allo strommers.
time has come for the second big trip - the first (gold coast to cairns and back last summer) was great fun and relatively easy (we were 2up on the return trip); so the mrs and I will this time be having a crack at going the other way!
im fairly poor and cheap.. and it will be summer so we are planning on camping - at least where possible or until we get fed up with it
its another big trip of firsts: never been to tassie, have never ridden the bike in cold weather, have never motorcycle camped before (in fact havent camped at all in ~25 years)
Adventure, woo!
going to lay out my gear and current plan below (its helpful for me to type this out also - I am seeking any ideas/experiences/tips/suggestions/destinations/alternatives, no matter how small, trivial, or brutally honest from the more experienced trekkers among you thankyou in advance.
BIKE:
my old and busted but lovely and much loved 650, almost 150ks, never skipped a beat on the 4500km cairns trip (or since ive had her) and she will get a thorough pre-trip service. I dont carry tools and have no real idea about maintenance. I do have racq and a credit card (neither of which have ever been needed for the bike on my trips so far *cross fingers*)
LUGGAGE:
we already have Hep&Bek hard panniers/big topbox/tankbag...
will likely strap a weatherproof duffel somewhere and possibly add some small bags to the front side crashbars? (yet to buy)
have considered getting bigger hard panniers (bunnings tool bags) and fixing them to the racks i have already but not sure if thats worth it or practical.
PERSONAL GEAR:
we have good comfy safe riding gear to wear, full face helmets this time (my mrs saw a poor bloke come off a cruiser and lose half his face a few months back - no more open face helmets for us)
we do need to purchase a few wet cover gear bits.
BIKE FARKLES:
we have no heated grips or cruise control (not sure if i should consider buying these?) tassie december summer temps sposed to be 15-20 degrees, but im a QLD wuss so not sure if i should.
Ill have phone and mp3 player, am considering a bluetooth set, but they seem expensive..
anything else i should consider?
CAMPING GEAR:
i need to purchase: tent (or swags?), tarp, sleeping matts and bags, gas/cooking system (jetboil gets talked up a lot?) eating/cooking utensils, some camping tools...
will have niceties like a hario and aeropress (must have coffee), some water storage and toilet stuff, a bottle of 12yo scotch etc etc all the necessities! any glaring omissions here?
ITINERARY:
approx 1 week or so gold coast to melbourne (along the coast mostly - we'll be diving along the way, southwest rocks, nelson bay etc) 3-6 hours a day for 4 or 5 riding days - depending on weather - this seemed easily manageable last time, and we have flexibility. Our longest riding day was almost 8 hours, that was a bit much.
ferry+bike across to tas (get a cabin i am told!) then a fortnight or so exploring tas (not quite sure where yet - any suggestions? probably head south first, faff about around hobart, maybe a little bit into the west rainforests?? then over and head up the east coast for a week and back to devonport for the trip back)
xmas and NYE will be somewhere in tassie (probably camping or staying near a nice remote pub or winery)
approx 1 week to get back home
dates roughly 17th dec - 17th jan.
will have a good tough camera this time (took maybe 4 photos total last big trip, determined to document this trip a lot more) but aside from the above pretty much going to buy some camping shit, load up wikicamps, jump on the bike, turn it south and see how it all turns out!
i did have couple of things i wanted to achieve on this trip but not sure how/where ill manage them all yet:
1 - camp somewhere remote so i can see proper stars. perhaps somewhere known for stargazing? (or perhaps just in the middle of nowhere on a clear night.)
2 - get the bike on some (very light and easy) offroad stuff somewhere
3 - get into some real rainforest
4 - cook and eat something in the open!
5 - .... what else should i aim for?
I am also considering selling my old lady V for $3k and buying a less used one before the trip (seen a few 60k-80k ones with good farkles going for ~4k lately) but not sure if thats trying for too much.
I love my vstrom (so does the mrs), and altho i dont post much on here i still read these forums regularly and appreciate the community.
thanks for reading if you made it this far.
if you care to offer any sage advice, ideas on what to see or what not to miss out on.... or places to buy the stuff i need to buy id like to hear it!
cheers, safe riding.
Troy
time has come for the second big trip - the first (gold coast to cairns and back last summer) was great fun and relatively easy (we were 2up on the return trip); so the mrs and I will this time be having a crack at going the other way!
im fairly poor and cheap.. and it will be summer so we are planning on camping - at least where possible or until we get fed up with it
its another big trip of firsts: never been to tassie, have never ridden the bike in cold weather, have never motorcycle camped before (in fact havent camped at all in ~25 years)
Adventure, woo!
going to lay out my gear and current plan below (its helpful for me to type this out also - I am seeking any ideas/experiences/tips/suggestions/destinations/alternatives, no matter how small, trivial, or brutally honest from the more experienced trekkers among you thankyou in advance.
BIKE:
my old and busted but lovely and much loved 650, almost 150ks, never skipped a beat on the 4500km cairns trip (or since ive had her) and she will get a thorough pre-trip service. I dont carry tools and have no real idea about maintenance. I do have racq and a credit card (neither of which have ever been needed for the bike on my trips so far *cross fingers*)
LUGGAGE:
we already have Hep&Bek hard panniers/big topbox/tankbag...
will likely strap a weatherproof duffel somewhere and possibly add some small bags to the front side crashbars? (yet to buy)
have considered getting bigger hard panniers (bunnings tool bags) and fixing them to the racks i have already but not sure if thats worth it or practical.
PERSONAL GEAR:
we have good comfy safe riding gear to wear, full face helmets this time (my mrs saw a poor bloke come off a cruiser and lose half his face a few months back - no more open face helmets for us)
we do need to purchase a few wet cover gear bits.
BIKE FARKLES:
we have no heated grips or cruise control (not sure if i should consider buying these?) tassie december summer temps sposed to be 15-20 degrees, but im a QLD wuss so not sure if i should.
Ill have phone and mp3 player, am considering a bluetooth set, but they seem expensive..
anything else i should consider?
CAMPING GEAR:
i need to purchase: tent (or swags?), tarp, sleeping matts and bags, gas/cooking system (jetboil gets talked up a lot?) eating/cooking utensils, some camping tools...
will have niceties like a hario and aeropress (must have coffee), some water storage and toilet stuff, a bottle of 12yo scotch etc etc all the necessities! any glaring omissions here?
ITINERARY:
approx 1 week or so gold coast to melbourne (along the coast mostly - we'll be diving along the way, southwest rocks, nelson bay etc) 3-6 hours a day for 4 or 5 riding days - depending on weather - this seemed easily manageable last time, and we have flexibility. Our longest riding day was almost 8 hours, that was a bit much.
ferry+bike across to tas (get a cabin i am told!) then a fortnight or so exploring tas (not quite sure where yet - any suggestions? probably head south first, faff about around hobart, maybe a little bit into the west rainforests?? then over and head up the east coast for a week and back to devonport for the trip back)
xmas and NYE will be somewhere in tassie (probably camping or staying near a nice remote pub or winery)
approx 1 week to get back home
dates roughly 17th dec - 17th jan.
will have a good tough camera this time (took maybe 4 photos total last big trip, determined to document this trip a lot more) but aside from the above pretty much going to buy some camping shit, load up wikicamps, jump on the bike, turn it south and see how it all turns out!
i did have couple of things i wanted to achieve on this trip but not sure how/where ill manage them all yet:
1 - camp somewhere remote so i can see proper stars. perhaps somewhere known for stargazing? (or perhaps just in the middle of nowhere on a clear night.)
2 - get the bike on some (very light and easy) offroad stuff somewhere
3 - get into some real rainforest
4 - cook and eat something in the open!
5 - .... what else should i aim for?
I am also considering selling my old lady V for $3k and buying a less used one before the trip (seen a few 60k-80k ones with good farkles going for ~4k lately) but not sure if thats trying for too much.
I love my vstrom (so does the mrs), and altho i dont post much on here i still read these forums regularly and appreciate the community.
thanks for reading if you made it this far.
if you care to offer any sage advice, ideas on what to see or what not to miss out on.... or places to buy the stuff i need to buy id like to hear it!
cheers, safe riding.
Troy