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A long way there
Report by GasGasLex.
Ride at MOA was the idea last October and finally the time had come, We left Albany at 21.30 on Monday night with a view to arriving at MOA by lunch time Tuesday. GasgasLex & Railway Bob met at Mt Barker at 2200 and left only to find Dirt Bike Chick Sue had fuse issues with her Navara and needed a jump start. Not to worry, a minor detour and one & half hours later we are off to Perth. The roads were empty as we passed a McBurger joint in Midland and filled up on ironman carbs. After a few hours we rolled into MOA at 12.30 to be greeted by a dead looking goat lying on the road & Bev who is surely the best host Ive ever encountered, she showed us the sumptuous shearers quarters which looked mighty ok after 15 hours in a car. In no time at all the dead goat had re-animated and with her son became our friendly mooching pests. Gasgas was eager to get a ride in & wasted no time getting the others motivated , armed with what Bev euphemistically called a map of MOA we were underway taking a route west along the Murchison river. The 4x4 challenge tracks were a bit of fun & the crew tried to see what the river section of the GasDash would be like by riding flat out along the Murchison sand bed and its nasty coarse deep crap, not at all like the soft inviting sand of down south. Soon however DirtBikeChick informed us that riding along the Murchison ist Verboten by the DEC and frowned upon so that was that for the first day. That evening it rained hard for some 30 minutes which turned out to be just perfect for the following days ride as there was no dust & just a few hints of puddles Wednesday dawned early for some, the tin walls of the Shearers quarters failing to mute Railway Bobs cacophony of snoring so Lex & Julie were up at 0500 to photograph the sunrise & the ever present goats. By 0800 with a kilo of bacon & eggs swallowed the crew went for a ride to waste some time until MOA Daniel turned up to take the group on a Tag along Tour. Daniel fired up his KX 2pot smoker and led a snappy pace in his board shorts & MX boots along the 4x4 torture track stopping every now and then for a regroup. A few creek beds & hills eventually let us to a fast smooth fence line, it was nice to mix the slow technical sections with flat out fast bits. A few hours later we arrived at Pelican point, a great place east of MOA where you can camp by the river. Bev arrived with the non riders, wives & kids with a tasty hamper for lunch. With lunch over it was time to cross the Murchison river which had begun to flow from the previous nights rain, this quagmire took 2 people per bike to get across but that was the easy bit as the far side of the river had sharp jagged rocks the like of which you see in Erzberg rodeos. Sue had a bruising off crossing these snotty rocks but bike & rider remained in good humor so we blasted off. The tracks were a mix of fire trails, fence lines & small woodlands which took us north of MOA and back west . With Daniel at the lead & TTRboy Shellby & Bob in hot pursuit Sue & Lex bringing up the rear Sue found a sweet long stretch of clay mud ruts. A crossed handlebar a rear wheel in one rut and a grouse 25yard slide in the sticky brown potters clay resulted in some expletitives and Sue covered in the brown goo. After a few minutes Bob returned to see whats keeping us. Whats happening he asks, Lex Fell over she says, Oh ok.Totally failing to notice Sue is dripping brown goo & her bike is facing the wrong way also brown in colour.. Back at camp the days ride is over with no one worse for wear however Bev notifies us that the buggies are all unusable, apparently being of Chinese origin & being thrashed to death by revheads was their death knell. Railway Bob does not take this news well as his troop had their hearts set on a all day buggy ride the next day. Bev promises to try & get at least one or two going. The fire was roaring & the steaks were tasty that night. Thursday dawns, Julie & Lex are up before sun up to capture the sunrise & get the bacon sizzling. RailwayBob is mooching around at breakfast and finally announces that as there are no buggies we are going to head to Perth today,Hmmm now this is a bit of a fly in Lexs ointment as his Honda came up in Bobs trailer.what to do. With Bob about to take his bat & ball and head south GasgasLex & TTRBoy go off for a ride before having to pack the Honda in the soon to disappear trailer. DBC Susan kindly offered to put her bike in the trailer in the place of Lexs Honda as she knows that too much riding is not enough for Lex but in the end both the Honda & Kwaka are loaded into the departing trailer.. In place of the buggy ride Bev organizes a kayaking adventure up the Murchison for the remaining gang which turns out to be a hoot. The girls busy themselves looking for gem stones in the river whilst the boys set about building a dam, its another perfect 22 degree day. A few hours later Bev returns and takes the group back to base. That afternoon MOA Mud boy Josh showed us around his favorite mud holes in his quad whilst we took turns on the remaining trailbikes fanging thru the brown slop. Friday was a pack and drive day, the only negative apart from the 14 hours drive was the tyre fitter in Kalbarri who forgot to do up the wheel nuts on one of Susans Navara wheels after she bought new tyres, which promptly came off 120 meters from his shop..not good but it could have been worse All in all MOA a thoroughly recommended destination for a family fun destination, Bev & MOA Daniel will look after you & show you a great time..  Murchison OffRoad Adventures  Murchison Offroad Adventures  MOA Mud Boy Josh |
