Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Pig's Arse Tour 2010 Day 11

Well it was a nice early rise as we made our start for the day.  First stop Yakara and the lookout at Mt Slowcombe.  Another amazing view.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Pig's Arse Tour 2010 Day 10

Well the more work on the bike - first stop the Birdsville Roadhouse for to see if they had something that would work.  All they had was an o-ring kit from Repco with out much selection.  After a bit of brute force I found one that would work so we buttoned up the bike and head to a nice breakky at the pub.

Putting the big girl back together.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Pig's Arse Tour 2010 Day 9

Well today we were setup for a bit of stuffing about in the Simpson Desert.

To get to big Red a 20ks detour was in order.

The water in front of Big Red.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Pig's Arse Tour 2010 Day 8

Today we had been on the road for a week, the time seemed to fly.

We had a nice cruisey day planned it was only a couple hours to Birdsville and we planned a couple nights there so weren't in any rush.

Yep we were here.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Pig's Arse Tour 2010 Day 7

Well at least it was a bit warmer last night.  We headed back into Maree for a bit of a look around and then would head up the Birdsville track.  Marree is the start of the Birdsville Track and is where the Tom Kruse's legendary mail run started from. He ran the mail to Birdsville every 2 weeks from 1936-57.  He is a real Aussie Icon and legend of the track.

Engine from the Old Ghan Railway

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Pig's Arse Tour 2010 Day 6

After nice cosy nights sleep in a bed instead of my bivvy we fuelled up and asked what was the best way out of Arkaroola.  The servo guy said there was a back way that would take 4 hours to do or along the road  at 2 hours, mmm what to do.  Take the back way of course.  What a nice track it was and it didn't take 4 hours about 2 followed by a nice blast on wide open road into Copley.

View from the Park Entrance.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Pig's Arse Tour 2010 Day 5

After getting up early (for me anyway) I had the need to be on the road, so I left early and would stop down the road for the other's to catch up.  The run from Innamincka down through to Moomba is easily one my favourite places.  The rolling dunes and arid landscape is beautiful.  Due to the heavy rains earlier in the year there was lots of vegetation about.  I really enjoyed riding through it by myself and just taking it in.  About an hour and half from Innamincka you get to Moomba.  The Cooper Creek Basin is rich in underground gas and oil there are a large number of gas wells.  The gas is pumped to a large gas plant at Moomba for processing and then off to Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane for final processing.  The plant is owned and operated by Santos.  Miles from anything else (the nearest town of size is over 500km away) it did boast Telstra coverage.

The plant is miles from any other infrastructure and is huge.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Pig's Arse Tour 2010 Day 4

It was fantastic to wake up amongst the dunes it was a great nights sleep and by sleeping very close to the fire I was to keep warm.  Three days in and I well over the Bivvy Bag - dumb idea very cold.

From here we were headed up through Omicron, Epsilon and Orientos Stations and on to the Dig Tree.

Turn off to Epsilon

Monday, June 14, 2010

Pig's Arse Tour 2010 Day 3

Boy oh boy what a cold, cold night.  We woke up to ice on the trees and tents and bikes, it was everywhere and did I say cold!  Anyway we packed up, fueled up and headed off to Tibooburra.

Cold oh so Cold

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Pig's Arse Tour 2010 Day 2

Another day and another cold morning. We packed up and headed to Hebel for fuel, my fuel light had been on for some time the night before and I wasn't certain if I would make it, pulling into Hebel the big girl took just under the tanks' capacity of 22l, whew just got there on fumes.

Fuel at the Hebel Pub

We were heading for Goodooga, yep I hadn't heard of it either.

From Hebel we headed to Bourke via Goodooga and Brewarrina.   I have to say Bourke was surprising, I expected this bustling town, but really it is a bit of sad town, the local servo/roadhouse was fairly dingy an it was obvious the town had the same problem endemic to many outback towns, high levels of indigenous unemployment and displacement and the associated petty crime that comes with it.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Pig's Arse Tour 2010 Day 1

It was the middle of winter in Queensland and that meant it was time for a bike a bike ride and so starts the Pig's Arse Tour 2010.  From Brisbane to Brisbane via,  well that would unfold as ride went on.  We did know that we were going to Innaminka, Arkaroola and Deon's lookout.  So I suppose we some basis of route, the rest would sort itself as the trip progressed.  The riders on the trip would be Tim, Lindsay, Graham, Paul and little old me.

So Saturday June 12th came along pretty quickly and I was up early to head firstly to Tim's to pick up him and Lindsay and then off to grab Paul and Graham.   Soon we were on the road heading out heading to Hebel on the Queensland-NSW border.  It was very cold start (by Qld standards anyway) and we were looking forward to the Sun burning off the fog and it getting a little warmer.

Smooch got up early to see me off.