Autumn here in Australia, so riding season is finally well underway.

A group of six of us decided to take a 2600K round trip from the East coast to the Geographical center of NSW. This would comprise a variety of terrain ranging from tar, slick clay, soft dirt, hard packed dirt, gravel of varying sizes and sand of varying debths....




I fitted a brand new Dunlop 606 to the rear of the Tenere before leaving to handle the variety of terrain we expected to encounter throughout the 2600K's, and where it handled everything thrown at it, admirably, there isn't too much life left in it now that I'm home again.(Max 1000K).

Day one was more of a transport section of 270K's, which was eventually cut short, due to poor riding conditions, namely drizzle, fog and plenty of low clouds. Our destination being Oberon South West of Sydney.

A couple of highlights for the day were crossing the Colo river





and a brief stop at Janolan Caves in the Blue Mountains West of Sydney




Day two we caught up with a couple of Sydney riders and headed further West to Cowra.

Most of the day was spent riding through pine forests.



Day three we started heading North to Wellington. This area is in drought condition, which means dust and plenty of it..

Fortunately there are plenty of outback pubs to help settle the dust along the way.



Glorious roads in this part of the world.....Perfect riding conditions for the XT660Z








Starting to get seriously West now




Things start to become a little strange out this far West. The Rabbit Trap Hotel is an iconic photo opportunity for Adventure riders




OK...we finally made it to the geographical centre of the State of NSW....Nothing special, just a pile of rocks commonly known as "The Cairn". The roads in this area are all dirt and gun barrel straight......

Perfect for Big Bore bikes







Having reached our objective, it was time to start heading back home via Nyngan, Coonabarabran and Bendemeer etc.

Paid a vist to the Warrambungles for a quick look at the Siding Springs Observatory on the way...Some fabulous scenery in this area









Not to mention great Adventure roads





Like this..





And plenty of deep sandy sections to keep you on your toes, and your heart rate up. The Tenere is surprisingly good in sand.!!.





The scenery starts to improve slightly as we head towards towns such as Manilla





and Bendemeer





It is hard to describe how dry some of the areas we passed through are.


.....perhaps a pic may help




Homeward bound now ....Hope you enjoyed the ride.....!!!

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Attitude is the difference between an Ordeal and an ADVENTURE

Awesome. Very inspiring and made for tenere. Those blue skys hurt your eyes when you're used to grey. I suppose you think we're a bit balmy when we go on about this and that best waterproof gear

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2010 XT660Z Blue, Exan can, UFO high front fender, SW Motech baseplate, heated grips, 12v point, Kevs Fuel & O2 mod, DNA Stage 2 Filter and cover, Givi tall screen, Mefo mfe 99s, Kevs throttle mod, TT high seat and 'compass'

Nice trip and nice photo's !
I also have a D606 on the front but find the Dunlop a bit too soft for the back, especially on the long tar stretches. I use a Pirelli MT90 Scorpion at the back now which gives excellent grip on tar and is surprisingly good on those type of roads you did.

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2014 XT660Z - Barrett pipe, DNA stage1.5, Barkbuster hand guards and handlebars, Pivot pegs, Teknik suspension, Guard-it engine protector combo, B&B rear rack, Trax topbox.

Another great trip Seahorse, and some fab photos . Just perfect Tenere country . I know I've said it before but what I envy is being able to ride such distances on 'trails'.. great stuff. Thanks for sharing the ride! Steve

Seahorse!...simply stunning !...real photos ,real beautiful weather , amazing terrain,and as Steve said I would do anything to have wide open trails like those to ride.Thankyou for posting it all , perked me up!!

Great stuff - lets have some more

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Please check out me videos

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHn...RGEOVXQ/videos

Stunning scenery, well jealous!

And as a photographer, i'm very impressed with the images, good job!

Great pictures and trip log.
Spring is here in the UK so better weather expected soon for riding the Wild Atlanta Way .

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2011 xt660z.
Yoshimura cans ,kev mod,Dna 2, Stahlkoffer panniers,Hepco Becker box,Givi crash bars,Mita e07 tyres.

Thanks for the kind words guys..Glad you like the pics...

I will be the first to admit that I am at best, a hack photographer, but luckily, am fortunate to have subject matter that more than makes up for my lack of photographic ability.

Some of the scenery we ride through is simply amazing, in its raw beauty and solitude. I love the fact that we can ride for days on end without seeing another soul, surrounded only by nature.... My camera on a lanyard around my my neck, always ready to go at a moments notice.

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Attitude is the difference between an Ordeal and an ADVENTURE

Just a few words on the logistics of the ride..

Ride distance was approx 2600K's. It took 7 full days and 6 nights on the road to accomplish.

Bit hard to estimate accurately, but I would guess it was 75% dirt and 25% sealed roads.

I have the Tenere and multi day rides pretty fine tuned now. All of my tools are carried in a small hard case on the rear rack. My wet weather gear is in a US5 Kriega bag lashed to the top of the hard case. Personal items and clothing for 7 days are carried in a 18L SW Motech bag lashed to the pillion seat.



Spare tubes, tyre levers, pump and chain oil is carried in two small Wolfman bags which mount perfectly on the SW Motech crash bars.

I also wear a Klim Nac-Pak which holds 3L of water and a few odds and ends.


Nights are generally spent in Country Hotels. We try hard to be off the bikes before 4pm, as the local wildlife (Roos Emu's etc) start their afternoon feeding session around this time. The added benefit being we are also in time for "Happy Hour" and a few ice cold Pale Ales to help settle the dust.




A couple of moments prior to the below photo being taken, I had a very close encounter with two large grey roos, quickly followed by three sheep who decided to cross the road directly in front of me.....




Some sections of road run through grazing properties. Fortunately cattle are far more predictable than the wildlife.....it is still wise to slow down if nothing more than to prevent spooking them. Pretty hard to slow down on roads like this where the normal cruising speed is 100+K's





Didn't monitor the Tenere's fuel consumption too closely, but the times I did calculate consumption, it ranged between 22 - 24 K/liter....

There were a variety of bikes on the ride ranging from two Super Tenere's, a KTM 990 Adventure, a KTM 1190 Adventure, BMW GS650 and and adventurised Yamaha 450 Enduro



The Yamaha Super Tenere is a very capable machine and the two on this ride were piloted by very capable riders...

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Attitude is the difference between an Ordeal and an ADVENTURE