Rob's Excellent Adventure

sixty6north

Well-Known Member
#1

Southern Cross Insanity (and other rides)


Background:


Last year I attempted the Trans-Australia Insanity in order to (a) have some fun, and; (b) raise money for the Love Mercy Foundation which was established by Australian Olympian Eloise Wellings to build a clinic and other social projects in Northern Uganda – it was pretty successful and we raised over $38,000.

This year I decided that the Southern Cross Insanity would be a good thing to (a) have some fun, and; (b) raise money for the Love Mercy Foundation.

I had canvassed potential sponsors and there was a sufficient level of interest that it would be worth doing.

Apart from completing the Southern Cross Insanity and after reading Ox’s report from his ride, it seemed like there were a few other rides to be completed in the process. I spent several weeks investigating the different permutations for the route, but worked out that Ox’s original route was the best.

My objectives for the ride were:
  • 50CC Gold - Brisbane-Perth
  • Trans Australia Quest
  • Centreline 24
  • 50CC – Darwin-Melbourne
  • Southern Cross Insanity

We have all been here, but I like the photo anyway

On Wednesday 24 May, I left early to travel up to Byron Bay. Had a few hours sleep in the afternoon and headed for the servo for a midnight departure. Tele and Crappy were there to meet me and sign me out – it was a great send off, and true to form, Crappy showed up a boogie board strapped to the back of his bike, because . . . well, because it was Byron Bay – Crappy is such a funny guy.


Starting point in Byron Bay - Crappy is always prepared.

Crappy stayed behind to meet Frans and Brian who coincidentally happened to be following a similar route and departing at around the same time – but there were heading directly west rather than going up to Brisbane to start.


Story Bridge Brisbane with Tele - first photo for the Southern Cross Insanity

I departed about 20 minutes behind schedule with Tele in company to travel north to Brisbane to get a photo of the Story Bridge for the Southern Cross Insanity, and then across to Port of Brisbane for a start docket for the 50CC Gold.


The boat ramp at Port of Brisbane - start of the 50CC Gold

The traffic heading north was rubbish due to the never-ending roadworks. I was well behind my ride plan by the time I eventually arrived at the Story Bridge, only to be snookered by more road closures. Clint arrived like the cavalry to lead Tele and I on a rat run to where we could get the photo of the bridge, then on to Port of Brisbane where we were met by TJ Evans. Tele, Clint and TJ signed off my witness form and escorted me out of town.

The first incident for the trip happened near Pittsworth where I pulled over for a quick power nap. I stopped on a nice grassy verge and lay down and went immediately to sleep. A short time later I was awoken by some road works workers coming off a night shift checking to see if I was OK – I explained that I was just having a nap and they said that they thought the I had crashed – it was then that I noticed that the bike was on it’s side (side stand had sunk into the grass). They helped me to get it back up and I climbed aboard and was on my way again.


I stopped in the shade of this tree to have a bit of a rest on day 1

The rest of the day went quite smoothly once the fog had cleared and I had my game face on to make up some time, using the auxiliary fuel tank to full effect and keeping fuel stops to the minimum time possible.

I rolled into Broken Hill for a quick stop knowing that this was my last scheduled stop before a sleep break at Port Augusta. I put on some layers and readied myself for the cooler conditions and headed off again.

I finally caught up with Frans and Brian the other side of Yunta – we didn’t stop to chat as I need to get to Port Augusta for a decent rest before I tackled the 2400km tomorrow to get to Perth for the 50CC.

I arrived at the Gull Servo (or whatever they call it now) at Port Augusta and seriously had the best sausage roll that I have ever had and filled up ready for departure in a few hours.

When I got to the Highway One motel, there was no key in the door and I wasted time sorting that out before finally getting to bed.

Day 2

Left after a few hours sleep having dined on my usual breakfast of rolled oats and sultanas soaked in some water while I sleep.

It was very cool and there was a lot of fog around. I was making decent progress given the conditions, then, about 20km before Kimba a roo appeared out of the mist just sitting on the centreline. I braked hard and he hopped right . . . then left and straight back into the bike, hitting me on the right side just behind my leg. I continued to Kimba where I pulled over to inspect the damage (I did not feel very safe stopping on the side of the road in the fog, even with the hazard flashers on). Closer inspection revealed extensive damage to the pannier. Numerous judiciously applied kicks got the pannier back into the general shape that allowed me to actually close the lid (but with a lot of gaps and far from water resistant).



After much kicking, I got the right pannier back to this shape - it was going to have to do.

This had cost me about 45 minutes by the time I had a cup of hot chocolate to warm up and I was just about ready to pull the pin on the 50CC Gold. I eventually got going again and was running the numbers in my head – I figured that it was still possible but I would have to be focussed.

I put my helmet on and did not take it off again until I got to Coolgardie where I stopped for a pie. The rest of the time I was just focussing on super-fast fuel stops and keeping the wheels turning.


A pie and sauce at Coolgardie

I grabbed a full load of fuel at Southern Cross, and headed for Perth. The WA gate-keeper, Gus was waiting at the bottom of Greenmount Hill to guide me in to Scarborough. We arrived at Scarborough got a docket with 20 minutes to spare and was met by Lindsay who signed off my finish forms – that was the good news. The bad news was that in my brain addled state, I had filled up the front tank with diesel.

I did not realise this at the time and headed off across the road to the Rendezvous Hotel for a good sleep before heading off for a slower day tomorrow . . . or so I thought.


50CC Gold done and dusted

o 50CC Gold – Brisbane-Perth 49 hours 40 minutes - completed and documented

Day 3

Bike starts – 40m later bike is mis-firing – 5 metres later engine stops and will not re-start

Call BMW roadside assist who arrive to tell me that they can take it to the dealer who will be open the day after tomorrow, so I was thinking that the ride was all over, and I started thinking about how I would kill the weekend in Perth.

Before I gave up, I thought I would call Gus and see if he knew any local BMW techs who might be able to give me a clue and see if it would be possible to get going again. It was Gus who suggested that I check the docket to see what fuel I had put in it – my heart sank when I read “Diesel”, but at least it might be possible to recover from this. A few phone calls later I had convinced myself that we could get going again. Gus comes to the rescue with jerry cans, and tools and we set about trying to fix it in the underground carpark. After several hours, it was not working, and Gus goes and gets his trailer and we take the bike back to his place to work on it in his garage. We started over to drain all the fuel from the bike, including removing the fuel injectors and using the fuel pump to pump down the residual contents of the fuel tank. Remove spark plugs and clean, crank engine with everything out.


Working on the bike in the carpark of the Rendezvous Hotel

Some fresh fuel went in, fuel injectors, plugs and the minimum that it needed to run – we looked at each other and held our breaths as I hit the starter – the bike fires up to my great relief and I hug Gus.

Gus leaves me to reassemble the bike and get the engine bars back on while he goes and rustles up some tea. I had a great feed and drink with Gus, a shower and off to bed – it had been a full day, but I still had time to get this ride finished.

Day 4
Into Perth to get a photo of Kings Park for the SCI but Perth fun run is on and many roads a blocked off. Gus guides me around to a point where I can get a shot of the city skyline from the park and we head back to his place to pick up my accessories charger which had failed to charge on the bike overnight.


Kings Park, Perth

A detour across to Denham to pick up a docket for the Southern Cross Insanity. The time window had closed for the Trans Australia Quest, so no joy there. I was OK with this as I had completed this when I did the Trans Australia Insanity last year.

It’s a long run up the coast but conditions are ideal. Original plan was to stop earlier, but trying to catch up, decided to keep going to Port Hedland for the day (another 2,000km day). Had to stop for a short nap at about 2am.


Crossing the Tropic of Capricorn on the west coast

Arrive in Port Headland about 4 and get a few solid hours of sleep.

Trans-Australia Quest – unsuccessful – time window closed.

Day 5
Continue heading north up towards Broome. Recut numbers in my head and decide that I will stop at Fitzroy Crossing and leave myself a nice 1400km run to Darwin in the morning.

Unremarkable leg. Nice and warm and a pretty lazy 1200km

Arrive at Fitzroy Crossing and have a seafood basket and a beer for tea. A good few hours sleep


Day 6

A fantastic run across from Fitzroy Crossing to Katherine and up to Darwin.


A Boab tree in northern WA

Noticed in the morning that the rear tyre was fairly worn – I was confident that it would get me to Darwin (it was a couple of mm from the wear strip), but not sure about getting it to Melbourne.

Darwin would be the last place to get a new tyre if I was going to have a decent crack at a Centreline 24 and a 50CC (although I could have done something in Port Augusta). I decided that I did not want the nagging in the back of my mind about the tyre, and took the decision to get a new one in Darwin. Lisa got onto the job and organised a new tyre from someone who would fit it for me first thing in the morning.

I took a detour to have a look at Lake Argyle – spectacularly beautiful region and definitely on my list of places to revisit.

Fantastic roads dipping and winding through the ranges, surrounded by ancient rock formations – this was the best day of the ride.

Arrived in Darwin and went straight to Doctors Gully for a photo for the Southern Cross Insanity, then off to Darwin Central Hotel for a good sleep.


Doctors Gully in Darwin

Day 7

I woke up early and could not get back to sleep – read the newspapers etc while I waited for the shops to open to get my new tyre.


Getting new rubber fitted in Darwin

With the tyre fitted, I headed back into town to pick up a start docket in Daly Street for the Centreline 24 and the 50CC, although my confidence about completing the CL24 was diminishing rapidly as I knew that I would have to stay awake and riding for the next 24 hours and I had already been awake for 4 hours, and 09:30 was a sub-optimal time to be getting out of Darwin, but I was going to have a crack anyway.

By the time I got to Alice Springs, I had something warm to eat and I could see that my O/A speed was getting borderline and my speed would have to drop as I got into South Australia and I could not see that I was going to get through without a sleep, so I figured that it was over for the Centreline 24.



Day 8
I stopped south of Marla and slept for a couple of hours – I think I would have kept sleeping but I was woken up by the cold.

I mounted up and headed on my way south. The sun had just come up and I noticed some hazard flashers ahead. I pulled over to find Frans trying to repair his bike from a roo strike. A roll of gaffer tape later and having inspected the bike for other damage, Frans decided that it would be OK to proceed. We went on our way, with me following closely behind. The right hand pannier that had sustained considerable damage looked pretty stable on the bike – there was a lot of damage, but it appeared that it would get him home.


Frans doing some running repairs on his bike after his roo strike

I peeled off at Coober Pedy for some fuel and breakfast. As I had abandoned the CL24 plan, I had the luxury of having a coffee and an egg and bacon roll.

I headed south and noticed that Frans and Brian had stopped at Glendambo. I pulled over to say g’day. We had been travelling roughly the same route for nearly a week, but had not crossed paths since I passed them on day 1. We chatted for a while and had a cup of coffee before I headed on my way.

My next stop was Port Augusta. I took on a full load of fuel as this would be my second last stop before I arrived in Melbourne. I chatted with a couple of other riders that I met at the servo about their trip around Australia over the last 5 weeks – it sounded pretty awesome.

Centreline 36 – 27 hours 45 minutes – completed and documented.

As I was leaving Port Augusta, Frans and Brian were just rolling in – we waved and I was on my way – this was the last I would see of Frans and Brian for the rest of the trip.

As the sun went down, it was getting quite cold. I stopped for a final fuel load at Tintinara and headed into the fog and cold for the run into Melbourne. For the most part it was below 3 degrees, with plenty of places sub-zero. It was back up to about 11 degrees when I arrived at Port Melbourne for a 50CC finish docket.

50CC Darwin-Melbourne 40 hours 30 minutes – completed and documented.

Day 9
I was met at Port Melbourne by Fatman and LTP and Philmor who had all come out and braved the cold to welcome me in and guide me to Flinders Street Station where I needed a photo for the Southern Cross Insanity. They then guided me to my accommodation for the night and left me to go back and welcome Frans and Brian who were due in later.



I checked into the hotel and had a few solid hours of sleep before heading up the Doom Highway back to Sydney and my last checkpoint for the Southern Cross Insanity at the Sydney Opera House. Time was on my side and I was able to take it easy getting back to Sydney for the finish.


Parliament House Canberra

While it is not a requirement of the Southern Cross Insanity to get a photo of Parliament House in Canberra, out of respect for Ox-34 who first completed the Southern Cross Insanity, and who had included Parliament House as one of his way points, I took a detour through Canberra for the shot, then stopped at Goulbourn on the way home for tea at Trappers Bakery and had a fantastic steak and kidney pie with peas, mashed potato and gravy.

On the way into Sydney, my daughter Lisa had come out to intercept me and I found her waiting on the M5 for me – we rode together for the rest of the trip into the city.

I arrived back in Sydney to get the Opera House to be met by the 50,000 odd people who were in Sydney to look at the Vivid Light Festival – I took my chances and quickly dismounted and took the photo of the Opera House at the round-about at the end of

Macquarie Street before the police could accost me, then into the Opera House Carpark for a finish docket.

Southern Cross Insanity - completed and documented - 8 days, 21 hours


Finish at the Opera House

Lisa informed me that Tele had said that he was also coming down to meet me – After leaving the carpark, I rang Tele to find out where he was – he had parked further up Macquarie Street and was down at the round-about in the crowds – he walked up and found us and we chatted for a while before we all headed for home. It was great to see Tele at the end of the ride after he had escorted me out of town 9 days ago at the beginning – so much seemed to have happened since we had last seen each other.

Of course, it was also great to see Lisa waiting for me on the M5 – this was her first experience at an intercept at the end of a long ride and I was very glad that it was for me.

I really enjoyed this ride – it is very interesting to see so much of the country in such a short period of time as you get a clearer idea of how diverse the scenery is and I love seeing it change from day to day.

In the course of completing this ride we managed to raise over $45,000 for the Love Mercy Foundation to build a maternity clinic in Northern Uganda. I have been fundraising for Love Mercy for a few years now and hope to get to Uganda next year with my wife to see first hand the work that they have been doing.

Finally, this ride involved a lot of people doing stuff in the background, and without their support I would have not been successful.

Some people provided support, encouragement and information over the phone – thanks heaps to Lisa who was a constant source of information, running different route scenarios for me as issues arose, arranging accommodation, tyre replacements and so on – its great to have someone like Lisa in your corner.

Craig, Michael and Lynne’s daily catch-ups and general support were a great morale boosters – especially when things were going wrong.

Of course, the whole thing would have been a mess if Gus had not bailed me out in Perth, arranging the bike trailer, setting me up in his garage, arranging jerry cans for fuel, cooking me dinner and providing a bed amongst many other things – I am so very grateful. When we finally got the bike to fire, I just grabbed and hugged him – thanks heaps mate.

And my wife Barb – I am so fortunate to have a wife who is so supportive of my interests and is so encouraging, even when she is constantly concerned about my safety . . . how lucky am I!
 
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Fransvdm

Premier Member
#2
A very well executed ride under the circumstances.

Saying that, I'm not sure I will go to the extreme of putting diesel in my bike to have a rest day......... I will rather put up with the embarrassment and take it on the chin on the forum..... :D:D:D

Thank you to Gus to get you back on the road. It was nice to see you after the roo strike. Thank you for your help on the side of the road and following me to make sure my pannier was holding up with the tape.
 

HACKLE

Well-Known Member
#4
A memorable combination of rides tied into one. As you've already said, help, assistance, comes in many ways. I'm sure those giving, were more than happy to do so. A very honest report of a not so easy ride. Your work to enhance others not so fortunate, is indeed very noteworthy. I hope that your trip to see the benefits of all your fund raising will be the icing on the cake that you have been baking for a number of years. Congratulations.
 

Tele

Premier Member
#7
A wonderful report Rob to cap off a marvellous series of rides. The Fundraising effort is a most special way in which to commemorate such an adventure. An epic personal achievement with lots of lovely people participating at home and along the way. a real community event in so many ways. Fabulous on all counts :)
 

Fatman

Well-Known Member
#9
It was fun watching your progress Rob, although my heart sunk when I heard about the Diesel issue, I'm sure your's sunk lower though.

The money raised by you for your charity will no doubt be appreciated by them, this was a tough ride.

Well done again Rob!
 

Scott Parish

Premier Member
#12
Sounds like the type of ride that takes a few days afterward to appreciate how fantastic it was. Congratulations on the miles completed and funds raised for charity. Also appreciate the reminder of not grabbing the green handled pump when fueling here in the states. :)

Scott
 

Skidoo

Premier Member
#13
What a fantastic ride, write up, pictorial and fundraiser all in one. It was exiting to watch and congratulations on a excellent adventure. Well done!
 

Farkleit

Premier Member
#14
Wow what an effort, although we did not get to chat until Glendambo, I was just gobsmacked that you were able to catch us again after a day loss in Perth. All i kept doing was ride fuel sleep. this surely is a great achievement given the problems you faced. Three of us went similar route and three got the Skippy badge. which given the number was lucky we only got one each.

I hope when i get to do my ride write up i can get it 50% as good as this was to read.
Congrats Rob on a great ride.
 

jeffrey gebler

Premier Member
IBR Finisher
#15
What an impressive ride you have completed in some very trying conditions. Your determination to complete the ride after your mishap in Perth is certainly an inspiration.
It must have been great to have your daughter's help and support during this ride.
Congratulation and thanks for sharing it.