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.
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