Just done the Around-Australia-On-A-Postie

It took me and the CT over 9550 kilometres, 42 days, ~160 hours of
bum-on-seat, and ~$1600, to ride the Newcastle - Armidale - Brisbane -
Charleville - Longreach - Mt Isa - Darwin - Alice Springs - Adelaide -
Mildura - Sydney route, as a solo unassisted ride.. (I had originally
planned to do Mt Gambier - Great Ocean Road - Sydney, but the floods
nixed that idea..)

I spent Xmas even getting drunk with a motorbike mechanic at Longreach.
Found some awesome free camping spots with full facilities "that aren't
on the map". Did my Moses Thing with the road flooding happening
throughout Queensland. Had dinner with cute German girls more than once.
Did the Carl Sagan/Mike Oldfield thing at Henbury Craters. Gave the
Alice Springs YHA a broadband bill they're still trying to pay off. Did
a runner on a dodgy Mildura caravan park filled with Yakuza. Had two
accidents that the Postie bike just brushed off, and completely
sun-damaged my brand new riding gear.

Travelling around Australia on a Postie is completely different from
doing it on any other motorbike. Everyone /really/ liked seeing the
familiar humble little bike. I had an amazing number of people just come
up and ask about my riding the Postie-- and it seemed to impress them
even more that my reason for doing it was just 'using the chance to go
see Australia' while I was between houses. One of the best things about
long-distance travelling is the socializing with the other travellers,
and the Postie facilitated that to a degree that all the big-bike guys
can only dream of ...from the European and Asian travellers who know
of small bikes/scooters/mopeds back home who're impressed that a small
bike can do such a journey; to everyday Aussies who've known a bike or
two (so many CT90 owners..) and wanting to know all the details of the
bike and my trip that made it possible.

The most commonly asked question was how fast was the bike (70 km/h),
and the second FAQ was the size of the tank and how far it gets (4
litres, 100-120 kms; I was carrying an extra 10 litres of fuel). My bum
isn't sore either.

But to my surprise, I didn't actually see another Postie Bike during the
whole ride. The closest was a smaller ?Yamaha trailbike just before the
Barkley Homestead. Several Grey Nomads told me they had just seen a lot
of them in WA, and a petrol station attendant at Dunmurra said there's
usually about 20-30 'Asian Guys' he sees every Dry season-- I was
travelling during the Wet.

What travelling bikes I did see were mostly mid-range dual sports (like
Lee's Suzuki DR650), and a couple of 'big' touring bikes-- Harleys, GS,
etc. But with just the one exception, those softcocks were never seen
more than a day away from the major towns.

Mechanical issues were limited to things like replacing a drive chain
and rear tire, and the speedo breaking off from metal fatigue. When I
had an Off 10kms south of Marla, it was just a case of straightening-up
the homemade pannier brackets and realigning the steering.

I came close to doing the /real/ "Postie Bike Challenge" that's actually
a challenge-- the 1000k in a day-- but I had to call it quits on the
Mildura-Sydney stage when a nighttime storm and a malfunctioning
taillight flagged an end at the 734 km mark. Oh well, there's always
next time.

Harley riders are such bloody know-it-alls. Just nod, and pretend
they're giving you useful information.

 

Well done , do you intend publishing some daily diary excerpts occasionally

 

That's more accurate...

 

Well done , do you intend publishing some daily diary excerpts occasionally

I kept a journal, and took 4601 photos and videos, and intend to do the
full website treatment soon. My relatives and friends are already
dreading the Slide Night from Hell.

I really must do a write-up of the carrying system I had-- it worked
great, in spite of being hand-made from assorted parts from Bunnings,
without the usual borrow-a-boilermaker-for-a-few-hours a lot of other CT
touring brackets I've seen need.

 

Postie bike riders are such bloody know-it-alls. Just nod, and pretend
they're giving you useful information.



=================

Onya bike

Gerry

 

Well done !

How about posting a list of all the "awesome free camping spots"?

If I wasn't such a softcock I'd go do it on my Kawasaki
NotSoSuperSherpa. And anyhow, I'd definitely want some company
riding a similar bike (wouldn't want them to get a way from me


=================

Onya bike

Gerry

 

<snip>

I dips me lid. Well done.

Tony F

 

Sounds like a great adventure*.

Fraser

*Best definition of adventure is taking inappropriate equipment to out of the
way places. : )

 

Mate....we'd LOVE to see you on www.AusTouring.com with some yarns (and
pics).

There are already quite a few postie-stories posted, i.e. 2 weeks through
the High Country/ Snowies,
a Kiwi doing the backblocks Bris-Mel....and Fraser Island + Cape York the
hard way.

Postie-Touring's bloody awesome.
Here's the "bird" to the big-boys. PP

Cheers
Pete

 

How about posting a list of all the "awesome free camping spots"?

You wouldn't be more interested in the German girls' phone numbers?

German Girl at Mt Isa:
I don't have a swimming costume! I shall
swim in the pool in my underwear!
German Guys, English Guy, Belgian Guy, Me:
<to ourselves> Awesome.

The best unofficial site was the Drillham Community Hall, a place
between Miles and Roma in Queensland. I had already decided to tent
there after the official accomodation in the area was a bust, but then I
found the keys to the toilets and showers hidden in the powerbox. Be
discrete, and make sure the Hall lighting and water pump are off, and
you can great free electricity too..

Jugiong, between Wagga and Yass, has a community park, with a campervan
area nearby. The park itself has an always-open toilet block (no
showers-- the public pool might have one, $3.50 entry), and the BBQ area
nearest the windmill has a mains power socket (that's apart of the
lighting system, so it turns off during the day; for the xmas lights?).
There's an actual camping area behind the pool, but I got away
with tenting it inside the park, closer to the facilities.

A couple of 'publicity' photos from the trip: http://www.flickr.com/photos/62961837@N00/

 

Well drop the best 10% into it's own web slot and save the rest for the
rellys
slide nights

aaahhhhhhhh runaway

 

<snip>

Nicely done regardless.

 

Calling people names just because of where you saw them riding their
bikes. LOL. The world needs more hardcocks like you to show them what
makes a real biker.

Nev..

 

I don't want to get arrested for telephonic stalking.

You _are_ a resourceful chap.

Thanks for the info, Chris. Archived.

=================

Onya bike

Gerry

 

Hehe. When you can ride Perth to Melbourne in 2.5 days, how can you be more
than a day from a major town? To be more than a day from a major town you
almost have to have a Postie bike.

Anyone on two wheels doe it for me.

Theo

 

Where's the shots of the German girl?

 

Well done with your trip. I must of course curse you for setting the bar
so high!


BTH
(CT90 owner)

 

No, _This_guy_ "http://www.thepostman.org.uk" has set the bar high.

Nev..

 

I got tired just copying that link into a browser! I must be some type of
softcock...


BTH