A trip 18 months in the planning! Clayton & his mates (12 bikes in total) starting in Flinders Ranges, headed for an epic journey though the centre of Australia.
Clayton began his trip by, shipping his 2020 500 EXC from Perth (his hometown) to Adelaide, before riding up through the Clare Valley to Quorn where he met his other mates. They spent five days in the iconic Flinders Ranges, staying at Hawker, Rawnsley Park Station, Blinman and Arkaroola. Between riding through the gorges, they explored the Nuccaleena copper mine ruins & thier time in Arkaroola saw day trip out to explore a number of old mine sites including Yudnamutana copper mine. If you're an adventure rider, this is definitely a place to tick off!
The mates headed up to the outback ghost town of Farina Ruins and stayed at the Lyndhurst Hotel before heading off even further north to Innaminka via Mt Freeling Station. At Innaminka they visited the Burk & Wills dig tree and did a day trip in the sand out to Coongie Lakes. This was all before their big stop over at Birdsville, outback south of QLD, where their bikes were in need of a good service, having already completed 2800kms since Adelaide.
Birdsville seemed like a blast! Plenty of visits to the Birdsville pub and bakery (the only two stops you really need) had the mates never really needing to leave. However, they could not resist a day trip out to the Big Red sand dunes, where the littler EXC 250, 350 & 500 got to enjoy the ascents of the iconic sand dunes, whilst the larger bike all watched on in envy!
Whilst some riders chose this time to make their way back home. Clayton was one of the few that conquered on to the Dalhousie Hot Springs back in South Australia for a good soak. I mean, how could you resist!
From there they booted up to Finke in the Northern Terriroty to check out the sites, after all, this is where the KTM EXC belongs having beeing the home of the iconic FINKE Desert Race. And whilst, in the area, dropped by at the Lambert geographical center of Australia, and of course, Uluru.
After bush camping just west of Tjukayirla Western Australia they completed their mega journey, travelilng a whopping 900kms to Kalgoorie, where a cold beverage was well enjoyed. The next day was blacktop back home to Perth.
17 days of Straight rding, the total trip distance clocked up to 6800kms! Truely an unforgettable feat. And no better way to do it, than with your mates.