30th April 2022 Charleville to Winton - sponsored by Geoff Wiltshire

 Distance travelled: 692 kms

Cumulative distance: 2096 kms

Clutch out at 7:30 am!!! Long day so the reason for the early start.

The route we took was through Augethella where we found;

This giant meat ant!!!

This water tower with birds of paradise on it.

Then we headed for Tambo where we refuelled.  It was a painful process as the pumps were controlled by a company far away and the only way to get any fuel out of the pumps was to pay for it first guessing how much you would need. They kept timing out and the girl in charge had to rush inside to "reboot" the system.

After refuelling when I was about 5 kms out of Tambo an error appeared on the screen of my motorbike. The tyre pressure monitoring system had stopped working and all I could see was the tyre pressure display showing blanks and the error light flashing at me. I stopped the bike and inspected both front and rear  but both looked  Ok.

Blackall advertising itself on the road in!!

Because the bike can run with this error message I continued on towards Barcaldine where I refuelled. Luckily the bikes computer reset itself, the error disappeared and the correct tyre pressures appeared in the display ... thank goodness.

Parked in a layby for a rest!!

A friendly spider kept me company.

As we had to do 690 kms today we only stopped to refuel and re-hydrate. After I arrived at the North Gregory Hotel in Winton I found out that three of the group got booked for speeding on the way out of Longreach. Dave was done for 7 kms over the limit which would never happen in NSW.

Dinner was taken in the hotel dining room. Luckily I had the fish as the meat was overcooked. They had a Blues singer in the outdoor area but only a few people bothered to watch.

The Blues singer on stage... a one man band.

He was quite good but after a while I headed back to the bar to watch the Motogp qualifying from Jerez. Jack Miller was fourth putting him on the beginning of the second row. The local footy team had a win so it was going off in the bar!!

29th April 2022 St. George to Charleville - Sponsored by Ross Steele

 Distance travelled: 491 kms

Cumulative distance: 1404 kms

Donations to date $8,261 TARGET by end of ride is $10,000

Breakfast at 7am again. Getting used to the "early" start. A team photo was taken before we left for Charleville at around 8.15am.

Team photo outside motel in St. George

A number of riders took the shortcut to Charleville via Mitchell. I stuck to the official route west to Cunnamulla then north to Charleville. This is the route the sweeper takes and if you deviate and breakdown you're on your own. The weather was fantastic, blue skies and 26C for the run to Cunnamulla then 31C to Charleville.

About 100 kms out of St. George there is the village of Bollon. A couple of us stopped there for a coffee and look around. The local store/cafe was doing a roaring trade as it is the shearing season and a lot of the shearers were in town for breakfast. A levee is being built to protect the town from being flooded by the Balonne river.

This is the weir on the Balonne river at Bollon.

Further down the road to Cunnamulla I met my favourite fauna .... a bloody Emu wandering accross the road. I reckon it was the same one I hit on the road to lake Mungo in 2009 as it had lost a lot of its feathers!!! I kept a wary eye out for the rest of its family but saw nothing. Kathy who was driving one of the support vehicles and was just behind me told me later that she saw them wandering accross the road in front of her!!

This a view of the road to Cunnamulla... not many bends!!

Cunnamulla has changed a lot since I was there in 2012 with the Thursday riders. They have improved the street scape with flower beds in the median strip and main roundabout. 

This is the Cunnamulla Fella from the song by Slim Dusty

I managed to buy some elastic at the local hardware store to repair the boot straps on my wet weather gear. Opposite the hardware store I found this ...

A water tower with artwork of female AFLW players!!

The ride north to Charleville was uneventful and I arrived at 2.30pm.

Most of the roads we travelled on today were flooded only a week ago. You could still see pools of water on both sides. The red dirt shoulders were very soft and there were warnings all along the road to avoid them otherwise you were liable to sink up to your axles. Erica proved this by going to visit the "Beach" at Wyandra and riding into a bog.

The hotel in Charleville was the Corones, the same one Colin and I visited to watch a Motogp race in 2014.

We had dinner at the hotel and it was very good.  They weren't sure they could provide dinner when Kathy made the booking as they were still looking for a chef. Luckily they found one who could actuallt cook.

Tomorrow is a big day to Winton .... 695 kms!!

 

28th April 2022 - Tamworth to St. George - Sponsored by Ross Steele

 Distance travelled: 516 kms

Cumulative distance: 913 kms

Donations to date: $8,261 ... still!!!

I was up at sparrows this morning for a 7am breakfast. Full breakfast to line the stomach for a full days riding. I filled the camelpak with water and the bike's tank with fuel. I came back to the hotel to to see everybody heading out in all directions.

This is the sweeper truck and trailer ready to follow the riders and pick up the pieces!!

I took the the route specified in the log book, Oxley highway to Gunnedah then Kamilaroi highway to Boggabri, Narrabri and Newell highway to Moree. I met some riders in Moree and had lunch with them. I then took the Carnarvon highway to Mungindi where I crossed into Queensland dodging the border patrols!!! About 40 kms out of Mungindi I came to the village of Thallon which is famous for two things, wheat silo art and giant Wombat.

Wheat Silo Art

Explanation of Wheat Silo Art

Giant Wombat

After taking mucho pictures I jumped on the bike with about 80 kms to go to St. George of basically dead straight road so I opened up the throttle and cruised at 130 kph to arrive at St. George at 4pm. The temperature was around 27C so I went into summer mode and removed the panels from my jacket to let a bit of breeze round my hot sweaty body. The sweeper van arrived at the motel soon after me and Andrew opened it up to reveal cold beer and nibbles which we all got stuck into.

We had dinner at the motel restaurant, which was excellent. I sat at a table with Dave (security ex cop), Paul (retired cop), Adrian (makes Reflex copy paper amongst other paper products), Graham (retired ?) and Greg (ex aussie rules player).

From L to R, Greg, Dave, Paul, Adrian and Graham

27th April 2022 - Sydney to Tamworth - Sponsored by Tony James

 Distance travelled: 397kms

Cumulative distance : 397kms

Donations to date: $8,261 

Erica and me posing at Berowra - photo by Danny

Danny met Erica and I at the Berowra Seven Eleven at 8.30am. He was going  to ride with us to the PITS where he was going to have his breakfast but it doesn't open until 9am so he led us to Jerry's where we waved him good bye. All three of us were riding with brand new rear tyres and there was a lot of mist around so we stuck to  the speed limit. Danny had been accosted by the boys in blue for not slowing down to 60kph when he arrived at Berowra so was not taking any chances on the way to Jerry's.

Erica and I rode on to Wollombi where Erica donned her wet weather gear. The fact that I had been wearing it since the start didn't seem to assuage the rain gods. The road from Wollombi to Broke was in shocking condition with potholes everywhere. I gave my front suspension a real hammering on one and luckily did no damage (BMW tough as!!). We stopped at Singleton for something to eat and to top up the tanks.

As we headed north on the New England Highway it started to rain and it didn't stop until about 30kms before Tamworth. Right miserable weather. Luckily my wet weather gear worked Ok and I didn't end up with a wet crutch!! Checked into the Rydges Powerhouse Hotel about 2.30pm. It's a pretty flash place. I reorganised my luggage as it was all in the wrong bags/panniers. All the riders met in the dining room at 5.30pm before dinner for a briefing. We were given a logbook with all the routes including accommodation. A pretty diverse bunch mostly men and some who have done the ride before. 

The routine is breakfast at 7am??? and everyone on the road before 8.30am when the sweeper van with bike trailer leaves to follow the riders and pick up the broken down/tired riders.