Monday, Apr 01, 2013 at 19:56
Muz,
My range was limited to 250kms maximum, so I pushed the bike 7ks into Nullabor roadhouse as the prior roadhouse listed on maps was closed down. I reached
Broome with the intention of going via the tar route originally, but after coming from
Sydney and doing
places like
Flinders Ranges, Yardie Creek ets on my own I couldn't miss the Gibb. People told me I wouldn't be able to cross the
Pentecost River, but I figured if it was too deep to cross I would back track and go via tar after having a great adventure and meeting great people.
As it turned out the river was low enough to cross, my
plan B was wait for a 4WD and tell them I would follow in thier wake and hope they didn't stop !
I travelled with the Kawasaki factory tool kit, 2 spare tubes, 1 can of inflate and repair goo, compact canister pump and a 5l fuel container that I added after the above issue.
Starting from
Sydney, I wore out 1 rear road tyre by
Perth and had problem getting one the right size so had a motocross tyre fitted.
Perth to
Katherine I wore out the motocross tyre and managed to get another motocross tyre.
Katherine to
Sydney finally wore out the front road tyre.
Hit soft sand/bulldust a couple of times and bent gear change that I fixed hammering back into shape with some rocks.
Biggest problem was being let down by Kawasaki dealer in
Darwin, booked a service a month before I arrived and told them it would need valve shims. Picked up bike at end of day payed through teeth for a full service, and when the charge went through on my card was told they couldn't get shims in
Darwin anywhere. Walked out bleep off, got some next size larger shim than I needed off a Honda dealer up the road and hand lapped them in
campsite with a borrowed set of tools.
Regards
Mark
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