A few short runs to test the bike and gear 31/7/20 -2/8/20

Our first run fully loaded was to the fishing locality of Dundee Beach. A direct ride from home would normally be around 130km but of course we took the scenic route via Litchfield National Park and turned the ride into 300km. On this trip we were still getting the suspension sorted out and tyre pressures and quickly came to realise the limit of the bike in amongst a very pig rutted track. Some great photos of the bike amongst the Magnetic Termite Hills was the reward for the ride but definitely not the place to be so fully loaded. 

Perfect Camp site amongst the trees at Litchfield Caravan Park

A weekend away in Litchfield.

Next trip we headed to Litchfield National Park with Deb and Ross onboard their recently acquired BMW 1200, though without yet to arrive dirt tyres.  Litchfield Park was only established as a national park back in 1986 thanks to the Cattle Station family of Townsends negotiating to hand back a parcel of their land for park use to the NT Government. The 1500 sq km park is named after the explorer Frederick Litchfield who in 1806 was part of The Finnis party that set out to explore the region for settlement and mining possibilities. We are certainly thankful for the foresight to establish a national park in what is such a special area.

Litchfield is literally on our doorstep so it is a place we would normally do as a day ride. Covid-19 had the benefit of making us look closer to home for travel experiences while borders were closed so instead of a day ride  we decided to camp for two nights at the Litchfield Tourist Park. Being a long weekend it turned out a lot of other Territorian’s had the same idea. With camp set up on the Friday evening, Saturday was spent riding multiple tracks and adding to the list of not a good idea “Deep Sand”.