Day 42 Onslow

With the postponement of some Pilbara visits we decided to head to the sleepy fishing town of Onslow. On our way through we stopped at Karratha and were interviewed on local ABC radio. Having picked up a couple of cheap fishing rods we were ready to do battle but hadn't countered on the wind which heard we were coming. Nonplussed we headed to the local where we met some of the salt miners and they invited us to a big seafood BBQ - thanks Steve and John for a great time.

Day 41 Port Hedland

Into Port Hedland where we were put up by the ESS camp in town. Whilst it was a very slow night in the wet mess it was nice to kick back and prepare for the Pilbara.

Day 40 Sandfire

Heading down the coast we stopped in at a little joint named Sandfire - ironically it was called this before the tavern burnt down. Suffice to say the roadhouse was a tempory donga and we cooked up our own tucker in the dark on a bush BBQ. The lad at the roadhouse was kind enough to lend us some dvd's to break up the evening of watching the bugs outside.

Broome

After a long hot trip into Broome we found out that it was school holidays and that most places shut reception by mid arvo! But we found a B&B that only did one B and a couple of quiet days relaxing were in order. Cable beach and sunset makes for a magic combination - pricy beers though.

Day 37 Sally Malay

Heading away from Kunuarra the new port of call was Sally Malay Mine. After a fairly relaxing morning in the coffee shop the afternoon's hot riding was punctuated by the site of Argyle spoil dumps. We left Kununarra and headed south with Neil pushing into what was becoming an all to familiar headwind. On arrival at SM the guys caught up with Garry Waldron who organised a show at the mess that evening. All at the mess donated $307 to the RFDS and told some great stories about their experiences and how important they were. Thanks to all who donated and put up with Neil murdering a couple of songs on a borrowed guitar.

Day 36 Kununarra

From GBS Gold the lads headed to Kununurra - a long hike passing through some great country however unfortunately no stopping to enjoy. With not much between places the road is the foot down kind with a random quarantine checkpoint in the middle of nowhere. Neil on the bike was given the fifth degree as the guy was damn certain that he had some fruit in there somewhere. So WA gave the guys a welcome that will be sure to last for the rest of the trip!

Day 35 - Darwin to GBS Gold

Monday saw cause for celebration as Neil was reunited with his bike - albeit no real repairs had been carried out and the bike was still beakless! Insurance! We picked up our new kit from BMW and it looks and wears great. Neil kitted up for the photo with Eric from the Darwin BMW dealership.

The guys headed off to the Cosmo camp and visited GBS Gold. Tara turned on a great show and all the guys at the mess pitched in to raise $310 for the RFDS.

Day 31 Darwin Rest

Neil and thirsty dropped Tom and the Dakar in Darwin and headed off for the Isa. Whilst Neil's trip was uneventful, after 4 days of no showers Neil resembled the rest of the clientele on the bus trip back up to Darwin. After a relaxing couple of days Tom and Neil are looking forward to getting back into visiting mines.

Day 30 Gove to Katherine

The trip back from Gove was fairly uneventful with a late start for the local doctor to x-ray and diagnose Tom. It was like dejavu travelling back on the road only one day after we had been coming the other way but we did stop to take this pic of an anthill. Just couldn't resist doing to ol tourist thing. Arriving at Katherine fairly late in the arvo we were both fairly tired and ready for a good nights sleep.

A funny thing happened on the way to Gove....

OR, "Pride comes before the bulldust"

Yep, you guessed it, Tom left his computer out and fell asleep, silly lad, so here goes......

Our luxurious camp

We pulled stumps that fateful morning from our makeshift camp (safely located 10, maybe even 15m from the road). As the road crews started hauling past the bulldust was hanging in the air, a warning perhaps? (Bulldust morning, Mango's warning??).

Beware Mango.... Bewaaaaaaare

After a quick brekkie we headed a further 25km or so into Bulman, and filled up Tom's bike plus enough jerries to get the Dakar to Gove. We then had to push a bit, seeing as the fuel stop was unplanned. We gave Gove a call on the Philcomm satphone, it's first use, and warned them we would be a bit late and would miss the lunch appointment. Tom pointed the Dakar towards the Gove peninsula and didn't spare the horses.

I meanwhile, chowed his dust. There was a lot of it, towards the end of the dry season the road comes apart like a hastily bitten Salada, so Tom was doing well through corrugations large and small, long stretches of bulldust the full width of the road, etc. I was doing it tough in the aircon listening to Radio National, and hanging back a bit so as not to run him over.

Suddenly the dust cleared, and there is the Dakar, down on the starboard side, with rear wheel still going in 4th gear. Mang was still attached to the bike, a good captain goes down with the ship after all, but as I threw out the anchors and came to a halt he jumped up and started trying to lift the Dakar so as to hit the cutoff.

This was all to familiar territory for me, so I jumped out and started about the business of checking he was all right. Our standing agreement was to check the other is OK, then take photo's and try not to laugh.

300km from Gove Mang had found himself caught in a 100m stretch of bulldust, no strange thing, he'd ridden through worse, and had battled it all the way through. When he got 5m from the end he thought 'Yeah, made it', which is when the front wheel dropped into a yawning hole concealed by the bulldust, and the Dakar went down with all hands before you could say:

Bugger.

A Wedgetail circles, waiting for Mang to stop moving

Unfortunately he came down not in the talcum-like bulldust, but on the hard crap after it. The butchers bill consists of one snapped mirror, another bent mirror, sundry cosmetic damage to the Dakar fairing, a dinged helmet, one lens of his sunnies gone, and worst of all, a very sore right arm.

Later the finest medical minds Gove had to offer would concurr that Mango broke his arm, although only just. We applied a cold pack, then strapped his wrist, and like a trooper Mang got back on the horse, and rode a further 60km or so, until we reached the Groyder river and could load the bike onto Thirsty.

So the two of us rolled into Gove on the great bike trip, me driving the cruiser with my bent bike in Darwin, and Mang riding shotgun with a broken wing and his Dakar strapped to the tray. Good times.

We were met in Gove by Cassie and Darryl, who to be fair must have had a 'What tha' moment, and explained our 'issues'. They managed not to laugh at us, and instead lined up radio and paper interviews and a fundraising trip to the wet mess, in addition to the $2000 Alcan put up to sponsor our ride. The blokes at the wet mess all chipped in bringing our total for the Gove trip to $2282.40.... awesome.
Later whilst I was waiting outside the hospital Darryl pulled up next to Thirsty. I opened his door:
'Want some diesel?'
'&%!# yeah. '

Somehow he had flagged down a fuel truck, and proceeded to top up both tanks and the 44 on the back, which went a loooong way towards helping us cover our (unexpected) diesel bills... Champion!

L-R Dakar, Daz, Daz, Diesel Truck

Day 28 - Katherine to Bulman

Or near enough. Katherine was our first chance at admin for a while so we spent so long sorting our crap out we got away too late, and as a result missed a fuel stop at Manirou, which is some 250-300km along the 750 km to Gove.
Tom was feeling brave (suicidal) so we pushed on in the dark for a while, but ended up pulling up somewhere West of Bulman and camping for the night.
Neil had wisely left both his torches in Darwin with the bike, so it was interesting setting up and cooking with only Tom's dodgy, dodgy torch to light the way.

Day 27 - Bootu Ck-Katherine (via Darwin)

In the morning we left for Katherine, but not before Mark took us on a quick pit tour and showed us the Bootu Creek mine, which was an eye opener for both of us.

Neil being in the cruiser meant that stopping every half hour was no longer necessary. Music, drinks food, all could be dealt with in the air-con comfort of the cab. So no surprises that the tortoise like Thirsty soon overtook Mang, who looked like a sweaty hare indeed on the side of the road having a drinks break. In the heat. With no aircon. Ha ha.


Joke was on Neil though, he had to drive to Darwin, and drop off his bike for repairs, always a humbling experience. Eric and co at Honeycombes interrupted their Sunday session to help Neil unload the bike, much appreciated. Dark then so it was off to the caravan park for the night, and an early start back to Katherine.

Catch me if you can....

Day 26 - Mt Isa-Bootu Ck

After the cruiser ute was picked up and we loaded Neil's bike into the trailer we set off, Tom going warp 9 after we crossed the border and Neil trundling along feeling faint at watching the fuel gauges on the cruiser go down minute by minute. The new V8 certainly chews the juice with a trailer on, and the shock of going from filling the bike (15l every 300km or so) to the ute (180l every 6-700km) was rude.

The ride / drive across the Barkly is.... exciting. Or not. Very big country, very flat, very burnt at this time of year. We got to three ways and Tom had discovered the effective Vmax of his tyres, warp 9 is apparently not good for the wear on his front, you could almost see it wearing away from one stop to the next.

We turned North at Three Ways and headed to Bootu Ck, a new manganese mine owned by OM. On the road in we dodged a few feral donkeys, then ended up at camp where Rob from ESS had arranged everything for us, BBQ, beds, beer. Not in that order.

Bootu Ck Social Club Gave Us $500

The social club outdid themselves, and contributed $500, with a further $146.50 being raised by donations. Many thanks to Jodie Prime for making that happen. Turns out Neil used to work for the site GM Mark Laing as well, so plenty of time was spent catching up whilst watching the NQ Cowboys.

Rob adds some manganese to the mix while showing us how to smelt steel on a Bunnings BBQ

Day 25 - Century-Mt Isa

Day 25 saw Neil's slightly thrashed BMW back loaded onto a low loader heading out from the minesite, courtesy of Brad and Lisa from NQ Heavy Haulage. The bike was trammed out to Burke and Wills where Neil decided he wanted another crack, so the bike was unloaded and we rode the three hours into Mt Isa. Meanwhile, another cunning plan was hatched, that would enable the trip to go on, and for us to still meet our committments at Bootu Creek and Gove. Neil arranged a 4WD hire in Isa, and a trailer for the bike, there being a considerable question mark hanging over the front brakes, we considered it might possibly be dodgy for the ride into Gove. Unfortunately due to this mishap we missed our mine visit to Birla Mt Gordon, which is a shame after the organising they had done to receive us.

Oversize....

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Century...

OR, "Pride Comes Before The Roadworks"

Tom is asleep, so I will get my version of the story out to the masses before he wakes. Don't beleive a word he types.

Our story begins with us heading from Cloncurry to Burke and Wills Roadhouse, to sample their famous crumbed steak once again. So far, so good. We then bent west along the road to Gregory Downs Roadhouse, past Augustus Downs where my bro used to work... also so good. We then embarked on the last 100km or so of dirt road in to Century Zinc. I was zipping along, eating Tom's dust as usual, when the road turned from a happy road into an angry road. Great piles of gravel loomed threateningly on either side, but the trusty BMW's kept us going through ruts and corrugations. Roadworks ahead, time to back off, thinks I.

Then, I swear, I was hit by a nasty crosswind. Two days before I had giggled into my helmet as I saw Tom slowly blown off the road into a spoon drain, today karma got me.

The sidewind blew my bike about a foot to the right, straight into the windrow of gravel. It chewed me up like an unwanted mintie, and spat the bike out, heading in a different direction to my planned one, and into another windrow. At this point the famous fishtail effect came into play, and I ate it. So far, so bad.

The bike came down mainly on the crash bar, and panniers, and I went face first into the surprisingly soft pile of gravel. No injury, not a scratch - you won't be seeing me today Doctor Dan. The once proud profile of my Beemer is now a sorry sight, minus the nose cone, broken mirror, wrecked handlebar guard, scratches all over the RHS, brake resevior scratched and weeping fluid.... etc.

A bloke pulled up, turns out he knew who we were, had seen us at Dawson mine in Moura. Dammit, the story is out. He lent me some gaffer tape and I set to putting the bike back together, sort of. The bike started - yay. I then rode it rather gingerly the next 40km or so to Century, all intact except pride.

Jodie at Century did a wonderful job organising our stay - we had a band in our honour in the wet mess, and the guys at Century all chipped in, with the evening raising $514 for the RFDS, none of which was spent on airlifting me out thankfully.

Thanks to Jodie and the Century boys and girls, and all who pulled over and resisted laughing at me until they drove away.

Day 23- Cannington- The Isa

Thats what we locals call Mt Isa. We figure we qualify as locals becuase of the amount of local dust we've inhaled recently. After a hearty breakfast at Camp Cannington, we bid farewell to our golf buggy chauffer and made tracks for Mt Isa.

In the Isa we visited the local RFDS base, for a slap up lunch of pizza and drinks organised by Tracey Spicer. We also met with Julia from Incitec Pivot - Phosphate Hill, who presented us with a cheque for the RFDS for $500 - fantastic. We then chatted for a while and met local legend Doctor Dan - if you have been helped by the RFDS in the Isa region chances are it was him. Nice bloke, hope we don't meet him in the back of a plane some day.

After a brief interview with the local paper we made tracks for Cloncurry, in order to get a head start on the run to Century in the morning. Our cunning plan was almost foiled by a lack of ready accommodation - Neil had tears in his eyes at the thought of how long it would take Tom to pack up his tent in the morning, however in the end we found a hotel, checked in, and passed out.

Julie from IPL and Tracey show the lads how it's done

Day 22 - Cannington

Day 22 was planned to be an easy riding day as Cannington was to be visited in the afternoon. Britt and the exploration geo's suggested a route and off Tom and Neil went. First turnoff and we were lost. Three different gates and a track that was suspect. Luckly at that junction a farmer came along and pointed us in the right direction and also opened a couple of gates - Cheers for that! Having lost his new side stand plate the previous day, Neil was now free to open up and see what his bike would do. Tom was also looking to lose side stand extender number 2 and both set a cracking pace across the dirt. No incidents to report but Tom managed to snare some great footage of Neil being chased by a cow! Unfortunately this will have to wait until we sort out the publishing of video thingy.
Arriving at Cannington we checked in and had a golf buggy to carry our stuff from the bikes to our rooms. Tom was not allowed to drive as the locals thought he looked like a mad golf buggy driver and insisted on chaufferring him around. The mine turned on a pretty impressive BBQ and the lads from the HSEC team hooked into cooking and all gathered around for a beer and steaks. A pass around of the hat with those attending resulted in $389.40 being generously donated to the RFDS - pretty good effort for what was a quiet night in the camp.

Day 21 - Osborne

After a pretty handy breaky at the Burke and Wills roadhouse we headed south towards the "curry" with our week fully booked and Osbourne Mine being the first cab off the rank. On our way through we met up with this character riding around Australia on a chinses version of the postie bike called a "Mad Ass". Pretty keen if you like to ride on QLD roads at 70 kph!

Neil checking out the mad ass but not keen to swap!

Following a gee up from a Barrick big wig Britt and the social club had been busily planning for our arrival. The dirt track from Djarra into Phosphate Hill was fairly interesting with a distinct lack of maintenance since the last rain event left washouts at each creek. Once we arrived at site we were met by Britt and shown to our fairly luxurious rooms. At the bar a pool competition had been organised and Neil's skills as a shark were put to the test. Unfortunately Neil was planning to lose a couple before playing for the big money. The competition however was sudden death and Neil's cunning plan kind of failed.

The acting SSE of Osbourne, Paul, announced that the mine would donate the proceeds of their aluminium can recycling - over $4000. After the pool comp was completed the winners were presented with a prize donated by the social club.

Neil and Tom with the winners of the pool comp, Rod, Tracey and Britt. It would appear that Britt and Tracey were organising at this point and missed pausing for the pic!

In the morning we joined the night shift crew in a golf game on the spinafex course that had a distinct lack of grass. After a couple of holes Neil had lost more golf balls than the money the lads were putting up and Tom and Neil retired from the competition.
All up Osbourne donated over $5000 to the Flying Doctors - a very generous effort and is the most from a site thus far.

Day 20 - Mareeba-Bourk&WillsRH

Sunrise at Burke and Wills Roadhouse

Text to follow....

Day 19 -Mareeba-Daintree-Mareeba

We took the opportunity to ride up to the Daintree on the weekend, via the coast road to Daintree Ferry, up to Cape Tribulation, then most of the way up to Bloomfield before heading back across the tablelands to Mareeba. Check the photos, great ride.

Day 18 - Charters-Mareeba

We were up at sparrows for the hour long ride out to Newmont's Pajingo underground operation. We arrived at site and were in time to address the oncoming shift about the importance of the RFDS to those living and working in remote areas. After our spiel we had a worker approach us and tell us his RFDS story. He injured his neck underground whilst driving a bogger, and the RFDS liased via phone to the underground to provide the correct advice for how to move him, administer pain medication and so on - hopefully the full story will be on our site soon.
We then had to get on with it, and head to Tom's Mums place in Mareeba. We went via the coast road in order to get Tom's Dakar looked at, it has developed a habit of leaking fuel when fully filled. The ride finished with us climbing the range in darkness, and getting into Mareeba exhausted.

Day 17 - Ravenswood-Townsville-CT

The Railway Hotel, Ravenswood

Photo at pub. Went to Townsville. Dodged a King Brown snake on the road at Mingela. After buying a back protector and some goggles for the dirt we were off to BMW where Neil got his front disc looked at - he has a slightly warped rotor, which matches his sense of humor. He also talked himself into a new set of BMW boots to replace the hundred quid specials from Edinburgh, and a set of gloves. Thanks to Marius at BMW for discounting the new kit for us. We then trammed to Charters Towers and had an early night in preparation for the Pajingo visit.

Day 16 - Bowen-Ravenswood

An interesting day to say the least. It commenced with the ride through the canefields then up the range and on to just outside Collinsville, where we left the tar and headed for the Burdekin. 50km of good dirt, and 50km of goat track, including a council truck that had tipped a load of dirt in a dip, that neither of us saw. Both of us had a bit of a moment as we hit 6-8inches of loose dirt piled on the road, thank gawd the grader had smoothed it out that much. We pulled up then, and when the truckie came past us to do a u-ey Neil heard him on his UHF, saying something like 'these @#%@#'s are taking photos" Neil then replied sorry he couldn't resist, just as the supervisor pulled up, p^%ing himself laughing becuase of the fright Neil gave the truckie.

Two Way Shenanigans With The Truckies

Light entertainment, courtesy of Phillcom who gave us the radios. Mang annoyed himself by loosing his extended side stand, less said about that the better really, his words were on the wrong side of unprintable. We then made it to the spillway. Check the photos, it will save me typing. Well worth the dust.

Burdekin Dam

Where is Mang?

MT WRIGHT

We caught up with 'Crazy' Dave Mackay at Carpetaria Gold's new Mt Wright operation. Dave sorted us with an underground tour, and the company put us up for the night in camp. It was great for us to have a sniff around down the hole, it having been a decent while since either of us had been to a similar underground. We also managed to gather another RFDS testimonial the next morning in camp, which will be on the main site soon - thanks to Dave for singlehandedly sorting us out, and helping us to get our message out in Ravenswood.

LH Drill - Mt Wright

PS The old pubs there are ace - go see em if you can. The beer is extremely cold...

Day 15 - Nebo-Bowen

Day 15: After a blat up the dirt road from Nebo to Collinsville, Neil navigated us on to site, having worked there for Thiess as a grad. Unfortunately due to an administrative stuff up we arrived on site to discover the visit was off, and so made our way into Bowen to do our banking and stay at a pub for the night. For the record the darts club and other patrons at the North Australian Hotel contributed $39 when they heard about our trip - thanks guys and gals.

Day 14 - Moranbah Nebo

GOONYELLA RIVERSIDE AND BROADMEADOWS

Another Monday, another coal mine, but this one was a bit different. Goonyella Riverside, CQO and Broadmeadows combined to host us for a BBQ breakfast, and contributed a whopping $2000 to the RFDS. Megan and Cara organised the whole shebang, and Steve Johnson cooked, and he must have done alright becuase we collected a further $150 from those who made it to the BBQ.

Neil, Tom, Ben Zietsman and Andrew Clough

We had a natter with Ben Zietsman (GYRV) and Andrew Clough (Broadmeadow) - unfortuantely Ben was unable to ride his 1200GS to work that day, which is probably for the best becuase we would have got bike envy, and Tyso would have got leg envy (too short to touch the ground on those hooas). It was an outstanding effort from the Goonside crew and we appreciate everything that was done to make the breakfast a success.

SOUTH WALKER CREEK

After dodging a truck tray on the road near Coppabella, we made it safely to SWC, where Thiess and BMA combined to host us for a BBQ lunch. Yes, we are both struggling to fit into our strides. Neil last worked there as a grad, and things have changed a bit since then, most notably the bitumen road in. We caught up with Carl O'Hehir, a mate from uni and the project manager for Thiess, as well as Tom's recent workmates from his stint re-negotiating the contract on site.

Out of my way tray

Many feasted, and then we spoke to them before they could escape to explain the importance to the RFDS to all who work in mines, and pointed out that the rescue helicopter is not the be all and end all when it comes to their families' safety. Carl then piped up with his recent brush with the RFDS, who performed a lifesaving flight from Mackay to Townsville so their newborn could be operated on hours after birth.

Thiess Project Manager Carl O'Hehir Shows Us How It's Done

Hopefully this story should be on the main site soon. We raised $235 at the BBQ, and both Thiess and South Walker Creek donated $250, as well as accommodation for the night in camp and a feed at the pub - thanks from us for such a good effort, and making the time when all and sundry are flat out.

Day 13 - Schuler Dysart

Day 13 got underway with a hangover breakfast feast prepared by Schuler and Carrie. We then hung around at Schulers until we could no longer dodge his efforts to get us out to the enduro track. We kitted up and headed out there, via some nasty sand, which the bikes got through OK at walking pace. We then had a blat around the blacksoil tracks, before Schuler cut loose on the Gasgas (the brand of his rocket). When he suggested us either a) taking the beemers down into the creek, or b) having a crack on the Gasgas, we both declined. I could see myself explaining a compound fracture femur, with a story starting "Well I was riding with Schuler....", which most would agree is asking for it, and whatever happens is my own stupid fault. We persisted for a bit, then bailed out and headed back to Moranbah. Got some wicked video however bandwidth means you won't be seeing it for now.

Schuler and the GasGas

Day 12 - Day at the Park Norwich Park

Day 12 was planned to be a big one at the Norwich Park shin dig called "Day at the Park". This is a mine open day where the mine allows the public to visit and see what happens on site. The organisers Leah and Deb were kind enough to allow us to have a stall - and they went all out with a tent that was larger than Neil's apartment in Brisbane. The day started off very early - 7:00am or so with an induction that was really more of just a general yarn and given that the induction tour of CQ was progressing well we passed with flying colours.

Our stall set up and ready to go!

After a quick hunt for a bit of breakfast Neil spotted the mobile coffee wagon on the map of the area and as he was disappearing Tom managed to advocate for a bottom less cup. Neil demonstrated his honed bargaining skills in talking old mate down and got a pretty good deal on the bottom less cup and the owner also donated much of what we paid during a quiet spot in their trade. There were a lot of people through the day coming up and talking to us and also having a look at the bikes and discussing motorcycling experiences! All up it was a good day raising $393.85 and quite a few were interested in the stories that we had to offer.

The bikes were the stars of the show all day long

Along the way one of the other display owners decided to donate a couple of balsa wood planes. Neil lost his as Tom gave it away when he became bored with little kids asking if they could have it and who really can say no to a little kid.. Tom's plane didn't fly very well but it was transformed with teh assistance of some stickers into a mini RFDS plane. On it's maiden flight it was snaffled by a youngster but we are not sure of what they made of the colour scheme.

That evening we kicked back with a few cold ones and were supposed to be watching a couple of bands including Pete Murrey. The music was pretty cool but the bar was on the other side of the oval and without binoculars it was a bit tough to follow the action on stage. By that stage the beer had kicked in and all cares were forgotton for another day...