nev
Super Térrarist
Back in the 70s, the Border Run started as an unofficial rally with little or no organisation where riders from both sides of the continent meet at the SA-WA border pub on the first saturday in August. Back in 2010, I left Melbourne with the intention of riding to the Border Run, but by the time I was halfway there it was apparent that my tyre wouldn't last the entire trip and I turned around at Kimba, which was about 60% of the way there.
This year I decided to give it another crack. I had taken a week's leave from work, giving me time to make it a bit of a leisurely journey (although your definition of leisurely may differ). Although it is generally regarded as a BMW event, the FarRiders have it on their calendar too, and these days more than 50% of the attendees are from the FarRiders forum. One of the very few "rules" of FarRiders is that to be given credit for the FarRide, you must ride at least 1000km during 24 hours at some time on your way to or from a FarRide meetup.
Having just bought the Super Tenere, and running it on on the Openroad Tourers Frosty Frolic ride two weekends before, the bike had it's 1000km service after that ride and I had spent some time preparing it for this ride (which means electrical work wiring up odds and ends that I want). The SuperTen comes with a GPS mount, but it's inconveniently located, so I mounted a crossbar on the bike and mounted the GPS on that. Also my autocom was wedged under the pillion seat, wired to the battery, and the bluetooth module on that wired in as well. As well, I only just completed mounting and wiring an LED light bar on the bike the day before I took off.
My alarm was set and I was all ready for a 5:30am start. As usual I woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep so I was on the road at 5:15 Thursday morning. I just headed up the Calder Hwy to Mildura, out to Renmark and then north to Terowie. It was only 950km so I had to do a bit of a loop out of my way out to Spalding and Jamestown then a couple of laps around the town of Terowie to make the GPS measurement click over 1000km for the day.
I was near Inglewood when the sun rose.
A cairn near Sea Lake marks the spot where a dog fence was erected which runs 145 km from Tyntynder on the Murray, north of Swan Hill, to the SA border in 1885
On the SA side of the Murray I stopped at one of the locks
The pelicans would watch the water coming over the spillways, and when they spotted a fish falling down they'd swoop in and get their lunch. In the few minutes I was here I spotted 2 pelicans going in for a catch.
Almost every time I have travelled through this area I have seen crazy cloud formations like this
There's a lot going on in Terowie. First there's the petrol station with a couple of motel rooms.
and then there... a petrol station with a couple of motel rooms. That's about it. The rest of the town is pretty sad and dead.
There's an old mechanics yard which is still filled with post WW2 era cars for parts and wrecking.
The railway station has seen better days. In the 1890s this was a booming place, where 150 people worked on the railway yards alone. Today the population of the town is barely that. Different railway gauges used to run north and south out of here.
If you know your WWII history, you'll know that after the Japanese invaded the Philippines, General Macarthur and his family escaped and headed south to Australia where he assumed command of all allied forces in the Pacific. He gave a famous speech to the press at the time now known as the "I shall return" speech, where he promised that he would return to liberate the Philippines, and the 90,000 American and Filipino troops who remained there. This is the railway platform on which he stood when he gave this speech. The stone marker here commemorates the occasion.
Some of the buildings of Terowie
Even this old pub which looks like it was only recently retired as a hotel is now a private residence. There is no pub in town. The nearest pub is now 10km down the road.
This year I decided to give it another crack. I had taken a week's leave from work, giving me time to make it a bit of a leisurely journey (although your definition of leisurely may differ). Although it is generally regarded as a BMW event, the FarRiders have it on their calendar too, and these days more than 50% of the attendees are from the FarRiders forum. One of the very few "rules" of FarRiders is that to be given credit for the FarRide, you must ride at least 1000km during 24 hours at some time on your way to or from a FarRide meetup.
Having just bought the Super Tenere, and running it on on the Openroad Tourers Frosty Frolic ride two weekends before, the bike had it's 1000km service after that ride and I had spent some time preparing it for this ride (which means electrical work wiring up odds and ends that I want). The SuperTen comes with a GPS mount, but it's inconveniently located, so I mounted a crossbar on the bike and mounted the GPS on that. Also my autocom was wedged under the pillion seat, wired to the battery, and the bluetooth module on that wired in as well. As well, I only just completed mounting and wiring an LED light bar on the bike the day before I took off.
My alarm was set and I was all ready for a 5:30am start. As usual I woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep so I was on the road at 5:15 Thursday morning. I just headed up the Calder Hwy to Mildura, out to Renmark and then north to Terowie. It was only 950km so I had to do a bit of a loop out of my way out to Spalding and Jamestown then a couple of laps around the town of Terowie to make the GPS measurement click over 1000km for the day.
I was near Inglewood when the sun rose.
A cairn near Sea Lake marks the spot where a dog fence was erected which runs 145 km from Tyntynder on the Murray, north of Swan Hill, to the SA border in 1885
On the SA side of the Murray I stopped at one of the locks
The pelicans would watch the water coming over the spillways, and when they spotted a fish falling down they'd swoop in and get their lunch. In the few minutes I was here I spotted 2 pelicans going in for a catch.
Almost every time I have travelled through this area I have seen crazy cloud formations like this
There's a lot going on in Terowie. First there's the petrol station with a couple of motel rooms.
and then there... a petrol station with a couple of motel rooms. That's about it. The rest of the town is pretty sad and dead.
There's an old mechanics yard which is still filled with post WW2 era cars for parts and wrecking.
The railway station has seen better days. In the 1890s this was a booming place, where 150 people worked on the railway yards alone. Today the population of the town is barely that. Different railway gauges used to run north and south out of here.
If you know your WWII history, you'll know that after the Japanese invaded the Philippines, General Macarthur and his family escaped and headed south to Australia where he assumed command of all allied forces in the Pacific. He gave a famous speech to the press at the time now known as the "I shall return" speech, where he promised that he would return to liberate the Philippines, and the 90,000 American and Filipino troops who remained there. This is the railway platform on which he stood when he gave this speech. The stone marker here commemorates the occasion.
Some of the buildings of Terowie
Even this old pub which looks like it was only recently retired as a hotel is now a private residence. There is no pub in town. The nearest pub is now 10km down the road.