Day 19 – Alice Springs to Tennant Creek NT – 528kms The 520Km trip from Alice Springs to Tennant Creek was fairly straight again with the Pirelli tyres starting to show signs of wear @ circa 5,000ks mainly through the flat spot caused by our prolonged straight road driving. I hope they get us home!. We did not pass any towns today but stopped in at several interesting Road houses including Barrow Creek straight out of the wild wild west and Wycliffe Well which is claimed to be the UFO capital of Australia??. We also passed the famed and impressive Devil’s Marbles.
http://www.bushellsbikebashes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/IMGP5227.jpg(Wycliffe Well Road House – Australia’s UFO Capital??)
http://www.bushellsbikebashes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/IMGP5222.jpg(Barrow Creek Road House NT)
http://www.bushellsbikebashes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/IMGP5219.jpgDay 20 – Tennant Creek NT to Camooweal Qld – 477km We got away from Tennant Creek a half an hour earlier than our usual to make up for the half hour we will lose when we cross into Queensland later today. The morning was a cool 13c but warmed up to just over 30c during the day. The 477km run along the Barkly Highway featured only the Barkly Homestead Roadhouse and the Avon Downs Police Station about midway along. This must be the most isolated police station in Australia. The road was virtually straight all the way with the country flat open and featureless grazing land most of the way. The day was quite windy for the whole trip which made quite an impact on overall fuel consumption. We are spending the night at the Camooweal Pub which has some quite pleasant cabins out the back. Camooweal is said to be considered a suburb of Mount Isa even though it is 188kms away. The highway between here and Mount Isa is claimed to be the longest main street in the world.
The bustling main street of Camooweal with the Pub the first building on the right)
http://www.bushellsbikebashes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/IMGP5278.jpg Day 21 – Camooweal Qld to Kynuna Qld – 501km We treated ourselves to a cooked breakfast at the Camooweal Roadhouse before continuing our Easterly direction setting off on the 188km leg to Mount Isa. The road was undulating with lots of red rocky outcrops and hills and a few nice long sweeping bends. The morning was not as cool as it had been starting around 17c and finishing up at 32c later in the day. Our hottest day so far. The 122km leg between Mount Isa and Cloncurry was very pleasant with lots of greenery with more red hills and sweepy bends. We probably saw more road trains along this stretch than we had seen altogether on the whole trip. We lunched in Cloncurry then turn due South on the Matilda highway toward Longreach. The red hills soon turned into open flat plains as we headed toward our overnight stop at a little place called Kynuna. The road surface was very uneven in places giving the pillion a somewhat uncomfortable ride leaving her seat on a couple of the more extreme humps so I was informed on arrival. There were lots of termite mounds all along the road today many up to 1.5m high. Many of them had been adorned with articles of clothing by travellers which often made you think there was a person standing or sitting by the road until you got closer. We think Kynuna (population 20) should claim the official title of the absolute middle of nowhere!. Our abode for the night was the corrugated iron 130 year old Blue Heeler Hotel which apparently has links to Banjo Paterson and the penning of Walzing Matilda.
(One of the many road trains)
http://www.bushellsbikebashes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/IMGP5286.jpg(The Blue Heeler Pub at Kynuna Qld)
http://www.bushellsbikebashes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/IMGP5298.jpgDay 22 – Kynuna Qld to Longreach Qld – 351kms The 350km ride to Longreach was across mostly open plain grazing country. The road was fairly straight again although the scenery was pleasant with a scattering of clouds keeping the temperature down to a comfortable 24c. Much better than the 32c yesterday. We passed through Winton and checked out their Waltzing Matilda tourist centre before completing the next 180km leg to Longreach. We spotted quite a few emus on the way into Longreach. The concentration of road-killed kangaroos near Longreach was astounding with dead animals every 500 metres or so. Looks like driving at night could be rather hazardous around here. We plan to stop at Longreach for a couple of nights and check out the Qantas museum and the Stockman’s Hall of Fame tomorrow with a dinner cruise planned on the Thomson River this evening.
(Beating the flies at one of our roadside stops!)
http://www.bushellsbikebashes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/IMGP5318.jpg(A “Never give up!” tree on the Thomson River – Longreach Qld)
http://www.bushellsbikebashes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/IMGP5354.jpg(Sunset over the Thomson River – Longreach Qld)
http://www.bushellsbikebashes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/IMGP5404.jpgDay 23 – Longreach Qld - Off Bike DayWe spent the day in Longreach visiting the Stockman’s Hall of Fame and the Qantas Museum. A very pleasant day.
(Part of the main street of Longreach Qld)
http://www.bushellsbikebashes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/IMGP5485.jpgDay 24 – Longreach to Charleville – 525KmsWe left Longreach for the 525km run to our next overnight stop at Charleville. The days are starting to get cooler again (14-21c) but our run of clear weather continued giving us perfect riding conditions yet again. The countryside is still pretty flat, open grazing land with a few more bushy areas closer to Charleville. We were again astounded to see the number of road kill along the way (mostly kangaroos and wallabies but also a few emus). We also saw quite a few live emus again today walking near the road and also spotted two beautiful Brolgas feeding just by the edge of the road. No opportunity to take a photo though.
We struck a number of road works today necessitating several enforced rest stops of 15 minutes or more. The towns are starting to get closer together again with some sort of town or hamlet every 100k’s or so. We went through towns today that neither of us had ever heard of before such as Barcaldine (pronounced Baarcawld’n), Blackall, Tambo and Augathella all with seemingly long histories although most of them look like they were stuck in a time warp. There does not seem to be much in Charleville but we will have a bit of a look around before we head out for our shortish run to Roma.
(More roadworks)
http://www.bushellsbikebashes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/P6080023.jpg(Downtown Charleville Qld)
http://www.bushellsbikebashes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/IMGP5504.jpg(Straight railway at Barcaldine Qld)
http://www.bushellsbikebashes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/IMGP5490.jpgDay 25 – Charleville Qld to Roma Qld -274KmsWe had a leisurely start in Charleville taking our time before setting of on the 260km run heading due East to our next overnight stop at the gas and oil well town of Roma. We again passed through a couple of interesting little towns we had never heard of such as Morven, Mungallala and Mitchell arriving in Roma around 2.30pm. The day was cooler with a maximum of 19c. Our winter liners will be going back into our riding jackets tomorrow for the first time in about 3 weeks.
The stately Hotel Corones at Charleville Qld)
http://www.bushellsbikebashes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/IMGP5509.jpg(Which River ?? – At Charleville Qld)
http://www.bushellsbikebashes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/IMGP5515.jpg(Rest stop at Morven Qld)
http://www.bushellsbikebashes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/IMGP5526.jpgDay 26 Roma Qld to Moree NSW - 468KmsWe left Roma on a chilly 6c morning heading due south to Moree NSW, our next overnight stop. The day was mostly cool but fine making for pleasant riding even though we had added a few layer to our riding gear. We crossed the Barwon River at Mungindi and finally came back into our home state. We passed a number of cotton growing areas today around St George, Mungindi and Moree. There was quite a bit of activity around the several cotton gins we passed although we are told the harvesting has now been completed. We checked into our thermal springs resort at Moree and spent a pleasant hour before dinner in one of the thermal pools. We will be spending the day here tomorrow and plan to take a tour of the local cotton gin before paying a return visit to the thermal pools.
(The famous Marinoa River – Mitchell Qld)
http://www.bushellsbikebashes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/IMGP5533.jpgDay 27 MoreeWe stayed at Moree and took a tour out to one of the local cotton farms and Gin. The farm was 50,000 acres and was very interesting. We spent the afternoon enjoying the thermal springs located just outside our motel door There are five pools starting at 29c then 34c, 35c, 37c & the hottest 39c. Very enjoyable. We met a group of bikers who had done a very similar circuit to us and we were probably no more than a day or so away from them at any time. They started from the central coast and were heading to Tamworth tomorrow the same as us. We will probably ride along with them. They are raising money and creating awareness for a group called “Motorcycle Accident Rehabilitation Initiative” of MARI for short. They have a website
www.drwings.org.au. Their leader was a guy called Ken Lovegrove.
(Wow!! How straight are those furrows.)
http://www.bushellsbikebashes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/IMGP5562.jpg(Harvested cotton waiting to be processed by a cotton Gin near Moree NSW – Each roll is said to be valued at $2,500)
http://www.bushellsbikebashes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/IMGP5567.jpg(Enjoying the artesian hot pools at Moree NSW.)
http://www.bushellsbikebashes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/IMGP5571.jpgDay 28 – Moree to Tamworth - 287Kms Total 8,075kmsOur 287km trip to Tamworth took us through Warialda, Bingara, Barraba and Manilla. The country was picturesque and hilly with nice undulating and winding roads most of the way as we travelled along Fossickers Way from Warialda. It was mostly grazing country although a few crops were spotted along the way. The road surface left a lot to be desired in places bouncing us around a bit from time to time. The weather was fine and sunny yet again although we had a chilly start at 6c spending most of the day at around 14c. We were well rugged up and enjoyed the ride.
(Approaching Warialda NSW on the Gwydir Highway)
http://www.bushellsbikebashes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/IMGP5575.jpg(Cheese and bickies in the sun (to warm up) at Bingara enroute to Tamworth NSW)
http://www.bushellsbikebashes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/IMGP5576.jpgDay 29 – Tamworth to Wootton via Walcha and Gloucester NSW - 365Kms
We headed north briefly as we rode out of Tamworth headed for Bendemeer to pick up the Oxley Highway to take us through to Walcha. After refuelling at Walcha we headed off down Thunderbolts Way to Gloucester 155kms away. This is really a beautiful part of the world with green rolling hills with the road winding through green valleys and across picturesque creeks. Generally a fantastic ride. The only downside is the very poor condition of the road surface for much of the way with some 40km/hr sections where the surface is extremely bad. If they ever get around to resurfacing this road it will be one of the best riding roads in the country (we’ve seen most of them so we should know
). After lunch we headed down the Bucketts Way then across to Nabiac before reaching our second home at Wootton at around 2.30pm. We will spend a couple of nights here before heading back to home number 1 on Sunday.
(Carsons Lookout – Thunderbolts Way between Walcha and Gloucester NSW)
http://www.bushellsbikebashes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/IMGP5583.jpg(Crossing the upper reaches of the Manning River approaching Gloucester NSW on Thunderbolts Way)
http://www.bushellsbikebashes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/IMGP5589.jpgDay 31 Wootton NSW to Sydney - 338KmsWe arrived home after taking the final leg from Wootton to Castle Hill (Our home in in Sydney). We ran into some threatening weather around Newcastle and put our wetties on as a safety measure prior to heading down the M1. This was the one and only time we had them on in the whole trip. Putting your wetties on is a sure way of guaranteeing that you won’t need them and this time was no different arriving home to a clear blue sky and not a drop of rain.
We covered 8,778 Kms on our trip. We were out for a total of 31 days which included 9 off-bike days. Our average on our riding days was 400Km/day.
Click here
https://www.google.com.au/maps/@-26.52142,142.044065,5z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!6m1!1szbwgo9AFRVFw.kBmq8jVN2A4I to see where we went and where we stayed.
We are not sure where our next big ride will be but an extended tour of the back blocks of Victoria is high on the agenda.
Bye until our next Saga
Ros and Dick
