cont'd
The stop at Barkly Homestead was good, problems with the Premium pump due to the heat so the need to use 91 again. I treated myself to one of their Barra Burgers before putting my head down for a sleep. Up early and off down to Cloncurry for the turn up to Normanton. Just out of the “Curry” I needed to change out of some gear and found a rest stop. The pleasant surprise here was meeting up with another rider who had earlier arrived from Cooktown and was waiting to meet up with a mate so they could head off to the ghost town of Mary Kathleen. It was a great conversation and straight away I was in awe of this gentleman and his escapades on bikes (he had three bikes). When I arrived he had his billy on (trangia), with the rollie hanging out the corner of his mouth. His softly spoken and calm voice fitted in so well with his dry weary face. He reminded me of conversations that have been had with some old drovers and their ability to draw you into their world and incredible adventures. I must apologise as I have forgotten his name. I left that stop with a sense of proudness that I had met, chatted with and shared a moment of time with a real down to earth adventurer, it was a part of this ride that will stay with me. His parting piece of advice, as he limped slightly in my direction, was to visit the croc in the main street of Normanton, I did.
Having lost my glasses a couple of days ago and attempting to purchase some reading glasses over the last couple of days, I thought I would give this town a go as well, fantastic found some. This now made it a lot easier to write up my logs and check my spreadsheet. Oh, I also visited the croc before refuelling and heading back out to meet up with the National Highway 1 once again. It would have been around a 932 kilometres to travel across from Borroloola in the NT to Normanton (as I said before dirt roads and river crossing on my bike are just not me).
How good and beautiful is that run across the top of the tablelands near Atherton, wow! Just fantastic. Then the run down the mountain into Cairns, I worked my butt off coming down there, unfortunately it was dark but I am sure the ride in the daytime would be an exciting one as well, might have to go back and do that one day. I stopped at a new servo/maccas on the south side purely for a rest and a quick bite to eat, grilled chicken and chilly wraps, love ‘em. This was only night that I had not planned an overnight stop in a motel/hotel. I did this to ensure I had flexibility for the last part of the run down the final part of the paddock boundary.
The Bruce Highway does not have a very good name here in Australia for safety and of course, there is a fair amount of repair work being done. I think, that by keeping this in mind, it then allows the rider to accept that there will be time issues and that you just have to work around that, again not much else you can do. My run down this last leg was, well, really uneventful. I do remember saying to myself, it’s not over yet, concentrate……. I pulled into one of the stops at Caboolture for a corner docket and continued on with the last piece of this puzzle back to my starting point.
Normally, for us as LDRiders, at the end of our journey, there is no fanfare, just get in and get the last docket and head home. For me however there was a fanfare, bands playing, fireworks all wrapped up in Crappy (Michael), here was a man that had ridden and hour and a half to say well done… what a great bunch of people we have in this LDRiding community in OZ, thanks mate!
My spreadsheet had shown an arrival time of 21:57 and the final docket recorded a time of 21:40, I am happy with that.
Epilogue
The tyres were brand new, Pirelli Angel GT, and there is still a good amount of treat left, of course I am in need of a good service for the bike but it performed flawlessly and is a great touring bike, 2008 Honda ST1300. I need to rethink the water bladder in the tank bag and have a cover made for the external fuel tank. Replacement spot beam driving lights are also now needed, thanks to that “demon bird”. The GPS using Igo Primo was exceptional as was the excel spreadsheet.
I have left out the use of the FLIR camera as I expect it may be a little controversial and would hate to think that its discussion may detract from the ride itself. I will put up a thread on one of the threads at Distance Riders Australia to discuss the equipment and how it was used. May I say though, I firmly believe that any piece of equipment that makes you as a rider, feel safer and comfortable like fluro vests, roo whistles, daytime running lights, extra rear lights, tall screens, wet weather gear, heated clothing etc., all go towards assisting in your fatigue management. To me the FLIR camera was part of that. So keep an eye out on the DRA site for its discussion.
As a member of OzSTOC, the Australian ST Owners Club, I also participate in their Rider Assistance Network, on this trip I notified our two wonderful club members, Jean (Pocket Stoker) and Chris (ST2UP) that co-ordinate this for us, of my trip and gave them the link to follow my journey should they so wish. This is not part of what they do but had I needed the services of the RAN then it was there, same as my membership of RACQ, again all of this adds to fatigue management as it is something else that is not playing on your mind. Thanks for the phone calls guys.
This journey ends, the boundary ride around the big paddock completed…now need to look for the next journey on this never ending road…….
