Townsville to Ayers Rock by Trail Bike

Does everybody do something a bit stupid when they are young? Although it didn't seem like a dumb idea at the time, deciding to ride a 250/350 trail bike from Townsville to Ayers Rock (5400 km (3350 miles) return) probably wasn't the most sensible thing I have ever done. I'm not sure who's idea it was, but three of us set off on a two week jaunt to the rock in the Autumn of 1974.

I had just bought a new Yamaha RD350 and didn't want to take it on the trip as I thought (at the time) that it would be unsuitable. I also had a Yamaha MX250 at the time so was on pretty good terms with Angus Smith Marine, the Yamaha agent in Townsville in those days. I was able to get a loan of a second hand Honda SL350 (less than a year old) from their showroom floor in trade for a few hours work in their workshop. The SL350 proved to be OK for the task, certainly more suited than the other two bikes that started on the trek.

Lloyd Baker (probably the instigator of the thing) rode a Kawasaki 250, which was OK up to 100 kph, but not comfortable above that. Kev Kraft was cajoled into joining the troop and rode a Suzuki T250 Savage. The Suzuki should have been at least as good as the Kawasaki (slightly taller geared as I recall), however Kev didn't like to go above 80 kph! The advantage the Honda had over these pair was that the gearing was quite tall for a trail bike, and the engine was happier (fuel wise) at higher revs than the 2 strokes.

Although we weren't in any great rush, travelling with Kev at 80 kph was a bit of a test. After a while Lloyd and I sat on 100 and stopped every so often for a fag and to wait till Kev caught up. Towards the end of day one Kev was riding straight past us (when we stopped to wait for him), then we would take off at 100 and pass him.... etc etc. We finished the day a bit short of Mt Isa, and camped in a concrete culvert. We made quite a few jokes about the fuel economy Kev was getting out of the Suzuki. The bad news for Kev was found when he opened his bag and found that the lid had come off his one litre bottle of 2 stroke oil. All of his clothes were soaked in oil!

The next day Kev decided to call it quits at Mt Isa. He booked into a Motel, where he was going to spend the day cleaning his clothes, then set off back to Townsville (900 km) the day after. Lloyd and I rode on until Lloyd had flat tyre Number 1 at Barrys Caves (a Motel/Store/Fuel stop). The puncture was patched, but it was a bit hot so we decided to stay at the caves (see photo - they looked like caves too!)

As we continued the next day we came into cloudier weather. Although we didn't strike any rain on the trip, Central Australia had recently had a lot of rain - as we were about to find out. We camped the night in a creek just north of Tennant Creek. As it turned out, just one month later a bloke was murdered while camping in his Combi Van at the same spot - murdered for his vehicle.

We travelled to Alice Springs the next day and spent a bit of time in the area.

The normally dry Todd River was in flood, and there was quite a bit of water damage to roads in the area. We decided to go and check out some of the local scenery, Simpsons Gap and Stanley Chasm. Getting to Stanley's Chasm was no drama, however we found a bridge was missing (washed away) on the road to Simpsons Gap. This was where the trail bikes come in. Lloyd came up with the idea of travelling downstream a bit to find a suitable creek crossing. When he found the appropriate spot he sent me across to find out how deep it was! It was OK, there was a bit of a hole on the other side which was pretty deep, so I got off the bike and started yelling instructions across to Lloyd before he came across. He started making gestures to me, then yelled out "look behind you". I turned around to see an Emu staring me in the eye, almost standing right next to me. Since he seemed content to stand there and look at the proceedings I directed Lloyd across. The Emu ran a few metres away when Lloyd's bike jumped out of the creek, but didn't go any further. I mounted, and off we rode, Emu in pursuit. We got back onto the dirt road to Simpson's Gap, the Emu now running beside my bike, a few metres to my right. It was happy striding along at 30 kph for a while, before peeling off and doing a few 360's around a bush! We arrived at the gateway to the National Park and stopped for a photo. I noticed that there was a 5c entry fee to the park, with an honour box attached to the gatepost. Next moment we could hear the sounds of a Landcruiser in full flight, coming up the road towards us. It turned out to be the park ranger, who was most upset that we had come into the area , since the park was closed, due to the failed bridge. He also said that we couldn't go in because he was not on duty to collect the 5c entry fee. But since we are here, and so was he, couldn't we give him the 5c and go in? Of course not, he had a day off because of the closure. The Emu definitely had more intelligence.

After a couple of days in Alice we headed off to the Rock. Lloyds Kwaka was starting to run rich and get terrible fuel consumption. I started riding for ultra economy, so that I could give him fuel from the Honda, and was getting about 2.5 litres per 100 km (112 mpg), not bad for the twin. Then the Kwaka got puncture Number 2 near Curtin Springs. After making the repair it was dusk when we headed of for the Rock. Those little trail bike lights ( a total of 60 watts between us) are not to good when you are riding on a dirt road after lots of rain. We rode side by side to get the best light, but ended up in an erosion rut before we could stop. Luckily it was all pretty sandy terrain so there was no damage. Maximum speed without over-riding the lights was about 40 kph! Eventually we got into the camping ground pretty late at night. We pitched the tent but had no idea of where the rock was.

Daybreak and I climbed out of the tent. It was lucky we had arrived so late as our first view of Ayers Rock was at sunrise, and our tent was in the perfect spot. It was fantastic, just like all of the postcards, an iridescent red/orange in colour. Lloyds rear tyre was still losing air so we used the radio telephone at the Rock to call a bike shop at Alice Springs and get a new tube sent out. They were able to give it to somebody from Curtain Springs who was in town. I rode out to Curtain Springs to pick it up - they were so hospitable they convinced me to stay the night and even gave me breakfast!

Climbing the rock was interesting, and a bit of an effort. I was surprised to see that quite a few people have died on the rock - either from heart attack or by falling. The first bit is quite steep. We saw a few dingos about, normally very shy animals they have got used to the regular human traffic in the area. I found my time at the Rock, and the Olgas very interesting overall. We couldn't hang about though, because we had taken a week to get there we had to get cracking. The Kwaka's fuel consumption was fixed at Alice Springs - the O-ring around the main jet had been damaged, effectively creating a giant main jet.

With puncture Number 4, the only locally available tube was a 2.75 x 17. This was not a good fit in a 4.00 x 18 tyre, and failed after about a relatively short distance. Puncture Number 5 was between Richmond and Hughenden, about 400 km from home. Lloyd had now discovered that the tyre's sidewall had failed on the inside and was damaging the tube. The only thing now was to try an old trick Lloyd had heard about - to fill the tyre with grass! This was tried by only for about 500 metres but with no success. We weren't far from Hughenden, where Lloyd new somebody with a truck, so the plan was to leave the bike there, go two-up into Hughenden and drop Lloyd off. He would then return with the truck to pick up the bike - then repair it when a new tyre and tube were available. Problem was that when Lloyd got back the bike was missing - stolen!

So the Honda was the only bike to complete, what turned out to be our little epic adventure. In 14 days of holiday 11 had been spent on the road! Unfortunately the Honda was not the bike that left Townsville either, with lots of red staining (from the red mud) that would not wash out of the engine castings, and a muffler which was falling apart.

The story doesn't end until two years later however. I came out to Hughenden with my Bultaco Frontera 360 to compete in a "desert" race held in a dry river bed. I did a trial run the day before the race and found that I couldn't hang on to the Frontera's speed wobbles with the standard narrow "woods" bars (the race winners average speed was 98 kph). I asked around for some wider bars and was sent into town to an address where I might find some. When I went there (a bike repairer) Lloyd's bike stood out from all the others in the back of the house, mainly due to the knurled crossbar on the handlebars (a bit of a trend in that era). The engine had been seized by the thief and was in for repair. Lloyd was notified, the bike was recovered, unfortunately it was only worth a fraction of it's value in good condition two years before.

I returned to the Rock about 4 years later, by car from Melbourne, with Greg Keays (see Boys Own Adventure), but that's another story.

All of the roads we travelled on are now sealed.