Australia Farm and Outback

[maccajim]

Why these people are here in the first place in one of the harshest climates for humans in the world i think no water fiery hot and rocky ground almost no trees just stone and dust.
For the precious Opal



This is what the diggings look like from the air the centre of the circle is the shaft down they then generally dig out in 4 directions until they hit a seam or what they think is opal harbouring rock. The white rings is the spoil dug up and dumped around the shaft after being sifted and "Eyeballed" for opal. It is hardcore labour intensive and no way to get big machines to do it as u have to inspect it, that is why the big companies stay away and the little 1-2man teams dominate White Cliffs and Coobber Peddy. U have to be a jack of all trades mechanic, miner, engineer and a bit crazy to live here and i think it reflects in the town most friendly place i have ever been top class of people with a wicked sense of humour and Vocabulary!!!!






These are the opal hoppers they use some vaccum to suck the spoil up and filter out the sand and rock all custom made everyone has a differrent system but u can see u have to be a jack of all trades to rig one of these up and build your house underground get water elec etc. They only got main elec 16 years ago!! The town was run on gas cylinders and "winlights" wich are wind turbines charging a battery and powereing 30volt power lights all custom made by the locals.

When i was there they had run out of gas in the town and lots of older places still relied on gas for hot water and cooking stoves. I was drinking at the pub when a Roo shooter comes in sits beside me and orders a drink and a fresh gas cylinder. The publican say "u can have your drink and pay for the gas but i hope u don't want it today" then laughs tells him the whole town is out of gas truck hasn't come.

[SYDADVGS]

Great RR and wonderful pics. You have really captured the outback colours

[maccajim]

Sunset white cliffs


another one u can sit on table out front of the pub and see this view.


I got talking to the professional roo shooter i thought they were for pet food he said for humans they work at night not allowed to shoot them until the sun goes down heaps of regulations. I asked him about the road to broken hill and he really gave me some top advice he said you better pump your tyres back up he keeps his high to stop punctures. He went on to explain how the bulldust will build up in the holes and also loose rocks get pushed into the holes by the big trucks so if u have your tyres low you hit these holes go straight through the bulldust and puncture on these sharp rocks.

I pumped the front upto 19psi it worked out good as the sandy dusty sections were pretty brief followed by long rocky mongrel bits, u can see just looking around white cliffs that it has much more sharp stone and rock then the country i travelled thru further east.


Watch out for these pesky my most hated critter from the whole trip can't tell where they will run and always a few of them u see one then 2 more pop up beside and they can easily do 60kmh. They seem to hid in the dry creek bed sections where there are some trees for camoflauge, when there hear a bike exhaust they start running in any direction a lot of the time straight down the middle of the road as they can think they can get a fast get away on it. I had one stay on the road for nearly half a km running just in front of me, crazy a shotgun mounted on the front with remote trigger on the bar is the only solution.
At the guest house i stayed the owners daughter said they sometimes get chased home from school by the local emus they are pretty scary up close worse than the magpies that chased us. The local school has 4 kids so no need for a school bus.



All the mod cons in these places this could be a 4 bedroom house going back into the hill with sat dish tv nice kitchen etc very cool in the summer and the old hills hoist to dry out the freshly washed mining clothes what more could u want.

[jtb]

Macca!

You stopped mid sentence... now I want to know what was said!

[jtb]

Originally Posted by slojon

I don't know why we don't get more Europeans and Yanks out here experiencing the outback.

Because we don't want to ruin it?

[TurboCharger]

What a great run, did you keep going to the red centre or was it enough to White cliffs? How long was your round trip from/return to Sydney?

[maccajim]

Nah i didn't get to the Red heart i had planned on a month but had to cut it short to be back in Sydney to help out a family member so only 2 weeks and i didn't want to be riding flat out all day i wanted to take it easy so just got to here then broken hill and back. I have close family in darwin so have been there a lot and NT but will go back.
From sydney u can do what i did get to either cobar or bourke in 2 days change your tyres and hit the dirt. My original plan was to keep going to port augusta then up to coober pedy on the dirt, Dalhouise a couple of springs alice and the rock. But i will save my holidays now for a longer trip.

The times i nearly came to grief was pushing too hard too early in the morning and some late afternoons to try to reach where i had planned to be on paper really dumb as those are dangerous times to be riding and u only gain an hour or so while risking a trip stopping crash so u have to be flexible with time. An Emu appeared right beside my left elbow doing around 60 to 80kmh they are big up close as taller than me on the bike and could have been nasty.

[maccajim]

The corner store Burgers, suppplies and petrol how is the mural how long it must have taken to get here in the old days.

The pub has a UHF if u want some food order at the corner store and they buzz the pub on the uhf top system.

The road heading from White cliffs to Broken hill about 220km of dirt gravel and a few red bulldust sections
Signs you got a long way to go i took the road to the right goes dirt pretty quickly






It has been dead flat for an hour or so then this rock emerges from the land looked startling had a purple tinge to it and really stood out in the barren landscape i think they used some places around here in mad max 2 u get that feeling very isolated.



Then this tiny house with some goats around it looked really cool


Then a corner u can see the road changing from hard gravel to the red dust wich can catch u out if u keep hammering at 100kmh really have to watch for changes in soil type etc.


U can see the sides of the road piled up with fine red dirt this patch got some slippery dusty sections not too bad though, i stopped here for a while to soak up the silience knowing i was heading back to civilization.


A closer look at the road surface you have to pick a good line and stick to it don't go checking out the scenery and wandering into a sandy patch or u will go down.



On this section i only passed 3 trucks for the 220kms and one weird thing i couldn't understand. All the trucks kicked up lots of dust so u can see them coming from 10 minutes away and get ready, about 20 minutes from this spot i spot something coming towards me but no dust no noise and moving with some weird slow gait. I thought it was a cow or bull coming down the road, when i got closer i was shocked to see a German cyclist not even on a mountain bike but a hybrid with half racing tyres.

He looked like he was carrying nothing had a tent on the back his walking shoes strapped to the handlebars and a regular plastic juice bottle in the v of the frame half full with water. I was a little suprised to see him. He also lived in Sydney and was heading to some Nat Park about 40 to 50 ks back he would have to ride thru the sand in the last pic to get there. I told him to take all the water out of my left pannier bottle, I had a few litres spare, he only took a little feeling bad for me, when i will be drinking beer in Broken Hill in less than an hour! crazy. I was too stunned to take a photo really regret it. We were both
grinning like 2 crazy guys in the dessert wich is what we were, i hope he got there ok.

Classic ruin

[maccajim]

Mad Max 2 was filmed near here and got a lot of pics in the pub, i loved that movie and u can see it in the views out here, supposedly lots of the buggies were made and driven by locals and ended up at white cliffs, has no police nearest is 90km to willcannia so u do what u like.

U cant beat seeing the classic car at the pub a supercharger on some of these roads would be awesome, the road form Broken hill to mennindee must have been used a lot it has a high hill part then some twists and straights wich remind me of the films.


The hotel is obviously a tourist draw but the grey nomads are such tight arsses they wander around take heaps of photos and don't buy anything, there is a sign on the bar saying "if u don't drink and eat neither do we!" I had 2 sandwiches and a beer, whynot help them out.
But the retired 4wd camper travellers don't give a shit as i found on my trip most of the locals hate them as they don't contribute much at all to the local economy. They buy most of their food from big supermarkets in the cities stocking their camper so don't need to eat locally and all their fuel is the multinational shell Bp servos basically owned by the same companies.



My fav pic in the pub lots of making mad max stuff Mel Gibson and his arch enemies in the film having a smoke playing cards and hitting the beers classic.


Another road heading north west from hear watch the horses though and don't let the bitumen fool you it won't last more than a few hundred metres.





This is the type of road scene that makes u feel like u are almost in the film, made for a supercharged beast i would love to bring my turboed car out here for a run

Broken hill a big mining town with a lot of classic old buildings pubs and art gallerys.












Broken hill nice old buildings


The mine in the back ground everpresent

[Curryinahurry]

Gday Myte

Happy to hear that you had a few laughs while reading my RR!
Great Report and Pics!!

We had originally planned to go to White cliffs on our way back but then decided to go to Broken Hill coz we already saw the opal mines at Cooberpedy! But after seeing you report.... next trip will be through there and then to Oodnadatta, Dalhouse springs, etc...

I agree with you myte... Out in the Red Centre... The night skies are amazing and no photo can justify the sight!! As you say... best way is to get people to go there and see and experience it!! AND the silence!!! WOW! Have to confess though... was a bit scared of the creepie crawlies.. so stuck to my tent!!

Catch you on the road some time!!

Cheers

Bala

[maccajim]

Tar road Broken Hill to mennindee very nice just one hilly windy section then flat and straight mad max type roads. Stopped in some shade for a tea and was disgusted with the toilet paper blowing everywhere people can't even bury their carp.





Mennindee lakes are gone back to the first lake had to go off raod to get close to this one


can just see some lake water in the distance it should be a lot closer couldn't get down to it the sand was so dry it was like a beach.

[Siva]

mate,

how did u manage with fuel ?

did u carry a jerryCan ?

GOOD Ride Report !!!


cheers
siva

[maccajim]

Fuel was fine i was by myself so doing pretty easy dirt roads each town village will have a pump i had the motorcycle australia handbook wich has petrol pumps on it. The longest leg on remote dirt was probably only 250km my ktm can do 400 - 420km. after the first day offroad i had to pull the high octane plug as no clue what quality the petrol was after louth.

This was just a bit of a trial run testing stuff i got a small swag this week and have mat and sleeping bag in it so u won't have to waste time packing and unpacking tent matress sleeping bag should be done in seconds now. This should save some space as well and leave room for 5 or 10 litres of extra gas.
I also want to get the high front guard and heated grips are a must if u want to cover a lot of kms u need to start early and it is freezing until 10 or 11 am had numb hands wich really hamper your riding.

[Snowbeard]

great RR !!!


thanks!

[Lambo]