The Trip to the 2013 Aussie MotoGP - Phillip Island - Day 1 heading down

Ok so I can finally put all this together now that I have had a week at work and I am able to collate all the photos and videos - so here we go

Day 1- Home to Coonabarabran - Sunday 13/10/2013 - 7hrs 30min in the saddle

It was a beautiful Sunday morning as you can see from the pics below. Betty was all packed and I was ready to start the journey. Just the leather jacket and the camos on as even this early is was starting to get hot. A check at work on Friday gone with RACQ website told me there was no roadworks I needed to worry about - how wrong that proved to be.



Sunday morning weather

Blue skies yipee

I had planned out each day pretty good - with at least 1 hour in the saddle or max. 150kms in the saddle before each stop for a stretch, smoke, coffee, piss etc. First leg was to Warwick was 120kms and I was fresh. When going to Stanthorpe this leg usually involves a stop at Aratula and another at the top of the range before stopping in Warwick for another smoke break. Not this time though - even though I had the trip planned out with 3 days to get to Melbourne I was still on a slightly tight schedule - mainly so I did not have to ride at dusk or into the night - too many roos and crazy critters after dark for my liking :) So with that in mind I really had to push myself to not stop at the usual stops and push onto Warwick.

Second stop at Inglewood

Hmmmm....back home or continue??

The road ahead - next stop Goondiwindi

Warwick to Inglewood stretch was fine - apart from the fucking roadworks that the RACQ website said did not exist. Lovely wet cement dust all over Betty - especially the engine casing. Thanks you fuckers. The road to Gundy was by fast the road kill hell stretch. I am glad I was not doing this stretch at night. And that lovely road kill stench with every breath was fucking disgusting. The amount of dry retching on this bit of road was constant - fucking gross. And nearly every big dead roo had a nice piece of truck part lying just next to it - mainly wheel arches but the occasional complete guard and parts of wheels. Coming into Gundy I past about 20 hogs all wearing their colours - it was the first of a few groups on the way down to Melbourne.

Just outside of Gundy - next stop Moree

It's at this stage I will recognise the courtesy of the interstate truckers. I would say near 98% of them heading towards me moved across a little ( as I did I my side) so that the wind factor was a little less when passing. I also had many of them let me know when it was clear for over taking too - even though I double check just in case lol. Even at the fuel stops the truckers a happy for a chat and a coffee - very entertaining some of the stories. They also were a wealth of info on the road conditions when I was heading which was fantastic.

Quick wee wee stop half way to Moree

Betty still looking nice

It's about 35 degrees and the land is really dry

Nice little message at the rest stop

The road between Gundy and Moree was not too bad - still lots of road kill. This stretch I passed another bikie gang heading back the way I had come. Chatting to a trucky at the rest stop and he has seen lots of "gangs" on his way up from Adelaide. The rest of the way to Moree was rather uneventful - except for these weird Average Speed Stations. It was not until I crossed the second one that I had this moment of clarity. They are measuring the time it takes a vehicle to get between the two points based on average speed and the speed limit. SHIT. I was quite happily motoring on a little more than the 110km/hr speed limit - opps. A trucky later told me it's only for heavy vehicles - yet in Melbourne I was told it's for all vehicles. Bugger.

Moree came and went and then passed thru Narrabri without anything interesting - well except road kill and bloody big trucks. And the stupid bloody road works of course....you know the road works that were not meant to be there. Betty is slowly starting to get a nice build up of cement dust caked underneath - thanks fucking road works. I also noticed that the price of fuel was really starting to climb in price. Fillup before leaving home was $1.42, at Inglewood it was $1.48, and at Moree it was $1.55. I'd budgeted on the fuel not being any more than $1.60 per litre so I was very sure that was going to be exceeded. The good thing was Betty was starting to get about 16kms a litre by this stage.

It is here I should mention that the stretch of the Newell Hwy between Narrabri and Coonabarabran was by far the BEST bit of road ever on the whole trip. It was also the most BORING bit of straight ass road the entire trip. Had to put that in there now :)

About 30kms out of Coonabarabran I notice that it was still rather hot (30 on the temp reading on Betty) and that the road ahead was leading into a dark storm vista. About 10kms out and the heavens opened up and the wind started buffeting Betty all over the road. Then came the thunder and lightning. Fucking fantastic. Just outside of Coonabarabran and it stopped. As I sorted out the camp site payment another mini storm hit with more rain and wind. Then stopped again. And another hit as I was setting up the tent and the wind increased and PISSED ME OFF NO END trying to get the stupid dumb ass tent setup. What a fucking nightmare.....but it got worse.....

Camp setup - Betty under cover at least

Nice green skies and wind

So the tent was up finally, and Betty was under some sort of cover - but of course the next little storm hit and blew right under the cover and Betty was covered in more sandy much and rain. And the tent decided to blow the fuck away. It took another 20 minutes to get the fucking tent back and another 30 minutes to get the fucker setup again. I was not looking forward to sleeping tonight. I could not put the bike cover on Betty for fear the wind would just balloon it and pull Betty over. So Betty copped the wind and rain all bloody night.

Next storm about to hit - yea

Tent still holding....for now

It finally cleared up......NOT. There was more coming into the night

Now due to daylight saving in place in NSW it was still rather light at around 8pm - so I had plenty of light to see the next fucking storm about to hit. What a fucking nightmare. When this one cleared there was a little blue sky so it was a perfect time for a shower and dinner. Roast beef and veges with a nice cold rum can. The shower facilities were fantastic - nice hot water and clean.

Just about to climb in and get some sleep....well that was the plan

So during the night another storm hit, the wind got to 90k's/hr I was told in the morning. The fucking tent blew down 3 times during the night. The first 2 times stupid me went outside in the rain and wind to fix it all up. I think GOD heard my swearing...and the rest of the folks at the camp site. After the 3rd time I went FUCK IT and just laid in the collapsed tent all cold and went and dreading the wind pushing Betty over or the tent flying up in the sky with me in it still. I would have to say that night was by far THE WORSE FUCKING EXPERIENCE AND WORSE SLEEP IN MY FUCKING LIFE. At around 2am I think I finally crashed and slept till the alarm went off at 5:30am (4:30am QLD time). At that stage I was also doing the big FUCK YOU to camping too. I woke rather wet with the tent collapsed all around me. Lucky most of the luggage and stuff was dry still though. Betty was still upright but filthy. It was overcast with patches of blue sky and it was fucking freezing cold. Betty's temp display showed 4 degrees. BRRRRRRR. I decided to give Betty a little clean before I started out again - yea I know OCD kicking it again. Considering the crap fucked night I was feeling rather fresh and relaxed though so the next leg would be fine :)

Betty kinda clean again after a fucked night

Cleaning done - now the stupid tent needs packing up grrrrrrr
 

So everything packed and the Up n Go drank and it was time to roll for Day 2. It was that cold I had extra layers of clothing on and the wet weather gear and winter gloves on now. Very fucking cold and still extremely windy. So I said goodbye to Coonabarabran and starting on the next leg to Wagga Wagga.

Stats for Day 1
Trucks - 268
Roadkill - lost count after 1000 with 38 Koalas
Windmills - 164
Roadworks - 45 minutes delay
OMC's - 4
Storms - 5
Fuzz - None