Kakadu national park

It's the very end of wet season, so there's still a lot of water gushing down the rivers and streams - most of the park is closed for access. A shame, but understandable decision! As the water is high, animals are seeking refugee from higher grounds, crocks included. Even in dry season some of the more interesting places are accessible with 4wd only, and preferably equipped with snorkel...

Fording a stream with a motorcycle when there can be crocks in the stream just didn't appel to me at all! Combine that with soft sand and you've got a winner road ;-)

Moving on

Now that the rear tyre is sorted, I can continue towards Darwin to get the bike serviced, funny how the kilometers just appear on the clock!

Crossed over to Northern Territory and to another time zone, now +90minutes :) Terrain looks really nice with all the red earth hills and rivers going here and there, with the obligatory 'Do not swim'-signs, as crocodiles do live here too. Im taking this one seriously, I believe I already saw one small croc crossing the road yesturday...

The next fly in the ointment is that Qantas cancelled my return flight, have to re-arrange that soon, before all the good alternatives have been booked to other travellers. Sigh. I don't like flying too much, because all the hassle before and after the actual flight. Sitting in a cramped tube doesn't help either.

Bad day

It all started with a wrong choice of camping grounds - at Fitzroy's Crossing there's two, and the one near the town had just the most vile and pungent campers kitchen and toilets ever.

Later on, after making a really early exit , the rear tyre started to show the signs of being on its' last legs. The Toyota/Tyres-shop at Hall's Creek only suggested that either I ride 320km onwards, or I should order a new tyre that would be delivered by bus someday. And I should replace it myself... 0 points for service.

At least the roadside views were getting better, as I was limping towards Kununurra. Duct tape melted away in every 10 km or so...

All 10p for the Kununurra Small engines and MC shop, as they had a tyre, reasonable pricing and drove me to hotel.

Professional idiot

It's hot so drinking a lot is a good idea, starting from the very morning. I grabbed a can of fruit juice (made out of concentated juice) from supermarket, drank it down in one go, and wondered why it tasted much more acidic and sweeter than expected.

It was a juice concentrate, to be mixed with two liters of water before consumption.... My stomach didnt like this so much, but dilluting the concentrate in the stomach worked somehow by midday.

Between Broome and Fitzroys Crossing isnt much to report.

Asiaa satuloista

Tässä satulassa istuttujen päivien aikana olen pohtinut, pitkään ja hartaasti, minkälainen istuin puuduttaisi vähiten takalistoa. TPalonen on ollut sitä mieltä, että mitä kovempi istuin mopossa on, sitä parempi se on pitkällä matkalla.

Asiaa pohdittuani ja tuntemuksiani kuunneltuani, oma mielipiteeni on muodostunut erilaiseksi. Tiivistettynä hyvä satula on mahdollisimman leveä, reunaton ja napakka.

Ehkäpä tärkein asia on satulan muotoilu, sen tulisi levittää istujan paino mahdollisimman suurelle alueelle persmuksen puolella, sisäreisillekin pitäisi tulla osa painosta. Missään nimessä ei teräviä reunoja saisi muodostua mihinkään kohtaan, koska juuri ne aiheuttavat lokaaleja kipukohtia. Käsite pintapaine saattaa olla oikea kuvaamaan tätä asiaa kokonaisuudessaan. Oli oikea tai ei, käytän sitä tästä eteenpäin.

Myös ajovarusteiden ja kalsareiden saumat aiheuttavat epätoivottuja reunoja eli pintapaineen kohoamia, lyhyemmillä matkoilla tätä ei huomaa, mutta kun päivästä toiseen paikat herkistyvät, alkaa asia valkenemaan.

Pintapainetta voi alentaa monella eri tavalla, satulan kokoa kasvattamalla, muotoilemalla se myös sisäreisille asti ulottuvaksi, etukenolla asennolla painoa siirtyy käsille sekä sopivalla jalkatappien sijoittamisella saadaan jalat kannattelemaan osaa painosta.
Omat kokemukseni puoltavat kevyen kyykkyasennon parhaimmuudesta matkantekoa silmälläpitäen. Huonoin ja puuduttavin on ollut kruisaileminen jalat etutapeilla ns.kustomityyliin.

Etukeno ei ole erityisen raskas maantiellä, jos vain nopeuden saa pidettyä riittävänä - ilmavirta kannatelee mukavasti matkaajaa. Yksi syy, miksi karsastan täyskatettuja mopoja ;-)

Moni tuntuu karsastavan yli yhdeksänkymmenen asteen polvikulmaa, tuntevat sen epämukavaksi tai muuten ahdistavaksi. Kohtuuden rajoissa liikuttaessa olen erimieltä! Sopivassa koukussa ollessaan jalat kannattelevat oman painonsa (eivät roiku lonkasta) ja näin ollen vähentävät pintapainetta persmuksilta. Toki päkiät alkavat kihelmöimään aikaisemmin, mutta saappaita voi liikutella tapeilla eri paikoille tarpeen mukaan.

Satulan pehmeys tai kovuus ei mielestäni ole kriittinen asia, se vain avustaa muotoilun kokonaisuutta. Sitäpaitsi, täysin ylipehmeä satulahan on kova-istut päälle ja se painuu täysin lyttyyn pohjalevyn päälle...

Nyt moniviikkoisen tuttavuutemme jälkeen voin sanoa DR:n satulasta, että se sopii hyvin aktiiviseen ajoon, mutta varsinainen matkasatula se ei ole. Liian kapea, jolloin reunat painavat persposkia ikävästi, aiheuttaen epämukavia tuntemuksia. Satulan pituus helpottaa ongelman torjumista, mutta ei poista sitä.

Näillä pitkillä siirtymillä sitä kaipaisi allensa kyykkypyörää, ihan mukavuussyistä. Tosin soralla pystyajoasento on ihan must.

A long ride

South of Broome is more or less devoid of anything interesting. But it will likely change in the next twenty years or so, as now there are lots of new mines and construction sites. As soon as the families of the workers start to live here, there will be more than just mines, gas refineries and road trains around here. I dont think the families want to live in caravan parks as the workers now do...

The road trains seem to grow, or maybe its just my perceptions. In whichever case, this place inspired me to just ride forward, on and on for 850km. Argh.

Thanks to the good person

Well, I dont know how it happened, but the bike ran out of petrol only after 330kms! Usually the tank lasts for approx. 450km or a bit more, being the larger 22 liter one.

Thank you, to the good person who came there just minutes after I stopped and gave me lift to the nearest fuel station and back! (sorry that I forgot your name)

On the road side were these piles or whatevers, maybe termites? I didn't start kicking them, could have been a bad mistake...

Swimming with the fishes

Today went with an organized snorkling/swimming trip near the reef, so theres only few pics from the day. Otherwise, it was quite a memorable
one ;-)

Dolphins

Look! The people have gathered here, lets go and see what they're doing there, standing by the beach.. Turtle too joined the party!

Just after crossing over to North West, there was a curious collection of garden gnomes, in the memory of deceased friends and family. The Garden Gnomes of the Dead?? No idea.

For the record, the ride from Monkey Mia to the Coral Bay was pretty rainy, but it was warm rain, so I didnt bother with waterproof gloves. Unnecessary.

Up the coast

Nothing really special today, just some river gorges and Shark Bay, camping at Monkey Mia. This stretch of land is a tourist trap...

Aussie architecture

Honestly, after the Lonely Planet was advertising this Cathedral for its' archtectual values, I sort of expected more than this. It's not ugly, just not as special as advertised. Even the doors were plain functional, not carved with symbols etc.

Luckily I'm here more to look the nature :)

There was a place called Pink Lake that I rode by earlier, but the algae that gave the place its' color had disappeared. My guess is that this is where it relocatated itself. Or it's the chemical factory nearby (BASF).

Coral coast

Just when I thought that there wont be anything really suprising coming up, then they appear out of nowhere!

If anyone guesses right what the machine in the picture is, congratulations!

I doubt that the message is for me, but...

What a night

About two months worth of rain in one day, and the ground didnt soak it quick enough - fortunately the floor of the tent was still waterproof, so it kept the one-two centimeters of water on the ground outside... Still it was a quite damp night and I was happy to leave Kalgoorlie asap in the morning. 350km westwards the rain stopped and sun finally is shining again.

Camping inside kitchen shelter was an attractive option until I was pointed out that there's a crusader spider on the ceiling... Or what ever the big guy was, it was told to be one of the poisonous ones. So into the tent for the night. I wonder why I was the only one camping out there?

Didnt have much motivation left for tourism, I need sunshine for that.

Super Pit of Kalgoorlie

It's huge! And not yet in its' final size either... Looks like rain found me today, according to weather services the amount of monthly rainfall is coming down today. At least I got a book and a tent.

Old machines on the road

Some sort of veteran mobiles rally across Australia, maybe twenty of vintage machines were spotted!

Arrived finally to Kalgoorlie, despite a murderous head wind all the way. Maybe the weather is changing or its the cyclone Loa thats north of me.

Back in the saddle

It's hard again start riding, after almost a week of not really travelling it feels almost scary to be moving again. At least I got an idea where to go and what to see, and not just wonder aimlessly.

I was suprised near Wellington dam of the scenery, the lakeside looks almost like it could be from Finland!

The good, the bad and the f###ing bush flies

One more cave, the Ngilgi just next to the camp site, which I finally left today. But not before one more morning swim at beach;) After cave crawling I had an idea of visiting the light house nearby.

But that was a mistake,as the area was plaqued with the thrice damned bush flies. I just snapped few quick ones of the light house and stormed backto the parking lot. These flies are as aggressive as the worst of horse flies and aim straight for the eyes, nostrils or ear canals. Truly infuriating little demons, they are. Even DDT is worth consideration when used against these pests.

Oh, and I think I saw a pack of dolphins at the beach, but didnt go greeting the fins. Safety first, specially at unfamiliar waters.