May 30
Off to Canbera to see the Queen.........No that can't be right, Ossies don't believe in the Queen..................It must be off to Canbera to see Kevin Rudd.

Inspired by NZ National MP Shane Ardern and his driving of a Fergy 35 tractor up the steps of Parliament buildings in Wellington a few years ago................Henk and Mike decided introduce themselves to the Prime Minister, seen as they were in town that day. They were sure that Kev would want to see the bikes even if it was just to see the damage that Ozzie outback roads could do to Japanese bikes.

The welcoming party was quite unexpected as they hadn't phoned Kev to say they would be dropping in. Then Henk and Mike realised that they were not being welcomed with outstretched arms, but rather with hands firmly clasped around the hand grip of Australian Security Service issued Browning 9 mm side arms. As the welcoming party closed in on the visitors a stern voice came booming over a loud hailer telling them that they had been monitored by surveillance cameras for the last 1000m. They were to stay on their bikes, leave immediately or be taken down.

As Henk tried to catch a red ant on his chest Mike noticed that the welcoming party was being bolstered by sharpshooters on the roof tops aiming silenced 222 rifles fitted with red laser dot sights in their direction. The red ant wasn't going to be caught and unless Henk and Mike moved soon the red ant was going to bite.

After considering their options Mike responded "We're a bit pushed for time really. Tell Kev we'll catch up with him another day". With that they rode back down the steps and out of town to find some more gum trees to hide behind and camp for the night.

May 31
Kev wasn't able to see them but Greg Murphy might be practicing at Bathurst. Henk and Mike went out to Mt Panorama and were surprised to find that the track is actually a public road. Greg was nowhere to be seen so Henk and Mike did a couple of practice laps of their own on the Transalps.

June 1
Last ride day back into Sydney via Dubbo.
Time to clean the bikes up, do some shopping and see the sights of Sydney before flying out on the 5th June.

Some facts and figures
Total distance...........19573 km
Fuel cost...................A$2025
Fuel cost/km..............10.4c
Accommodation cost......A$1870 (4 nights motel, 4 nights Hotel, 10 nights cabin, 2 nights tent, 16 nights under fly, 1 night backpackers)
Av cost/night.....................A$24.50

Big Big Thank you
Henk and Mike want to thank everyone that helped make the ride such a success. Selena and Terry of BIKESCAPE in Sydney. Without the help of these two wonderful people we would never have been able to do the deed. BIKESCAPE hire out bikes and help with scenic tours and also do chauffeured rides. They have at least 30 bikes to hire out and have customers in every day. Selena and Terry are a must contact for those who want to do a ride of any size around Australia. Check them out at www.bikescape.com.au. Thanks again guys.
R&M MOTORCYCLES at Katherine. We stopped at numerous Honda shops on the ride but found John and staff the most helpful.
Big thanks to Steve Woolhead owner of CLUB HOTEL CROYDON This is a really amazing place up in NT. A must for the traveller who really wants to see the outback at its best then finish the day off at the best pub in Australia. Hey thanks again Steve your place is the best! Keep up the good work.
The best RSL in the country is in Ballina just S of Byron Bay. We tried out a few RSLs and on the whole they were all very good but Ballina really stood out among them all. Go Ballina RSL!
The best breakfast goes to the POSSUMS CAFE run by Helen Milne in Woolingong NSW. We had many breakfasts on our way round but this cafe took the prize. We must say that coming in strongly at No 2 was the LOBO LOCO in Mt Molloy NT. This place is owned and run buy a Swiss guy and his Mexican wife.
Well I guess this must all come to an end. Well for a little while anyway.......
There are still a lot of people out there who helped us out in many ways and we would like to say a special thanks to you all. You will know who you are.
Thank you everyone who followed the Blog and we will endeavour to keep in touch for our next adventure.
Cheers Henk, Mike, Colin, and Robin.

May 25 Cairns Qld - Proserpine Qld 618 km
Total 16057 km
Average 501 km/day
Set off in the rain today. First rain for 3 weeks or more. There was a big Ulysses meeting in Townsville today, bikes everywhere. Saw more cops today than have seen in the last 5 weeks. Henk was keen to meet up with some of his old Ulysses buddies, but there wasn't really time.

May 26 Proserpine Qld - Gympie Qld 946 km
Total 17003 km
Average 515 km/day
Big ride today. No more wildlife or wilddead on the roads but do have to be careful with huge menacing trucks on the road. Remember the Cape York roadtrain, well same again, just no dust, faster and no more considerate of motorbikes on their road.
Found a place to camp at Gympie. Now 140 km N of Brisbane.

May 27 Gympie Qld - Ballina NSW 370 km
Total 17373 km
Average 510 km/day
Easy day today. Near the end of circumnavigation. Loads of construction going on around Brisbane. Rode the 8 lane highway into Surfers Paradise. You should have seen the heads turn as Henk and Mike cruised the Main!! It wasn't Henks boyish good looks, or Mikes designer label cloths, but the beat up, tapped up, bent up Transalps caked in thick red outback dust cruising amongst the BMW M3s and Porsche 911s.
Had breakfast , caught up on email, and did a bit of shopping before heading out to Byron Bay. This has to be one of the prettiest places on earth. Went out to the lighthouse and saw a pod of Humpback whales just off shore.
Camped at Ballina and grazed at the RSL. Best RSL so far in Oz.

May 28 Ballina NSW - Sydney NSW 750 km
Total 18123 km
Average 518 km/day
Last day of circumnav. Coffs Harbour very nearly saw Mike knocked off by an elderly man in a car. Then as Mike had his head down watching the trip meter roll over 18000 km a log on the road loomed. Mike veered left and Henk right, both missing the log by a whisker. Finished the day at Mikes daughter and son in laws in Sydney town.
Ye ha they did it and right on schedule too. Congratulations fellas. The plan was a week to Perth, a week to Darwin, a week to Cairns, a week on Cape York, a week to Sydney and a week of contingency. They have done it in 5 weeks to the day and now have a week to chill and decide what to do with the bikes. Yes, I know, they spent most of the time on the bikes and didn't see half of what there is to see in Oz, but that wasn't the object of the trip. It was a challenge to see if we could get round the main island in 5 weeks, and a warm up for the next adventure. Watch this space. South America's calling.

Now less than 11 deg south of the equator and 150km from PNG. As the intrepid travellers planted the NZ and Dutch flags in the top of Australia Henk turned to Mike just as Hillary turned to Tensing at the top of Everest in May 1953 and said proudly "We've knocked the bastard off".

Spent the rest of the day chilling out in +40 deg at the Cape resting bodies and repairing bikes before starting the decent tomorrow.

May 22
Cape York - Bramwell Junction 248 km
Total 14608 km
Average 503 km/day
Got through sand holes a lot better on the way back down. Only one bike dropped and stuck in sand today. Henk has never been off road before but now handling it like he was born on knoblies. (Thats tyres not knees)
May 23
Bramwell Junction - Musgrave Road House 339 km
Total 14947 km
Average 498 km
Had a Kiwi guy come up to Henk and Mike at Bramwell Junction and said "One of you must be a farmer from Otorohanga". Turns out Colin was communicating with him on a Horizons Unlimited chat room about route planning in Oz. His username is Ducatijim, he knew that we were planning a lap of Oz on Transalps in May. Ducatijim and a mate are doing an off road trip including Cape York, Arnhem Land, Kimberly's, Gibb river track, Bungle Bungles, down to Kalgoorlie, through the centre to Uluru and out to Sydney. Ducatijim describes their trip as "2 months , 2 DR 650s, 1 dream". Meeting up with Ducatijim on Cape York just goes to show that Oz might be a big country, but its a small world.
That evening Mike was happy to get to Musgrave. So happy in fact, that he started doing "donuts" in front of the Musgrave Road House to impress the locals with some Kiwi riding skills. The locals were really impressed. Turned out to be the high light of their day!!!!!!. Those that weren't outside watching the performance soon were once the sound of bending metal, cracking plastic and shrieking Mike reached their ears. Mike and bike parted company as Mike went airborne and bike bit the dust. Time to pick up the pieces and ride out of town to camp behind some gum trees again.
May 24
Musgrave Road House - Cairns 492 km
Total 15439 km
Average 498 km/day
Mike was 1st up this morning and found a Croc 100m from where the fly was stretched out to sleep under. Henk & Mike are now using liberal quantities of "Croc-off" as well as "Bug-off".
Henk and Mike are rapidly gaining celebrity status on the Cape, being recognised almost every where they go. Talk of their antics go before them. They are referred to as those 2 old guys trying to ride up Cape York on near road bikes. Aged bikers they are being called. (All sounds far to polite for Ozzie's. I'm sure Mike has moderated this bit because he knows Grace will be reading it.)
Had a couple of hours of hard packed fast road today.....................until Mike came round a corner to find Henk, who had started the day in black riding gear, standing in the middle of the road covered in red dust waving his arms around like he was ground crew waving a 747 in at the airport. The bike was all beat up lying in a heap of rocks and bull dust. Spent the next few hours removing and repairing radiator, brake levers and fairings. Thank goodness for duct tape and the good people at Laura who helped us get going again. There was a Rodeo on in Laura and as Henk & Mike left town they could hear on the PA system the words of a song "when I get knocked down I get up again". Had a good laugh at that as we rode on to Lakeland to pick up our panniers that we had left with Morsey and Carol from the Lakeland Coffee House. These people are great , so helpful. Highly recommend Lakeland Coffee house to anyone who dares to go to the Cape.
Back on the blacktop at Lakeland. Seemed so strange after 7 days of gravel, sand, bull dust, and river crossings.

Morton - Cape York 284 km
Total 14360 km
Average 531 km/day

This has been the hardest day yet. Ten hours of riding to do 284 km. Paddling through sand most of the day. Some sand holes 100m long. Have fallen off bikes plenty of times. Henk got stuck under bike twice and had to dig himself out. Once bikes go over in sand it's a 2 man job to pick them up. This has been the biggest test for the Transalps. Need to stop often to let the bikes cool down as they have been overheating working through the sand. Have duct taped up the fairings to keep them in one piece when the bikes go over. There have been enough fuel stops but have not carried enough water. Decided not to change to knoblie tyres in Cairns and now Henks rear tyre getting awful thin again. Hope it will last another 4 Days to get back to Cairns.
Got to the Jardine river late in the afternoon. Talk of residential Crocks and Sharks ensured that Henk & Mike paid the ferryman $33 each rather than risking fording the river. Staying in tented camp at Cape York. Been stung/bitten by numerous Green Ants.
Looking forward to a rest and maintenance day tomorrow and will walk out to the Cape to plant the Kiwi flag.
Robin and the Hog got back to Sydney on the 18th May having done nearly 18000 km in 25 days on the tar seal. Robin now back in NZ and the Hog is in a pen waiting for a ship to get back to NZ.

Musgrave - Morton 300 km
Total 14076 km
Average 541 km/day

As the track heads further N it's getting more difficult by the Km. Met two BMW riders at Musgrave who had had enough and were turning back.

Roos and wallabies all over the road in the morning. Had bush turkeys wandering around camp site. Even seen a Cape York Dragon lizard. Seeing a lot of snakes on the road. Need to be careful not to run over them as they can flick up and hook onto the bikes. (Not the sort or pillion you really want).
Heard about a guy in a 4wd that had to be air lifted to Cairns hospital last week. He stopped to relieve himself and got bitten "snake to snake". Comfort stops are now in the middle of the road as far away from any bush or grass where snakes might hide.
Because of the dust riding separately for about 50 km at a time then stopping to for a break and make sure each other is OK.