We ran through some large stations with grass paddocks ( which in the winter were well under water with the farmers ’ kids reportedly watching TV in the lounge , sitting in a dingy ). Only in Aussie ! Some areas were of interesting forest blocks , indigenous sites , single trail easy flat bush and finally an outback road that took us through several deep fords . A wrong turn took half a dozen riders down the river resulting in a couple of drowned bikes , with one hydraulic locking the engine . Dead as Dead . Here we discovered the ability of the guides to de-water the GasGas 350 ’ s in no time flat . After pushing bikes out of the river , it only took an average of about six minutes to get a bike mobile . Even us hardened enduro stalwarts were impressed . What to do with the dead bike though ? No problem . Roy towed the dead 350 behind a 500 KTM with Shane hanging on for dear life while Roy passed many of the crew on this back country road . Towards the end , they eventually succumbed to a tip over on the sealed road , dragging Shane for several metres . No harm , apparently . We rode on to the Sex Change Hotel where the seductive barmaid “ Bob ’ s ” assets were appreciated by several of the team ... it appears that only the sheep have sex changes here , but
Bruce and Greg meet Adam Ant !
Crocks ? What crocks ?
they are loved by the Aussies . Dropping off the dead 350 at the local , and only , garage , Roy doubled Shane along the “ mile-munching ” ( read periods of boring roads ) seal to our overnight stop at a road house - a necessity because of the huge distances we needed to cover to get to the top .
DAY FOUR Some more mile-munching to some single trail in the bush had us scooting around logs , washouts and rocks . At one wire gate re-group , we realised that Roy on his 890 had not arrived . A flat at the start of the trail was a hold up that Chris , Jono and Shane went back to sort . More mile-munching and into another abandoned gold working settlement with yet more rusty boilers and steam engines . We still wonder how they arrived on site . From there , Roy took a group of us on an alternative route while the rest headed through some flooded river crossings on a two-hour excursion . It didn ’ t pay to hang around in this river as the Crocs were hidden in the murky
KIWI RIDER 43