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Touch down in Sydney. Our bikes arrived before us and thanks to the hard work of our agents (handling Customs clearance all over the week-end no less), the bikes are collected within hours of our own arrival. Pulling off the bubble wrap and wheeling them from their pallets, everyone is grinning and happy. Procycles BMW on Princes Way (thanks guys!) deal with the service work, whilst we all soak up the Sydney sights.
The hotel is within spitting distance of the harbour. In fact the Harbour Bridge greets us every morning as we step out and for those wanting a longer view, a beer at the roof top pool boasts fantastic views. Enough! We are supposed to be adventure riders – still you can’t blame us for some R&R when we have 12000kms ahead of us in the next 4 weeks. We are joined by four new riders on this section, two of them are going onto Section 5 – the Bangkok run back through China and Russia to Europe. The other two are here for Australia. A quick dip into the Discover our Earth atmosphere.
Our next two days crossed the mountains, first north to the small town Albury and then back south to the coast and onto Melbourne. This has to be some of Australia’s finest riding roads. Perfect twisties and swooping bends through the Snowy Mountains, into the Kosciuszko National Park (Kosciuszko is Australia’s highest peak at a mere 2268m), and along the Great Alpine Way. The time of year makes it even better. Its early Autumn here and the trees are all turning a warm red golden hue. We pass through many small historic villages and past old homesteads and get a glimpse of a charmed and rural existence, as the leaves dance behind us.
But not too fast! The riders are accumulating speeding tickets at a fast rate – thanks to the lower limits here and extremely vigilant and intolerant police. Not that the police are rude, in fact they are particularly pleasant in explaining the rules, wishing you a great journey, hoping that they are not going to spoil it too much with a AUD$400 ticket and remember to take it easy . . . . . some even make the mistake of passing a police car when overtaking a solid line – mentioning no names! That’s another ticket then.
Everyone has mellowed into Australia’s relaxed and easy going nature (police excepted!). We arrive in the Barossa Valley for a well earned rest at the time of the Barossa Vintage Festival. All the small villages and wineries celebrate their pioneering days and heritage, with a mass of activities from grape crushing competitions to scarecrow making, locally produce and plenty of wine flow, along with music and a party spirit. Our day off is on Tanunda Pioneer Town Day and all the locals are dressed from the 1850’s, vintage cars and bikes are about and the whole day is just great fun.
We’ve now started the long haul north. From the Barossa Valley, the team have explored the Flinders Ranges and their first sample of dirt roads. The race is on to spot kangaroos. The count of dead spray painted, ballooning kangaroos roadside is big, but the real thing? It’s like trying to spot bears in Alaska so far! The glimpse of a few hind legs is all we’ve got. Not that we want to be too up close to the things when moving rapidly on a bike. Nooooo! Anyway, we’re opal mining tomorrow in Coober Pedy and then it’s the 500 mile desert day to Uluru (Ayers Rock).
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Ironically, just as in Buenos Aires, we leave Sydney in torrential rain. The down pour really kicks in only 15 minutes before we head out. Its buckets of the stuff, so within the first hour we are soaked to the skin (at least those who dared not to get out the waterproofs). By the time we got to the Royal National Park and our first view over the ocean, the rain had stopped and the clouds were already breaking. The rain had given that special damp green leafy scent that only pristine forests emit under a deluge and that riding a bike, you are lucky enough to acutely smell. We trace a coastal route south to the small town of Narooma, set back on an inlet with palm trees and a deep blue lagoon.
Our next two days crossed the mountains, first north to the small town Albury and then back south to the coast and onto Melbourne. This has to be some of Australia’s finest riding roads. Perfect twisties and swooping bends through the Snowy Mountains, into the Kosciuszko National Park (Kosciuszko is Australia’s highest peak at a mere 2268m), and along the Great Alpine Way. The time of year makes it even better. Its early Autumn here and the trees are all turning a warm red golden hue. We pass through many small historic villages and past old homesteads and get a glimpse of a charmed and rural existence, as the leaves dance behind us. But not too fast! The riders are accumulating speeding tickets at a fast rate – thanks to the lower limits here and extremely vigilant and intolerant police. Not that the police are rude, in fact they are particularly pleasant in explaining the rules, wishing you a great journey, hoping that they are not going to spoil it too much with a AUD$400 ticket and remember to take it easy . . . . . some even make the mistake of passing a police car when overtaking a solid line – mentioning no names! That’s another ticket then.
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