Chasing the Finke

Grove Hill station was a bit of an eye opener. It is a historic hotel that looks more like a museum than it does a hotel. We stayed in accomodation that resembled a good old fashion shearers quarters. The building was all corrogated iron, 2 x single beds to a room witha mosquito net for protection from the creeply crawlies.

Speaking of creeply crawlies, last night Dittman managed to stand on a brown tree snake on his way to the bathroom and you would swear he had broken his other foot with all the carry on. The Darwin boys were quick on the job and the snake was soon in hand. Jav and Mick had to be convinced that Poolie, who had gone to bed early, didn't need a pet snake to cuddle in bed, so he was released back into the wilds of the NT

So it up and away to Darwin this morning. We have organised a 40 foot shipping container to bring all the bike back to Brisbane and it needs to be packed and sorted by lunch time. This afternoon we intend on a washing off 3kg of red dirt and most of the boys have been shopping for a new set of clothes to travel home in. There was talk of just burning the old stuff...it just smells really bad after 13 days, but I noticed that most of it went into the container

It has been a fantastic trip and it would not be right if I did not point out that Gaz has been the driving force to get this trip up and running. He not only organised all the accomodation, tyres, food, and the odd corona, but he also mapped out the track with Rustys help and this amount of pre-work in invaluable when you need to get 11 bikes around a 6000km trip....So THANKS GAZ!!! from all of us.

I would also like to thank all the other people who have helped make it happen, there are just too many to list but you know who you are, starting with Brownie on Day1 through to Jav on Day13. I would also like to say thanks to all the wives, kids, families of all concerned, I know it adds a lot of pressure at home when we disappear for 2 weeks, but without your support it just wouldn't happen, so thank you for letting us live the dream.

Well it is day 12, our last day of serious riding and we are following big Jav through a few of the local cattle properties on our way to Katherine for lunch. We have Stuey in the support vehicle and before we have even started what looks like will be a cracker day of riding we have had a late withdrawl. Jockey has succumb to his foot injury that he collected 2 days ago in the sand tracks of the Tamani Desert.

He has loaded up the 990 on the back of the Landcruiser and will play navigator for Stuey for the day, but the rest of us are keen to head off. Well keen may have been and understatement, because less than 3 kms into the first real dirt track of the day and Poolie has kart wheeled the bike through some ruts and looking a little dazed.

Michael being a very compassionate man, get out of the cruiser slaps Poolie around and say 'what the hell are you doing lying on the ground you fool??' I think 'are you alright? or is 'anything broken? would have been more appropriate...but hey its tough love out here!!

So we continued on at full pace and not to be outdone Gazza decides that he needs to attack a 3 foot washout with 500kgs of fully loaded 990. Well its not 500kgs anymore, one panier got smashed off the side by a tree, and Michael delivers another sermon to poor old Gazza.....Just a note, but we made it all this way without a support vehicle and now we have a bike, a rider, a set of paniers, and some bags, all in the back of the cruiser.

Next we head off down a fence line in the thickest dust you have ever seen and Homer decides that he doesn't like to take corners, he'll will just bust his way through the 4 strand barb wire fence and lets just say he has a few cuts and scratches to show for his efforts.

But the best comes last, Tuck, who has gone unscathed all day, decides that instead of hitting a gate that was lost in the same dust, throws the bike away and collects the ground with his head and shoulder. A bit dazed and bewildered, we decide that Dittmans saw foot has been trumped by Tucks saw head, so Tom and Stuey head off to Katherine hospital for a bit of a health check.

The rest of the boys collect all the walking wounded and decide that they should head off to our overnight stopover at Grove Hill Station. But the day could not finish that easy. Homer's bike decided to pack it in, so it was Dittman's bike off the cruiser, and Homers on. What would we do without this Landcruiser??

Tom and Stuey soon rejoin the rest of the boys at Grove Hill with the news that Tuck has a broken collar bone and he will have to stay in his new seat in the Landcruiser for tomorrow.

A big thanks to Jav, Stuey, and Kando who took us on a great days riding, albeit with a few causalities, but non that serious. This is what adventure riding is all about, discovering new places way off the beaten track and meeting up with like mined mates all over the country to experience the best riding each area has to offer

They say it is cold in the desert at night, well they are correct, it was absolutely freezing last night. We had a fairly early night, the day before sandy tracks and long 650kms leg had taken its toll on most of the crew.
We made our way over to the Rabbit Flat to fuel up for the day, what a different world this place was. This roadhouse is the most remote in Australia. It is 350kms to the next closest thing, so when he says fuel is $2.20 per litre you don't argue, you just pay the bill. The couple who run this place have been there for 40 years and to say they are a little bit different is an understatement. He gets around in workers blues and no shoes, but is quite happy to hold a conversation about modern literature while he is operating the fuel pump.

We headed north till we passed one of Australia's biggest gold mines, Tanami Mining Co., everyone had there eyes peeled for a stray nugget on the road side. We then got of the Tanami track and headed north east to a small aboriginal community called Lajamanu. The track into Lajamanu was another beauty. I would suggest that at times it is probably a good quality dirt road, but let me paint you a picture of what I saw. First was the washouts that just randomly appeared, some big enough to hide a Shermann tank, second was the corrugation again big enough to be called whoops on a motor cross track and last was the good old Tanami red sand, some deep enough to bury the same Shermann tank. Everyone made it in unscathed, but there were some pretty good stories told that night.

As we headed out of this community we saw what has to be the most high tech solar farm I have ever seen. Just a mile out of town was about 20 large round solar reflector panels. To think that this town barely looked like it rated a mention on the map, the people looked pretty rough, but someone has spent a cool 20 million odd to build one of the most sophisticated solar farms in the country. Australia truly is a land of contradictions at times. It was then towards our destination for the day, Top Springs.

Not so hard this afternoon, the last 100kms was bitumen, quite a relief after a 1000 odd kms of Tanami desert track. For those that know us, Top Springs was a destination on the last big trip 'Chasing Safari'. We had also arranged to meet up with an old Australian Safari mate, Jav. Him and Stuey drove down from Darwin and meet us at Top Springs for the night.

Tomorrow Jav will lead us on a days riding that will follow a route that he had done back in 2002 Australian safari. He assures us it is all good, but Jav has been known to suffer from Territorian underestimation.

It was a bit of a slow start this morning, several of the boys stayed at the bar till closing time and this morning it is grease all round for everyone. Last night we meet up with some mates from Darwin, Al & Tristan and Mark & Kim and their kids. They are going to travel with us a a support crew for the next couple of days as we cross the Tanami desert

We finally got away at about 9.30 and headed off for a run west through the McDonald ranges, before we turned and headed north to the edge of the Tanami. We rolled into Papayna, a small Aboriginal settlement about 11am to refuel before heading off down what had to be the hardest track we have experienced this trip.

It was about 60kms of soft sand with desert bush hard up against the track on both sides. Normally this would not be a problem, but when you a push 500kg of bike/gear/rider along a sandy track they have a mind of their own. Again not a problem, but when you are carrying paniers, add the very little clearance and a bike with its own directional radar, lets just say there was only 4 out of 11 who didn't hit the deck at least once.

We finally reach the end to regroup, where most of us where seriously worried about our oldest group member, and the fact that the effort it took to get through this section had even the youngest blokes feeling a little worse for wear. Never you mind though, Bryce powered out the end about ½ an hour later, albeit a little too late for Homer's cuppa tea he had made while we waited

The single funniest moment of the section was the 2 car loads of Aboriginals who came through the same track in a couple of AU falcon. Here we were struggling to keep the bikes upright and not get bogged in deep red sand and the boys just cruised through in a couple of 2 wheel drive falcons like it was no big deal. We did discover they had to also do a few tow and push efforts to get through.

It was then off to our second refuel point before a long 300 km haul up the Tanami desert road. I must say it was the fastest 300kms we have done all trip, big wide sand road, and 11 big bikes trying and get to camp at Rabbit Flat before sundown. We all rolled in to camp at 6.30 to meet out support crew who had beers and nibblies ready to go.

No stayers tonight, last night saw everyone hit the hay by 10pm. Tomorrow we head through the northern part of the Tanami Desert to Top Springs.

Hey..... how good do we feel today after a good nights sleep in the Yulara Resort Hotel!!!
Note to self...don't go outside at 6.30am when Homer thinks its ok to start a 990 and warm it up to check the oil. Apart from the fact that only 300 other resort guest wanted to kill him...they might have thought all 990 riders where fair game.

Well today was Melons day for stuff ups. He has claimed for many years that he has never had a flat tyre, but today all his roosters came home to roost...5 flats in 1 day...and didn't know how to replace a tube. Martin....our resident expert tyre changer....was soon on the scene to rescue Melon from his now infamous dummy spit.

We left Yulara at about 8am and arrived at Curtin Springs for breakfast, of course a few riders were late due to flat tyres...Melon!!! but never the less a great breaky was served up by the cook. Even Melons new girlfriend, the Curtin Springs Emu, was upset and left before he arrived.

Next it was off to Kings Canyon for a look at another of The NT's great natural spectacles. We did the 1 hour hike up the canyon, much to the amusement of the grey army...they all thought we where crazy walking the 5 km round trip in full bike gear.

It was then off to Glen Helen Resort. It was another good sandy/rough NT road that had all the boys enjoying the riding. Of course flat tyres ruled the day so some of us arrived at 6pm while the rest rolled in closer to 7pm. The staff at Glen Helen did their best to make everyone feel at home within minutes of arrival,. And a special thanks must go to Ash, who while not on duty, made sure we got looked after. In fact these last 2 blogs would not have made it to cyberspace without her help. Go you good thing!

I must note that Bryce's first day on Gav's bike went off without a hitch, apparently it had a bit of a noise at Kings Canyon, so Melon gave it a few 100mph passes just to make sure it was okay. (Hi Gav...I know your reading, that was just to make you nervous)

So as I write this blog, the boys are in the bar, bundy's are flowing and more bullshit is being spread than a fertilizer truck.

Postcript: it was discovered today that Homer may not be Homer anymore. It is an industry secret that Homer has been eaten by another man now trying to represent himself as Homer. It could be the case the perpetrator may be from the chinese chin family