Claire and I joined the other participants on Pyrmont Bridge for the official start and the police escort out of Sydney. What a disaster the police escort was. Confined to one lane we crawled through the inner suburbs whilst the few cars that were on the road zoomed past in the one or two vacant lanes around us.

I managed to accidentally (honest) get past the police escort and found myself on an open road with very little traffic and moved along quite freely to the Motorway and out towards Liverpool and Campbelltown.

I decided to continue on through the Southern Highlands to Bungendore rather than take the Adventure Route through Nowra-Nerriga-Braidwood as I have done this road a number of times before and didn't feel the need to go over old territory.

After a quick lunch with several of the Canberra crew (who had taken the highway all the way to Goulburn) I decided to rejoin the Adventure route. I headed out to Captain's Flat via Hoskintown. From Captain's Flat I continued south for approximately 20 kms before turning left onto Anembo Road, a gravel road that leads up to Mt Anembo. After about 10 kms I turned right onto Slap Up fire trail. The standard of road declined to a rougher gravel and stone track that continued up to the top of the ranges. The road was quite slippery in patches due to loose stone and then became just two wheel tracks with grass growing in between. I was moving quite quickly (about 80kph) but still taking it easy as I was well aware that I was not on the official route and there would be no support vehicles sweeping this route. From the state of the road there may be no vehicle at all along here for many days. After about 20 kms of this I was back onto the official route and a smooth high speed gravel road.

I cruised along on this road for 15kms before hitting a few potholes and then realising that my left pannier was missing. There was no sign of it where I had hit the holes so I slowly rode back over the last 15kms looking for it. Nigel McFarlane joined me for a while but we didn't find it. I then turned back onto the fire trail as it was much rougher and I figured it was more likely for the pannier to have detached on that part of my journey. After a few kilometres I realised that the bike was handling differently to what it had been on the way down - due to the weight imbalance on the right side - and therefore I figured that the left pannier must have come off on the main road. Just as I came to this realisation the right pannier parted company with the bike and bounced off into the scrub. At least I noticed this one going.

A quick inspection of the pannier and the bike revealed that the rail that the pannier attaches to had broken. There was no way the pannier was going stay on the bike so I transferred my remaining clothes into a duffle bag I was carrying and headed back to the main road. My anger at losing the first pannier had now turned to bemusement. Having one pannier go down the road and go missing in the scrub was upsetting, having the second go down the road was just plain ridiculous. I could only laugh.

I continued on to Numeralla and headed straight to Cooma and then onto Thredbo. I had experienced enough of the adventure route for one day.

Tuesday

The next major riding day was the run to Echuca on Tuesday. Claire and I left early and travelled through the snow up past Thredbo and then into Dead Horse gap.

After being a bit cool to start with the weather warmed into a comfortable day and we continued on towards Khancoban. Going up the tighter corners leading to Khancoban I encountered the first of many riders on the safari who would go like crazy on the straight, then scare themselves silly in the corners, slow right down and hold up other riders then go like crazy on the straight as I tried to overtake. They were a real menace, slowing other riders and making overtaking more difficult then it needed to be.

Once through Khancoban the adventure route turned right to follow the Murray river on the northern side through Jingellic and onto Wymah Ferry whilst the touring route went on the southern side.

Shortly after taking the adventure route turn-off I stopped to retie my luggage. I was interested to see Claire pull up behind me. "Do you know you are on the adventure route?" I asked. " No" was the reply. "I was just following some guy on an R1100S. I thought this must be the touring route." After setting Claire back on the correct route I continued on the adventure route with Ben (R80Gs) and Peter (1150GS)from Melbourne, David Arton (Club member from ACT -1150GS) and Ian (Kiwi from Sydney on a R100GSPD).

Shortly after we hit the gravel we came across a K1100LT and an R1150R doing a U turn. Obviously they too had followed the R11S. The R11S was encountered a bit further along on the gravel and he stopped for a chat at one stage. He knew he had taken a wrong turn but was travelling quite well on the dirt and was obviously enjoying himself. He was going to get back onto the touring route later on.

About this time two riders on R80GS' both left the road on a left-hand corner. First rider (Greg from USA) had gone in too fast, the second rider (Ben from Melbourne) had just been following the first rider and followed him off in the dust. No damage was done and after picking them both up we continued on through Jingellic.

The road continued to wind alongside the Murray, with some great views of the river and the surrounding country.

Just before the Wymah ferry, Peter went into a corner too hot and put his 1150 GS into an embankment. It was a slow speed off in the end, but his cylinder head had came into contact with a piece of wood with enough impact to crack off a few fins and split the cylinder head.

He limped onto the ferry and stopped on the other side for an inspection of the damage. It was decided that David and I would accompany Peter into Albury for repairs and Ian and Ben would continue on the adventure route.

We had timed our arrival at the ferry to perfection. I don't think the dragon lady who drives the ferry think has ever had so many customers in one day and she must have been feeling a bit overworked. A sign at the ferry asked us to honk our horn to attract her attention so I think she must spend most days lounging in the sun or fishing rather than operating the ferry.

Our trip across the Murray was to be her last before she took her one-hour lunch break. The half dozen bikes that couldn't fit on our ferry trip would not have been impressed with the extended delay.

Oh dear (or words to that effect), what have I done? Once in Albury we had a quick stop at a Repco shop for high temperature silicon, and at the BMW dealer to see if they had had a spare cylinder head (no). The local welding experts were out of the town for the day, so it was off with the rocker cover and a bit of silicon on the inside of the cracked head and heaps more outside. After waiting for the silicon to set and cleaning the oil off the bike we had lost a couple of hours so we decided to get to Echuca via the touring route. It was flat straight and boring. Apparently the adventure route was the same although one straight section had claimed a rider who got caught up in the sand drifts in the middle of the road. The result was one damaged rider (collar bone and ribs) and a very second hand R11GS.

Wednesday

Wednesday was a "rest day" but the adventure route included a run through Barmah National Forest, which sounded pretty interesting. I set off at 10 am with the same crew I had been riding with on Tuesday. The run up to Barmah Forest was pretty good. Good smooth gravel through farming country and native forest alongside the river. Only drama was a sharp right corner that was a bit hard to see in the dust saw a few riders off into the bush. There was plenty of run-off space so no damage or injury. After Barmah township we headed into the forest.

It was a good road surface again with tighter corners as we got into the forest itself. I was surprised to see a number of people walking beside the road and also some building just inside the forest. Apparently there is an aboriginal cultural centre (the Dharnya Centre) on the edge of the forest which provides information about the forest.

A locked gate on the road caused a bit of a surprise for me and judging by the skid marks, a few others as well. (These roads had actually closed by the Parks and Wildlife people and we shouldn't have been riding on them) We were able to avoid the gate and ride around it without any damage or major delay. Once in the forest we spread out a bit due to the dust and covered the 40-km loop quite quickly. The only points of interest were a single water crossing and a section that had been wet recently, which had a number of ruts caused by wheel tracks. A couple on a R100GSPD had been caught in the wheel tracks and had gone down resulting in broken wrist for the rider and some damage to the bike. Some riders had already gone off to contact the recovery vehicle. (The recovery crew would have to deal with the little matter of the locked gates before they could get to the crash scene). You can have that all on your own Nigel.....

After that it was plain sailing back to Barmah pub for the off road school at 1.pm. Unfortunately I had lost some bolts out of my instrument panel and it was bouncing around way too much. I had to miss the school as I headed back into to town to chase up some bolts to ensure that the bike would be ready for tomorrow's run to Warrnambool.

Thursday

Another fine day, only just a bit cool with the prospect of a hot day ahead as we travelled to the coast. I met Dave near KFC at 7.30am and we headed out of town. Only got a few kms out of town and saw Gerry and Mara from the NSW Club stuck on the road with a flat rear tyre. There was nothing we could do for them, so we left them to it. Gerry had a temporary fix kit and would plug it and head back into town to get a professional job done.

The first part of the day was flat and pretty straight. The roads were good, hard based gravel and we cruised along quite easily without seeing too many bikes, although we did see a few touring route riders as we crossed their path near the Burke and Wills monument.

Then it was into the historic town of Maldon. This town was originally settled in the 1850's as thousands of people flocked there seeking gold. The gold petered out, most of the people left and many of the buildings were moved to other towns, however the remaining buildings and town remained virtually unchanged over the years. In 1965 the National Trust of Australia gave Maldon the first ever classification of "a notable town" for its unspoilt historic character.

Whilst stopped here we caught up with Ian (Kiwi R100GSPD) and Nigel McFarlane (R100GSPD). (After a quick morning tea we continued on our way.

After Maldon we had about 40 kms of tarmac with a mix of tight corners and sweeping bends. We had spread out a bit when I started seeing the marker crew on their bikes coming towards me. Either I was very lost or they were. Turned out they were. Good to see that even the organisers get lost on these routes occasionally.

About 15 riders had to wait on the edge of the forest as Stephen Marshall and crew tried to find the correct road. We all had about a half-hour rest on the edge of the forest as the marker crew sorted out which way to go. Nigel and I waited until the others riders had gone ahead and then ventured into the forest. Dave and Ian had not shown up and we wondered what had happened to them, however by this stage Stephen Marshall had marked the correct track into the forest which was a few kilometres back up the main road, and it was likely Ian and David had already found that road.

The road through the forest was pretty much just one lane and mostly gravel before it climbed into the ranges and changed to looser gravel and small rocks. We rode fairly slowly enjoying the scenery and the challenge of the road. After about 30 kms we left the forest and headed into Ararat for lunch. Once again we caught up with the route marker crew who had stopped for lunch. These guys really are human after all. First they get lost and then they stop for lunch. I am no longer in awe of them.

David and Ian had joined us for lunch in Ararat after getting a bit lost in forest. After lunch we headed south. About 40 kms from Ararat we turned off the main road and down a nice gravel track.

The gravel track soon turned into a sand track. Unfortunately I was leading our little team and as over the remaining 150kms to Warrnambool. He need not have worried as we had left the sandy soil behind, and the area around the edge of forest had received 1 and a half inches of rain about two days before we arrived. So there was no sand - only mud.

Our first glimpse of the water came after about 2 kilometres and the water was notable for the wildlife in it. In particular a large black R11GS which was wallowing in the mud in an effort to cool down or shelter from the sun or something.

After some coaxing the big beast continued onto the next water hole where it performed the same trick.

We followed tentatively and encountered about 6 similar stretches of road (up to 100 metres long) covered with varying levels of water. Of course after the 20 bikes ahead of us had gone through there was plenty of mud and it was difficult to discern a safe path through the water.

By this stage our little group had expanded to include a couple from New Zealand on a F650. We took turns at being first to tackle each section, having to guess which route was the best through the mud and water. After a successful negotiation you got to sit back and watch the others come through before someone went ahead to forge their way through the next section. It continued on like this until we eventually came to the end of the forest road and moved onto an easy winding gravel road. After a few kilometres of this we hit the tarmac and had a high speed trip south to Warrnambool to finish the day at around 5pm.

Friday

No adventure route for me today as I joined Claire for a run along the Great Ocean Road and then into Melbourne. I had missed the off road school the day before my sand riding skills were not up to standard. Once the front of the bike started to wobble so did my confidence and shortly after both bike and myself were lying down in the sand for a rest. Finding his preferred route through the sand blocked Ian and his PD also decided to lie down. Nigel and David got through okay but a few other tired riders and bikes followed my lead and rested in the sand for a while.

After about 3 kilometres of sand we were back on gravel for a short while and then onto tarmac for a few kilometres before getting back onto a dirt road that skirted around the edge of some native forest. After the sand track, Ian had expressed concern about how much sand we were likely to encounter

Saturday

The adventure route and touring route today were similar. Out to Marysville and then onto Reefton spur. The adventure route included about 30 kms of dirt around the side of Mount Donna Buang. It was a mostly easy gravel road around the edge of the mountain. After a brief detour to the top of the mountain I discovered the best part of the ride.

It was the 30 or so kilometres of narrow tar road that twisted through a rain forest around the side of the mountain. It was fantastic. A smooth tar road with good visibility, nice rain-forest surroundings and no other traffic. It went close to being the highlight of the entire trip.

Also in this area is an elevated viewing platform/ walkway (skywalk) which allows you to walk above the rain forest floor and get up close and personal with giant 250-300 year old, 60m tall, mountain ash trees. These are truly amazing trees and well worth the visit.

Mt Donna Buang also has snow on it in winter time if you are in the area and feel like building a snow person or just want to throw a few snow balls. But why wait until winter when you can go to Thredbo and do the same thing now.

Once at Marysville I was able to sign up for a ride on the 1150GS. A quick ride out to Buxton was made more interesting when farmer brown decided to cross the road on his tractor and hay cart just as the leading riders rounded a sweeping corner at slightly illegal touring speeds. We all survived and the return trip was more sedate.

After the test ride I headed to Reefton spur and then back into the city. I thought the adventure riding was over for the day but after 45 red lights, numerous Magna drivers, trams and the congested streets around St Kilda I eventually made it back to the Aston Apartments.

The adventure riding part of the safari was over and I can't wait for the next one. Roll on South Australia in 2003.