Flinders Ranges Trip 2025 - The Ride Day 1

 

We were up early this morning to get a jump on today as it was going to be one of the bigger days on this ride at just on 450 kilometres. Not a huge day but with some dirt roads and plenty of stops for photos it would take long enough.

We departed under gloomy skies that threatened rain but thankfully it held out. There was a strong, cold wind blowing from the south that made the first few hours riding a little less enjoyable, especially as the first three hundred kilometres was straight sealed road. The boredom let one's mind exaggerate the cold so we stopped a few times to take photos. The first was at the New South Wales/South Australia border crossing in the little hamlet of  Cockburn. This was probably once an important railway/border crossing town but now the world simply blows by it.

At least the sun was shining in South Australia. 

A little further into South Australia we stopped at the next railway platform town, Manna Hill. Where the hill was, we were not sure but there was a cute little railway station that we took a quick look at.

A further 44km down the road was our first fuel stop at Yunta. There isn't much at Yunta but it is bigger than any other town we had ridden through so far. We stopped for fuel, a sandwich and a pretty average coffee. Thats two for two shit coffees in Yunta - three years apart - even though we were at the other service station this time!

After a break in Yunta we pushed on westwards to Peterborough. The countryside slowly began to change from the flat plains to some rolling hills.

Arriving in Peterborough we were just too early for the pub to be open. So we had a look at the steam train in the park, then pressed on. Rail was obviously a big part of the lifeline to these small towns a century or so ago.

The pub with no beer (for us 'cause we were too early!)

Gladstone was the next stop on our journey. 

We skirted the edge of Jamestown, well, we were going to but the main street looked so inviting we took a quick ride down one side and back out the other, onto the Gladstone road. Rolling into Gladstone we noticed the very imposing Gladstone Goal off to our right and had to take a look. It's huge compound walls were all made out of sandstone - very well made in fact, but the goal itself had been closed for decades. It would have been interesting to have a walk around inside but unfortunately it was closed.

A quick scoot around the town centre and we ascertained that there was only one pub open, so we parked up for beer. Probably not a well earned one for we hadn't done anything to earn it but stuff it - we were on holidays!

It was nice to sit in the sun for a while as it was still blowing a stiff, cold wind from the south. Watching the numpties negotiate the roundabout/monument in front of us was good entertainment as well! We wondered how many times it had been knocked over in the past....

We crossed the very southern end of the Flinders Ranges now to get across to the Spencer Gulf, bypassing Port Pirie and calling into the little seaside town of Port Germain for a look around. There wasn't much happening here so after a quick look at the old lighthouse and pier we were off again.

We would be hitting our first bit of dirt just out of Port Germain as we made our way to the Bridle Track. I had ridden this fun little bit of dirt a couple of times in 2022 and now I wanted Steve to enjoy the challenge and the views.

Steve hasn't done much off road riding so he was a bit nervous as we hit the dirt (not literally!) but having the helmet comms I was able to annoy the shit out of him errr.....coach him along but it wasn't really necessary as this entrance track was in much better condition than it was three years ago. The trickier bit was about to come.

We stopped part way up the climb as I wanted to get a couple of drone shots as the view slowly expanded and to give Steve some time to adjust to the slightly more challenging riding.

There is a short, steep rocky pinch climb that goes for maybe eighty metres that I worded Steve up for. He waited at the base while I climbed it and with the comms I was able to let him know it was in excellent condition. He shouldn't have any problem....and he didn't because as you can see in the next photo he was strolling around at the top taking photos in no time at all! 

The steep pinch pops up where you can see the track above Steve's head. 

We stopped at the top for quite a while, taking in the three hundred and sixty degree views over the Spencer Gulf and the farm lands to the north, east and south. (I apologise for the quality of some of these photos - they are screen grabs from the drone video that I hope to edit into something in the future)

One thing that was abundantly clear this trip was how dry it was. South Australia is in the grip of drought. It was a very different scene when I was here with Andy three years ago....it is hard to beleive this is the same spot as the three photos above!

Time to get going again. It wasn't very far to our overnight stay though so we rode quite slowly, taking in the views.

There were a few gates to open so we took it in turns.

All too soon we were at our accommodation for the night, the Mt Remarkable Hotel in Melrose. It was only around 3pm and our rooms weren't ready so the publican shouted us a beer and we sat in the afternoon sun letting the awesome day's riding soak in.

Pirate Life Stout on tap here.....mmmmmm

Once we were able to get into our rooms and get changed we went for a stroll around Melrose which is a very pretty little town, nestled under the imposing shadow of Mt Remarkable.

We had the first of several chicken parmigana dinners for the trip and turned in pretty early. It had been a great first day on the bikes and it was only going to get betttererer!

Cheers.

Day 2 here.

Flinders Ranges Trip 2025 - The Prologue

 

After months of low level preparation my two weeks leave had finally rolled around and it was time to set off for the Flinders Ranges!

The Desert X had been for a visit to Desmo HQ in Byron Bay for a pair of front brake discs to replace the warped standard ones (that my local ex dealer wouldn't even look at under warranty for me). They also threw a new chain and sprockets on while it was there.

Our plan for the trip was to trailer our bikes out to Broken Hill. Why I hear you ask? Well, I have done the inland roads of central New South Wales a million times and spending two full days droning along 1700 kilometres just to get to Broken Hill had zero appeal, not to mention the life it would take out of the tyres.

So I hit the road at 0520am....in the pishing rain! Did I mention that it hasn't stopped raining here in Brisbane all year? No? Well it hasn't and I could barely see for the first twenty kilometres or so but thankfully the roads were pretty deserted at 0520 on ANZAC day.

In fact, the roads were deserted for pretty much the whole 849 kilometre drive to Dubbo, so it was a good quick trip.

I rolled into Dubbo nice and early at about 3pm and checked into the motel. I quickly unloaded my bike and went for a look around town. I lived in Dubbo for four years in the mid to late 1990s so it was interesting to see how much it had grown. 

I called Steve via the Cardo helmet comms (how good are these things?!!) and he said he was only about thirty minutes away. I then proceeded to tool around east Dubbo and wandered out the Wellington road ten kilometres or so to wait for him. It wasn't long before a very bright headlight came around the corner and I could see it was a black Africa Twin. Not sure who the dude was riding it though because the bloke was wearing a grey suit. I powered off to catch up and I could see by the rego plate that it was in fact Steve. New gear, eh?!

I rang him again and he suggested we pull into the brewery on the road into town. 

A brewery? Here in Dubbo?!! 

"Sure, why not" was the obvious answer!

Jumping off the bikes I admired Steve's fancy new ADV suit. Along with his Tech 7 Enduro boots he really did have all the gear!

I must say, I was pleasantly surprised at how nice Devils Hollow brewery was on a warm Friday afternoon. We had nothing like this when I lived here and venues/facilities like these definitely help to retain good people in the "smaller" regional areas. (Dubbo is actually about 55 000 now, up from the ~35 000 25 years ago!)

A couple of quick beers + some takeaways and we were off to the motel to load the bikes onto the trailer, ready for an early start tomorrow. Dinner at the R.S.L. seemed appropriate on ANZAC day and despite being busy it was quick and tasty.

Next morning we were up early and hit the road westward. It was soo nice not to be driving into the rising sun and soon we were through Narromine and on to Nyngan. From Nyngan the skies darkened and we encountered some decent rain.......plus the highway patrol....no conversation was entered into though!

Enough to have several inches of water running over the road at the many causeways along the road. Very unusual for out here!

 Cobar was wet but the main street was very busy. We didn't stop there....

Once we got west of Cobar we were astonished at the number of wild goats along the roadside. There were tens of thousands of them over the next 454 kilometres to Broken Hill! We were constantly slowing down for them then having to accelerate again. After a while it became very noticeable that while there were hundreds of dead kangaroos along the road there were no goats. Yep, the goats were far smarter than the indigenous wildlife (no big surprise I guess) so we only slowed for the goats that were right on the road verge from here on in. That certainly cut down on the anxiety!

We stopped for a rest break and when we got going I had the drone follow us for a few kilometres while Steve drove. We got some interesting shots of the nothingness that is western NSW....plus some unexpected shots of a few of the MANY goats.

Goats sneaking under the fence.

Wilcannia came and went without a stop. Eventually we rolled into Broken Hill at about 4pm. We headed straight to the caravan park to check in. We were staying at a caravan park so as to leave the car somewhere relatively safe for the next week or so.

We unloaded the bikes and our gear into our cabin then went for a drive into town to look around and to find some dinner. The main street was eerily deserted as we wandered around. We grabbed a beer in the Palace Hotel (as apperaed in the movie Pricilla Queen Of The Desert) and checked out the murals that decorated the walls and ceilings.

Sorry for the poor quality phone camera shot. I was huge so was very hard to photograph. 

Wandering back down the street we thought the Astra Hotel looked ok for dinner so we settled in for a feed and drink.

Then it was back to the cabin to prepare our gear for riding off tomorrow. I had a plan for tomorrow's ride but the days after that....? Lets just see.....

Cheers.