There is a huge difference between a short ride to what I have now set out to do, a trip from Perth to the eastern states and return. Since returning from the trip I have read the journal of a trip undertaken on a 50 cc Bolwell circumnavigating Australia. Now how silly and brave was he?
There are some very long and very, very lonely roads out there which must be travelled if you are going to get from one side of this country to another. Having made the trip and safely home again, I look forward to the time I will be able to do it once again however, the next time, I will not do it alone as everyone knows, it so much more it, literally, on the shop floor, believe me, it isn’t.
Western Australia
Day 1 March 31, 2010 Mirrabooka (a Northern Perth Suburb) to Coolgardie, 560 Kilometres
Up and out of bed at 5 a.m. as I wanted to be on my way by sun up. The Scooter out of the backyard packed ensuring all that was upon her was tight, made some breakfast and then couldn’t eat it, too excited.
Came time to boil water to make a coffee for the thermos when I remembered I had packed the coffee. I had also used the last of the milk on the cereal I ended up not having which, by this time, had been washed down the sink. Off to a real good start but wait, there is more. Time to hit the road, jumped on the scooter, turned on the ignition and nothing happened. Not a murmur from the starter let alone the sound of a humming 250 cc motor.
My first thought was it’s just as well, while planning the trip, I had taken out the top level of RACWA roadside assistance and here I was, standing within a couple of metres of my front door”. Then a thought crossed my mind (as dangerous as it is to think, sometimes I just can't help myself), I recalled having read on the internet this scooter model will not start with the side stand down and as this was the first time I had ever used the stand this had to be the problem and so it was. I had only used it this time as the scooter was just too heavily laden with tent, sleeping bag, clothes, food stuffs, cooking utensils, kerosene stove, toilets, everything except for the kitchen sink, for me to lift on to the rear stand.
Out of the front gate, my GPS talking to me in a calm methodical voice, I was on my way, across Australia or bust. I learned to rely on the GPS rather than the scooter’s speedo as it was out by some 10% and I had set the TomTom up to make an alarm should I go over the legal limit. This meant I didn’t need to check my speed by taking my eyes off the road having Bluetooth speakers in my helmet.
The suburbs soon passed by and I was on the Great Eastern Highway and up over the Perth Hills where I could now sit on 110 kilometres per hour without any problems. Found the scooter would willingly hit 130 when overtaking.
Having newly acquired the Bolwell scooter, I checked out fuel consumption while running around the suburbs of Perth and came up with it using 3.9 litres per 100 kilometres but this is no guide as to how much it would drink the fuel when fully loaded doing highway speeds of 110 kilometres per hour. I have found, by the end of my first day on the road, I should never, and I mean never ever, pass a service station without filling up. Instead of running on the smell of an oily rag, it gulped down the fuel.
I had planned to reach Coolgardie by the end of day one but had hoped I could have gone as far as Norseman but this was not to be. I pulled into the Coolgardie Caravan Park a little before 2.30 p.m. and was fully spent by that time. I deserved a break.
To do this trip solo doesn’t mean you have to be mad but it would certainly help. Passing road trains coming from the opposite direction on a narrow road isn’t as bad as I first thought it would be. I have done this trip many times before with most of those involved me towing a caravan and I became used to feeling the strong draught a passing road train would cause. While it was worse riding a scooter, this was not such a frightening sensation.
I did not realise the amount of buffeting one gets while travelling at highway speeds behind a larger vehicle. What I found incredible was this buffeting begins to take effect more when travelling as far back as 300 or so metres behind a fast moving truck. I leant very quickly not to stay there for long. Instead, you get out and complete the overtaking manoeuvre as soon as possible. The buffeting would make the scooter shake quite badly until you are within 20 or so metres of the vehicle in front and then, all of a sudden, you would need to either overtake it or brake as you would lose any wind resistance and get sucked along, sometimes dangerously close.
The even more frightening, physically and mentally straining was the side on wind. I have been fighting for most of the day. It would not have been so bad if it was persistent but, at times, it would drop off suddenly causing the scooter to want to run off the narrow bitumen and then there were the faster gusts having much the same effect causing me to take immediate action to ensure I didn’t cross on to the wrong side of the road.
Now in the Coolgardie Caravan Park and having found a site on which I was to pitch my tent, I found I was very ill prepared having not allowed for the local fauna, that is if you can call mozzies as big as elephants “fauna”. Yes, I had forgotten to take the Aeroguard. A quick ride to the nearest grocers fixed that problem.
It was about 4 o’clock when I thought I might try that self inflating mattress out for size, uncomfortable as it was, the next thing I know is it is dark and I am hungry. Not knowing what time it was, I thought I would need to find my watch but first I had to find my wind up, whiz bang camping light, but to find that was difficult as as it was, need I repeat myself, dark. I would have needed a light to find my light. I ask the question “what came first, the chicken or the egg?” It was all just too hard so hopped back onto that piece of material said to be a mattress and fell back into an uncomfortable sleep waking up a number of times wishing it was daylight.
Day 2 April 1, 2010 Coolgardie to Caiguna 540 Kilometres
Finally, dawn broke and I was awake to see the first rays of a new day. Hurriedly broke camp with all back on the scooter when I found I could not locate my wallet containing about $500 in cash and all my ID and bank account cards. I was ,literally, not a happy camper! There was not anything else I could do but to unpack everything until I found the wallet. I last remembered having it when I purchased that Elephant repellent the night before. I’m thinking such negative thoughts at this stage as everything was again taken off the scooter and searched individually. It to took some time for it to to come to mind, I fell asleep in my clothes and woke up in the sleeping bag. Yes, that’s where I found the wallet, right down in the bottom of the sleeping bag. Life wasn’t that bad after all.
For the second time in a matter of half an hour, the scooter was again packed but this time a little more hurriedly. Life had once again gone a little bit sour. Clothes that had fitted in bags before no longer wanted to do the same. Ended up by squeezing a few articles between the luggage hoping they would stay intact but by the end of the day my best jumper, the thermos and cushion I had used as a pillow, had parted company from the scooter. On top of that, my best tracksuit pants, my beloved Essendon tracksuit pants had been badly burnt as it came in contact and stuck to the exhaust pipe meaning I had to throw them away.
After filling the tank with fuel once again, eating half an egg and bacon sandwhich and drinking almost undrinkable coffee I had purchased at the local roadhouse, I was back on the road wondering why I was doing this and thinking seriously about doing a U-turn and returning home but onward I travelled.
I arrived in Norseman, another fill up and a much nicer coffee. This morning I have noticed how the scooter reacts differently as the fuel tank gets lower. The front end, with, most of the weight on the rear wheel, gets very light on and tends to become skittish meaning steering becomes light and the slightest movement will have the scooter moving off line very quickly. Yet another reason why I should stop whenever the opportunity arises for me to refill the tank.
Back on the scooter and heading west out of Norseman I came across a dreadful sight. Two two road trains having collided head on with the road closed off and a detour around the carnage having been established by the police. It would amaze me how anyone could have survived this crash, I can only hope.
I Today I had to ride along the longest straight stretch of highway in Australia, being 146 kilometres in length without a single bend, and all of this distance being featureless. At the end of that stretch is the Caiguna Road House where I knew I could get some accommodation not costing an arm and a leg, Caiguna was my destination for the day. I promised myself a shower, a good feed and a comfortable bed for tonight. Arrived at Caiguna after taking a photo of the longest stretch of straight road sign, paid $55 for the budget room, had a beer and off to have that shower. Hopefully I will be able to have a good night’s sleep given that the shower has a very conspicuous drip. This was surprising as water is more expensive than fuel out here. Good Night!
fuel out here. Good Night!
Day 3 April 2, 2010 Caiguna to Nullarbor Roadhouse 526 Kilometres
I set off this morning hoping to spend tonight at Eucla however on arriving at Eucla this idea had to change later in the morning. At times I never thought I would survive the day but I have. I know I have said this before but I will say it again, you don’t need to be mad but it certainly helps. After today’s ride I have made up my mind, before leaving Melbourne I will have the scooter placed on a transport truck for shipping back to Perth.
Up out of bed at 4.30 a.m., a quick breakfast got me on the road at 5.15, still not light so travelled slowly until the sun was above the horizon.
This was the first time on the trip where the scooter had run out of legs and judging by the obvious lack of speed I assumed, I must have been running straight into a head wind, which was proved to be correct at the time of filling up with fuel at the Mundrabilla Roadhouse.
While filling up a bloke showed a good deal of interest in the scooter. Came the time for him to ask what sort of speed do I get out of it when I mentioned the wind. I thought he had to be joking when he said I would have to be leaning into the wind at about a 45 degree angle as I got closer to the head of the bight.
I Arrived at Eucla at a little after 10.00 a.m. for more fuel and a coffee then enquired as to the weather forecast. The news was not good with rain and the days becoming windier so decided to ride on hoping to keep ahead of the cold change coming through. Already the winds were at 20 knots gusting to 30.
The distance from Eucla to the Nullarbor Roadhouse is only 194 kilometres, an easy ride one would expect but this was not the case, in fact, far from it. This distance took me over four hours to complete.
