I had my first sleep-in of the trip as I had all day to get to the airport to fly home - or so I thought. I wandered up to the local shopping centre for some lunch and discovered there was a railway station that was on the Airlink line direct to the airport. So I bought a ticket for the train. Then I noticed that the ticket only was valid for 2 hours and it was only 1:15 and the flight wasn't until 8 pm! I rushed back to Brook Road, took the DR650 round the back and locked it up with the chain and covered it with a bike cover Bob had left there. I had quite a few bits and bobs to leave behind as there was no way I could take them all back to Melbourne on the plane. These were sorted out and then bags filled with the stuff I wanted to take. This included my motocross boots, adventure riding suit and helmet. I had the Givi bag slung over one shoulder, the boots slung over the other shoulder and the Ventura bag held out in front.
So loaded up like a pack horse I staggered up the hill to the Eagle Junction station about 1 km away. I secretly hoped a passing motorist would take pity and give me a lift, but the only people that acknowledged me were a couple of NSITS who smiled sweetly in amazement. After four stops to catch my breath and wipe my brow, I made the station with 15 minutes to spare. I strained my back and I'm still suffering a week later. A railway employee at Eagle Junction told me I would have no trouble if I let my ticket expire as there were never any inspectors at the Airport end. At the airport station I spotted a free trolley and dived for it only to be stopped by a ticket inspector - luckily my ticket was still valid!
At this stage I had 4 hours to kill at the airport and I checked in my bags. The very nice Qantas lady put my boots and Ventura bag into a giant plastic bag so it would go through as one item and not incur an extra charge. Then I remembered that I had a couple of free passes to the Qantas club. I spent the 4 hours drinking Qantas's wine and eating their food and boarded the plane in good spirits. Catherine met me in Melbourne and I was soon home to find Morag still in bed suffering the aftermath of the flu.
Reflections on the trip
I decided that I'm not really cut out to be a true adventure rider. I found the prospect of 100's kms of unpredictable dirt roads a daunting task, that produced mild feelings of anxiety. While actually riding it wasn't too bad as the DR650 was the perfect bike for the trip and handled the conditions easily. Bowling along the Tanami at 90 KPH, it was in it's element. All I had to do was keep my nerve and open the throttle when ever the track turned sandy and rutted.
We had cut out a few of our dirt riding plans by mutual agreement, so Alan must have been feeling the same way. He had to manhandle 260 kgs of bike and luggage with a dicky throttle response. He played the role of tail-end-Charlie throughout the trip so had to eat my dust if the wind was blowing along the track. I generally traveled slightly faster but stopped every so often, to make sure Alan was OK. Only once was this not the case. In this way we kept in visual contact most of the time and were never more than 1 km apart. After particularly difficult sections Alan would catch up with me and we both would utter the word "FARRKK!" and head on.
The DR650 is often touted as the best adventure bike of the lot. It is a very robust air-cooled single with nothing really to break should you drop it. The motor is bullet-proof, even when submerged in a creek! In fact it seemed to go better after its dunking. The suspension soaked up all the potholes and rocks with no issues, so the preparation Bob Shaw put into it paid off. The engine has plenty of grunt when you needed it - even for overtaking road trains on the highway. It carried about 40 kgs of luggage and 100 kgs of rider and the 30L tank gave it a range of over 700 kms on the dirt. Nothing dropped off and nothing broke. The one bad point is the seat, which brought me lots of pain when riding long days on the tar. I stood up more on the pegs on the tar than on the dirt just to relieve the pain in my butt! Apart from that the DR was a great road bike as well as a dirt bike and could cruise at the speed limit all day. One of the DR riders at the Ulysses AGM had a custom made seat and that is probably a necessity for long trips.
The Heidenau Scout tyres were good on dirt or tar. The back wore out faster than expected but the front was hardly worn at the end of the trip. Alan's rear tyre lasted much better on the GS 1200. It had a solid section in the middle of the tread whereas my smaller section tyre on the DR did not, and this might have explained the wear rate. At very low speed the front tyre flexed the forks quite a bit but this disappeared over 30 KPH. The aftermarket screen was well worthwhile for the road miles as it took the wind pressure off the rider. But it cracked for no reason and wouldn't have lasted much longer. The lower gearing Bob fitted proved a wise move and the chain hardly wore at all. None of the spare cables or levers were needed.
The luggage arrangements worked well. The main weight was in the Ventura bag including the water and fuel cans and all tools. This worked well in the sandy sections as the weight naturally transferred backwards when the throttle was opened. The tent was slung across the seat with the clothes bag on top. This was not too restricting on the riders space and the soft clothes bag could be leant against. The throw-over panniers held only light stuff like the freeze dried food and plates and mugs. The NZ freeze dried food was very easy to prepare and quite tasty and it probably helped us lose a bit of weight as well. The water micro-filter was not really needed because we had access to reasonable water the whole way, but if we had become stranded it would have been essential.
I don't know what our next big trip will be, but I don't think Alan and I will be going the Long Way Round any time soon! I have a new found respect for Ewan and Charlie and will be re-watching their classic video again.
Alan's Postscript.
I agree with everything Colin has said and would like to add the following comments.
- Thanks to Colin for carrying 5 litres of extra fuel for me and 5 litres of water for both of us. As he has already stated the BMW R1200 GS is quite heavy at 260kgs plus about 60 kgs of luggage plus the rider making a total of 420kgs close to the bikes limit of 440kgs. With a tank that only holds 20 litres I needed an extra 15 litres to get me from Yuendumu to Balgo on the Tanami road. I am not really a camping person but I must give my Expedia inflatable mattress a plug. It was far more comfortable than the Kathmandu self-inflating mats and took up less space in my luggage. The Germans certainly build machines to last. I gave the GS an absolute pounding and it still came back for more. I have over 182,000 kms on the clock and it is as though it is just run in. I had a problem with loss of power in higher gears when I was trying to accelerate hard. This seemed to start when I ran out of fuel heading for Warnum on the Great Northern Highway. I cleaned the air filter at the Three Ways road house near Tennant Creek but it made no difference. I managed to get home OK where I stripped the bike down to bare essentials to find out what the problem was. With the help of my Ulysses' friend Geoff Wiltshire we manage to deduce that it was the upper ignition coil on the right hand cylinder that was faulty. I replaced it with a second-hand one from a wreckers and the bike is running like a dream now. I will still ride off-road when the opportunity presents itself but will need to check carefully the depth of the water crossings to make sure I don't drown it again as I may not be as lucky getting it started. The Heidenau tyres were great and I will be certainly using them again.
This was certainly a trip worth doing but I don't think I will be repeating it.
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