I started yesterday (28th) with an oil change and a new filter for the bike. Adjusted and oiled the chain as well. It needed it badly as the million gallons of water I had travelled through had removed any oil the chain had.

My poor, now "non waterproof" boots

THE Lifesaver

At about 1000, Ben took us all to ?? gorge out on the Hermansberg road for a swim and a barbque. We had an absolutly fantastic time and were all flogged, and slightly cooked, by the time we got back to Alice. The kids had a blast and Ben did a fantastic job with the pork snags. I think Niamh had 3 of them !!

This morning (29th Dec) I was up at 0515 and in the kitchen Ben & Ji Yoon were busy !! Ben was putting together a gob stopper of a breakfast with pan fried ham, eggs, freshly grilled mushrooms and with tomatoes and garlic on top of a toasted bun. Yum !!

Ji Yoon had made a container of my favourite rice and seaweed balls to take with me to munch on later in the day. Oh.... And a couple small bottles of ginseng to drink when I'm feeling flogged.

I left at 0630 with Ben, Ji Yoon, Liviul and Niamh making sure I leave :-)

First stop was at Kulgera Roadhouse. I ran the tank dry at 274 km. 1km short of the roadhouse. Getting good distance with the trailer on.

Spoke to soon !!! Hit a strong wind just south of Marla and range dropped to 255 km / tank thereafter. A couple of very strong gusts hit me before Cooper Pedy and if it was'nt for the trailer I would have been blown off the road. they were short sharp gusts that came out of nowhere !!

Basically I spent the day "just rollin along" Km after Km after Km. 1068 of them today until I called it a day at Pimba. Forgot I was on SA time which is 1 hour ahead of good old NT time. I pulled up at 1830 (NT time) for a 12 hour day. Refuelled, booked in for the night and oiled and adjusted the chain.

Went to get a beer and they were shut !!!  It was, by then, 2020 (SA time). Not realising the time difference, the doors had shut at 8pm. Lucky I had Ji Yoons rice balls to munch on. (Yes, I know, I could have heated up some noodles and chucked in a small tin of tuna (opened of course :-)) but was a bit too flogged for that.
Anyway........ There were a few blokes sitting out the front along with a family that I had pass me a couple of times throughout the day. When I tried the door and found it was  locked one of the blokes said "it's closed mate, it's after 8. What were you after" ? "A beer" was my response, "but I can live with out one." About 15 min later there was a knock on my door and there was the bloke from the family with a 500ml can of Amsterdam Mariner Premium Larger !! He said, "We were too late as well but we had our own beer. This is for you". What a nice person and what a great way to end this long day !!! :-)

THE BEER !!

30th !!! An early start for the day from Pimba. Hoping the chain holds out until I get to Port Augusta or even Adelaide.  The countryside slowly changed from low shruby country to something that showed people lived there. Sheep first and then farmland. Mostly wheat  by the look of it.  Traffic was picking up also. Mostly heading north with trailers. (Probably going bush for the long weekend.)
Stopped at Augusta for a coffee fix and a look at the yellow pages for Hyosung dealer. No luck.. Cheapest fuel so far at 1.377 / litre.  The next stop was 250K south (can't remember the name) which was 98 clicks out of Adelaide.

But wait !!!!!

 As I went through the "don't blink" town? of Redfield (population maybe 10 humans and exactly 400,000,000 bloody kamakazi grashoppers) I was savagely attacked by said grasshoppers !!!   The first I knew about it was heavy splat on the middle of my visor followed immediatly with blows to the shoulders and chest. Next moment my visor was turned into a yellow and green blindfold. I was blind, then self preservation kicked in and I tucked in tight behing the bikes screen and partially lifted my visor. I could see again !! Sort of. I could feel them hitting the upper front of my helmet and my legs.  This went of for about 10k and everytime I thought I was clear they would try again !! Eventually thay gave up and aimed for the bigger and easier targets, the cars and trucks, I have not seen so many yellow / green vehicles - ever !!
I pulled up at a servo just out of Wakefield to (1) refuel (2) clean my visor and bike screen !! It was then I saw my boots. Picasso would have been proud !!

One Shoulder

THE BOOTS

Partially cleaned Helmet

It was also there that I called Kate (the organiser) to chase up new sprockets and a new chain for the bike. They were looking very tired (so tired that they were past being cactus). And (NEVER start a sentence with AND !!) as usual she came up with the goods. Not only that but also organised them (Peter Stevens Motorcycles in Adelaide) to install them as well !! What a girl !!

BUT....

Life and love does not run smoothly. About 7 clicks out of Adelaide I stopped to set up the GPS so that I could find the bike shop. The bike would not restart $@#$#@!!!! I tried EVERYTHING !!! Even went as far as standing on one leg with my left arm behind my back, nothing !!  Oh... it would turn over like a charm. But start ??  Nooooo.  Adam came to the rescue here and asked them to call me, which they did. The mechanic thought that maybe I had been standing on the wrong leg but I assured him that I had tried ALL variations known to man.

He then., bless him, said that he would sent out a van to pick up my bike and trailer.

Back at the workshop the head gun said that I would have to wait until tuesday as the "non starting" issue would take too long to fix. Someone gave the mechanic good ears as he came over and said that as he could do no more on the bike he was working on he would start on mine. He checked the bike on the computer and everything came up roses (Yellow and green ones). He thought the plugs may have burnt out but when I told him I had iridium plugs installed he ruled that out. At that I left them to sort it out and went across to their bike showroom to drool over a few bikes. Had to make the cleaners earn their keep !!

Lets cut this short and say that as I was putting down a deposit on a 2012 Black Suzuki GSX1250FA for $12490, (I must have been the salesmans dream buyer :-)), I recieved a call to say my bike had been fixed. The non starting problem was crappy fuel, probably at my last refuel as the filter was FULL of black gunk !! By now it was 1720 (Adelaide time).

Accomodation was discussed and they suggested across the road at the backpackers and as there was no parking, offered to lock my bike and trailer for the night.

An interesting day to say the least :-)

It's Started !!!
Officially left Darwin on the 24th. Had a fantastic Christmas Eve at Kate & Adams place, where I stayed for the night. The 25th, Christmas Day the family had lunch at grandma's. The Christmas Pudding was superb as usual. The trifle was nothing to be trifled :-) with either. Spent the night at Rebecca & Bretts place ready for an early (?) start the next day.

We, Rebecca, Brett and myself, left at 0730 on Boxing Day. The TRIP proper !!! They travelled with me to Adelaide River. A beautiful cool overcast morning :-) After a slightly teary goodby from Becks I was finally on my way. Sitting on about 105 - 110 kph the bike was running well. The trailer, after a few small adjustments in load positioning was following dutifully... Life is good !!!

That is ....... until about 20 k out of Adelaide River. Oh, it started gently enough. But after a few ks down it came. Bucket loads of  it !!!  I, by then soaked, stopped and put on my rain jacket. Yes, I know, I should have done that earlier. Well it poured and it poured . I stopped at Pine Creek to refuel. No Fuel !! So out came my 10 litres of spare fuel. It was still pouring with rain. The next stop was Katherine to refuel and refill my two 5l containers. Still pouring !!

Topped up at Mataranka. Wet as a shag. It's still pouring down !!! Then about 15k out of Larimah the rain FINALLY stopped !!!! Wahoo !! Off came the rain jacket and I froze for about 10k until I dried out

From then on it's moovin moovin moovin. An eye watering 1.89c/litre at the Hi-Way (robbery) Inn outside of Daly Waters and again at Renner Springs. Still sitting on a steady 105 - 110 kph.  My butt was starting to feel the pain !!! Wait !! I have Bretts Airhawk seat in the trailer. Duh !!  On it went, BLISS.

Just at sunset I hit Tennant Creek. I needed a hot shower and a bed, quick. As luck would have it there was a motel across the road from the servo. Over 1000 ks !! End of days tally :- Bike's running well. Trailer going great. Boots cactus (split on the seams). Me... buggered.

Well..... After a good sleep I was ready to roll at 0630 on the 27th. A beautiful cool start to the day. Just cruising along and then it started !!!  BUGS !!! 

The visor was coated with them and as quickly as I removed them the visor was covered again. After a short while it was getting difficult do see. Stop, get a wet-one, clean the visor and off again only to repeat the process time numerous times. By the time I got to Ti Tree it was over and I was able to clean the visor with the tears I shed after paying 1.91c/litre for fuel.

A clean :-) departure from Ti Tree straight through to Alice Springs where I arrived at just after midday where I'm staying with Ben & Janie for a couple of days. The bike needs an oil change and the chain adjusted and oiled.

A couple of days with Ben Janie Liviul and Niamh will be great !!

Trailer's Done !!

Well the tow bar is now fitted and the wiring on the bike completed !! Hooked the trailer to the bike and tested the electrics last night. Everything works !!

Organised for a test ride tonight. As I fitted the trailer coupling to the ball I found that the ball, even though it said 50mm, was too small !!! The coupling just pulled off the ball !!!  Glad I found that out !!

Off to Super Cheap for a 50mm ball. Picked one up for $14. It was larger than the one I had and it too had 50mm stamped on it !!!  What gives ??  I would have thought that 50mm was the same wherever you went !!

The test ride was a bit hairy at first as I was not used to a large thing hanging off the back of my bike. (The first few corners were a little slow :-)

By the time we had got back I was able to corner a lot more confidently :-)

I am at the limit of my load with the combined weight of the trailer and my gear at 143kg and I have Alanah's clothes to load.

A cull may be in order !!

Here are a couple of pics of the rig...

AND a video !!!!!

Have done a lot more work on the trailer :-)  The box is lined with a lightweight grey marine carpet.

Next all the lighting was removed and replaced with a marine LED system. Then I thought that I would install a 26 Amp Hour battery to keep the netbook, mobile phones etc charged. (Still waiting for the small (yes - marine) solar panel to arrive.

Also installed is a small safe to keep valuables (??) from being lifted by kind souls.
Why am I doing all this extra work ?? It's not like I have nothing else to do !!

The esky box is now installed and I have weighed everything that I have put in the trailer so far. 56Kg. Only Alanah's tent and our clothes to go so... I may still be well under my self imposed limit of 80Kg load.

Here are a few pics of the work so far.

A 12V outlet to keep the GPS running

LED Lighting. A 12V outlet and .. rego !!

The esky tray is fitted. Straps to hold the esky are next

The safe is bolted down. The battery is velcro'd in place

STILL waiting on the towbar for the bike. Starting to feel a little desperate for it. Apparently it's in Darwin... somewhere...

It dows not look as if I will get much of a "break-in" period with the setup before I go.

The Box !!

Well,  The box arrived today as well as the modified trailer hitch. The hitch is now "gunmetal Grey" and I've not decided on a colour for the box yet. Either the "Grey or maybe Black.

The box fits perfectly on the trailer frame (whew !!) and will be lined on the inside in the next few days.

Here are a few pics of the box on the trailer. It looks huge !! I will have to get a photo of the bike next to it to gain some perspective of size.  :-)

Rear view - Looks BIG !!

Only 1.2m long by 0.450 High !!

Have to do something with the jockey leg :-)

It's a good fit to the trailer frame.

That's a small mobile phone on lid

Man it been a long time between drinks !!!

I'm at present building a bike trailer for a trip to Tasmania. (The one I didn't do last year).
Here are a few shots of the trailer, so far. The chassis is complete. The running lights are all installed and I'm waiting for the swivel hitch and the Aluminiun box to go on top.

Basic frame size is 1.2m long and 0.8m wide

Springs on

 

Wheels on - Sunraysia 12" rims

Lights installed

Side lights !!

 

I'll post the completed trailer in a few days. The only hold up so far will be the BIKE !! I have ordered a Suzuki GSX-1250-FA and had expected to have received it by now !!

Cheers :-)