4500 km in 11 days. Started out in 4 degrees, Ended on 32 degrees. Only 10,000km to go. Only red dirt is on the sides of the road, and the roadworks. It is actually sealed all the way from what I have been told.
Grahames SF2 has had a complete Redax rebuild, and is running superbly. We try and sit on the speed limit, and 110km/h in the 130 km/h zones, which works pretty well, giving you room to speed up for overtaking.
My old 3C, Marmalade, as he is half orange and half lemon, has been a love hate relationship for the last 30 years. Starting out as a mudguard, shiny on top and shit underneath. Over the years it has been raced, crashed, modified, used as a test bed for ignition systems, and generally abused. I have been using the Jota for my long trips for the last 20 years, and was looking forward to the 750 being my new long distance machine. I still have high hopes for it.
The original wiring loom in the headlight seems to be the major problem, it is holding together for now, but will need a full replacement when home. The motor is running well, but has used 1.2 litres of oil in 4500km. Most of that I would put down to the highly modified head with the shortened valve guides.
Today will see an oil change and a general going over. The Michelin road classic tyres are in excellent condition, wearing well considering the weight they are carrying. Grahames Bridgestone bt46 on the other hand is totally shot on the rear, it does have 6000km on it, but won't make the next leg of the journey down to Perth.
One of the great parts of the trip has been the after dinner discussion, solving the problems of the world. It was great to chat with Dave last night, getting an insight into Darwin and it's unique issues.