Bruce, Simmo and Heidi trip and live travel map

[BLACKZOOK]

The entertainment was varied; many drunk local aboriginal people were drinking and brawling. The only thing keeping them in line was the HUGE Samoan bouncer. We asked him what time the sun came up and he said 5.30am. In retrospect, asking a bouncer what time the sun came up was a mistake, he had no idea and we left late.



Simmo left early to get a start on his 400km 80km/hr canvass tyre odyssey where he was almost mugged in the middle of the road. Bruce and I arenâ€t so sure this is entirely true, but Simmo suggests you bring a bat if you intend doing this trip on your own. From there it was a grind. Damn hot, following Simmo on his shit Hayabusa doing 80kms/hr.



Stopping for fuel at the Willare Roadhouse, Iâ€d stopped to take some photos, so I turned into the long dirt driveway to find Bruce frantically and inexplicably gesturing. I got up on my toes for a better look as the front and back both let go in the deep red dirt. Simmo was entertaining himself and a road train driver by lining the busa up against his huge truck.



Bruce and I had stopped to let Simmo get a little ahead and had bumped into a crazy looking dude on an old BMW.

Bruce: It was a 790â€s BMW with no side covers a big touring screen and oil leaks galore. He explained that he was following his Dad from Cairns to Perth, his Dad towing a caravan and happens to also be legally blind. He also hadnâ€t had a shower or a shave for six months and was a little fruity when you got too close to him.

Heidi: When he got me alone for a second, he leant in and growled, ‘got any drugs?†BLOODY HELL, this happened on the last trip too!

At this point, Bruceâ€s bike turned into a pogo stick, it was all over the road, bouncing up and down. A quick check revealed oil on the bottom of the Ohlins shock and no dampening at all. Bruce swore himself blue. At this stage we are crawling into Broome with Simmoâ€s bald tyre and busted rack and Bruceâ€s rooted suspension.

Heidi: My bike is brand new and is going like a champ, go the Gen 1.

Bruce:The trip to Broome took 5 hours (Heidi: it took me a little less) in the stinking heat. Found the bike shop who told us the tyres should be on the next flight at 12.10 as they hadnâ€t appeared on the 9am. No-one was sure why. Bruce called Bear (Ian) in Perth and told him the Ohlins was f****d and asked him to try and get me a replacement or scour the wrecking years for a spare stocker. Ian dropped everything and made some calls to find there were no Ohlins in stock in WA. Left work and scouted the wrecking yards, finding an ‘05 for $200. Finally the tyres arrived at 1. Stripping my bike down we discovered the Ohlins shock had vibrated its compression and rebound adjusted down to minimum. It was fine after all. Got the new tyres fitted, Simmoâ€s rack welded after hours of waiting around, we were hot and tired and decided to stay in Broome, do some washing and get an early night.


This is really why the boys wanted to stay


Heidi: We went out to dinner where Bruce was making eyes at a very attractive blond waitress. It was going very well, she was smiling back, and there might have been a chance Simmo would have to sleep with socks plugged in his ears in their twin room, then Bruce dropped the WORST DREADFUL line on the poor girl. We didnâ€t see her again for a while, I figure she was out the back with the other waitresses warning them about table 1. Bruce reckons he still got the eye on the way out, but I think she was smiling with relief. Bruce has asked me to point out that she came back laughing.


We are 2600kms from our Sunday night stay-over in Collie so we are in for a couple of long hard days. We have two options, the coast road which is 200kms longer or the inland road. Apparently the inland road is long and HOT and straight, so it was suggested we do the extra 200kms and take the winding coast road. We havenâ€t done that much straight line stuff apart from the high speed blast across the NT, so why start now.

And we are not going to mention Bruceâ€s first sit-down.