202 On Tour

Derrick is having a well earned rest so I’m writing our blog today or as someone has reminded us it is not a blog but a travel diary!

Monday 10 April 2023

After enjoying a classic Beef Schnitty in Penong the night before, we knew we had a big day ahead of us so a good breakfast was in order. Apparently, in Penong everything closes over Easter so our choices were a very suspect chicken sandwich or a can of baked beans at the local service station (cold baked beans are really not that bad when you are hungry and there are no bakeries on the horizon).

Our travels included a side trip to find the Linking of the Rails Monument near Yalata. Last year Derrick was part of the Team Strange Motorcycle Trails to Rails Scavenger hunt and for super dooper bonus points he had to find this monument, he couldn’t get there last year and although the scavenger hunt finished last November, we thought it would be fun to find it anyway. Derrick said there would be some dirt roads but the sidecar was made for it! 

It took a while to find the correct turn off as we had to ride around the Yalata community not through it. We eventually merged onto Ooldea Rd and rode for about 70kms on sealed road. Then it turned to dirt, luckily the road gets graded 2 times per year and was in the process of being graded so it was in a pretty good condition. We also found out that the Ural (also known as Betsy for now – her name keeps changing depending on the mood) doesn’t like hot weather so we stopped every 15 mins or so for a rest and take in the views – rich red soil, the occasional dingo, lots of small plants sucking what little water they can find.  Within 5 mins we had a couple of locals stop to see if we were ok, and ask about the bike (it is called the delay factor)

The dirt road was pretty good for about 45km but the grading was still in progress so for the last 25 kms the road was crap. Poor Betsy struggled as we had to slow down due to the pot holes and corrugated lines which meant the engine was overheating. So every 10 mins we would have a break.

Finally we found the bloody monument! It was another 4kms along the rail tracks and was like winning Tattslotto but Derrick says even better.  We had had 360 degree views and had the area to ourselves. You don’t get that kind of peace in Melbourne.

It was getting late so a quick photo and we started to head back. The crappy road was getting to Betsy and bits started falling off, all the vibrations broke the thread on one of the screws. Think, think, think WWMD (what would Michael do!). We managed to swap around some of the straps which kept the spare wheel in place while we navigated the rough road. Again Betsy needed a rest, the first few times was invigorating but now we were getting tired and wanted to get to our next stop. Finally we got back onto the graded dirt road and then the sealed road. I did manage to take a photo of a very cheeky dingo that gave us the eye before running off.

Phew, then I realised we had another 90kms to go from Yalata to the Nullarbor Roadhouse – whatttt! It was dark by this stage, what part of not riding after dark did we not get. It was a very slow trip back and by the time we got to our room at about 10pm, nothing was open, although the host kindly put some beer in the fridge. We were hot, tired and hungry, as nothing was open it was time to crack open the freeze dried roast chicken and veggies.

We sat on the floor with our cold beer and the reconstituted roast and marvelled at the little squares of flavour. Delicious!!

An amazing day and slept well that night.