There were about 30 bikes at the Harley dealer’s ready to leave for the HOG rally. We left in 2 lots so as not to make too big a group on the highway. The sound of a dozen Harleys peeling off at a green light is like nothing else.

First stop was Calcium to put on our wet weather gear, I was so pleased when they stopped, I wanted to put the wet weather gear on but I also wanted to continue riding with the group. There were cars heading towards us with their windscreen wipers going and it was very grey ahead. In the time it took us to put on the wet weather gear the rain stopped, but it still looked threatening, so I was happy to be wearing it, the weather was also cold.

The first scheduled stop for fuel was at Charters Towers and the petrol station was quite a site swarming with bikes. There was only one other bike travelling with us from Townsville with a trailer.

We continued on our way after fuelling up, this is the farthest west we’ve been, Charters Towers was as far as we’d been previously . People waved to us as we travelled through the small outback towns, I think the entire population of Torrens Creek was sitting on their front porches waving as we went by.

We stopped at a pub in Hughenden for lunch. It was very quiet; the streets were deserted as if it were siesta time. On the menu for lunch was pizza, no other choice, just pizza. Tony and I had already been for a walk down the main street to see if we could buy a couple of bread rolls, but no luck, so we had pizza. We got to know a few of the Townsville HOG members over lunch.

The last 120km of the trip from Hughenden to Richmond was past some very desolate, barren country. It’s flat and dry with very few short scraggly trees. You can see the highway for miles ahead, straight and flat. We only passed two road trains, Tony had been worried about them, you hear so many stories, and people warn you to get out of their way.

We checked in at the Lakeside caravan park at Richmond, we’re staying in a bunkhouse, it has two single beds and we use the communal toilets and camp kitchen which are all just outside our door. At only $30 for the night it beat putting up a tent.

Tony and I headed down to the lake at the back of the caravan park for a swim, just the thing after a hot dry ride, very refreshing.

We spent the afternoon with Rob from Townsville. We went for a walk along the main street of Richmond for a bit of a look around then sat around the park chatting before heading down to the Mud Hut Hotel for tea; they had roast chicken for $8.

After tea we went back to the caravan park and sat outside talking with Rob, Des and Karen, and Nev. We’d all put our bikes under cover and it was just as well as there was quite a downpour.

We arrived in Julia Creek and stopped at a Driver Reviver stop for a cup of tea, for a donation to the Lions Club we had a cuppa each and some biscuits. We enjoyed chatting with the people who were manning the kiosk; they were both from out of town but enjoying their time in Julia Creek. They weren’t sure if the population was 600 or 900 with many people coming to town as teachers, police etc.

At the petrol station we caught up with Ross and Judy who we’d met yesterday, they had trouble with the bike, the battery had died and they were waiting for the support truck to arrive.

ROAD TRAIN

Next stop was Cloncurry, we filled up the petrol again and stopped at a park to have a piece of fruit and a drink of water, the water was revolting, we’d filled our bottles at Richmond and the taste was terrible.

The country had been really flat again today until we were about 20km from Cloncurry then there are lots of red termite mounds and red rocky hills. The road through the hills is excellent, wide, with a good surface and overtaking lanes every now and then. It remained hilly all the way through to Mount Isa. But weren’t we surprised when we came across a stop light in the middle of the outback! They’re doing roadwork and have traffic lights at each end to only allow traffic from one direction through at a time.

When we arrived in Mount Isa we turned into the street to travel to our caravan park and there was the Harley Shop. We stopped off; they were having a sausage sizzle, so we got a free lunch also. We did well today with our cuppa for morning tea and sausages for lunch.

We checked in at the caravan park, they had to do a reshuffle to accommodate all the Harley riders who were staying and had bumped us up to a better cabin than we had booked and paid for, we’re doing well! We had a cabin with a double bed this time, our own kitchen and bathroom, woohoo! It’ll be nice if we wake up through the night that we won’t have to get up, get dressed, and walk across the caravan park to the toilets.

We went out to have a look around Mt Isa and as we rode past the Harley shop we saw Rob. We stopped to say g’day and we told Rob that we were going to the lookout. He’d just been there and said he’d go back with us, so we followed him there.

While there we talked with another couple from Port Macquarie. They told us how bad their fuel economy had been, heading into the wind. We’ve heard this same story a few times now so we decided we better go and buy a jerry can to carry some extra fuel.

Mount Isa’s water was even worse than Richmond’s, I couldn’t even drink it in a cup of tea, I had to buy bottled water.

We spent the evening in our cabin having a quiet night and going to bed early, we’ve got a big day tomorrow.

From Camooweal we travelled on the longest stretch of road without a petrol station, 265km to Barkly Roadhouse. This was the stretch that we’d bought the jerry can and filled it for, just in case. We had travelled 235km when we had to switch to reserve and that took us the last 30km to Barkly Roadhouse, so the spare fuel wasn’t necessary, but it was reassuring to know it was there. The Northern Territory has no speed limit on the open highway and we travelled at 120kmph.

After refuelling at Barkly Roadhouse where the petrol was priced at $1.61 per litre, and having some lunch we continued on towards Tennant Creek.

We hadn’t booked accommodation so the first caravan park we came to we called in to see if they had any rooms. They had a donga which the park manager described as a box with beds, which had me a bit worried. It wasn’t much better than a box with beds, but it did have an air conditioner and was only $25 for the night, it’s only somewhere to sleep.

We had a swim in the park swimming pool and talked with some HOG members who are staying in the rooms beside us.

By coincidence Rob was also staying at this park, in a little fancier room, so we caught up with him and asked what plans he had for tea. He told us that the Townsville group were meeting at the pub for a counter meal at 6.30. So we decided to do the same.

The three of us walked down the main street to the pub and hardly noticed any HOG members about; they weren’t at the pub in which they’d planned to meet. We decided to order a meal anyway. Tony, Rob and I had a pleasant couple of hours having our meal, dessert and a couple of soft drinks. A few other HOGs came in for meals and we chatted with them, but for the amount of us in town there weren’t many to be seen.

We went back to the caravan park and watched a bit of a movie on dvd then had an early night, another big day of riding again tomorrow.

ONE OF TONY'S PHOTOS

It was good to leave Tennant Creek, we hadn’t had any trouble there, but we heard stories of fights breaking out last night. I’m looking forward to getting to central Australia and seeing Ayers Rock.

First stop today was the Devils Marbles. They are quite a sight, round red rocks perched precariously on one another, under the deep blue sky they are something special. In Aboriginal stories they are the eggs of the Rainbow Serpent. I took heaps of photos, of course! There were bikes everywhere, I was surprised that so many HOG members stopped there, they seem intent on getting as many kilometres travelled as quickly as they can.

Next stop was Wauchope for fuel. It’s a petrol station, pub, café and store all in one. They have board with money (notes) pinned to it called the Wauchope Bush Bank, established 1979. Out the front they have a display of old rusted car, truck and tractors.

We continued on through Wycliffe Wells, the UFO capital of Australia on to the next stop, Ti Tree, for fuel again. Ti Tree has the most central pub in Australia. There were bikes everywhere all queuing for fuel. We refuelled, grabbed a couple of dim sims to eat and then along with Rob continued on our way. Many people were staying for lunch and a break from riding.

The last 100km was boring, we’ve had quite a few days of long rides, and our MP3 player batteries died. Then, much to our amusement a couple of people were on the side of the road wearing their bike helmets and not much more, flashing boobs and bum, what a laugh! As we were coming up to them Tony said to me that there were people on the side of the road, it was these two flashers, I think they must have been bored and decided to do it for a laugh. They had hidden their bike well and wore the helmets so they couldn’t be recognised.

The scenery in central Australia has surprised me, I thought it would be red dirt and very barren, but there’s a lot of vegetation. I found it similar to near the beach, a lot of low growing trees and shrubs. We’ve hardly seen any birds, no kangaroos or emus (which is probably a good thing, we don’t want to see them on the road). The countryside isn’t flat like I’d imagined either, there are several ranges and Alice Springs is set among the hills.

Once we got settled into our accommodation we went to the Harley dealers for a look, bought a few groceries and went for a look from Anzac Hill, a lookout in town.

Rob gave us a phone call and asked us to join Townsville for tea at the casino. It was karaoke night and a couple of Townsville members got up to sing. The casino has a promotion going that if you become a member and play some of the casino games or the pokies you are in the draw to win a Harley. Everyone was in that. You have to be back at the casino for the draw, we’ll be back in Alice Springs by then, so fingers crossed. Julie won $100 on her go at the pokies, I won $2. Oh well, I’ll just have to win the bike!

 

Beside the service station was a yard with a baby camel. I went over to have a look at him and he was making all sorts of noises, like he was crying. It was meal time and a man was making up his bottle which I was able to feed to him. He was very hungry and drank it down very quickly. He’s five months old and has a lot of growing to do.

We stopped again for fuel at Erldunda and while we were there the HOG members from the southern states arrived, what a sight that was. There were hundreds of bikes in the service station, luckily most of the northern states members had refuelled by the time the southerners arrived.

Travelling the last leg of the trip to Ayers Rock a large rock was visible in the distance. Gary had told us that we’d see it and that many people thought it was Ayers Rock but it’s Mount Connor. One of the tour bus drivers who had stopped there told us that Mount Connor is probably the oldest monolith in central Australia.

Across the road from the viewing platform for Mount Connor is a huge salt lake which I took a few photos of before we headed off.

We arrived at Yulara and checked in and received our bag of goodies for the rally, a t-shirt, a badge, tickets for the national park and tickets for the 2 dinners.

After checking in we went and booked a camp site and set up the tent. We’re sharing a powered site with Billy and Helen from Townsville. We went for a walk around the campground to see who was around and we caught up with Wobbly Bob and Silver both of whom we’d met at the Wogs in the Bush Rally and met Gryphie, a friend of Silver’s.

A sunset ride to Ayers Rock was on the agenda so we met at 5pm to ride out to the rock. About 40 bikes assembled to ride to the rock and the police gave us an escort there. We arrived there too early for the sunset so we decided to go for a ride around the rock.

The setting sun makes the rock have a warm orange/red glow. It was well worth the effort to go out there. I got heaps of photos, as usual.

Our tickets for the evening meal were for the 7pm to 8pm session. A shuttle bus was taking everyone out to the oval for the meal and entertainment afterwards. There were 5pm, 6pm and 7pm sittings. I’ve come down with a cold and was feeling pretty miserable so we went and ate our meal but didn’t stay around for the band.

ONE OF THE MANY CHAPTER FLAGS

The ride proceeded on the circuit around the rock; everyone was waving enthusiastically as we went by. There were whole families of aboriginal children on top of cars, tourists and National Park staff all watching us ride by. It was a real buzz for everyone involved.

RIDING AROUND AYERS ROCK

We then continued on to the Olgas. From the viewing platform for the Olgas, Ayers Rock is also visible. The Olgas are a really nice group of rock formations, probably as nice as Ayers Rock; I’d like to see them at sunrise. Today was a little overcast so the colours were more subdued.

RIDING AROUND AYERS ROCK

We rode a little further on to Walpa Gorge which is a part of the Olgas. There we walked up through the gorge; you appreciate the size of the formations when you’re that close to them. Lots more photos taken today.

SOME OF THE TOWNSVILLE CHAPTER

After the ride we went back to the resort and had some lunch before spending a quiet afternoon sitting around our tent talking to Rob.

We met Rob again in the evening for tea at the resort hotel. There was a band playing out at the oval where we were last night but it was such a cold night we didn’t feel like going out there. Everyone must have thought the same because the pub was full. I was talking to Silver before going back to the tent for the night and he said he and Gryphie were the only two on a seventy seat bus going out to the oval and when they arrived there were only 19 people and 41 staff. It’s a shame for the organisers but it really was a cold night and the atmosphere at the pub was good.

WALPA GORGE

One thing I’ve noticed here at Yulara is the high police and security presence, I don’t know if its for our benefit or if there is always that many police and security guards around. They’ve been very friendly, this morning they were taking photos for people from the top of their truck and they happily posed for photos with a couple of ladies this evening.

It’s been a big week and tomorrow we head back to Alice Springs for the remainder of the rally where we’ll stay for three nights.

We woke at about 6.30 and packed everything up before heading over to the camp kitchen for breakfast where we saw Ross and Judy. Ross told us that he’d woken up freezing cold at 4am and decided to go for a shower to warm himself up. He’s from Townsville and not used to the cold. I overheard someone later in the day saying that they’d never been so cold in their life, it had been a very cold night, we’d had the luxury of a powered site and had the heater running all night.

Rob came to the campground to find out where we’d got to because we were late getting going. After fuelling up we started for Alice Springs.

The first stop was at Erldunda for petrol, everyone had the same idea.  It took 1 hour and 15 minutes to get petrol. Tony and Rob queued up for the bowsers while I went and got food and drinks. I also made a couple of phone calls and went to the toilet. There must have been a couple of hundred bikes there; they were lined up about 4 abreast for probably 100metres with the queue stretching out to the road. I’d say the entire morning would have been the same, many people left early hoping to miss the queues. I’d like to see the takings for the day; they would have got about $30 from every bike that called in there.

As we rode along Rob was pointing to something in the distance, we couldn’t see what he’d seen. He pulled over and told us he’d seen a heard of wild camels and wanted to go back to photograph them. After photographing those camels way off in the distance we continued on our way only to pass quite a few more camels all much closer to the road.

When we got to the caravan park Tony dropped me off and went to see if he could get the bike in to get a new back tyre, while I pitched the tent. They weren’t able to do the bike today but said to bring it back tomorrow and they’d do it. 

We spent the afternoon around the caravan park, there’s quite a few HOG members camped around us and the park is trying to keep everyone together, which is good. Tony saw a bike that he recognized from the Half Throttle Rally at Whittlesea last year and spoke to the owner. There’s a lot of Townsville members staying here too.

We got some groceries, did some washing and cooked some tea. We also went out to a car wash and washed the red dust off the bike ready for the Thunder Run tomorrow. We also bought some more Codral for this rotten cold I’ve got.

The Alice Springs chapter hosted a welcome party at Heavy Tree Tavern and we thought we’d meet up with Rob there before going on to the casino. When we arrived at the tavern we got a call from Rob, he and a few others were at the casino.

We stuck around at the tavern for a while talking with Silver, Wobbly Bob and Gryphie there was a band playing and a good party atmosphere.

We wanted to be at the casino for the prize drawer for the Harley, the winner had to be there when their name was drawn or there’d be a redraw the following week. Unfortunately we didn’t win and neither did anyone that we knew. The person whose name was drawn out was there to claim her prize.

As we rode there were crowds of people lining the streets to watch the bikes go by. The police had stopped the traffic and all the traffic lights were in our favour so that we could continue through without the group being separated. What a site and sound! Everyone had a great time, those watching and those participating.

The ride ended at the Henley on Todd Regatta where the Chapter Challenge and Show and Shine were held. Some Chapters had gone all out and created costumes and boats. Henley on Todd is a boat race along the sand of the dry Todd River. The Southern Highlands Chapter were all wearing kilts. There were the boat races and Tug of War competitions.

All of the bikes were parked in rows on the oval and people were able to wander up and down and have a look at them. The Show and Shine had sections for the different types of Harleys and for best paint job, best rat bike, best trike and best sidecar.

Tony dropped me off at the Regatta and rode the bike to the Dealership to get a new tyre fitted 31,500 km metzler. We’d looked at the tyre before we left Townsville and thought that there was plenty of rubber on it and that it would get us to Darwin where it would also be due for a service. Apparently quite a few people have gone through more rubber than they expected, the roads are a coarse surface and very hot.

Tony walked back to the Regatta and we watched some of the events and had a look around at all the bikes. It was a good idea combining the HOG event with a local event, the crowd certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves and their numbers swelled enormously with the 1800 HOG members who attended.

We walked back to get the bike mid afternoon and then went back to the caravan park for a couple of hours before going out for dinner in the evening.

This evening there was a dinner at the Road Transport Hall of Fame, once again we were scheduled to have our meal between 7pm and 8pm, we rode there with Harrow, Lynn and Hoops who also had the late meal time.

The entertainment was good; early in the evening they had Sounds of Starlight performance, which was all instrumental and included didgeridoo, very central Australian. Later in the evening the entertainment was provided by Brass Monkeys, who played a lot of old favourites, something that you can dance to.

The meals left a lot to be desired again, by the 7pm session they were running out of food. We had no salads, just a couple of sausages and a small piece of steak and some small bread rolls, pretty poor, when you consider that everyone had pre booked months ago.

The presentation of Chapter Challenge trophies was made on the stage in the break between the two bands. There was also a parade of the flags of the various chapters.

Tony took the laptop to our table and was showing all the Townsville group the photos I’ve taken this trip, today I took 120! I had a ball taking photos during the Thunder Run!

We caught up with a few people before leaving at about 9.30 and heading home, there’s another ride tomorrow.

There was a sausage sizzle held at the Harley dealers and two different rides were leaving from there during the morning, one long ride and a shorter ride.

We decided to go one the shorter ride which was to Standley Chasm and Simpsons Gap; there were about 150 bikes on the ride.

Once there it was optional whether you did the walk through the Chasm or not and many chose not to pay the $7 and do the walk. Tony and I did go for the walk and it was well worth it, the best time of day to view the Chasm is around midday when the sun illuminates both walls. The walk is along a dry water course and has you climbing over rocks.

After Standley Chasm we rode to Simpsons Gap and again walked along a dry river bed but this one was flat and sandy. Simpsons Gap has walls that are red ochre the same as Standley Chasm. Both provided me with lots of photos.

STANDLEY CHASM

SIMPSONS GAP

On the way back into town we passed the Road Transport Hall of Fame where we’d had the dinner the previous night. Admission to it was included for the weekend so we decided to go and have a look. Not a bad museum especially if you’re into trucking.

Back at the caravan park we went for a swim in the pool with Mick and Harrow, a bit cold, but refreshing.

Tony, Mick, Harrow and I decided to go out to Todd Street Tavern for tea, they had a $9.50 roast and you could help yourself and go back for seconds, very good value and a popular place.

After our meal we went to Bo jangles Bar, Mick and Harrow had heard lots about it and wanted to see it for themselves. The place was packed, loads of Hog members were there and the band was playing yet another encore. It was a great place with lots of atmosphere and interesting décor. There were boots nailed to the roof, coins glued to the floor, stuffed eagles, crocodile skins and live snakes at the end of the bar.

We left Mick and Harrow and went to see Rob to work out our plans for leaving in the morning. He’d spent the afternoon watching football with Scottie and having a few drinks, just kicking back relaxing. He’s sharing a unit with Scottie, Julie and Willow. Julie made us a cuppa and we found out Townsville’s departure time for tomorrow.

It was a full on day but thoroughly enjoyable, the company has been terrific.

Just past 7.30am we were heading out of Alice Springs on our way back to Tennant Creek. The day started off a bit cool and overcast.

The first fuel stop was Ti Tree and once again there was a queue. I went and bought coffee and tea while Tony and Rob waited in line for petrol.

BARROW CREEK TELEGRAPH STATION

When we got to town we got some takeaways for a late lunch, it was about 3 o’clock.

In the evening we went to the Memorial Club for a meal. The Townsville group had organised to meet there for a meal.

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