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Published: July 28th 2023
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Day 3 Out of “The Grand” we crossed the road for an outdoor breakfast in a foggy 3 degrees.
Leaving Halls Gap our route took us, within a couple of kms, onto a back country road. This area was teeming with Kangaroos so carefully negotiating the route in the heavy fog was in order. To add some further spice, at one point 2 massive emus crossed the road in front of us.
After 38kms of fog & gravel we were out onto a sealed road still in 3 or 4 degrees temperature & heavy fog. Riding into the small town of Horsham we stopped at a motorcycle shop where I bought an extra pair of glove liners!
Leaving Horsham on sealed “mainish” roads we travelled in gradually improving conditions before stopping at a roadhouse for coffee & gas. We chatted with a couple of truckies, one was carting a huge load of some special mineral sand (daily trip) and the other, 88 tons of hay. Big loads.
Setting off, the fog was now gone & we were on long straight sealed roads in slightly warmer temperatures which gradually crept into the teens.
Onwards towards
our destination stopping for lunch at a pie shop where David left us to do the 80kms direct to a Vic Roads office in Mildura. He wanted to change the registration for his new bike from his friend Graham's name to his own. Good luck with that! Meantime Keith ,Bryan & myself took the Old Calder Highway for around 50kms. This was hardpacked gravel, wide & fast with some patches of loose sand strategically in fast corners to keep you on high alert!!
Back onto the main road for the last 50kms into Mildura where our digs once again was named The Grand. This was a “Quality” 5 star hotel in marked contrast to last nights Grand in Halls Gap. Mildura is quite a big town/city based around wine & farming. Many busy restaurants in the street our hotel was in. The place had a very lively, busy feel to it. We had a great Thai meal in a nearby packed restaurant.380kms today.
Day 4 Breakfast in one of Mildura's many cafes & then after gassing up, we rode out of town heading NE. We were supposed to be on gravel pretty soon
after leaving Mildura but the road we were on had been recently sealed so the gravel didn't eventuate until around 50kms out of town. We were on the Arumpo road heading for Mungo National Park. Hard packed surface but with lots of (avoidable) soft muddy patches kept our speed down to a cautious 80 - 90km/h maximum. Kangaroos and emus were plentiful, so caution was required. I experienced a kangaroo & then & a sheep head straight for me but luckily veered off at the last minute.
We were heading for Mungo national park which has 2 dry lakes in it which are now wetlands (more like damp lands) with plenty of scrubby vegetation. Kangaroos & emus abounded so again once in the park, caution was the order of the day. At one point 2 emus, spooked by the motorcycle noise ran alongside us for quite a distance before diving across the road between David & myself. We had been aware of their progress for some time so were ready when they defied all signs of intelligence by heading for the source of what was spooking them?? Once in the park our route took us around the “lakes” on
a gravel road which the GPS showed as actually in the non-existent lake. This area, the information board advised is one of the oldest sites of human habitation dating back 45,000 years. When it was a lake it supported an Aboriginal population who hunted & fished here. Over the years as climatic conditions changed it dried up, then refilled & then dried up again. It is now home to plenty of birds, large & small, kangaroos & no doubt other wildlife. The track we rode around the 2 lakes was about 30 – 40kms long, one way & together with the history of the place made for a really interesting day.
Our GPS route had became seriously confused by the fact that we were doing a loop and whereas the day was supposed to be 370kms it was 120kms shorter at 250kms. Our destination was Pooncarie, a small town of around 60 inhabitants in NSW. Travelling around 90kms out of the National Park, dirt road for the first 50kms, saw us finishing our ride just after lunchtime, checking in at the local pub and having lunch at a pleasant cafe on the banks of the Murray River.
This river (which in parts hosts many houseboats) stretches 2700kms or 3500kms (depending on who you believe) from it’s source in Queensland to eventually discharging into the Southern Ocean. It's apparently the 3rd longest navigable river in the world.
Day 5 Bryan spoke to a local while gassing up regarding road conditions. It had been raining overnight (& in fact was still drizzling ). This guy had just driven the road we planned to take. He advised that this dirt road to Menindi, was very slippery. As a result, we decided during our Murray Riverside cafe breakfast that we would main road it to our next destination which was Broken Hill. However to do this we had to head south117kms to Wentworth and then back North on the Silver City Highway. So today our discretion over valour meant we did 370kms (60 longer than planned) but no slippery clay, and in fact no rain. Arriving in Broken Hill early afternoon, helped by a 30 min time change we went to Silver City Motorcycles where I had a new rear tyre fitted & bought some oil. Finding our digs I did an oil change, Bryan organised our laundry &
then we walked Broken Hill's main street & had a pleasant late lunch. Broken Hill seemed surprisingly quiet for a Friday afternoon, with many shops closed. We then organised an "Ooba" Outback taxi to take us to a lookout point over the mine & town. There was a sobering monument to the over 800 miners who have lost their lives in the 140 years the mine has been in operation, with the youngest being just 14 years old!!
We walked the 2kms back to our accommodation before having a good meal at the “Demo” club. Like a sports RSL club. The city doesn’t seem to come alive even on a Friday night & has a very quiet feel to it.
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Bill
non-member comment
Catch up
Hi all nice to get the update thank you It must be nice to travel in areas that are still “normal” in comparison to the stupidity we now are bombarded with every day Must be very relaxing to enjoy the Outback