The last word on the departure date!.

As I have stated before I currently work for Qantas. I say currently for as you may have heard in the news their planning on cutting 1750 staff. In light of this and the effect it may have on my position I have decided to delay the departure of my trip. I have chosen to leave home on Sunday the 9th August, not for any special reason. The only things stopping me leaving on this date, hospitalization, death, an accident that damages my bike or lose of my job. So in light of none of these things happening I hope to see a lot of Australia in August and September.

Preparation for the trip

In preparation for the trip I've started doing some maintenance on the bike. I've started at the front and have repacked the head-stem bearings, changed the front fork oil and added some spacers to the front springs, as I found they were a bit soft. I also lubricated the clutch cable and throttle cables. In doing this I found the plastic part of the throttle grip was cracked about 70% around. I've glued it for now, Super Glue, which may be as strong as new, but I'll replace it anyway.
Next I'll do the back end, re-grease the swing arm bearings and check the brakes. A couple of weeks before leaving I'll have to fit new tyres front and rear.
I also bought a new helmet, after 6 years the old one was a bit loose.

A bit of an idea of where and when I might be there

To give you an idea where I'm planning to be and when. I'm departing Sunday 10 May sometime in the morning and heading to Geelong. Then the Great Ocean Road, hoping to spend the 1st night at Narrawong, just east of Portland. Only about 470 km, thought I'd take it easy the first day, since I have no idea what the weather is going to be like, maybe the draught will have broken and it'll be raining.
Next night hope to get to Kapunda Tourist and Leisure Park, northeast of Adelaide. 3rd night Minnipa Caravan Park, 4th night Nullarbor Roadhouse or Border Village. From here on it depends on how far I got the day before, so the 5th night (thursday) could be Caiguna, Balladonia or hopefully camping at Fraser Range in WA.
The weather will play a large part on how far I get each day, but by Saturday 17th I hope to be at Leeuwin National Park in Western Australia and I want to checkout the Lake Cave. Then it's around the coast to Perth and from here I think I'll have to update as I go, but plan to stop in on Exmouth, might do some snorkling.

Start delayed to 10 May

Due to some personal reasons I will now be leaving Melbourne on Sunday the 10 May 2009; and shortly will give more details of where I will be stopping. I am sorry if this inconveniences anyone who was interested in coming along; I hope you still can.

Open invitation to join me

I invite anyone who rides a motorcycle to join me on any part of this trip. You can ride for as long, or for as short as you want. But because I'm trying to complete the trip in 35 to 40 days, I may be riding for 2 to 3 hours at a time only stopping for fuel or lunch, or to meet those who plan to join.
The only thing I ask is that you come with everything you may need for your part of the ride and that, if you can, make a donation to Oxfam Australia or better still do some fund raising for the cause. Thank you.
At this stage I'm looking at leaving Melbourne on the 15 March 2009. As we get closer I plan to have an itinerary showing most of the places I'll be stopping at overnight.