Well, here I am at the other end. Every day was a joy. The bike was a dream machine. The lap I did was 17,500k’s and took 45 days.
I was pretty happy with the time of year and direction I chose. I felt vindicated with my choice having the strong tail wind most of the way across the south. Besides a few days of rain around Perth, and the extreme wind and dust storm on my way to Broken Hill, I had sun and fine weather the whole way.
If you want to avoid having to carry extra fuel, it is confirmed that you need a bike that can do 300k’s on one tank. You can find 95ron fuel everywhere and it can be up over a $1 more per litre than in the city. In hindsight, with that decision after Walcha to head back up to Lismore with the extra days I tacked on to the end, I could have actually done the Great Ocean Road and the 18,000k’s I thought it was going to be. I did in fact end up doing 18,000 for that trip, but in a bit of a roundabout way.
There is plenty of accommodation. In the outback towns, the pub’s are mostly old school with beds from $40 to $60 and a bit of brekky if you’re lucky. You can double those prices on any coastline. At the road houses it could be $10 for a tent spot or $90 for a room or donga. With that said, if you can carry your own sleeping arrangements you will save heaps, like around $1000 a fortnight.
Our road kill on the East Coast is a greatly different experience with what happens out west. Everything is bigger out there. The ‘roos are huge, as are the camels and buffalo. Camouflaged things can appear pretty quickly at the speeds that are travelled out there, and some of those beasts are the same colour as the road. Watch out for them alive or dead. As well as having to deal with birds and lizards and wombats and goats, emu’s are the winners of the ‘watch out for’ category. They have no idea. They are big, fast and absolutely confused.
Without the touristy stops but with regular rest stops, I think the lap can be done in 35 days, which is what I might try and do next time.
Motorbike Touring 