Week 3 mileage
Days 15-19: Perth!
Day 20: Perth to Geraldton: 432km
Day 21: Geraldton
Week 3 mileage: 432kms
Total trip mileage: 3,945kms
Hi all
Welcome to the Week 3 blog post.
I have ended up spending a lot of time in Perth this past week. I had never been, and I have loved the city. Post Nullarbor stretch I am also ahead of schedule kilometre wise so it has been nice to take a break from the road.
Special thanks to Emily Hoffmann who was the best tour guide I could ask for. From a night of rock climbing, to bar hopping in Subiaco, to trekking down to the Little Creatures Brewery in Fremantle, I saw a lot of the city and will definitely be returning.
I also had the chance to catch up with old friends for multiple meals and drinks. Unfortunately, yes, beers are more expensive in Perth – the rumours are true. I won’t shame a certain pub I visited as otherwise the service and tunes were brilliant, but I assumed there was a mistake after ordering a pint and being charged $14 ($13.50 but let's round up out of protest)… ouch.
I finally bade my farewells and trekked up to Geraldton. The ride to Geraldton was very nice. A cruisy ~400km stretch, I passed through many small, interesting towns. Unfortunately, my commitment to follow our National Highway and ride every kilometre of Highway 1 means I missed the coastal route, but I am glad I stuck to it.
Plenty of wildlife/bugs on the road, and I have had the chance in Geraldton to spruce up the bike without feeling rushed, both cleaning and carrying out the responsible maintenance. This involves the unfortunate task of cleaning/lubing the chain with no centre stand – no fun but a necessary evil.
Has come up a treat though, and now is as good a time as any to post up a few photos of the pride and joy doing all the work for me and carrying me around Australia. A few people I have encountered on the road have asked about the engravings on my bike, so here they are:
The beauty that does all my work for me, I just hang on.
The PSJ 7/8/1960 – 17/5/2015 is a shout out to the old boy. Paul Stephen John was the great man’s full name, born 7 August 1960, passed 17 May 2015. ‘Fortune Favours the Brave’ is a favourite quote of mine, and one which I often threw in Dad’s face whenever he accused me of doing something reckless or not entirely thought out *cough* setting out on this trip on my learner’s licence.
The ‘Eyes Open Ride’ is obviously the tag I have given to this endeavour, and a reminder that what I am doing is not just a holiday and a chance for me to take off and cruise around Australia, but an opportunity to give back, and to raise money and awareness (PS that is the ‘Eyes Open’ part) for what I believe is a great cause.
Both engravings keep me honest, and keep me from doing anything stupid on the road.
Shout out Avenue Fine Jewellers in Renmark for the engravings. Andy Mac (Macca) was a good friend of my father’s, and when I turned up to pay for the engravings I was met with a firm ‘not a chance’ by Macca. I appreciate it, and look forward to a few beers down the Paringa Pub when I return.
While in Geraldton I am very fortunate to be staying in a lovely beach shack. Massive thanks to Sarah, a lovely lady from ABC Geraldton who had called me for an interview, then promptly offered me a bed at her amazing shack in Point Moore, just out of town.
Unfortunately Sarah is out of town so I won’t get a chance to meet her face to face, but it is generosity like this that I am thankful for and it is nice to have a roof over my head. The shack is right near the ocean, and comes complete with two very generous neighbours, Tony and Faye, who invited me round for beers the first night (yesterday) that I arrived.
Faye works at the regional hospital, and Tony has owned in the vicinity of 5-6 motorbikes in his life, so we had a lot to chat about. Tony’s stories of his motorbike accidents and close encounters, while interesting to hear about, are best relegated to back of mind while I’m on the bike.
Geraldton is a bit of a gem. I am staying right near the port. Bit of a boring insight, but hey, it’s my blog so I can write what I want – in my past job I worked on a number of large scale infrastructure transactions, so the scale and economics of structures such as ports has always interested me (I can see you yawning). The Geraldton Port is a massive iron ore/grain port and I have rode down to watch a few huge vessels cruise in. Good way to pass the time, though perhaps I need a new hobby.
I’m off to Carnarvon tomorrow, before making my way to Exmouth later this week for a lot of sightseeing and the swim with the Whale Sharks, both of which I am very excited about.
Has been nice to shack up at Sarah’s abode in Geraldton, but back to the tent for the next few nights so will touch base when I am back in civilisation and can charge up the electronics.
As always, head on over to the donation page here and donate if you can – your support has been amazing and I appreciate every dollar. We're currently at $17,744 from all you kind folk, so $35,488 with my matching donations – go team.
Best
James