I was going a bit stir crazy and a window opened up for a mid-week overnighter in the week before Christmas… it wasn’t a hard decision really. Pack up and go.
The only task was to find somewhere remote and less travelled within ½ day ride of Perth. The area NE of Southern Cross fitted the bill nicely. Specifically, the Aurora Ranges and Helena Ranges. Once past those ranges I turned south and came out near Yellowdine. 800kms of bitumen and 350kms of dirt which clearly sees very little traffic. For those who like to get a look at the region via Google Earth, here are the coords for
Southern Cross - 31°13'54.94"S & 119°19'52.73"E ;
the point at which I changed direction from NE to S - 30°10'43.90"S & 119°53'2.35"E ;
my camp spot - 30°43'40.31"S & 120° 6'59.76"E ; and where I exited the dirt (
Yellowdine) - 31°17'44.17"S & 119°39'18.78"E.
The Yilgarn area had bucketloads of rain about 5 days earlier but the warm temps dealt with all puddles bar just a few. No problemo…
Couple of hours out of Perth and I saw these guys at Tammin. Mostly young blokes on their way to Cairns (Qld) via Gt Central Rd and the Plenty Hwy. Just a lazy 5000km ride! They had a support vehicle for refuelling… for both rider and posties. Reckon they’ll need it out there... temps will be near 50C
.
Jeez this bike ticks a lot of boxes. Very happy with it.
Coming up to the Aurora Ranges. The first 20 clicks out of Koolyanobbing was very corrugated (shook the mirrors loose)… reminded me of some of the Gunbarrel Hwy (central Oz) corrugations. All good after that.
Once at Aurora Ranges (and thereafter) all the tracks were nice and narrow and bugger all straight bits. A bit warm so parked up in the shade for drink and fruit bar.
Never hard to find a clearing well off the track in the Goldfields. Set up camp about halfway between Helena Ranges and Gt Eastern Hwy. Left the tripod seat home and took the comforts with me this time. Very civilised. The 5-million star hotel was at its best that night.
Even cooked myself a steak
The mud holes were easy to pick your way through. Would have been a different story 5 days earlier.
Crossing salt lakes can bite yer on the bum sometimes. Not this time …
Nice scenic spots (to my eye anyway)
The heavy rain resulted in plenty of erosion. There were a few washouts and erosion holes but nothing to worry about unless you were training for the Oz Safari. There were also some white sandy sections as I skirted some of the lakes down towards the transcontinental railway line… no dramas on a mid-size bike.
Just to give you an idea how easy this whole area is, this pic shows the typical layer of sand washed over the tracks due to the recent rains. Good to go...
Thru the gate to cross the Vermin Proof fence.
Saw this sign as I reached the transcon and had troubles finding the track to Borrabin (it mighta been hidden by the sign )
So I rode past some signs that said... 'I shouldn’t ride past these signs'...
... as I headed west to pick up a little used track to Yellowdine. Eventually found it and what a hoot that track was! Something about a tunnel of shrubs… makes me pick up the pace for some reason.
Passed a number of rock outcrops like this over the 400kms. Note the fuel level in my Safari... filled at Southern Cross and the pic was taken only 20kms before exiting the dirt at Yellowdine.
So there it is. I didn’t take many pics on this ride (not that I ever do). It was a very very enjoyable ride. I hadn’t been through this area before and loved every minute of it. Didn't see another vehicle for the entire time I was on the dirt (eat your heart out you Yanks
) and due to lack of any tyre tracks, there hadn't been any vehicle thru there for at least 5 days. Note to other countries: that's why some of us Aussies (errmm "me") won't do with anything less than the Safari tank, Spot tracker and a satellite phone. I carried 13 litres of water or 3.5 US gallons... its our summer right now and I'd hate to sit/lay trackside for even 1 day without plenty of water.
There’s a bit of navigation required as many times (partic at rocky outcrops) tracks seemed to go off in every direction. Actually, I’ll change that – navigation is critical; would be very easy to waste a lot of fuel finding the right way. I pre-plotted important waypoints on my GPS, and together with Hema maps on my GPS equipped iPhone 4S, finding the right way was easy.
fellas...
