living in the sticks

[hard road]

who said living in the countryside was great ? went for a short 30 mile ride before the thunderstorm hits and hit another storm !!!!  bug city    the roads where wet with lots of cow shit so the extremally clean bike is now a mess    gona take me ages to get it back to how it was 

[Tony Nitrous]

living in the countryside

Countryside ?

I have no mains water, sewer, gas, phone lines, no dustbins, no postman.  I paid for a 25KVA transformer to take power from the nearest high voltage line to take power or I wouldn't have that either. I'm just outside of a previous bushfire area but have taken precautions for that.

I bloody love it !

I don't mind the flys and bugs on rides, or the snakes, spiders, scorpions etc at home... but meeting some of the Roo's and Wallabies out on rides at speed makes me real nervous !  Of all the wildlife out here the Roo's and Wallabies frighten we most and have given me the most close encounters.

After 18 years in a city this is heaven.

[hard road]

i can see hitting a roo at speed might give you a nasty bruise or two !!!!!!!  never lived in a city and never will     

[Tony Nitrous]

i can see hitting a roo at speed might give you a nasty bruise or two !!!!!!!  never lived in a city and never will   

I lived fairly rural for 40 years. 

Living in the city when I moved was necessary for work and for our kids schools and Uni. It wasn't a pleasant experience but I did OK out of it and the kids did exceptionally well, it also funded early retirement and a rural property.

From living in the middle of 2,500,000 people, this is now very close to the end of my driveway ......



Now it's 180k's / 110 miles for my Mrs to go to work occasionally, or to an airport, good bike shop, get tyres, a spray painter etc etc... 
(It contributed to me selling my H2 though, 4 recalls and all serviced etc had to be done 110 miles away)

[Irish in Oz]

So should we go bush! I never lived in a city and never will always lived on the fringe, best of both world's.

[hard road]

looks amazing Tony     I could of moved their about 14 years ago as they where crying out for bike mechanics, but me n the Mrs have 7 kids between us, couldn't leave them  though.

[Tony Nitrous]

looks amazing Tony    I could of moved their about 14 years ago as they where crying out for bike mechanics, but me n the Mrs have 7 kids between us, couldn't leave them  though.

My Ex wouldn't come, couldn't be 10,000 miles from her family. It's not for everyone.

I could have come out on a working visa easier, but I did it the hard way and got permanent residency as I wanted a change of career and to have less strings attached to staying.

Bike scene is a bit different here, slightly lower speed limits but way more places to play unseen, running H2's, Busa's etc out is do-able in the right places. Less shows, meets, tracks, tuners, good shops etc, but I ride comfortably all year round, only seen 2 light frosts in almost 20 years. A small population of a huge country means I'm regularly ordering stuff from the UK, US, China etc.  UK or AU are both better or worse in different ways. I don't hate on either one, although I certainly prefer our Winters...

[Tony Nitrous]

So should we go bush! I never lived in a city and never will always lived on the fringe, best of both world's.

I wish !
That was my plan. However... everywhere I looked and and liked, if they were within commuting distance to a city or hub the prices were high.  The moment you go a bit further out and folk think it's too far to commute there's a dramatic fall in prices.  Living on the fringe would be nice, but wouldn't have funded my early retirement or as much land as I wanted.

20 acres (81,000m2) here is under 50% of 700m2 in the city.

[Tony Nitrous]

i can see hitting a roo at speed might give you a nasty bruise or two !!!!!!! 

Yeah, heaps around here,  I'd imagine you'd know if you hit one... 





Hence a place nearer me selling "Hopper Knockers"...

[Eric GSX1400K3]

Roo bars are good, not sure how'd they'd go on the 1402 though, might affect handling a bit

[GSXKING]

Roos, emus, wombats etal they are all dangerous to hit. Driving/riding to conditions and awareness of potential hazards is required in any country really. However our wide brown land has expansive distances.

[Speedy1959]

I know its not the same as hitting a "Roo" but a few years ago my mate was traveling on a dual carriageway (60mph) on his then Yamaha MT01 and a Grouse/Pheasant flew across the highway and collided with his head..
He was knocked unconscious instantly, and was in hospital quite a while with concussion / neck muscle damage.
His bike was written off (obviously).
A Trucker who was following told the Police "His head exploded in feathers"

In certain parts of the UK there are signs up saying Beware of Deer!

https://www.fieldsportschannel.tv/deerroadaccidents/

S.

[grog]

Plover hit my front  master cylinder at mega speed, banjo came undone, i had brake fluid, feathers all over me and bike.My biggest concern was to wash fluid off bikes paint. Was all good. 

[VladTepes]

There's a picture around somewhere of a guy in a Land Rover Defender over here that hit a wombat on the road.  Destroyed the front steering arms (aka drag links or whatever) and caused a roll over - and those do not have roofs strong enough to support the weight of the vehicle. I think it wasn't fatal but easily could have been.
Wombats are bastards.

I also saw a LandCruiser which had hit a roo and the steel ARB bullbar was bent back into the radiator.  That's some impact!

So yeah hitting one on a bike would be... less than optimal.

Speedy your mate with the grouse encounter, reminds me of a ride we did where my fried very narrowly missed being KO'd by a wedgetail eagle - those things are HEAVY and it wouldn't have ended well.


And yet everyone focuses on the spiders and jellyfish and snakes and...