Brisbane to Cameron Corner n back

[Cary]

5 Aussies, 4 Kiwis, 6 bikes, 1 ute, 8 days & 4500ks

In mid August Stewart(KTM990 & Husky 630), Marc(DR650), Gary(DR650), Elwyn(DR650), Phil(DR650) & myself(DR650) along with Stewarts wife Jo and 2 kids Dylan & Katie plus my partner Paula(UTE & trailer) embarked on a trip to Oz.

We started out from Brisbane at Stewarts house early on Sat morning. The weather the whole trip was fine with chilly nights 2-8 deg, and around 20-23 days.

The basic trip was, Brisbane, Goondiwindi, Cunnamulla, Cameron Corner, Innamincka, Tibooburra, Hebel, Emmaville, Brisbane. (a rough google map will hopefully work.....)
Google map of trip

It was a luxury to have the ute following us as we travelled very light with just spare fuel and tools.

I'm not going to waffle on but just highlight a few points and hopefully the above guys n girls will add their 2c worth (and correct me when needed)

It started out thru the traffic but soon enuf we hit the country, unfortunately our last minute addition Phil did just that in the first 100k but refused all offers of meds and carried on with a limp.

130k in was our 1st and only puncture (of roughly 27 000k travelled inc ute) which Stewart got after a pothole on the Husky.

[NordieBoy]

Going to have to do some riding in another country sometime.

Off road scootering in Rarotonga was only the start...

[Cary]

After a great mornings ride we lunched at Tenterfield and went out thru 'boulder rd' It was after this Phil followed the girls in the ute to make the trip easier on his sore leg and we carried on to our first overnight stop was Goondiwindi. Staying in a campground cabin which was very good with bed, shower loo in the one cabin for AUS$65 for Paula & I.

The girls with Phil in tow had missed a turnoff and taken the long way round to the campground and arrived after us around 7pm. Gary & Elwyn took Phil to the hospital where we eventually found out he had broken both bones in his fib and damaged his ankle. He rode 400k in this state!! Tough Matamata farmer...........

From there on it was up to the insurance to sort him out and Stewart arranged with the campground owner to leave his bike there for later pickup.

[Cary]

It's (almost)your worst nightmare for Phil, 100k into a 2 week, 4500k trip and your out with the hassle of bike and injury. We did hear the insurance co was looking after him and put him up in nice digs after his op and flew his wife over biz class for some tlc.

Think he was going to freight the bike back to a mates place in brisbane.

Found a few straight roads on the way to lunch and Stewart took the 990 off the ute and took Dylan on the back. The 990 was supposed to only be used to take the kids for a blat but he ended up liking it so much he rode it for the rest of the trip.

Pic 4 shows Dylan and my DR, the sheepskin was worth the ribbing I took.......

[Padmei]

Looking good so far. I want to do this ride (or to the cape) in the next couple of years so I may bend your ear re costs of general things like gas, camping costs etc to give me an idea of how much to sell the kids for.
That can wait tho please carry on with your tale.

[Cary]

Coming into Nindigully Pub for lunch on day 2, some more straight roads but they were all interesting with plenty to look out for and changes in terrain.

Lunch was provided by Stewart & Jo with leftovers from last nights dinner(which they also supplied,thankyouthankyouthankyou) and we did manage a beer in the pub......What did they call the glasses of beer guys? pot of gold for XXXX was it?

Riding side by side as Gary and Elwyn are doing in the last pic was the way to go sometimes when conditions allowed. Helped with the dust and was fun when doing 120k, looking out for roos n emus and sometimes going down to the 2 wheel tracks of cars. Had a LOT of fun doing this with Gary, think at one point did this for about 60k straight

[Cary]

The road conditions changed a fair bit, some quite skatey gravel or hard packed sand or red dirt and a bit of sand which was easy enuf to ride on as it wasn't too deep and on a hard base so long as you didn't go to far off line.....

Most days we did 500k with a day or 2 up over 600. We left early (up 6-6:30) to avoid the roos in the evening. Still plenty to look out for and the emus are on a par with sheep when it comes to crossings roads, ah Gary 'hug em emus' Gunter

Didn't have too much drama with the wild life myself other than some heavy braking to avoid the possibility of potential contact. Stewart cleared the road for most of us being out front 90% of the time. Did see a few close calls tho.

Of the few bike problems we had the morning we were leaving Cunnamulla Gary's bike fired up then stalled and needed a tow, although after unsuccessfully trying it did start on the button.

My DR was using more fuel than the other DR's but that problem was later solved.....

[Cary]

From Cunnamulla we had to do 100k of seal to Thargomindah and were going to head SE thru dirt roads but some organised ride had gone thru and pissed the locals off so they'd had the road closed so had to do an extra 120k on seal to Noccundra where we stopped for lunch, at the pub

Jo did a great job driving the ute and sounded like a train coming down the road.

From there on to Cameron Corner.

[Cary]

pic 1. Shot of our chief navigator and tour leader.
2. Another smoko break.
3. My fav road shot

Pic 4 is our accommoditation for the night, we got a bit of a telling off in the morning for parking where we did, the gravel square was raked..... 'the f....n bollards are to keep you out, f....n townees' like we were the first to do it... had heard thru the net he was a bit of a character and liked to go off a bit

The famous Cameron Corner Store and Sunset.

More to come, lucky ain't ya

[circuit1]

From Cunnamulla we had to do 100k of seal to Thargomindah and were going to head SE thru dirt roads but some organised ride had gone thru and pissed the locals off so they'd had the road closed so had to do an extra 120k on seal to Noccundra where we stopped for lunch, at the pub

Jo did a great job driving the ute and sounded like a train coming down the road.

From there on to Cameron Corner.

The Cunamulla pub was an eye opener, when we pulled in it looked like building site, but inside the hospitality was awsome and the old jackaroo cracking bull whip and telling stores about the outback was really good stuff.

[ducatijim]

[

It was a luxury to have the ute following us as we travelled very light with just spare fuel and tools.

.

Cary, you don't know just how true that is; try 18Kkm of mostly those conditions with all ur house/food/spares on the back!!!

Good on you!!

[clint640]

Good stuff, keep it coming Outback Oz is cool, a lot of nothing but lots to see.

Cheers
Clint

[Cary]

From Cam Corner we headed onto the Strzelecki Track which was a cool bit of road and even had quite a few corners in it.

We had a short days travel here and stayed in Innamincka.

Standing on the post where the 3 borders meet was a must do
Dylan on the Husky
Paula at CC Store at dawn
Katie Dylan & Stewart
Elwyn

[nic]

Really enjoying this ride report Cary

Thanks for sharing

[Cary]

From CC we had a short day(250k i think) to Innamincka where we decided to call it a day and have a look around.

Just out of town was the place where a famous early outback explorer died, Robert Burke was his name and the story goes he was a lil rude to the locals and died 80k from a food supply at a place called Digtree (cause he dug a hole near a tree to store supplies....)

I jumped on Elwyns bike(only one with pillion pegs) and took Paula the 14k or so, not a comfy trip as the pack frame was digging into her back, oops. Stewart offered the 990 on the way back, much better!!

Pics of Burkes Grave and The Dig Tree. The face of Burke later carved in a nearby tree.

Forgotten where the bus was but had been put there as accommodation for mining or road work....
Think it was on the way out to Tibooburra the following morning.