For those of you who are fortunate enough to be out on an early ride in the Aussie summer spare a thought for those of us who aren't. This is what I woke up to this morning. The night guys tell me it snowed last night. It's hard to believe it considering we are basically right on the equator. There was a good view last night though.
Crazy stuff ! ..... you must be pretty high up in the mountains? We could do with some snow here .... had enough of these 35+ days
I was amazed when you said the night shift had snow, sitting on the equator??? The photo's were great, how far up are you stationed.
Yeah it's pretty high; 2800m or so. The photos don't do it justice actually. The jungle is pretty impressive when you see it in the day on those rare occasions when it isn't belting down or clouded in. Apparently there are permanent glaciers and snow further west in West Papua. Here is a shot of the camp. It's a bit of a step down from the 4 star serviced apartment I had on my last contract in Jakarta!
Yea can get down to -4/5 at times .... we get alot of frost and ice but not snow Snows further up into the hills/ranges at times ... bout 70ks away .... Niangla/Hanging Rock .... Casey Stoner territory , well his parents anyway.
It has snowed twice in Tamworth in my lifetime, 1965 and 1983. Rode my Honda NX650 Dominator up to Hanging Rock today. Left town with only a light jumper and shirt under my coat and by the time I got to the top of the ranges it was drizzling, blowing a gale and about 9 degrees. Had to turn on the heated handgrips as I only had summer gloves on. I took a photo, ate a handful of blackberrys and buggered of down to Woolomin for a coffee.
Thanks Fox. It is a 1993 model, (Hanamatsu built) that I bought last November with only 15,000Km on the clock. Know its history and service record, still has original tyres, sprockets, etc, that will need to be changed before rego next month. I have added wool seat cover, windscreen, rack and bag, lower footpegs to ease the knee bends, overhauled brakes (age related) with braided line from my son's shop, greased the rear shock links, lubed things that had dried over the last 20 years and gave it a service. I paid a bit more for a good low mileage one that should still be going when I can no longer ride. Other forum research shows they will do about 100,000km before needing to be opened up if looked after properly. I wanted something that was a bit more comfortable than a standard road bike, lighter than my ST1100 and could go over any road surface with me still able to walk at end of ride. And I like Honda big singles. (Why mention Hanamatsu? because after 1995 they were made in Italy and were not quite the same quality.)
All good things to know Murdo. I've been looking at building an adventure bike. I've been tossing up between an Xr600, a Dominator or just going the whole hog and buying a KTM690 with aftermarket Dakar fairing kit. I love the simplicity of the XR though. Something like this with some CRF450 forks is what I have in my mind. They do vibrate a bit though. In that respect the Dominator would be a way better long haul bike.
The Domi is more road orientated with shorter softer suspension and things like rubber mounted handle bars to help with the vibration of the big (101mm) piston jumping up and down. I have fitted foam over grips (grip puppies/pussies) and bar end weights and they do help. Depends about how serious you want to get off road. The XR for no roads, the Domi for dirt roads. I have seen people who have bought a Domi trying to make it an off road bike, why not go with the XR in the first place? The Domi is a reasonable handler on the tar (even with the worn out 'trail wing' tyres) for a trail bike and I find that I am spending more time looking at the countryside and less time looking for pot holes to avoid than with my road bikes. It will happily sit on 110+Km/h on the highway, with only the seat causing me to stop after about two hours to massage the cheeks.
