It isn’t unlike my friends and I to go on impromptu camping trips, and this last trip to Emu Creek is no exception. With less than a few hours on a Friday night I got a message – “Parklands… you in”. Well of course, except there was heavy rain up north (which was why other parks such as BDV were closed). In light of this we changed the route to Emu Creek as it was still the same distance away and there was no rain on the forecast.

After finally getting loaded into the car and trailer we set off at 10, arriving at 1.30pm and followed by another half hour of stuffing around navigating to the office. I’d have to say, a 2WD vehicle would struggle with a trailer and probably wouldn’t make it in wet conditions. Luckily we had 4WD so it was no problem. After setting up camp, which included parking and pulling the bikes out. We geared up quite quickly and attempted to start the YZ250F. It was quite hard to start considering the fuel mixture and idling is not properly set but after some messing with the idle screw it started and idled, however it did backfire – a lot.

We were way to keen to care though. We even found oil around the gasket but figured it was a slow leak and more oil would make it ride-able over the few hours we’d actually ride. After a few tracks we agreed it was a pretty big disappointment, Emu Creek that is. The tracks didn’t look very planned and there seemed to be many short cuts and single line sections – half the time I was wondering if I was going around the track backwards (I wasn’t).

After a few laps I pulled off to get some gloves as I had forgotten them in the excitement of starting the bike – a rookie mistake I will admit. A few more laps down and we returned to go pay the manager who was quite nice it seemed and was very reasonable with the price. We arrived afternoon and said we’d leave by morning so we made it $30 each which is good since he could have been a hard-ass and made us pay $60 for the actual two day trip it was.

We returned to camp for a quick rest. As I lifted the YZ back onto the stand a bolt fell out. After another look we discovered where another bolt had come from too, and another one. Luckily we came prepared, bringing a full bolt kit for the bike and tools. We soon had the bike fixed with more oil as a good amount was on our boots. We went out again. I stacked it twice – once when rolling over the jump which went over a dip, causing me to suddenly stop and then again when I hit mini hill climb in second gear. Nothing bad happened and the bike was alright.

After what seemed like no riding at all it was time to call it a day. We set up camp and had a fire for about an hour when it started raining. We retreated to the trailer, in which we slept. After possibly the worst sleep of my life, due to the rain making noise on the steel roof of the enclosed trailer we awoke to a new day and it was still raining. We decided to give it a go anyway since we’ve already paid to ride. We suited up with a jumper and I donned a second pair of gloves which worked well. I wasn’t cold at all despite the chilly temperatures with only a slight wind chill on my nose and chin area.

After only about 20-30min I gave up. The heavy rain had ruined the tracks even more and the mini rivers were too risky to ride fast over as they eroded some of the track away. Some places were almost too muddy to ride through and I wasn’t having any fun. We soon had packed up the trailer and left. The good news out of it is we’re not returning for the planned 3 day trip, instead, going to Motocross Mountain which looks to have much better tracks. The bad news is there aren’t many motocross parks nearby (or many tracks at all) so we’ll probably return some time.

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