Adelaide Ride on the TIger 800

Adelaide Trip Details

I'll include all the details I recorded along the way - it might be interesting to those who are travelling in a similar direction. See comments on Caribou panniers and BMW duffel roll at the end of the page.

Click on the pictures to enlarge them for more detail.

Route Map

A Figure of 8 route

April 13 Saturday - Winmalee to Canberra 301km 

Full tank to start.
Headed off on the Saturday lunchtime to Canberra - a stroll down the Hume and the Federal Highways into Belconnen in north-west Canberra.
301km - Petrol Charnwood - 13.97l@$1.72/l (premium) = $24.01 and 21.54km/l.
Odometer 15278 to 15579.

April 14 Sunday - Canberra to Renmark 982km

Left Canberra 6.30am on daylight. Stopped at Gundagai McDonalds at 8am for brekky - raisin toast (excellent) and coffee (not so good).
A good solid headwind all the way to Renmark from here but fine and warm. The hills stop at Wagga Wagga and then its long straight and flat to Renmark but absolutely stunning countryside. Follow the Murrumbidgee and the Murray Rivers with associated increase in vegetation and human activity everytime we came close to the rivers. What a great place we live in.
The headwind didn't help with petrol consumption figures but there's plenty of places to fill up and any bike with at least 150km range will have no problems crossing the plains here. The High Screen worked really well keeping the wind off, especially with the wash from the road trains hitting hard.

Petrol Wagga Wagga at 9.30am. 

278km - 11.37l@169.9c/l=$19.32. 24.45km/l

Petrol and 30 min lunch stop at Hay at 1pm. Very windy to here.

270km - 14.07l@162.9c/l=$22.92. 19.2km/l

Petrol Euston

212km - 12.44l@$167.9c/l=$24.25. 17.44km/l. Very big headwinds here.

Mildura at 4pm.

Renmark 144km at 5.30pm

Odometer 15579 to 16561 and trip at 221.9km from Euston.

Total 11 hours and 981.9km

Stayed at the Renmark Hotel Motel

Corner Para St & Murray Avenue

08 8586 6755

$120 Riverview Balcony room

Excellent dinner at Bistro. River is spectacular.

On the Murray River at Renmark

Putting on more jumpers - feral pests hanging on the fence.

Very green along the Murray at Renmark

April 15 Monday - Renmark to Adelaide 291km

Grandma's house Kulkyne St nr Cucamungo st end. All tin fence and house at #332.

Cemetery on Arumpo st off Cucamungo st

Go to the left side of the cemetery off Arumpo st and then go right to the back where the green grass section is. Grandma is 2nd last row B-82.

Left Renmark at 9.00am

Petrol Barmera 9.35am

257km - 14.07l@160.9c/l=$22.64. 18.3km/l

Via Maggie Beer's farm shop on Pheasantville Rd, nr Tanunda. Left here at 11.30am.

One Tree Hill 230km 1.30pm

Adelaide 39km 6.30pm

Millswood.

Odometer 16561 to 16852km. 

Grandma's house, Renmark

Grandma's grave, Renmark

At Maggie Beer's farm

April 16 Tuesday - bike rest day.

Mollydooker winery tour 10am - excellent and so informative - highly recommended and the wine is of course spectacular esp. Shiraz.

Coppermine Rd, McLarenvale

08 8323 6500.

Walked some beaches south of Adelaide.

Continuous Aboriginal civilisation - since the last Ice Age.

Even touched the water

Steps to the beach

Mollydooker Winery

Wine tourists!

Watch for snakes at the beach

April 17 Wednesday - Adelaide to Penneshaw (Kangaroo Island) 106km

Petrol Adelaide South St Marys

261km - 13.15l @ 152.7c/l =$20.08. 19.8km/l

YHA Penneshaw

100.6km

Odometer 16852 to 16958km

Kangaroo Island Sealink ferry from Cape Jervis at 12 noon. Takes about an hour including load/unloading. Booked this a month or so back - you can't book a motorbike online onto the ferry - you have to ring them and they are very efficient with everything completed over the phone. Ferry and two passengers return was $225. Phone 13 13 01.

Overnight at YHA Penneshaw, 33 Middle Tce, Penneshaw. Booked this a month previously. Private room with bathroom was $53/night.

Reception open 9-12 & 6-8.

Engine warning light came on as we rode off the ferry. My guess is that its the gear position indicator switch is faulty. We couldn't risk keeping riding it though so we stayed just 1 night at YHA then swapped our return ferry booking from Friday to Thursday 8.30. Rang and booked Peter Stevens Triumph in Adelaide to plug their computer into bike at 11.30 Thursday to check it out.

Dinner at cafe opposite pub. Very nice Fisherman's basket.

On the way to Kangaroo Island (KI) ferry.

Waiting at the Cape Jervis Sealink ferry terminal

Bike tied down on the ferry

At the Pub on the headland at Penneshaw

Penguin beach and mainland in the background

KI coastline

Waiting for the ferry to go back to Adelaide

April 18 Thursday - Penneshaw to Ouyen (Victoria) 491km

Up early and at the ferry by 7.30 to catch the 8.30 ferry. Arrive Cape Jervis and off to Adelaide by 9.30. Arrive Adelaide Triumph 11.30 at 221 Franklin St, City. They confirm in about 10 mins that its the faulty switch and can be ridden home ok. No switches available anywhere in Australia. Order one when we get home. Excellent windy bike road for the 50km out of Cape Jervis towards Adelaide.

Petrol Adelaide 12.02pm 17070km

212km - 9.67l @ 150.2c/l =$14.53. 21.9km/l 

Lunch at Hahndorf German Arms Hotel. Leave at 1.30pm. Well worth a stop here - Hahndorf is a beautiful town.

Petrol Lameroo 2.57pm 17268km

198.7km - 10.51l@165.0c/l=$17.34. 18.9km/l

Stay at Ouyen at the Mallee View Motel. Arrived 5.23pm and had not booked ahead but there was one vacancy for $90. Excellent place.

Trip = 178km

Odometer 16958 to 17446km.

Dinner at Victoria Hotel was excellent.

Peter Stevens Triumph in Adelaide (my Tiger on the left)

The portable garage at Mallee View Motel, Ouyen

April 19 Friday - Ouyen to Winmalee 936km

Petrol Ouyen 7.10am

178.4km - $14.14@142.9c/l=9.9l. 18km/l

Windy and cold all day today but fine and clear. Max temp about 15.

Petrol Balranald 9.17am

152km - 7.44l@153.9c/l=$11.45. 20.4km/l

Petrol Hay 10.41am 17730km 

131.5km - 6.55l@152.9c/l=$10.05. 20.1km/l

Petrol West Wyalong 1.27pm 17986km 

256km - 13.1l@149.9c/l=$19.64. 19.5km/l

Petrol Bathurst 5.22pm 18253km 

266km - 13.37l@155.9c/l=$20.85. 19.9km/l

Home 7.15pm

132.5km

Odometer 17446 to 18385km

Total 12 hours since Ouyen and 936km.

Dark from Bathurst onwards and heavy traffic - wouldn't ride this at night if I didn't know the road a bit.

TOTAL km = 3107km

Average km/l = 19.96km/l.

In Balranald on the way home.

Gear Comments:

Panniers

The Caribou Panniers sit well with the two of us on-board with no noticeable change in the handling and are generally strong and solid. The same cannot be said of the fittings which hold the lid in place however. The stays for the lid broke and the hinge pins kept working loose which needed hammering back in at the end of each day - really annoying.

Broken lid stay - they all fell off eventually.

I replaced the bolts and stays with chains.

This is the hinge pin working loose.

BMW Luggage Roll 

Unfortunately it doesn't quite sit between the panniers across the tailpiece and is a bit lopsided but attaches firmly with the straps. The zip is the main complaint though about the bag - you need to be Hercules to open and close the sucker. I tried graphite, silicon lubricant, and even grease and none of them made any difference. The other problem is that I can't easily fit my helmet inside it due to the shape of the bag. I will need to try something else in future. I have used Gearsack bags up until now but I find I can't buy them anymore. Triumph make a 55l bag but its not waterproof.

The BMW roll doesn't sit real well on the Tiger.