No takers?... OK... this might start to read like a book, but in 2006 I decided to ride to Darwin while on my annual leave. A bit over 7000 km, but three weeks break to achieve it on the 900 Bol Dor. Details below are from my travel diary.
First 2 days of travel was from Portland Vic to The Alice in NT... a bit over 3500 Km.
I had heard about a monument to a fallen rider around 70 Km east of Alice Springs through a friend, and decided to head for the Ross River near the East Mac range for a stickybeak.
The riders name was Terry Michael Gill, known to his friends as 'Fish' for obvious reasons.
In late 1998, he and a friend were riding their Harleys back to Alice springs on the Ross River Road into the late setting sun when Fish, aged 44, going quite slowly may have glanced into the rear vision mirror to see where fellow biker Trevor “Poodge” Packham was and he hit a camel, was knocked backwards and had his spine snapped when it struck the number plate mount sticking up from the rear mudguard.
When Poodge, who’d seen the sparks of the crashing bike ahead of him got to Fish seconds later, he was lying dead by the side of the road.
The handle bars and petrol tank on the monument came from the crashed Harley.
Half of Fish’s ashes are in the left-hand fuel cell, the other half interred at Alice Springs cemetery, and the Gill family buried Fish’s dog Sleepy, which was 16 years old, behind the cairn in 2006.
Alice Springs riders have an annual ride to visit the site.
I do not have any pics to carry this thread on, as my ex scored all my photo albums, so I will pass the ball back to Pete. I am sure he will have another photo / location to continue this thread.
