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Day 22 - Noccundra to Comeroo Station Back of Bourke - Mon 2 Nov 2015
Most of us had a good night’s kip in Noccundra. Of the Hall Dwellers only Rips reported a rough night, troubled as he is by his back; it has copped a pounding in the vehicles crossing the continent and is now starting to frustrate him. Hector had a lucky escape as he had parked his swag on top of an ant’s nest. Luckily the ants were out for the night and didn’t appear until next morning as he was packing up. We had our regular morning brekkie of cereal, fruit and uht milk. Bacon and eggs have rarely been on the menu this trek which is a good thing for our tummies both inside and out.
We hand out a few fines including one to our new mate Beat Korner from Switzerland who, with his wife Doris, had shared the experience of the previous day’s storm and the evening meal and movie with us. Beat and Doris are very very experienced adventure bike riders, having covered over 200 000 kilometres all around the world. The only continent they haven’t ridden in is Antarctica. They ride a 2010 BMW GS800, much the same as our guys. Different though is that they ride one bike, with Doris the pillion passenger and they ride unsupported, with all their gear in panniers on the bike. They are extremely minimalist travellers but tremendous people none the less. Beat had actually read our website back home in Switzerland and was aware of Joc’s crash from last year, so they were equally pleased to meet the big guy and see that he was in good health. We were also very pleased to receive a $50 donation to RFDS from Beat and Doris, along with $20 from Steve from Shepparton who was camping at the nearby wetland and kicked in when he heard about our cause and efforts.
In a nice touch before we left Joc presented the Anything But Average Award to our families and loved ones back home who have supported us in this epic adventure. We think that we are doing it hard, being tired, hot, dirty, stinky and missing home but we are also sure that the folks at home are the same (maybe not as dirty and stinky!). It will be great for the trip to finish and the re-uniting to begin.
We had belted out over 600 kilometres the previous day and our aim today was a little more modest. We were moving in to old stomping grounds of Brad and his family and he had tee’ d up to meet friends at Hungerford and for us to stay at a Station which was an experience we were looking forward to. The first thing we did was a quick shakedown run back the way we had come and then across to Thargomindah where we had a mid-morning coffee and snack. The storm and rain across the districts the previous evening had left many roads impassable and closed so a planning session was held to work out our route. It was settled that we would take the Hungerford Road/Dowling Track which went south south east to the Queensland – New South Wales border which the track followed for a short while to Hungerford. At Hungerford we would cross form the cane toad state to the cockroaches, changing time zones yet again. This one would be the last one.
The bikes set off first again as the cars farted around, carrying on an established tradition of dicking around before settling in to bash out the miles. The track was a very interesting run with darkish red dirt washed and wet from the previous night’s rain (Neil at Noccundra had tipped 6mm out of his gauge but obviously other locations had received a lot more). The key issues to note from this run were:
To continue on we had to cross the border into NSW and go through the big gate there on the dingo fence. The fence is designed to keep dingos and dogs out of the north side and traverses a very large part of the country. A couple of years ago when TTT went to Maralinga we spent a couple of hundred kilometres following it ourselves. From there we continued on down towards Comaroo Station where Bruce and Christine Sharpe would host us for the night. The day was hot again, losing the freshness from the overnight storms and heading over 40 degrees and with a warm and gusty wind pushing us around. It was a fantastic end to the day to pull into the station and lay out on the green grass in the backyard of Bruce and Chris’s place to share a beer and a yarn with them and to rest our weary bodies. Chris done us a treat with a great meal of shepherd’s pie and vegies followed up by pears and bread and butter pudding. We also had a look around Bruce’s collection of bits and bobs, which included what we believed to be the biggest and, most valuable collection of rabbit and animal traps and snares. He has been collecting for over 20 years.
The guys really enjoyed the stay, spreading swags out on the green grass. We went to sleep again in warm conditions under a pattern of stars with the moon being a late riser. Thought of our next few days and finish in Byron Bay were entering into our minds, mixing of thoughts of next week when the real world begins again for us. Thoughts too of our family and friends who we are all missing. The scrap of phone coverage at Comaroo had been well used by us to catch up and pass on our love. We are big soft guys after all.
Most of us had a good night’s kip in Noccundra. Of the Hall Dwellers only Rips reported a rough night, troubled as he is by his back; it has copped a pounding in the vehicles crossing the continent and is now starting to frustrate him. Hector had a lucky escape as he had parked his swag on top of an ant’s nest. Luckily the ants were out for the night and didn’t appear until next morning as he was packing up. We had our regular morning brekkie of cereal, fruit and uht milk. Bacon and eggs have rarely been on the menu this trek which is a good thing for our tummies both inside and out.
We hand out a few fines including one to our new mate Beat Korner from Switzerland who, with his wife Doris, had shared the experience of the previous day’s storm and the evening meal and movie with us. Beat and Doris are very very experienced adventure bike riders, having covered over 200 000 kilometres all around the world. The only continent they haven’t ridden in is Antarctica. They ride a 2010 BMW GS800, much the same as our guys. Different though is that they ride one bike, with Doris the pillion passenger and they ride unsupported, with all their gear in panniers on the bike. They are extremely minimalist travellers but tremendous people none the less. Beat had actually read our website back home in Switzerland and was aware of Joc’s crash from last year, so they were equally pleased to meet the big guy and see that he was in good health. We were also very pleased to receive a $50 donation to RFDS from Beat and Doris, along with $20 from Steve from Shepparton who was camping at the nearby wetland and kicked in when he heard about our cause and efforts.
In a nice touch before we left Joc presented the Anything But Average Award to our families and loved ones back home who have supported us in this epic adventure. We think that we are doing it hard, being tired, hot, dirty, stinky and missing home but we are also sure that the folks at home are the same (maybe not as dirty and stinky!). It will be great for the trip to finish and the re-uniting to begin.
We had belted out over 600 kilometres the previous day and our aim today was a little more modest. We were moving in to old stomping grounds of Brad and his family and he had tee’ d up to meet friends at Hungerford and for us to stay at a Station which was an experience we were looking forward to. The first thing we did was a quick shakedown run back the way we had come and then across to Thargomindah where we had a mid-morning coffee and snack. The storm and rain across the districts the previous evening had left many roads impassable and closed so a planning session was held to work out our route. It was settled that we would take the Hungerford Road/Dowling Track which went south south east to the Queensland – New South Wales border which the track followed for a short while to Hungerford. At Hungerford we would cross form the cane toad state to the cockroaches, changing time zones yet again. This one would be the last one.
The bikes set off first again as the cars farted around, carrying on an established tradition of dicking around before settling in to bash out the miles. The track was a very interesting run with darkish red dirt washed and wet from the previous night’s rain (Neil at Noccundra had tipped 6mm out of his gauge but obviously other locations had received a lot more). The key issues to note from this run were:
- The scavenger crew found a veritable paradise and were able to collect a few treasures that would no doubt come in handy later;
- The D-Max ‘stopped’ in a wet patch on the side of the road and was not really able to continue without some assistance (digging mud out from the wheels with sticks and hands). A press release and media conference was held later to clarify the situation and explain that it wasn’t ‘bogged’, it was clearly ‘stopped’;
- Brad took a flat tyre on the front of his BMW, having to do a roadside change;
- The seals on one of the front shock absorbers on Carl’s bike finally said ‘enough’ and they leaked out the oil giving him reduced front suspension capacity;
- Brock nearly cleaned up a kangaroo. It was close, real close;
- Big Scotty gave instructions to our captain that the Dingo Fence was ‘only 100 metres away’. The Captain set out on foot, measuring out 500 metres without finding the fence, at which point he turned around and came back in a different state of mind.
To continue on we had to cross the border into NSW and go through the big gate there on the dingo fence. The fence is designed to keep dingos and dogs out of the north side and traverses a very large part of the country. A couple of years ago when TTT went to Maralinga we spent a couple of hundred kilometres following it ourselves. From there we continued on down towards Comaroo Station where Bruce and Christine Sharpe would host us for the night. The day was hot again, losing the freshness from the overnight storms and heading over 40 degrees and with a warm and gusty wind pushing us around. It was a fantastic end to the day to pull into the station and lay out on the green grass in the backyard of Bruce and Chris’s place to share a beer and a yarn with them and to rest our weary bodies. Chris done us a treat with a great meal of shepherd’s pie and vegies followed up by pears and bread and butter pudding. We also had a look around Bruce’s collection of bits and bobs, which included what we believed to be the biggest and, most valuable collection of rabbit and animal traps and snares. He has been collecting for over 20 years.
The guys really enjoyed the stay, spreading swags out on the green grass. We went to sleep again in warm conditions under a pattern of stars with the moon being a late riser. Thought of our next few days and finish in Byron Bay were entering into our minds, mixing of thoughts of next week when the real world begins again for us. Thoughts too of our family and friends who we are all missing. The scrap of phone coverage at Comaroo had been well used by us to catch up and pass on our love. We are big soft guys after all.