April 15, 2024
Do we really have that much luggage!
... yeah we do!
Another adventure and another blog, hopefully this one will be easier to read and follow and easier for me to use!
We are less than a week away from our flight to Darwin and then a leisurely ride down to Perth (not via the Gibb road) to see some Quokkas (and Neils cousins Judy and Mike) and then across the Nullabor, Port Augusta and then onwards to home here in Bendigo. This should take us around 4 1/2 months.
It is not until you assemble your gear to take and then try and pack it for a flight that you really realise that shit you really do have "far too much lugguage." Mind you we have always carried this much stuff! After a quick and feeble cull we narrowed it down to fitting into 2 bike boxes, 2 large bags and 1 coffin size bag for the 2 trailers!
I worked on trying to squeeze this lot into bag 1 and 2 (the 3rd is for the trailers)
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While I did the packing Neil packed up the 2 bikes into their boxes. The front racks came off as did the handle bar to be rotated.
We are flying with Virgin Airlines and their lugguge is 1 bag at 23kg and they don't charge extra for bikes so long as the bike is within the weight range.
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Last but not least assembling the tool kit.
We fly this coming Saturday 20 April to Darwin where it is around 32-36 (celcius) degrees each day and very warm nights around 25 degrees. Once we start heading down to Katherine the temps will drop by a degree or 2.
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7 months ago
Solar solution? What unit are you using for power and battery type - how is performance?
Navigation? Garmin? Trying to decide on this. I previously used Komoot App on my phone in Europe where I had easier access to top up power.
I think I have water sorted. Looking at various food options - any tips welcome?
Thanks and thanks for your posts Looks like great (trip.
Ps: which cabin park did you book in Darwin - great option for assembling bike especially given late arrival times?
Graham
4 months ago
Solar - we use Polartech MB3595 these can be found in Jaycar. Power = 10W, current output = 1920mA. We find them very sturdy and charge our batteries. Batteries we use are Moki 5000mA (each) for everyday charging and if we can't recharge due to rain, no sun etc then we carry a 10,000mA each as back up.
Accomodation at Darwin was at Darwin Free Spirit. It has cabins which we stayed 2 nights in then moved to the tent section. It is about 15mins by taxi from the airport and has late check in.
Your route sounds adventurous and is it a combination of sealed (to Mt Isa) roads and unsealed (Birdsville and Flinders)? Like anywhere in outback Australia supplies, with the exception of Darwin, Katherine and Mt Isa, of food and water are great distances apart. I can't comment on food options but basically these places won't stock variety or food that is readily available in places like Bendigo. An option is food drops via post? Yeah we carry a great deal of food and heavy food as that is all we can get from small towns. But that is the fun/challenge about trips like this you can eat all you like!
Good luck with this and let us know the name of your blog if you do one 😀
4 months ago