Off the Grid

---

Friday
Left Halls Creek & we were soon on a rough winding gravel road, heading East, which soon changed to a better road & then equally quickly bad corrugations..bad enough to loosen your fillings. Riding on the very edge of the road seemed smoother but this had it's own challenges as suddenly it could turn into soft sand or a large pothole. Keeps you on your toes!
After a while we experienced smooth long straights but even these were variable with the odd rough patch.
Around 11am we stopped under a Coolibah ? tree to eat our service station sandwichs & take a break. Shortly after getting going again,we met 2
graders so the road improved where they had been working.100kms later, I experienced a rear puncture on my bike. Taking the wheel out we found a decent size nail had been in & out & as well as puncturing the tube has damaged the inside of the tyre. We put a tube patch inside the tyre to stop the jagged edge of the hole wearing out the new tube.
Refitted the tyre (great work Brenton & Ian) & I refitted to the bike. another 100kms of variable straight wide red gravel, then 20kms of new seal, & back to corrugated gravel with eventually some smooth running.
We reached Kalkarindji at 4.30 just before the store closed. The Sports Club was not open due to a funeral, so we bought sausages for a BBQ & some pizza. This is a no alcohol town except at the club - but closed. Had an interesting chat with the store & camp ground manager. He manages the facilty for a company who manages quite a few similar places. The store and campground are owned by the local aboriginal community who get 25% of the profits. He says this is the best Aboriginal town he has worked in and has no crime due to the Community having strict rules over miscreants. Works well he says but very brutal. 2 young guys caught breaking into road train trailer recently were handed over by the Police to community elders who dealt with them.He says rest assured they won't break the law again. He has community respect & has been given a "skin name" equivalent to honorary title so is under protection of community leaders. This area is Culrandi ? Where original Aboriginal rights movement started. The people are considered to be desert people (northern Tanamai desert) and can exist on just about nothing. They go into the desert with virtually nothing & survive for weeks and often come back having caught & slaughtered a feral beast. They survive moneywise on government payments plus annual royalty payments from mining etc. There is a population here of around 500, none of whom work. When they get their payouts they spend all of it immediately, as they have no concept of saving and in any event they know there is another payout coming next week
This is all one person's viewpoint but judging what we saw seems correct.

Saturday

We left Kalkarindji after a petrol pump false start as the card function was non functioning. After a couple of resets we fueled up, headed out for 170kms on a single track sealed road to Top Springs for brunch & gas. This is as remote as you could imagine with a gas pump & pub & nothing else. Then onward another 230kms east on a straight straight gravel road with the odd patch of soft sand to keep you on alert. We arrived at Daly Waters Pub. Met Bryan here who had ridden 3200km over the last week from Towoomba where he had picked up his new Yamaha Tenere T7. Daly Waters is a traditional Aussie Pub that has basically taken over the small town with a massive camping ground, Donga accommodation & a huge outdoor eating area. The pub is deliberately kept basic with heaps of interesting memorabilia in the pub & even crashed helicopters & planes parked outside. Well marketed with hundreds of people on road trips drinking, eating & staying there. The swimming pool was a welcome activity on a hot afternoon. Live Country style music & discussion with an Aussie couple on a Caravan road trip made for a pleasant evening.

Sunday (BTW we have been off the grid since 3 days ago. No wifi or phone service)
Left Daly Waters after a roadhouse breakfast & gassing up. Mainly single track seal in a straight line for the trip East for 270kms. Occasional parches of wider seal but generally when a rare vehicle came the other way they put their offside wheels onto the gravel shoulder, however we got off the road for Road Trains so they could stay on the seal avoiding rocks being thrown at us & also a huge cloud of dust. Cape Crawford for gas & lunch (very nice hamburgers) This Roadhouse also has a Heart
Break Hotel......we didnt ask. The final stretch to Lorella Springs was 132kms heading Nth on a gnarly gravel road with plenty of loose sand patches. Finally hot, dusty & tired we all made it into Lorella Springs Resort. 1million acres of farm mainly running Brahman cattle, it and the resort owned & run by an Australian Farmer & his French wife. The "resort" with camping grounds, motels units & hot (warm) springs is an adjunct to the farming activities. Basic meals at upmarket prices, useless satellite internet at $15/hour and heat & flies will be an enduring memory. Tomorrow is a rest & maintenance day.
Monday
Rest day relaxed in warm pool, bike maintenance, Ian & Brenton went for a short hike.
Tuesday
Left Lorella Springs on the rough sandy road again. This time we took a shortcut East which would have cut around 65kms off our 498km trip to Hells Gate Roadhouse. After around 130kms we arrived in Boroloola where the plan was to gas up, have brunch & continue on our planned route. On the way into Boroola my bike gave a couple of bad coughs (misses) & then wouldn't rev below around 4000rpm. I knew straight away what the problem was - a broken throttle slide, as I had experienced this 2 trips ago, luckily in a town (Port Agusta) with a Suzuki bike shop & a 2nd hand throttle slide. No such luck this time so after exploring all options phoned a dealer in Mt Isa who had a new bike in stock. Negotiated a deal (full retail as they are as rare as) & started the 890kms trek to Mt Isa. Managed to ride the bike on an alternate route (no gravel) for 600kms to Barkly Homstead. Another 450kms to Mt Isa tomorrow to pick up the new bike, swap big tank etc & work out what to do with the old one.....maybe push it into a Billabong under a Coolibah tree.
P.s Barkly Homestead is a huge flash motel with large restaurant etc but no Wifi? Still slightly off the grid. Hopefully photos tomorrow from Mt Isa.

Wednesday

Left Barkly Homestead heading for Mt Isa & a new bike. Nothing too exciting long straight sealed roads, flat landscape although good progress.

BTW: If anyone is interested in following our track on our satellite tracker go to the link below: our Spot satellite link click here:

https://maps.findmespot.com/s/H2HD

Unfortunately after around 100kms my bike gave up the ghost completely. Rattle bang…stopped. Bryan towed me for around 270kms into Mt Isa to the motorcycle shop Bikes & Riders (who were extremely helpful with tools and workshop space) where I had a new bike waiting. When we had stopped I had called our mate Geoff Udy in Toowoomba who offered to buy my dead bike as is where is in MT Isa. Well done Geoff - saved me a lot of organising of freight etc.

The towing sounds pretty scary but once we were used to it we trundled along at around 85 – 90kph (straight sealed roads) the only hiccups being a couple of road work red lights and the worst incident was 50m from our destination when a woman pulled out without looking & tried to go between Bryan & myself. I braked, Bryan didn’t because he couldn’t see what was happening, and our towing link parted company. Never mind we made it. Lots of frantic work, all hands on deck changing over tank, bash plate, carrier, GPS etc from the old to the new bike. In the meantime there was no accommodation available in Mt Isa so Keith was charged with buying camping gear. Only gear available was kids tents & sleeping bags. We booked a couple of camp spots in the camping ground. The tents were very small so Brenton & I slept in the open under a plastic fly sheet. Who says we don’t rough it?

The walker in the photo we met in a country town walking from Sydney to Darwin to raise awareness & funds for mental health. (no comment)

As we have been without wifi for days, no photos. Here are some to make up for it.

---