Not A Mid Life Crisis, Just An Extended Tour (Part XXV) - The Adelaide/Flinders Ranges Exploration Continues

 DAY 34

I was back in Adelaide for another tilt at the Flinders Ranges. This time Andy and I actually had five days off that lined up with each other perfectly! We had planned Willow Springs, Blinman and Arkaroola overnights and were hoping the weather would play the game for us.

First order of business for me was to get my front wheel back in the Twin. Andy had picked it up from the wheel builder at GC Motorcycles and having it trued only cost me $50 which included tyres removal and refitting. Oh, how sweet it felt not having the ‘bars shake constantly as it has done for the last 30 000 kilometres!

We loaded up and.... waited for some showers to pass. Didn't want to get wet right out of the gate, did we? 🙄

But very, very soon we would be. It was bloody wet and cold all the way to Clare again - just like last trip! 

We stopped in Clare for a coffee and a croissant and to warm up. Andy hasn't done much touring and was getting a bit down about it but I showed him the weather radar and the rain stopped, literally 300 metres north of Clare!!

Sheltering from the rain in Clare.

Well, there were a few showers further north but it really did clear up quite a bit just north of Clare. We were heading for the Bridle Track again to give Andy a crack at it. I also had an idea for some more scenic photography action with my new toy. The DJI Mini 3 had been released just a few weeks prior to this trip and every review seemed to indicate that it was just what I had been looking for. Basically, it delivered as promised unlike the DJI Spark which was a disappointment on nearly every level from a mountain biking/motorcycling drone standpoint. So, I searched around for a Mini 3 and eventually found one in stock somewhere. It certainly looked the goods and at just 249 grams (8.3Oz) is super light. This also opens up where you can legally fly it as it is under the 250 gram threshold. Lets hope it delivers as promised!

We were soon cruising past Port Pirie in much nicer conditions with the rain being left behind further south (for the most part). I stopped at the turn off for town to get this photo that I missed out on last trip. Andy was to become very patient with all of my photo stops. 😄

Not long after we were at the start of the Bridle Track. It looked a lot drier than it had last trip, which was a good sign.

Climbing, climbing.....

Andy was quite nervous about the "steep" section of this track but I tried to calm him by saying "just keep your eyes up, hold the throttle on and DO NOT STOP". He did pretty ok and we stopped at the top of the steep section for a few photos and to muck around with the new drone.

Steep section behind us (out of sight) and views across the Spencer Gulf.

Don't fear about long boring video content when you click on these little YouTube beauties. Everything I post here will only be 15-30 seconds duration. Short and to the point (I hope)....well, until I get some decent editing software AND some spare time. 😄 Also, the music is open licence....not necessarily my first choice but it is free AND legal.😉

We weren't completely shot of the rain as you can see above with that shower coming across the Spencer Gulf. We faffed around for so long that the southern edge of that shower got us (and the track) a bit wet. It wasn't a problem up here on this rocky, gravel track but proved pretty exciting as we dropped off the eastern side of the hill on shiny black clay trail...

I didn't get a shot of the black clay but it was EXCITING! Andy almost lost his front wheel in a diagonal rut, but for the blip of his throttle that saved the day. As this was happening I was trying to stop so I didn't run over him if he went down and my rear end tried to overtake my front in doing so. There was NO stopping for me either so I dived to the left side of the track so I could hit the rut more square on! (actually, I got video of it but I want to edit it some before I post it, so in the mean time here is a screen shot of his pucker moment)

We were actually pretty relieved to see this gate as it meant we were off the Bridle Track and back onto good, grippy, rocky gravel roads. That clay was waaay greasier than it looked!

That heavy shower was passing to the north of us and as that was the way we were going we decided to stop for a few minutes to pass on by. The countryside and the weather around here reminded me so much of Central West NSW where I grew up. I could just imagine walking some creek lines, .22 in hand, looking for some bunnies to take a pop at.

We decided that the day was slipping away and that "roo o'clock" would impinge on the last bits of today's ride so we put our heads down and made some "serious progress". 😊 This put us back on schedule and as I had simply blasted through Hawker last trip I thought it would be remiss of us not to enjoy a quick beer at the local. The Tooheys Old went down a treat. 😎

From here we only made one quick stop for a photo as Rawnsley Park. Why wouldn't we when it looked like this?! We were in the driest state in the driest continent on the planet and there was lush green grass. Once in a lifetime views? Probably.

We made Willow Springs at about 5pm, which was ok. We hadn't seen any roos but that doesn't mean they didn't see us. We quickly paid up for our campsite and firewood, then set up camp. I got a couple of shots with the drone but it was getting a bit dark by now.

It was another cool night but a roaring fire, some steaming hot Back Country Moroccan Lamb washed down with a couple of "glasses" of red wine kept us warm.

DAY 35

We were awake reasonably early this morning. It had been a very heavy dew overnight and everything was drenched! Andy had wanted to bring his bike cover but I talked him out of it. I mean, who brings a bike cover on an ADV bike ride.....😂. Turns out it might have been pretty handy.

A quick cold breakfast of muesli bars and yoghurt and we packed up. We just rolled the wet tents up and packed them away. If we tried to dry them here it would be a midday depart, which was not acceptable. No, we would unfurl them later today and let them dry while we had a coffee somewhere. It was all about time management.

There weren't any photo stops until we got into Brachina Gorge this morning. And none of Brachina, as we turned south into Bunyeroo Gorge.

The road was a bit slippery in places and we were very careful on the red clay sections that were in shadow. We didn't stop again until we got to the Razorback Lookout overlooking the Heysen Range. Not that we could see they Heysen Range as it was covered in residual cloud from yesterday's rain. Still, it was an amazing view point.

From here we made our way south, back to the main road where we turned north for Blinman. Yes, we had done a loop - probably the wrong way to go from an efficiency point of view but we had all day and not very far to go.

Rolling into Blinman we stopped at the cafe' for coffee and a bit to eat. 

We also spread our wet tents out in the little community park across the road. Even though it was still cool, the direct sunlight dried the tents off fairly quickly. I passed the time by brushing up on some of the features on the DJI Mini 3 that I had forgotten how to use (like the follow me function 😒)yesterday. D'oh!

Once dry and packed away we headed out Parachilna Gorge road for Angorichina and fuel. Paying for my fuel I tucked a couple of Silver Bullets into my panniers as Andy faffed with the electronics on his 2020 Twin.

We kept heading west before turning back east on Glass Gorge road. I wanted to go back to the lookout that I had found last week while here and get some photos with the drone.

Andy was quietly shitting himself about getting up the short, steep climb to the lookout but I dispensed the sage advice again - keep your eyes on the top and DON'T STOP! He did just fine and before he knew it he was savouring that Silver Bullet.

What a top spot for a can of liquid gold!

After loitering here for a while we headed back to Blinman. The next bit of Glass Gorge road to Blinman is the best bit and we had some fun hooking along. Maybe the beer relaxed us a bit, but whatever the reason, it was a fun, if short ride. 

Being back at the pub mid afternoon allowed us to catch up on some administrative phone calls, have a hot shower and sit out in the sun while enjoying a very frothy Tooheys Old from the tap.

Happy. Days!

Sitting around the beer garden in the weak afternoon sunshine we met another ADV rider who had just checked in. Mitch was on a Yammy T700 Tenere' and proved to be a top bloke. Many more Olds were downed, some basic grub was washed down with several bottles of red and many tall tales told. It was a bloody good night.

DAY 36

The next morning was a bit of a slow start for some reason.....but were were on the veranda of the cafe', waiting for it to open at 9am so it couldn't have been tooo late of a start....

We bid Mitch farewell as he had an eight hour ride in front of him and headed back out Glass Gorge road. We were taking the Moolooloo Station track through to Artimore ruins and onto the Arkaroola road. The road into Moolooloo Station began with high quality track until we passed the station itself.

Then the track slowly degraded into a more narrow and rutted affair. Nothing too technical but I was getting a bit concerned as it got more and more narrow. 

Would it be suitable for big bikes like ours?

After dropping into and climbing out of sandy creeks, then twisting and turning along said creek beds, we finally climbed up into more open territory.

The rest of the track to the old Artimore station ruins was actually good fun as we slalomed our way along the track, crossing ruts and dodging mud holes. 

The old ruins were in a broad flat bowl formed by the surrounding ranges and it was extremely green. We took a bit of a break at the ruins. It was such a nice, cool morning and the scenery was stunning, so why not?

From here it wasn't far out onto the road. I let Andy go ahead as I stopped for photos. When I came over a rise and saw this white track going straight up a hill I must admit I puckered a bit! Shit, that is steep! (yeah, I know it looks flat here but it was at least a 60 degree incline). Luckily, the road went around to the left. The hill climb was just that - a hill climb for all the 4x4 wannabees.

Hitting a final gate we were spat out onto a road. It didn't look like a major road but when I looked at my map it had a pink line going left and we were expecting a left turn. The road was recently graded, so quite loose in places. Shit, I thought to myself. This doesn't look like a main road - surely it's not the road to Arkaroola?

Sure enough, after about twenty kilometres we came to a homestead. A quick chat with the fella that wandered out confirmed that it wasn't the road to Arkaroola. It was his station road. Narrina Station.

I double checked my map on the phone. There was definitely a pink line going through here to Arkaroola. My maps came from Brent Pearson so maybe Brent had come back this way or even got permission to pass through the property. I didn't want to ask as I figured the track might be fairly remote and a bit tricky for a novice ADV bike rider.

So, we backtracked the 28 kilometres to here, the intersection with the Arkaroola road. Which one DOESN'T look like a main road...?😄

We didn't stop for many photos along here as it was quite a way to Arkaroola and we needed to make up for some lost time. Although, by the time we got to where the road makes it's way through Wearing Gorge I was thinking this would make a great backdrop for some drone shots. Just after the gorge opened out onto more vast plainland Andy stopped and suggested we put the drone up. I wasn't that keen to stop but thought yeah, if I don't make the effort I'll regret it.

So, we mucked around with it in a number of different modes. Unfortunately, when we had it in "follow me" mode I must have bumped the record button off as I packed the controller back into the tank bag and hence, we have no recording of that one! 😔

We did get this little cracker though!

A quick stop at the gate of a work colleague's family property...

 Being mid winter the sun was low and in our eyes the last half hour or so which made the ride seem even more tiresome after our shenanigans last night.

We had been paralleling the Flinders for a few hours now. Turning west took us back into the ranges and the scenery became stunning yet again.

We eventually rolled into Arkaroola at about 4pm.

We fuelled up right away and checked in to our "lodge" room. I had heard people complaining about the cost of things at Arkaroola but at $90 for the room it was pretty cheap for where it was and it had an ensuite bathroom, not communal showers so we couldn't complain. This is the middle of nowhere after all. Expecting discount city prices out here is just unrealistic.

We unloaded the bikes, had a quick shower then headed back to the main resort building for a couple of pre dinner beers. We also booked a table for dinner and I'm glad we did as the room began to fill with other tourists looking for a feed. We ended up having a great night as the food was decent, the wine good and the company excellent, with a couple at the table next to us proved to be from southside Brisbane as well and were retired RAAF, motorcyclists and bicyclists to boot!

We tottled off to bed early, well fed and glad to have made not only the effort to come this far north but some new friends.

DAY 37

We were up really early today as I wanted to get back to Adelaide tonight so I could clean my bike and gear up before flying home tomorrow. 

It was cold. 

Bloody cold! 

Not just frost, but clear ice covered the seats and top boxes of the bikes this morning!

We were ready to roll by about 7am. It had warmed up to a balmy 1C by then.

Time to roll! 

As you can see from the colours of that hill in the background above, another one of the reasons to get going early was to catch the golden hour light. We stopped a few kilometres out of Arkaroola to get some drone footage. It worked out ok but I think we had missed the best of the light by that time.

I also got some GoPro footage along here too but as I don't have a decent video editor yet, a few stills will have to do. It was nice riding this morning with zero traffic (not that there was any yesterday either) and it was not too cold by now.

We got our heads down now and made some miles. We had 300km to travel from Arkaroola until we would hit the black stuff in Yunta. The roads were excellent to start with and again, traffic free so we sat on 110km/h side by side to avoid the dust the whole way. This photo gives you an idea how far my speedo is out due to the gearing change I did with the new sprockets. I have to use the gps as a speedo to make sure I get it right. 😉

Yep, there was hours of this....

Until the road began to be covered for long sections in a 50mm (2in) deep sand/gravel, where we backed off to about 90km/h as the bikes got a bit squirrelly at times. I wound my steering damper up to full - just in case. I haven't ridden much at all in sand, let alone on such a big heavy bike. I must say though, the bike handled it just great despite a few pucker moments on some (of the very few) bends in the road.

After what seemed like forever, we came to some ruins on the side of the road. There was no signage to say what they were but a Google Maps search reveals that it was Waukaringa. It looked like something to do with mining as there was a big chimney about a kilometre to the north east, up on a ridge line. The old stone building were fascinating and we stopped for a bit of a chin wag and nibble on something.

It must have been a grim existence out here as it was a lonely, desolate looking place with not a tree to be seen.

When we remounted and were riding back onto the road my steering felt really heavy and sluggish. Oh no! I must have a flat tyre! I asked Andy how it looked and he said it looked fine....WTF?!

It was then, to my absolute relief, that I remembered that I had the steering damper wound on. Winding the damping right off restored normal programming. 

Phew!

The last bit of dirt into Yunta was in very good condition and much redder than the previous road. I wouldn't like to tackle it in the wet as it would be slippery clay. Today, it was smooth and fast.

Yunta was just a fuel and food stop for us this morning. We did grab a coffee too but that needed choking down. Worst.Coffee.Ever.

We dialled the wick up a bit now as we enjoyed nice smooth sealed road. There were a LOT of caravans on the road and I just can't see what the desire to lug so much unnecessary crap around the country is. They just get in the way of every other road user and the drivers seem oblivious to the fact.

We took a very quick look around Burra on the way through. It was busy on this Saturday morning but nothing really caught our interest today.

When Andy was wondering what the fcuk I was doing I would usually just point to the GoPro and shout I'm taking photos. So, I have quite a few of these types of photos. 😂

As we were making good time and getting close to Adelaide, we decided to stop in Saddleworth for a cheeky pint. Saddleworth is the place I stopped last trip for the photos of the big old church, overlooking the town from it's hilltop perch. You can see it in again the top right of the photo below. 

Pirate Life Stout on tap suited the occasion perfectly.

From Saddleworth we rolled back into Adelaide and gave the bikes a quick wash at one of the many OTR service stations that dot the city. Another run successfully completed and that takes my tally up to 14 760 kilometres for the trip so far. The Spot tracker is still pinging away every day and this is what the whole route looks like since early February.

POST SCRIPT TO THIS RIDE

I was down in Adelaide for work the following week and decided that even though my rear tyre (Bridgestone AX41) wasn't worn out yet, it was getting close with maybe 1000km left in it. (it had done 4176km, so about the usual I have been getting out of it if you include the 1000km I am foregoing)

 So, to maximise ride time for my next trip I would replace it while I had this free time in town. 

After ~ 4 rear tyres so far this trip I decided on something that might last a bit longer. Steve had had great success with the Motox Tractionator Adventure on the rear of his Twin so I decided to give one a try. I hear 12 000 kilometres is a reasonable expectation. I hope it goes close because at $345 they aren't exactly cheap. But I guess nothing is cheap these days....

I headed up into a wet Adelaide hills to scrub it in. I was blown away by how nimble the bike felt again! I didn't realise how squared off the old rear was and the profile of this new tyre really helped steer the bike nicely. It didn't break traction even though I was trying to get it to on what looked like slippery winter roads.

I stopped in at the Uraidla bakery for brunch and got the photo I meant to last time I was here, outside the pub.

Croisant, Portugese tart and coffee. What better hearty winter fare from the bakery? 😉

As for where to next....I'm still undecided. I have another run of days off next week. I might bring the bike home - or I might go in the other direction. It all depends on the weather gods.......and it is mid winter.....so anything could happen.

Cheers.