When in doubt, head for the pub

Wise words if you ask me. Especially when I rolled into town at 9pm with no accommodation sorted out and the local pub in Proserpine had one room left... A couple of pints and some welcome sleep after 8 hours on the road. An owl came suspiciously close to me on the bike on the way down here. Maybe it mistook me for a rather noisy fast fat mouse??

I'm now in Airlie beach (Mr. O'Connell, guessing you must have stopped here too :) for a couple days and might force myself to go on a sailing trip... Airlie is the jumping off point for the Whitsunday group of islands. I've also had a long overdue haircut after the helmet hair bugged me for the last time :)

The map link has now been updated. If you use Firefox it displays the map muuuccchhhhhh quicker than Internet Explorer, just for your information

Head north for the winter

I'm about 200 miles east of Melbourne, the skies are looking a bit ominous and it's actually cold riding the bike (yes, poor me) when I hatch a genius idea. Head north! Sydney can wait (I still had a month left when making the decision). And so a week later and about 3500km covered, here I am in nice warm tropical Port Douglas.

Palm trees, rainforest, the barrier reef nearby and crocs, what more could you ask for?

If I had to do that trek again I'd probably not do the inland route though. I now know why the roads are called 'developmental' - single lane for you and the oncoming traffic, usually roadtrains, with a some lovely gravel on either side to aid in the passing of one another. The Nullarbor truly was easy in comparison!

PS. Allegedly there's a cyclone heading this way. Should be interesting... :)

PPS. Map link updated, takes forever for Google to display the page for me - hope it's as slow for you!

Ben and the art of motorcycle maintenance

This is the one title I was hoping I'd never have to use... But, thanks to the denizens of Tamworth (and more likely the pissed patrons of the Imperial Hotel), some getting hands dirty action was required.

First thing I noticed was the spark plugs leads had been removed from the plugs (not a big deal, just plug them back in, has happened before...). With that done I turned the engine on to warm up before heading off, to find petrol trickling by my feet. What the $^*#??? It seems someone thought it would be a genius idea to rip the fuel line hose. Judging by the scratch marks on the ground too they probably tried to wheel the bike off somewhere but thanks to the good old steering lock that scuppered their plans.

With it being Sunday and in small town Australia, finding an open auto parts shop involved a good 5km trek but in the end I got everything patched up and motored onto the next town. Conveniently enough the next town (Armidale) is where I'd scheduled a regular service for the bike anyway. If anything was amiss then hopefully the mechanics will pick it up (I did ask them to double check when dropping it off earlier).

Happy happy joy joy!

The picture is of the Parkes Radio Telescope which I passed on the way to Tamworth.

The lights are on, but noone is home

One of the benefits of traveling around Oz during the off season, is that the majority of hostels outside of the big cities are pretty quiet. Or as is the case tonight in Foster, completely empty bar my good self. A whole house to myself for under a tenner. Sounds like a good deal to me.

After a few nights in Melbourne (very nice place) I'm glad to not be sharing with snoring and flatulent room-mates anymore...



I had a minor panic on the way here when a glance in the Lonely Planet failed to mention the town. I found a Forster in neighbouring New South Wales mentioned... Turns out my spidey senses where tingling in the right direction and there was indeed the hostel here that I thought there was (phew!)

Great Ocean Road (part 2)

Hmm, I definitely preferred the section before Apollo Bay to the stretch up towards Melbourne. Maybe it was just the fact I was riding before 10am (early for me, put it that way) that put me off it or the idiotic drivers trying to get past a big group of cyclists (punks!). No patience these days I tell you...

I stopped for lunch at Airey's Inlet and if anyone remembers the TV show 'Round the Twist' (I know some people who should know it, didn't...), then this is the place it was filmed at.

I'm now in Melbourne, sampled some coffee and am now being forced to drink while on the 'net (it's cheaper apparently, and who am I to argue with them). I've also changed my flight dates seeing as I was supposed to be flying out of Sydney to Auckland on the 12th May (never going to happen). It's now 12th June - mum/dad, take note! :)

Edit: Map page updated and some new pictures added to the flickr page. Link over here ------------->

Great Ocean Road (part 1)

This road is a bugger, but for all the right reasons. Almost every few kilometres there's some sight/lookout/place of interest that you feel compelled to stop at and check out. And I'm only in the middle of the road at Apollo Bay at present. Note to motorcyclists, beware of the winding roads trailing around Otway National Park - gravel and sharpening corners make for some interesting riding (and did I mention the sights to distract you along the way ;-)