5 Mate's, 10 Day's, 4571 Km's, Newcastle to Birdsville & back

[tarletan]

Gotta luv that Trail stand, why didn't I think of that,

[loxsmith]

Originally Posted by marty922

Great report - love the pic of the BRP and lightning.

btw - instead of dragging logs around to prop the bike up for flat repairs - try one of these. I've got one - only used it once, but it works a treat. More info here on advrider

We just did the Birdsville loop out of Brisbane and not 1 flat in 4800km of mostly dirt??? Must have been very lucky!! Love the temp repair job, very resourceful

Excellent ride report and pics, keep it up

Have just ordered 5 x Trail Stands, (freight for 5 is $15, freight for 6 was $50) they look the goods and will make the job a lot easier

[tksmith]

Top read creedy!

Don't leave me hanging, what happened after the rats

[Steve_C]

Really enjoying this. Great photos, too.

More, more, more.


Cheers

[n16ht5]

awesome photos! More more more!!

[creedyflyr]

Day 7: 577.6 Km's covered.
After a night of Rat busting & UFO spotting, we woke up to a killer Sunrise & while we were going about our morning bike packing ritual, the Dingo's started to howl. It was pretty cool when the 1st Dingo started howling somewhere in front of us, but even cooler when his mates started up around us. We looked at each other smiling while we listened to the Surround Sound Dingo's, then a few more pics from the lookout before setting off on the last stretch to Birdsville.

XR400

Rod on the XR650

Me


Yep, Chain lube needed here! ( Check out the Gel Seat, Saved My Arse big time)

The road into Birdsville was a mix of unbelievably smooth dirt & perfect tar sections. I was constantly amazed at the condition of these tar sections, way better than the roads back in civilization.

Before long we arrived at the famous Race Track & rolled into Town, excited to finally reach Birdsville. But the excitement was pretty short lived. This town was dead! No Cars on the streets, no people on the footpaths. WTF!!
We pulled up at the Pub for the standard Photo & there was not a soul in sight. No worries we thought, we will get a feed at the Famous Birdsville Bakery. SORRY, the place was closed until April 2012.....SHIT. We rolled into the Servo & asked the staff why it’s so dead & apparently it’s pretty standard from now until it starts to get cooler. The only food on offer was frozen pies cooked in the servo microwave & to top it all off, Big red was pretty much surrounded by water which meant a long detour if we wanted to see it. So with time running out we decided to ditch Big Red & head back. Talk about anti climax!!

Ghost Town

The 1^st overnight stop on the way home was Windorah, a little town that seemed to be out in the middle of nowhere. We stayed some comfy rooms behind the Pub & once again tucked into a decent feed & a few Ale’s. I could easily get used to these outback Pub meals as they are always huge.
Creedy.

[creedyflyr]

Day 8: 615.9Km’s covered
This Morning we met the Famous Windorah petrol station blind Dude. This Guy was amazing, none of us even knew he was blind until Dan asked about the nut stuck to the middle of his Cash Register. “That’s how I know which button to press”. Then it clicked. Jason just thought he was looking at him funny when he went there 1^st thing in the Morning. Old Mate knew where everything & everyone was, He gave us all the correct change by the feel of the notes & restocked the fridge after we bought Drinks. He runs this place on his own & it would be quite easy to have a conversation with this Guy & never know he was Blind.
We left Windorah heading down Diamantina Developmental Rd to Quilpie where we fuelled up & headed down Quilpie Thargomindah Rd to Thargomindah for lunch. Here’s a hot tip for fellow inmates, don’t go to the Pub across the road from the Toyota Servo. The cranky Bitch that runs the place obviously doesn’t like Motorcycle Riders. We went there for a feed & some Beers & pulled up in the shade in the empty Car Park out the front when Surly Shirley (as we later found out the locals call her) opens the door before we even had our helmets off & say’s “Get those bloody Bikes out of here & park on the road” Now the Temperature was in the High 30°s & we were stinging for a Beer but we quickly gave her the finger & took our business elsewhere.

The run to Hungerford was a mix of smooth dirt & savage rocky corrugations & just as the sun was getting low we rolled into Hungerford looking for a place to stay. Not much to the little town apart from the kick arse Royal Mail Hotel.
This joint was one of My favourite places we stayed at & the Publican’s Moc & Sheree are friendly & laid back. This place oozes character, right down to the frogs in the Bath tub & sink & the Geko’s on the walls.

When we first arrived a few fella’s came over to check out our bikes. I always love the look on people’s faces when they ask where we had ridden from, they all seem to think we have a screw loose. It turns out these Guys were ex AFL players that do this every Year, flying around from Pub to Pub with their Mate’s. One of them was a former Coach & Captain of one of the big teams but I can’t remember which one. Not a big AFL fan!
Another epic feed, some Beverages & solid nights sleep. Starting to get tired now & not looking forward to the long straight stretch ahead of us.
Creedy.

[jtb]

Keep 'er coming!

Love your work

[Ian Robinson]

I think yr photos are stunning, are you a professional?. Pity the Birdsville bakery was closed. You missied out on a good Brekky.

More pics please.

[Uncle_Dave]

Originally Posted by creedyflyr

Day 8: 615.9Km’s covered

We left Windorah heading down Diamantina Developmental Rd to Quilpie where we fuelled up & headed down Quilpie Thargomindah Rd to Thargomindah for lunch. Here’s a hot tip for fellow inmates, don’t go to the Pub across the road from the Toyota Servo. The cranky Bitch that runs the place obviously doesn’t like Motorcycle Riders. We went there for a feed & some Beers & pulled up in the shade in the empty Car Park out the front when Surly Shirley (as we later found out the locals call her) opens the door before we even had our helmets off & say’s “Get those bloody Bikes out of here & park on the road” Now the Temperature was in the High 30°s & we were stinging for a Beer but we quickly gave her the finger & took our business elsewhere.

That really funny as 18 months ago I was on a ride with a few mates (one of them is in a band) and we actually stopped there for a beer and received the same treatment so my mate wrote this song naming her Surly Shirley!



Shirley found out about the song and was furious but my mate sent a heap of cd's up there for her to auction off for the RFDS so all ended well.

[kopeli]

Nice pics guys & great adventure.

[Ian Robinson]

Great Vid, Shirl is getting a reputation .....

Funny place Thargo, you mentioned the Toyota Servo, you might recall there were two bowsers there, On my recent trip through, One was out of order and the other stopped after delivering 23 cents worth of petrol. I was advised that the SUN affects the operation , it was 3.30 in the afternoon & in direct sunlight, So we hugged, kissed and caressed that bloody bowser till it finally produced enough fuel to fill my old girl.

Yep, funny place, even the Police station has a "relationship" with motorcycles.

[muztt500]

keep the report's coming there Creedy...love the pics.
and are you a professional picture man???
seems to me that's what we'll have to classify you as from now on.

cheers muz

[creedyflyr]

Originally Posted by Uncle_Dave

That really funny as 18 months ago I was on a ride with a few mates (one of them is in a band) and we actually stopped there for a beer and received the same treatment so my mate wrote this song naming her Surly Shirley!

Ha, Nice one, Ive had that song stuck in My Head all arvo!

Thanks for all the positive comments on the Photo's, they were all taken on a shitty old el cheapo Fuji Finepix Camera. I might have to upgrade to a proper DSLR soon.
Here are some more random pics to appease the pic hungry Mob.

Dan

We knew when there would be shade & water by the Birds.

The Mothership

Smoko

I think this might be Toompine

Teeth rattlers

Creedy.

[loxsmith]

Originally Posted by creedyflyr

We left Windorah heading down Diamantina Developmental Rd to Quilpie where we fuelled up & headed down Quilpie Thargomindah Rd to Thargomindah for lunch. Here’s a hot tip for fellow inmates, don’t go to the Pub across the road from the Toyota Servo. The cranky Bitch that runs the place obviously doesn’t like Motorcycle Riders. We went there for a feed & some Beers & pulled up in the shade in the empty Car Park out the front when Surly Shirley (as we later found out the locals call her) opens the door before we even had our helmets off & say’s “Get those bloody Bikes out of here & park on the road” Now the Temperature was in the High 30°s & we were stinging for a Beer but we quickly gave her the finger & took our business elsewhere.

I remember Surly 'i'm a bitch' Shirley, on the way back from the Birdsville Races this year we dropped in for a feed and a few ales. She was overwhelmed by the travellers wanting food, so I offered to duck into the kitchen to give her a hand.
The offer was rudely rejected and the poor backpacker barmaid was copping an earful!

Some people should never own a business

I seem to remember the publican at Eulo had the same attitude