Recently my Dad, Shane, returned home from a trip to the outback of Australia by motorcycle. Him and his new crew of mates had quite an adventure which he’s put into his own words.

It makes for an interesting read, so I thought I’d share it with you.

Here’s part one of the recount of his memorable journey….

PART ONE

They say "the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain", but in Australia it falls mainly on the coast and in the mountains. When it does fall on the plain, it has an incredible effect on the countryside.

I reckon I have just spent the last 2 weeks with some of the nicest people and covered some of the most incredible landscape in this country. I just can't put into words how great my 2 wheel journey into the outback has been.

As you probably know, record rainfall has occurred in the outback in the last month. This, of course, prevented me and my newfound friends, from the Ulysses Club Special Interest Group, and others, from reaching our planned destination, but in no way did it detract from the beauty of the Australian Outback and the adventure we were to have.

Our original goal was to ride a route that would take us from Sydney to Hawker in South Australia, then along the Strzelecki track to Innaminka, and on to Coffs Harbour for the AGM of the Ulysses Club. The ride was the creation of club member, Geoff Wiltshire. Geoff is a veteran "off road tourer" who has travelled extensively in the region on two wheels. Our original plan was to visit the Flinders Ranges and the "Dig Tree", the place made famous by the legendary Burke & Wills explorers.

Geoff had planned & thought about this trip for nearly 2 years. He had calculated and recalculated the route many times, planned for all sorts of contingencies, even organising a satellite telephone in case of emergencies; but one thing he couldn't count on was that Australia's crippling drought would break just before we left on the trip.

The breaking drought did not stop the intrepid band of motorcycle riders leaving Sydney on a frosty autumn morning to head to the hills. I met the group at Lithgow, after spending a great night at The Lithgow Parkside Motor Inn. (Motorcycle friendly people who ride themselves and will really look after you, especially if you are a motorcycle rider. Thoroughly recommend it). Introductions all round and we continue on to our first overnight stop at Lake Cargelligo.

The weopon of choice amongst the motorcycle riders was the BMW GS. Some 1200 and 1150cc models in the mix, along with one intrepid soul on a 1987 R80 GS. Believe it or not, this old bike did prove to be one of the most capable on the trip. (even though it did require some welding and re-engineering of it's frame along the way). I rode the perfect motorcycle for this trip in my view; the Suzuki DL650 VStrom. Other bikes included a Suzuki DR650, and a Suzuki DRZ400. The only Honda in the pack was a heavily laden Varedero.

Under clouded skies we left Lake Cargelligo. A few heavy, large drops of rain landed on my visor as we motored out of town, and it looked as though Lake Cargelligo was going to receive the rain all the locals had been praying for.

We were to do our first major section of dirt that day, and we were all looking forward to it, but when the time came for us, the rain had severely deteriorated the road into slimey, sticky, red mud. It wasn't long before we knew that Geoff's planned route of 50/50 dirt and tar was going to be more like 80/20 if we were lucky. Major deviations to the plan meant that we ended up in Hawker, South Australia, having done very little dirt at all. This in itself was not such a problem, since the ride was still very enjoyable, and our bikes were more than capable of doing either dirt or road, but the constant high speed tarmac touring with heavily laden bikes was rapidly wearing out our off road tyres, tyres that would be essential for the dirty days ahead.

After all the long distances, a rest day was planned in Hawker. Washing of dirty clothing, maintenance to motorcycles and getting some blood circulating back into the bum cheeks was on everyone's agenda for the day, but exploring the Flinders Ranges was priority for me, so Robert, on the R80 GS, John, on the DRZ400 and myself all headed for the local landing strip to take a scenic flight and view the Flinders Ranges from the air. My photographic skills cannot capture the beauty of this area, and whilst seeing it from the air was fantastic, I have to tell you that seeing it from the seat of a motorcycle, as you ride through the steep mountain gorges along dry river beds, between incredibly formed river gums and trickling mountain streams is a far greater experience. If you ever get the chance and you love this country and you ride a motorcycle, you should explore the Flinders Ranges. John, being smarter than Robert and I, knew when it was time to head back to Hawker, but Robe rt and I, so wrapped in the scenery and the riding, decided to risk riding back in the dark.

I believe that part of the journey for me was the adventure and I think that for Robert it was the same, but I have to say that although we saw some incredible scenery after dark, it was foolish of us to ride along outback roads at night. I would never recommend this to anyone. The risk of a close encounter with some of Australia's wildlife is high and medical attention is a long way away, but we got a little crazy that day and did it anyway. I actually did hit a kangaroo that night and I would love to tell you all that my incredible ninja reflexes and highly practiced obstacle avoidance techniques saved me from disaster, but I just got lucky. I just kissed a small wallaby that happened to turn the other way as I went passed. What made it even harder for us was that Robert's BMW deciding at random to turn the lights out. We had to ride side by side some of the way; him using my headlights to see with at times.

We rode straight to the pub that night as we knew the rest of the crew would be there, but little did we realize how concerned everyone was for our safety. We got handshakes all round - everyone was so pleased that we made it back in one piece - but we also realized how we could have jeopardised part of the trip if we had have come to grief.

More of Shane’s adventure in Part 2 coming soon….