On Board with Liam
I have received a drive from the cape2cape team which has quite a few hours of helmet cam footage taken by Liam.
I’m working through the videos and will hopefully have lots ready to go soon so you can all come along for the ride.
To whet your appetite, check out the first clip from the first day in the South West of WA.
Go the the YouTube page On Board with Liam in the South West to see a higher quality version.
Updates New videos: On Board with Liam – The Road to Hyden and On Board with Liam – Near Kalgoorlie
Day 17 – Adels Grove to Karumba (451k’s)
This was our longest scheduled ride. We left Adels Grove around 7.30am but made slow progress for the first hour or so due to the amount of dust we churned up. As a result by the time we got to Gregory Downs we decided to abandon morning tea, which had developed into quite a ritual with Miles brewing coffee and Terry boiling his billy tea, and instead we kept on the road.
We travelled mostly on good dirt roads with some sealed sections, across typical Northern Australian open eucalyptus woodlands and broad stretches of grasslands. There were plenty of cattle on the road which we all managed to avoid. There were a couple of small water crossings at the start of the day but after that the river levels were low and the crossings were dry. Even though the dry season was only in its first month the land was already dry and the air temperature high.
Good roads meant we made rapid progress and we reached Normanton in time for lunch at the Purple Pub which served a pretty tasty lunch of barra burgers and steak sandwiches. Turning from adventurers into tourists again we stopped for photos of the 9 metre two tonne crocodile replica right in Normanton’s main street and Liam obligingly posed for a few shots, no doubt in the hope that they might help him persuade a naïve backpacker or 2 that he is a mighty outback adventurer.
Just out of Normanton we saw an unusual sight, huge lagoons filled with waterlilies in flower.
From Normanton it was a short ride to Karumba Point where we are staying the night. From the pub beer garden we were able to observe with some amusement Eastern Stater’s gathering at sunset to photograph the sun setting into the sea (just like in WA!) although this time it was the Gulf of Carpenteria not the Indian Ocean.
A small disaster in Karumba when Les and Stuart managed to lose 2 swags off the roof of the Ute. By the time they had realised they were missing and retraced their steps there was no sign of them. Fortunately there was enough spare sleeping gear to replace what had been lost so we were able to avoid a major problem.
Day 16 – Adels Grove
We spent the best part of the near two full days we had at this picturesque spot recharging our batteries in preparation for our final stage, tackling Cape York.
Servicing of the bikes was completed early in the morning and Liam and Clarkey headed off for a canoe on the Lawn Hill Stream. Stu and Les tried a bit of their own off-roading in the afternoon. The rest of us pottered around having a relaxing time and getting prepared for the next few days riding with the start of the final stage being the ride up the Cape York Peninsular now only a day away.
Adels Grove is an interesting place and well worth a visit. The river and the grove of trees provided an idyllic camp, being very different to what you would expect given that the surrounding countryside is mostly open eucalyptus woodlands. Within a short distance is the Lawn Hill National Park with its abundance of fossils.
We scheduled a 7.30 am start on the road for the morning and most of us were in bed at an early hour.
Day 15 – Camooweal to Adels Grove (238k)
Our scheduled departure time was 8 am and it was a very seedy Liam that rocked up after a very late night at the Camooweal Hotel drinking with some attractive backpackers (according to him). The start of the day was warmer than we had experienced over the last few days, which had been bitingly cold, as we headed up the Burketown Road. We left the bitumen after a few kilometres and headed across open grasslands on a good dirt road. Around 37k’s from Camooweal, Miles encountered 3 kangaroos managing to avoid two but hitting the third. Fortunately he was able to stay upright and did not come off but the roo was not so lucky.
Once we knew Miles was ok we continued on our way until we pulled up at the 100k mark for our regular morning tea and coffee break. This was a significant morning tea as we finished Jan’s fruit cake which had been keeping us going from day one and started on Rose’s cake. Liam still suffering from the night before had a short sleep here.
As we had gained nearly 100k over the last 2 days we only had a short ride to Adels Grove and we decided to skip our regular lunch stop and to have lunch there.
The road continued to be good, mostly gravel and with interesting bends, dips and cattle grids. As we got closer to Adel Grove we came to the Gregory River where we met our first river crossing which we all successfully crossed. When we got to the next crossing the river was flowing quite quickly and there was an ominous warning sign “slippery conditions”. Miles and Terry got across successfully but Clarkey was not so lucky his rear wheel slipping out from underneath him and down he went for an unwelcome swim. After we fished his bike out it was nearly an hour before we could get it started again. Fortunately Clarkey was not hurt, apart from his pride, and once Bruce had got the water out of the engine we headed off again towards Adels Grove.
We encountered another couple of water crossings, which we all got successfully across, and then headed across a stretch of open land with cattle grazing until we got to Adel Grove.
Adel Grove turned out to be an oasis of lush green tropical vegetation on the banks of a spring fed river and we soon settled into the tent accommodation looking forward to tomorrows rest day.
Day 14 – Sandover Highway to Camooweal
We had a few million flies for company until sunset but they were soon forgotten. After a tasty meal of campfire fish and chips cooked by Les, we settled down for the night in the bush. It was not long before a cold wind started to blow and that was to keep us company all night although it was an uneventful night except for the discovery of a plastic snake trying to enter Mark’s swag.
Morning saw us greeted with another clear sky and the wind from the day before had dropped away. We packed up camp and were on the road early. The first 50 ks or so were torturous deep sand, gravel and corrugations, probably the worst road we had been on. However late in the morning the road improved dramatically and we were soon on a good dirt road. We managed to make the Alpurrurulam Roadhouse for fuel 10 minutes to its noon closing and after refuelling we headed up the road to find a lunch spot. We found a good spot on the banks of the Georgina River which had plenty of water in it. During an inspection of the bikes we discovered the Maxiss tyre that Miles had specially selected to have put on in Alice was falling apart and had lost most of its central knobs. So over lunch Bruce, Clarkey and Liam changed Miles rear tyre for a Dunlop the same as the rest of us were riding on, while a couple of eagles swooped overhead adding to the atmosphere.
We were soon underway, the crossing of the Georgina River our first, although minor, water crossing. Not far after that as we sped across the flat featureless Barkly Tablelands we crossed into Queensland and also clocked up 4000k’s. We kept an eye on the cattle wandering not far from the road and got plenty of practice and riding over cattle grids over this stretch. Around 4pm we reached Camooeweal which we had selected as our nightfall destination.
We have received requests for an update on Stu’s dogbite. To add to Stu’s woes with his ribs giving him hell by the time we got to Warburton, Stu suffered the misfortune to be bitten on the rear by a Weimarna which was owned by the local school head mistress. Stu’s application of his Rawley’s ointment for dog and snake bites appears to have done the trick and he says the bite is not giving him any grief as he rides in the passenger seat of the ute in air conditioned comfort keeping Les company.
Day 13 – Alice Springs to somewhere on the Sandover Highway (390km)
We (being the 5 remaining riders, 3 support crew and our injured team leader) hit the road early after bacon and egg sandwiches cooked up by Jackie and her husband at the Alice Motor Inn. It felt close to zero degrees as we headed north up the Stuart Highway towards Darwin until we reached the Plenty Highway turnoff. We turned off onto the Plenty Highway and a short while later reached the Sandover Highway turnoff which was to take us into Queensland. It was still bloody cold and we rode with jackets and winter gloves on until late in the morning. At each stop Miles reminded us of the benefits of heated hand grips which he had fitted to his bike before leaving Perth.
We fuelled up at the busy Ariparra store which was some 150k’s along the Sandover. We were impressed to see the fuel station manager sporting a Fremantle Dockers shirt and that the local footy team was the Ariparra Dockers.
We made good progress on the Sandover although it was all gravel and sand and when we stopped for lunch we were only 30k from our planned evening stop. We decided to keep going and made camp approximately 50k’s further on giving us a good start for the next day when we would be crossing into Queensland.
No more falls, only drama for the day being a tyre blow out on the F250 which reduced us to one spare.