In 1998, on the way to the Gold Coast in Queensland

In 1998, on the way to the Gold Coast in Queensland, we had a shocking first day. Stuff falling off bikes, mechanical failures, it was one of those days that you wish you start all over again, but after we had a few beers that night, the whole day was just laughable.

But a BAD day, nah, just a really funny day, everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.

Actually, come to think of it, Day 2 wasn't much better really, but it all looks so funny now.

And we had another one of those days in 1999, and that was on the first day too.

We left Perth in drizzly rain, and it just got worse the further we went that day. By the time we had ridden nearly 600kms in that shit, I'd had enough and wanted to go home and start again tomorrow, but nobody would let me. So we did the last 200kms in the worst rain you could imagine.

That night, we had a couple of drinks, a nice meal, and settled down for the night in the belief the rain would be all gone in the morning. The lying bastards, it was still here, waiting for me. I was already wet through from yesterday, and I was going to be even wetter tonight.

But as the ride continued, the weather got better, the ride became better, and eventually, it turned out to be a great ride. We still had a few minor hic-cups, but nothing that wouldn't go away. But a bad ride, no, I don't think so.

So, have we had a bad ride, not in my mind because sooner or later everything falls into place. It looks bad when it happens, but down the road when you look back at the BIG problems you had, they just added to the excitement of the ride. Just another hurdle to overcome, and another challenge conquered.

I don't think that any ride could be a BAD ride, unless the road just suddenly stopped………

Hang on a minute, there's still a bright side to that too.

You could just turn around and go back where you came from couldn't you.

So …… was it a BAD Ride ??? ……… Nah, just a different ride, that's all.

Besides, as long as you're riding, I don't think it could EVER be a BAD ride ……… could it ? ?

Wizard ………

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2001 South Australian State HOG Rally

I think all the Nullaboys and girls would agree with me that all of the rides we have done together have been great.

But the one that sticks in my mind as being one of the better ones was in September of 2001, when we decided to "just go around the block" and attend the 2001 South Australian State HOG Rally.

The rally point was in Clare, a small sleepy town in the middle of the South Australian Wine growing district and located in the beautiful Clare Valley.

Clare is a quiet little town, with one main street going straight through the middle, and, I guess, a population of about 3000-4000 people. Not very big, that's for sure, but a very pretty place and a great place to just kick back and relax for a couple of days.

Actually, most of our rides are to either State or National HOG Rallies, but if we were to be completely honest, we just use them as a place to do a "U" turn and head back home. We have more fun on the road there and back than we do the rallies.

Anyway, we left Perth on a beautiful Saturday morning, and headed north from our starting point of Gingers Roadhouse in Upper Swan. Today's journey was an easy 600km, just to get the posterior ready for the rest of the trip.

This was going to be one of our longer trips, and there were 4 Women, 9 Men, 11 Harleys, 1 Kawasaki, and a whole heap of gear loaded into the ute and trailer.

As it turned out, luckily we had the ute & trailer there, just to carry some of the excess baggage people had brought with them. It was going to follow us around on this trip for full 4 weeks and about 13,000kms in length and by the end of the trip, it was going to come in very handy.

And we expected to encounter a bit of harassment this ride too, from the police, as the local outlaw bikies had been out and around doing their thing during the last couple of weeks before we left. So the law enforcement department had begun flexing it's muscle, and had started to clamp down on groups of motorcyclists that looked a bit 'iffy'.

So, as we looked a bit 'iffy', and we were riding Harleys, and in a largish group, and in a bad climate for bike groups in general, one would expect that we would be pulled over by the police during the ride, just for a chat you understand.

So I decided to send them an e-mail, just telling them who we were, where we were leaving from, where we were going, etc, etc in the hope they would leave us alone to do the ride without the hassles and the odd cavity search.

Surprisingly enough, it must've worked because we never even saw a police car on that first day, well, not until we arrived at Cue, a small gold mining related town some 600kms to our north.

Cue, beautiful dusty old Cue. This is a typical old gold fields town, with one main street that the road trains rocket along on a daily basis. It's mostly populated with mine workers and their families, and a lot of indigenous aboriginal folk. I don't suppose they get to see to many groups of Harley riding people coming into town, especially stopping for the night.

So here we are, just rolling into town as the local copper comes around the corner and spots us. All of these grubby people, riding dirty Harleys, loaded to the hilt with camping gear and clothing, I'll guarantee his first reaction was to call for back up.

Anyway, we had been in town 30minutes or so and we had set up camp in the caravan park when the brave policeman, now armed with his side-arm and his ugly mate, decided to investigate this bunch of biker trash that had just rumbled into his quite little town.

Were they expecting trouble …Umm, I don't know … but after we had a few beers with them that night, they became great mates, and they still are today.

In the morning we left town, and headed further north, further into the old gold mining areas, through towns like Meekatharra and Kumarina, eventually arriving at Newman in the heart of the iron ore country.

It was here that we had our first major disaster, a bike that had decided to stop charging the battery and go no further. Luckily we had the trailer, and Luigi, our trusty driver, had his bike on the trailer, so off it came and on went the dead one. But we still had a small problem to over come yet.

Luigi had left the keys to his bike at home, some 1200kms away. After a beer of two, the ingenuity kicked in and we decided we could just hot-wire the bike and we were away again. Every problem has a solution, it just depends on how much alcohol you need to consume before you can think of the solution, that's all.

Day 3 and we off through some of the most scenic open roads we've ever travelled on, over mountains of iron ore, through valleys that have been carved by ancient waters and across the spinifex covered plateaus. If you don't go by motorcycle, you must be mad. Magnificent things are lost in blurred of vision by those that tour around by car. All the smells of the open country are missed, as are the smells of 2 week old road kill as well.

By bike, you get the good smells and the bad ones alike, but you have more fun doing the trip, wherever it might be to.

That night, we stayed in the camp ground out the back of the Pardoo Roadhouse, in the middle of now-where, and under a sea of stars from the sky above. With no ambient lighting sneaking in from the big city lights, the night sky was absolutely alive with stars. I have never seen so many in the sky, but I'm told that they are there every night for you to see. You've just go to go out into the bush to see them.

Day 4 and the early morning came to quick, again. It was time to dismantle the tents and get on the road, but today, we had to battle a crosswind, and it was bloody strong crosswind from the east, on our right. Nothing beat ridding for hours on end, leaning to your right. A great night was had in Broome, a B-B-Q, lots of healthy salad, and another night of the grog telling lies to each other.

We all remember the next morning very well. We stopped to get fuel in the morning at Roebuck, and everybody, and I mean everybody, was in the shop, eyes glued to the television, watching the early morning news flashes from the USA.

The date here was September 12, but it was still the 11th in the USA. People often ask "what were you doing when man walked on the moon, when JFK was shot, when September 11 happened.

Yeap, we know where we were, at Roebuck, trying to get fuel, but nobody would serve us because they were watching TV.

That night we stopped at Halls Creek, another BBQ, left over salads, and more beers. The local aborigines sounded like they were having a party, but we didn't get an invite. We didn't get much sleep either.

To Kununurra the next day, temperatures were getting hot, so were the bikes. A couple of them didn't like the heat much, or was that the high speeds they we asked to do in the heat. One of our ladies suffered a bit of heat stroke and tried to do some high speed slalom style riding.

Luckily we got her off the bike before she did it on her own.

Cold water was a must in the top end of Australia, and we were going through about 30 litres a day. We were stopping every hour to have drink, wetting the head and neck. We were trying to stay cool, but it was hot and it was hard on man and machine for about 4 days.

The early mornings were cool, but by mid-morning, the temperature was on the rise and some days it peaked close to 45*C, and it was humid. It's alright for the locals as they were used to it, but it hit us hard, riding with leathers and long pants on.

So be warned if you are planning a trip up there, take cool clothes, drinking water, and lots of it too.

By the time we got to Darwin, we were getting acclimatised to the heat and humidity, and felt much more at home than we did in the days before. And we were getting used to drinking lots of cold beer each day, which is a good way to keep up your fluid intake too.

A couple of days off to do some sight-seeing out and around some of the natural water holes, crocodile parks, and other tourist attractions, and it was back on the road heading dead south and into cooler climates again, or so we thought.

We arrived at Daly Waters, which is another place I the middle of now-where, and for a little place, off the main road, it can house a lot of people. The pub was full of bloody tourists, but the beer was cold, the pool was naturally warm, and everybody wanted a ride on the Harleys.

So after we washed away the dust with a few, it was time to scare the shit out of the tourists and a bus load of exchange students. Up and down the road the guys went, then swap passengers and do it all again. This went on for about 2 hours, but I was smart, I just sat in the bar and watched.

And I was glad that we had the trailer with us because I could see someone busting a bike tonight. They tried hard, and everyone had a ball, but we all rode out of town in the morning heading further south into that cooler climate

I think some one moved it, because we didn't find the cooler climate for about 4 more days.

Wauchope was the next night accommodation stop, but to get there we had to go through the bushfires outside Tennent Creek. They were burning off the roadside verges about 2 kms before town, and we had to hold our breath to go through the smoke. We nearly choked to death.

Tennent Creek is a strange place, they won't sell alcohol 2 days before or 2 days after pension cheque day to encourage the local drunks to eat. Can't quite work out how that works, I reckon I'd just load up with supplies 3days before the dry spell to get me through. But then again, I'm not a drunk.

Wauchope is a great place, a pub on the side of the road, nothing else. But we had accommodation out the back again like Pardoo, so it was have dinner and then another drink or three and sit around telling more lies about each other again.

After watching kangaroos wandering around the fuel pumps in the morning, we fuelled up and headed for Alice Springs, and the first sign of real civilisation for about 3 days.

It just so happened that we arrived on a big weekend of entertainment in the Alice too. They had the Henley on Todd Regatta weekend, and there's some weird people in that town. Fancy running around, in 40*C heat, on a dry riverbed, pretending your sailing. It was too much for me, so I went and had a couple of beers under the big tree back at the caravan park.

After a couple of days in Alice Springs, it was off to Ayres Rock, or as it is affectionately now know as Uluru. It's a fair haul from the Stuart Highway to the rock, and you need plenty of money to pay for your accommodation and food once you arrive. Yeap, and it's just a rock, albeit a big rock, just sticking out of the ground. And it's a long way to go to see a big rock, but we went anyway. It's one of those " Been There, Done That " stories, I think.

Back to the highway, and down to Marla for the night. Not much to do in Marla, even though it is a small town site, so we went to the pub / roadhouse / motel and had few beers and a couple of games of pool after tea. You have to be careful in this place playing pool, the locals can get a bit pissed off when you beat them, continuously.

Cadney Roadhouse for breakfast and then on to Coober Pedy. It was only a short run today as we wanted to leave some time to spend looking around Coober Pedy, because this is one of the weirdest places we have ever been to.

As you approach Coober Pedy, the landscape changes and white sand hills start to appear on the horizon, and not just one or two but hundreds of them, on both sides of the road. The sand has come from the many holes that the miners have dug in the ground looking for their fortune in Opals.

And they build their homes underground, some into the side of the hills, and if they're lucky, they strike it rich whilst they're digging the house out. But only if they're lucky and not too many of them were from what we saw.

If you get the chance, it's worth taking one of the local tours in Coober Pedy to check to place out too, very informative.

Leaving Coober Pedy early in the morning and heading south, it was cold, and I mean bloody desert cold. Even as the sun was trying to warm the landscape around us, you could feel the chill in the air was going to linger for quite some time.

At Glendambo, we had the best breakfast on the entire ride. It may only be a roadhouse, but it's certainly a good one, and if we do the trip again, this will definitely be on the overnight stop list.

Glendambo to Pimba and then to Port Augusta for lunch. From here we went on to Adelaide and stayed at our usual haunt at the West Beach Caravan Park for a couple of days. Whilst we're in Adelaide, we have a great time down at Glenelg and around Goucher Street enjoying the night life.

After the rally, it was pack up time and start heading for home again, across the Nullarbor. Some people think the Nullarbor his boring, but that's because they go like buggery and stop for nothing except food, fuel and a leak. Travel like that and every trip you do will be boring. Take your time, make the travel part of the holiday, and allow time for happy snaps.

This trip took us 4 weeks, and we covered just on 13,000kms in those 4 weeks and we had an absolute ball doing it.

And obviously, I can't tell you anything about what happened between the fuel stops during the day, or about the stuff that went on at the overnight stops because they're Nullaboys secrets and what happens on the road, stays on the road.

But one day, you might just bump into us somewhere, and you never know what might happen then.

Good luck from the Nullaboys …………

Every ride is a great ride, and this one was no exception either. This one we did in March 2003, to Sydney and back for Harley Davidson 100th Birthday Celebrations.

The group consisted of Radar [ driving the back-up ute ], Luigi, Snoopy, Pop, Springer, Grubby, Yo-Yo, Geo & Aud, and me [ Wizard ]. And we were a good group too, everyone enjoyed each others company and we were all looking forward to a good ride together.

We left Perth on Saturday morning March 1st 2003, and headed south down the freeway via Mandurah, Bunbury then Donnybrook, Manjimup, Bridgetown, Walpole and into Albany for the night.

Apart from a little bit of drizzle late in the day, we had an excellent ride through the south-west of Western Australia. When the sun came out from behind the clouds, the weather was quite warm, but the temperature dropped quickly when sun disappeared behind those clouds again.

We arrived into Albany late afternoon, and in a little drizzle. Thankfully, it wasn't enough to dampen our spirits, and we found our accommodation before the heavens opened up and drown us. It rained pretty heavily not long after we arrived, which had us confused about how, what and where we were going to eat dinner that night.

Thankfully, after commandeering the back-up ute, a fish & chip shop was located next door to a bottle-shop, so we were saved and a good feed and a few drinks were had by all that night.

We also had one of Pop's Fines nights, and you don't have to do a great deal to get fined. This night was one of the many to follow, and I suppose you could say that all proceeds went to charity. It actually went towards Lotto tickets, but as we won absolutely nothing during the whole trip, it all went to charity, eventually.

Day 2, and the rain was still outside, so it was a case of pack the bikes, and dress in our wet weather gear for the 180km ride in the rain to Jerramungup. And again, we were lucky with the rain disappearing into fine skies within minutes of us leaving Albany.

We bumped into Robin and Pauline Webb and their group not far out of town and had a bit of a chat with them. They had their bikes loaded onto trailers, surrounded by drums of fuel and other bits and pieces, also heading of their way to Sydney.

After we had fuelled up, it was on to Jerramungup for breaky, then Raventhorpe for fuel and Esperance for lunch. The guy at the Esperance servo said to go to the local pub for lunch as they did a great meal. So off we went to the pub, only to be told by the bar staff that they didn't do lunches on Sunday. Now what ?? Thankfully, we found a bakery, so we were saved again.

After lunch it was a leisurely ride around the coastline, past the Wind farm and then on to Norseman for the night at the caravan park. Needless to say that some of the boys found the pub, and they didn't go thirsty that night either. I think it must be called "Controlled Drinking" because they seem to wake up every morning in good spirits.

Our group of 10 expanded to 14 at Norseman with the addition of Dom, Lorraine, Benny & Bev who were waiting for us when we arrived at Norseman. They had decided to leave on Sunday and go straight to Norseman on their own as they had done the south coast trip the year before.

Day 3 and it's the beginning of the crossing the Nullarbor. This is the first time crossing on a bike for some, and it was an exciting time for them. They had no idea what to expect and they were looking forward to the departure.

The first part after Norseman is like most other country roads, a lot of trees and 191kms of bitumen to Balladonia, and our breakfast destination. I think it's always nice to get to Balladonia as I feel like I'm on my way when I get here, but I don't know why. It's still a hell of long way to Adelaide.

Balladonia to Caiguna and another 165km stretch of bitumen and calm weather to do it in. Just under 20kms from Balladonia you will hit the longest straight stretch of road in Australia, 146.6km of it. 90 Miles in the old language, and surprisingly, you don't notice it's straight as there's too much other stuff to look at.

Road kill for one, as this must be one of the major slaughter yards on Australia's roads. The amount of carnage on the road is phenomenal and it's a constant game of dodge the dead meat nearly all the way.

Past Caiguna and on to Cocklebiddy for fuel and a bite to eat for some and it's at this point that we have the first of 2 time zone changes and we lose 45minutes from our travel day. From Cocklebiddy to Madura Pass, down from the tablelands to the coastal plain and onto Mundrabilla, our oasis for the night. A pre-arranged BBQ for tea, and of course the traditional couple of beers and another carton of bourbon cans to wash away the dust of the day.

We sit around telling more stories of the day's travel, and these will eventually become travel tales that will become memories to be told on another trip somewhere. And we had another fines night, which cost most of us something for the Lotto kitty again.

Day 4 and it was decided that we should leave Mundrabilla at 6.00am the next morning, as this was another day when we lose time to the clock. But we had forgotten that we are travelling during daylight saving times and this time we will lose a full hour and 45 minutes. This puts us well behind for the day already and we need to keep moving to stay even close to on time, otherwise we will arrive late at the pub at Wudinna, and that could be disastrous.

First stop is Border Village just for fuel and then it's onto Nullarbor Roadhouse. This is a friendly enough place but too bloody slow to be fed and fuelled. When you have a large travelling group, everything moves much slower at these roadhouses, and as they're obviously not used to groups arriving. A small group would not be a problem, but a group of 14, all wanting fuel and food is too big and we lost an hour there.

This delay is going to cause us grief later on that day. We've only done 240kms, and according to the clock, it's now 10.45am. Because of the time zone change, it's taken us 4hours and 45minutes to travel the distance, and we have 750kms to do today. We're running behind schedule now, badly.

The pace quickens, and stops are now for fuel, toilet breaks and a drink only. We normally arrive into Ceduna at 1.00pm, but today we arrive at 2.45pm. Due to the group size, we've lost any chance of getting back some of the time from the zone changes, so we travel as normal and roll into Wudinna at 5.30pm, and hour later than normal.

The sun is still up, but it's late on the clock and we're under the pump to get cleaned up for dinner now. But I'm sure that we can still fit in a couple of drinks at the bar first. Some traditions never change, do they ??

After dinner, a group of us go for a walk around the corner and catch up with Dick Waters, the local baker and fellow HD rider, as he wanted to join the Nullaboys on the ride. Dick explains that due to work commitments, he'll have to catch up with us "down the road somewhere" in a couple of days. We share a joke or two with a couple of the boys, and tell some more lies and then we part company for our beds.

Day 5, 7.00am and we're on our way to Adelaide. Dick is finishing work so he waves us off and gives up a few local tips on the road and roo conditions ahead. The time zones changes are all behind us now, so we can relax a little and have a comfortable run into Adelaide, 535kms down the road. We arrive at around 2.30pm and check into to the caravan park for the next couple of days.

One person that was over the moon with happiness about arriving in Adelaide was Radar. He'd been driving the back-up ute and dragging his bike on the trailer for the last 5 days, and he was hanging out to ride. We had no sooner arrived in Adelaide on the Wednesday, and the bike was off the trailer, Radar was changed into his best riding gear, and he was gone.

Some of the others arranged to have a few minor repairs and services attended too, I caught up with GeeJay, a mate from yesteryear, and eventually, we all headed down to Glenelg for dinner, a few more bourbons, even more lies and a great night of laughs. Even a tram ride and a trip down Hindley Street was completed before bed time.

Geo & Aud were having a great time, and confessed to actually enjoying their first time riding with us. Apparently, somebody had warned them off about riding with the Nullaboys for some reason, maybe it was because we have fun, and it might be too much for them to handle. And why was Snoopy buying condoms all the time ?? Hmmm, some questions will just remain unanswered.

As for Radar ……well he was still out riding somewhere around the Adelaide hills, so we'll see him sometime in the morning I suppose.

Day 6, we have few sore heads, some blood shot eyes, and a lot more stories to embellish for the traditional pre-bedtime stories around the BBQ. And let me tell you that some of these stories they tell when they're sitting around that BBQ at night get bigger and better every year……but they're still as funny as hell, even after hearing them 20 times.

And Radar was happy, he'd done about 300kms around Adelaide last night, and he was smiling again. He was also up early, as usual, dressed and on the bike again before some of the guys were even out of bed. Going where??…… Who knows, but he was on the bike, so he didn't care.

Today was a lazy day to do what ever you felt like. Some washed clothes, others washed bikes, but Benny and Yo-Yo, well they just bought new bikes to save washing the old ones.

Another good friend, Julianne, was flying in from Sydney this morning, so I needed to be at the airport to pick her up at 11.40am. Actually, she was supposed to be arriving last night, but she got the days wrong when she booked the flight, and consequently missed the plane by 24 hours. It happens sometimes……

That night, most of the group headed for Glenelg again for the evening meal whilst Julianne and I head for GeeJays place for a couple of drinks, a meal and a big catch up on life. We had a great night, and from all reports, a lot of fun was had down Glenelg way too.

Day 7, and it was back on the bike and head south out of Adelaide for Ballarat to catch up with more people and make the group even bigger. It was chilly leaving Adelaide but the scenery going through the hills was breath taking. Breakfast was at Tailem Bend, and it was nice to have something warm in the stomach after the little ride out of town.

Tailem Bend to Bordertown was uneventful, and it was just a fuel stop as everybody was still full after breakfast. The temperature had warmed up a lot in the last couple of hours, and it was time to start stripping off the unwanted clothing. Then it was onward to Horsham for lunch.

Nothing much to comment on to this point, everybody just rode in formation, and we just covered the distance smoothly. From Horsham it was onto Ararat, where we picked up Stefan & Regina waiting patiently by the side of the rode for us. They had left Perth 2 weeks before us and travelled to Adelaide for a conference. But as they were heading to Sydney anyway, they did some tourist stuff, waited for us to come past and then hooked up with us for the ride to Sydney.

After the group greetings were over, it was off on the final leg for the day and into Ballarat to meet up with Johno, who was to guide us through outback Victoria and into Sydney over the next couple of days.

We're all travelling along well, obeying the speed limit were possible of course, and as we rocket through this town called Beaufort, we come to this little wayside pub on the side of the road. As I'm passing, I notice these 2 bikes parked out the front and realise one is Johno's bike, the other was his mates, Scott.

After creating havoc as we all try to slow down to do a 'u' turn, we get back to the pub, only see Johno with a glass of beer in his hand laughing at us. But what a mate, thinking of us like that and how thirsty we'd be are riding all day.

As we were only 15 minutes from Ballarat and our beds for the night, we stayed for about an hour, had a couple of beers, and told lots of stories about the trip and what he'd missed out on. From there, it was into Ballarat, and settle in for the night with another beer or three, a good feed with some good company. It's always good to catch up with a good mate that you don't or can't see often enough.

Day 8 ,and a few sore heads in the morning, but it was an easy day planned and we never left Ballarat until 8.30am, and that's late for us. Dom, Lorraine, Benny & Bev decided to part company here as they wanted to head to Echuca but we would see them again at the celebrations in Sydney.

For the rest of us, it was off to the Eureka Stockade museum for a look around and then onto St Arnaud for lunch at the Woolpack Hotel. A great little pub on the outside of town, and we were looked after very well by the publican and his lady. After lunch, Scott and his wife, who drove up to St Arnaud just for lunch, and headed back home to Melbourne.

From here it was off to Cobram, but as we seemed to just follow Johno's lead, I have no idea how we got there. I remember that we had a crosswind, a headwind and tailwind all in the one afternoon. And I remember seeing signs that indicated that were heading south when we were actually heading north, so it was very confusing and it was all just too hard to even try to work out.

Cobram was a great place to stay as it was Johno's hometown and he knew the publican. That made the accommodation cheap, the meals cheap and the alcohol very cold and very plentiful. And closing time didn't really exist, so it was a late night for some.

Day 9 and in the morning, it was off to Glenrowan, the last stand for our famous bushranger Ned Kelly, and breakfast. A bit of a walk around the town and wander through the tourist shop was a must. It's amazing how much crap one person can put into one small shop, but it was a tourist shop after all said and done.

By the way, if you happen to be travelling on the road from Cobram to Benalla, and you find a black leather vest, with the Nullaboys patch and the name "Luigi" on it, please forward it to PO Box 112 Mirrabooka WA 6941.

Apparently, it 'jumped' off the bike somewhere on that road and I'm not sure if there is a finders fee, but I'm sure Luigi would be happy to get it back.

From Glenrowan, it was on to the Hume highway and head north again for Albury-Wodonga, and then to Walwa and the Upper Murray River Resort. Sounds flash doesn't it and it wasn't too bad either.

Now our good mate Johno, being our road captain and sort of local, well he knew the way to get through this neck of the woods and bring us safely to Walwa, so we let him lead. And Johno wanted to make sure he did a good job of this, so, just in case he'd forgotten the way, he decided to check out the road map, you know, just in case.

So we all fuelled up on the outskirts of Wodonga, and off we went following Johno, cause he knew where to go. We went out to the Hume Weir and then back on to the main road to Tallangatta, and we past towns like Bullioh, and Keetong and eventually found the sign showing us the way to Walwa.

Now we could have gone straight past the Hume Weir and gone via the back roads along the Murray River, or we could have turned off just after Bullioh and gone along the Murray River. But we followed Johno, because he knew where to go, and he'd checked the map.

We turned left, at the sign, and followed John along the road, over the hill and for about another 3kms, and on to the gravel logging track of an unknown length.

So we bumped and we swerved and we slithered our way over another hill and down the other side and we just kept following Johno, cause he knew where to go. We were doing 15-20kph and it was shaking the guts out of us. This was the roughest track I'd ever encountered, I wouldn't have driven my 4WD on it, it was that bad.

And then to add insult to injury, 7.9kms later, we came up to a bend and here's a sign saying, ROUGH SURFACE AHEAD

ROUGH SURFACE !!! …… What the hell had we just been on ??? Better still, what the hell was coming up. But luckily for Johno only 100mtrs later and we were back on the bitumen.

We all stopped and had a good laugh about the track from hell, and we told Johno that he had a few drinks to buy to make up for this error in his leadership.

We all agreed it was certainly a different road to ride a Harley on, but as nobody was injured and we didn't have any bikes to fix, we just put in down to another travel experience and another story to be told later.

But that Rough Surface sign … well, that was definitely the highlight of that day.

Another 15kms down the road and we arrived at Walwa, and right on the corner was the pub, so guess were we parked. And our timing was impeccable, 5 minutes before the start of the 2003 Melbourne F1 GP, so we just had to stay and watch it whilst we had another beer.

Dick, the baker from Wudinna arrived about 5 minutes after us, and he came the right way to Walwa. He'd been chasing us all day and surprise-surprise, he found us at a pub. Amazing !!!

After a suitable amount of refreshment was consumed, we rode off and found our place of residence for the next couple of nights, and laughed about our day in the bush.

That night, we had a great meal and voted that next time Johno decided to take us down a logging track, we would not be following him. Next time ??? … There definitely won't be a next time. We'll kill him first and leave him for the dingos to eat……

Day 10, and luckily we decided on another day off because Stefan realises that his back tyre on the Granny has seriously run out of life. It bald and there's canvas hanging out of it everywhere.

It's Monday, and a public holiday in Victoria and NSW. The nearest bike shop is 100kms away in Albury, and his tyre won't even make that distance. So he decides to remove the wheel, strap it to Yo-Yo's bike and head for Albury to see if he can find someone to help him out.

The rest of us decide to follow Dick this time and go for a "short ride" around the local area. By the time we get back, Stefan has been to Albury, found a tyre shop, had the new tyre fitted to the wheel, returned to camp, put the wheel back in and is sitting back having a beer.

Thankfully, Dick only took us on a short ride, I'd hate to go for a long ride with him, we would be gone for a bloody month or more.

Day 11 and it's time to head off again, this time to Corryong and then to Khancoban for breakfast. We got some strange looks as we rolled into this sleepy little town at the bottom of the Kosciuszko Mountain Range in the early morning.

The view of the surrounding area was beautiful in the early morning light, but you could still see the scarring on the mountains from the recent fires that had swept through the area. Thankfully, they had had some rains and regrowth was very evident on the hills also, so all will be green and beautiful again soon.

As we rode into the mountains, the temperature started to plummet, and the cloud cover became heavier. The higher we rode, the thicker the clouds became and it was clear that we would get seriously wet for the first time since we left Perth. The decision was made to stop and put on the wets, and not before time either.

However, as we were getting ready to leave, it was noticed that Aud's rear tyre was going flat, she had a puncture. Everybody pulled up again, and advised we had a problem with a flat tyre. Pop jumped to the rescue, and as he has had some experience in this area before, it was left to him to fix.

Out with the tubeless repair kit, out with the offending nail in the tyre, in with the plug, and we'll be right in no time. Pop thought that is was a tubeless tyre but this this tyre had a tube in it, and the plug did nothing. It probably made the situation worse, but a can of tyre repair was inserted, and off we all went over the hills in the rain.

Eventually, after a few scary moments going down mountain, with roads covered in fallen leaves and rocks, we arrived at Thredbo in the rain. A quick squirt of air in the offending flat wheel, and it was off to Jindabyne for repairs. The sun came out as we waited and had lunch and that was the last we seen of the rain.

Geo & Aud took the bike to the local tyre shop and had the tube replaced while the rest of us sat down and waited at the local shopping centre, made a heap of mobile telephone calls to home. This was the first time we had service in 3 days, so there was plenty to catch up on.

From there it was off to Cooma, and onto Bega and finally Tathra for the night. Another great night of telling stories, and stretching the truth as far as possible. And after consuming many pre-dinner beers, then 9 bottles of Red wine, some Sambuca and a heap of other strange concoctions, believe me when I say it got stretched. But it was just another great night on the road, and it was very enjoyable.

Day 12 was to be a day of sightseeing as we travelling up the coast towards Sydney. We travelled back to Bega and then up the highway and then in to the fishing port of Bermagui, then back onto the highway and up to Narooma for breakfast. From there we continued north up the coast, going in and out as the scenery dictated until we got to our final destination of Shell Harbour, or more accurately the Lake Illawarra caravan park for the night.

They had had some rain in the preceding days before we arrived and the lake actually had water in it, which the locals where quite happy about. I sat on the waters edge for awhile watching the fish in the lake jumping out of the water catching insects, something that I hadn't seen before. Maybe it was because I had a beer in my hand, and it was good way to unwind from the day too.

Day 13, our last day on the road to Sydney, and it was quite warm, very humid, and crowded on the road. We thought that by departing later than normal, we would miss peak hour on the road and that would afford us an easy run into Sydney.

How wrong we were, it's seems it's always peak hour in this area. So we tried to keep cool, but in stop start traffic, it was hard. We went through to Corrimal, Bulli, Thirroul and eventually Coledale, but after asking the locals about the road ahead, we found that it was closed due to rock falls.

We had to wait a little while for the local road experts cleared then opened the road, which took us around the cliff face to Scarborough, but it was worth the wait. Up the hill to the lookout at Stanwell Park. Absolutely magnificent, and well worth the inconvenience of waiting for the road to open.

From here it was up & down through the mountain and back onto the freeway to Sydney. Stefan, Regina, Yo-Yo, Geo & Aud parted company with the main group as they had made arrangements to stay with family and friends elsewhere in Sydney. That left just 10 of us to by-pass Sydney and head out the back way through Liverpool and arrive at Julianne's house at around 2.00pm.

It was good to arrive, and it was very kind of Julianne to put us up for the 4 nights we were in Sydney. It made it a lot easier to get around when you have a local to point you in the right direction. And there was a pub across the road, so that was very convenient too. Lunch was late, but it was at the pub, as was tea that night. By the time we leave, we'll nearly be locals.

Friday, Day 14, and it was time to get bikes serviced, tyres fitted, clothes washed and just settle in to having somewhere to come home to for a couple of days. Friday night was the HOG only event at Homebush Stadium, and it was well worth the effort of attending, just for the entertainment alone. If you like it loud, and heavy, Angry Anderson and Rose Tattoo were there with both to bring it to you. Free food and cool drinks was a bonus, although the food was only just edible, and you had to pay for the grog. At $ 7.50 a can, let's just say that hangovers just didn't happen at that price.

Saturday Day 15, and we had been away from home for 2 weeks now, my how time flies when you're having fun. Today was a day shopping, and getting things sorted for the trip home. It was also the day we had chosen to head for Fraser Motorcycles in Homebush as they had a clearance sale on, and Radar loves a good clearance sale. I don't know how much he spent, but the Chubb Security van was seen leaving Frasers …… twice.

That night, it was back to Homebush and Olympic Stadium to see the Open Road Tour in all of it's glory. To the true Harley Davidson enthusiast, this would have been a dream come true. There were bikes from every era, the history of the motor company, stories on manufacturing … Hell, there was just so much to see and only so much time to see it in. You lose days here looking at everything.

This was definitely a once in a lifetime viewing experience, and a lot of effort had been put into this display by an awful lot of people. Even the rain couldn't dampen people's enjoyment of the night and with bands like Killing Heidi and INXS playing, if you didn't enjoy the night, well, what can I say.

And if you happen to be out west of Sydney, near Kingswood Train Station, and you see a leather vest with a Nullaboys patch and the name "Wizard" on it, please forward it to PO Box 112 Mirrabooka WA 6941.

I left it behind on the platform and some low life claimed it before I could get back to pick it up. And this one has got a finders fee attached, but I doubt I'll even see it again.

However, I would be happy to get it back, and don't worry about the blood stains that may happen to get on it when you take it off the prick that lifted it. I'll scrub them off later.

Apart from the inconvenience of losing the vest, and mobile phone that was in it, a great night was still had by the group, and it was well worth the effort to travel the 6,000kms to see the memorabilia of the first 100 years of Harley Davidson.

Sunday morning for me was down to the Telstra shop to arrange a new mobile phone. Johno left early and headed back to Melbourne as he needed to be back at work in the morning. Dick the baker left a little bit later and headed back towards Adelaide to sort out some personal matters before he went back to Wudinna to cook some more bread.

The rest of us, well we were on holidays so we did nothing unless we wanted too. We did however go to the pub over the road, just because it was there. That night, Julianne and her mum Colleen, cooked a meal fit for 7 kings, so we felt obliged to help them out by eating as much as we could.

We also helped them clean out the fridge as that looked as if it was struggling under the load of alcohol that was in it too. But as we leaving early in the morning, we didn't make the night too late, and hit the sack reasonably early.

Monday Day 17, and the return journey to Perth starts today. We were up early packing and loading the bikes ready for the trip. We had arranged to meet the other members on the side of the road at about 7.30am, so we couldn't afford to be running behind schedule. Pop might fine us again.

Good byes all said, and we're on our way. We pick up the rest of the people and its head west over the Blue Mountains. We took a detour through some of the scenic areas, but there was fog cover everywhere, so our views of the valley were hidden from us. We'll have to come back again and have a look then … And there you go, it's as easy as that. That's a good excuse for another trip to Sydney one day.

Anyway, we continue on and arrive at Blackheath for breakfast. After a hearty fill of food, we head of towards Lithgow and then, to where hero's are made and Bathurst, the home of the Bathurst 1000 around Mount Panorama. I'd been around the mountain circuit before, but some of the group hadn't had the pleasure. So their request was to set aside some time during the day so they could terrorise the mountains themselves.

How could I not grant their wish ??

However, as the Road Captain, I felt it was my responsibility to advise them that Mt Panorama was a public road and it was two way, and that there was a speed limit of 60kph. Although it is known as a magnificent race track one weekend of the year, it was not a race track all the time.

But did they listen?? NO, of course not.

As soon as I finished telling them the rules, they took off and at warp speed too. So I thought I should do the right thing and chase them to chastise them for not obeying the road rules. Damn I love that place.

After 20 minutes, I thought we should move on, before the local police arrived and gave us a hard time about facing the wrong way on the road. So we went to the National Motor Museum, which is in the same location, for a look around and a drink.

From Bathurst it was on to Cowra for lunch. We had a small problem with one of the bikes at Cowra. Bev's little Sporty didn't want to stop running, even after you took the key out of the ignition switch. It turned out to be a wire that had worn through and was shorting out and making a circuit though the chassis, so the bike's ignition was technically still connected. A quick trip to the local auto electrician and it was fixed with a bit of insulation tape over the offending area. 15 minutes later and we were on our way again.

From Cowra, we went down through the back roads to Young and then to Cootamundra, Junee Wagga and finally into Albury for the night. Stefan has been having problems with his left indicator shorting out his system and blowing fuses for the last couple of weeks, so whilst we were waiting for Eagle Boys to deliver our dinner, it was time to find the problem.

After nearly stripping the Ultra to a bare frame, it turned out to be a globe that was the problem, easily fixed once the fault was located, but a pain in the butt before that to locate the problem.

Day 18 and another early start in the morning, as we wanted to do a bit of sight seeing in Echuca on the way through. Breakfast was at the local bakery and then down to the Murray River to check out the paddle-steamers on the river. A lot of very old paddlers were docked, with some more moving about on the river, and most were restored to their original beauty of the late 1800's. They looked like a very relaxing way to move up and down the river.

From Echuca, we followed the Murray upstream to Swan Hill for lunch at the pub. The temperature was only in the mid 20's, but the wind was fairly strong and it made for hard travelling, so it made a good excuse to go to the pub for lunch and a couple of coldies to wash the dust down.

After lunch, it was onto Mildura for the night, and to catch up with another very good mate Witch, or Christine as she was originally named by her parents. Stefan volunteered to cook tonight, and being Swiss, he a Swiss styled cook up on the BBQ. Something different, but extremely tasty, and lots of clean plates at the end of it all.

Day 19 and Benny, Bev, Dom and Lorraine left us to ride onto Wudinna on their own as they were heading back to Perth without us. We had said our good-byes the night before, so they quietly slipped out of the caravan park, well as quietly as you can on a Harley. At least it was without too much disturbance to the locals who were still sleeping.

We left about an hour later and rode into the worst dust storm the farming area had seen in 30 years. You couldn't see more than 5 bike lengths in front of yourself sometimes, and after an hour of riding in the dust, all the bikes were an orange-brown in colour. And so were we…

We re-fuelled both the bikes and the bellies at Renmark, and then headed into a rain storm, so that sort of washed everything clean. Well, it washed the red dust into all the cracks of our clothing and made it look like we hadn't showered for a month or two. By the time we got to Adelaide, we really needed a shower, and bikes needed a good wash too.

Day 20, and we've all arrived safely into Adelaide again where we will stay for the next 4 days. This was planned as we had decided to attend the Clipsal 500 V8 Supercars event that was being held during the weekend.

But some of the guys had other ideas and plans to attend to first. Yo-Yo had to pick up his new Ultra-Classic that he had purchased on the way over. He was unable to collect it at the time we came through as his cheque had to clear first and a few modifications had to be attended to before he could take possession of it.

We ended up with all 9 of us receiving tickets to attend the event and many thanks to Tonto for saving them for us too. A 4 day pass, a special edition T Shirt, and a parade lap around the track on the Sunday before the big race, all for $25.00. Can't beat that for a good deal. After the parade lap, we were free to stay for the event on the Sunday, and our tickets gave us access to all parts of the circuit.

Some left to return to the caravan park to watch the race on the television, other stayed to watch it live, but which ever they chose, a great day was had.

Day 24, and Monday came around too soon however, and it was time to pack the bikes and depart Adelaide for the final leg home to Perth.

Departure time was 7.30am, and the weather was magnificent for us, as it had been nearly every day of the trip. GeeJay decided to join us for the trip home as he has family here and it was a good excuse to go for a ride and catch up with them.

We made good time getting out through the morning traffic, and arrived at Port Augusta for lunch. From there, it was easy to make the distances required as we had the sun and the clock rolling in the right direction. It's much easier to head east to west on the Nullarbor for this reason, and we arrived at Wudinna in the early afternoon.

We had a our first problem with the police upon our arrival into Wudinna though, as a couple of the guys decided to ride from the re-fuelling station to the hotel without putting their helmets on, which was sometime the local man wasn't overly happy about.

GeeJay spotted him on the main road, and quickly put his helmet on, but it was too late. He was spotted and as he pulled him over in the car-park across the road from the pub and started laying down the law to him, who should come cruising past without his on at all but Luigi.

Thankfully, Luigi never got spotted, and GeeJay got off with a caution, so I think they were extremely lucky. And from memory, I think GeeJay said it was a $230 fine and 3 demerit points from his license if he had of got busted. And that would make it a very expensive short ride.

As usual, we had a few at the bar, then got settled into our rooms, and then it was back to the bar for a few more, and eventually to tea. And as usual, the publican made more from the bar tab than he did from the room and meal fees. Things never change do they ??

Another wander back around to the bakery to say a last goodbye Dick and it was off to bed, as we were leaving at 7.00am in the morning.

Day 25, and it was on the road west again, this time it was breakfast at the Ceduna Bakery, which is another one of our regular haunts both ways across the Nullarbor. From there it was further west to Nundroo for fuel, and then Nullarbor Roadhouse for lunch. Nothing had changed here since we came through on the way over, same slow service.

After lunch, we headed for a few photo opportunities at some of the viewing spots along the Great Australian Bight. And they could've been great photo's too, except we had a patch of sea-fog rolling in which blanketed the sun out, so the shots were a bit plain. Hopefully, on the next trip over we'll get to take some more, and maybe they'll come out looking better.

More fuel at the border crossing and then through the quarantine station, and we were back into Western Australia again, but still 1500kms from home. Just another 88kms and we were at Mundrabilla for the night. A few more pre-dinner drinks and then it was into the restaurant for the roast dinner, with all the trimmings, that was waiting for us. And there was nothing leftover either.

Day 26, and only 2 days on the road to go. We left as usual, at 7.00am, and for the second time during whole trip, it looked like it could rain. But as usual, it didn't and we had to suffer with another great riding day again.

The first stop was the viewing area just above the pass as we went back up onto the tablelands above Madura. A great area to view what the land must have looked like, back in the early days, before we invented bitumen roads and motor cars.

10 minutes here, and off we went again towards breakfast and Cocklebiddy. Fuelled and fed, and it was across the short patch of road works and past Caiguna again, and back along the 90 mile straight, which still didn't seem that long.

Balladonia for lunch and fuel, and then on to Norseman, the end of the Nullarbor was in sight, and no major mechanical troubles again with any of the bikes. It's always nice to turn the corner at Norseman as I think it's just a relief in the back your mind when you get off that stretch of road. It's like you've accomplished the trip over again, and now your home and safe or something. Mind you, you're still 800kms from home.

We dropped into Widgiemooltha for a beer, just another tradition to be up-held, and then it was on to Kambalda. We went to a look-out, which overlooked all the salt lakes around the town, definitely a stark contrast from what we had been riding across for the last 3 days. And then it was just another 70kms to Kalgoorlie and our overnight accommodation.

Tonight, our tea consisted of 4 large pizzas and a block of beer. Yes, we were certainly back in the big smoke again, that's for sure. The guys were very well behaved, even though they ate and drank the lot between about 5 of them. But, to their credit, no sore heads in the morning.

Day 27, and the last day on the road of a great adventure. Kalgoorlie to Perth, 639kms, this was dead easy considering where we had been this trip, and the weather was still beautiful. The ride into Perth was easy, and amazingly, we still hadn't seen any police on the road, apart from Wudinna and the helmet issue. No speeding tickets, no license checks, nothing at all. Maybe we're starting to look too old to be doing anything wrong. That's a worry on it's own.

We arrived at the Darling range Hotel at 2.00pm, had a couple of drinks to celebrate the safe return and the good times we had had. Then it was a pat on the back, a shake of hands and then head off to our individual homes and to our families again.

Nearly 12,000kms all up, and trouble free apart from one flat tyre. Not bad considering we had anywhere between 10 & 18 bikes at various times during the ride.

And will we do it again…… Too bloody right we will. Nothing beats travelling through a great country with great mates, and having a hell of a time doing it.

Finally, our thanks must go to everybody who helped us along the way, and to those who rode with us for making it another memorable trip.

To Bruce & Jo at Mundrabilla, Tony and his staff at the Wudinna Hotel, Johno for his help with everything through Victoria, Radar for the use of his vehicle, and Pop for his sense of humour.

And a big thank you goes to Julianne and her family for our accommodation in Sydney, we hope we didn't destroy your home too much.

Now all we have to do now is start saving for the next trip. It's only 11 months to go before we head off again to somewhere else. To the open road with great mates ……

Long live the Nullaboys……

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