Short-Lived Homesickness.(20th June)
I was having a crappy morning, my bike needed some maintenance, I was sick of carrying my spare tyre and the chore of packing my gear every morning was starting to get to me. Just homesick a little I think. We decided to fit my tyre at Doomadgee before we hit the road. It was a nightmare of an effort and were finally away by 11:30.
Yesterday I had discovered my countershaft nut had come adrift and the front sprocket was loose and held only in place by the cover. This had created an oil leak from the seal and I'm really hoping the bearing is not damaged. The oil doesn't seem to be coming out so much after tightening it so hopefully it won't bite me later.
We stopped an had a chat to the lady at the now closed Hell's Gate Roadhouse, it looks like it was a rocking joint before it was closed. The government had closed it down as it was an easy place for the Aborigines to access alcohol, which is a real problem in Australia for the overseas readers. Apparently it hasn't fixed the problem and the same guys just drive to Burketown, get full as a tick and then drive home. The problem relocated rather than solved, according to her it's very typical of the Queensland Government and they gain some much needed PR for closing down sites like this.
Not long past there we crossed the QLD/NT border, I think everyone, especially Sam is glad to be leaving Queensland after nearly 3 weeks there!
The ranges that we rode through just after the border are awesome, and so unexpected after the hundreds of kilometres of flat, red, dusty terrain.
From there it was more sandy, corrugated roads with a few river crossings thrown in for good measure. Scott, not happy with being cold and tired decided that a swim in the river would be fun and decided to go swimming with his bike as well! The poor bugger banged his sore leg again and was all wet, no respite for him in the freezing weather up here. So much for the Northern Territory being warm in winter, even all the locals are complaining!
Boroloola was a welcome sight as we expected another dump like Doom City the caravan park is nice and we had a hot shower to warm our cold bones. It also helped to remove a few days of ingrained dust from our skin.
Yesterday I had discovered my countershaft nut had come adrift and the front sprocket was loose and held only in place by the cover. This had created an oil leak from the seal and I'm really hoping the bearing is not damaged. The oil doesn't seem to be coming out so much after tightening it so hopefully it won't bite me later.
We stopped an had a chat to the lady at the now closed Hell's Gate Roadhouse, it looks like it was a rocking joint before it was closed. The government had closed it down as it was an easy place for the Aborigines to access alcohol, which is a real problem in Australia for the overseas readers. Apparently it hasn't fixed the problem and the same guys just drive to Burketown, get full as a tick and then drive home. The problem relocated rather than solved, according to her it's very typical of the Queensland Government and they gain some much needed PR for closing down sites like this.
Not long past there we crossed the QLD/NT border, I think everyone, especially Sam is glad to be leaving Queensland after nearly 3 weeks there!
The ranges that we rode through just after the border are awesome, and so unexpected after the hundreds of kilometres of flat, red, dusty terrain.
From there it was more sandy, corrugated roads with a few river crossings thrown in for good measure. Scott, not happy with being cold and tired decided that a swim in the river would be fun and decided to go swimming with his bike as well! The poor bugger banged his sore leg again and was all wet, no respite for him in the freezing weather up here. So much for the Northern Territory being warm in winter, even all the locals are complaining!
Boroloola was a welcome sight as we expected another dump like Doom City the caravan park is nice and we had a hot shower to warm our cold bones. It also helped to remove a few days of ingrained dust from our skin.
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