After two nights in Te Anau, we backed up our tourism frenzy with two nights in Queenstown. As ex-west coasters in Tasmania, the differences between Queenstown and Queenstown could not be more absolute to us; one a famous mining town that rose and slowly fell, the other a famous mining town that rose and now … More Land of the Long White Bait Lunch – New Zealand Part 2

New Zealand. The international travel Australians do when we don’t want to go overseas. Culture shock rating of zero, but scenery, gastronomic, and riding shock ratings of extreme.Our trip to New Zealand’s South Island had been planned for March but was postponed to very late September. The last time I had been to NZ was … More Sweet As, Bro – New Zealand Part 1

Thirty-two years consigns us to history, a discovery noted during our August Mt Morgan mini-break and my first return to the famed mine since working there in 1986. We’d first thought to head up there in November last year, before remembering that Sagittarius with his oxy-acetylene torch and the summer solstice were getting fearfully close … More It’s All Mine

“Humble Pie Luncheon”, the story of our numerous “reconnoitre” rides through D’Aguilar National Park and the ill-fated thrust into the dark forests of Conondale National Park, is a lesson in the mismatch that can slowly develop between perceived riding adequacy and harsh skill reality over time. So, the only way forward was to expunge any … More Sunday Muddy Sunday

The 2018 Compass Expeditions reunion had been in our “must do” list since mid-2017, even though this time Compass decided to host the annual event at a location absolutely nowhere near anything – Merimbula in southern NSW. Key features of Merimbula are; cheap oysters, oysters that don’t cost very much, and intertidal salt water bivalve … More South of the Border, Down Merimbula Way

Cindy and I had always enjoyed the BMWMCQ monthly lunch rides. Note the past perfect tense “had” replacing the present perfect tense “have”, at least until the next lunch ride where the tense may change again depending on the rate of emotional and physical recovery. We had been planning an adventure in one of the … More Humble Pie Luncheon

They say a change is as good as a holiday. So if a holiday is combined with a job change, then one week of riding around in NSW before the BMWMCQ Christmas party is mathematically two weeks of holiday, but with only one week of expenses. Sweet. The schedule was brutal; last day at work … More The Pigman Cometh

Gelände Straße (Country Road) Experience; to observe and undergo, to gain practical knowledge, and to have a spiritual conversion. All of these were available options at the GS Experience hosted by BMW Motorrad at Canungra in August. For a modest fee of $49, BMW were offering a two hour opportunity to test two of the … More Country Road Experience

Article written for the BMWMCQ July 2017 journal It is day 43 of the Cairo to Cape Town expedition. The scheduled ride for the day is from Arusha to the capital city of Dodoma in Tanzania, a total of 429km. Cindy is back on Blue Betty the BMW 700GS for the first time since her … More Bespoked

Since our return from the C2C, many people considering adventure expeditions have asked us about the success of our packing and planning. Although for the purposes of this article ‘one’ fits within the definition of ‘many’ and ‘blankly staring cat’ fits within the definition of ‘people considering adventure expeditions’. Did all that thought, development of … More Africa De Brief