Planning and Preparation: first attempts

I mentioned under Camping that I got wind of a plan by a group of riders from the Sapphire Coast (that’s a strip of the NSW south coast around Bega) to embark on an outback tour through the middle and right up north – on road bikes,  so sticking to the bitumen. I expressed an interest; and so was invited to an early planning meeting one Saturday at the pie shop in Bemboka.

The plan, at that stage, was essentially to be on the road for three weeks in July (that’s winter in Australia – but, more importantly, it’s the dry season in the far north). We would head across NSW to South Australia; then north through Peterborough and Coober Pedy; into the Northern Territory, with side visits to Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Alice Springs; eventually to Darwin; then to Kakadu; south to Katherine; across into Gulf territory through Cape Crawford and Camooweal; and finally Winton, Longreach and south for home.

I had a sort of fatal attraction to it all, but tempered by the frustration of not having my GS and being able to get off the tarmac; and by an apprehension at the several successive days of very long distances needed to complete the trip in the allotted time, which was the most several could devote to it.

However, I went along with planning and got more enthused as I got into the research. I rationalised that a more adventurous trip could always come later (after the world stopped convoluting and the Government fixed the economy). For now, this was an opportunity to be grasped – if only because of some sort of Cabaret syndrome. (I‘m not expecting an invasion – just conscious of the passing years.)

I’ll deal with the planning of routes and timings under Meanders in Oz. Here I’ll stick to camping preparations.

Prompted by a combination of concern to mitigate the stress of successive days of long rides and of increasing excitement about  the many places of interest along the way – and even not exactly along the way, I started to look for some options. What started as a plan to add a day or two at either or both ends, evolved into an extra two and a bit weeks; with some considerable diversions off the planed route. There’ll still be a core two weeks or more when we will be all together through the Northern Territory and North Queensland.

The three areas that have captured my interest – in addition to all the originally planned places we will visit – are the final stages of Murray River/the surrounds of the mouth of the river/Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia; the Flinders Ranges in South Australia; and the north west Queensland area around Winton and Longreach.

At this stage, I have a provisional itinerary, built around the original prepared by my Sapphire Coast fellow travellers (no past ideological connotations intended). I’ve reproduced it below in case readers might be interested or have good suggestions.

My Big Trip North: June, July, August, 2009

This was the Indicative Itinerary – but all this will change now that I have deferred the trip

Date	From	To	Km
Sun 28 June	Canberra	Griffith	370
Mon 29	Griffith	Wentworth	470
Tues 30	Wentworth	Morgan	309
Wed 1 July	Morgan	Murray Bridge	179
Thurs 2	Murray Bridge	Pt Elliot	140
Fri 3	Pt Elliot	Clare	337
Sat 4	Clare	Rawnsley Park	331
Sun 5	Rawnsley Park		0
Mon 6	Rawnsley Park	Quorn	223
Tues 7	Quorn	Woomera	221
Wed 8	Woomera	Coober Pedy	376
Thur 9	Coober Pedy	Curtin Springs	650
Fri 10	Uluru	Olgas	285
Sat 11	Uluru	Alice Springs	370
Sun 12	Alice Springs		62
Mon 13	Alice Springs	Elliott	760
Tue 14	Elliott	Litchfield	725
Wed 15	Litchfield	Darwin	150
Thu 16	Darwin		0
Fri 17	Darwin	Jabiru	258
Sat 18	Jabiru	Katherine	330
Sun 19	Katherine		0
Mon 20	Katherine	Cape Crawford	540
Tue 21	Cape Crawford	Camooweal	630
Wed 22	Camooweal	Mt Isa	189
Thur 23	Mt Isa	Winton	469
Fri 24	Winton	Longreach	180
Sat 25	Longreach	Mitchell	615
Sun 26	Mitchell	Springfield Lakes	554
Mon 27	Springfield Lakes		0
Tues 28	Springfield Lakes		40
Wed 29	Brisbane		20
Thurs 30	Brisbane		20
Fri 31	Brisbane	x	0
Sat 1 August	x	y	0
Sun 2	y	Home	1376
TOTAL KMS			11039