Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB - Finding Freedom...World Wide Ride

Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB (https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/)

- Ride Tales (https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/ride-tales/)

- - Finding Freedom...World Wide Ride (https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/ride-tales/finding-freedom-world-wide-ride-65365)

It is again a pretty windy day. We got to a fork in the road and the GPS said go left 44 km to Twizle, but the road sign says No Exit! So we went right and this is 12 km to the main road Hwy 8 and is paved. This then put us 70 km from Twizle on the Highway 8 and the wind was very strong and gusting.

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We stopped in Lake Tekapo to call the campground in Twizle to see if they had a cabin for tonight as we could use a night with power. They did and it was only 15 dollars more than camping for 2.

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We stopped at Lake Pukaki for a rare we are told cloudless view of New Zealand’s highest peak Mt. Cook and then rode the last 25 km to the campground.

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The wind was Patagonia strong! The cabin is tiny, but comfortable and warm and there are plenty of outlets to charge everything we have at once. We cooked up a nice pasta alfredo and tucked in to get a few episodes of Fargo viewed. It is actually freezing outside and we are glad to have our minus 15 sleeping bags and we even turned the heater on in the morning once we had to get out of said warm cocoons.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4623/...9e16c151_b.jpg IMG_2206 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We had lunch in the village and by 1230 it was getting very clouded over.

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On the way back down the 80 to the Highway 8 we had the wind at our backs, but on the way to lake Tekapo it was blowing us all over the road. It was lucky for Dan the last 5 km where downhill and with the wind as he had “zero km to empty”.

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We planned to head another 89 km to Geraldine and camp for the night. This is the last good weather for the rest of the week as another cyclone is scheduled to hit the north of the island in the next 2 days. The Top 10 in Geraldine is quite nice and in the center of the town. The tent sites are huge and have nice thick grass. We got some groceries and set up camp.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4744/...d445ed99_b.jpg IMG_2208 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We do not have far to go today to Christchurch, but the weather is supposed to turn to another Cyclone this afternoon.

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Despite this forecast that it would be nice until 3 pm it started to rain as we were packing up this morning. We only went about 15 minutes and we were ahead of the storm and the sun was shining. We then opted for the “Inland Scenic Route”.

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About half way today Dan’s 800 passed 250,000 km!!! This route happily also took us back a few km from Sheffield where they have the best pie shop on the south island!

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In Christchurch we were happy to find an relatively inexpensive airbnb in a house just 4 km from the motorcycle repair shop. A dodgy hotel here is easily 2-3 times the price.

We dropped the bikes at the shop and then walked the 4 km back stopping for supplies on the way to last out the storm. We will have a few things sorted. Some screws that have gone missing, the oil changed, the oil filter off the 650 (been on since Tblisi), the brake oil on the 650 filled as it was not done by the guys in Malaysia (at least 8 items down incorrectly or not at all so far), valves checked, and the timing chains replaced on both bikes.

Phil Parrish is a mechanic well know here on the South Island and he has done the split link repair on an 800 before. On Dan’s 800 the chain was slipping when we had the valves supposedly checked and shimmed in Malaysia and the power is definitely lacking recently. We are afraid to have a major melt down when we are island hopping in Indonesia. In the end Dan’s chain had stretched a full link and was removed without needing to cut it. Sara’s was not skipping and was stretched maybe 1/2 a link. The valves were of course not done properly in Malaysia either! Though they are not off by that much and will last until we hit the USA in June.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4631/...0940c4e4_z.jpg IMG_0761 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

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We timed the service well to coincide with the predicted cyclone and though there was not much wind it did pour for the 2 days we were hold up here. Great time to get some work done and I finally got back at the blog posting. Dan also found a vinyl wrap shop to properly cover the Frankenscreen.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4721/...a7de2d23_b.jpg IMG_2212 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

The forecast is for some showers today and then 4-5 days of sunshine. We picked up the bikes and then headed out in some light showers to Hanmer Springs.

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We noted on the road signs that the route to Picton on the highway 1 or Kaikoura road that just opened a month ago after 3 years is closed again after massive land slides. This means all the traffic must go on the 2 other paved roads or the Molesworth road. The sun was out soon enough and we had an easy 135 km.

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We stopped here for lunch and the couple next to us were riding as well, but are here from Greece. He leaned over to me and said “ This is a small world I saw you on an HU post yesterday from Mt Cook!” He and Dan are actually FB friends already! Very nice couple and we wish we had met them sooner. They are headed to St. Arnaud as well today, but on the paved road and they have to catch the ferry at Picton in the morning.

There is a large bridge crossing the main river. When we finally made it to the Rainbow Station road 2 km later and 30 km from St Arnaud the gate sign said road closed. So with nothing to loose we decided to go on a bit and see. What we found were a few medium fords and poorer road, and then a huge land slide blocking the road after another 3 km. Now you think somewhere in the last 75 km there would have been a sign to say the road was closed or the local I stopped to talk to on the way would have said something!!

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We hope to get some good star shots tonight! About 930 we had a knock on the door and 2 fisherman and their land rover also decided to park for the night. They “kindly” woke us at 715 to see if we wanted hot water for coffee and ask us “do you have food?” We have food of course, but were glad of the hot water for coffee as it saved us heating it ourselves. Nice gentlemen!

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We will have to abandon the ride over the next few days we had planned up to Golden bay and Abel Tasman as there has been 15 landslides and the highway 60 is closed. It is raining lightly, but is supposed to be sunny today. The original plan was to ride up the coast to Karamea and then onto St Arnaud. We did a 50 km ride up the coast, but it was just “mianh”,but the sun was out now.

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The rest of the plan today was to head thru the Bhueller gorge and then along the 6 to St Arnaud, but the town of Muchison 60 km closer is nicer we have heard and there is a great camp site on the river . We have a riverside site since we arrived at 2 pm. They have a swimming hole, lots of kitchens and lounge spaces, and bikes to borrow. We did borrow 2 and rode into town for a beer and dinner at the local bar.

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Despite the beautiful day the forecast is for very heavy rain tomorrow and so we found a B&B not far from the ferry. They even had a garage downstairs for the bikes. We checked in and were getting cleaned up when there was a knock at the door. It was Roger Arnold from Papamoa! He had just arrived to Picton last night after a 4 day walk over the mountains with a group of 10 friends. He had checked our spot and saw we were headed to Picton and well, and luckily it fired at the B&B and he tracked us there! Such a small world and so great to have friends to hang out with today and on the ferry tomorrow.

Well as advertised it was build an arc pouring at 8 when we got up, but it had let up by at least 1/2 by 1015 when we rode to the ferry dock 800 m away. We did not have to wait long to board luckily. We loaded with Hugo a biker from Argentina, but there were about 12 Kiwi bikes already tied down. They at least have well chocks on the Inter-islander boats unlike the Bleubridge we took on the way over.

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Ruth and Roger had saved us some prime seats, which was nice. It was all good until we left the protection of the fjord and then the boat really started rocking and there was a lot of sick people for the next 2 hours. Sara was pretty bad and had to sit in the hall near the centre of the boat until we got into Wellington harbour.

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It was barely raining now and we headed the 25 km to our buddy Mike’s house. He had the garage open and waiting for us. Dan’s 800 has shown a low charge a few times today WTF! We started with what was the issue one of the times the stator was killed by an overfilled oil system. You can not trust anyone clearly as the guys in Christchurch overfilled both bikes by almost 300 cc!!! Well we had to siphon that off and seems to have fixed the stress on the bike! We shall see…..

For our day here with Mike he has planned a ride out on the Moonshine Hill road and then over the Akatarawa pass to Waikanae.

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We started out from his place and quickly onto the narrow lane that is the Moonshine Hill road. You have to be careful of the locals who drive at speed and often on your side of the road.

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We then made for the Akatarawa road , but found that it was closed yesterday just 1 km from the summit, so we did an up and back. We then made it around to the lookout by the back way.

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We woke to clouds, but no rain and we packed up and set out about 10.

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First we rode 20 km up the Turoa mountain road. This is a paved road that winds thru the Tongariro national park and up to the ski hill. This is basically a few lifts on the side of a volcano and does not look very appealing.

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We back tracked to 1 and then headed north on the 4 to Taumarunui. This is where you turn west on the 43 or the “Forgotten World Highway”.

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We stopped in the town for lunch and when at the cafe Franz stopped by to talk. He has ridden his bike all over the world as well and it is currently in Costa Rica. While we were chatting with him a friend of his walked by and this is the same guy we saw riding in Glenorchy and in Te Anau!

Driving thru here you have to stop in the Republic of Whangamomona at the pub for a drink. There is not much else here and we decided at 4 pm to press on to Stratford.

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The forecast is for rain and so we opted for a cabin. They are quite nice here and even our “basic” one had linens and a fridge and sink. We walked the 1.5km back to town to top up our food supplies and had an early night.

Well it is not raining. The forecast here is so unreliable it is a bit frustrating, but at least we will have a nice day. The plan it to get up the coast on the main road and then stick to the country roads all the way to Raglan.

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It is Friday today and we are also in the midst of trying to get shipping for the bikes organized for next week. This means a number of calls today and we have a booking with GT Logistics to drop the bikes Monday am for a steam clean and then they are supposed to ship on Wednesday to Melbourne.

There are a number of issues and most stressful is that the behind the scene of shipping is as Dan says “ a dark art” it is so hard to get a straight answer out of these guys in general. We have had the best luck with GT with good communication and an all in roll on price. They also have steam cleaning services. We will spend the weekend getting them as clean as we can and ready for the bio-hazard quarantine in Australia. If you fail this it is 75$ per hour for cleaning. This is why in the end we only made it part way on the small road as we needed to get cell coverage and headed to Waitomo for that.

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Now it is just another 92 km north and west to Raglan. This is a nice beach/surf town with great camping on the spit. We set up our tent and then were invited next door to the cabin of a family who invited us to share the fish they caught today.

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We had the tent set up so we spent some time cleaning it and the pegs and poles. The plan is to back track the 30 km back to the main road and then north to Auckland.

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We booked it on the main road and with a stop at BMW for new Oz ready air filters we arrived to Janet and Charlie’s by just after 1. They have a great set up for us with the bikes in the garage and a place to use their pressure washer. We scrubbed and de-greased and washed and scrubbed again. The final was a total wipe down with WD40. They are show room clean. We took the mirrors and wind screens off as well.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/811/4...5493c717_b.jpg NZ North Isand-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Today we will leave the house a bit later as they traffic into Auckland can be horrific. It is only 40 km to the airport, but it will take at least an hour. We did run into a bit of stop and go, but it was not too bad overall. Pulling into GT we were happy as 1. they were expecting us 2. they are professional and organized 3. We had a flight even sooner than we wanted and the bikes will go tomorrow!

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They say the bikes are some of the cleanest they have seen and that they do not need a steam clean. As a reward we stopped by a famous shop for one last NZ pie!

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/784/4...3ee9f3dc_b.jpg IMG_2245 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

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We had our flight to Melbourne booked tonight at 1850 and the Russels kindly delivered us to the airport by car. 45 min before we boarded we still had not heard from GT and so we called them. AGH the bikes have been bumped off their flight by priority cargo! They are re-booked on Thursday.

This means there is no way we will make the only ferry booking left for Friday night to Tasmania. The Spirit of Tasmania service is atrocious. You can book and then not cancel the reservation until the sailing actually leaves without penalty and this means all the reservations are always full. The other issue is there might be room for 2 bikes, but on a night sailing there are only shared cabins and this weekend there are only female bunks available.

Australian customs are notoriously evil and it is likely the bikes will wait for inspection. If they fail this means you pay to move them, pay for cleaning, pay to move them back, and then pay for re-inspection. This could take ??? days. Even if they do arrive on Thursday it is unlikely we will get them until Tuesday at the earliest as this is a holiday weekend..…

We have been invited to the home of Ian who is a friend of Garry and Ivonne Dymond in Mexico City. We share the bond of broken down BMW at Garry’s place with Ian. He was super kind to drive clear across from his place as far as you can go in Melbourne, which is to the airport to pick us up at 11 pm. He set us up at his house and we crashed when we arrived in Chelsea at 1 am.

Ian is the host with the most! He has provided us with his comfy home, his V-strom, riding gear, GPS, transit cards, and tons of advice. He is an amazing cook!

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/804/3...19d7343d_b.jpg Australia-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

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It has been almost a week and still no news on the bikes!!! There is no online access to tell where the bikes are in the cue. The agents say they are trying, but they can not even tell us when they will be inspected. We did hear today that the Carnets have been signed off. This is getting a bit ridiculous. Orvar and his bike flew into Sydney today and I hope he has better luck.

The weather is cooler today with some clouds and we headed back up to the hills. The first step was to get on the highway and get to Warburton. We stopped here at a cafe popular with bikers. The speed limit on much of the route here is 60, except on the freeway. We did a side trip on the 505 to walk up the Mt Donna Buang observation tower and then back tracked to the 507 (the 505 continues as a dirt road to Healesville, but it has been gated off). There is about 15 km of dirt road from the junction on the way to Narbethong. The forest here is right out of a movie set with massive ferns and super tall trees. When we git the B3360 south it was already 3 and there was quite a bit of traffic. We managed to make it home by 430 and then headed over to Paul and Alison’s for dinner.

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A week and still no news on the bikes!!! There is no online access to tell where the bikes are in the cue. The agents say they are trying, but they can not even tell us when they will be inspected. We did hear today that the Carnets have been signed off. This is getting a bit ridiculous. Orvar and his bike flew into Sydney today and I hope he has better luck.

Today is a holiday and that means Ian is getting to work rebuilding the carburetors on his BMW and Dan is out doing yard work.

Well the bikes have been at customs for 8 days now. They are in quarantine today, but we still have had no real news!! They have not even been inspected yet and it is Friday afternoon again. Thus means nothing will happen until at least Monday. We have been sitting around waiting for the call to come get them, but nothing! You have to use an agent in Melbourne and can not contact customs directly.

We have decided to give Ian a break from us this weekend and we will try and see the Great Ocean Road and the 12 Apostles now because we are unlikely to get the bikes till some time next week and want to meet our friend Deb in Wodongo next weekend. We were supposed to spend the last 2 weeks with her in Tasmania, but customs has ruined that.

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We set off on a sunny hot Saturday to Sorrento. Here you can catch the road ferry across the mouth of the Melbourne harbor to Queenscliff in 40 minutes, which will saves hours trying to cross the city.

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We finally arrived to Apolo Bay about 4 and stopped to look for a place to stay. We found a backpackers 77 km farther along the B100 and just 6 km from the iconic 12 Apostles.

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This way we can see the sun set there and minimize our chance of hitting a kangaroo on the way back after dark. The gas station after Apolo Bay in Lavers Hill was closed already and so we were getting low when we arrived to Princetown (no gas) 30 km later and checked into the slightly sketchy backpackers. We were on fumes 21 Km later in Port Campbell.

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Here we grabbed some food ( it took and hour to get a souvlaki at the Frying Nemo fast food) and bolted back up the road to the Apostles parking area and walked over just in time for a pretty spectacularly sun set. We also saw our first living Kangaroo (and with a joey).

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/800/4...a24e8c56_b.jpg Australia-27 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

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It was windy when we rode back, but by 930 it was gale force and then the power went out. It never came back on, which meant no running water either. The next bad news was because of the wind overnight ALL the roads west and north from here are closed by fires. Plus now it is raining and we do not have our own gear. This means a complete back track on the GOR we are told. We decided to ride back to Lavers hill and then try to get north to Colec.

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At Lavers 2 other bikers headed up the 155 and so we followed, but found the road to Colec blocked off. We kept going east and turned onto the 159, which is a curvy paved logging road.

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About 3/4 of the way across we ran into the police who had turned back all the cars also trying to get thru. They did not say anything to us and 200 m later we saw the other bikers. Up ahead 200 m the ER services truck had just arrived and they set about chain sawing the massive tree blocking the road. 45 min later the was a hole big enough for the bikes to get thru and we were off.

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It was raining hard at times and incredibly windy. We were almost blown into the oncoming lane twice. We pulled up behind 6 guys on Harley’s white knuckling and watched as in turn each pulled off to cower in the ditch. We pushed on and stopped in Winchelsea for some food and to warm up. Checking the ferry schedule we had 45 min to make it 63 km and we just did it. The sun was now out and we headed back “home” to Ian’s.

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Long story short the Customs here have been a nightmare. They will not give you an estimate of when they can inspect the bikes. The said they would do it finally March 20 after 2 weeks waiting , “but did not get around to it”. What happened next was the shipping agents had the bikes moved to a second quarantine facility where an agent was scheduled to arrive already March 21. That meant we could go over to get them March 22.

We took an Uber to the Chelsea train station, the train to Southern Cross station and another Uber over to Arrow Services. The bikes that were to be “roll on” have been crated and the luggage separately and hence a 500$ extra charge. The warehouse guys were very nice to us and fork lifted the pallet with the luggage over to where the bikes were parked. Orvar had been charged for crate disposal, but we luckily were not.

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You know your bike has been in the warehouse too long when it has spiderwebs!

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We remounted the windscreen and mirrors and hooked up the batteries and we were off to get fuel by 330. This was just in time to hit the early rush for the bridge and then the tunnel, that said we made good time after that and were back in Chelsea by 5.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/798/4...681ccf2b_b.jpg Australia_-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Ian booked off work early to check out the bikes and meet us for a farewell dinner. We can not say enough about how much Ian did for us picking us up at just before midnight from the airport 2 hours from home, moving out of his bedroom to the spare room, loaning us his V Strom, setting us up with transit cards, maps and routes, and making us some very good meals!!! We only hope to return the favor one day in Kamloops.

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This is good gravel, but some of the corners are a bit slick with mud.

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We made it to Traralgon about 330 and stopped for a nice cafe lunch. We had another hour and 15 min to Bairnsdale, but this was on the A1 highway. This is mostly single lane. Here we had booked to a small motel and rain was forecast.

We did have to put on the rain suits about half way to the summit. The section from Hotham almost all the way to Hariettville was in very dense fog. We were going 20 km per hour and still could barely see where we were going. It was pretty treacherous.

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There is then a rapid descent thru the forest to the Village and we were met by the Swede! We had though he would wait in Bright on his way south, but he rode the last 25 km to meet us. He did not like the food options here and so we went back to the Bright Brewhouse.

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We have now met Orvar on 6 contents! While we were eating lunch at 330 it started to pour torrentially. It would be an unsafe ride over the mountain and at least 4-5 hours to Bairnsdale to arrive after dark. He has to catch the ferry to Tasmania tomorrow at 8 pm and will now retreat with us to Wodonga and go to Melbourne on the freeway tomorrow (4 hours direct).

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We are headed to the home of our great friend Deb Hewson’s parents. We go way back with Marg and James as they were there when we started. They were in BC to accompany in a car Deb on her trip from Vancouver to Prudhoe bay in 2012! They welcomed us and the Swede into their home and fed and hosted us all.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/791/3...04ab2d3b_b.jpg Australia_-3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

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Orvar set out in the rain but after an hour it cleared and the boat was an hour late so he could get off the main road in the end.

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We managed to get out after the rain stopped in Wodonga and hike up the hill. We spotted quite a few grey kangaroos and several wallaby as well. Deb has been at the folk festival all day and came home with pies from the famous guy there in Yackandandah.

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We have decided to go to Tasmania after all. We “wasted" 2 weeks waiting for the bikes, but we still really want to go. The problem is again the ferry. There are booking for 2 bikes to get over this week, but no return booking for weeks. The car bookings are full for until June already. So to go we will have to fly. Which for hiking and camping and spending time with Deb it will work out just fine to travel by car without all our gear. This means that we will get up at 530 am, catch the train 3 hours from Wodonga to Melbourne, get the bust 20 min to the airport, and then fly 1 hour to Hobart.

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We had a bit of a rocky flight, but arrived and headed to Deb’s house chauffeured by her aunt Lynn.

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We picked us the Swede from his hostel and drove up the mountain for a 360 degree view. We headed back to Debs for another of her amazing dinners.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/888/4...ca02de21_b.jpg Tasmania-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

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We set out to do some mushroom picking/photographing of the non-edible ones in the nearby forest and the guys went to a local Whiskey distillery.

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We went back to the blow hole as they have a good fish and chip place here. While we were on the shore harvesting mussels we saw a penguin clinging to the rocks. This is a very strange time of day for it to be on shore and he did not look well. We called animal rescue and they advised if it did not resist being picked up in a towel then it was likely in trouble. We returned with the car and we had a spare towel and a very conveniently Penguin sized box from the groceries. He barely moved when we picked him up. We had 50 km to drive with him to Sorell Tasman animal hospital and he barely moved in the box. We dropped him at the vet and then headed home. We had a call 2 hours later to say he was doing better, was very under weight, and dehydrated. Life event= Penguin rescue=check!

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https://farm1.staticflickr.com/936/2...4a14323b_b.jpg Tassy-82 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We had a nice evening at home with the Swede before he heads out alone tomorrow since he has to be on the ferry again in 3 days time. The three of us packed up all the gear again and headed to the east coast (where the sun is almost always shining). We made for the Freycinet National park.

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We stopped for lunch of oysters and pizzas before parking in the Freycinet car park. From here we started uphill to the Wineglass Bay lookout an then down hill to the Bay itself for a swim in the crystal clear water.

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Then we walked across the Ishmus track, along Hazard’s beach and then back to the car on the Hazard’s beach trail.

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It was now almost sunset and after leaving the park we went in 10 km on the dirt to the Friendly Beach camp area, but as this is Good Friday it was packed. We went back to the main road and then up the coast road to a free camp favorite of Deb’s near 4 mile creek. Here you can pull off the road and camp right next to the beach.

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We even had some fresh oysters on the half shell.

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After a cozy night we headed north again and stopped at Deb’s batch in St Helen’s.

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Her neighbors had saved us a camp spot on the beach at "Cosy" Corner south and so after stocking up we made for the beach.

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Tonight we cooked up a rabbit (a gift caught by Deb's friend) Paella (complete with squid caught today by Wolfgang) cooked over an open fire for our Easter dinner. The only tragedy was that the possums cat burgled the tent and stole some of the kids Easter candy!

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The weather is still holding out and we want to make it to the north east tip of the Island.

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From the camp we stopped at Deb’s to do a quick load of laundry. Heading north on the C843 we stopped at the very good pub in Weldborough.
 
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We arrived to Cape Portland beach and wind farm just before 4. The Petal point Camp near by was wind swept at the beach, and crowded with long termers in the sheltered area. You can stay here 40 days and then move one spot over and stay another 40.

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Since it was still early we back tracked on the dirt road to the Mussle Bay also dirt road and to the very nice camp spot here. The road thru the park is very Savannah like and there are dozens of Forrester Kangaroos. The camp site is sheltered in the trees, but with direct beach access. The place is also full of tame and friendly wallaby! There is another amazing moon tonight.

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The plan today is to get within striking distance of Cradle Mountain. It is always rainy weather there, but it is forecast for cloud, but no rain for tomorrow. We hedged our bets though and booked a hotel for the night.

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The accommodation on the mountains fully booked and so we chose a small motel in Sheffield (City of Murals). We set out order cloudy skies westward. The first stop was at the Iron Pot Vineyard, where after a tasting and lunch we found they have amazing food, but not very good wine.

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We continued north west to Narawntapu National Park. Here we hiked the Archer’s knob summit track and then walked back along the desolate and isolated beach. This park is also a reserve for the Forrester Kangaroo.

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We stayed on the single lane back roads thru Railton to Sheffield. We were still stuffed from our massive lunch and after checking into the hotel we had nice hot showers and snuggled under our electric blankets!

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Today it is cloudy, but as advertised not raining.

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We drove up to the Cradle Mountain ranger station. From here you have to take a shuttle the 8 km to the Dove Lake trail head our to road works on the very narrow access road. We packed our luck and set out on the Dove Lake Circuit.

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It was in fact sunny much of the time, but despite that the summit of Cradle Mountain was in the clouds. On the shuttle ride back we saw 2 huge Wombats! Leaving the park we were again going north to the coast road and made for Stanley and a hike to the Nut. We had to make a few stops for foraging!!! and photos.

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It was now an hour from sunset and we had about the same distance to cover to get to the free camp at Marrawah. We did arrive here just before dark and in time to set up the tents. It was a bit drizzle and luckily there is a nice shelter here that even has flush toilets and BBq’s.

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https://farm1.staticflickr.com/830/4...63cc7f4c_b.jpg Tassy-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We have a big day ahead of us as we are in the far north west and want to make it back to Hobart in the far south east tonight. It was raining on and off all night and we could a least hang the tents in the shelter for a while.

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We will do this by going on the remote west coast road thru Corinna, where there is a punt cable ferry that saves a 100 km on the way to Zeehan. The road is paved 49 km from Marrawah on the C214 to where it meets the C249 where you turn onto a narrow and sometimes rough dirt road that continues until Zeehan.

The road wanders up and down rolling hills and curves along on its way south. There is very little traffic here and this is why it make a great location to release the Tasmanian Devil’s from the breading program. This will lessen their change of becoming road kill, which is what has decimated their numbers.

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In Corinna there is a lodge with expensive coffee and an office to but the 25$ ticket for the 5 min cable ferry ride, but it saves over 100 km if you have to go around.

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We made a pit stop for mushroom foraging and a short interpretive walk in the forest.

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We decided in Zeehan to make the side trip to Strahan to check out the wild west coast surf. The beach here is covered with wiggling sea foam.

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It is getting late in the day and we have 301 km and only 3 hours of day light left. Instead of another night of free camping we all felt it would be better to just keep going and make for Hobart tonight. We did stop briefly in Hamilton to finish off what food we had in the car and take a break from the road. We finally got to the city just after dark, showered, and all hit the sack.

For our last day here we walked into the city and along the harbor for lunch.

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We caught the MONA ferry for the 30 minute cruise to the museum. This is a very unique experience of modern and instillation/experiential art. In the videos the people all are lip syncing to Madonna songs and it was so addictive to watch.

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This guy just sat here all day with the tattooed back.

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This machine is fed all day and makes one poop everyday at 2 pm (displayed until 4).

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We dragged ourselves out of bed at 630 to get to the airport for our 8 am 1 hour flight to Melbourne and then the 3 hour wait for the 1230 and 3 hour train trip to Wodonga. Marg was there to pick us up and bring us home for the night and an amazing dinner of lamb shanks! It was so nice to be welcomed into their home again.

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We have some serious miles to make in the next 3 weeks.

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Today we will backtrack on our route from last week from Wodonga to Corryong on the B400.

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The town was packed with people in cowboy hats driving rigs with snorkels and winches! It is the “Man from Snowy River” festival up here in the Snowy Mountains. Just after leaving the town you approach the Victoria-New South-Wales boundary and we saw several police in the road and they signaled us to pull over (WTF we were not speeding). Nope they were doing mandatory alcohol blow tests at 11 am on a Saturday!

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We then turned south on the Alpine way thru the Murray River Valley towards Tom Groggin. From here the road is winding and very narrow. The locals like to drive in the center of the road as well.

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There are steep rises and switch backs towards the ski fields at Thredbo. You then drop down for 10 km to the reservoir at Jindabyne. Between there and Cooma you are on a flat open plain until you rise again into the mountains towards Bega.

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Here we wanted to get to the coast so we found a dirt road crossing on the Doctor George Mountain road between Bega and Tathra.

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We then rode another 35 km north to the sea side village of Bermagui pretty tired after 505 km. We managed to get a room in the bunk house at the pub and walked over to the harbor for dinner.

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We have just sorted out this week that we have an issue with Indonesia. Canadians do not need a Visa for Indonesia and can get 30 days Visa free or can get 90 day Visa on arrival, but only at airports, some seaports, and at the one land border between Malaysia and Indonesia on Borneo. They do not do this at the border between Timor Leste and Indonesia that we will have to cross. This means we will need to get to the Consulate in Sydney today to discuss the issue. This is a 43 km ride across to the other side of Sydney and we left Mona Vale at 9 to avoid traffic. It only took us 45 minutes.

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There was a bit of a line up, but they have an efficient number system. The man who helped us was very nice. He was so apologetic that we as Canadians would need and Visa and that he would have to charge us the fee. We were so happy to get the visa arranged. He even pushed the 4 plus days for processing and said we could come and pick them up in the morning.

Now back to Mona Vale to meet Chris and then we drove out to the North head at Manly .

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Chris is a captain on one of the harbor ferries and was able to get us on the famous Manly ferry. This leaves from Manly beach and crosses to the city at the docks between the Opera house and the harbor bridge.

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We rode over and back up in the bridge with the crew. The timing could not have been better as we pulled up alongside the opera house just as the sun was setting behind the harbor bridge. The new addition to the boats in the last few weeks is they sell beer and so we had a brew on the return trip.

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Then it was again back to Mona Vale for a traditional Aussie BBQ. At breakfast in the back yard we had a constant stream of feathered visitors including huge white cockatoo, multicoloured lorikeets, and Galah (red breasted cockatoo or as Sara likes to call them “the pink headed parrots”) at the bird bath.

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We have opted not to go north on the “coast highway” as it is rarely on the coast and we will head inland to the hills.

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We did have to first book it 129 km north on the M1 freeway (this after 30 minutes just getting to it from the city). We took the exit here onto the B68 and rode 38 km to Maitland. The road surface is paved, but it is actually mostly patched pot holes. Then we turned off onto onto The Bucketts Way north to Gloucester.

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This is a curvy road thru the hills and farmlands. There is almost no other vehicles. We stopped in Gloucester for a late lunch. This was the largest of the towns we went thru, but they are all quite well kept and look prosperous.
After lunch at 2 pm we had 214 km to go to Armidale (the highest city in Oz). The road surface here is smooth and we saw about 4 other vehicles all the way there. We had a long day at it was after 5 so we opted for a small motel just at the edge of town. This place has lots of motels and unlike most places we have been there are very few no vacancy signs. This worked in our favor as we bargained and got a large discount. The rooms have a kitchenette and so we walked the 5 km round trip to the Coles supermarket to get dinner fixings. It must be James Bond week and the next in the series and the last Bond was on tonight (no better than the terrible one last night).

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From Armidale we headed east on the B78 or Waterfall way. This again a perfect motorcycle road.

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We took a small break at Ebor on the Guy Fawkes River to see the pretty nice Ebor falls.

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We turned north just after this on the Armidale road thru Clouds Creek to Grafton. We stopped and had a great cafe lunch and decided what to do from here.

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We had originally planned to go to the coast at Iluka.

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Chris in Mona Vale had put us in contact with Peter and Kay Forwood and we heard from them last night. They are away on a cruise this weekend Saturday until Tuesday. They live 100 km north of Brisbane, but will actually be just north of the city tomorrow for a family event and so can meet us for lunch there.

This means a 280 km ride in the morning from Iluka unless we go farther north. This is a good spot to decide to change the route and we will still go north on th B91 now further and all the way to Casino, where we will take the B62 thru Lismore to Byon Bay. These are all secondary roads with little traffic and will leave us with only 175 km to go tomorrow.

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From about 30 km before Casino until Byron we saw numerous people pulled over by police. It is interesting unlike NZ people drive 5 km under the speed limit and now I see why. There is definitely a palpable police presence here.

Byron is a hip surf town with cool vibe. Our motel had direct beach access thru the back fence. We arrived with about 20 min to spare before sunset. We enjoyed a long walk down the beach where it was 21 degrees even after dark. The town is hopping there are numerous cool places to eat and live music and buskers on every block.

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We left town about 9 and did a side trip off the M1 into koala territory (no sightings) and then headed back to the freeway to make it to Numbah by noon for our lunch meeting with the Forwoods.

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Super nice people and so humble. There trip was epic was done before the cellphone/internet age. Their bike has been ridden in every country in the world including all the island nations.

Peter and Kay Forwood on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. World's Most Travelled Motorcycle.

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They advised us on a route north to end at their house where we could camp in the yard as they will be away this weekend. We traveled thru Samford to Dayboro again on great riding road. Here we stopped at IGA for a slush and as we were getting ready to go a man in van pulled us and said “are you on HU?”. His neighbor had seen us parked and called hill to come down from Mt Mee “because you have to see these 2”. He is the Hepko Becker dealer here and a big HU fan. After our chat we continued up the hill to Mt Mee and then on to Woodford, Peachester, and Beerwah. We then had a short trip on the M1 to get to the Sunshine Coast and Maroochydore.

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Here we will camp in the Forwood’s yard and we can use the public facilities at the river 50 m away. We then had a message from them that their cruise is cancelled as the last sailing this week there was a woman lost after jumping overboard.

We arrived to their yard and set up the tent up under the biggest tree for shade. We had stopped at the ALDI on the way and took our meal down to the river side for a picnic.

There are thousands of Lorikeets here and just at sunset (and sunrise) they go insane with squeaking and flying about. It is quite a sight and a racket. We tucked in for our urban camping for a quiet night other than the birds.

This morning we walked into the city centre along the river for breakfast and then further along to where the river meets the sea at Cotton Tree. We stopped at the Woolworth on the way home and took our lunch across the footbridge near the house. It goes over to the island in the river. Here at low tide you have to walk a long way out on the sand bar for it to get deep enough to swim.

Late afternoon Kay and Peter arrived home and we had access to the laundry!!! Tonight we all walked into the town to a great Asian fusion place for dinner. In the morning we rode their bikes back to Cotton Tree for a swim in the ocean and so the guys could do some body surfing.

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We then saddled up the bikes and rode just 15 km to across town to join a party in a park with some of their friends.

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It is a hot day and in the afternoon it was the for a swim in the river to cool off. Kay made us a lovely turkey dinner.

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We were up early to swim in the ocean again and then set off north.

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We are trying to get to Cairns 1700 km north, but west as well. Well actually we had to ride south first to join the tourist route. The road is surfaced, but at times it is just a strip of pavement down the centre of a dirt road.

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We wove our way north west thru small towns to arrive to Munddubera just after 4. It was 34 degrees most of the day and we were happy for sunset when it cooled off considerably. We walked into town and had a pretty good meal at the bar of a local hotel.

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Just about half way Daniel noted his voltage meter was reading low at 12.5. When we got back to the main road (the Capricorn Highway) and onto Dingo for gas. The voltage was holding and we hoped to get the 150 km to Emerald to swap out the stator, but 60 km later the voltage was dropping and luckily there was a very shaded rest stop right there. We changed out the regulator, but as usual no luck and we had to swap out the stator. This is our last spare as Sara’s was changed in Wellington.

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It was then 90 km to ride directly into the setting sun. We had a room at a pub and it came with a free beer!
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We messaged the HU HUBB in Darwin and have had several replies with addresses to use to ship the new stator from the USA. We in the end sourced the part online in Oz and they want to ship to the Yamaha dealer in Darwin.

We have to decide which of 3 routes to take to Cairns from here the direct (960 km), the inland (1058 km), or the coastal (1119). In the end we went for coastal even though it is a bit longer since we have not seen the ocean for a while and because we will likely backtrack to Charters Towers (inland and direct routes via CT) on the way to Darwin. It is supposed to be a scenic historical town.

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From Nebo it starts to get more treed and winding. We had booked an apartment on the Blacks Beach near Mackay. Arriving at the “resort” we were very warmly greeted. We had a cute little place with a kitchen and a WASHING machine! So it was laundry time before a walk on the beach and dinner.

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We woke to a cloudy (yeah) day and cooler temperatures for our ride north to Townsville.

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We left the beach and backtracked to Mackay and back on the A1. There are hundreds of km of sugar cane!

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We arrived to the iconic (full of tourists) Airlie Beach. Here we got some lunch and spent a few hours sitting by the water. We did not go into the water due to the killer jelly fish!They have spray bottles on vinegar you are supposed to take swimming with you. Everyone is in the "lagoon", which is just a swimming pool that looks like a lagoon.

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We had a break in Bowen at the "Big" Mango. This is another of the famous Big things in Oz.

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We finally arrived to the city just before 530.

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We are getting to Cairns tomorrow and have not yet had word that our Carnet had arrived. We received an return email from the Swiss Motoring Association that they did not get our payment sent 10 days ago and they did not ship the Carnets. WTF are we to do now as we have to drop the bikes in 2 weeks time at the shippers. We gave them our Darwin address. We need a renewed Carnet as our original will run out before we will leave Malaysia. We will exit Oz on the current one and then enter Timor Leste on the new one. We had to go down for a Grey Goose on ice. By the time we had come back from dinner we had a very apologetic email from SMA. They had a clerical error on their end and they have already express shipped they new Carnets to Darwin. Crisis averted.

We made another stop in Edmonton at the bottle shop for some bubbles to celebrate with Skip and Rachel. It is great to finally be here with them after 7 years.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/831/4...e0a02678_b.jpg Reef-2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

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Sunday morning we made for the weekend market for breakfast of Vietnamese soup and iced coffees! Then it was some mall time for the air con before a visit to the new aquarium. Rachel made some great meals for us and we did a lot of relaxing at their place.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/965/2...9f7a9816_b.jpg IMG_2603 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

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We had a “deep fried” Bogan lunch in Mount Garnet and then rode south to The Lynd. So far the scenery is not boring and dire as we have been warned. It seems to change type every 50 km or so from rolling hills, flat farm land, grassy dry marshes, scrub land, and forest. Sometimes the main road is a strip of seal on a dirt road.

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In The Lynd there is a gas station and we asked how the road south was. The gas station attendant said it is 264 km (with absolutely no services on the road) and only half is surfaced, it has water on it in places, and they recommend we ride around. It is 506 km around and actually takes 1 hour less! We also checked with a road train driver who said there is a fair amount of deep sand and that we will have to ride in the ditch and try to avoid the washouts…around it is we can not risk any issues. Its after 2 and we don’t have enough food or water anyway to camp out. If we start out now we will not make it to Hughenden before dark.

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A long day for the Swede!

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It was 430 when we arrived to Charters Towers after 250 km. We headed to the Woolworth for supplies and then to the caravan park. It had a nice shaded grass area for the tents. The camp kitchen was a bit sketchy as they only had BBq’s and a wood stove. Luckily we had bought a cooked chicken and salad for dinner. The wine/ beer helped. We are pretty tired and hit the sac not long after 9. We were woken up not long after by 2 possums fighting, but that did not last too long.

We had planned to get up early for the 830 ANZAC day parade, but despite actually getting up at 730 with the birds we did not leave the park until almost 930. This was after boiling eggs on the bbq (takes longer than you think). We rode into town and caught the last half of the ceremonies and the wreath laying at the ANZAC monument. There is one in almost every town. The poor school kids standing in the hot sun were dropping like flies.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/828/4...05a45ef2_b.jpg North Queensland-11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/904/4...fdbf0dae_b.jpg North Queensland-10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

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We headed out of town west after 11 and made for Hughenden to the road house, which was THE ONLY thing open as it is a national holiday. The road here is flat and straight with mostly grassland. There is almost no other vehicles and you might see a few every 50-60 km. There are not even that many road trains either.

Sara had a “toastie” , which is a grilled cheese of sorts and here it is made with laughing cow, which does not really melt. The guys had deluxe burgers, which had a bun, a burger patty, a thin steak, bacon, cheese, a fried egg, a slice of pineapple, lettuce, tomato, and a slice of pickled beet root. Dan ordered a large fires, which would feed 8!

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https://farm1.staticflickr.com/952/4...63f8f672_b.jpg North Queensland-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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https://farm1.staticflickr.com/864/4...77493a45_b.jpg North Queensland-27 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/977/4...81fda3f4_b.jpg North Queensland-25 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/951/4...ecacc83c_b.jpg North Queensland-22 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We have just 120 km left today to Richmond. We planned a shorter day as we knew we would leave last and we plan to stay in a hotel in Mount Isa 406 km from Richmond tomorrow. The road continued to be straight, there are quite a few dead kangaroos on the road side, but still little traffic. The speed limit is 110 km/h mostly and time flies. We did note that the road closure sign said there is a caution between Julia creek and Cloncurry ??

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/975/4...c857b37b_b.jpg North Queensland-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/952/4...740c4d6a_b.jpg North Queensland-4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

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We arrived to Richmond and it was 32 degrees. Our idea to free camp went out the window as it was 10$ at the caravan park with huge shade trees and hot showers! We set up under the trees on the grassy “unpowered” site 3. This is on what look like a nice lake, but is a marsh. This means the place is infested with flies that really drove us crazy until after sunset. We were so full from the lunch we skipped dinner and were all asleep by 9.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/981/4...8dbcfc7e_b.jpg North Queensland-23 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/964/4...f2e8cfdf_b.jpg North Queensland-24 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We were woken just after first light at 630 by the crazy squawking of hundreds of parrots. We had been told by numerous people that there was a plague of locust ahead. One couple in a car said they were 3 inches deep on the road and like a carpet. We had noted yesterday on the road warning sign board there was a caution for the section from Julia creek west. We did then get on the road early and had 407 km to go to get to Mount Isa.

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We stopped for fuel in Julia creek after 150 km with little evidence of grasshoppers.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/953/4...8340ccb3_b.jpg North Queensland-51 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/972/4...23126d9a_b.jpg North Queensland-29 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We met a man at the fuel stop who told us there was a good bakery in Cloncurry (oasis) in another 137 km, and we actually ran into him again there. Well the road had a few bugs on it, but nothing noteworthy. We had seen the cars with their grills plugged with them over the last few days, but all we got was a few splotches on our pant legs and boots. The route itself is again quite varied today with sections of grassland and scrub (AND termites).

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https://farm1.staticflickr.com/965/4...d079b02f_b.jpg North Queensland-38 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr
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https://farm1.staticflickr.com/868/4...1ece77ab_b.jpg North Queensland-34 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/908/4...cbd01c3b_b.jpg North Queensland-32 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

It is another 122 km to Mount Isa and this is quite scenic with some curves and rolling treed hills that are very green as they had so much rain recently. The ride into the town itself is less so with the huge mills and smoke towers billowing on the hill just past town. Grasshopper guts.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/967/4...a006d5e4_b.jpg IMG_2637 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

"We were woken just after first light at 630 by the crazy squawking of hundreds of parrots."
Back in 1996 I rode through that region on an F650 and stopped for the night in Camooweal (sp?). Right before sunset an enormous flock of white birds, some kind of parrots or cockatiels, flew over. They made an incredible racket and blocked the sun like a thick cloud for a good 3 or 4 minutes as they flew overhead. It was an amazing sight!

Quote:

Originally Posted by brclarke (Post 584252)

WOW. One of the things we will remember most about Oz is the "pet store" birds everywhere in flocks. sp

We checked out a few motel and several were quite expensive and sketchy. At one the disheveled desk attendant propositioned Daniel, while I was looking at the less than ideal room. In the end we found a “vending” machine hotel where you book and check in at the kiosk. It is new and very clean, with modern decor and fast wifi (rare in Oz).

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/910/4...8c1bee04_b.jpg IMG_2636 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We walked the 1.5 km into the centre to the mall and then the dollar store so Orvar could replace his stock of reading glasses. The last broke this morning. We then decided on a real Australian cultural “experience” with dinner at the RSL. Visitor must check in with ID and we of course had the roast pork special all round. One visit was enough for us all. The food is hospitalish at best and the drinks no cheeper.

Oz in general is very expensive, not as bad as NZ, but close. We stopped at Woothworth on the way home for supplies and a few more beers. What a relaxing evening in our swank pad with time to catch up on the web.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/949/4...6cacced7_b.jpg North Queensland-44 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

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Daniel fixed us an amazing smoked salmon eggs Benedict to start our big day of 663 km from Mount Isa to 3 ways.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/823/4...7e604ffe_b.jpg IMG_2640 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

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We started as usual with a full tank and noted they sell OPAL here.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/976/4...064899ee_b.jpg IMG_2642 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We rode 260 km to Barkley Homestead of expensive gas fame (195/l) since there is none from here to Camooweal or 3 ways. There are a few stations along the way but no services. We stopped for a break on the road side and could not get the bug nets on fast enough.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/870/2...e2556210_b.jpg North Queensland-53 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/967/2...ddbf1170_b.jpg North Queensland-58 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

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We stopped again in Barkley for something to eat as well. There were hundreds of pink headed parrots here.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/943/2...545d5811_b.jpg NT-5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/975/2...4e923fd7_b.jpg NT-6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Now it is just another 185 km to Warumungu or 3 ways and it is 34 degrees. It is more flat and desolate here and the number of dead Kangaroos does not help.

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We are late in the day and riding west directly into the sun, which is never fun. It was sort of cool to arrive at the Stewart highway at 3 ways where the roads meet.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/966/2...05f6d6ac_b.jpg NT-7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

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It is just another 300 m to the roadhouse. It is staffed like most of the places we have been in the last 4 days by non Australians. Here there are a bunch of rude German students, who laughed when we asked if there was a fridge for the use of the campers. The camp ground is the worst we have seen in OZ. The pool is green and not in a goon way, but cold so we could put our left over beers in there to cool. The camp kitchen is tragic and so the guys ate in the cafe. We were woken up by the yelling from the next tent. There was a family there with young kids and the mom had had 6-7 Jim beam and cokes last night. To top it off the camp was littered with spines from some tree and 2 of the expeds now have tiny impossible to see holes in them.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/970/4...2d6df7a7_b.jpg NT-12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/966/4...21c36518_b.jpg NT-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

The birds are what usually wakes us at dawn, but they were quiet today. We made up some breakfast and tolerated the few flies not very well and so packed up quickly and fueled up and left going north!

We have about 990 km to go to Darwin and will try to get over half way today. The roads today are STRAIGHT! it is hot and mind numbing riding. We had a stop at Elliott for lunch of some not too bad steak sandwiches.

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https://farm1.staticflickr.com/960/4...d7155635_b.jpg NT-14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

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We had to rest again at Larrimah at the lazy lizard for a cold drink.
 
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/828/2...b003e5e1_b.jpg NT-17 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

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It is the final stretch today as we ride up the 412 km to Darwin on another very straight stretch of road.

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It is also getting hotter and more humid by the km. We fueled up in Mataranka and then rode the 206 km to Pine creek where we stopped for lunch.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/910/4...ee05ed90_b.jpg NT-30 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We had to get a drink and a snack in Adelaide River and both us and the bikes were on our last legs. We are getting terrible fuel economy with the wind and the 110-115 speed to try to kill the miles ASAP.

This just left 71 km to get to Noonamah where we planned to meet our host David. He led us home to his amazing place in Palmerston, where Johan from Norway and German from Argentina were also staying. They have been here a week, but their bikes arrived from Dili 1 month ago. They are still waiting for an inspection from Quarantine!!!

We had a great evening hearing about everyones past adventures. We really appreciated getting first had knowledge of the route and ferries in Indonesia from these guys. Johan has been several times to Indonesia and had great advice on where to go.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/824/4...d5324fd1_b.jpg NT-31 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We appreciated staying with Dave, but we decided to head into the city center where we could get a 2 bedroom place for a reasonable price, we could cool off from the heat and get caught up on all sorts of “office” work.

Next update from the freight forwarder is that the boat is delayed!!! We were to drop the bikes in 2 days time for the departure next week. The boat will leave Darwin on time, but because of a mechanical issue it will go direct to Singapore and not stop in Timor.

The next estimated sailing to Timor is now May 18! AGHHH. We spent 2 days mulling over all the options. There is no way to get a small plane to Timor as none can fit even one of them at a time, we ride to Perth or Adelaide and ship the bikes to Bali and back track, we leave the bikes here and rent a car/van and tour, or what we settled on is take a repositioning free camper “rental” to Perth and then fly Perth to Timor. Making Lemonade!!!

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We managed to get a 2 week van return from Darwin to Perth leaving May 4. We will fly to Dili May 20 and hope to get the bikes before the 25th. This has kiboshed our plans for this fall. We will now arrive to North America a month behind schedule and will miss the HU meeting in Nakusp and also Wolfgang who will be in Canada to make his ride to Alaska this summer!

We did hook up on HUBB with riders Chantelle and Todd = HU/ADV The slow ride home - Canada to Australia on a pair of CT110 Honda Postie Bikes. We met with them for drinks.

They are temporarily working and giving in Darwin, but after 5 months they are counting the days until their 1 year contract is up. It is hot and humid here and the Darwin culture is a serious challenge for those with even a slightly open mind.

The Racial tension is palpable. Here like most of the NT the police obviously target Aboriginal people. They are posted at the drive thru liquor store and clearly only are checking ID of non white patrons. Here you must register your ID to buy liquor and in many places there is a daily limit. At our rental apartment we were not asked to leave a damage deposit, but the Aboriginal couple after us were. We all had paid with credit cards. When I was waiting in the lobby for the guys the Chinese owner asked me if I would like some teas as she had put the kettle on, but the other lady waiting was not offered the same courtesy. It goes on and on. I will say there are a huge number of obviously drunk people laying about all over town, and I can see how one could become jaded.

What to do in Darwin… Very hot and humid so we decided to walk 2 km in the heat of the day to the museum. (morons). There is lots of evidence of the recent cyclone.

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1745/...89c02eca_b.jpg Darwin_ by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

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