hire boat.
Emma gorge at the end is very pretty, with a warm spring coming in at the right but this does not warm the rest of the pool. So swimming is cool.
Cathedral (Bungle Bungles) - large
Katherine - 5 sections by cruse boat
Butterfly (Katherine) - no much of a gorge
Butterfly (Douglas hot springs) - even less of a gorge
(Litchfield) - way too crowed after the gibb
Lawn hill gorge - pretty
Carnarvon gorge - over populated - but good walking. Canarvon gorge is a white rock gorge with many branches that lead off to other gorges all within a half days walk of the NP campsite. The colour of the rock weathers to grey where it is exposed, but you can see the original colour where rock falls have taken place, or on under cut surfaces, some of which are long and large. It is my first time here and I was impressed with the amount of walking available. Disappointed with the number and quantity of weeds along the paths. As people use the paths they spread the weeds...
Cathedral gorge - Aborigine art
W gorge -
Amphitheatre - impressive! need 180 degree fish eye in all directions, and 2 shots!
Wolf creek crater (Tanami)- "the" crater in OZ
Brome historical museum - good value
Tunnel creek (Kimberleys)is worth the walk through, if nothing else to wash off some dust. Take a very bright torch.
Jacks Waterhole (Kimberleys) I did not think much off, the facilities are good, the waterhole is big but that is all it has.
Zeebee springs are warm, but small, you can only sit not swim.
Mini Bungle Bungles (Kununurra) I would have to agree with some people that walking these is very much like walking the Bungle Bungles... They are smaller but very similar.
some say if you walk this you have seen the bungle bungles.
Bungle Bungles About the only things you get from going into the bungles are echidna chasm and frog hollow, the rest would be better from a helicopter.
Echidna chasm (Bungle Bungles) - the slimiest of chasm?
Piccaninny creek (Bungle Bungles) - this is a multiday walk, I only saw a little, but they say the helicopters are annoying
Frog hollow (Bungle Bungles)- dry - a rugged walk
Lake Argyle is big, well huge actually. Do a scenic flight.
Edith falls - Edith falls is very nice, a large fall into a large pool, can get busy during the peak of the day, but if you walk up to the top pool you can find peace if you are prepared to wait for people to leave. The walk out to sweetwater is ok, but not spectacular. The swimming is better at top or bottom pools rather than sweetwater.
Sweetwater - good for a small swim, slippery rock bottom
Long hollow - nice scenery
Dogulas hot springs are better than zeebee springs in terms of swimming, zeebee has better scenery around the water.
Litchfield has some nice bits, but I would need to be happy with the 'crowds' of people. I am not, at least not in 'the bush' after being along the gibb river. Or Edith falls.
Wangi falls - crowed swimming
Wet lands display (recommended! allow 2 hours)They have videos, passive and active displays.
Kakadu is a spectacular place if you can cover the area and the seasons. I am fortunate that I have now seen it in two of the five seasons. Next time I'll come back in the 'knock 'em down' season (March, April, May) if I am lucky. I think I preferred Kakadu in the wet, more spectacular although you can go to as many places or do anywhere near as many walks.
Kakadu display (recommend allow 1 DAY!!!) The have many different videos during the day, a slide show, and passive displays and a library.
Ubirr Rock - good art works and Aborigine site and scenery
Cahill's crossing - good walks in surrounds
Nourlangie Rock - Aborigine art and scenery
Yellow waters (not so good)
Gunlom Falls - interesting to see it in the dry compare to the wet
Cutta Cutta caves (not recommended)
Mataranka - was good, the colour of the spring is spectacular. I prefer the setting of rather than the tiles at the commercial setting. Less people, a natural setting, and a wide choice of where to swim, or soak.
Bitter springs - not commercial, less people
We of the Never Never graves- read the book before you come.
Borroloola historical museum - very good
Lawn hill is a magnificent spot, but it is a long way from anywhere else.
Winton historical museum (see the 4wd truck!)
Quantas museum (not recommended)
Borroloola Workers museum (not recommended)
Towards the end of the gibb river I started to run out of matches. Basically when you dispose of your toilet paper you should burn it out here. This reduces it to something that won't blow all over the country if dug up by dingoes. Dingoes eat excrement for the moisture in the desert and nutrients elsewhere. I came across so much human waste and toilet paper left on the surface that I was disgusted. You should bury you feces at least 100 mm deep. It is hard for me to carry a shovel on the bike but it may be worth while to take care of other's waste.
The closure of Mt House Station (and Adcock gorge). This station use to provide services to tourists. Following seven incidents the station was closed.
Some long pants (all nylon) worked well as walking pants in the hot climate - Royal Robbins "Go Anywhere" these packed to less than the size of the shorts I carried... hid the dirt well due to their dark brown colour. They are a bit pricy.
The STAGG tinned food had some taste, and if used with 3-minute pasta more than filled me up.
If your can get it Golden Harvest is OK. The rest is just tinned muck according to my taste buds.
Battery - The "Odessy" battery ES650 worked very well, did not disintegrate and had better sustained cranking power then the standard type batteries.
EPIRB While I did not use it looks to have survived being strapped to the bike including the water crossings. Next time I would ware it on my body, under the jacket. As various people pointed out, if you do need it is best very close to you. A coroner court investigating an air crash where the onboard EPIRB failed has recommended that people carry personal EPIRBs in light aircraft. I think personal EPIRBs may well be forced on us in the distant future, they are certainly better (smaller, lighter, more universal and cheaper) than an other alternative emergency device. In Kosciusko NP they hire out EPIRBs ot to people for $5 a day. They figure it is cheaper to have these than paying for the searches when they get lost.
Dragon Jeans - too hard to clean, probably better off with leathers with the conditions. And not enough knee protection for me. Might try codura pants next time?
Jacket - codura and kevlar - good, not the breathing kind- that is another $200 so. Reasonably easy to clean but cannot pack away due to the armor taking up too much room.
Tyres - no tyre failed, nor did I have any punctures... but a longer life was expected from the tyres. Each tyre lasted about 6,000 km (including the kings tyre that is more dirt than street using the 3,000 it has done and predicting when it will ware out ... assuming a linear ware rate)
Photos- you need a fish eye 180-degree lens for some of the sites, you cannot get far enough away to take photos of some things. Also a tripod for the darker sites where you need long exposure The camera and lens survived the trip (a Nikon F60 and Tamron 28-200 mm). Somewhere/somehow I am missing a roll of film for Carnarvon gorge.
Panniers
One of the locks I used on the panniers failed, I will not use this type again.
The panniers were made of plastic Jerry cans designed for water, with their tops cut off. I have used this idea before with a canvas top, this time I used the original plastic top as this provides a handle and enables them to be used as a seat. The water bottle holders this time were metal, these failed and were replaced with more metal types... the full cage plastic type I used before are better.
The BMW sub frame twice... I am definitely replacing this!
The solo seat and rack are one piece and this means you must remove the luggage before getting to your battery under the tank etc. So a new sub frame that incorporates the rack and provides for a single seat mounting would be the go.
Side stand bolt- probably due to the age/use/abuse of the crash bars. I should replace these and the rocker covers. Note that this is a very early model with a bolt not a pin.
Exhaust valves loosing clearance. This is probably the most serious problem, it effects the motor performance and my enjoyment of longer trips. Possibly the K75 not having such a long distance from cam to valve together with the water-cooling would have less of a problem.
Oodnadatta
Good... Little or no bull dust or sand. Corrugations not significant
Tanami
Good... little bull dust or sand. Corrugations 850 km? Good creek crossings.
Gibb River
Good... Little or no bull dust or sand. Corrugations 600 km? Good creek crossings except for the Pentecost river with its large rocky bottom and its length.
Bungles
Good... No bull dust or sand. Corrugations not significant. The creek crossings are bad, as you cannot see the bottom due to the lack of flow through the creek and the amount of traffic.
Gulf Track
Good... No bull dust or sand. Corrugations 400 km. Good creek crossings
Note
the biggest variable of good to bad is your own personal experience. The best of the above tracks is very bad compared to super slab... Another variable is the vehicle, a pushbike with out suspension has different reactions compared to a dune buggy compared to a bus.
You can e-mail me at Yahoo. Dated 20 November 2000
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