Thursday, April 28, 2016

A very rough drawing of the trip so far. Keep in mind that Australia is about the same size as the entire US! The bottom picture shows the red overlay of Australia (don't forget Tasmania shown in the Gulf of Mexico!) I'm seeing a lot & I'm missing a lot...

Monday, April 25, 2016

I promise not to post a lot of these things, but I am in fact a tourist. Ian Shoales once said: "Tourists are terrorists with cameras, terrorists are tourists with guns". The "BIG Mandarin" was added in 1983, no doubt to outdo the nearby town who erected a "BIG Orange" in 1977.
 Getting new "tyres" tomorrow & will be back on the road soon.

Saturday, April 23, 2016

I'm going to miss the camping options available here when I get back to the states. In the US & Canada, camp in camprounds; that's it and that's all - nothin' is free (with a few exemptions of a very few small towns out west). But in Australia, the possibilities are amazing! The last 12 days of camping have cost me a total of $20 (+ a couple meals)
* Communities (called "Councils") maintain rest areas which allow for 24-hour free camping for travelers; some even have showers!
* Small towns all have a park (Lions, etc) and most (or many, anyway) allow overnight camping for free. Note - if you stop in their town, you'll spend money there!!
* A few small-town hotels will let you camp on their land free, hoping you'll come eat at the pub.
* "Roadhouses" (which is all there is between towns that are 600 or more miles apart) will charge you maybe $10/12 for a tent, knowing you'll probably buy gas and food, too.
* & then there are the ubiquitous "Caravan Parks" which charge mostly $20 or more (I've seen upwards of $45!) to put a tent on the ground.  AND, that's for one person - $5 for each additional!  (Large families beware...) This usually includes power, camp kitchen and showers, though.
#OK, one small avantage for US campgrounds - usually free wi-fi. Here, lucky to get an hour for $5!

Friday, April 22, 2016

Look out for the wildlife, except for when it's "tamelife"...
On my way south again - this time for a short trip to Brisbane. I was heading to Townsville as the place to get an oil change and new "tyres" but they once again did not have them. I called Brisbane & they expect the front on Tuesday, so there is where I will do it instead.


Wednesday, April 20, 2016

The "winged" sunrise alert system functioned magnificently yesterday morning and I actually saw the sun rising. There are some mountains off in the New South Wales distance but it is now mostly flat as I ride in south-central Queensland.  

Sunday, April 17, 2016

Australia is a BIG place - in fact just going around the perimeter one time took over 13,000 miles. Now when they want something to show, it's got to be big. There is an entire collection of "Big Aussie Things" which can be viewed here -https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia%27s_big_things.
Hey, this even makes Shrek look tiny! http://biggoldenguitar.com.au/the-big-golden-guitar/

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Rural south-eastern Australia - Having completed the entire circumference of the continent & Tasmania (13,800 miles in my case), I now am back up in the warmer (84F today) section. This is the western central area of New South Wales & as you can see it's really flat and uneventful. However, it was some very good riding here and I enjoyed it today. Yes, this is on fact a picture from a moving Shrek...

Sunday, April 10, 2016

Echuca - the Murray River steamboats! The "Pevensey" was built in 1911. The water is now very low and it's green because of the heat a couple weeks ago, which produced all the algea (pronounced "al-gee" ~ hard g). I am staying at Don & Wendy's for a few days and will be back on the road on Wednesday morning. Yes, I am cheating and sleeping in a bed.

Friday, April 8, 2016

Roberto! A Koala!  I camped on The Great Ocean Road in Apollo Bay last night. In the morning I went walking through the trees around the campground, which was on a river right at the Indian ocean. The top picture is as I found him; the bottom one is after I whistled hard at him to wake him up. He just kind of looked at me like "whaaat?", turned around and went back to sleep.



Thursday, April 7, 2016

I made it! About 1/2 of the Great Ocean Road. Normally, a few twisties on a mountain road are OK, but this time it was 40 miles of a rainforest with roadwork in progress. That means that a couple miles of these twisties were on one-lane mud! That was an adventure!! (& an adventure is best described as a disaster that didn't happen...) I did stop to get an actual picture of one of the places near a previously shown area - "Bay of Martyrs" near Peterborough.

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

It's COLD! Last night it was 8C (46F) in Yambuk, VIC. The ride yesterday was mostly 15C (59F) and it was 57F at 5PM when I stopped. Rob, the humorous fellow who runs the historic hotel & pub where I played a few songs last night, tells me it was built in 1868. I will be only 2,300 miles from Antarctica today on the Great Ocean Road. Since I don't take pictures from a moving Shrek, here are a couple stock images...(note - email address inside profile)


Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Grasshoppers on the Nullarbor...
The picture does not convey the incredible abundance of suicidal grasshoppers I encountered between Esperance and Port Augusta. Victory Adelaide had to wash it twice!

I think I like it here...
(above the coffee pot at Adelaide Victory)

Sunday, April 3, 2016

Here I am at the midpoint of the Australia ride - at just over half the 40,000 KM the Victory dealer & I agreed to. I have now successfully completed the great North & West of Australia; tonight I am coming up on Adelaide for the 3rd oil change. I did relax a little; 3 days with Don & Wendy, 7 days in Darwin & 6 days in Perth. For those of you wondering how 4 1/2 months in a tent is even possible - well, so far it's been great! I am meeting new folks all the time and I play my music on most nights. In order not to allow myself the chance to sit around, I have planned a Quebec Road King trip in July and am meeting some friends at the Nevada Burning Man Festivities in August! Gotta go...