Bruce, Simmo and Heidi trip and live travel map

[Heidi1]

Bruce: Funny as f***, I got to the bottom of the drop off on my bike and heard a grunt from behind, looked over my shoulder towards where Heidi had stopped just in time to see her doing a gracefull controlled end for end body roll down the embankment. There were arms, legs and bright red hair flying everywhere, all under total control of course. To give her credit she had had hardly stopped rolling when she jumped to her feet and scaled the hill to hit the kill switch on her bike. Took me a second to realise that a busa headlight wasnt normally at ground level, by then it was all over.

Heidi: Yes, funny as f***. I'm still laughing. I tried to save her, I really did, but fully loaded and with a full tank, it was all but impossible. Bruce and I struggled on the side of the road, but we got her upright on the second attempt. Anyone on the route got a spare brake lever? She is scratched like you would not believe, but it is all cosmetic. I'll post a picture.



We set up camp with a minimum of fuss, I made a legend of a fire



and Simmo and Bruce cooked the snags.



Simmo, champion packer and loader, turned around with a bottle of Southern Comfort, two litres of coke and some plastic glasses! We ran tarps from the side of the bikes down to the ground and rolled our sleeping bags out underneath them. Bruce and I were under the high side of the bikes,



Simmo decided to snuggle in beside the side stand. Bruce and I were expecting a little voice calling out for help the first time a road train thundered past, but unfortunately we all got through the night.



The Southern Comfort masked a lot of things that only became apparent in the harsh light of day, scratches all over the bike, and an inch thick layer of red bulldust all over us and our gear. Not a nice way to load up for another 1000km day coated in dirt and filth with no shower.

We stopped for breakfast in a little roadhouse in Croydon, and luckily they didnâ€t throw rocks at us.



We had a beautiful breakfast while Bruce filed my broken brake leaver to a usable length. From there it was back on the road headed for Normanton, 84kms in 24 minutes to the turnoff. And a similar leisurely pace into Normanton and on to Karumba for a look at the Gulf. We took some photos, but the highlight of Gulf Country was the yellow slurpies we got at the shop. We continued Busa Style (LOL) down to Cloncurry, stopping every 170/180kms to refuel the empty tanks. Shocking fuel economy, we put it down to the cross-winds, Iâ€m sure the grey nomads will talk around the campfire for years to come about the screaming blurs that flashed past their mirrors and upsetting their medication. We would like to take this opportunity to reassure any trolling police officers that the above is a complete work of fiction bought about by substance abuse and spending too much time in the sun.