At just 38mm to date this year, or 10% of the annual average, Alice Springs is thirsty for more. Despite ominous clouds and local mutterings, this was it for today – a paltry few drops. Better luck tomorrow.
Category Archives: Motorcycling
To Alice Springs
As mentioned I ran into tire trouble near Ayers rock- in fact 8km from the Yulara resort. The rear tire went flat, but thanks to local bus driver Tony Fox (and some patient passengers, 2 of whom I met today) the luggage was taken to the resort, and I pumped the tire up and staggered …
Drinking in outback australia
The laws about alcohol are pretty interesting in rural, or, Aboriginal, Australia. This sign is on a road into Alice Springs, and the penalties for drinking in public are displayed.. Tipping out – sure. A fine (and that’s a lot of money if you are unemployed) – well sure. But a court order to stop …
Not Ayers rock
Sure the locals stilll seem to call the big rock ‘Ayer’s rock’ rather than ‘Uluru’, but nothing excuses me mistaking this for the big rock. It was sunset as I approached the national park and it does look stunning though. The actual rock is much larger, though not as pretty, at least after sunset and …
Australia fix your roads
On the one hand it’s great for people like me that there are vast roads of days of sand and corrugations. It was tough at first but ultimately I was skimming through the sand pit that is the NT part of the great central road. Some of the road has not been graded for months, …
To Leonora and my first skimpy
From Kalgoorlie to Leonora was kangaroo country – with dead roos every 150 meters on average for much of the ride. I am not kidding. So playing safe I stopped well before dark, which is when the roos come out to play (and lose badly) ‘chicken’ with the four trailer roadtrains. Once here I dropped …
Off on the trip
Well I’m finally off on my ride around at least a bit of Australia. Pix are from Fremantle, where I got a last coffee, and the bike in Kalgoorlie, where I did manage another last decent coffee with Lacey who was sickly, so I dragged her out for food.
Borders – if it’s hard even for locals then how do you get through?
I’m a fan of open borders, and it is far too hard these days to move between countries. What’s really scary are these cases of US citizens, highlighted by a diarist in Daily Kos, who were detained by US immigration in some pretty horrible circumstances. It seems mostly to be people that are incapable of …
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It’s all too easy these days
Via Adventure Rider (Advrider.com) here are a couple of old motorcycling photos. Makes today’s stuff with modern bikes, roads and safety gear look pretty tame. more here.
Around Australia madness take 2
On the one hand guys at work here in Perth say that the roads I’ve chosen to traverse are liable to get me killed if I go in unprepared. They are right – so I will be prepared. They also tell me that doing all of the route in a couple of months is lunatic …
What to do next: Crazy idea number 3
So the third (and final in the series) crazy idea is clearly going to be a motorcycle adventure – after all that’s what I keep ending up dong. The question is only where? One option is the Scandinavia and Baltics trip, which is something that I have not done yet as when I was on …
Motorcycling to Broken Hill
Sue’s back, and so check out her first installment of her motorcycle trip – to Broken Hill. This is the part that I joined her for before heading back to Sydney. Sue has tons of great photos and describes the journey eloquently to boot. I’m trying not to be jealous of the fact that her …
Back from the roads…
A fun sojourn in New South Wales…
Off on the road
Wishing everyone a great holiday season. I’m off on a motorcycle road trip in NSW for about 10 days so blogging will take a break.
Guaranteeing Safety on the roads
A timely topic as we head out on the annual Christmas travel-fest. It’s dangerous on those roads, and we all need to do something about it. The NZ Government has come up with their list of measures to reduce fatalities on the road: Increased demerit penalties for crossing stop lights Increased demerit penalties for faster …
Lance Wiggs 