Motorcycle travel, especially when aiming to be self sufficient, is not for everyone. Even for those who enjoy the challenges of this style of travel, there are times when roughing it is not such a good idea.

I have always considered myself to be a reasonably sensitive individual, who is aware of others’ needs, however our last weekend gave me cause to reassess. More about that later.

One of the many great things about my job is a nine day fortnight.
Every second weekend I am usually thinking of where I can head off to. Last long weekend we decided to check out Mt Walsh National Park.

Mount Walsh is 84km west of Maryborough or 50km south of Childers. Turn off the Maryborough-Biggenden Road 2km east of Biggenden or 79km west of Maryborough.

Mt Walsh is a rugged granite outcrop, rising to 700m above sea level, resulting from our volcanic past. The granite is very smooth which makes it slippery. Care must be taken when climbing.

Here is a link to the DERM web site for more information:

http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/parks/mount-walsh/index.html

I learnt a few lessons on this trip.
The first one is do plenty of research before you leave. Find out what facilities are available. I love to take spuds wrapped in foil with butter stuffed into them and roasted in the fire. Fires are prohibited at Mt Walsh National Park so the spuds were a waste of time. Mind you the council rest area at the base of the Mt has the best free gas BBQs I have ever used.
The second lesson was don’t be up until midnight packing the night before. This can make for tired cranky people.
The third, travelling with a pre menstruel partner is fraught with danger. Pre menstrual partners dont always say what they mean and often what they say is loaded with landmines that will blow up in your face. Always make sure there will be a hot showers available at this time of the month.
The forth lesson is do not carry any weapons during this time especially to remote places where heinous crimes are tempting and possibly executed.

We arrived on Friday with enough daylight to set up our tent and get diner underway. Here is a picture I took from National Park Road on the way in.

We set up our tent and cooked a yummy dinner and crashed out. As soon as we went to bed the wind started to roar arond the mountains, with gusts up to 50 knots. Our trangia stove, frypan and ……were blown all over the rest area, while the tent flapped violently and groaned under the strain. This freaked my partner out. Unfortunately this lead to us both not sleeping very well.

The next morning my partner, feeling worse for wear, said she just wanted to stay around the camp. Fair enough, I thought and upon hearing, “you go for a walk”, I was off and up the mountain. I should have been aware of the land mine laying under the surface of these words!

The vegetation around the base of the mountain is open eucalyptus woodland dominated by ironbarks. The gullies, which are less effected by fire, are vegetated with dry vine scrub. There are a few rare species in both the woodland community and in the vine scrub. Interesting stuff for a plant nerd like me.

Here are some pictures I took on the way up.

Unfortunately I did not make right to the top of Mt Walsh. I could feel my partner willing me to return and the slippery finely-grained granite presented a high risk to a lone bushwalker.

Upon my return, I sensed things were not good. The day had warmed up and lying in our tent was not pleasant. Things were a little tense and it seemed that no matter what I did or said things were not going to improve.

I know my partner pretty well these days. Those who do know her are aware she is really a mermaid spending time on land. Realising this I made the decision to pack up camp and head 30kms around to Utopia road were there are waterfalls a fellow rider had told me about.

We found a community at the end of Utopia Rd, predictably called Utopia Wildlife Reserve. We found our way to the National Park boundary and went for a reconnaissance walk. We were unable to make it to the creek so we ended up camping in the bush on top of a ridge. We both slept like babies.

Next morning, after breakfast we packed up our gear, stashed it in the bush and found the creek and waterfall. I felt the mood change as we sat beside a stunning rock pool feeding the native fish.

I had carried our gear in and out of the national park and once loaded back onto the bikes we headed for home. On the way we had lunch at Woolooga and spoke with a the women that ran the little store and a really neat little antique/junk shop.

Upon our arrivval home and we debriefed and vowed that if we go away on the bikes again around my partners period, we would stay in pubs or motels.
Lesson learnt.

I am slowly getting my partner back on the bike after 15yrs of driving Mums taxi.
When I brought my new BMW R1200 GSA, the trade in I was offered for my trusty little V-strum was appalling.
I decided I should keep the V-strum to enable my partner, brother or friend to come riding. Let’s face it being a pillion is only so much fun.

With my partners kids away visiting Nan and Pop in chilly Victoria, we decided that we should hit the road and go camping on the bikes.
I needed to come up with a destination that was not going to be too taxing a ride and a route with minimal highway time.
Dirt and gravel roads were kept to a minimum due to my lady’s developing confidence.

The Bunya Mountains to the north west of us only a few hours away ended up as our chosen destination.
We were up late packing on Friday night so we could get away at a resonible time on Saturday morning.
Packing for Bike camping is a bit like packing for hicking. Light wieght and compact is the way to go.

Here is what we took

Light weight tent

2x thermarest
2x lightweight sleeping bags. Our zip together. After all body warmth is fun and it really does keep you warmer.
We took 10lts of water in a collapsible container
Metho stove and metho. Ours is a Tranga. It come with some bowls that you can cook in.
2xplates
2xcups
2x “sporks” which are a cross between a spoon and a fork.
egg flip
espresso maker (luxury, I know)

Food
serves were packed in clip seal bags
porriadge with dates raisens and nuts
2xsteaks packed in lunch box with a freezer brick
1xpacket of bacon
4x eggs in cut down egg cartoon wrapped in bubble wrap.
1 bar of chockolate
2x pre made salad wraps
1x bag of trail mix fruit and nuts
some fruit
condensed milk
sugar
chia tea bags
coffee
some apples and manderines

I don’t ever take too many clothes away with me. It gets pretty chilly in the Bunya’s this time of year so I took my thermals.

I always carry my leatherman which has sharp knife, can opener etc.

I generally pack my clothes, camping gear in a 100lt water proof duffle bag which gets strapped on the pillion seat.
I have found that this is great for having a little rest on if your standing up in the pegs for long periods. I also have “Andy Strapz” expedition soft panniers which normally water, food and cooking gear go in. The Andy Strapz “A” bag only really comes off the bike when I wash it. It carries the tools, first aid kit, slime pump, spares, pump and stuff.

I also love my gadgets so I take my iphone and charger, camera, spare telstra phone (for better reception in rural area’s. We have recently got two uhf radio’s which will be coming on future rides.

Here is a photo of the bike packed and ready to hit the road.

on the Villenuve road crossing the junction of the Stanley River and Sommerset dam

The Bluff road. I was really happy the Mermaid gave the dirt a chance. This road proved a good intro as it was pretty straight forward and would suit a snail trail ride.

and here are some shots I took while we were there.

All up we had a great weekend. It was a bit drizzly and we were pressed for time so we retuned via the D’agular highway.