The steed is ready!!

Yes, my Tenere is ready for the 2015 Tenere Tragics in New South Wales. This year it's the northern Great Dividing Ranges. Looks like it's going to be an absolute blast. I'm just not keen on the crazy distance we need to travel to get there. From Adelaide to Nambucca Heads, it'll be around 2000km! Then we'll still do the 4 days' riding and then I tackle the trip back on my lonesome. My riding buddy for this trip will be a work colleague who's got a black Tenere and proposed that we head up there together this year. He did it last year when they hosted it in the Victorian Alps and had a great time. Well, here are some picks of my pride and joy:

Christmas came early and I couldn't wait to get these new toys on my bike.



I got Touratech headlight protector, large engine guard, power supply, a Dakar tank protector sticker and some Touratech Dakar stickers, just for extra bling.



Finally, my Givi Outback Trekker panniers arrived and I was jumping with joy.

So, in total my additions included:

• Touratech headlight protector
• Touratech large engine guard
• Touratech power socket
• Touratech Dakar tank protector
•  Rental Fat Bars
• Barkbusters
• Giant Loop Tank Bag
• Givi Outback Trekker 38 Litre Panniers
• Pivot Pegs
• K&N Air Filter

For the Tenere Tragics, I'll need some new rubber to give me extra grip on those clay roads, so I'm opting for nth Pirelli MT21's, which I'll pick up the morning we're due to check in. That's a Sunday, so we found a dealership in Port Macquarie who'll open up especially for us and fit the tyres. I managed to also organise this for all the others who want to do the same, so it's worth while for them to open for us. Cheers to Port Macquarie Motorcycles.

Just something worth mentioning here: I bought my panniers from Motostorm.it in Italy for under AUD1000, delivered and that included the mounting frames! Yes, that's crazy. Fantastic service too. I still have a AUD60 voucher from them too as part of the purchase, so I'll be using that for some extras.

Just a word of warning on the Touratech Engine Guard. Just after putting on the bike, I noticed that the engine resonated something terrible off the guard. I contacted the agent here, but he never responded. I eventually contacted Germany directly and they advised that I check the bolts and make sure they're tight. This wasn't the issue though and I finally thought I might be able to dampen the noise somehow. So, I bought some rubber sheets and lined the inside of the guard with them. Voilà!! That did the trick. Yes, sometimes I'm not as mechanically inept as I think. 

We've decided to not book any accommodation for the second half of the tour so we can allow for a bit more flexibility in our stopovers and if we find a nice spot off the beaten track, we might just stay over.  We also might just drop the game reserve and take the day to leave our luggage somewhere and head out and do some eco trails.  Sounds like a plan.

Less than three months till we head over to South Africa!!

We still have so many things sort out like a GPS, camera, camping gear, first aid kit, I need better armour for my enduro jacket, my mate wants to buy a kidney belt and I might need one too, but I'm not sure if I really do.  I have to get a hydration pack as well.  Something that'll fit into my jackets cavity.

Good news today.  We'll be meeting up with a good mate of mine in Plett and he'll be joining us for a section of the ride to Jeffrey's Bay.  He did however say that the Baviaanskloof ride will be tough as most people do that in two days.  I hope that's not the case and that people just do a bit of sightseeing and take the ride easy.  I really don't want to miss the trip over Bergplaas and Montagu Pass.  I'll have to ask around about that.

Planning all the accommodation this week and it's looking like we might be able to get it all sorted for around AU$500 for all 12 days.  We're not aiming to stay in lavish accommodation, but also not so we're roughing it.  The idea is to enjoy the trip and get enough rest in for the next day.  Also, we're planning to stay in B&B's so we can meet locals, ask them about the area and get some good breakfast in before we head for a long day's riding.

So far, we might come to a total of anything between AU$2000 to AU$2500 each, including fuel, bike hire and accommodation.  Thanks to my wife's skills at organising the accommodation.  She's also looking around for the more touristy things to do in the areas we'll be travelling.

Adoons t-shirt

This is Adoons, a creation of TO Honiball, one of South Africa's most famous cartoonists.  We needed something for our tour t-shirts, so my wife came up with this.  Good job.

Intro

Howzit,

I started this blog so I can post comments and thoughts on my adventure biking activities.  Be they weekend trips or long trips overseas, exploring the back roads.  I'm quite new at this, so I hope I do everything correctly and I hope I provide some people something interesting to read.

Have fun.