Motorcycles

VK4ION

It's the ride,

Not the Destination

Here are some recent motorcycle adventures. I don't take many photos, the best memories are in my head!

Bundaberg to Wagga 2022

Revisiting the past

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I was heading to Wagga for a High School renunion (Class of 1970) and figured I should turn up in leathers on a loud bike as I still seemed to be the weird one, even after all these years.

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The Indian is packed for a 2-week trip
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Sometimes you have to stop and marvel at a tree, determine to adapt and survive

There was flooding along the coast and also out west so I had to snake my way along back roads and make a lot of detours. That meant I visited small places I'd never been to before.
Gulgong was one, cut off by flooding I wandered into this famous little town and snagged a nice motel and discovered the town was featured on the Ten-Dollar note... hence it's fame.

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Indian parked up for the night at Gulgong
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The Ten Dollar Town

When the road reopened I picked my way south and arrived in time for the drinks, old school tour and dinner.
Wagga of my childhood was gone except for the 2WG Radio Station sign. I'd listened to that station in the 1950's & 60's.

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The neon sign still stakes it's claim on the night sky
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Dawdling my way North, checking out the landscape

I came up the Hume Highway to Sydney then followed the coast heading North.

Best Image of the Trip!

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Why? Because the mind captures images which bring you joy and being on an isolated road, completely surrounded by golden canola plants... a thing of beauty and solitude.

Into the Hinterland

Chasing the moon

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We only had a few days to spare but took off to enjoy the bracing winter weather, it was time to give the Girls a run in the wild.

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It's cold, sun is shining, we're really excited
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First stop - Rainbow beach, just to see what's there
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Then around to Tin Can Bay to enjoy the Yacht Club for a while

Then a funny thing happened... If you've read our other stories you know we're free agents, confident and daring and NEVER make bookings... well it was deja vu all over again... not a room to be had at Gympie... well yes, it was getting dark but it didn't seem far to Kenilworth so off we went.
The road is listed as one of the Must Do motorcycle rides for all the twists and turns, (we assume they mean in the daytime?), but we decided we could do it in the dark, we had the moon to guide us.
Of course fuel was low by this time so a detour and getting lost around Amamoor state forest really helped!
When a photo would never capture the moment, you draw what you see.
Isolated twisting road, giant full moon, a silver orb and following a red tail light... chasing the moon July 2022.
This was what I was following...

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Dead of night, full moon - we got this

Arrived safely into Kenilworth and laughed so much about our repeating history (that's our doing difficult rides in the dark!) and pushing each other to excellence.
That's why we're riding buddies, we know the butt-clenching moments, the fear, the doubts... and the overcoming.
A great room at the pub, and watched the State of Origin. It's what makes good memories.
Kenilworth is a great thriving little town without the pretentious tourism of Meleny and Montville

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A hot fire to warm our cold bits.
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Kenilworth Hotel is a fun pub with great food and they love bikes & riders
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Ready to ride on, the hotel has a secure shed to store bikes too
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A great ride out of Kenilworth taking the long way round to Maleny
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The Mary River, low and quiet and very beautiful, but can become a raging monster
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The lookout maps
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Shows the really good loops for motorbike riders
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On the road to Montville with the Sunshine Coast & ocean in the background
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Resilience! Loved the tree. Struggling at the height in the fierce winds
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Panorama - take a deep breath and feel glad you're alive and on a bike
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Stopped at every lookout to just enjoy the views
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A plinth to point the way & commemorate the people who gave the land for the lookout.
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Woodford to Dayboro up over Mount Mee Looking back to the Glasshouse mountains

Best Image of the Trip!

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Why? Because we did about 1000km but this marker showed we were only about 30km from Brisbane, and even though we'd travelled all day we were only 25km from Kenilworth...
It seemed hilarious to us [that's as the crow-flies, of course].

She's Back

Baby gets a bike

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My riding partner, my daughter... gets back on a bike. Duty done, battles waged and won, it's time for some freedom on the open road.
It's a 2009 Yamaha 1100 V-Star, candy apple red and loud as hell!
And we're introducing the next generation to our love of all things loud and strong.

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It's June 2022, time for Gen2 to test ride a new bike
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Proud Mum throws child on the back to let them feel the power. It's never too young to learn to love motorbikes
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Gen 3 loved it, got a helmet and jacket so the family is all set to ride
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Gen1 visits, to have the Indian serviced at Arrow Motorcycles in Brisbane, and a new exhaust.. Thanks Kev... and we're ready for more adventures

Indian Scout 2015

To Mt Lamington National Park

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In late 2015 the Indian Scout was back in production. The original company had run 1901 to 1953... then a succession of come-back attempts... until finally the Polaris group took up the challenge and brought her back.

It was produced late 2015 with an MY16 manufacturing plate, I had to have one, and I wanted the original rust red colour from the 1950's.

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It's bike country, lonely roads with sweeping bends
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Couldn't resist these bike-bush shots
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Bike looks great in this old forest growth
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Just proving my location
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On the road between Gympie and Maleny
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More scenery or is it a bike pic?

Bundaberg to Bathurst 2014

BMW & V-Star

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We had a plan, my daughter would ride the Yamaha V-Star 650cc and I had the BMW R1100RT and we'd go for a ride.
Day 1. Brisbane to Tamworth 600km although we hadn't meant to ride that far. At Glen Innes the barman was rude, so we rode on to Armidale... to find it was graduation week and not a free room in town.
Rode on to Uralla to find... a car rally was in town and NO accommodation.
It was dark, the temperature had dropped 20 degrees but it's only 75km to Tamworth. Let's ride through the New England ranges in the dark! **yehar grandma** this will put a chill up your spine.
The lights of Tamworth and a luxury motel never looked so good and we were prepared to pay any price to get that bed. After a great dinner at a local pub with live music we felt much better and could face the next day..

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Vincenzo's near Stanthorpe
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Fruitisforus Dinosaur at Ballandean on the border
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So far, so good we left Qld

And proof that we did intend to stay in Glen Innes... but they lost our business.

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Let's go to the pub... Boo, bad choice
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We're WHOVIANS, Doctor Who Fans
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We found the BEST mailbox ever!

Day 2 Tamworth to Bathurst via some very unusual back roads, first a stop at the Werris Creek Railway monument. There's a museum of railway memorabilia and across the street an old railway residence and weather station.
Angelina Jolie made a film here and the locals dressed up as her 'extras'.

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Magnificent sculptures
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They stand as testament to those who worked so hard on our railways
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Railway water set.. Bottled Water... you just had to share the glass!

Moving on it was time to cross over the ranges and find Bathurst... hmmmm easier said than done.
Let's ask a local at Meriwa... a nice man who mumbled a lot but it sounded like a short run out of town and turn left to Mudgee.
After 10 km we decided to take a road... that didn't say Mudgee... what could go wrong?
Oh look it says Goulburn River National Park this will be pretty!
I've done some dumb things in my life and this dirt road with flooded causeways was fast being added to that list.
Two idiots on motorcycles laughing our way through some beautiful country, and we thought we were legends. Then we turned left to Bylong... and welcome to HELL. 16km of THE WORST dirt road in Australia.
We crawled along at 20kph trying to pick a line through the bone shattering gravel and when we finally hit bitumen we found 2 men on motorcycles resting under a tree. They stood there, staring and asking if we'd come thru there, on THOSE BIKES?
Well yes actually, we're women and Legend's after all. We're famous down that way now BWHAHAHAHAHA.

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This isn't the worse flooded crossing, we were too scared to stop at that wet and slippery crossing
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You can see the water mark how flooded it it was just the day before
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It's why we ride, some call it lonesome we call it freedom
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Bathurst! Mt Panorama baby

And the irony is we never found Mudgee, but did discover some amazing country and popped out onto bitumen near Bylong and headed through Rylestone and Kandos into Bathurst so we could ride around Mt Panorama.

Day 3 Bathurst to Katoomba via Oberon and Jenolan Caves.
Hands up if you've even been on the road from Oberon to Jenolan Caves. As I thought, not many takers!
It is an AMAZING road. The warning signs are astounding... "No trucks, no caravans, no articulated vehicles", the good bends are signposted for 25kph... the more scary ones are marked 15kph. It's frightening as you double back on yourself and the camber of the road feels all wrong. Perhaps a skull and crossbones would be a better sign.
But we made it of course.. and were squealing with delight when we got into the little village that is Jenolan Caves, actually wished I had a Go-Pro camera on my helmet for that one.

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Looking back up the guesthouse
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Ticket office and gift store
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Some beautiful formations
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It's well worth taking a tour inside these caves
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I could really see the Dragon's Head in this formation

It was time to move on for the ride back up the mountain and on to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains.

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Three Sisters lookout at Echo Point
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A great day's riding, now for a well-earned ale

We tried to avoid highways so the next day we went cross country out to Richmond, and UP the PUTY Road. It runs through some beautiful country behind Sydney and Newcastle and we arrived in Singleton in the Hunter Valley.

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Look what we saw along the way
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Another Doctor Who themed mailbox, it's K9!
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A burned-out servo on Putty Road where an artist has created this giant called Wo-Man
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Strange bugs and monster sculptures hiding in the grass
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BEST home-made apple pies in the world at Moreland Cafe
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Stick 'em up, another classic mailbox

Some final memories.. We ran up the freeway then into Grafton and on to Kyogle where we found the best motorcycle road of the entire trip.
You leave the highway and head to The Risk [yes, it's called - The Risk] and you go up over Mt Lion on a road which is maintained by the Lion's Club of Kyogle.
They do a great job on this road and it winds through some magnificent scenery. When you get to the top of Mt Lion you are only a few kilometres from the Qld border and there is an honesty box so if you enjoyed the ride, put something in the Donations Tin.
The signs all point to Beaudesert and Brisbane now so the trip is almost over.
All up the little bike did 2300km and 3300km for the BMW and it was a fabulous mother and daughter trip.

Best Image of the Trip!

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Why? Because it is how we knew the weather in rural Australia most of my life.
Such images are a glimpse into Australia's past, they're not famous or magnificent but they add to the memories I'm constantly imprinting of our beautiful country

Bundaberg to Cairns 2013

Images of a trip north

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Storm closing in at Cairns

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Bowen is a strange town with unusable, contaminated land right in the centre of town
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The Cairns Sky Rail runs up to Kuranda
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Repairman climbs a pylon to service the skyrail
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Train trip back down the mountain is boring, nothing to see, and not worth it
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Tropical storms set in over the cane fields, time to head south

Bundaberg to Darwin 2007

A winter trip in 2007

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On a freezing cold winter morning (OK, 10 deg. C is freezing for me) I headed north to Townsville, heading for the NT. Yes I know it's shorter to go west, but Townsville has the best chinese seafood restaurant in Australia and what's a couple of hundred K's for a treat like that

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Yacht in the Mackay river - tide's out, no rush - it'll be back
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Dinosaur trial at Richmond and see a fossil exhibit.
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You walk where dinosaurs walked - Excellent
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You don't need much of a map to go to Darwin
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Take a break, still cold in this open country
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The border - I'm home (I had lived here for many years)
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Watch out for these monsters - Road Trains Rule
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Roadhouse signs warn tourists about these big trucks
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You'll need a 4WD with a snorkel to get to Twin Falls!
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Wisit to Mataranka hot springs just south of Katherine
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Check out Edith Falls north of Katherine

Into Kakadu on the loop around to Darwin. Once you leave the desert the north will surprise you and there are many waterholes to enjoy.

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A VERY common warning sign in this part of the world
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Just keeping an eye out for lunch
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Water looks so inviting... Yeah... Nah

Leaving the main highway and taking the loop through Kakadu National Park you find the “Bowali “ visitors centre. It encompassed all aspects of Kakadu, from Uranium mining, parklands, burn off's, aboriginal associations etc.
The radio-active stuff on display was fascinating and the areas overlay with the Gagadju 'sickness place', an ancient cultural verbal tradition which has basis in fact. It was one of the very best tourist/cultural centres ever visited.
There is a hotel shaped like a crocodile at Jabiru. The shape is difficult to visualise from ground level but from up high you can see what a neat building it is.

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The Crocodile shaped hotel at Jabiru
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Artwork in the hotel foyer is quite stunning
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More foyer art
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Made it to Darwin for sunset over the Timor Sea
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Heading south and a stop at Daly Waters Pub
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Tradition says, leave something of yourself here
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Nice bush cabins, mine was called "Faith in Australia"

No visit to the top end is complete without a visit to the Daly Waters Pub where every surface is covered with memorabilia. It has good basic bush accommodation and excellent food too. There are fun nights when the backpackers from every nation share their stories.

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Took a Mt Isa underground mine tour
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A funny signpost atop the Mount Isa lookout
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One of several dinosaur exhibits at Winton
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The displays make feel insignificant when you look at earth's past
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To Longreach and the Stockman's Hall of Fame
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The Qantas jumbo jet exhibit

Longreach is famous for the Stockmans' hall of fame and a museum commemorating the birthplace of Qantas. I toured the Boeing 747 they have on display. You can walk on the wing too.
After Longreach it was a cruizy ride back through the central highlands and Emerald, and then turned south once I hit the ocean.
The trip took a month and was about 7500km.

Best Image of the Trip!

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Why? Because it's the same looking forward as looking back.
It may look desolate but there's plenty wildlife - emu, eagle, brolga, camel, dingo you just have to relax, enjoy the surroundings and you'll see plenty around each watering hole.

Melbourne to Canberra

Harley Springer

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Straight up the Hume highway, stopping to see the dog on the tucker box at Gundagai and made it to our nations' capital.

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Parliament house is pretty spectacular, all covered in grass
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Pity about the phallic symbol on top
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The new & old Parliament houses align with the War Memorial
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War Memorial is a fitting tribute to our fallen
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On the road again. It's ok I have this map
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To the coast and the southern ocean
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Japanese War Cemetary at Cowra
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A tranquil place

Melbourne to Coober Pedy

Stuck a pin in a map... Coober Pedy won

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After riding through the desert I'm so happy to see this sign, flies and all!
The road follows a salt lake which runs for as far as the eye can see mile after mile.
It's a long ride into the centre of Australia and I did it in the middle of a locust plague followed by a fly plague.
Next stop Coober Pedy

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Salt Lake
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My favourite sign
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Main Street!
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Budget underground accommodation
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The Caves is more my style
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Underground room carved from rock
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A strange place but a must-visit once in your life
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Felt pretty safe at Port Augusta!

Melbourne to Brisbane

Toured through Bathurst, Tamworth and Parkes

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Who could visit Bathurst and not ride the famous Mount Panorama Race track.

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Say if loud Bathurst
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Looks like the weather has warmed up
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There is a giant guitar in Tamworth
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And a giant telescope at Parkes

Miscellaneous Images

So many trips.. random images

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That's along the Great Ocean Road.
I've ridden from Darwin to Tasmania, from Melbourne to Adelaide & up to Cairns and a dozen other long-distance rides. These are a few of my favourite images.

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Yes it's a Loo shot but they become your friends on long bike trips
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There were trips following the Murray River
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Visited the blue lake at Mount Gambier
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This is somewhere in the desert
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Somewhere in the mountains. I swapped between Harley and BMW on rides
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Rugged up for the cold in Victoria
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Summer riding my first Harley in hot pink

I went to the U.S. in 1993 to visit the Harley Davidson factory in Milwaukee and watch my bike being built... well the engine plant anyway. It was a thrill to see it and wait for delivery to Australia.

Personal Projects

Never stop learning, sharing knowledge or travelling

Each of these images will link to a dedicated webage where I share my Amateur Radio projects or travel pages.

ENVIS Dipole

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Emergency HF antenna for 40 & 80mtrs

WICEN Cases

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Building portable emergency cases

RESOURCES

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Find specifications & technical data

NextG Yagi

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850MHz NextG Yagi project

Digital TV Antenna

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Facts about improving Digital TV

To New Zealand

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Driving both islands in search of beer

Time Travel in Wales

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Enjoying Wales & remembering the past

Scotland & city of York

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Coast and Highlands travelling in 2022

Then to the USA

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In search of good craft beers

Learning to make Cheese

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Yumbo, delicious homemade cheese

Next up......................

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To be sure..

Contact Me

Please email me if I can assist with information about my projects (or if you notice a broken link).

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