Firstly a correction for yesterday. The pic from Emerald wasn't the Post Office but the Railway Station. DUH. Also neglected to say we had passed several road trains which was interesting. Thankfully no cattle trucks amongst them! We also enjoyed a spectacular cloudy outback sunset which neither the phone or camera could do justice to the colour and followed that up with dinner at the pub across the road.

So today. Sleep in, breakfast at a local cafe then off to the Qantas Founders Museum which was awesome. Will have to come back at a later date to actually tour through the retired but fully functioning Boeing 747 (the plane credited with putting international travel in reach of ordinary citizens and being the death knell for shipping travel - Qantas donated it to the museum on the 82nd birthday of Qantas in 2002 and it will never leave as the runway is too short for take-off) and the Boeing 707 (the plane which connected Australia with efficient volume travel - this one found in England and restored for flight by volunteers). Not enough time today. Next port of call was the Stockman’s Hall of Fame which again was awesome and a great tribute to the grit, determination and courage of the pioneers and current residents of the outback. Must confess it's always a bit disturbing to see so many implements and bits and pieces of supposed historic stuff that I recognise from growing up on our farm so you do have to wonder about the true authenticity of some things......or not.

Kicking back now, Norm is comparing notes with some fellow bikers and it feels like it is about beer o'clock. Off to the RSL for dinner tonight. The people in the next room yesterday had said it was a 7min walk so had decided against it then this morning we tripped over it about 1min from here! Now admittedly the man was a smoker so may have had to stop periodically to get enough wind to continue but I reckon I could push an iron lung there in 3 minutes and that's with a bit of a dodgy knee. Takes all types I guess.



Notice found in the bar last night. The publican says #3 is popular.



A couple of good looking bikes (I know a recurring theme) parked up at the Qantas Founders Museum with the Boeing 747 in the background.



Bikes again and Norm at the Stockman’s Hall of Fame where the air-conditioning was so good we were uncomfortably cold

Well somewhere east of Alpha it became official, this is the longest trek we have made on the bikes! Way past the Tassie trip. The sunny skies disappeared a short time out of Emerald and we finally gave in and donned the wet weather gear east of Jericho to warm up. The sights have been spectacular changing from rugged mountainous surrounds changing from dark green to silver grey to deep blue or yellow if minimal tree cover. The mountains gave way to hills then slipped into rolling lightly treed land and now heavily grassed plains. The road kill has increased and been fresh late in the day. Have seen hundreds of eagles. Magnificent. Then lots of cattle today, a few wild goats, a couple of emus and a dingo / dog / giant cat thing??? We had lunch at Barcaldine and saw the tree of knowledge where unions and the labour party had their origins. So much to see, so little time! Intend to stay 2 nights and then head off to McKinlay. Booked a motel tonight so it won't be as noisy as a pub….we hope.



Emerald PO (Longreach also quite similar)



A couple of good looking bikes in front of the tree of knowledge newly dedicated surrounds May 2nd this year, you may have seen it on the TV.By the way, the safety barriers are those we carry from the Victorian Manufacturer all up the east coast so again the product of our work!



Twin speaker car alarm at Barcaldine or a couple of lads about town. Who knows?

Well we caught up with our customer in Rockhampton then checked out the Botanical Gardens and headed for Emerald where we have a bed at a workers motel type inn. Fine weather until Duaringa for lunch with black black skies ahead. Started to rain heavily before we headed off and waited till the worst passed. Intermittent heavy rain and hail with drifts of hail beside the road 5km from Duaringa like snow! Gradually mostly fined up by Blackwater. Awesome sights of rugged ranges and ever changing skies including jet black in the rear view mirror complete with a spectacular rainbow arch.



Huge ore trains (awesome that we cart near enough to all the conveyor belts they use). Counted 1train 2 locos in front then 44 carriages and another 2 locos in the middle and another 42 carriages.A real buzz to see massive trains heading to the ports and knowing we had provided the conveyor belting to the mines to make it possible!


I remember why we found this area so spectacular on our working holiday in 1971. Off to dinner now then another 11 hours sleep which seems to be our routine.



A tropical view in the Rockhampton Botanical Gardens



A southerner taking a break at the gardens



A giant fig tree which spreads over a huge
area dropping tendrils which become supports and continue the spread



The war memorial, beautifully done

A real buzz to see massive coal trains carryinge coal to the ports and knowing we had provided the conveyor belting to the mines to make it possible!

I have lost the text of early posts but still have some photo so will add them before I add the posts I still have.

We headed off with somere reasonable apprehension but hopeful we could do it and yay, we not only did make it but we had a ball!



Before we headed off from home



Just before heading off from Narooma with Chris (quirky chance to catch up)



Outside the RACV Club in Newcastle where we stayed after catching up with a Customer



Looking back to NSW on the Lions Rd from Kyogle NSW to Rathdowney Qld. Trucks and vans are not supposed to use it and would be bloody mad to do so. Very narrow and winding with numerous one lane stretches and one lane bridges as well as lots of very steep stuff. We were gob smacked to see the NSW heavy vehicle cameras but only there according to the sign to monitor livestock movements.......yeah like we believe that.



Looking to the Qld side and the 19% downhill grade. Many more steeper than that on the NSW side but not signed.



Leaving a friends property in Beaudesert

I had a Trustees meeting in Brisbane then we headed for the Gold Coast for a neices Wedding and then onto the Sunshine Coast to catch up weith a Brother in law and friends as well.

We headed off from the Sunshine Coast in heavy rain and experienced torrential rain and saw flooded areas on our way north. Thankfully the river at Gin Gin hadn't yet cut the highway at Gin Gin.



A welcome coffee was had at the bakery in Gin Gin



A stop at the Big Banana at Coffs Harbour

Long gone from Coffs Harbour but just to prove it isn't just the Telstra Broadband Combie van which can go there. Illegally parked and up where I'm not allowed to be so Norm took the photo on his camera instead of my clever blackberry which I could have e-mailed the pic from. Hence here I am on the Sunshine Coast using my
brother in laws PC.

Trip going awesomely well and having a ball. Head towards Rockhampton the day after tomorrow.

The Ride was finally underway but I somehow managed to delete the first part of it from the Blackberry. Technology really is grand in the hands of amateurs!

Any way I have some photos from the early part of the trip and will include them over time then get to the actual record I kept.
Let me tell you by the time we got to Sydney my butt was complaining somewhat but I was getting used to it by then but after travelling along the coast and amongst rural areas the Sydney traffic felt pretty full on. The thing which lightened the situation as we fuelled up on our way towards Newcastle was when Norm told me he thought we should meet Steve in one of our trucks before too long so he called him and they figured we would meet within around 15 – 20 minutes and sure enough we did so we were riding along waving madly and he was flashing his headlights and hanging out the window. I love how these boys have this innate ability to know exactly where they are in time and space and I always get a buzz when I see any of our trucks on the road, it’s just an extra buzz when it’s also a family member.

In 2008 we made a tentative decision to head to the UK and beyond on motorbikes and explore the countryside and Transport and Logistics Supply Chain as we had been doing in Australia as well as checking out possible new routes for our trucks and crossing some off the list as well as checking up on some of the great projects we have been involved in over time.

Anyway. Since such a trip (without checking up on projects we were involved in obviously) would involve a lot of travelling….we decided a trial was in order to see if we could stand being on the bikes day after day after day. The obvious decision was made to do a trial run in Australia and if we decided we were over it an International flight wouldn’t be involved to get back home.

So we planned to take a serious road trip here in Australia and incorporate some business meetings and catching up with customers along the way. Then a few days before we headed off my organiser died and I bought my first Blackberry which I learned to use on the trip and so the trip update / blog was born.

PS. The REALLY good news was that the trip (in 2009) was a rip roaring success (and follows…or will soon) and the International trips began in 2010.(I still have to transfer the 2010 one to the blog but plan to do that also.)