Day 41 - Kalgoorlie tourist

A sleep in today as we play tourist with the Grey Nomads. The bikes never saw any bitumen today. Safely locked out of harms way.
Off to The Super Pit tour for 2.5hrs. Great tour. Back into town for lunch and the local museum. Then the brothel tour. No samples here, but a great little tour. Ah the smell of leather! Next a massage for throttle rot in the right shoulder and neck.
The evening was spent on the balcony of the Kalgoorlie Hotel.

Tomorrow we head to the Nullarbor and hopefully keep ahead of the cold front. 

Day 40 - Kalgoorlie

A cool 6c overnight that warmed to around 20c late in the day as we got closer to Kalgoorlie.

First it was hang out the washing on the back of the bike followed by a run around the Great Ocean Drive. Back to Esperance main street for breakfast then off north.

First stop was Salmon Gums where we found a pub for sale. $395k WIWO. Asking too much IMHO.

Onward to Norseman for the dearest dim sim I've ever had in my life @ $2.50.

A final leg stretch at the Kalgoorlie - Coolgardie turnoff and next stop the Palace Hotel Kalgoorlie. 

Mary, one of the managers treated us like long lost children and organised for our bikes to be locked away inside the hotels internal yard behind a roller shutter. Too good!

The late afternoon was spent organising washing and tours for tomorrow with a walk around the CBD.

Day 39 - Esperance

A good night at the YHA and a cool start today from Denmark, 3.5c with Rog's bike recording a max of 18.5c! To The Gap then breakie in Albany to warm up before turning right and pointing towards Esperance.

A couple of fuel stops along the way, around 570kms in the end. It felt good to get back into a riding routine.

Saw our first Silo art at Ravensthorpe.

Mallee fowl and emu were the main road pest of the day.

Pulled into our camp site and across the road is Mike with his Goldwing and camper. I've been following his postings as he's traveling around clockwise. A great catchup and time to say gidday.

After setting up the tent it almost felt like home after the various bed hopping we've done.

Day 38 - Denmark

We left Augusta dry this morning and headed to Nannup for breakfast and fuel. A few showers along the way. Then it was to Manjimup and Walpole for lunch.Lots of big showers and rather cool at 11c for most of the day.

The Ambo officer I met in Nannup said they'd lost seven riders so far this year in the stretch of the road between Nannup and Walpole. Having ridden it I can see why. A limit of 90 calling for 110 with beautiful curves, but the road surface was in a terrible state given this the NR1.

We did the Valley of the Giants Walk which was very good. By this time it was 3:45 and the shadows were getting long. So rather than risk becoming road kill by hitting emu or roo we called it stumps at Denmark. 

Rog's become fond of a bed, so we're staying in the local YHA tonight. Tomorrow will be a big ride as we aim for Esperance. 

Day 37 - Augusta

We had three false starts this morning due to the weather tossing it down with wind. We eventually farewelled Dario and Jo around 10am and headed for Cape Leeuwin lighthouse and further.

Just our of Busselton we struck the strongest wind and rain I've ever ridden in. A 110 zone and not a vehicle was travelling over 80kmph. The rain was horizontal and had to be blowing in excess of 100kmph! 

No sooner had I been hit by a huge gust that took me on a big lean over then my bike died. I rolled into a farm driveway. We pushed it out of the storm front and I went up to the house to let the owners know we were taking cover in their driveway. The owner Vince offered me the coverage of the implement shed.

I was sure I had wet connections somewhere in the wiring loom. Vince offered me a compressor to blow the water.

 
Water had got up under the tank and a couple of connectors were wet. The fault was intermittent and we thought we had it nailed a couple of times. Finally while reseating the fuse holder I heard a power short. A closer look revealed the fuel power fuse wire had rubbed through and the water blowing into an area that would normally be totally dry was enough to short the fuel and associated ignition electronics. 3 hours later and after every electrical circuit had been checked, the fuel tank and seats replaced and the bike repacked we were on our way again to Cape Leeuwin.

A huge thank you to Vince who gave us shelter, assistance, not to mention watering and feeding us. Your generosity was very much appreciated. 

We arrived at Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse. It was still blowing (55kmph), but nowhere near what we'd experienced earlier in the day.

Having checked out the most South West point of Australia where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean we retired to the Augusta Hotel for the night.

Now hoping for a drier and calmer day tomorrow.

Day 36 - Australind

The skies opened up and blew just as we started the bikes. Bugga!

Off to Freo for a look. Choppy seas indeed. Then to the Freo markets for coffee and toast.

Tummies filled we headed down the coast in and out of rain with constant wind to Australind.

It was absolutely fantastic catching up with our old school mate Dario and his wife Jo. They fed, watered and put us up for the night. We talked and reminisced the night away (into the wee hours) listening to hits of our youth. Very memorable. Thanks so much. This is what it's all about.