[Eric]

On friday night at my brothers place sitting down at a all round meal [pizza], my brother Zed said that he was going to Pt. Pirie for a music festival in the morning. So when I got home I asked Vanessa if it was ok to go to Pt Pirie in the morning. I got the nod to go, so I text Zed and said I would go with him to Pt Pirie.
Cat member Zed, true to form text me back saying he wasn,t sure he was going, the weather is not looking good. The responce he receive was " I will see you at 8."
The plan was to ride the scenic route through the Clare valley to Pt Pirie, go to the music festival, camp over night,and return Sunday.
In the morning I quickly got together the camping gear. Zed contacts me with the news he will be late and will arrive at 8:40am.
No problems and I was waitting for him. At a great rate of knots he arrives to declare that he didn,t have his camping gear. Well I said I can fix that and proceeded to kit him out: air bed, sleeping bag, and tent. Let's go. Now a 9am start.
The weather did look ugly. It was windy and wet, but to the Canadians it probally looks great. There is only one way to fix the rain and that is to put on the wet wheather gear on. Well that worked a treat. It didn't stop the wind but that was the only problem we had on our way to Clare.
The first photo is with the 1200 loaded and ready to ride. The second photo is our rest stop. After all we had covered 90 miles, so coffee and a pear.

 

[Eric]

Clare is 90 miles from Adelaide and is a major wine growing area. It's a tourist town and a service centre for the farming community. One of the very early settlers was John Horrocks who took up land at Penwortham and built a homestead [ranch] with a bakery and butcher. He was only a young man in his 30's and already had about 9000 sheep. Well young John decieded that there must be some good land to the north and went to the Government at the time for a grant to explore the north. With a small grant and his resources he set off on one of the first camel in Australia and his camel was a cranky animal. On the way north this cranky camel moved while he was loading his gun and the gun went off and shot himself through his hand and into his mouth. They named a pass that he found after him.
We left Clare and went through to Pt Pirie a distance of 75 miles. I filled up with gas here a distance of 165 miles for a cost of $25 for 4.5 US gallon.
Photos of the camp site, Pt Pirie river harbour, CAT members

 

[fossil92]

Thanks for sharing Eric. Keep riding & posting, we are getting ready for old man winter.

 

[Eric]

There was a music festival at Pt Pirie which we went to. There was a lot of young artists that were very good. What a way of spending a day, a great ride followed by a music festival and the only time it really rained was when we were about to get into bed. Being in a tent it was a early rise and of to the big yellow M. The route home was to go down the coast road to Pt Broughton. A big distance of 40 miles. After being on the bike for so long we went for a walk down the jetty. Here is Pt Broughton.

 

[Two Wheel Wing]

From the looks of the grass and trees Spring is in bloom down under. Ride safe my friend and thanks for the pics..

 

[Two Wheel Wing]

Hey Eric..... Congrats on your 1k post. That PAL club membership is getting within reach..... Ride safe..

 

[Eric]

Thankyou for reconising my 1k post TWW. Our state is so diverse in it climate. On the road to Clare it is all green and lush. Then on the way home on a road that is 50 miles to the west of Clare it looks like being only 2-3 weeks away from reaping.
The road from Pt Broughton to Pt Wakefield is straight and in good condition. With little traffic and a safe time to try a top speed test. Shhhhh. 100mph. I was a little surprised that it couldn't do better. There was about a 15mph headwind. You pay a price for all that wind that you push.
Pt Wakefield is 70 mile from Pt Broughton, so a coffee break and photo are in order. Here is Pt Wakefield
!st photo Origional harbours board building, customs building, looking down the street, hi tec stove, and the harbour.

 

[Eric]

Pt Wakefield to home is flat and boring. The total distance was 330 miles. I haven't filled with gas yet so I can't give the return gas gallons and $. Thanks for reading. Eric

 

[L2R]

great pixs Eric. Maybe a CAT ride but a nice, scenic one. Glad you had a week end to get away.

 

[Dookoo]

Nice ride Eric. Thanks. Its beautiful down under!

 

[Chopin]

I was riding with a GL1200 fellow myself today. We were down near the coast line just like you and Zed. Parallel universe, Eric.

 

[Eric]

Thanks guys, it was a relaxing couple of day's with Zed. Sometimes you have to push him a bit to get him out but once out he enjoys himself. Eric

 

[Eric]

I have put gas in the tank today. For 173 miles I put in 5.3 US gallons for $29. I wouldn't want to try and go any more miles on a tank. Eric

 

[LarryinSeattle]

Nice ride report. Thank you for the pictures.

.

 

[detdrbuzzard]

nice ride report with pic's eric. my ride reporting is comming to an end and yours is just beginning

 

[budoka]

That's why we have Eric and his associates down under. We live vicariously through them from now 'till spring. Welcome to the "bucket mouth club" Eric (em, keyboard?)

 

[budoka]

Hey Eric, I was going to ask and it slipped my mind. Didn't you go to Philip Island not to long ago? Got thinking about that while I watched the tape of the Aussie MotoGP Sunday night. Would have been there in a flash if I was anywhere close.

 

[Eric]

Hey Eric, I was going to ask and it slipped my mind. Didn't you go to Philip Island not to long ago? Got thinking about that while I watched the tape of the Aussie MotoGP Sunday night. Would have been there in a flash if I was anywhere close.

Yes the Moto GP was on and I would normally have tried to make it there but I put all my leave to go to the USA and now thats not happening. It's a 2 day ride from here and there are many scenic routes to get there. I think a lot of you guys would do it in a day by doing a 13 hour day going the direct route. I like the different scenic route and that makes 2 long days on twisties. I will have to see what next year brings. Eric

 

[budoka]

Cheers for that Eric. I'd love to be at a GP race one day, maybe herself will 'allow' me enough slack to hit Laguna Seca someday. She'd likely kill me if I/we went to OZ again and then went to a m/c race Unless of course some enterprising local was to act as our guide and we made a side tour out of it; hmmmm......

 

[Eric]

Well I am itching to be a local guide, so just let me know so I can organise some leave. Us boys could go to the GP and the little lady could have a day in Melbourne and every will be happy. Here are some photos from last years ride to the GP. The seed is planted and to water it a bit just look at those photos. You hve 12 months to plan. Eric