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2007 Border Run photographs History of the Border Run (and “The Pudding”) In 1976, Bear and Eric lived in Western Australia, although Eric had decided to move to better pastures in South Australia. Not long before Eric left WA, dinner was organised in Bear's place and Eric showed up with a Big Sister self-saucing pudding for dessert. Unfortunately, after much libation, the pudding was forgotten, dinner was consumed and the weary friends parted company after making arrangements to catch up. The following year, Bear and Eric decided that if they wanted to catch up and have a beer, they needed a place that was relatively close to both of them. As they lived in states that shared a border, the best place to catch-up would be the newly built pub at the WA/SA border. As the venue was decided, all that was needed was a date. After much discussion, it was decided that the first weekend in August would be an ideal time as it's not too hot and not a lot happens in August anyway. Word soon spread among the faithful in WA and not only was this to be a catch-up for Bear and Eric, others decided to go along for the ride. So, on August 6th/7th 1977 the first Border Run happened. Present at the first Border Run were: Bear; Eric and Sandra; Boomer, Goldie; Pat Henderson; Catherine; Joan; Murray and; John.
Prior to leaving Perth, Bear located the pudding and decided to take it out to the Border and have it for dessert one night. Fortunately, The Pudding didn't get eaten and, to this day it still travels Australia by motorcycle. As you can imagine a pudding meant to be eaten a few months after being canned has not aged well and is now encased in epoxy resin. Since that first Border run in 1977, a year has not gone by without the Border Run happening and over 350 people have attended from every State and Territory in Australia. Many several times! 2007 Border Run photographs On the border there is a place called surprisingly Border Village. The Village is an oasis situated just metres inside the South Australian side of the border and is the gateway to Western Australia or South Australia depending on the direction you are travelling. Riders come from all over Australia and not all of them do tarmac surfing as there are many alternative routes along glorious and not so glorious gravel and clay roads. To obtain an idea of some of the distances involved from Melbourne to the border it is approximately 2100 kms. From Perth it is 1250 kms. Combine these two distances and the result is further than travelling from Melbourne to Auckland and also farther than Port Moresby to Melbourne. Port Moresby to Melbourne via Brisbane by air is approximately 3469 kilometres. Of course those distances pale into insignificance when you meet up with riders who have come from Cairns, Darwin or via some further alternative route. On any lengthy ride across isolated parts of Australia, no matter how reliable a motorcycle you may have, it is best to travel with others. Many motorbikes these days, although they will get 3 to 5 litres per 100 kilometres (45 mpg - 80 mpg), have miniscule fuel tanks and no matter how well you plan it is always possible to have had the throttle open too far into a strong headwind and blown your fuel consumption out the window especially on a trip such as this. Other obstacles such as flat tyres and wandering wild life have to be allowed for and there is always safety in numbers. Of course if you team up with some of the dedicated touring / adventurer types on motorbikes with 40 or more litres of fuel on board spare fuel is not an issue especially if you can convince your riding partners to loan you some fuel if you miscalculate your fuel consumption. Travelling with friends also means that you can share the cost of accommodation and the carrying of common tools such as tyre repair equipment and other necessary tools. |
