To infinity and beyond. No 2.

Did you know. Len Atlee and Bryan Hindle won the first Castrol Six Hour Race in 1970 on a Triumph 650, the only time the Poms ever won. They did 306 laps and won $1,000. Then the biggest prize money in Australian motorsport. The Tadano was an 8 wheeler. Our distance from home is 7461kms amd the Rooney is running at 17.488 l/lm (49.32mpg) and Dr Duck is doing 20l/km (57mpg). For Bailey we are at 9 degrees34.323'N and 99degrees59.681'E.

My Aussie designed and made Lachlan Campbell Panniers are probably the best in the world. They are so good I take them off the bike and into bed with me every night! The sheets are usually pretty shitty looking in the morning.

Iluka. Wet. Pottsville. Wet. Dinner with Tom, Suzie & Will. Wet on the inside. Morgan & Wackers, Gold Coast & lunch with Adam & Natalie. Still wet. Fell in love with CJ. (six weeks old) Over the range to Toowoomba, pissing down pickhandles. Darling Downs, sunny warm and lush. Western Queensland & Northern Territory, bloody hot. We had to stop for water every 100kms. Took 10 kms or so to find a tree for some shade many times. Kept the speed down to about 100kph out of respect for the bikes, 600kms was about it for a day. We did 820 one day and were stuffed the next. Anyone who says they can or did big miles up here in summer probably did not, or was not even there. Camped all the way. Fantastic.

Darwin. Great. RSL Club (Cavanagh Street) $15 'T' Bones, cold beer and a good wine list. Northern Territory Motorcycles for a service. Good people. Had to wait an extra day for my Carnet to arrive. Express post is four days from Canberra. Made friends with Dwin Delaney, I should have bought the bloody boots last time, they are now $3,500! Charlie got a nice pair of kangaroo skin boots though. Played the tourist thing for a couple of days, shipped the bikes. (no problems) Moved into a posh hotel. All good. Taxi to the airport, things still good. Airport security was very efficient, took my shampoo, nail clippers, deodorant (2 bottles), water and anything else I could use to blow up the plane. Tiger Airways, cheap!!! What a shitfight. Pay full price and enjoy the trip. No leg room, dirty and shabby planes. So hot we sweated like pigs. No movies, no food or drinks. They turn the lights on and announce you can buy food and drink when ever they think you could be nodding off. Don't be a tight arse like us, pay up and you will live to enjoy it.

Got out of a Taxi in Singapore, the first person we saw was a Billy Boy. Tried to buy her/him for Charlie, I don't think he is ready for it yet! (Mick & Don nothing changes in Singapore) Spent the weekend being tourists in Singas. Raffles for a beer, $35, fcuk them. Rode the MRT, did a Harbour Cruise. Rang to pick the bikes up on Monday morning (as arranged) It seems they liked Sydney and decided to stay for a while. Why were they in Sydney when they flew Darwin to Singapore. Don't even ask!! The Rooney and Dr Duck arrived on Tuesday, we got permits, picked them up and cleared customs without much trouble.

Did I mention it was the monsoon season over here? Fcuking rain, every afternoon. Made the rain at Pottsville look like a sun shower. Around 5,000 motorcyclists commute to Singapore from Malaysia every day. They ride like there is no tomorrow and don,t care how hard it rains, yes, we were in the bloody middle. Malaysia was great, fantastic people and brilliant scenery. We crossed the Malaysian Peninsular a few times, found some top motorcycle roads, not much traffic either. Met Danny, a Christian Malay of Chinese ancestry, talk about a minority! He ride a Honda 600RR, both he and the bike have more bling than I thought possible. Showed us his town, markets, palaces, yacht club, silk factory, the lot. wouldn't let us pay for lunch, top bloke, having both recently sold BMW K1200RS's we had a bit in common. He even found beer, a mean feat in a Muslim country. We even rode for a couple of days without getting lost. Made up for it since.

Crossed into Thailand, running late and they have a Islamic insurgency problem near the border areas. Plenty of Army, James would have been rapt, real live Hummers full of machine gun carrying mean looking blokes. We had to get at least 100km from the border and find a hotel before dark. Cleared the cobwebs out of the bikes, even the buses have an armed escort. Krabi was great, Phuket was better. Bloody Koh Samui. Fantastic!!! Charlie has fallen in love with Thailand, particularly Samui and wants to bring Barbara back. Caught a Ferry over, 1.5 hour trip, bike and rider cost $6.25. We rode into Lollita's Bungalows. Been staying there for 18 years. Lollita is always pleased to see me as I spend money, she asked after Ann. I said we had split. Introduced Charlie. She gave me a room key. You wouldn't beleive it, she thought I had jumped the fence and had given us a bungalow with the biggest King size bed ever made. If nothing else, Lollita is adaptable! Arrived in time for the Full Moon party on Koh Phangan. Did the tourist thing again today, went trail riding up to the top of the Island. It has always been closed by the Army before, some great tracks.

Weathers great, food is great, people are great. Guess we should stay another day or so before we tackle Bankok. I forgot to put some people on to my e-mail list. Talk about go off like a pork chop in the hot Koh Samui sun! And it only rains in the evening.

Take care,
Chris.