2019 National Rally Ride : Part 1 - The Trip West

[Cerebral Knievel]

The road to Port Sorell : Brisbane to Yallingup.

I departed Brisbane on October 16th to join Terry(Stroppy) and his good friend Stephen for a little ride across the Nullabor prior to heading to Tasmania for the Port Sorell National Rally.

This would be my first ride across the paddock which i was determined to attempt,even with shoulder issues that had kept me off a bike for 16 months prior to purchasing the R1200 in late September.

The plan was to be at Terry's on the friday night but after overnighting in Uralla the first night i pushed on through strong winds on the second day and made Canberra a day early. We departed on the saturday morning for Stephens in Ballarat via an overnight stop in Beechworth on the saturday night and a lovely sunday lunch with Chippy and JD at Dickies (Greencan) in Sunbury.










After departing Ballarat we overnighted in Pinnaroo after picking up the Silo art trail then made our way to Whyalla the next night.Terry and Stephen had booked a ship and foundry tour for the next morning so i decided to head off via Port Lincoln/Coffin Bay and Lock to meet them at that nights accommodation in Wudinna.














Moving on from Wudinna we overnighted at the Nullabor Roadhouse after very hot and windy weather,staying at Caiguna the next night then Esperance for a few days so Terry could get tyres fitted on a monday morning.We moved on to Kulin and the Tin Horse Hwy via Wave Rock in more very hot and windy conditions.After a night in Kulin,Terry headed off to Kalgoorlie to stay with rellies as he wasn't feeling to flash,while Stephen and i headed for Yallingup for a few days in order for Stephen to get new tyres in Perth.















Brewery visit count on leg 1 : 6

At this stage in the trip at Yallingup i attempted to get my bike shipped back to Melbourne as the pain in my shoulders and neck was unbearable....not helped by tripping over face first in the Nullabor Roadhouse shoebox room carrying 2 helmets. I knew the trip was going to be challenging but the codeine tablets and other drugs were not doing much by now,not helped by wafer thin beds and road and weather conditions.
As it turns out i wasn't able to get the bike transported back to Melbourne in time to get on the Spirit of Tasmania so we headed off on the return leg and got on with it.
The positive thing about Stephens 12 litre tank on his Honda CTX700 was frequent fuel stops to rest and top up on drugs and coffee, and for a fellow rider the chance to find sticky date pudding in far flung remote outposts 

[Bodø]

Great report.  I'm looking forward to seeing more of this.  Thanks.