A great video showing the off road versatility of the big Beemers. Tons of water challenges and lots of action. Episode 3: A relatively short 200 kilometres from Gregory Downs Hotel to Hells Gate. What it lacked in distance it certainly made up for in a variety of riding conditions. The highlights included flowing twin trail and three decent water crossings. Come along with Dave Darcy of Motorcycle Adventure Dirtbike TV as he embeds in the challenging 2023 BMW GS Enduro Safari, Cairns to Darwin. It's a tough relentless adventure over 7 days and 3000 dirt kilometres and Dave's there to catch all the action and fun. AN EXCERPT FROM THE STORY BEHIND THE RIDE 2023 BMW GS ENDURO SAFARI - CAIRNS TO DARWIN It’s hard to identify that point in time when I realised, I was riding in a fair dinkum BMW Enduro Safari. Was it Day 2, punching out 570 kilometres of unforgiving dirt roads smothered in hand sized rocks, sand and endless bull dust pits? Or was it Day 3, forging deep river crossings and endless twin trail on a huge cattle station the size of a small country in Europe. I’m now sitting in Darwin, still astride my BMW 1250 GS Trophy looking down at my trip metre that reads, 3,344.4 kilometres. I’m still recovering from what was arguably one of my best days riding I’ve had on a Beemer. Miles Davis, long time BMW off road Guru, had cooked up a mighty crescendo for Day 7, the final day of this Cairns to Darwin ride. Day 7 had every riding condition for an adventure imaginable and it highlighted the versatility of my Rhino. It started with a 200-kilometre black top section that we legally, the speed limit is 130 ks, covered in around an hour forty mins. Then onto some amazing twisty black top through open farm country before we settled in for the main meal, a blast through a private cattle station on billiard table smooth dirt, four lanes wide with sweeping corners perfectly designed for power sliding. Despite their width, I still managed to overcook one corner and do a Wayne Gardner esque run into the grass before anxiously looking around to ensure no one saw my foopy. There was a deep river crossing thrown in for good measure, some more twisty black top before finishing on some rutted single trail through a pandanis palm grove and abandoned railway track. Quite a crescendo! This Beemer clan do things large, so let’s return to the beginning, 7 days earlier. The Saturday afternoon rendezvous was at the opulent Shangri-La Hotel on the waterfront of Cairns. Nothing but the best for our introduction and start to the trip. I’ve ridden a couple of BMW Safaris that were organised and lead by Chris and Anthea Urqhart and Shane Booth from Moto Development. The events run like a swiss watch but this Safari event was different. This was an Enduro event and from the first briefing it was obvious more would be expected from riders. Punching out big miles safely and consistently in the outback is a whole new skill set for many riders who wouldn’t ever dream of going there without support. Full article to be published in Australian Adventure Bike Magazine, which can be purchased electronically through out the world.
Jackson they're a keen bunch aren't they they don't leave here till 9.30 what is
it now it's it's 8.30 so they're an hour early yeah yeah look at them they're
patrolling around like sharks. Can't believe it six and a half meters over
this bridge and I keep rabbiting on about it that's a truckload of water
to start the journey I'm still on to get to you you see I've come a long way I'm
not the man I was that day but I'm still searching for the things that I wanted
back then. Let's have a look at the view. Are you in the Outback or what?
All right let's get this memory machine up to highway speed
and watch this unique ancient land move before us.
It's just amazing.
Oh what's this? Looks like a road crane.
Here we go.
I'm heading bush.
Get right out of that dust that's better now remember this is an enduro safari so
if you just give this a gutful and wear your tire out every time you take off
you won't have a tire.
Bap bap bap.
Give me some commentary Chris and Turbo.
In hot. In hot.
Hey! More gas buddy. More gas.
Little dab. Little dab.
It's through.
Here's Blake.
Blake? What's Blake gonna do?
Blake has got this, yeah he's got this. Blake's a smart man. Turbo you got your canoe ready there I see.
Good, good pace, good pace, go on the safe boat. Nice, look at that.
Beautiful, how safe is that? Rock solid. You know it's actually shallower over the tidbits isn't it?
Whoa, don't you fall over. You've got about half the speed, the water it should just make a little
bow wave but if it's going up over your screen you can't see or react so just about half that
speed would have been perfect. Hey did you turn traction control off? Did you turn traction
control off before you come in? Yeah I'm in enduro. No you need to turn traction control, come out here.
Oh shit, come on let's get it up. Come on, get up. Come pull, pull, pull.
Stan you had your first swim. He turned it off turbo before it went under, was off before it
went under. Stan's done the training, keeps the picker on the gills. Look at that, well done Stan.
Come on, come on, try to get it up, try to get it up. Come on, come on, we gotta get, pull, pull, pull.
Come on, get it up, lift, come on, lift. Are you wedged in a stick here? We're wedged in a stick, we'll have to go down.
Up, that's it, up we go. The engine stopped before it went under turbo.
You did the right thing, you turned it off before you went under. That's great.
Oh you just went a bit off, it's all right. You did well, you turned it off.
Have a go at that.
Give it a rep.
You know what, you pat on the back because you turned it off. You turned it off as you went down.
Did you do your traction control off?
That's number six, quick turn it off, turn it off. Okay we're good. Come on, come on, pull, hey don't walk
away, you gotta lift it up. Don't walk away. He just walks away and he says self-service.
Oh she'll be right, they'll look after it. Yeah, I'll go and get the rescue. Did you see our rescue
canoe Andreas? Sure, there's lessons there for BMW riders, isn't there? Amazing stuff. Yeah, yeah, so
most people did this pretty well but if you, if you're a bit unsure about water crossings,
always just make sure you cover the kill switch and if the bike goes down, just hit that quick
kill switch real quick. It reduces the risk of water intake so. Yeah, those two, like the other
one, the lady over there, she was under and she turned it off. Well under, went for a good swim.
Yeah, beautiful. Excellent. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but all said and done, you know, you got to the
kill switch and that's the thing, you know. Crossing over there. No, that was good and you just get it,
Did you see the water squirting out the exhaust?
Oh, shit. Come on, come on, we'll get it up. Quick, quick, quick. Lift, lift, lift. You got to lift, mate. Get it up.
You got to get it up.
Well, he got through. Well done. Eddie, want any more river crossings? Very good, excellent.
They're great, aren't they? How was that? You've been baptized?
Nice crossing. It's a good sense of accomplishment. Yeah, it is, isn't it?
And a beautiful setting. What a great day. Stunning setting, isn't it?
Heading on the path, less travel.
This is a great spot you guys have picked. Got shade, get lunch, bring out the camera.
No, he hasn't. He hasn't. No, he has. Yeah. No, stuff it, mate. Comments are good.
I told you, I said it wasn't over until it's over.
That's just the medical team and they're a casualty unit in themselves at the moment.
They're all going to the emergency ward, these guys. It's a massacre.
The water was sort of up to here last time. Yeah, I know.
So she's a lot shallower. That line's perfect. Yeah. In on the right track.
Yeah. Bend to the right once you go past the tree and then bend back to the side.
All right. Do you want one handed?
The previous couple of days, we'd been punching out big miles at speed
with little variation in terrain. Today was different. A much shorter 200 kilometre run
from Gregory Downs to Hell's Gate. The varied terrain, which was challenging at times for many,
included three decent water crossings, rutted tracks and twin trail that kept you on your toes.
Safari's arrived in Doomadgee. Wayne Michaels at the head of the queue.
That's it. Have a go at that. How'd you like that, Wayne?
Oh, fantastic. Those creek crossings were just, oh, I've got no words for them. They're fantastic.
That was just the best. I loved it. Came unstuck a bit in the sand, but that's all right.
That's what we do out here. Reaching Hell's Gate is a decent milestone. Located just 50
kilometres east of the Queensland Northern Territory border, it's a tough isolated place.
We're now about halfway to Darwin. In the late 1800s, Hell's Gate got its name because police
would not guarantee safety beyond this point. If travellers dared to head further west,
they were on their own. So, Morrie, you're a bit of an ecologist. They say, you know,
there's four sorts of kangaroos. What are they? Four sorts of kangaroos. There's an eastern grey
kangaroo, there's a red kangaroo, there's a wallaroo, and there's a wazaroo. You've got to
watch out for the wazaroos because they do a lot of damage, especially when you're on a motorbike.
Yeah. And you're saying, like, one of these went straight through a car?
Yeah, went straight through the front windscreen, out the back windscreen,
so we had to replace both windscreens in one of the Toyotas.
That's crazy. Hell's Gate. Thanks, Morrie.
No worries. Thanks, mate.
