M
mickd
Guest
Hi all, heres a little trip I did recently I thought I would share with you
For the last couple of years myself and my loyal and fearless wingman Scotty have been toying with the idea of crossing the Simpson Desert via Cecil Madigans Route.
For those that are not familiar with Madigans route, it runs across the Simpson desert approximately 100 klms or so above and parallel to the more recognised French Line. Until recently when a couple of fellas from Queensland did the crossing successfully it had never been done unsupported on a motorbike. Each trip out there we skirt the edges of the route but for one reason or another we are yet to get things together to make the crossing a reality.
This year however we (well I decided and forced Scotty to join me) decided to get a bit more serious about following the steps of the great Madigan and his team of camels.
So, last month ventured out to the desert playground with thoughts of an attempt at the elusive Madigans crossing. Again,things were not to be however, with common sense telling us the time was not right, but we had a lot of fun anyway, here’s how it went.
I was a bit behind the eight ball with preparation, having flown home from work the day before departure date, clearly I still had a bit of work to do on the 950 before I was going anywhere. So I got to work and soon had Katey all tarted up up and ready to roll.
Well I rolled up to Scotts place Just outside of Gympie the following day at around 5pm off memory all be it about 8 hrs late and after a quick cuppa we decided to it was time to venture west for a look about. Through the night we travelled at a fairly sedate pace, dodging skippys relatives most of the way.
No pics for the first leg cause it was dark .... and we were on a mission
After around 14 hrs and some 1200 odd klm we rolled into Windorah , dropping in at the usual stop off point, Merv and Bubs Mobil Servo for fuel and a regroup.
And if you have never been to Windorah Mobil , make a point of dropping in there if you ever get the chance.Merv, the fella that runs the place just happens to be blind and is a real character to boot... when we dropped in this time he was busy installing a radiator into a Commodore ute ..... :wow:
Originally we had planned to head into Birdsville and shoot across the French line to attempt a west - east crossing but the recent rains and associated flooding in the west meant we would have to continue north from Windorah up through Bedouri and Boulia and then across the Plenty hwy to get to our western start point, Mac Clark reserve.
Onward from Windorah we forged and after dodging the wildlife all night the powers that be must have decided a change was required and gave us these to dodge throughout the day.
t pays to give these fellas a bit of space .....
The plan was to make Jervois for our first stop over and generally speaking, after dropping onto the dirt north of Windorah the road is pretty much like this all the way, not much to do but sit and gnaw away at the distance in front .
Its always good to hit the first dirt after Windorah and about 1400 klms of tar travel.
Bit of water here and there slowed progress a little
The floodwaters were playin a bit of havoc with our travel, for the most part it was more of this though and you can cover some good ground on the big twins in this sort of going, All good !
We made it into Boulia somewhere around mid afternoon and with another 470 odd klm to Jervois it was evident there would be some night riding involved if we were to make our destination.
So with full tanks we ventured on
It wasn’t long and darkness was upon us and we soon encountered a problem with night vision on Scotts bike… no lights !
So we did a bit of roadside investigation but soon lost interest and decided to punch on for the remaining 100 odd klm into Jervois under the lights of my steed. Scotts bike had also developed a somewhat worrying exhaust leak somewhere in the vicinity of the rear pot, but again, in the darkness we were unable to find the source of the problem. Perhaps tomorrow in the daylight with the benefit of some sleep and some daylight things would be a little clearer.
And so it was, after about 26 hrs on the road and some 2400 klm behind us the first leg was done and dusted
For the last couple of years myself and my loyal and fearless wingman Scotty have been toying with the idea of crossing the Simpson Desert via Cecil Madigans Route.
For those that are not familiar with Madigans route, it runs across the Simpson desert approximately 100 klms or so above and parallel to the more recognised French Line. Until recently when a couple of fellas from Queensland did the crossing successfully it had never been done unsupported on a motorbike. Each trip out there we skirt the edges of the route but for one reason or another we are yet to get things together to make the crossing a reality.
This year however we (well I decided and forced Scotty to join me) decided to get a bit more serious about following the steps of the great Madigan and his team of camels.
So, last month ventured out to the desert playground with thoughts of an attempt at the elusive Madigans crossing. Again,things were not to be however, with common sense telling us the time was not right, but we had a lot of fun anyway, here’s how it went.
I was a bit behind the eight ball with preparation, having flown home from work the day before departure date, clearly I still had a bit of work to do on the 950 before I was going anywhere. So I got to work and soon had Katey all tarted up up and ready to roll.
Well I rolled up to Scotts place Just outside of Gympie the following day at around 5pm off memory all be it about 8 hrs late and after a quick cuppa we decided to it was time to venture west for a look about. Through the night we travelled at a fairly sedate pace, dodging skippys relatives most of the way.
No pics for the first leg cause it was dark .... and we were on a mission
After around 14 hrs and some 1200 odd klm we rolled into Windorah , dropping in at the usual stop off point, Merv and Bubs Mobil Servo for fuel and a regroup.
And if you have never been to Windorah Mobil , make a point of dropping in there if you ever get the chance.Merv, the fella that runs the place just happens to be blind and is a real character to boot... when we dropped in this time he was busy installing a radiator into a Commodore ute ..... :wow:
Originally we had planned to head into Birdsville and shoot across the French line to attempt a west - east crossing but the recent rains and associated flooding in the west meant we would have to continue north from Windorah up through Bedouri and Boulia and then across the Plenty hwy to get to our western start point, Mac Clark reserve.
Onward from Windorah we forged and after dodging the wildlife all night the powers that be must have decided a change was required and gave us these to dodge throughout the day.
t pays to give these fellas a bit of space .....
The plan was to make Jervois for our first stop over and generally speaking, after dropping onto the dirt north of Windorah the road is pretty much like this all the way, not much to do but sit and gnaw away at the distance in front .
Its always good to hit the first dirt after Windorah and about 1400 klms of tar travel.
Bit of water here and there slowed progress a little
The floodwaters were playin a bit of havoc with our travel, for the most part it was more of this though and you can cover some good ground on the big twins in this sort of going, All good !
We made it into Boulia somewhere around mid afternoon and with another 470 odd klm to Jervois it was evident there would be some night riding involved if we were to make our destination.
So with full tanks we ventured on
It wasn’t long and darkness was upon us and we soon encountered a problem with night vision on Scotts bike… no lights !
So we did a bit of roadside investigation but soon lost interest and decided to punch on for the remaining 100 odd klm into Jervois under the lights of my steed. Scotts bike had also developed a somewhat worrying exhaust leak somewhere in the vicinity of the rear pot, but again, in the darkness we were unable to find the source of the problem. Perhaps tomorrow in the daylight with the benefit of some sleep and some daylight things would be a little clearer.
And so it was, after about 26 hrs on the road and some 2400 klm behind us the first leg was done and dusted