After introductions all round we were soon back on the road heading for Cracow. The country road turned to dirt after about half an hour. I was the only one not to have lowered my tyre pressures so my bike was a bit squirrelly, but this didn't matter at first as the road was dead straight and a reasonable gravel surface. This straight road took us to Cracow where we decided against a beer in the very busy pub (the town's fortunes have been revived now that the gold mine has been reopened), and opted instead to look around the abandoned hospital. The doors are all wide open so we figured that no one would mind.

Next morning Joe was unsure of his V-Strom handling the damp conditions and decided to head for home. The rest of us got going around 9am and headed for the park, in the dry but under overcast skies. The night's rain had if anything improved riding conditions, the roads were dry but not dusty. I was also going a lot better today after letting some air out of my tyres; I still had higher pressures than anyone else so I was not in any danger of tyres creeping on the rims. Shortly into the ride I lost my shoes off the back of the bike but Jack spotted them and retrieved them for me. He was less fortunate as he lost his jerry can of spare fuel and tail-ender Russell didn't see it, so it didn't get rescued. We were almost at the park by the time the loss was noticed so it was not worthwhile going back to look for it. We decided instead to look out for it on the return journey. We got to the park around lunchtime, set up camp, then took the short but interesting 4x4 track to Cattle Dip lookout. Back at camp we settled in for a lazy and sunny afternoon and arranged a decent campfire for the evening. A bit later to bed this evening, around 11pm, thanks to the fire and and some good company. The tank water here was fine for cooking and tea or coffee, but not ideal for drinking water. Jack had brought his own, I will do the same next time.

We all headed north out of camp, following another fun 4x4 track the 17km to the northern entry to the park. From here Russ continued north on his trip to the Gulf, Jack and I turned south. The roads had dried a little more and were dusty but OK. There were some ruts from recent rains though, suggesting that this road would be quite chellenging if it really rained. We refuelled in Taroom (having failed to spot Jack's missing fuel can), and continued cross-country in the general direction of Murgon. Great roads, a mixture of tar and gravel, but somewhere around here I picked up a nail in my rear tyre and ended up with a puncture. This is becoming something of a feature on my dirt rides - see my tale of tyres ride report for a story of similar woes on my GS. Roadside repair proved straightforward using our combined toolkits - KTM had omitted to include the rear axle spanner in my toolkit so I would have been stranded if our bikes had not been identical. The surprise was that breaking the tyre bead proved easy using the bike's side stand. There are lots of stories on the web of this task being impossible due to a safety bead on the inside of the rim, and Jack has experienced the same problem, but apparently it becomes much easier with warm tyres. The bad news was that the first patch didn't want to stick, and the second patch seemed a bit doubtful too. The wheel went back on the bike anyway and we continued cross country.

All in all a great extended weekend, quite varied, with just enough adventure for my taste. The KTM acquitted itself really well and I look forward to getting knobbies fitted to see how it handles dirt roads when properly shod. Thanks to all who took part, I hope we can do it all again soon.