Westy, Jason, Carl and Hugo

On the ferry

In line for the ferry

Hugo

All rugged up at queenscliff waiting for the ferry

Dunkeld

I caught up with the boys below Horsham because they had problems with
a flat tyre from a flat spotted rim on hugo's bike. I got westy to fix
my front break as it stopped working after being upside down in a
fall. Mick and Jason are very handy to have on the trail. Their
combined mechanical expertise is huge. After a cold and wet ride
through the Grampians we arrived at dunkeld which is at the top of the
great ocean road. AJ organised a great house for us to stay in and we
had a great feed at the pub. Not looking forward to tomorrow as we
will most probably be riding on the tar in the cold and wet. That sucks.

A beautiful place to be bogged

Road signs for bee's ?

Kissing the front fender

I fell off so many times that I lost count. You had to keep the bike
over about 20 kph to stay on top of the sand. But when you front wheel
caught an edge it would instantly bury itself and I would go over the
handlebars. I dropped the bike so many times that in the end I was
having real trouble picking it up. To add insult to injury I got
nearly all the way through the park and came to a locked gate. I then
had to turn back and ride back out the way I came. It was 3 hours of
gut busting and I only escaped by the skin of my teeth. Needless to
say I was completey exhausted and no closer to the days finish point.

Bogged

This is my bike bogged to the belly pan in the soft sand.

The sign said it all

This sign should have been enough of a hint for me to turn back.

Going it alone

After we escaped from the Murray national park the boys decided to go
straight down the highway. I couldn't cope with the thought of tiding
down the tar so I broke away on my own and continued on to the the
Wyperfeld national park. It was a big mistake as you will see. It was
a beautiful sand trap and I shouldn't have gone in ony own.

The boys off the pan

Here are the boys discussing our next move after we got the bikes back
off the clay pan

Clay pan kaos

Check out the mud on my tyres. Once the tread fills up the bike is
unrideable.

Day 4 drama's

Day 4 saw us venture into the Murray sunset national park. It all was
going fine until we. Had to cross a clay pan. It seemed fine until we
got to the middle and it all turned pear shaped. Al decked his bike
but everyone else pulled up in time. It took quite a while to get the
bikes turned around and pushed out of the bog. It seemed a shame to
turn back but it was too risky to keep going. This photo is taken at a
lookout before the clay pan

Day 3

Our third day in the outback was a little more enjoyable because we
could actually see where we were going. The roads were still quite
challenging at high speed as they were unpredictable with soft patches
of bull dust and deep sand ruts coming from out of knowhere. On one
section I was sitting up the back when I decided to go after the front
guys for a bit of fun. I sat on 140kph + for about 40 ks to catch
them. At that speed on those roads the bike is very twitchy and easily
upset. I had the steering damper wound full on so the steering was
basically locked straight. I had the rear air shock set really soft to
take the weight off the front wheel and I sat a long way back on the
bike. On the cattle grids the thing gets airborne for what seems like
ages. It is really good in the air and although it's scary it's huge
fun.

When I finally caught westy we decided to do an acceleration
comparison between the adventure and the HP2. On the 2nd gear roll on
the HP won easily. On the standing start I nearly flipped It twice and
mick's superior clutch work took him to victory. We then did a 6th
gear roll on that showed the Hp marginally stronger. Our analysis is
that there is not a lot of difference in engine power but the power to
weight difference is large.

I am absolutely in love with the HP and can't wait to attack the
Simpson desert next year. I think it will be awesome

We arrived at wentworth around 5 pm and did our usual maintenance
checks including air filter cleans. We went to the services club for
dinner. It was totally oz. Another good evening of bench racing was
had by all.

Tomorrow we head for the grampians on some really shitty roads. Can't
wait.

Regards

Mike

It's a small world

We were stopped on the side of a main road today working out where we
were when a guy in a semi pulled up and came over to say hello. After
a couple of minutes he turned to Laurie and said " your Laurie
Alderton aren't you. I raced against you" that started a great round
of bench racing and reminiscing.

Dust storm

This photo on the wall of the pub was of the approaching dust storm
last month. Pretty scary

Another pub

This is the old maidens hotel at menindie. Made famous by Burke and
wills who stayed there at the start of their ill fated expedition.
Luckily we fared better than them and mad it safely to our destination.

Check out the catheads

Where the f&$k are we?

The boys arguing about which road we should be on.

Day 3 in the outback

The dust has stopped so at least you can see where you are going. The
roads are rough and sandy and lots of fun.

Hanging out the washing

It's not easy to get to the clothesline in Louth when the darling
river is in flood. This household has a inovative solution to the
problem

Way out there

>

> I thought phillip island was south
>

White cliffs

Traditional Aussie meal at the white cliffs pub complete with tinned
fruit salad and ice cream

As the dust storm hits Wanaring

Wanaring pub for lunch.

Sound like we are piss heads

The beast in the sand

The boys take a break

Deep sand was the order of the day. Lots of nervous moments. My new
steering damper helps make light work of the sand and bulldust on the
Louth road.

Louth pub - day 2

Just before the sand storm

On the road to Phillip Island

Day 1 - lunch at Albert