Dual-sporting in Australia

[Laminar]

1:30AM Perth, Australia time, phone rings.

Me, groggy and still mostly asleep: Hello?
SOQS: Um.
Me: What.
SOQS: I just got a call from our bank about some possible fraudulent activity on our card.
Me: Great...
SOQS: What the eff is "Big Boy Toys" and why was there a $1000 charge from them?


My job takes me all over the world, and it's not unusual that I have a little spare time wherever I go to do whatever I like. Usually in the interest of being frugal I stick to watching Discovery Channel and posting here, but this particular trip was different. While the view from the hotel room wasn't bad:


...I was planning on doing a little more than just looking at Australia from a distance.

I was in Australia to do some work on an offshore oil rig and because there was a pause in work, I was sent to shore for a bit until they got things sorted out and were ready for me again. Knowing that I would have at least four days until anything happened, I hopped on Google and tracked down someplace that would rent me a motorcycle, and it turns out that "Big Boy Toys" does not peddle what your dirty mind imagines it does. It was a DR650 with soft saddlebags, a hard top case, and a 19L (5 gallon) extended-range tank. I picked it up the same day I made the reservation, but as it was already 4PM, I decided to spend the day getting used to the bike and seeing the sights around town, then head out first thing in the morning.

Parked at the hotel for the night:




I was up early the next morning and decided to head south. Being entirely unfamiliar with the area (and the whole country, for that matter), I had asked the man renting me the bike for trails, routes, or a map but the only thing he gave me was a name: Margaret River. My goal was to end each day in Perth as my hotel was paid for, and Margaret River looked like it was doable in a day at about 3.5 hours each way.



The first thing I noticed was this sign:


I came to realize that kangaroo in Australia are viewed in a similar manner to deer here in the Midwest: Occasionally eaten, sometimes spotted speeding through the forest, but most often seen as roadkill. Eventually, it got the point where I could tell if I had just ridden past a dead 'roo by the smell.

As I headed south, I saw a sign indicating Yalgorup National Park. It was a few KM of gravel roads and a couple of trails shooting off into the forest. I had my first near-down as I accidentally drifted into the deep gravel at the side of the road. I managed to stay upright but there was definitely some clenching...

The trail I was on hit a dead end and as I hopped off of the bike to snap a pic, I saw my first kangaroos:

[Laminar]

With that milestone out of the way, I decided to get back to making good time and continued south. I stopped for lunch in Bunbury and snapped a couple of pictures at Koombana Bay:











I continued south and ran into Western Australia's wine country. The Mediterranean climate apparently lends itself to the huge vineyards lining every highway, and I was sure to neglect to get a picture of a single vine...

As I got within about 20km of Margaret River, the sky darkened. As there was no good place to stop, I continued on, but the closer I got, the more the weather changed for the worse. Eventually it turned into a downpour and in the interested of saving the camera and cell phone in my pockets, I pulled over at a small park and hid under a shelter for a few minutes.



After I realized that the rain wasn't going to go away, and that the longer I stood around doing nothing the colder I was getting, I decided to turn around and head back north. However, I only made it a few km back north before I spotted a trail leading off of the road. Having never ridden anything more "off road" than the quarter mile of gravel leading up to my in-laws' house, I jumped at the opportunity, rain be damned.

The first of many self-timer shots:

[Laminar]

Free couch!


Free car!


The hill behind me in the picture had been an interesting one to get down, and as always, a photograph fails to capture how treacherous real life feels. Not realizing the importance of testing water depth before diving in, I continued down the trail through this pool:


...which ended up being deep enough (on the LEFT side!) that my saddlebags got a little wet. After I went through that pool, I glanced down the trail and saw this:


...at which point I decided to cut my losses and turn back. Going back up the hill behind the car turned out to be a lot of fun so I went up and down a couple of times. I continued exploring the connected trails but began to run into too many signs telling me how dangerous the water was, don't drink it, don't touch it, waste water something area, stay out, etc. so I hopped back on the main road and found another trail just a couple km away.


After scooting around there for a while, I took one last picture and decided to hit the highway and head home before it got dark:


I was soaking wet, but I was having an adventure, so I was disinclined to care. A few km down the road I came upon a couple of bikes that I had to get a picture of:


According to the hand-written signs behind the bikes, they are a 1950 Ariel and a 1953 Excelsior. As I was taking a picture, the owner walked over and we chatted for a bit, then I was back on the road. I slabbed it back to Perth and made it to the hotel right at sunset. Overall, it was about 418 miles for the day.

[Laminar]

I awoke on Sunday morning and checked the weather radar - there was a yellow and red blob approaching from the southwest, so I decided to head north and see where it got me. A sign along the interstate pointed towards a road called West Coast Drive, and I figured that sounded like fun. As it was Sunday morning, the whole place was crawling with people out walking dogs, kids, and babies.
The cafés were packed and there was plenty of activity at the beaches.





After snapping a few pictures, I'd had enough of the crowded streets so I hopped back on the interstate and headed north, only to run into another storm. Looking around in every direction, I saw blue skies in the east, so I took the next exit and headed that way. I stopped in Bullsbrook to get some gas and as I was pulling into town, I saw a group of about 10 Subarus led by a Lotus Elise head north on Chittering Road and decided that was the road for me. After getting gas, I headed that way and soon found out why. The area got rural in a hurry and the roads were perfect: Twisty and deserted.





I stopped to snap a couple pics of some emus.

[Laminar]

And I spent some quality time tearing around. Along one of those twisty roads I noticed a trail which turned out to be for Julimar State Forest. I ended up spending a good four hours there exploring the trails and chasing kangaroos.

[Laminar]

After taking that last picture, I glanced down at the ground and saw that it was moving. Oh wait, that's not the ground moving, that just a whole lot of ants. Time to saddle up and get out of here. A couple minutes later I started getting an odd tickling feeling on my calves. I assumed it was my jeans rubbing against my legs and my mind was just assuming the worst - I hadn'd been standing still long enough for ants to climb all over me. Then suddenly I started to get an odd biting feeling on my calves. I slid to a stop, put it in neutral, and pulled up my right pantleg - yep, about 10 ants crawling up my calf. Eff. I hopped off of the bike and began slapping both legs furiously, which I imagine would be a hilarious sight for a bystander to see, especially a bystander that wasn't currently being bitten by a bunch of ants that for all he knew were some sort of mutant Australian killer death ants of doom. After much writhing and slapping it seemed that I was triumphant so I hopped back on the bike and headed down the trail, which ended up being rocky, steep, and fun:









After I got my fill of off-roading for the day, I hopped back on the nearest highway, found a sign pointing me toward Perth, and headed in that direction for about 225 miles for the day.

[Laminar]

Monday was Day Three, and I decided that SouthEast was the direction of the day. I rode for a good two hours before I managed to find a trail that didn't specifically outlaw motorcycles:




I stopped for lunch at a gas station called Three Ways and ended up finding another good network of trails not too far from there:








At that point I stumbled upon the Pièce de résistance; some enterprising individuals had set up a makeshift motocross course in the middle of the forest with all sorts of little jumps, tight passes between trees, and "tracks" that were obviously well used. I failed to get a good picture of any of those features, and instead took this gem:


I spent a good amount of time playing in there, then took an offshoot and headed back into the bush.

[Laminar]

I saw LOTS of kangaroos, including a couple groups of 5-10 that were spooked by my engine and hopped away, but none of them would stick around long enough for me to snap a picture.

Hopping back onto the highway, I found more of those glorious twisty, deserted backroads:





Then I ran into the best road sign I could have hoped for:




Yes please.

After a stop for fuel at around 4PM, I managed to spot a sign letting me know that I was a good 140km away from Perth. However, calculating when I would get home was pretty easy to do when I was pushing 140kph on the highways. Oh yeah, I got rained on again, 273 miles for the day.



On my fourth and final day, I had to return the bike freshly fueled and washed by 4PM so I didn't want to venture too far away and get stuck. I decided to see what off-roading opportunities lay to the north. Turns out not many. I made it to Cataby (about 170km away) without finding a single trail that didn't prohibit off road vehicles. Something about preserving endangered blah blah blah. Upon turning around to go home, I noticed a sign advertising Yandin Lookout Point urging me to head down a gravel road. Okay. Before I made it to the lookout point, I saw this hill:


...and decided to go up it.

[Laminar]

The view from the top is not bad at all:











I continued traveling down the gravel road and found a neat lake:


...and then did eventually find the lookout point:


There was another trail leading down from the lookout point that had all manner of huge rocks, loose gravel, and multiple tire-grabbing ruts. It was a blast, and it reeeally made me wish I had a helmet mounted camera so that I could have a record of me riding on the brink of crashing but somehow not succumbing to gravity.





On the bike:
The DR650 on some knobby tires handled admirably. The extended range tank got me at least 250-320km (150-180 miles) before reserve, which ranged from 38mpg when I was pushing it hard at top speed to 48mpg when I was taking it easy. My biggest complaint with the bike is that it needs a 6th gear. Not because it needs lower revs on the highway, but so that each individual gear can be spaced closer together. I don't know if the sprockets were stock-sized, but I found myself desperate for a gear right in between 1st and 2nd. I spent a lot of trail time doing 20-30kph which put me at a point where I had too much engine braking in 1st but I was lugging second and risked stalling. The other biggest problem with the bike was vibration. By 70mph, the engine was doing a number on my body. The knobby tires actually weren't bad at all. I could pull the clutch in at speed and the bike would coast along very smoothly, but as soon as I engaged the clutch, things got shaky.

On the country:
Australia has a reputation for being a laid-back easy-going country and that's what I saw, everyone that I talked to was very friendly. The roads are all well-marked. At the end of the day, it never took me long to find a sign pointing me back to Perth, and there were often signs pointing me toward alternative routes back to Perth so that I wouldn't ride the same road twice. The motorcycle rental website went on and on about all of the speed cameras and how speed laws are strictly enforced and it's easy to get a ticket for 2-3kph over the limit. As best as I can tell, that's just scare tactics to get the renters to ride more slowly. In all of my 1100 miles, I saw one police vehicle (and that was in town). I saw one speed camera, but oncoming traffic was courteous enough to let me know I was approaching it with a blink of the headlights. It's good to know that warning fellow motorists of law enforcement is a universal language.

Overall it was a blast. Four days and eleven hundred miles and I'm trying to figure out how I can have this much fun without having to go back to Australia.

[Floridamtbiker99]

Thank you for the pictures.  Awesome.  I wish I could do that.

[ariwhiteboy]

Amazing report Laminar, thanks for sharing! 

Where's the next adventure going to take you? 

[See-Three]

Great report.

Overall it was a blast. Four days and eleven hundred miles and I'm trying to figure out how I can have this much fun without having to go back to Australia.

Sounds to me your gonna have to start looking for a dual sport bike

[ailkel]

Thanks for posting all the wonderful pictures from Australia Laminar.  The maps were a nice addition.

[Burgi]

nice 

[cmyers]

awesome report - thanks

[jerjohn]

Great report and beautiful country. Thanks for sharing Laminar. 

[hockeyhawk]

Nice report Laminar and the pictures were awesome. The DR650 is a great bike and it sounds like you took advantage of it. I have to ask, $1000 for the rental? I never rented a bike before but $250 per day seems a bit high.

[luckylindy]

 Excellent report and pics Laminar.  Looks like a memorable adventure.

[creaky]

Great report and pics Laminar...wish I could have been there   

[Laminar]

Nice report Laminar and the pictures were awesome. The DR650 is a great bike and it sounds like you took advantage of it. I have to ask, $1000 for the rental? I never rented a bike before but $250 per day seems a bit high.

The $1000 was half of the $2000 deposit. Because it was done last minute and I was in the wrong time zone so I couldn't call my bank, I had to split the deposit up between a couple of accounts. The actual rental was $170/day.

[FearThis SC]

Great report, thanks for sharing!

Ride Safe...

[hppants]

Advrider.com..... eat your heart out.   

Forest, beach, twisty pavement, and kangaroos in one adventure?  Are you freaking kidding me?

I've heard that the vibration on the D/S bikes is pretty bad.  Just curious, what's top speed on that bike?  Also, you note that the knobbies handled well - are you referring to both pavement and dirt?

Laminar, you have one sweet career, my friend.

[Laminar]

Advrider.com..... eat your heart out.   

Forest, beach, twisty pavement, and kangaroos in one adventure?  Are you freaking kidding me?

I've heard that the vibration on the D/S bikes is pretty bad.  Just curious, what's top speed on that bike?

Loaded down and tucked in, I saw a hair over 140kph on the speedo, which is just under 90mph.

Also, you note that the knobbies handled well - are you referring to both pavement and dirt?

Laminar, you have one sweet career, my friend.

I had no problem pulling the front tire up on pavement and I never felt unsettled during hard braking, but I was far from dragging any pegs in the turns. All I had for protective gear were the gloves, helmet, and jacket that I was able to rent, so I gauged my riding style accordingly.

[fishball]

What a great adventure and fantastic photos.  Thanks for sharing Laminar.

[LOKi]

Great adventure.

What's with you and ants?