Planning and Preparation: first attempts

I mentioned under Camping that I got wind of a plan by a group of riders from the Sapphire Coast (that’s a strip of the NSW south coast around Bega) to embark on an outback tour through the middle and right up north – on road bikes,  so sticking to the bitumen. I expressed an interest; and so was invited to an early planning meeting one Saturday at the pie shop in Bemboka.

The plan, at that stage, was essentially to be on the road for three weeks in July (that’s winter in Australia – but, more importantly, it’s the dry season in the far north). We would head across NSW to South Australia; then north through Peterborough and Coober Pedy; into the Northern Territory, with side visits to Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Alice Springs; eventually to Darwin; then to Kakadu; south to Katherine; across into Gulf territory through Cape Crawford and Camooweal; and finally Winton, Longreach and south for home.

I had a sort of fatal attraction to it all, but tempered by the frustration of not having my GS and being able to get off the tarmac; and by an apprehension at the several successive days of very long distances needed to complete the trip in the allotted time, which was the most several could devote to it.

However, I went along with planning and got more enthused as I got into the research. I rationalised that a more adventurous trip could always come later (after the world stopped convoluting and the Government fixed the economy). For now, this was an opportunity to be grasped – if only because of some sort of Cabaret syndrome. (I‘m not expecting an invasion – just conscious of the passing years.)

I’ll deal with the planning of routes and timings under Meanders in Oz. Here I’ll stick to camping preparations.

Prompted by a combination of concern to mitigate the stress of successive days of long rides and of increasing excitement about  the many places of interest along the way – and even not exactly along the way, I started to look for some options. What started as a plan to add a day or two at either or both ends, evolved into an extra two and a bit weeks; with some considerable diversions off the planed route. There’ll still be a core two weeks or more when we will be all together through the Northern Territory and North Queensland.

The three areas that have captured my interest – in addition to all the originally planned places we will visit – are the final stages of Murray River/the surrounds of the mouth of the river/Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia; the Flinders Ranges in South Australia; and the north west Queensland area around Winton and Longreach.

At this stage, I have a provisional itinerary, built around the original prepared by my Sapphire Coast fellow travellers (no past ideological connotations intended). I’ve reproduced it below in case readers might be interested or have good suggestions.

My Big Trip North: June, July, August, 2009

This was the Indicative Itinerary – but all this will change now that I have deferred the trip

 

Date

From

To

Km

Sun 28 June

Canberra

Griffith

370

Mon 29

Griffith

Wentworth

470

Tues 30

Wentworth

Morgan

309

Wed 1 July

Morgan

Murray Bridge

179

Thurs 2

Murray Bridge

Pt Elliot

140

Fri 3

Pt Elliot

Clare

337

Sat 4

Clare

Rawnsley Park

331

Sun 5

Rawnsley Park

 

0

Mon 6

Rawnsley Park

Quorn

223

Tues 7

Quorn

Woomera

221

Wed 8

Woomera

Coober Pedy

376

Thur 9

Coober Pedy

Curtin Springs

650

Fri 10

Uluru

Olgas

285

Sat 11

Uluru

Alice Springs

370

Sun 12

Alice Springs

 

62

Mon 13

Alice Springs

Elliott

760

Tue 14

Elliott

Litchfield

725

Wed 15

Litchfield

Darwin

150

Thu 16

Darwin

 

0

Fri 17

Darwin

Jabiru

258

Sat 18

Jabiru

Katherine

330

Sun 19

Katherine

 

0

Mon 20

Katherine

Cape Crawford

540

Tue 21

Cape Crawford

Camooweal

630

Wed 22

Camooweal

Mt Isa

189

Thur 23

Mt Isa

Winton

469

Fri 24

Winton

Longreach

180

Sat 25

Longreach

Mitchell

615

Sun 26

Mitchell

Springfield Lakes

554

Mon 27

Springfield Lakes

 

0

Tues 28

Springfield Lakes

 

40

Wed 29

Brisbane

 

20

Thurs 30

Brisbane

 

20

Fri 31

Brisbane

x

0

Sat 1 August

x

y

0

Sun 2

y

Home

1376

TOTAL KMS

11039

 

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