Widenose Adventures Rides Again

Widenose adventures rides again.
Following the disappointment of having to defer the North West Cape trip to next year, in consultation with Cathy, my love of wide open spaces and the lure of open road I have decided to bring my trip to Ayers Rock forward to late october 2014. So on 25th october I set off by motorcycle for 23 day round trip north to Cloncurry, west to Tennant Creek, south to Alice Springs then onto Ayers Rock. From there it will be to Port Augusta, Broken Hill then home, a distance of approximately 6600 km. I will again be riding my noble steed "Kawasaki ZZR600" an excellent mid size sports tourer more than capable for this trip.
We are trying to arrange things so that Cathy can fly into Alice Springs so we can spend a few days together and take in some sights, sort of making up for our deferred trip.
I have two free camp spots picked so I intend to spend some time camped beneath the stars and taking more of the back roads as to show the australian outback, sadly Cathy cannot accompany me on this trip as she is still dealing with a family crisis.
Stay tuned to this site as I intend to update regularly as the departure date gets closer, I still have a lot of preparation work to do.

Bye for now
Max

15/09/2014

Training has started. I did a small ride on my pushbike on saturday to start to get my fitness levels up where they need to be. Only went for about an hour, but long enough to get swooped by magpies and get some burn going in the legs. A soak in a hot bath eased the ache a little.
Sunday and dean suggested I ride to wyangala dam to check the water levels. Good idea and it would give me the chance to have lunch at the Wyangala Waters Country Club. The weather was nearly perfect and with the E13 running like a clock the ride was a pleasant trip. I didnt stop to take many pics along the way, i wanted to be home before the cool of the evening. As usual food took priority and an excellent meal of lamb cutlets had my stomach most happy. The road from the Woodstock turn off to the dam gets nice and winding, just have to be careful of oncoming traffic, wildlife and the lack of linemarkings. I stopped at vantage points to take some pictures and the water level is not too bad.
The trip home took a bit longer as even with the new gel seat my butt and legs were giving me trouble. I had to stop more frequently to walk the stiffness off. All in all a good day though, and another soak in the tub.
I have changed the name of the trip to Ayers Rock/Cairns. I am not sure which trip I will do yet. Having been to the rock twice previously not by motorcycle though, its not something I havnt seen before. I am going to do this trip, but maybe not just yet, I can do it another time. So it may be if Cathy can get the time to fly to Cairns then i will ride to Cairns instead of the Rock. I will just have to have two plans now and see what happens in the final week before I depart.
Stay tuned for more updates
Max.

Well the decision has been made and the ride is now planed for Cairns. Cathy decided she needed a weeks break so booked us into a hotel in cairns. I have worked the riding schedule to basically north all the way through to Normanton then head east to Atherton before a slight detour further north to Cooktown. This will be the furthest point north and then the ride south will be to tamworth then home. I have two free camp sites planed but this will depend on rider fatigue, there are quite a few 500 km plus days. All up the ride is about 6500 km and 22 days are planed with one day extra for diversions. The ride from Cloncurry to Normanton and then to Atherton will be along the old development roads but these are all sealed now, im gunna take a fishing rod this time, plenty of rivers or at least river bed to cross might hook a fish. I wonder about the crocs though. I may have to take cooking gear with me this time, well someone has to make a decent cuppa. And there will be opportunities for road kill. I will have to be careful of snakes, we saw a good one here yesterday and i will post a picture taken with my newest camera, most impressive photo, although Cathy says her pic of the goanna is better.
In short the trip is now Cairns/Cooktown and i am really looking forward to this as
I have not been to Cairns before. Just over a month to go and i will do another push bike ride today get some more fitness.
Stay tuned for more updates
Max "widenose" Williams

19/10/2014

Well I am nearly all ready to go. The bike has been prepared and most of my camping gear all packed. I got a bit of work done on my tan today, I suppose I packed and repacked the bike multiple times but now I am happy with the set up. The sunshine today was a big difference to the snow we got on Wednesday, talk about chalk and cheese. Still the excitement of being on the road is starting to build and I am wanting friday to get here quick smart. I will depart Lithgow about 12:30 and head north to Gunnedah. This will be the first planned overnight stop and I should make it here well before the kangaroos start to make riding more interesting by hopping across the road without looking to their left and right.. I had a lucky break on thursday, negotiating a tight right hand bend I felt the front tyre loose grip and for a moment I was convinced I was going down the road on my backside. I am not sure but I think the front tyre needs a bit more scrubbing in, its still a bit raw on the edges. Anyway after feeding in some opposite lock and scaring a few more years out of me, the tyre gripped and we remained upright, but only by the luck of the gods.

24/19/2014.

Ahh on the road at last. Wide open road, the whistle of the wind through my helmet and at last i am off on the first leg of the trip. I left work just after 12 as the last hour was starting to drag on and i just couldnt wait any longer. Todays leg of the trip Lithgow to Gunnedah was mostly uneventful but there was a hot blustery wind from about mudgee through to mullaley. I didnt even see a snake or a kangaroo. Still it feels great to have the first days ride done and dusted. The bike as usual is running like a clock, but again road works and there is a lot of road grime starting to build up. Bloody road crews watering road, i think they reckon if they water it enough a road will grow.

did about 360 km today, backside is a bit sore but in a few days it will be used to it. I would like to see more of gunnedah, there are suposed to be heaps of koalas here, maybe i will see one in the morning.

anyway not much to report yet, I will be in a better frame of mind tomorrow and hopefully post a few more exciting pictures.

so this ends day one and this is Max signing off for today.

25/10/2014

Greetings from St George QLD.

Boy, big ride today. 444 km and the last 150 km in 40 degree heat. But at least I have a cure for the heat. I normally wear a tee shirt under my jacket so i empty a bottle of water over my shirt till its soaked. Then put the jacket on over the top and leave the zip a bit down. When you ride along it must work like the old canvas water bag and as the water evaporates so it cools you off. Works like a charm. I left gunnedah reasonably early and for a while played dodge the white cockatoos. They have a mind of their own but no brains, kept diving across the road to feed on wheat, i think, harvest time is on out here. I stopped and took some pics at "Gins Leap" a most impressive rock formation. Tomorrow I head off from St George and the plan is to get to Tambo, 507 km away. I will try to get to Blackall another 100 km further on but I will get a motel room for the night so I wont have to put the tent up.

266/10/2014

On the road early today and turned the bike north towards mitchell, just on 200 km. one of the loneliest rides i have been on. I only saw three other vehicles for the 200 km.  Being early and with trees in close proximity to the road, keeping an eye out and avoiding kangaroos and emus made for a nervy ride. I had one smallish kangaroo stopped in the middle of the road and I had to come to a complete stop before the offender satisfied their interest in the silver object and hopped away. As I said I only saw three other vehicles but I had to play dodge the road kill all of the way, some of the road kill was real fresh.

Typical hot australian outback day today. I got up early and started off towards Barcaldine. There were no fuel stations open in Blackall but having 400 km range one bike I knew I could safely make Barcaldine. Then my best meal of the day, baked beans on toast, i could kill for beans on toast. So with both rider and ridee, hows that for a new word, off we went to Longreach. It was a battle with the wind gusts but I persevered and made Longreach in good time. The day had started to heat up early so it was back to water soaking for the rest of the day. I had visited the Qantas museum and Stockmans Hall of fame some years ago so I took the appropriate tourist happy snaps and headed off for todays destination Winton. On arrival the van parks looked like dust bowls so I again opted for the air conditioning comfort of a motel room. I think with at least 4 more extreme heat day rides to go I will take motel rooms until I start to head south down the coast where greener camp sites will be available.