My wife and I (MotoGirl) successfully completed this year Postie Bike Challenge, which started in Hobart, Tasmania and finished in Alice Springs, Northern Territory.
The route from Hobart to Alice:
About the challenge
The Postie Bike Challenge (http://www.postiebikechallenge.org/) has been going for approximately 12 years.
It is essentially 10-11 days spent riding a Honda CT110 postie bike through Australia, covering a distance of 3000-4000 kms. The route changes each year and it generally includes places that most people would avoid due to the vast distances, lack of mechanical support, inhospitable landscape and lack of fuel. Road surfaces include bitumen, sand, gravel, stones, river crossings, bulldust and snow.
The challenge is not only getting a postie bike to the end point. It is also enduring the sheer distances day-after-day, surviving paths outside your comfort zone and tolerating Australias climatic conditions.
Approximately 50 riders begin this adventure every year. They are supported by support vehicles carrying fuel, water, mechanics, satellite phones and first aid staff.
Day 1 - Registration
You sign in the day before the trip officially starts. This is an opportunity to fit out your bike and make any necessary changes to it before riding begins. Everyone had to fit a lid to their milk crate so the fuel container and their lunch didnt fall out. We also chose to add a 12v USB plug to provide the ability to charge our phones and the GoPro. MotoGirls bike naturally had a Rider custom seat, which had travelled to Hobart with the bikes (they originated from Brisbane where we are based).
Some people go all-out with their bikes and add things like screens, horns and sirens, flags, seat covers and the like. Some of the crate covers are more elaborate than others. We went very basic since we had to transport everything to Hobart in a 90L duffle bag each this included camping gear for two people.
This sign-in day gives you a chance to take the bike for a spin around the parking lot to get to know it. (And to question why you paid good money to ride a gutless wonder that distance.) It is also a briefing where the organisers give you instructions for getting yourself and your bike to the finish point. This included information about what needs to be checked every day, such as the oil and chain tension, etc.
Day 2 - Hobart to Cradle Mountain 360 kms
Tasmania gets freezing temperatures so this was a chilly start to the trip, especially given it was the first weekend in August.
It was an early start at the Hobart Showgrounds, the departure point for the trip. Normally they try and get away early (around 8am) but since we were going to be traveling on one of Hobarts main arterial roads, they decided to start later so we would avoid the bulk of the traffic.
The Rotary Club provided us with bacon and eggs for breakfast and they made our sandwiches/cakes to sustain us during the days travels. After another briefing and checking our tyre pressures, it was time to set off for the days destination: a lodge at Cradle Mountain. This place is located in the Cradle Mountain-Lake Saint Clair National Park, more than 1,500m above sea level.
Leaving the showgrounds and descending onto the motorway was entertaining to say the least. A convoy of 52 postie bikes each with its rider wearing a fluorescent vest merging into the traffic in slow motion. Although we were all slow, it didnt take too long for the bikes to spread out.
The recommended first stop was a coffee place in Tarraleah, which was about 120 kms from Hobart. We were told to travel 100-120kms before stopping and refuelling the postie bike. They can do this distance on 5L of fuel.
The cold weather was much colder than what weve become used to in Brisbane, hence this was a good place to stop and get a hot drink. We downed that quickly so we could get on our way again, near the front of the pack. You quickly learn that its difficult to pass other bikes when youre all doing the same speed.
This day had some of the best corners we have seen in Australia to date and it much like riding back in NZ. Nice twisties through the forest and a combination of surfaces including tarmac, gravel and slush around the snowy areas. The lack of traffic and cool air was pretty welcome as well.
Some of the riders had clearly never ridden on anything but tarmac. It didnt take long for us to reign them in on the gravel. We had to be much more careful when the road turned to slush because it felt like riding a bicycle through mud.
There was one casualty: a woman had fallen off had broken her wrist. Her trip was over and she never made it out of Tasmania.
Day 3 - Cradle Mountain to Devonport 376 kms
Cradle Mountain is very cold and that morning was an early start with breakfast at 6.30 am, and the group leaving at 8 am. We all woke up to a very, very icy morning with all the bikes covered in a layer of it. Thankfully we had used our brains and covered our seats to keep them dry so we wouldnt get soggy.
The roads out where thick with ice, so one of the support vehicles went first to break the ice so we could travel in the tyre tracks. We were in a convoy at 40km/h. It was interesting following the support vehicle because Cajun had his throttle ice up a number of times. The first couple of times were just when down-changing gears; another time he had to pull over and turn the bike off before it sorted itself out.
The roads were covered in black ice, which resulted in a few two-wheel drifts through the corners. We both stayed upright some of the other riders were not so fortunate. We were lucky to come upon a three bike pile-up only seconds after they had got themselves off the road. The black ice had caught all three riders on the same corner. This crash claimed another casualty with four broken ribs so his ride was over.
Thankfully the sun was out and we had made it down Cradle Mountain without coming off, about 150 km of riding. The temperatures were ridiculous and our fingers were in agony as they started defrosting.
We then headed up the Western Access, which was a metal road winding through the forest and the gully for roughly 120 km. The scenery was spectacular. Interestingly, the metal road was different to what you often encounter in NZ it was bright, white gravel. With all the gravel we encountered, we were grateful for having lived on a metal road for many years.
Once we made it back onto the tarmac, it was a sprint through green pastures to Devonport. We can best describe the scenery as being similar to that found in the Waikato. The dairy farms had lush green paddocks, Friesian cows and a general look that appeared similar. We later learnt that a bunch of New Zealand farmers had purchased land in Tasmania back in the 80s so now it all makes sense.
While we were racing to Devonport, we achieved two things: overtaking a car (try *that* on a postie bike) and a top speed of 92kph. This was to be our fastest speed for the rest of the trip. They say that if you see another postie bike in the distance, it will take 20mins to catch them. Understanding how to slipstream is a mandatory skill when riding a postie bike.
Devonport is the spot where the Spirit of Tasmania ferry leaves for Victoria (an overnight trip). A reporter from the Tasmania Advocate was there to take our photos and do a write-up.
Day 4 - Melbourne to Horsham 294 kms
We disembarked from the ferry around 6.30am only to discover a cold, windy and rainy Melbourne day. The intention was to begin the days ride from a nearby gas station. Most of the group took a roundabout route to get there so things got a bit delayed.
We eventually set out on the motorway heading out of Melbourne city. Crossing a major bridge with a semi-double truck on either site is terrifying when youre on a tiny postie bike. These trucks did come in useful later on; it was possible to get pulled along with them and use the extra speed to overtake other riders. The wind was absolutely ferocious, often blowing us into the gutter. This made riding hard work.
This day was very uneventful. We were just cold and wet, which was frustrating when you could not speed up to get yourself there any quicker.
The accommodation was at Horsham Showgrounds and this was meant to be our first night camping in our tents. Because the ground was soggy and it was pissing down, the organizers arranged for us to stay in the large sheds on the grounds. We basically had 50-odd people on air mattresses in a massive shed.
Day 5 - Horsham to Loxton 397 kms
We woke up to a foggy morning and also had a long way to go, with this being one of our longer distances. Its long when you consider the slow speed of a postie bike. It was still cold in South Australia so we were still wearing our full textile gear and windproof jackets, etc.
It took more than an hour for the fog to clear and to get any visibility whatsoever. The road was exclusively tarmac and the corners were few and far between. (Zzzzz) The biggest highlights were seeing the Welcome to South Australia sign and the fields of canola flowers (bright yellow amongst paddocks of green).
About 40 km from Loxton, we regrouped so we could be escorted into the town by some of the locals. One of whom owned a postie bike and had pimped it out. The bike had a 150cc pit bike engine, pipes and a clutch. It was also sporting a metallic purple paint job with whitewall tyres. It looked cool for what it was.
So we rode into Loxton as a convoy and soon learnt how few people know what a convoy is, or how to ride in one.
This was the first night pitching the tent at the Loxton sports grounds. Rotary put on a good dinner and it was the first time seeing vegies in a while.
Day 6 - Loxton to Orroroo 362 kms
This day was similar to the one before, except we got some gravel and took another ferry trip across the Murray River (all five seconds of it). Nippys drinks come from this area so it is largely surrounded by orchards and more fields growing the flowers for canola oil.
Cajuns bike was being temperamental and wouldnt exceed 72kph, even when attempting different aerodynamic positions. This was traced back to water in the carburettor, which is apparently quite common.
This day was another reasonable distance so we opted to keep going instead of participating in extracurricular activities, mainly riding our postie bikes around an Mx track.
When we reached the mandatory fuel stop later in the day, we heard that there had been another casualty. While riding postie bikes on an Mx track sounds like fun, we knew it would end in carnage. Naturally it did when one of the guys broke his collarbone and had to be taken to hospital. Another rider out. Meanwhile, we were stuck at the fuel stop and were not allowed to leave until everyone had regrouped. The rationale for this was because we were down to two support vehicles and one of the medics was unavailable.
The Orroroo showgrounds was the destination and the weather starting turning to crap not long after we arrived. This is a very small town (blink and you miss it) so the local cop was doing laps checking out us dodgy bikers when we were out for a walk. Most of the group opted to sleep undercover scattered around the various buildings. We pretended to be tough and pitched the tent.
Day 7 - Orroroo - Parachilna 266 kms
The ride was shorter on this day because the terrain was a lot rougher. This day was taking us straight over the Flinders Ranges, some of the best scenery on the entire trip.
We left Orroroo and did roughly 100km before stopping in a national park for lunch. We had to stay put because the upcoming terrain meant the organisers wanted to keep the group closer together.
After lunch we turned off the main road onto an exclusive 4WD track, which would take us through the ranges. We made our way through more metal road, which turned into dirt, and eventually turned into a river bed. There were several water crossings and we had to ride around massive rocks and other obstacles. MotoGirl (being a road-only rider) had a couple of close calls in the water and nearly arsed off.
Once we were over the ranges, we were officially in the Australian Outback.
Parachilna could barely be called a town. It is essentially a settlement with a pub and a few abandoned railway buildings. Theres a local beer, which is brewed especially for this local area (Fargher Lager whose logo is Isle of Mann). Surprisingly, the nights dinner location the Prairie Hotel served up some of the best food we have tasted in ages.
Day 8 - Parachilna to William Creek 390 kms
Parachilna is where a main road meets up with the Flingers Ranges. We were leaving the metal road and joining back onto a highway shared with other traffic, including Australias notorious road trains. Our group was fortunate that the biggest road trains were heading in the opposite direction. The largest we had pass us only had three trailers.
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We rode roughly 100km of tarmac before it turned to gravel. This was the beginning of the Oodnadatta Track and it was going to be the last tarmac we saw for a few days and more than 600km.
The first 100km of the Oodnadatta Track was pretty easy going. The road was like a metal highway and this track was getting in the vicinity of Lake Eyre. If theres one thing you learn from being in the outback, its that Australian is *fucken huge*. When youre staring at the horizon and it goes further than your eye can see, you feel pretty damn insignificant.
The heat was starting to increase, as were the flies. Persistent little bastards. We always thought that fly nets were a piss-take on Australian culture. Turns out they have a valid use if you dont like flies on your face and feeling like road kill. With the weather improving also meant the gravel roads were hard on your eyes with the glare.
As we ventured further towards Lake Eyre, MotoGirl was leading a group as we came over a rise. What initially looked like a shadow (no, too bright for that) then appeared to be a stick. Except it was moving. Shit. MotoGirl was in the right wheel track and managed to go around the snakes tail. Lucky for her but Cajun and the other riders saw a Taipan, which had just been antagonised. It was flared up and ready to strike at them.
Lake Eyre was an impressive sight, if you could stand around long enough to tolerate the flies. Once we left the lake, the road started getting a bit rougher and the corrugations were getting deeper. The road surface also changed continuously between metal, sand and red dirt. We had heard other riders talking about increasing your speed to buzz straight over these, which is something we tried and it seemed to make a difference.
We had been cruising along around 80kph on the metal. Some riders were going a bit quicker and had overtaken us. With the heavy gravel, it wasnt long until we saw a massive dust cloud in the distance. It was obvious that it was either a vehicle approaching or someone had come off. Lucky us, we were the first come over the brow of a hill to find a woman lying in the middle of the road with her postie bike on top of her. Her husband (and alleged riding partner) was oblivious and didnt even stop. He did not notice her absence until he arrived at William Creek (over an hour later) to discover she wasnt with him
The woman was OK and had just destroyed much of her gear and put a hole in her foot. She was sore but managed to jump back on the bike and keep going.
William Creek was getting pretty remote and it only has a pub and a camping ground.
Day 9 - William Creek to Oodnadatta 201 kms
This day started with a photo shoot for the Alice Springs newspaper, which wasnt high on our priorities given the rising heat and those bloody flies! This was a short ride, only 200km, but it was the biggest prick of a day ever.
Most of the riders saw some of the Australian wildlife at some point or another. Most of them saw wild camels, emus and kangaroos. We saw another damn snake.
Obviously, we were still riding on gravel, dirt and sand. The first 100km of the ride was uneventful, although the surface was heavy gravel. After the first fuel stop, we even commented that it had been easy so far so we should be able to knock out the next 100km. Wrong.
Almost instantly after refuelling, the corrugations deepened and they were relentless for the next 100km. The gaps between patches of corrugations were only metres and at times, they were so bad that you could not focus on the horizon for all the jolting. We actually had to pull over to regain our focus because not a single part of the road was smooth. Not only did this hurt our bodies but it gave us callouses from holding on. This was the day where you couldnt believe you *paid* to do this.
This was the type of road where you would ride into a dip and discover that it was corrugated and those corrugations were full of heavy, loose gravel, sand or dirt. Neither of us have much experience riding off-road, hence there were a few places where we really should have binned it but managed to stay upright. We were coming up to the middle of Australia so had to be careful there are no ambulances, only the Flying Doctors Service to get you out.
We eventually arrived in Oodnadatta where the nights accommodation was the Pink Roadhouse. This town is the hottest and driest place in Australia and had a recorded temperature of 50.7C, which is its only claim to fame. While Oodnadatta may be in the middle of nowhere, it is more populated and roughly half of the people are indigenous.
We also discovered why MotoGirl hadnt had the most comfortable ride that day: her bike had blown a front fork seal. Most of the bikes had also broken the mounts on their speedos so they all had to be taped up for the following day.
Day 10 - Oodnadatta to Marla 209 kms
After the previous day, some of the riders were apprehensive about the last 200km remaining of the Oodnadatta Track. We knew it was only a short distance but if the surface was like the previous day then it was going to be hell.
Only the first few km were rough then the road surface improved and returned to a metal highway, with only a few odd corrugations and heavy patches.
We arrived in Marla by lunchtime and took the chance to relax before the big trip into Alice Springs. Marla is essentially a large truck stop with a diner, motel and a campground.
Day 11 - Marla to Alice Springs 450 kms
This was going to be a long, boring day with the weather forecast for 34 degrees. It lived up to expectations. We had hoped to speed into Alice Springs but we had a headwind and couldnt get much over 75kph, which was bloody frustrating. The group all left at the same time and it was a bit difficult to break away from the group, especially with that headwind.
We were now back on the main road that runs between Adelaide and Darwin. This meant we were contending with traffic and back in road train country. Once again, the big ones were all going in the opposite direction.
Along the way, the only highlights were the Welcome to Northern Territory sign and the monument dedicated to the two Japanese competitors who died in the Cannon Ball Run. NT also had a 130kph speed limit, which was only a dream for us! We also saw the turnoff to Uluru but it was over 200km away (we came back in a rental car).
When the road is straight and boring, you do little things to keep yourself occupied, such as chasing people in front of you. One of the guys with a screen on his bike was getting some good speed so we slipstreamed him for an hour-or-so. It pissed him off and gave us something to do. Win-win.
We pushed ourselves all day, only taking the minimum time for fuels stops and we eventually arrived into Alice Springs at 3pm. The scenery entering the town was surprisingly good and reminded me of the canyons in the Cars movie.
This was technically the last day of the ride. We all regrouped at a pub before riding in to the hotel where Rotary had put on drinks and nibbles. This was also the location for our farewell dinner.
Day 12 Alice Springs and Henley-on-Todd
Now that our postie bikes had got us to Alice Springs, it was time to give them away. Each bike was donated to Rotary so they could be raffled and the money used for various projects within the community.
Our group arriving in Alice Springs coincided with the Henley-on-Todd Regatta. This is essentially a boat race on a dry river bed. The locals get into it and design some wacky boats and costumes, etc. and then they run with their boat down the river bed.
We were part of the parade that went through the main street of Alice Springs. We parked our bikes within the event grounds, gave them a wee hug, and then walked away.
General Thoughts
- The sense of accomplishment is astounding Hobart to Alice Springs and we didn't fall off once
- Great way to see another part of Australia, although its not a sightseeing tour with time to stop and smell the roses
- It's hard work riding big distances day-on-day
- It's even harder packing for temperatures that range from snow to the mid-30s (the Postie Bike Challenge normally sticks to the hotter areas, this year was an exception)
- You will be taken outside of your comfort zone for us, this was the off-road areas
- The ride is called a challenge for a reason. It is not a race those who treat it as such spend more time with their bikes in the workshop
- Do it while you can who knows how long it will exist with the new generation of postie bikes coming.
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Originally Posted by Brian d marge
, definitely somethin to plan fer
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