Burke And Wills Adventure

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Many thanks to all those who helped advise and share valuable knowledge and experience to best prepare us for the journey. Special thanks to those at the Townsville Restored Motorcycle Club. Without their support and advice this would be a logistical nightmare! Special thanks to Barry Graham and Tony Travers for taking my constant annoying phone calls while preparing the bikes. Now let's have an historic look at what this whole trip is founded on and why we are following this journey. In 1860, with little known about the centre of Australia, the race was on to be the first to open up a north-south route across this wide brown land. Burke and Wills set off with 19 men including five Englishmen, four Indian sepoys, three Germans and an American with the intention of crossing Australia from Melbourne in the south to the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north, a distance of around 3,250 kilometres.

Chris

I'm very happy to finally have snagged an awesome sparky who knows electricity as good as the guy who invented the electric chair! Chris Sowry and I have worked for many years together in the armed forces, as well as the N.T Mud Racers. Chris, thanks for joining us on this crazy adventure across Australia. Everyone brings something special in skill and talent to this adventure and Chris isn't short on his talent as a mechanic, electrician, joker, prankster, and all round good guy. Again welcome to the team Chris, riding with you will be a pleasure mate. SPECIAL NOTE: The producers of this event wish to thank Sam Sowry (Chris's wife) for allowing him to attend.

Sam Sowry

It's now official, Sam Sowry is joining us on the ride! After allowing Chris her husband to join the team, Sam watched closely as this poorly planned adventure unfolded. She decided to finally speak up when she noticed in all our planning, no one bothered to invite a PRO RIDER who knew the outback, knew camels, knew the highways, and damn well knew US ALL. Sam its fantastic to have you in the team!. For those out there who feel we only added a FEMALE to the trip so we could look like we aren't sexists, well POOH TO YOU! Sam can outride the best of you with her years of experience! Outride you, out skill, and even out dress you. She is NOT the camp cook, or the lady who keeps our tents tidy! (That's my job!).

Dave

You can tell how professional an adventure is by the quality of it's people. We are so proud to say that we not only do we have a safety driver following us along the whole way, but of all the people we could snag, we got Dave. When Dave sat and listened to the details behind this adventure, he did what comes natural to him. He studied the HELL out of the trip and in true form, he broke down all the areas where we as riders would be exposed to danger. The simple solution was to join us in his 4X4, fully kitted out with the best in recovery, communications and emergency equipment. Dave thank you so much for joining our trip. Dave will assume the role of Expedition Leader, taking care of all briefs of the day.

The Boys

Meet the team. L-R Tony (Datto) our head mechanic and lead rider with over 40 years of riding behind him (starting way back when he stole some poor kids peewee 50 in Newcastle!). Phil, the cook and our No#2 rider. From a farming background, Phil knows how to cook and keep the team happy after a long days ride with a hot meal that makes us feel like we're eating at Mcdonald’s! lol. George (the guy behind this whole crazy ride following Burke and Wills). He’ll ride the last bike on No# 4. George’s job is to make sure that everyone has fun and enjoys each and every day. He’s the Dr., the nurse, the firewood collector, camp hygiene enforcer, story teller (yes, every night he’ll read from the original Burke and Wills journals and explain what happened in the given locations the team is camping at, back in 1860). Finally, George is responsible for everyone’s safety. Sadly, Chris (pictured above) could not make it to Townsville for this photo. Chris rides No#3 and perhaps the healthiest XT600EB in the fleet. Together with Phil, the two are also gifted navigation boys, so they’ll be checking routes and maps every day.

Our Trip

In July 2014 I hope to gather a group of riders to join me and my good friends Tony, Phil and Chris on a 3250 km bike ride which will take us from Melbourne to the Gulf in 14 days. During this ride, we'll see cities, towns, country roads, dirt roads, desert, bush, cattle stations, with empty open country and star filled nights. This is the journal I hope to keep updated with pictures, stories and the odd video, to show everyone what it takes to prepare for such an adventure. I wish to send a special thanks to all those who helped with the planning and preparation work for this trip, from my wife who backed my crazy idea from the start to YOU the reader who offered advice and shared real life experiences that helped shape our journey. Last of all, I want to thank the traditional owners of this land... the Japanese! lol.... Off we go!

Yamaha XT600EB

Georges Bike. Yamaha XT600EB. Bought in large quantity by the Australian and US Army, this bike is a desert dweller, born to explore. I found this one that was bought and owned by a mate who I completely trust, parked in the back corner of his home. He bought it but did nothing with it as he owned many other bikes that needed his attention. The moment I pulled the blue tarp off the bike and saw what was hiding underneath, I knew this bike would do the trick. My bike is a "no frills" machine, simply designed, solidly built and able to operate in the worst conditions. But to take this bike across the outback, it would need to go into my workshop for a "fit out". From storage capacity, to electrical and mechanical modification and upgrades, it would need lots of clever work done with the advice and help of veteran bike riders who have gone on trips much like the one planned for my XT. And so our journey begins.. Over the next few weeks my bike will undergo a transformation and upgrade, and I will photograph every step of the way. I have to be mindful that I only have 12 months to make this happen and as long as that may sound , we all know we live in a busy world where free time is not always available. So I had to sacrifice a few things to make the time. Things like going to the pub, watching the footy on TV, spending quality time with the wife talking about her dreams and wishes in life, I had to give away spending time with my kids, I no longer bother to feed them lol… anyhow I’m just joking but you get the picture! It was time to move things on my bike and focus. I have provided a link in the next line below called " OUR BIKES" please click on it to see the full fitout on my XT 600 and Tony's bike that will soon appear.

History of the 1860 Expedition

But before we look at my bike and its upgrades, let’s first go back in time to 1860. Burke and Wills were preparing to depart on an unbelievably difficult journey crossing from the “occupied districts” as the outer settlements were called, into the unknown. Back then it was believed that Australia had an inland ocean (prehistorically they were correct!) But it was also believed it was a desert. Others again thought it was prime farming land waiting to be found, with rolling green fields that looked like something the Hobbits lived in, in LORD OF THE RINGS. The point is, they had no idea, so Burke and Wills would depart on a trip to answer these questions with the backing of the Philosophical Institute of Victoria, who together with other interested parties, bankrolled the expedition. However as I studied the story of the buildup to this expedition, I came across a number of interesting clues that once you consider them, you can clearly see “DOOM” on the horizon. Let’s look at some facts here. FACT 1) This whole expedition was a race by two states ( Vic and S.A ). Both states were racing to be the first to cross the continent with Burke representing Vic, and Sturt representing S.A. It would be fair to say, that whoever was to complete such a journey would be set in history as one of the greatest explorers of our time, and this would have put tremendous pressure on all involved to rush and hurry things for a jumps start on the others.. FACT 2) Burke had no experience as a bushman. He was short tempered, often got lost along known tracks from one established town to another in Victoria. Burke was a poor journal keeper often writing entries like “ Mar 3rd, we walked all day and camped at dusk”.. With no indication of the health of his men or animals, no information about supplies, or the troubles they met along the way. FACT 3) No respect was ever extended to Australian Aboriginals who lived in all the areas they crossed. The very fact that tribes live and exist and flourish in the lands that white people die in, from lack of food and water, is a great indicator of the little respect and attitude extended to the Aboriginals of the land. I was SHOCKED to learn that from the start of the journey, Burke and Wills brought with them TWO Aboriginal trackers for the trip. Yet until this very day, we have no idea who they were, their names and their fate seemed so unimportant to all involved that these two souls are lost forever and history will never honor their sacrifice. You must agree that looking at such simple facts, things didn’t look promising. Historian Dr Jonathon King retraced the journey of Burke and Wills in 2010 and sited no less than 110 critical errors by Burke and Wills and their expedition.

Royal Park Melbourne

Meanwhile back at the Royal Park, Burke and Wills had a rather huge send off considering that Melbourne was only about 16 years old at the time. Lots of members of the Royal Society of Victoria came to see the expedition off, along with several members of parliament. It was a big deal at the time to see Camels. I learnt an interesting fact while researching our trip, did you know camels were brought for the very first time to Australia for the 1860 journey. Without the Burke and Wills expedition, we might never have seen camels in Australia that today roam free and wild in the outback in reported numbers ( according to National Geographic ) of over 1 million. We won’t have camels to help us in 2014, as I love the idea of my bike doing the heavy lifting. As for a farewell of thousands of curious Victorians and members of the Royal Society, we’d be lucky to have the odd New Zealand tourist wanting to know where we are going, or Victorian Police officer asking us why we rode our bikes on the park up to the monument without permission. But that’s exactly my plan. We’ll pose for photos in front of the Burke and Wills monument where the original men once stood and answered questions about the adventure before them. I found a picture of the two actors who played in the 1985 Australian movie “Burke and Wills” Jack Thompson and Nigel Havers posing in front of the very monument in Royal Park Melb.

FUEL COST FOR THE TRIP

Fuel for this trip one way has been calculated at $350.00 for a 600CC engine from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria. This is taking into account the off road work needed as we will be on dirt for some of the distance. The actual cost of fuel is $240 assuming it was all smooth tar. I have added another $100 for the heavy work load needed by the bikes and priced the fuel at $1.55 per litre as some of the inland petrol stations will be expensive. Is anyone reading what I'm saying or are you still perving on the pic of the chick filling her car? YA PERVERTS!!!!!!

Receptionist

Like all great events in the world it comes down to planning. We would like to thank our most reliable dedicated friend and fan Jill. Jill has been working hard to make sure we get to where we need to be when we need to be there. It is this young lady who soon after completing her diploma in being a “ nail artists”, she joined our team and quickly studied Burke and Wills helping us for the great ride for 2014. Jill makes sure we have food at all times and provides all the background support such as booking farm stays, tours, posting bail money, bribing and paying off local officials in the towns we pass through, and finally she did a really great job on Tony’s nails lol. Thank you Jill!

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Phil