Aussie - clockwise or anti clockwise?

[xgnr]

Howdy folks

We are off to the big red Island in April and are now having fun deciding the must do's and getting a route together.

Idea is that we start at Melbourne in Mid April and do the following route

Melbourne
Perth
Darwin
Alice Springs
Melbourne

Any suggestions on this or do it the other way (anti-clockwise) ? All advice welcome.

I have the Aussie Mbike touring atlas so obviously we are doing as many of the great 200 rides that we can fit in.

Cheers
Stu

[Stylo]

Howdy folks

We are off to the big red Island in April and are now having fun deciding the must do's and getting a route together.

Idea is that we start at Melbourne in Mid April and do the following route

Melbourne
Perth
Darwin
Alice Springs
Melbourne

Any suggestions on this or do it the other way (anti-clockwise) ? All advice welcome.

I have the Aussie Mbike touring atlas so obviously we are doing as many of the great 200 rides that we can fit in.

Cheers
Stu

Been thinking about doing the same in a year or so, were thinking of going clockwise but undecided , like you guys ...what are you riding ?

[Highlander]

Got sent this link by a friend and read it as the guy was doing it, might be something usefull in there for you guys....

http://www.mt-maunganui.co.nz/OZBike%20Trip.htm

Note the tabs on the right hand side to see pre trip planing etc....

[xgnr]

Got sent this link by a friend and read it as the guy was doing it, might be something usefull in there for you guys....

http://www.mt-maunganui.co.nz/OZBike%20Trip.htm

Note the tabs on the right hand side to see pre trip planing etc....

Very good thanks... lots of handy tips here that we will check out

[xgnr]

Been thinking about doing the same in a year or so, were thinking of going clockwise but undecided , like you guys ...what are you riding ?

Hi

We have a Suzuki 650 Vstrom a Beemer R1150rs and a Honda ST1300

I guess we can leave it until we get there and see what part is flooding or burning :msn-wink:

[shafty]

Stu I recall reading about a similiar trip some time ago where they rode anti-clockwise and doing the full lap it made a significant saving in mileage....sorry I canny remember where I read it.... made me really think

[FJRider]

It doesn't really matter which way you go .... Aussies can't tell time, and most of the roads look the same no matter which way you're travelling ...

And the further west you go ... the further back in time you go ... (just like NZ)

[Highlander]

Stu I recall reading about a similiar trip some time ago where they rode anti-clockwise and doing the full lap it made a significant saving in mileage....sorry I canny remember where I read it.... made me really think

I remember reading something like that too.
They were working on the theory that if you imagine the two lanes of the road basically being a circle within a circle by the time you work the outside one to equate the 20,000 ish km you will do in an Australian circmnavigation, the inside one is down to about 18,000km just by being 2m smaller all the way around.
I don't pretend those numbers to be accurate but they illustrate the pont.

[banditrider]

It's funny, when I've been sitting there dreaming about doing Oz, I always imagine doing it anti-clockwise - no idea why, that just seems to be the direction that comes to mind.

But, maybe you'd consider the time of year you were going to take advantage of the weather? So maybe if going while it's still warm head south and then west and then end up doing the North when it cools down a bit?

Either way, have fun - I dead keen to give it a go one day so will look forward to the tales of derring-do!

[paturoa]

Me too!

Getting excited now.

[ducatijim]

The Nullabor is easier travelled 'with' the wind, ie west to east from my experience. So that = anticlockwise. But, youre only doin it once so, wot the hell?

[shafty]

Me too!

Getting excited now.

Are you going too Bro? Good on ya! (There goes the trip decorum lol) :msn-wink:

[shafty]

The Nullabor is easier travelled 'with' the wind, ie west to east from my experience. So that = anticlockwise. But, youre only doin it once so, wot the hell?

DucatiJim should know - good advice here.....

[paturoa]

Are you going too Bro? Good on ya! (There goes the trip decorum lol) :msn-wink:

Yep. Me, Xgnr and a buddy of his from up norf.

Piggy Muldoon had the right idea. People going to Ozzie raise the average IQ of both cuntries! So my challenge is to raise the decorum of both!

[SPman]

The Nullabor is easier travelled 'with' the wind, ie west to east from my experience. So that = anticlockwise. But, youre only doin it once so, wot the hell?The Nullabor is easier travelled in the "Indian Pacific", reading a book and having a drink, or several, with your bike in the baggage car.........

[tri boy]

Factor in the rise and set of the sun.
Traveling all day facing the sun is a bitch.
(Nullabor is piss easy, Sydney rush hour on Fri arvo is the real bitch) MHO

[xgnr]

OK so we have decided to do it CLOCKWISE woo hoo

No logic in it really although the weather thing in the Northern Territory indicates that being up there later is better.

Also (note to Banditrider) clockwise just sort of makes umm sense to me for some reason. No idea why :-)

Plans are coming together, we have a blog site up and running so will publish later.

Cheers

Stu

[paturoa]

...No logic in it really ....

What about the sun thing????

[xgnr]

Gaah

There is always one

like I said... no logic in it...

Either way you are gonna ride into the sun at some stage (early start or late finish?)

Now, far more important is how much crap you are going to leave behind ?

:p