And he's off!

Here we go, set off from Townsville around 09.15 on the 5th September 2009. It was an unusual feeling, one that I have never had before, probably because I have never set off on a trip like this before.

This was the first time the bike had been loaded up like this. Coming out of Townsville, I started off cruising at around 80kmh. I experienced a bit of vibration, this was probably to do with the slime I put in the tyres, as well as the front wheel having a massive kink in it. When I ascertained that the bike felt ok, and nothing had fallen off, I increased the cruising speed to about 90kmh.

I pulled in at Charters Towers to refuel, I thought the bike had used a bit more petrol than normal but left it at that. Leaving Charters Towers I again cruised at around 80-90kmh. however, I got a bit of a fright when it went on to reserve at only 190km, usually it should do about 240km before it goes on to reserve. No problem me thinks, the reserve should get me to the next petrol station. Wrong! About 40km later I ran out of fuel. I have only ever ran out of petrol once in 29 years of motorbike riding, this was to be the second time. No problem, after a splash and dash with the spare fuel I had in my can, I was off again.

After filling up at Hughenden, I worked out that I had done about 15km to the litre. The weight of the luggage is really hitting the fuel economy. The run from Hughenden to Winton proved to be even worse fuel economy than the last tank full, going onto reserve after only 184 km. tomorrow sees a distance of 360km between fuel stations, should be very interesting indeed. Other than the fuel economy the bike ran really well, but the gearbox seems to be giving me a bit of a problem, feels really negative and clunky, will it last?

One of the bungy straps rubbed against the metal fuel can, needed to cut it and tie it back together, good as new kid.
Refuelling at Hughenden