Solo motorcycle camping adventure roaming around Australia S2 Episode 6

I rode onto the ferry to head back to the mainland from Kangaroo Island. With the weather turning for the worst, with very strong winds predicted, it means the ferries would likely be cancelled from tomorrow. It was time to leave the island. There was a bit of swell running but not too bad, we were travelling downwind so that obviously Leaving the island late in the afternoon it would mean I was back on the mainland in the dark. I checked wiki camp to look for the closest place to camp so I wasn't riding through the night. Kangaroo Island was an awesome place to explore. It would have been great to spend longer but now it was on to the next destination. I found a campsite at a place called Rapid Bay. I set up my tent in the dark. Always a little more challenging. I had something to eat and headed to bed. Well not a bad place to wake up at after arriving in the dark. Tire still has some tread on it but from here basically across to Perth there's not going to be a lot of options to get a new one. So my decision is do I grab one here, another one like this, strap it to the back of the bike and then once this one wears out put the new one on because these tyres don't get a lot of distance out of them or buy a more road-orientated tyre. Lots of distance but if I go off-road I don't want to be making a decision to go in somewhere restricted by the tyres. So I'll head north and have a think about it. No wonder I was having trouble seeing last night. I thought my light was a bit dim. There's no chance I'm gonna be able to roll this tent up. With the bike all packed up let's have some fun in this wind. But then my puffer jacket got caught in the zipper of my motorbike jacket. Well that sucks. Something I'd have to deal with later. Now it was time to get back on the road. I made my way back up the road I came in on last night. And again I couldn't help myself. I saw these hills and just had to take some photos. It's a gorgeous little valley coming in this place. Rapid Bay, worth a look. I turned into the next valley which happens to be named Second Valley. I spotted something in the field so I pulled over. It was a group of alpacas. I sometimes get them mixed up with llamas but alpacas have a smaller blunt face with shorter ears. Another. It looked like there was a ridge to my left so I took the next road I came across to see if I could get up there as it might have a better view. Just trying to find somewhere to hide from this wind. It is brutal. No ferries going today. But this landscape is gorgeous. All these rolling green hills and really tight little canyons. Are they canyons or gullies? I'm not sure. Someone out there can tell me. But yeah just stunning and there's a dam over this side and my main plan is probably just to stay away from the coast till this wind dies down. Might be an idea. On north and onwards. So at the Royal Enfield store to get a tyre. Let's see what we can find. Hopefully they got one. Good news they have a tyre. Well they only had one that would fit that wasn't total road. So another Dunlop 605. They wear fast which is not ideal but at least if I find some dirt I'll actually go on it. I've probably got 500km left on this one so somewhere on the Nullarbor I might be changing tyres and they were kind enough to give me a couple of straps and it's way cheaper than most other tyres. They'll get me to Perth. Yeah I might go to Perth. Now I've just got to work out how to strap this thing on. Perfect. Yes and I know more weight. Not a lot I can do about it. I'll be low riding at the back. Well it feels secure. I might stop a few times and double check everything. Oh well heading north towards Port Augusta then turning left basically going across the Nullarbor. A quick stop to fill up and clean the windscreen and finally clean the mud off that headlight. I made my way north out of the city of Adelaide. A quick stop to check the tyre on the back was still there. It just needed a slight adjustment and away again. I was heading north towards Port Augusta. At Rapid Bay I bumped into a local Adelaide motorbike rider who said there was a good free camping spot just outside Port Augusta on top of a hill which he gave me directions to. He suggested not to take the main highway but the road to the right through the valley as the main highway was quite boring to ride. I'd pulled over and put the onesie rain suit back on because up ahead looked like I might be getting hit by more rain. It had started raining lightly but I was about to ride into the middle of the storm but then I saw a road to the left that linked up with the main highway and the skies were clearing to the left so I took it. I rode through the small town of Coolunga which I never would have ridden through if it wasn't for the rain. So I've just stopped at a fuel station to fill up and get some food because the way I was going I knew there was a town Melrose towards where I was going to camp and this way I'm not sure if there is. I know Port Pirie is there but that's a turn off so I thought I'd fill up and get everything while I can because then Port Augusta is not that far past it. The forecast for the weather had all this coming through a couple hours before I got here. Obviously it's a bit late. The weather didn't get the memo but luckily I was able to dodge that one storm. So we'll see how this next section goes. There is a storm behind me coming through or a rain score. Not sure if I'll get it or not. We will find out. The free campsite I was told about into Google Maps said to turn off here so I did. It said to go straight ahead but the gate was locked so I took the track to the left. I was given a location on Hancock Lookout where there was free camping and the first road I went down was closed so I continued this way and it says there's a way through. I guess we'll find out. It's a little later than expected. Before the rain it was going to be a two o'clock sort of arrival. Now it's going to be about four. I think I'm being rerouted around the back so yeah but cool little track. Stunning looking mountains. It's a lot greener in this area than I've come through a few times and it's always bone dry and this is everything's green. Must have had a lot of rain. Oh yeah there's a few wind turbines around here. Then made a right onto the dirt road that led up to the lookout. Made it to campsite. A little later than expected but made it with time enough to set up tent. Hancock's Lookout and it's a pretty special lookout. I've gone from an oceanfront campsite to the top of a hill. We've even got kangaroos. Looks like a wallaby. It's a bit small. So before it does get dark I'm going to set up this tent and it's a lot of cloud cover so it's probably going to get dark early. It is quite fresh, cool and even though I got misdirected by Google it was a fun little dirt track to go down and discover. Tent's all set up, still plenty of light. I have had a little issue with the hand warmers. The grips themselves, it's like the glue maybe from the heat, I don't know. Me holding on on sky track up those really gnarly hills just pulled them off. Anyway the glues come off and the throttle just keeps spinning around but the bigger issue is the cable attached to the hand grip and that just stops so there's no more throttle. The thing just dies. So I have some ties, hope it doesn't damage the ability to warm my hands but probably better have control of the throttle than warm hands. So I'm going to try and do that before it gets dark. No idea if that will work but it's worth a try. I've just noticed behind me sun's coming out so I'm just going to grab the camera. So the next few days is going to be pretty much like this. No sort of Flinders Ranges or Kangaroo Island or you know a particular place going to have a look at. It's just going to be on the road sort of stuff and I like that just riding nowhere particular. There's no destination, well there's a destination but you're not trying to go see something you're just having a look around and it's I don't know that's that sort of freedom thing I think I like. It's going to take probably four to five days to get to the bottom of West Australia which is sort of the next sort of populated area after this. Once you sort of leave Port Augusta that's the sort of like this big divide across to the other side of the country that's sort of the emptiness. There is the Great Australian Bight which we'll definitely stop at and hopefully camp on the cliffs and then there is that the Nullarbor and the road. 90 miles or 168 kilometers of dead straight road so that's another thing to look forward to if you like that sort of no turns. Yeah so should be a cruisy fun next three four five days. I got into my tent and called it a night.