Back getting dirty - An ongoing report from down under

[SwampFox]

Drats. I didn't get to see 'em yet.

 

[saikhan]

Is it possible to do the whole RR in word and then just cut and paste?

 

[saikhan]

Testing cut and paste from word.
http://www.1770holidaysonline.com.au/Image/activities/national-parks.jpg


It appears you can. 

 

[saikhan]

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I attempted to go to the southern end of Eurimbula state forest last week. A water crossing foiled that plan. Anyway, on Tuesday two of us headed off to give it another shot. Shaun on his orange bike and myself on the DRZ. Both bikes now with rerouted breather tubes. We rode 110ks of bitumen, then turned left onto Eurimbula road. (all dirt/sand)
Map
http://www.whereis.com/?id=30C527B8FE7967

The water crossing that got me the first time.

The track in.

The sides of the road on the way in are infested with these strange plants.

[ame="http://s1127.photobucket.com/albums/l626/saikhanus/Eurimbula/?action=view&current=IMG_1145.mp4"]Eurimbula :: IMG_1145.mp4 video by saikhanus - Photobucket@@AMEPARAM@@file=http%3A%2F%2Fvid1127.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fl626%2Fsaikhanus%2FEurimbula%2FIMG_1145.mp4@@AMEPARAM@@file=http%3A%2F%2Fvid1127.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fl626%2Fsaikhanus%2FEurimbula%2FIMG_1145.mp4[/ame]


A rest stop. You may notice the DRZ wanting to have a little lay down as well. I just got it in time.

Walk down this path.

To find this.

One of the beaches at the campgrounds.

We had a good look around the area and then did the 110ks back, stopping at the Bororen Pub for something cold. Very hot day.

Then the orange bike broke.

The wheel bearing died and the ball bearings made a break for freedom through the hub.

 

[Tourmeister]

Cool report! That rear wheel damage is nasty!!

When you include the images, bracket them with the IMG tag. This will make them display in the body of the post.

(img)link to image(/img)

Just change the ( ) to [ ] to make it work. Had to use the ( ) so the forum software would not try to process the tag command.

 

[saikhan]

Cool report! That rear wheel damage is nasty!!

When you include the images, bracket them with the IMG tag. This will make them display in the body of the post.

(img)link to image(/img)

Just change the ( ) to [ ] to make it work. Had to use the ( ) so the forum software would not try to process the tag command.

Cool, I'll do that in future. I did wonder why they stayed just links. Hope I didn't cause too much of a problem.

 

[Tourmeister]

Cool, I'll do that in future. I did wonder why they stayed just links. Hope I didn't cause too much of a problem.

Nope. I just edited your post, cut/pasted the text into wordpad, did a search/replace all, cut/paste it right back into your post and saved it

 

[sKatZ]

What a great trip! And yikes on the hub damage -

Those beach photos are amazing. Glad you're back out and about!

 

[ta2240]

Where is the Like button for this thread!!

 

[Tourmeister]

Where is the Like button for this thread!!

Go to the top of the thread when you are reading it and click the "Rate Thread" drop down

 

[saikhan]

Went for a run two weekends ago to Eurimbula and a whole heap of places. Will fill in the blanks soon.

Started at the usual fuel station at Calliope. Don't drink the water.

Then headed west until we found Galloway plains.

We then followed tablelands road all the way to Builyan, where we turned of onto Blackman's Gap road.

It's 90% dirt with some twisty bitumen parts.

We then headed for Eurimbula. Only to find the bridge had had a lot of water over it.

I'll try and add some more later.

 

[Tourmeister]

Uhhh... the approach to that bridge looks pretty "abrupt"

The rolling low mountains remind me of the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas here in the U.S. LOTS of fantastic riding there!

Thanks for the update/pics! Keep them coming

 

[Rman of 237]

I'm surprised the flood waters washed the rock off of the landings yet left the bridge intact. Great pics, let's see some more.

 

[owtcast]

Looks like a nice ride.

 

[saikhan]

Abrupt fits the approach perfectly. Last time it flooded, the old bridge got washed away completely so this shouldn't take them long to repair.

Easter school holidays start here today so when I finish work Monday morning Lucas (son) and I, plan to ride ourselves ragged. We have some good stuff planned. Can't wait actually.

 

[saikhan]

Hey all. Just taking the opportunity to wish all of you a happy easter. I hope you and yours have a great and safe weekend. I look forward to all the ride reports that will be generated.

 

[Simmons1]

Hey all. Just taking the opportunity to wish all of you a happy easter. I hope you and yours have a great and safe weekend. I look forward to all the ride reports that will be generated.

Have a Happy Easter as well!

Thanks for sending us the great photos of your travels.

 

[saikhan]

Morning all (well it is here anyway atm )

I went for a short run not far from home the other day. An area near the Rundle Range. The road takes you through a town, or what used to be a small township until the oil shale project near it had some chemical release issues and everyone either just left or were bought out by the government. About the only thing left there now is the Rural Fire Brigade shed and house slabs.

After the ex town there is mostly rolling hills.

This hill is known as white rock, imaginatively named because of all the white rocks on it.

Until next time.

 

[Mudclod]

That's some great photography man!

 

[jhansen]

+1 on the photos! Now , a question about the sign. GRID?

 

[saikhan]

That's some great photography man!

Thanks, not that it's a competition or anything, but I still think they lag behind your last effort. But I keep shooting.

 

[saikhan]

+1 on the photos! Now , a question about the sign. GRID?

You have them over there, I can't remember what you call them though.

Cattle Grid

 

[Tourmeister]

Beautiful country!

We call them cattle guards. They can wreak havoc on a bike, especially if wet. I don't know why, but they are often placed at the apex of corners

The other thing we have is bump gates. These are heavy metal gates that swing shut after they are pushed or "bumped" open. Operating them on a bike is tricky and can result in getting swatted off the bike if you are not careful. You have to pull up to them, make contact with the front wheel, roll on the power and steer into them until you get them moving and then steer away before they reach the far point of their swing. Some folks like to try to sneak through on the push from the rider in front of them. The first one might get through, but the second sneaker is like to get swatted! I've seen it happen several times

 

[Iceman Jack]

Holy cow.......I need to plan a trip down under. JT?

 

[saikhan]

Not a ride update, however not really sure where to post. I am very seriously considering getting a 2012 650 VSTROM. The 2 drz plan was a good one, however my son's schedule is very busy and he really has little time to ride. So I'm thinking out loud here, I plan to trade one DRZ in on a Vstrom. Sort of cover more bases.

Can take a pillion and handle longer bitumen runs more easily or at least more comfortably. I have read a lot of reviews etc, and they seem to be pretty good. I have ridden a 2009 but not a new model.

Thoughts welcome.

 

[Tourmeister]

I'd keep a DRZ and get the Strom as well Seriously, I hated my 650 Strom off the paved surfaces. I know some folks ride them on unpaved surfaces, but it just never felt right for me. As for the paved stuff, great bikes. A tiny bit under powered and under sprung for any serious two up riding, but if you are just cruising around it is fine.

 

[saikhan]

Thanks for the input Scott. I was wondering about the two up thing, however my main pillion weighs 55 kilos on her worst day, and they've uprated the springs a little bit in the new model. Also in reality everyone other than me in the family is very busy this year. I work 4 days on 5 off, so most of the riding will be one up. I keep looking at the 1000cc but I prefer the new look.

Incidentally the 2011 is still available here for 8990 ride away. The 2012 is 12000 ride away. Also the bike shop offered me a good trade price for the DRZ.

The other thing is a GSX1250 FA is only 12900, which muddies the waters a bit lol.

 

[saikhan]

Went for a couple of short rides. Just a few pics without any real story.

Boondoola Tunnel, near Gin Gin. Was used for the mine at Mt Perry in the late 1800s and on.

Boyne river.

Awoonga dam or Lake Awoonga.

 

[Mudclod]

Awesome country saikhan, man, would I love a visit. I see you still have 2 Z's. I have a DL1000 and Scott's right, it really is just a streetbike that I ride offroad on but so far it's been fun and isn't that what it's all about? They sure jacked the price on those '12's though.

 

[Tourmeister]

Glad you posted, I was just about to post to see what you were up to because I was wondering if you had made a decision on the bikes.

As always, beautiful country...

 

[saikhan]

Glad you posted, I was just about to post to see what you were up to because I was wondering if you had made a decision on the bikes.

As always, beautiful country...

I have held off on the other bike for a bit. Still tossing ideas back and forth, but am not in a hurry. Basically enjoying the bike/s I have. Also my son has freed up some time, so we are out and about a bit more now. I changed the sprockets to 15/44 for the longer trips and use 14 or 15/51 for the rougher tighter stuff. With luck I'll be out again in a few days.

Regards

Todd

 

[Tourmeister]

With luck I'll be out again in a few days.

Very cool that you get to spend time riding with your son. Enjoy it! I look forward to the next installment of pics

 

[saikhan]

Went for a quick run the other day. I'll only post 2 pics, I just liked the tree.

We have a lot of riding planned for September. My No1 son bought a yzf250 (nice bikes) so we are all going riding together and camping and kayaking. He also bought a Gopro hero 2 and bought me one as well lol. So lotsa pics etc coming up. Don't worry I won't post boring video after video, just snippets. So now I've got the D7000 for stills and the gopro for stills and video, so no excuse now, I'll have to take photos.

 

[Tourmeister]

Nice son

I look forward to the upcoming pics/vids'

 

[saikhan]

Last week I went for a short run to Pikes Crossing SSW of Gladstone and on the downstream side of Awoonga Dam. The main reason for the ride (as if we need a reason) was to play with the new GoPro. I will only post stills here, I wont bother posting videos, as most are only of interest to the cameraman.

 

[Simmons1]

Very nice photos, thanks for continuing to share them with us!

 

[Tourmeister]

Looks like that place gets some serious water flow at times judging by those leaned over trees

 

[SwampFox]

Very nice photos, thanks for continuing to share them with us!

 

[saikhan]

This morning Sat 29/09/12 I went for a run to Boynedale, a camping ground at the back end of Awoonga dam ( mentioned previously).

Wildflowers (no idea what they are called)

 

[Mudclod]

Great shots of the lake, looks like you've been getting plenty of rain unlike us Texans!

 

[saikhan]

We haven't had a lot of rain Mudclod, just a little bit at the right intervals I think. I hadn't been out there in years, they raised the dam wall 5 metres, which made a **** of a difference out at the camping ground.

 

[saikhan]

Friday 28/09/12, three of us went to Byfield, a small township north of Rockhampton. We trailered the bikes to the Byfield cafe area and used that as our base for the day.


A small wier on the creek.

Found the river.

I have some video that I will post as soon as I have sorted it out.

 

[JMZ]

What is a weir ?

 

[JMZ]

GREAT PICS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! please keep them coming

 

[wanabeguru]

What is a weir ?

from google search/wikepedia:
A fishing weir, or fish weir, is an obstruction placed in tidal waters or wholly or partially across a river, which is designed to hinder the passage of fish. Traditionally they were built from wood or stones. They can be used to trap fish. For example, salmon and other fish can be trapped when they attempt to swim upstream, or eels can be trapped when they attempt to migrate downstream.

Alternatively, fish weirs can be used to redirect fish elsewhere, such as to a fish ladder.

 

[saikhan]

Thankyou Wanabe. Yet again I forgot about the language barrier.

 

[Tourmeister]

Thankyou Wanabe. Yet again I forgot about the language barrier.

It would help if y'all spoke English

Nice shots of the lake. Makes me wanna go for a swim. Got gators in those waters?

 

[saikhan]

It would help if y'all spoke English

Nice shots of the lake. Makes me wanna go for a swim. Got gators in those waters?

Nope, no crocs in there. Barramundi well over a meter long though.

Sorry for the lateness of my reply btw.

 

[Tourmeister]

Nope, no crocs in there. Barramundi well over a meter long though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barramundi

Sorry for the lateness of my reply btw.

No worries

 

[saikhan]

Nick and I went to Bulburin National Forest for a quick ride two days ago. These first shots are just gopro stills from when I had it set to take a photo every 10 seconds.

More soon.

Sooner than I thought.

Bulburin Campground.

Once I edit the video, in an attempt to make it less than mind numbingly boring for people I will post it.