Final 2 days

Sunday June 9 2013

Boolboonda Tunnel

  Today we would go to Mt. Perry looking for a special street sign that Jeff wants to photograph for a contest he is in. We need to go about 50 km off of the main road to find this town. Somebody told us that it was all dirt roads there but they were wrong. About 15 km before the town I saw a sign for a tunnel that was only 2 km off of the road. You cannot miss a chance to see a tunnel so away we went. The road did turn to dirt but we tried it and found the tunnel. Naturally we rode through it and then followed the dirt road on the other side through the forest and some pastures. Eventually it met up with the paved road we were on and we continued on to the town and finally located the street sign that we were searching for.

We then returned back to the main highway and started searching for inexpensive lodging not realizing that this was a 3 day holiday weekend so Sunday night still brought higher rates. We stayed in Childers and found a Subway for a light meal. The young ladies at Subway informed us that the only public internet access was at the library which was closed but we might still get a connection outside of the library. My father is having some medical issues and I was hoping to get more information via email so I went and stood outside the library in the rain (with a couple of other people) to check my email. In the morning I went back and did it again.

Monday June 10 2013, final riding day
Clint had told us about a back road route to get back to Brisbane which we took. It was very enjoyable with lots of trees, farms and rolling hills. But about 100 miles from Clint's house it started to rain and then it really started to come down. It was very difficult to see but we finally made it back after several wrong turns. Our clothes were soaked as were we. It was a nice wet end to a good holiday. We were sorry that it was our last day of riding but it will be nice to get back home.

We arrive back in Brisbane beyond wet!

Tuesday June 11 2013
It's bike cleanup day and they really need it!! We are also starting to pack the motorcycle gear for the trip home Thursday. 

Great Barrier Reef

Thursday 6-6-2013

Charters Towers – Airlie Beach

After leaving the library we went by a park that I remembered from the previous motorcycle trip. This park's trees are full of big fruit bats.

We took a few pictures and then went looking for a caravan park that we were told about. We rented a cabin there that had a kitchenette and 2 bedrooms as well as a couch and eating table. This was the best place that we had stayed in yet. The park also had internet in select locations so we did some emails and I did the blog previous to this one. We did not feel like going back to town for supper so we looked at the meager offerings of the camp store. Jeff got a breakfast muffin and some potato chips. I bought a can of chili and some crackers. Gourmet dining! We actually had the tv tuned on watching news and then some long drama about high school girls working as interns in a hospital came on. It was not too good so Jeff went to bed. But then some American fictional FBI show came on and I watched it. Then it was off to bed reading a paperback that I bought from the town library. I also read more of it in the early morning when I could not sleep. Finally the sun came up and we got rolling toward Airlie Beach. We turned off the east bound highway onto the southbound Bruce Highway. We are now in the tropics and into sugar cane country. The sugar cane farmers use their own narrow gauge railroad for hauling sugar cane from one area to another. 

In the town of Ayr we passed a cemetery where is appears all of the graves are above ground. I had seen this before but did not get a picture. This time I stopped and took this photo.

In Airlie Beach they were doing major construction on the main street in the tourist area. We found a parking place right in front of a tour agency. We booked a tour to the Great Barrier Reef as well as 2 nights in a hotel/hostel/motel/??? It's a private room with a kitchen area meaning a sink. Pretty minimal. The twin bed were arranged as a double but housekeeping redid that for us into 2 twins. However there is only a light bedspread on the beds so I have my sleeping bag on the bed a it seems like it will be cool tonight. This place is setup for young people, block walls, no carpeting, the towel holders are made of heavy duty angle iron. When the young people leave they can just bring in a fire hose and prepare the room for the next tenant. Pizza for dinner, then back to the room where we did some maintenance on Jeff's helmet. Hopefully the night will not be too noisy as this is a party town and I imagine some of the younger set will want to continue partying when they return to their rooms.

Friday 6-7-2013

Great Barrier Reef

Well the younger set came to their room next to ours last night and they did want to party. It was a long night. They finally quit around 3 AM. Let's just say that I was not overly quiet when preparing to leave in the morning. After some confusion as to where the bus stop was for the pickup bus and the bus being late we were on the bus heading to the tour boat. The boat was a catamaran and quite fast. We stopped at Hamilton Island for some more passengers and continued on to the reef. After passing the Whitsunday Islands we entered what the crew called “The Miracle Mile”. It is a section that is much rougher water than the rest of the trip. The crew passed out sea-sickness bag and we enjoyed a white knuckled, rock & rollin', slammin' and jammin' ride. Yahoo! At the reef they have a permanent pontoon boat stationed with an opening to see into the water, a water slide and equipment for snorkeling and scuba diving. There is also a glass bottomed boat that goes over to the reef which was my main interest. Linda and I took a trip to the reef from Cairns on our trip and did not get to see much when snorkeling. Jeff and I rode the glass bottomed boat 2 times. One of the crew members had explained to us that the beautiful colored pictures of the reef that everyone has seen were all photographed at night and that we would not be seeing those colors. They were right but it was still very interesting.

 Lunch was served on the boat which was my meal for the day. As the tide went out the top of the reef was visible above the water . Finally it was time to turn back. The “Miracle Mile” was not quite as rough as before but people now had food in their tummies and there was considerable more use of the sea sickness bags. We got back after dark and Jeff wanted supper or “evening tea”. We went to the Hogbreath Saloon and he had a steak. I had a glass of wine. I only have 7 more days to lose 10 pounds. In my dreams!! It is Friday night and I am concerned that our yound neighbors will really be feeling their oats tonight. But luckily they were quiet all night. However we did quickly find out that house keeping and replenishment of the coffee packets and tea bags were not part of the service. But then again neither were blankets. Tomorrow we continue south back toward Brisbane.

Saturday 6-8-2013
Left Airlie Beach today heading south. We did not intend to go very far but finally rode 450km and are in a nice motel in Rockhampton. We went through an area where there could be Koalas but never saw one.

The Alice to Charter Towers

Alice Springs – Tennant Creek Sun 6-2-13

I kept trying to remember something about Tennant Creek other than it had a mining museum but my mind was a blank. When we got to town I had a vague recollection of the hotel/bar in the center of town but that was it. I cannot remember where we stayed and this is a one street town. Motel prices were just over our unspoken limit of $125 so we went 27 km out of town to the Three Way Station where the prices were higher. So we went back to town and rented a tent site at one of the caravan parks. We went into town to eat before setting up our tent which meant that we set up camp in the dark. Our meal at the hotel/bar was the cheapest we have had on the road (other than at Subway), only $14 and was actually the best, probably because we had veggies and no chips (french fries). It was not really a good night's sleep as the wind kept flapping the tent fabric all night and I had some aches and pains and could not get comfortable.

Tenant Creek – Mt. Isa Mon 6-3-13

The word for the day was wind, a headwind and a lot of it. It was a long ride with little to see. When we got close to Mt. Isa we left the flatlands and went up into hill country. In town we looked for lodging and once again felt like the virgin Mary as there was no room at the inn. We did find a motel that advertised internet but naturally it was “out of order”. We took the room anyway and set up for the night. Checking tires, oil and chains showed that Jeff's tire was really worn and we doubted that it would go much farther. Checking the phone book showed no dealerships in town but there was a listing for a motorcycle shop. I rode back into town to check it out and it was in fact a Honda/Suzuki shop but seemed to specialize in dirt bikes. We would find out tomorrow when t was open. I went to a Subway and got sandwiches so we got to eat cheaply that night.

Mt. Isa – Hughenden Tues 6-4-13

First thing in the morning we went to the shop and they had a tire we could use. The tire was naturally much more expensive than it would be at home but the labor to install it was much less. We were finally on the road at noon. The first town we went through was Cloncurry. Cloncurry states that the highest temperature in Australia was there.

127.5 degrees F in 1889

We had planned to get to Charter Towers that day which was a 500 mile ride but leaving at noon cancelled that idea so we would ride until 4 PM and then make a decision where to spend the night. The decision was Hughenden where we are now having just eaten some lasagna and now safely holed up in our room The road here is called the Flinder's Highway. If I was a scavenging bird I would relocate here as the kangaroos must be suicidal. There were lots of bodies in and alongside the road. We also encountered a 2-3 km section of road covered with cattle. They were on both sides of the road and also walking back and forth across it. We arrived at Richmond but the only motel we considered was booked up. 

Sign just before Richmond

There was also no place to eat but a bar and we decided to go another 100 km to Hughenden. That section of road undulated up and down and reminded us of the Alaska Highway that is full of frost heaves. The motel had 27 rooms in one area and room for maybe 15 cars. There was another 20 rooms next door also with not enough parking for the number of rooms.We ate at the motel bar and had lasagna. They actually served chips (french fries) with lasagna. We asked for no chips and extra salad.Tomorrow should get us to the east coast and we will see if we can find a tour boat to the Great Barrier Reef.

Squeezed the bikes by the SUV to park

Hughenden - Charter Towers Weds 6-5-13

Today we need to change the oil in the bikes. Jeff scheduled service at a shop in Charter Towers which is about 2-3 hours away. I have been looking for some road signs showing the distance down a dirt road to various locations. I have one showing 135 km to a lake but thought this one would be better. The bottom sign for Aramac is 270 km which is about 165 miles. That is a shortcut, you can get there on the pavement from this point but it is about 1200-1300 km.

How far down that dirt road?

Later we saw a police car in our lane heading towards us. He waved us off to the side and warned us of 2 wide loads coming our way. We pulled off the road and waited. The loads did not really need the room we gave them but a travel trailer might have had a tense moment.

Wider than normal wide load

I have been watching the road trains and noticed that there are different wheel configurations on the trailers, there are 12 wheel trailers, 20 wheel trailers and 24 wheel trailers. The tractor of course has 20 wheels and the first trailer has no front wheels. This gives combinations of 46, 62 or 70 wheels for these rigs. I stopped at a tire store today and asked about tire prices. The front tires on the tractor are $1200 each, the rears are $550 each and the trailer tires are $450 each. For a 70 wheel rig that is $450 x 60, $550 x 8 and $1200 x 2. 

$33800 worth of tires, how fast can a NASCAR pit crew change 70 tires?