A great video showing the off road versatility of the big Beemers. Tons of water challenges and lots of action. Episode 3: A relatively short 200 kilometres from Gregory Downs Hotel to Hells Gate. What it lacked in distance it certainly made up for in a variety of riding conditions. The highlights included flowing twin trail and three decent water crossings.
Come along with Dave Darcy of Motorcycle Adventure Dirtbike TV as he embeds in the challenging 2023 BMW GS Enduro Safari, Cairns to Darwin. It’s a tough relentless adventure over 7 days and 3000 dirt kilometres and Dave’s there to catch all the action and fun
AN EXCERPT FROM THE STORY BEHIND THE RIDE 2023 BMW GS ENDURO SAFARI – CAIRNS TO DARWIN It’s hard to identify that point in time when I realised, I was riding in a fair dinkum BMW Enduro Safari. Was it Day 2, punching out 570 kilometres of unforgiving dirt roads smothered in hand sized rocks, sand and endless bull dust pits? Or was it Day 3, forging deep river crossings and endless twin trail on a huge cattle station the size of a small country in Europe.
I’m now sitting in Darwin, still astride my BMW 1250 GS Trophy looking down at my trip metre that reads, 3,344.4 kilometres. I’m still recovering from what was arguably one of my best days riding I’ve had on a Beemer. Miles Davis, long time BMW off road Guru, had cooked up a mighty crescendo for Day 7, the final day of this Cairns to Darwin ride.
Day 7 had every riding condition for an adventure imaginable and it highlighted the versatility of my Rhino. It started with a 200-kilometre black top section that we legally, the speed limit is 130 ks, covered in around an hour forty mins. Then onto some amazing twisty black top through open farm country before we settled in for the main meal, a blast through a private cattle station on billiard table smooth dirt, four lanes wide with sweeping corners perfectly designed for power sliding.
Despite their width, I still managed to overcook one corner and do a Wayne Gardner esque run into the grass before anxiously looking around to ensure no one saw my foopy. There was a deep river crossing thrown in for good measure, some more twisty black top before finishing on some rutted single trail through a pandanis palm grove and abandoned railway track. Quite a crescendo!
This Beemer clan do things large, so let’s return to the beginning, 7 days earlier. The Saturday afternoon rendezvous was at the opulent Shangri-La Hotel on the waterfront of Cairns. Nothing but the best for our introduction and start to the trip.
