Stage 3 - Kimba to Home

Stage 3 - Kimba to Home

It was still blowing a gale in Kimba all night and the next morning it blew us all the way to Broken Hill. Wind is such an issue here - it will determine the difference between a quiet, easy stroll along at 125km/h and 19km/l and fighting a hot northerly headwind with a load of wind noise, being smashed by truck windwash and 110km/h at 14km/l.

Thursday 17th October

Kimba to Broken Hill

Odo start: 33269km

Odo finish: 33869km

Total: 600km

Trip = 1.7km

Depart: 6.38am

Arrive: 3.00pm

Petrol

Port Augusta 8.10am

33423km

154km

8.28l @ 154.9c/l = $12.83

Km/l = 18.6

Coffee and petrol and went straight on. Very windy but thankfully mostly tailwind.

The Flinders Ranges just out of Port Augusta

Yunta 11.42am

33619km

219km

11.54l @ 149.9c/l = $17.30

Km/l = 19.0

Stopped in Peterborough for more coffee. Great cafe opposite the town hall. Good riding up through the Flinders Ranges from Port Augusta. Some bad cross winds until Peterborough and then tailwinds again. Yunta has a good BP roadhouse.

Great coffee shop in Peterborough

Cafe crockery was cute

Broken Hill 2.45pm

33868km

223km

12.18l @ 156.9c/l = $19.11

Km/l = 18.1

Big countryside changes - red soil, rocky hillsides. 

Arrive Broken Hill at 1.42pm. Staying at Ibis motel $135. Went out to the Living Sculptures 10km out of town. Drink at the Palace Hotel with wall paintings. Got news of fires at home.

The mine is close to the town of Broken Hill

Friday 18th October

Broken Hill to Dubbo

Odo start: 33869km

Odo finish: 34626km

Total: 757km

Depart: 7.42am

Arrive: 4.55pm

Petrol

Wilcannia 9.35am

34070km

203km

13.71l @ 173.0c/l = $23.72

Km/l = 14.8

Brekky at Ibis was included and good with coffee. Strong headwinds all the way and 125km/h and worst fuel use of the whole trip. Great countryside. Wilcannia was genuinely an unpleasant place with a very dangerous feel to it. Filled with petrol and went straight on. 

54 km out of Broken Hill turn clock forward 30 minutes.

Wilcannia - many bars on many windows

Emmdale Roadhouse 11.10am

34171km

101km

6.41l @ 171.9c/l = $11.02

Km/l = 15.7

This place is an hour out of Wilcannia and may as well be a world away. Great food and coffee and clean toilets. And convenient for a poor Tiger using lots of fuel in the headwinds. Countryside slowly changing to have some trees now. Lots of feral goats, sheep, kangaroos, crows, eagles, emus etc. Only the goats are not roadkill.

Emmdale Roadhouse between Wilcannia and Cobar - worth a stop

Cobar 1.03pm

34330km

159km

9.83l @ 160.5c/l = $15.82

Km/l = 16.2

Wind easing and turning to crosswind. Cobar is a proper town with a good feel to it.

Nyngan 2.41pm

34462km

132km

8.07l @ 156.9c/l = $12.66

Km/l = 16.4

Stopped here for tea and late lunch. We could see the smoke from the Blue Mountains fires from here.

The smoke from the Blue Mountains fires met us at Nyngan - a good 450km from home

Dubbo 4.45pm

34626km

164km

9.44l @ 154.4c/l = $14.58

Km/l = 18.1

Arrive Dubbo at 4.42pm. Staying at Sundowner Aberdeen motel $99. Dinner at the Two Doors Tapas and Wine bar was excellent.

Saturday 19th October

Dubbo to home

Odo start: 34626km

Odo finish: 34953km

Total: 327km

Depart: 7.00am

Arrive: 11.10am

Dubbo sunrise

Petrol

Mudgee 8.29am

34756km

130km

7.71l @ 157.9c/l = $12.17

Km/l = 16.9

Took backroads out of Dubbo via near Gulgong to get to Mudgee - excellent bike roads with twisty, bumpy, hilly and narrow roads at times to really test things out. Great ride.

Lithgow 9.57am

34894m

128km

6.57l @ 156.5c/l = $10.30

Km/l = 19.5

The smoke from the fires was really thick through here and we were worried that the Great Western Highway would be closed but thankfully we got through to the disaster - I'll write about the fires next.

Arrive home at 11.10am.

Total trip km = 9418km.