A quick tally

Adelaide has been a great respite from the past few weeks on the road and welcome relief from the heat and the endless stretches of straight flat roads.

The journey to Adelaide has been more than 7,000 kilometres and the only casualty along the way so far has been a rear tyre. Good luck, or good planning? A bit of both maybe.

Two days in the Adelaide hills and I'm fully refreshed. A haircut on my way back to the hotel and I'm all set to continue making my way to Victoria in the morning. 

My journey so far

A tourist in Adelaide...

You see all kinds of Big this and Big that when you drive round Oz (usually fruit) but I wasn't expecting this first thing in the morning while cruising back out through the Adelaide hills.

I spent some time last night going over my maps and with great weather above I've decided to just meander through the hills at leisure and eventually make my way out to the Barossa Valley.
 

 

 

Couldn't believe this tree. It's huge. Looking at the base of the tree you'd swear it was dead, but look up, and she's full of life. Some old bloke lived in this tree for 5 years. I guess it was a bit more solid at the base way back then.

Coffee and a peppered steak pie at the bakery in Birdwood, and then off to Nuriootpa via all the vineyards for lunch.

Adelaide is such a beautiful place and the people are so friendly.
 

Shortly after heading out of town I pull up at a rest stop (too many coffees today) and run into a group of about 20 to 30 bikers on everything from scooters to Harleys. The youngest rider is in his late 60's and the oldest I'm told is in his late 70's. These are all retired blokes that get together EVERY Wednesday, rain hail or shine, and go for a ride. One of them is towing a trailer filled with food and when lunch rolls round they pull over, light the barbie, and dig in. A good keen bunch of blokes.

I spend the rest of the afternoon racing about in the hills and stop off at the Cudlee Creek Cafe mid afternoon and find it full of elderly motorcycle enthusiasts. I could spend all day up here but decide to head on back to town before the peak hour hits.

A day to re-tyre....

Found the tyre I want online and head across town nice and early to GC Motorcycles in the suburb of Prospect.

Arrived shortly after 8am and was asked to roll the bike straight into the workshop. Knowing that I was going to wait, they bumped a few of the other bikes in the workshop to do mine. I browsed the shop for about 20 minutes while they fitted the tyre. I was going to check if they had 90 degree valve stems but forgot. The guys were a step ahead and fitted one anyway (so cheap I bought another pair for the ST1300).

With the job done, the guy at the counter asked what I had planned for the day and as they were so quick I hadn't really thought about it. Out came the road maps and he gave me a 15 minute rundown on which roads would take me where. He gave me directions to a McDonalds for coffee till the traffic died down and I was away. Good price, great service, super friendly staff. (Note: old tyre was dead after just 7,000 k's).
 

For the first time on this journey the day is not about getting somewhere. Today I'm going wherever the bends take me. My new best mates at GC tell me I can go all day, never cross the same stretch of road, travel hundreds of kilometres, and never be more than an hour from the city.

I punch 400 kilometres of waypoints into the GPS and head off for an adventure. The weather is mild, it's overcast, and it could rain. Who cares today. I'm off. Destination: Birdwood.
 

By the time I get here the weather has closed in. It's now also quite blustery, very cold and not the best riding weather. Still, can't complain. At least the roads are well and truly bent. The hills go on forever and almost every road is chock full of tight bends and mountainous terrain.
 

Every town I've passed through has been 100 years old or more and full of character. Birdwood was settled in the mid 1800's and truly is a beautiful place. While wandering about I walk to the back of an old building and discover this is also the home to the National Motoring Museum.
 

 

How's that for homemade touring luggage? Wouldn't want to come off with that wrapped around you. 

  

 

Such a cool place to visit. I finish up with a coffee in a nice little cafe on the main street while I seek out somewhere to stay. I'm having so much fun I decide to book two nights so I can continue to explore the Adelaide hills.

As I head back out to the bike it starts to rain and by the time I get wrapped up in wet weather gear down it all comes. It rains for the next 30 minutes then clears as I head towards the motel in Glen Osmond. (Note: this is only the second time since starting that I've had to wear the rain gear)

It's been such a great day in the hills.

Last of the long rides...

I sleep well for a change but have to get up at the crack of dawn. Adelaide is where I need to be for a new tyre and it's about 900k ride away so unfortunately it's an early start to a very long day.

It's really cool for a change and not long down the road I pull over to put on over-pants and stuff the thermal liner into my jacket. It's not warming up. I even have the heated grips going.
 

The landscape leaving Coober Pedy looks like the surface of the moon and in the distance you can see the big diggers and buckets creating all the tailing piles.

The road south has an excellent surface but the tyre is all ripped up and wearing fast so I'm having to ride at 90kph to try and make it last to Adelaide.
 

First stop along the way is Glendambo Roadhouse. Like every stop, fuel up, a quick snack, then back on the road.
 

Not long after leaving Glendambo I pass by Lake Hart and can't work out why the water looks so different. A short stop at a rest area overlooking the lake and I see it's a salt lake with just a bit of water off in the distance. For a moment, I thought I was looking out over Lake Eyre but a quick check of the Atlas showed how wrong I was. The area around here is littered with salt lakes either side of the highway for many miles to come.
 

The moonscape type landscape continues to the outskirts of Port Augusta where (you guessed it) I fuel up the bike and put my head down to feast, only this time I've found a McDonalds so it's cappuccino and a burger and out with the road maps and research Adelaide's accommodation on the tablet.

An hour later and it's on the road again and suddenly I'm riding through green fields and glimpses of coastline. Such a radical departure from the dry, barren scenery of the past 2 weeks.
 

It wasn't until Port Augusta that I ran into a bit of traffic and it's been the same way since leaving there. The highway is alive with speed cameras (fixed & mobile) and they have signs that indicate the cameras are linked to give an average speed across distance.

The road into Adelaide seems to be endless with plenty of traffic. As it turns out I arrive late in the afternoon during peak hour and go in search of a motel on the other side of town but with my bladder bursting at the seams I wind up pulling into the first Comfort Inn I find along the way, check in, and make a b-line for the room. It's been a long day and I'm ready for a feed and bed.

Today's route. (out of the desert, past salt lakes, and on to greener pastures)

Sunday - A day of rest...

I fully expected Saturday night to be rowdy in a place like Coober Pedy but there was no noise at all after about 10pm.

I slept like a log till about 4am when the rug rats next door started to ark up at full volume. I just laid there telling myself that they'll be on their way shortly but the noise continued. Just when I was thinking 'those poor parents' THEY (the parents) started to yell and scream as loud as the kids. Monkey see, monkey do. This continued till 8am when they finally departed, and then the neighbours all gathered outside my unit to discuss 'the shits in unit 23'. Great start to the day.

I head up to reception to ask for a 'quiet' room for tonight and I get asked to check the bike. Several cars were broken into during the night and the security footage shows 3 guys all over my bike. Just what I wanted to hear.

Everything that's not bolted on gets taken into the room each night. After a thorough check there doesn't appear to be anything missing. Lucky me. I get a knock on the door half an hour later and spend some time talking to the local constabulary who assure me that this sort of thing 'rarely happens round here' and anyway, they recognised the idiots from the security footage and when they sober up and return home they'll be arrested.
 

(The view outside my room) Somehow I find it hard to believe that crime 'rarely happens' round here.

I spend the morning doing washing and the afternoon sightseeing around town (I even went to church) but to be honest, it's just so hot I don't stay out in the sun for long before returning to the comfort of the air-conditioned motel room.
 

Everything you see here is within 2 minutes drive from the motel, right here in town. I have never seen a more desolate place. It's so barren and unearthly they often have movie crews here filming sci-fi's depicting far off worlds.

Unable to cope with the heat of the day I return to the motel, collect my washing, and curl up in my room with a road map and pen to plot the next stage of my journey.
 

In the morning I'll make for Port Augusta and decide whether to head across to Perth or keep going south to Adelaide.