| #769 | |
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Pt Culver
Israelite Bay and Cliffs Ride
Started to organize this ride about October last year. Lots of guys stuck their hands up for going but, at the end, was down to 3 riders and two 4WDs coming along for the drive and to cart our fuel and gear for us. Then the night before we were heading off I get 2 texts from the support 4WDs saying that they were not coming, bugger.....this changed the game plan a bit. The idea was to ride the bikes at the start of the Israelite track, thru to the Cliffs and back, with the 4WDs as support vehicles. But now we had to cart the bikes to a spot where we could ride to the Cliffs and return on one tank of fuel - about the 130km range we figured. So myself, KTM Shaun and Kevin (from Bunbury) headed off to Esperance. We headed out to Israelite Bay on the Friday and took about 4 hours towing the trailer with the bikes on board, as the track was pretty rutted out and even though it was summer there were some bog holes with water still in them which we were able to drive around. Finally got to Israelite Bay and we had a look at the old Telegraph Station. Caught up with a local fisherman and got talking only to find out that we still had another 130kms to go before we were close to the Cliffs, bugger again....so we kept pushing along in the 4WDs so we could get close enough to the Cliffs so that we could make it there and back on the fuel range of our bikes. We finally made it to a place called Wattle Camp that was supposed to be about 60km from the Cliffs. As we were all pretty stuffed from the drive out, it was an early night. We woke up refreshed and ready to get on the bikes Saturday morning. We thought we go up the beach for a bit which was flat and hard. After doing about 10kms, we did a few wheelies and checked out how fast our bikes would go (my 450 Berg topped out at 160km/hr, KTM Shaun on his 350 at 130km/hr and Kevin on his Honda was about the same as the KTM). After seeing if there was any other tracks heading off the beach, which there wasn’t, we decided to head back to camp as riding along the beach was a bit boring. We got back to camp, topped up the tanks, got a quick bite to eat and then headed off to the Cliffs. Two thirds of the track to the Cliffs, which followed the old telegraph line, was going along the edge of salt flats which turned out to be quite slippery. We all struggled with traction and as I nearly lost the front three times so decided that is was a case of going steady and cautious until we finally hit the sand track, then it was back to normal. Whilst riding along the track, to our left was the mountain ridge that eventually swang towards the beach and turned into the Cliffs. It was pretty awesome to finally see the Cliffs, don’t know about the other guys but it was sense of achievement for myself as I’ve been wanting to do this ride for awhile (another one to cross off the bucket list). After spending some time having a bit of a look around, it was time to get back on the bikes and head down the beach towards the dunes. Riding down the beach was fun with the ocean forming up jumps every 5 metres or so, but after riding about 10kms of them the novelty started wearing off. We finally got to Bilbunya Dunes which I’ve heard lots about. There were definitely some big dunes there but I reckon some the dunes at Pink Lake near Esperance are just as big. Unfortunately the dunes were made up of bright white sand and, with the sun shining, it made it difficult to pick up the drop offs and soft spots which made them, in my thoughts, dangerous to ride. We were too far away to have an accident, and not knowing how we were going with fuel we decided to head back to camp. We all made it back to the camp site with KTM Shaun having only a small amount of fuel left, the Berg had a couple of litres left and Kevin, who had the biggest tank on his Honda, still a had few litres left. After having something to eat and a beer, we decided that we had done all the riding that we could do at this spot so we packed up and headed back to Esperance so that we could go riding on some of the tracks, sand hills and dunes in Esperance. We met up next morning at the Wyllie Bay car park, headed up to the top of Rossiter’s Rock and from there to the Wyllie Bay dunes where, after trying to get up a dune, Kevin’s Honda called it quits with the clutch slipping big time. We took him back to his car and KTM Shaun and myself carried on. It was starting to warm up so I took Shaun to a couple of other taller dunes in the area to ride up, then out to Browns Hill. The 450 Berg made light work of the hill climb (plus I’ve done it plenty of times which helped). KTM Shaun made it up on his second shot, which is pretty good. Lots of guys on 450s haven’t made it up. We then headed back to the car as it was getting pretty hot riding out on the dunes. All in all we had a good time although not exactly the way I had planned the ride. I would have liked to spend a lot more time on the bike instead if carting it on the trailer but there is always next time. Thanks to KTM Shaun and Kevin for coming along. Thanks Shaun for uploading the some of the photos – I’ll add some more. Cheers Dazza                |
