We're on our way!

28/7/16

Andrew and I hit the road at 7.30 am and left the gray, cloudy, Perth skies behind. Pretty soon the temperature had climbed to 22 degrees and we started to defrost. The warmth in our bones was a good feeling and we were on our 550 kilometre transport section to Northampton, where the real ride starts tomorrow.

The sun is shining. Yay!

I had to stop at Mingenew and partake of a pie for lunch. On our last ride through here I missed out because my greedy mates scoffed the lot before I had a chance to order. You know who your mates are...

It was delicious!

Our next stop was a social visit to Sun City Motorcycles in Geraldton, one of the best motorcycle shops in Australia. Unfortunately Brett (the owner) was away trying to get warm up north as well, but Andrew, Matt, and Fish looked after us, fed us coffee, and updated the gossip on the bike trade.

We rolled into Northampton around 4.00pm where we checked in to the Railway Tavern. The owner, Kelly, plied us with alcohol and provided a few laughs as well. As it was our first night on the road, we thought we;'d be sensible and do a pub crawl of town.

The unremarkable Railway Tavern.

Now while this might sound impressive, there are only three pubs in town. A quick walk around town covered all three pubs and gave us a chance to check out the old buildings as well.

Saint Mary's Church was a nice old building. 

This is the former Sacred Heart Convent.

It's now budget accommodation,

so it's still full of young girls.

Now for the pubs...

The Top Pub, at the top of the hill was the youngster / backpackers pub. It was lively and a bit of fun.

The Middle Pub, was the locals pub. This is where we met Jim, a local "character" who filled us in on all the local gossip, and offered his solutions to worlds problems. he also let us know that the owner of the Railway Tavern was know as Basil Fawlty. 

Then it was back to the Bottom Pub where we had a good feed. I must admit that Basil did spring to mind more than once.

With dinner out of the way our uneventful day was over by 7.00pm and we were stacking up Zs in no time.

Yes, bed by 7.00 pm! Rock and roll, and living the dream.

Tomorrow the fun stuff starts...

It's time to visit my own back yard (and escape this bloody cold, winter weather).

9/7/16

It's been a while since I've posted any riding updates on the blog because all of my rides have only been day trips. Now I'm heading off for a two week ride, and I thought my overseas friends might like to tag along. So here we go...

I'm sitting here listening to rumbling thunder, howling wind, and watching rain pelting down out of a very dark grey sky. The rain has just replaced the hail that was trying it's best to come through the roof a few minutes ago. On top of that, the next door neighbour has a yard full of animals and is out in the cold, building an ark. I've decided that my mate's plan to head north, where it's much warmer, for a quick ride, is a good idea.

So Andrew and I are heading out of Perth for a few weeks of riding in the glorious Northwest sunshine, covering a lot of areas I've never ridden before. We'll experience stunning natural beauty, a lot of history, and a few bars along the way.

The odd couple, my Moto Guzzi Stelvio and Andrew's Harley Davidson Ultra Classic, will roll across about 4,000 kilometres of Western Australian roads starting at the end of the month. We'll pass through the following places, among others, along the way.

A little culture and history in Northampton.

A quick visit to Horrock's Beach, 

and maybe some fish and chips.

A couple of nights in Kalbarri, with a visit to Rainbow Park, the largest walk through aviary in the Southern Hemisphere. 

Denham, Shark Bay, and Monkey Mia. 

Carnarvon. It's a long walk out along the jetty to go fishing. 

Coral Bay. Some people say the fishing is so good here that you don't even need a line, the fish just jump into your arms.

We'll see. 

We'll spend a few nights in Exmouth with one of Andrew's old friends, and maybe visit Ningaloo Reef and the Whale Sharks. 

We'll base ourselves at Tom Price for a few nights,

and take a tour of 

Karijini National Park.

Karijini National Park. 

We'll try and avoid the asbestos at Wittenoom... 

...and check out the mine at Newman. 

With a little luck we'll find a gold nugget like this in Mount Magnet. That would pay for my dream South American trip.

And on the last day we'll probably make a lunch stop in Dowerin for a good old Aussie meat pie.

So that's the plan. Check back at the beginning of August and see what we're up to. At the very least you'll learn about a few good places to buy a beer in the Northwest of Western Australia.