Getting back Home
I was awakened to the sound of my mobile phone ringing and by the special tone it was emitting, I knew it was Fran (my wife). I checked the time as I answer the call, it is 6:45am or 9:45am AEDST. “Hello, how are you?” I ask. “Yea good” is her reply. “What time is checkout?” she asks. I say “it should be 10:00am, why?” She said “it is 9:45am and you had better get moving or you will be charged for a second day”. I said “it’s only 6:45am over here in Perth, so I should have a few hours up my sleeve”. “I’m so sorry! I forgot about the time difference. I will talk to you later.”
We have a chat for a while and I tell her about my trip in more detail and the adventures at the servo with me arriving and Olaf, Martin and Scott leaving. I talk about my plans for heading home and how I might play tourist a bit more and take more photos. And with that I am up and getting ready for another days riding. I sort out my bag, clothes and IT equipment. I grab my paperwork and sit down to think about my ride back East. The guys last night said I could knock over a 4000km run in 60 hours, if I wanted. That sounded ok to me. I check Facebook and the FarRiders & IBA forums to see how everyone is going and see all the posts online.
I pack the bike and settle my account and head off for some breakfast. While eating breakfast I pull out my paperwork and get a spare witness form. I head down to the beach and grab some Indian Ocean water and Scarborough Beach sand, take a photo and post it on Facebook. I pull into the Coles Express Servo on W Coast Hwy. I ask the attendant to sign my witness form and explain what I am up to. She thinks I am mad, but laughs and signs away. The receipt says 11:26am or 2:26pm AEDST. I gear up and head out into the traffic as it starts to rain lightly. I have all my gear on and it is no problem rolling along in the rain. I get ahead of the traffic to avoid any close calls with wet roads and soon I am out on the open road and the sky is clearing.
I am soon leaving the built up area and the rain starts to clear. I can now see what I missed coming into Perth in the dark. It is an easy run and I am still on a high from my achievements yesterday and the road passes easily below me as I reflect on what I have achieved. I notice a train to my left as we close in on Merredin. It is the Indian Pacific train. I accelerate to get ahead of it and will try to get a photo or video. I pull into Merredin and grab the camera and wait for it to arrive. It must have slowed greatly as it takes 20 minutes to arrive. By this time I am feeling the temperature rise and I start to peel off some layers.
I get a video of the train and decide to fuel up and get a drink to keep my hydration levels up. I am back out on the road as the temperature continues to rise. I notice a lot of smaller trucks heading west with caravans as their cargo, and not just one or two trucks, I am thinking around 15 to 20 trucks. I think to myself that the grey nomads must be buying up big in WA as they retire from the mining down turn.
I pull into the Red Planet servo at Coolgardie, I get fuel up and avail myself of their services. I get more hydration and grab a couple of photos of the huge trucks that are pulling in for fuel. I notice a lot of cars fuelling up with families in tow. They appear to be heading out to the mines and accept the travel as part of the life out here. They are all driving big 4WD with big bull bar and driving lights. The receipt says 18:03pm or 21:03pm AEDST. I check the bike over, test my lights and head out into the darkening sky towards Norseman.
I am feeling good and again I roll through the roadwork without losing much time. I play catch and pass with a car along this stretch of road as they slow for the road works but pass me when back on the open road. I pull into the BP at Norseman and fuel everything up for the run through to Cocklebiddy. I am feeling a little weary and park the bike up in the car park where it is dark. I cannot sleep, but close my eyes and rest for 20 minutes. I am back to the servo and purchase a drink to obtain another receipt (better to be safe than sorry). The time on the receipt says 9:50pm or 0:50am AEDST. I head out into the clear night sky, my lights giving me the confidence to keep to the speed limit.
As I ride the temperature starts to drop. I enjoy the cooler temperatures but after a while I feel the temperatures draining my energy levels. Balladonia is just up the road and I decide to stop and put on my heavy riding gear. I enjoy the break off the bike and have a nature stop at this time. I see the lights of a truck coming towards me from Perth and I rush to finish getting dressed and back on the road before him. In the rush, I forget to lock the top of my bag correctly.
I head out in front of the truck and adjust my gear and settle in for the next section of the ride. I make good time with the truck behind me and decide to grab a photo at the start of the Ninety Mile Straight. This takes a little time as I get my tripod out a try to setup for the night time shot. I am refreshed from the activity and pull back onto the road for the straight section of road.
I feel the effects of tiredness creeping over me as I do my mental calculation on speed and time to see how I am mentally. I need to pull up and have a rest, I look for a roadside stop but noting suitable, so I pull the bike over and dismount. For the first time since getting my heavy gear out at Balladonia I notice the top of my bag is open. My heart sinks. I look into the lid of the bag and my folder with my witness statements is gone. My whole ride will have been for nothing. My spirits take a nose dive. I am cranky with myself. What can I do? This disappointment seems to zap the last of my energy and I think to myself, there is nothing I can do when I am tired, get some sleep and revisit this when I wake.
I get some sleep and consider my options. I can keep going east and tell everyone that I have lost my paperwork and will have to do it again. I can backtrack and look for my witness statements and continue on, but this will de-rail my SS4000. What to do???? I decide to backtrack and see if I can find my receipts. I am banking on having lost them soon after I took off from Balladonia, and I will get fuel there and continue on (as I write this now, I think this was a silly thing to do).
I ride back westward and pass the Ninety Mile Straight sign. I slow and start to scan the road for any signs of white paper. I forgot just how far Balladonia was before the Ninety Mile Straight. But eventually I am looking at the sign into Balladonia. My heart sinks again as I have not seen anything that resembles paper. I ride to the servo and it will not be open until 6:00am. I have another 2 hours to wait. I head back out to the road and where I got changed. I light up the road with everything I have and slowly weave my way up the road.
Approximately 200 metres up the road I spot what appears to be a piece of black plastic. I pick it up and my spirits lift. It’s here somewhere, now to find it. There is a slight wind blowing and I turn the bike to be up wind. As the lights come around I spot a beautiful while piece of A4 paper. I quickly move around picking up the pieces. I had so many spare copies of witness forms, there is a lot of paper to pick up. I gather what I can and bring it back to the bike and start to sort it out.
I turn each page over with the anticipation of a small boy opening a Christmas present. Then I turn over a page to reveal my 2000km witness form at Ceduna. I put it into the only plastic sleeve that was intact. I then find my 2500km witness form at BV. I am down to the last few pages when I turn up the End of Ride witness form at Scarborough Beach. I have three out of the four I need. I am deflated but go through the paperwork again. There is nothing in the blank paperwork, and I pull out the completed forms from the plastic sleeve, and I did not notice the paper already in the sleeve. I have my end form, 2500km form, 2000km form and the Start of Ride witness form from Coogee Beach. I have them all. YIPEE!!!!!!!
The sun is coming up and I try to get a photo or two and in the opposite direction the moon is still up. I pull into the servo and have 30 minutes to wait. I try to grab some sleep and a HSV Maloo ute starts up and pulls into the bowsers. We have a chat and he is from QLD who has purchased this ute from Perth and is riving it home. I had noticed him a couple of times on the road. The Servo opens, we fuel up and settle our bills. He heads off and as I record my kms on the receipt, I realise I have just passed 100,000kms on the Harley, but missed it with all the fuss about witness forms. The time is 06:11am or 09:11am AEDST.
I head back out onto the highway and head east again, now well behind in my attempt of an SS4000, but I have all my paperwork secure in my tank bag. I start to do some sums about what I can achieve from the rest of the ride home and even though I am happy about the paperwork, my spirits are very low and I start to question if I have the right mental fortitude to complete these types of rides. I grab a photo at the start of the Ninety Mile Straight and continue on. There is not a cloud in the sky and the temperature is warm but not too hot.
I roll into Caiguna and am shocked to see the price of fuel at $1.94 per litre. So I decide to keep going to Cocklebiddy. I fuel up and have a chat to the attendant about the traffic and then another Harley pulled into the servo. We had a chat about our rides and what riding he did. I explained the FarRiders and IBA and we may have a new member in the future. I left him to finish refuelling and headed on my way. I was really playing the tourist now that I believed I had missed the SS4000. As I closed in on the Madura Pass, I thought I would have a look and see what was there. I pulled in just as another Harley was pulling out. We gave each other a courteous wave and I headed in to have some lunch. While it was not the best chicken Schnitzel, it filled the spot and I was on my way. I took this opportunity to charge my phone and wet down my hydration vest. I was amazed at the people entering the café/bar who appeared to be living at the caravan park. I wondered what circumstances led them to be living out here.
Back on the bike and it was an enjoyable run to BV watching the scenery of this vast land. I grab a few different photo opportunities. The wind had picked up as I passed Eucla and the temperature cools a little. I grab a photo at the border crossing and refuel with a quick stop and head back onto the road. The receipt time was 02:20pm or 05:20pm AEDST. My mind had really switched off as I could have got a Start of Ride witness for signed here and completed a SS2500 on the way home, but I was in tourist mode. I continued on to Nullarbor Road house and grabbed another tank of fuel. I was not worried about the time spent stopping. I have a good run all the way to Ceduna and snap a couple of photos of the moon rising ahead. I grab a room at the BP. I don’t even bother with a receipt I am so switched off.
I wake up and feel like I have been hit by a truck. My mind is well rested by it takes me some time to get the body going. Eventually I am ready to roll and grab some fuel and receipt. I am back on the road and again it is a beautiful day with not a cloud in the sky. I have started to notice more and more roadkill and with the warmer temperatures there are plenty of wedge tail eagles (my favourite bird) feasting on the remains. The Harley spooks them early and they are all airborne as I get to them. I finally get a chance to pull up and take some photos as one of the eagles stays on the ground while the others take to the air. I park the bike and walk quietly back towards the eagle. I get a few shots and eventually this eagle takes off.
I head to Kimba and again there are trucks filled with caravans. I pull into Kimba and fuel up and finally my mind switched back into IBA mode and I think about what I can save out of the ride home. I do some calculations and can knock off a SS1600 from here to home. A couple walk into the servo and I have a chat to the husband and ask him to sign my form. He is willing and I put the form in my tank bag, where all my receipts and ride forms will now live. A truckie comes across the road and I ask him about the caravans on his truck. He says there is some huge caravan and boating show on over at Perth. He is not happy with the build quality of these new caravans. He thinks they are made up of tissue paper and sticky tape. I wish him well and load up to leave. I get a photo of the half way sign and then setting back into the bike.
I am looking forward to getting to arriving at Port Augusta as I will take the Wilmington road and see if I can find Davo’s plaque. It is a quick stop at Port Augusta and I am back on the road in double time. I make the left hand turn and start looking for the place. I looked up the FarRiders web site when I refuelled at Port Augusta and I had the Banner Shot photo on my phone. I was about 30 metres off but soon found it. As I took my photos a few Harleys ride past heading in the same way as me. Back on the bike and I soon catch up with the other Harleys. They pull in at Wilmington and I continue on. I head through Orroroo, Peterborough and Hallett, getting photos along the way. I am amazed at the old stone ruins through this area and snap away in an attempt to get a good shot.
I make the right hand turn at Morgan, and refuel from the jerry can for the first time on the return leg. A truck passes me as I grab a photo and post it on Facebook. I am back on the road in quick time and with the sun setting behind me I overtake the truck. The winding road is a welcome relief from the straight roads of the past couple of days. I round a corner I see movement up ahead on the road. I grab for the breaks as I see a huge eagle take off from a carcass. I am still heavy on the breaks as I notice the eagle only fly to the nearest tree. I think photo opportunity and at the same time I think don’t overcook the brakes. Just as I am thinking this I hear a squeal and my steering goes very light as I come to the realisation I have locked up the front brakes. I go down on the right hand side and hear this horrible metal scraping sound.
It doesn’t take long for everything to stop moving as I had washed a lot of speed of during my initial breaking sequence. I immediately feel a pain in my chest, high on the right side. That feels like a broken rib, as I move off the road and check out my surroundings, bike on its side, nothing coming towards me and nothing in sight coming behind me. My first thought is that the bike is badly damaged, closely followed by the pain in my chest is increasing quickly.
The truck comes around the corner and starts to break. I get back to the bike and wave the truck past. He stops and comes back to see how I am. I unload the bike and put everything well off the road. I put the stand down and proceed to lift the bike up. For some reason the bike is in neutral and as I lean it over onto the stand, the bike rolls forward and collapses the stand resulting in me dropping the bike on the other side. Well the keystone cops could not have done it better. I move around the other side and lift the bike again. I move it to the side of the road and start to check it out. The truck driver checks on me and we have a quick chat about what happened. We both agree that I am very lucky to have survived and with little damage to the bike.
The impact was taken mostly by the right hand HID light and rider floorboard. There is some scapes on the front guard and running light, but other than that the bike resets and runs ok. I check the road as I am confused as to why after being on the brakes for so long why did it finally lockup? I look to where the bike started to skid and see some dark patches on the road. Is it oil? Either way I dropped the bike and I am a long way from home.
I pull out the first aid kit and dress my wounds. I load the bike and adjust what’s left of my driving lights. I fire up the bike and move out onto the road. I check out the handling and make sure it is handling with no vibrations. All seems to be good. I see a road sign that says Renmark is 90km ahead. I check my phone and see that I have reception. Do I call home or not. I decide to call and pass on the bad news.
The news is taken well, but there is a lot of concern and worry that my injuries could be more serious than first thought, so I agree to get myself checked out when I get to Renmark. I am not feeling too bad as I ride to Renmark and search for the hospital in the GPS. I arrive at the emergency door and get let in only to find that they do not have a doctor on call. I talk to the nurse and she tells me I need to go back to the Berri Hospital, 20km back the other way. She says she will arrange for a Ambulance to take me to the Berri Hospital. I ask about my bike and as I am sure it is a broken rib they will most likely let me leave so how do I get back to the bike? Taxi she says. I say that because I have ridden 90km to get here, I think another 20km should not matter.
So I get to Berri hospital and they are expecting me. I park the bike in the wrong spot and walk in to the emergency dept. There are doctor, nurses and trainee doctors there and they check me over and do some x-rays on me. They ask where I was planning on staying, I say I wasn’t. I was expecting to keep riding. They are worried about me not breathing deeply which could cause an infection in my lung. They offer me a room for the night and a feed, so I think why not. So I move the bike to secure parking and grab some gear and hit the sack.
The sleep well, and the next day I have breakfast, a shower and dress for a long day in the saddle. I say my goodbyes. I fuel up and start my run home. I check in home and say I am on my way. I have a good run to Mildura and call into the Harley Davidson shop and ask one of the head mechanics to take the bike for a run and check it out. They are great and offer me to stay for a while if I need to rest. They fix my turning signal for nothing and I am on my way. I arrive at Balranald and the pain is draining my energy. I take my first pain tablet and take on some liquids. I decide to have a rest and pull into a little park and set my alarm for 20 minutes and have a dose. I feel great when I wake and dress and get back on the road.
I have a good and easy run for the rest of the day, I can deep breath easier with the pain meds in my system. I fuel up at Hay and have a chat to a Collins Truck driver as I have noticed a lot of these trucks on the road. I continue on through Darlington Point, Narrandera and finally Wagga. I am feeling fine and want to keep going. I do not want to cross the mountains in the night time because of the animals. I have left it too late to call home and find out if Fran is heading to Canberra for work in the morning, so I decide to rest at Gundagai and call home in the morning.
I wake feeling good and rested, so I decide to head over the mountains to home. I take my time and keep a close watch for any animals. The run from Tumut to Talbingo proves to be the most dangerous. I see more roos on this section of road then over the whole trip. I have a good run over the top as this is familiar territory having lived at Cabramurra for over 9 years.
I pull up on the top of Wambrook Hill to take a photo of the sunrise. It is really nice. I pull into the driveway at home at 06:45am, and a very please wife to meet me.
Again on the section of the trip, I learnt some very valuable lessons. Storing your documentation in a safe place (waterproof bag with lanyard to your person). Riding to suit the conditions (be that weather, road, your speed or your dress code).
I was not allowed to upload all the photos, but I may be able to post them in a reply to a post. I hope you enjoy the read...
