Sydney Opera House

It is hard to believe that two Wyoming hicks would be attending a function at the famous Sydney Opera House!  Well, we did! 
We arrived in Sydney on Monday May 27, 2013.  It was a cool, cloudy ride from Bathurst.  We found a hotel on Hotwire about 2 KM's from the opera house so we figured out how to use the train to go down to the harbor and checked out the area.  Once we got off the train the skies opened up and poured rain on us.  "Should we buy an umbrella?" someone asked.  "No, we do not need one" someone else replied.  We both looked like drowned rats, then we bought an umbrella. 

Bridge from the harbor.

 



John Spick took Carl to purchase new Air Hawk Seat cushions!  Our Bums say "Awwww" now..

 

 

 

We completed a Far Ride

A thousand K's in less than 24 hours. What better place to start a Far Ride than in Nevertire!

 

Outback

We left Brisbane on May 6, 2013.  We headed north to Rockhampton which runs along the eastern edge of Queensland.  The scenery was beautiful with lots of greenery and trees.  The roads were two lane highway in good condition.  At Rockhampton Carl stopped and said "I am tired of looking at all these trees, lets go inland."  So we turned west and the country opened up. It reminds me of eastern Montana and Wyoming, the trees and animals are different.

  Carl is liking the Outback! 

 

 

 

 

 

 We got hung up in Longreach, had planned on staying there 2 nights so that we could check out the Qantas Founders Museum and the Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame and Outback Heritage Centre and ended up staying there for 3 nights.  The hotel owner, Roly, took us for a tour of the town (approximately 3700 people) one afternoon. 

 

 

The first morning we were in Longreach, we went to the Saddle shop because the engineer who designed the seats for those VStroms must be saddistic animals.  Needless to say our bums were sore and could only do about 100KM's before we were skirming and needing to get off the bikes.  The folks at the saddle shop, Phil and Jayne, were a great help. 

 

 

 

Between the 4 of us we came up with a plan to use a gel pad and top it off with some good Australian sheep skin.  Phil sewed some velcro straps on to the sheep skin to hold it in place.  Well, the results were better, we can now go about 200KM's before we are howling in pain. 

 

Jonnie and Jayne at the saddlery shop

 

Phil

 

The Stockman's Hall of Fame had many exhibits detailing the settlement of Australia, the pioneers, the outback properties, stock workers and a display of the Royal Flying Doctor Service.  This is a wagon of display that hauled the wool.

 

Carl at the Qantas Founders Museum in Longreach

 

The road into the Outback are narrow, 2 lane roads and have these huge road trains on them. The truck drivers do not hesitate to make sure you know they are King of the Road.  They get right on your hiney and follow very closely and that "bull bar" in your rear view mirror looks enormous.  They are pulling 3 heavily loaded trailers.

After leaving Longreach we went to Winton and toured the Waltzing Matilda Centre.  There were a surprising number of exhibits there devoted to the song.

 

 

 White Mountains National Park

 

 

 

 

Not quite as high as the mountains in Wyoming.

 

May 3, 2013

May 3-5, 2013

We are here in Brisbane.  The flight from LA was about 14 hours.  Jonnie was able to sleep but Carl watched movies until about 4AM.  We left LA at midnight on April 30 and arrived in Brisbane and 7AM on May 1.  Crossing the International Date Line screws you up.  I think it will be worse going home.  When we got out of customs and immigration there stood Cam and Kath with big smiles and hugs.  We have officially met our new good friends.  It feels like we have known them forever.
Carl and Cam worked on the motorcycles getting them ready to ride.  Carl had made wiring harnesses for the GPS mounts and plug in for heated clothing before we left home.  These have been installed, new windscreens, bar backs and they are all ready to go since Cam had serviced both of them before we arrived.  We got the bikes transferred into our names and the insurance taken care of.  They are ready to go!
Kath and I rode in the International Women Ride Day ride.  There were about 50 women riders of all kinds participating.  Great day and great ride. 
Saturday we went for a very nice ride, there were 8 riders, Cam, Kath, John, Clint, Charleen, Paul, Carl and I. We saw some great countryside, twisty roads 

 

We stayed with Kath and Cam Neilsen in Brisbane.  Kath and Jonnie went for a ride with approximately 50 women for the International Women Ride Day.  Great ride and beautiful countryside.

 

 

 

 

Glass House Mountains, outside of Brisbane

 

 

On Saturday 8 of us took a nice ride up and down mountain with nice twisty roads.

 

The girls that ride, Charleen, Kath and Jonnie

                                                  Cam, Clint, John, Jonnie and Carl

                                         A famous Australian cartoonist had the pub, Ettamogan.  On top of the building is a pickup truck, the walls and roof were bowed and the whole place had a sense of humor,

 

John Spict, escorted us from Brisbane to Gympie.  We had lunch at McDonalds and went our separate ways.  We are now on own to remember to stay on the left side of the road.

 

Cam and Kath Neilsen, our hosts in Brisbane.  We try enjoyed meeting them and feel as if we have known them forever.  Jonnie bought Kath's Suzuki 650 VStrom and Carl bought a 1000 VStrom from Terry, a friend of Cam's



 

April 29, 2013

April 29, 2013

Here we sit all nervous and excited in the Billings, Montana airport, 2 full hours before our flight.  Bags are checked, bodies are scanned, and Jonnie got the extra personal pat down.  We fly from here to Salt Lake City to Los Angeles and finally arriving in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia on May 1, 2013 @ 0700. One 650 Vstrom and one 1000 Vstrom wait for us there. Our good friend Dan drove us here so we do not have to leave the vehicle for 3 months.   Carl just got off the phone with Mark Reis. Got to check in with our electronics guru before we leave.

While it is customary to give a thank you to everyone that has helped or aided you at the end of an adventure, we feel it is important to thank everyone that has made the journey possible, at the beginning. 

Dan and Melody Bircher for watching over our business, doing the mail and keeping the “empire” running.

Aaron Ashear is housesitting and mowing the lawn for us these next 3 months.

Cameron and Kath Neilsen in Brisbane, sold us one motorcycle, found us the other one, stored both bikes at their house for the past month or more.  They will pick us up at the airport, take us to their home, help us get the bikes registered and insured and they are planning a group ride for us so that we can get used to riding on the wrong side of the road.  Cam insists that they drive on the right side of the road but in reality we ride on the right, they ride on the left! He retorts that it is the “correct” side of the road.   On top of all of this he had spent time on the phone checking into insurance for us, finding someone to do a short term policy and passing on to us what information we need to bring with us and he serviced the bikes.

Cliff Clevenger all around handy man that can fix or repair anything that goes wrong at the home front while we are gone.

The IBA and LDRider for their collective knowledge and encouragement.  

Far Riders, what a great bunch of people. The bikes we will be riding, offers of accommodations were all possible through the connections we made through their forum.