Post Script

 Kms for the Journey  11,320

When Alan and I planned this trip we came up with a pretty good itinerary which would have taken 42 days to do 16,000 kms.  It was our third "Lap" of Australia and probably our last.  Our ancient bodies were not up to the task of big kms anymore.

Despite all the border closures and lockdowns, I could have done a full lap by waiting 3 days in NT before trying to enter WA, but to be honest I just didn't fancy riding 7,500 kms through WA and SA to get home.  It would have turned out to be a slog.  And travelling on my own had lost it's appeal anyway.  If my brother had been with me we would have made the effort one last time.

However, the enjoyment of travelling in the Outback was still as strong.  Australia's landscape seems at first to be boring and repetitive.  If you look more carefully you can see a myriad of subtle changes as you move through the country.  That's the key- you have to see the subtle changes to appreciate it.  A motorcycle is the ideal vehicle to enjoy the passing spectacle as you feel so much more connected with the environment compared to a car.

Actual Route Map  11,320 Kms

When I got to see my ophthalmologist a few days after I got home, she told me the pressure in my right eye had come right down and the laser treatment had worked.  So that's a relief anyway. 

8th August Melbourne

 Kms today 610       Kms to date 11,320

To meet the 11:30 deadline for crossing the border, I had to leave Hillston at 7am.  It was just above freezing at that time of day and misty to add complications.  Wildlife was not a problem but keeping warm was.  My heated gloves and heated grips were on maximum and just managed to keep my hands from freezing up.  It was tough going and I had to keep my speed down.

By the time I got to Hay, things were improving.  I filled up and had quick snack before pressing on to do the last 200kms. Hay was surrounded by the Hay Plains, which were saltbush plains intersected every 50kms by creeks which had little settlements on them.   I could open up the Kawasaki a bit and arrived at the border with 15mins to spare

 The police were operating a road block on the Victorian side of the Murray River and I produced my Licence and my Transit Pass.  It was scanned and I was relieved to be told I had the Green Zone pass confirmed and I was free to proceed.  

Back in Victoria mightily relived that my Transit Pass was accepted

After some refreshment I headed off south to Heathcote, Kyneton  on and the Calder Fwy to Melbourne. 

Melbourne's skyline was a welcome sight

I pulled up in my driveway at 2:30 and unpacked the bike and relaxed with a coffee prepared by our boarder Ella.  She has been house sitting while I have been away.

Well that was quite a journey and I visited some great places along the way.  Both my front and rear tyres had worn square, but the bike performed faultlessly.  My only regret was that my brother Alan wasn't travelling with me.  He is still stuck in Sydney.

7th August Hillston

 Kms today  669    Kms to date  10,710

This is the first of my big days to get home.  I had a slow start on purpose as I didn't want to cross the border into NSW until 11:30am.  The reason is that I need enough time to get from Hillston to Echuca tomorrow morning and meet the 24hr time limit to cross NSW/Vic border.

I got to the the NSW border at 11:10, so I stopped on the QLD side and had a chat with a policeman checking traffic coming from NSW.  He owned a Kawasaki Z1000.  I had passed quite a few Emus. but they were well off the road.  Then at 11:30 I took a selfie with the border sign behind me, so I can show it at the Vic border if needed.

 

Why do I always look so grumpy in Selfies?

 Once I got into NSW I turned up the wick and was sitting between 130 and 140 kmh.  The Kwacker let me know it was loving having the taps opened.  I got to Bourke 1/2 hr ahead of schedule, filled up and stopped outside town to have my lunch, which I brought with me from the café in Cunnamulla.

Then it was straight down to Cobar.  I was constantly on the look out for animals at the road side. There were no more Emus but I saw a lot of goats.  I slowed down whenever I spotted them.   However they were sensible and always scuttled into the trees when they heard me coming and never crossed the road. 

 

Main Street of Cobar

So I was comfortable keeping the speed up and that would mean I would arrive at Hillston well before sunset.  After Cobar, the landscape changed to have more hills and corners and there were bigger trees and even green grass.  I was enjoying myself.  I had to keep an eye on my fuel range as the extra speed was increasing consumption.  I also kept an eye on the rear tyre as it would be wearing faster.  Both were OK.

I filled up at Hillston before checking into the Motel as I won't have time tomorrow.  The rules are that in Transit I have to wear a mask at all times, only visit petrol stations and take away food outlets, but I can stay the night in isolation. The Motel is full because there is a bowls tournament in town.  Covid isn't affecting that institution!  It was a good job I kept my booking as I would have struggled to find accommodation on spec.

 

6th August Cunnamulla

 Kms today 37    Kms to date  10041

I worked out a plan for my Transit across NSW over brekkie.  I plan to cross into NSW at 11:30 am.  I will keep my booking at the Warrego Motel and should be able to get to Hillston on or before sunset.  That turned out to be a wise decision.  Then I will leave at first light and head for Hay for fuel and then straight down to the border and Echuca.  I picked up some filled rolls for lunch.

I set off for Bowra at 9:30.  It wasn't far away.  The gravel road into the homestead wasn't bad, but I took it slowly in 2nd gear at 20kph.  I didn't want to fall off and complicate my run home.  

6 Km of gravel road for the Kwacker and a nervous rider

When I got to the homestead, a volunteer for ACF called John, came to meet me and advise on what walks I should do and give me a list of birds.  The property was bought by the ACF and used to be a sheep station.  It is slowly returning it to its original wild condition.  I didn't want to ride the sandy farm tracks on the Kwacker.  So, after writing my plans in the log book, I set off on foot down the Bore Drain Walk.  The first thing I passed was an Artesian Bore that used to feed a dam along this track. 

 

Artesian bore that was used by the grazier

I heard lots of birds, saw some and photographed less.  These birds are very adept at hiding in the trees!  It was a pleasant walk and I got back to to the homestead at lunch time.

Flock of Zebra Finches

While I ate my lunch I got a call from my Motel in Echuca.  Because of the lockdown in Victoria, I couldn't stay there and they asked me to cancel.  That means I will have to go straight home once I cross the Murray.  I'll be riding over 1300kms in two days.

After lunch I walked to the Cottage Dam.  I saw my first Budgerigars and a Parrot, which I think was a Blue Bonnet Parrot.  When I got to the dam, I sat down to watch the birds coming to the water.  I was sitting by a Billabong under a Coolabah tree, but no jumbucks.  The ACF has got rid of all the stock.

 

Yep - that's a billabong with a Coolabah Tree!

Budgerigars or Common Parakeet

I rode my bike back to the gate even slower than coming in and filled up again at the depot.  The ladies there handle the filler hoses and were very careful not to over flow the tank. I had a glass of wine and a nana nap when I got back to the  Motel.

The Warrego River

Pelicans - don't you just love them?

I walked over the bridge on the Balonne Hwy to do a sunset walk on the other side.  The sunset was good, but no wildlife except a dog being walked and not many birds, but it was peaceful.

Sunset over the Western Plains

Back at the Pub it was going off because they were drawing the Friday Raffle.  Bottles of Bundy Rum seemed to be the main prizes, but I was told by a local it had been going since 4pm and all the meat trays had gone.  I had a steak sandwich with the families in the bistro.  MotoGP and WSBK are on tonight! 

 

5th August Cunnanulla

 Kms today  204      Kms to date 10004

It was cold this morning at 7:30 when I went out for brekkie so when I got loaded up ready to leave  I plugged in my heated gloves and wore a face mask.

The road to Cunnamulla was through savannah and Mitchell grass plains. A narrow gauge railway line ran parallel to the road.  It looked like it was in use until I came to a bridge that had only the piers, no deck.  I found out later what happened.

I got to Cunnamulla early and my room wasn't ready so I left my luggage in the bottle shop and headed off to get some fuel and to check if my eyes hadn't deceived me and there really was a CB450 in the garage I had passed.  The BP garage didn't have any Premium so that was no good.   I was right - it was a CB450 - a 1972 5 speed model which the owner Joe had restored with new piston rings, cam chain etc.  He started it for me but it had no fuel and only ran briefly.  He had a few other bikes like a Honda Elsinore.  He advised me to get fuel at the BP Depot over near the old Railway Stn.  This was operated by two women, who filled up the customers old style and they had Premium.

 

A Honda CB 450 K7 in pretty good nick

 

Painted water tower

 I stopped at the tourist office and they rang Bowra to check on the condition of the 6km dirt road into the station.  I had booked a day trip to this special bird conservation area.  The road was well gravelled which can mean anything. For tonight I booked a show at the old station that celebrates when Cunnamulla was the "end of the line".  I had a Camel Burger in a local café and immediately regretted it!

I spoke  to Barbara and promised her a card for her birthday next Monday.  So I went to the PO bought one and posted it.

  

Cunnamulla Post Office

I wandered along the banks of the Warrego River, which is 100m wide and much bigger than I imagined.  This took me to the Railway Stn where the video show was going to be shown, but I was a too early so I looked for a pub.  The first one was deserted and the second one closed.  But the owners relented and invited me into the beer garden where they were relaxing with a beer.

Railway Station

The Town Band was waiting outside the Station

The railway show was called "All Aboard!" It was audio visual extravaganza with holographic characters narrating the story with photos and videos behind on a huge long screen.  A local volunteer explained how it all came about.  The local sheep industry really took off when the line opened.  There was a lot about the shenanigans that went on between the passengers as it was a long slow ride to Brisbane.  High school kids would get up to all sorts of hi-jinx to overcome the strict separation of the sexes.  The story of the missing bridge was told too.  A large truck in 2014 carrying ammonium nitrate caught fire and crashed on the road beside the bridge.  Like the the same stuff in Beirut, it exploded, destroying the road and railway bridge, several fire engines and the truck. The explosion was so large it registered 2 in the Richter Scale. So that was the end of the Cunnamulla line!

The last train leaving Cunnamulla to Charleville

Remains of the railway bridge that was destroyed by an explosion

4th Aug Charleville

 Kms today  209          Kms to date 9800

I had my breakfast at Fanny Mae's in Tambo and very nice it was too.  I had planned to have breakfast there on our original itinerary with Alan .  I had time to have a wander around Tambo.  It claims to be the oldest town in Queensland's Central West.  It is very pretty with a wide main street with Boab Trees in the median strip.  The buildings are interesting and I would come back here for a closer look.

 

Carrangarra Hotel in Tambo

Tambo Butchery

I was in no hurry to get to Charleville as my first booking at the Cosmos Centre was at 2:15.  The countryside was wooded savannah and easy on the eye, though I had been warned that the road was rough.  It was cold when I left and I had the heated grips on 50%. I am well prepared for cold mornings that I can expect from here to Melbourne, or so I thought!

I checked in early at the Warrego Motel, which was small, but immaculate and good value.  I unpacked and headed off to the Cosmos Centre for the sun viewing.

I was early so I saw the show in the Planetarium about how the earth was formed.  It was pretty good and I learned a lot: like a huge planet about 1/2 earth's size smashed into it, forming the moon and setting up conditions on earth for the beginning of life, and Jupiter was almost big enough to be a star and hoovered up a lot of material in the inner solar system before drifting back out to its  current orbit.  This helped create conditions for earth to develop into a living planet without bombardment by asteroids.  It wasn't a real planetarium as there was no projection of stars onto the dome.  It was just a giant projection screen.

Cosmos Centre Planerarium

Then we had the sun viewing. They had a special 9" reflector telescope that had the main tube filled with a special gas to absorb the harmful rays so we could see the sun.  Our guide was a bit confused about nuclear physics but still a mine of information.  I saw the full disc of the sun and could make out the swirling surface.  I managed to get a photo of that.  Then, with a more powerful eyepiece, I saw a solar flare on the edge of the sun.

The sun telescope

The disc of the sun - a bit fuzzy

 

Jupiter - I could also see four moons and the big spot through the telescope

Later after dinner I went back for a star show.  This was held in a special outdoor area with three large telescopes so everyone could have a look.  There was no moon so I was expecting a view of the Milky Way like the Warrumbungle Observatory.  It was not as good because of the light pollution from Charleville and the trucks on the Warrego Hwy next door.  I don't know why they didn't locate it further out of town in a more isolated spot to avoid the light pollution.  Any way we got a look at a nebula, large star cluster, twin star, Saturn and finally Jupiter. The guide was trained to entertain but wasn't an expert so wasn't convincing with all her explanations.  I managed to get a photo of Jupiter with 3 moons and Saturn, but not very sharp. I saw the 4 moons around Jupiter in their telescope and briefly the red band around Jupiter.  Saturn's rings were quite clear too. 

3rd August Tambo

Kms today  490          Kms to date 9580

I was woken in the wee hours by the sound of rain and wind!  I looked out the window and sure enough it was pouring.  I was meeting Jamie at the café at 7 so I got dressed and went down.  I had a good chat and Jamie suggested I visit the Mechanical Museum and wait for the rain to clear.

The museum was full of big trucks, so not very interesting for me but there were some notable items.  There was a history of electricity generation in Winton. In the early days they gasified wood to run the generator.  There was a huge container with a standby diesel generator. There was also a strange Mini with two front ends welded together so it always goes forward. I went round the back to have a go at the Musical Fence.  This was just  wire fence which you could tension to make different pitched sounds: not very exciting!  The airfield at the back of the Musical Fence was where QANTAS started operations. 

Double ended Mini

Musical Fence

Winton is where QANTAS all started.

I left at 10am heading for Longreach.  The country was mostly Mitchell grasslands and very flat. I went straight to the QANTAS Founders Museum to have lunch and check out any new aircraft.  There was a Super Constellation, which was the aircraft that QANTAS used to establish itself as the first long haul airline after WWII.  With the Superconnie in 1958 it could fly to London, LA/ New York and Johannesburg.  They also introduced pressurised cabins air hostesses and economy class, though the fares were still very high.

QANTAS new international routes 

This is the plane that made it possible - the Lockheed Super Constellation

Qantas started its overseas flights to Ceylon during WWII with this Catalina flying boat.

I left the tour early as I had to get going to Tambo over 300kms away.  I stopped at Barcaldine for fuel only and kept going, aware that it was getting late and wildlife could become a collision risk and there was more road-kill evident.

I arrived at Tambo Mill Motel at 5:30 just before sunset. The room beside mine was used by a couple of men who's business was training Kelpies as cattle dogs and they had four in a cage at the back of their ute.  They were heading back to Cairns.  I had dinner across the road at the Tavern and watched the wall climbing event from the Olympics- strange sport but does meet the higher faster mantra!

Interesting poster in the Tavern in Tamb, which I sent to Morag.