For Part One – Click Here
BOURKE ’N’ BACK – Part Two
Damo gets tired of the computer and cubicle and goes missing for a few days again
Story and Photography Damien Ashenhurst
GOD OF THUNDER INTERVENES
I said my goodbyes to the now seven-strong crowd gathered around the Ducati and headed off to explore. I figured since I was only about 65km from Queensland it’d be rude not to cross the border, so I headed to the town of Hebel. The pub there is 133 years old and it’s a cracker. Good sausage rolls, too.
From there I went looking for more dirt as I’d still been tar-locked for most of the trip. I even headed into the scrub to just explore and feel rough ground again and found trees that looked like Lord of the Rings characters.
If the highlight of my time in Lightning Ridge was the people I met, the lowlight was the weather. Now, it hasn’t rained much in that area for about three years but it started while I was on the border. I just beat the worst of it back to my hotel (the Duke has some crazy pace) and, boom! — biblical rain ensued.
The next very wet morning, the hotel managers grabbed me and gave me the bad news that the tracks I’d planned to ride that day were closed and impassable, which meant the part of the ride I was truly keen on wasn’t going to happen and I was going to have to ride to Bourke on the road again. I found a track that could take me a more interesting way but it had a “Road Closed” sign and another sign saying “Dry Road Only”. Desperate to ride more dirt, I gave it a go but didn’t get far. The soil was a sticky soup with no traction at all and pretty quickly it gathered under the front wheel guard and just before I managed to get out of it I lost the front and had a little lie-down in the mud. I felt like an idiot — and for good reason.
BOURKE BOUND
I arrived at Bourke and checked into the impressive Kidman’s Camp with mud stuck to me and the bike from top to bottom. The rain had eased at Bourke so I went exploring. After about 40 minutes’ riding I was sure I drove past the only person I’ve ever known that lived in Bourke, so I messaged him to see if he was about. That was him and so I came back into town and hooked up with Tye Simmonds, who gave me the grand tour of Bourke and the rundown of what it was like growing up there. He showed me his tracks, the spot that he can jet ski when the rains come, the river he skis on and, at the pub that night, one of the best schnitzels you’ll ever have. His uncle even owns Kidman’s Camp and it’s on a piece of land that used to be one of his tracks. Bourke’s pretty cool and seeing it from Tye’s perspective was the best way to do it.
That night I ducked out at about 2am to take a photo of the bike under the amazing stars.
The next morning I was planning to head to Walgett and stay there the night and then head home the next day but since I was locked onto the tar roads and couldn’t really explore much I couldn’t be bothered hanging around and decided to ride home from Bourke instead. This wasn’t the smartest move and it certainly wasn’t much fun. I had a tinted visor so once the sun went down the country roads were crazy dark and I was on kangaroo alert in overdrive. Impressively, the Ducati’s cornering lights lit up the inside of each corner, giving me a little extra vision in the blackness.
I’m happy to take the Ducati on pretty much any adventure and I’m already planning one now — one that can’t be shut down by weather, that is.
VERIFIED GLOBETROTTER
In total, I put about 2500km on the Ducati Multistrada Enduro 1200 from when I picked it up to when I dropped it off. That’s way more time than you get to spend on any test bike and my impressions are good.
I like the bike. It’s more comfortable than I thought it would be and I definitely had enough saddle time to be sure of that. I don’t like the fact that there isn’t a 12-volt socket on the dash; there is one under the seat but up at the dash it’s an accessories plug and the adaptors for these are long and obtrusive. The clutch was a pain in the arse but the cause ended up being pretty simple. The fluid was leaking from the cap in minute amounts but enough to be a problem if you didn’t know or you couldn’t refill it on long trips. The Ducati guys were super helpful (they really are all-round good peeps).
The Multistrada is classed as a globetrotter in the Ducati promotional material and that’s an apt description. It handled the long road sections like they were nothing, punting along in cruise control. While I thought the curved seat would be uncomfortable, after about three hours it was good for an entire week. I used the ability to adjust the suspension from when I was carrying panniers and then not when I was exploring and switched modes between Sport, Touring and Enduro as the terrain and conditions dictated —doing this improved the ride each time. I also gave the ABS a huge test when a dumb roo jumped out mid-corner and I had to grab a handful but was still able to steer away.
I think this ride, although it was hampered by the weather, was the perfect fit for the Ducati. It feels like an even 50/50 split for dirt to road and at my best guess that’s what most blokes are doing with adventure bikes these days. Plenty take them further while a lot don’t and, while the Ducati might not be the pick for a deep-sand desert ride because of its weight, it’s a brilliant bike for putting your finger on a map and saying, “I’m going to go and see what’s there,” which is pretty much how I plan rides. It’s also one of the best ways to see Australia.
I’m happy to take the Ducati on pretty much any adventure and I’m already planning one now — one that can’t be shut down by weather, that is.
THE GEAR CHECK
On this ride I wore the Motodry Adventour jacket and pants, which I’d worn once before when the weather was pretty much perfect, so I got a much better idea what it was like this time around. I was pretty impressed. I just wore a thermal top and T-shirt under the jacket and on six-degree mornings that did the job. When it heated up to about 18–20, I zipped down the forearm sleeve vents and opened the breast vents, all without having to stop.
I used Novik Cold War gloves at any point over about 10 degrees but when it was super chilly I swapped to a pair of Five5 GT2WP gloves, which are waterproof and warm without being too restrictive and losing feeling on the levers.
The boots I wore are the ones I always go to if there’s a chance of rain: the RST Adventure Waterproof. They’re comfortable, not too soft in the sole and you can cross streams without them filling with water.