Northam Motorcycle Show

Saturday morning we rode early with Peter to Northam for the motorcycle show. Nice to be early before the arrival of the crowd, we got good spot to watch the stunts and jumps. Met Ian and friends from Geralton who were riding to Albany after the show. Which of the 3 bikes shall I get? the side car for a desert crossing or the Honda for the hills???

Operation BCc

I am very fortunate to have some good friends in Perth. Peter took me to the hospital early morning, the full moon shining over the city as we drove over the Swann bridge was a good omen. Unfortunately we could not stop for a photo on the Freeway. I was the first one to go under the knife, the anaesthetist was late, he had not heard the alarm clock, was he able to work on me? The surgeon, Barry, is a cool guy. He grafted some skin from behind my ear to plug the big hole he had to dig in my nose. Peter took me from the hospital to Christine and Jacques' from 'Le Forum'.
Their Freemantle house is situated in a quiet little street just a few houses away from the surgeon's; quite handy.
It was appreciable to have a comfortable bed and good food to recover.
Thanks to all for looking after me so nicely. I made some mosaics (see cool mosaics blog)during my recovery.

I feel safe at Peter's Place

Not only there are a multiple of locks on doors, garage, sheds...Cara,the mean dog is doing a great job keeping eventual burglars away and the chicken is looking after the bikes....

Bridgetown Blues Festival

Off we go to the Bridgetown Blues festival with peter and his camper van. It was cold but so many great bands, the 3 day week-end went too quick. We enjoyed the WA Blues Brothers, good to see that Bondi Cigar is still going strong, remember marc Evans (ex ACDC) and Dave Tice (ex Tommy Emmanuel) together they shook the audience.
Sunday morning Gospel with Wiley Reed was magic.

Bad luck!

If you have anything growing on your nose like this photo, get it out quick! it is called BCc skin cancer....have to stick around perth until the maintenance on my body is done properly. It is funny to think that the bike, which got new michelin tyres and a new air filter, is ready to continue the journey but has to wait for the rider to be roadworthy!!

Gnome World

Peter took me to the Gnome world....we rode our bike somewhere south, then inland through forests...lovely country, not traffic, no cops...

Who said the tyres would go around Australia?

Nearly did not get out of Perenjori as Pete pointed out how badly the rear tyre was worn and explained that it could only go so far....I was going to kalgoorlie to buy a new tyre! Rode to Perth with Pete checking at the rear constantly the progression of the canvas....made it. Thanks Pete for organising new tyres front and back at a good price! Let see if Michelin are doing better than the old Metzler. Keep in touch...

Hell in Perenjori

not sure How I got the idea to mosaic the concrete table at the Caravan Park. What was to be a community project involving the locals ended being a flowery nightmare!
Looks like I was going to be in this farming hole till Christmas trying to finish on my own, with little local help. everyday was me and the millions of flies...and they did not do much except piss me off! Pete (from Geralton Odyssey)came to my rescue on his CBR black bird. Thanks God for that! In no time the bloody table was covered in wonderful flowers; we even managed to give a nice look to the seats with left over tiles. It is a free job...but the Shire believes I am Murdoch's daughter travelling on a motorbike doing charity work for the wheat farmers as they haven't reimburse me for the materials yet!

Wild flower country

This year wild flowers are spectacular in WA thanks to good rainfalls. The rare 'wreath' are plentiful....

WA Odyssey

250 bikes turned up from all over WA,only one from interstate, the one from Cairns...
big responsability laying on my shoulder when I was asked to do a skit to represent the rest of Australia club. Fortunately I met Pet and Col from Mandurah (see photo) and we joined forces to prepare a winning skit that blew the odience away. First time I sang a song written in a few hours in front of such a large enthousiastic group. Great week-end meeting lots of new people.

Broome to Geralton

Left Broome, very hot, long distances between fuel stops, glad to have a spare jerrican. Very windy and cold around Exmouth. Stayed at billi's place (see Harley) for a few days. survived the red back spiders and reset my luggage for better management of bike. Sent away my boots and the rear seat cover....
On the way to Hamelin Pool , first rain since i left Cairns! Loved to see the fascinating stromatolites...camped there for the night. great camp kitchen.
Too windy to go to Monkey Mia, rode to Geralton. Met Ian from Ulysses and decided to attend the WA Odyssey.

HAVING A BEER WITH SAMMY BEFORE DEPARTING BROOME...

Crackers went off! Sammy woke up! looks scary..but the kids love it...and adults too..

THE WINNER IS:

One of the highlights of the festival,was the cooking of meat pearl by several local chefs. Pearl meat is worth $130.00 a kg. Each chef presented his own dish and gave the recipees. The lucky judges tasted allthe delicious dishes; spectators tasted pearl meat cooked outside the competition.

I ve found a picture of the stairway to the Moon...

limo/trike, the only one registered in Australia...

Shinju Matsuri

I was going to leave Broome to go South but the Shinju Matsuri festival was on...I volontereed to be one of Sami the dragon's leg....we had a ball...

Broome caravan parks and accommodation were full, many clubs have their facilities available as çamping overflow'during the busy season. people came from everywhere to see the staircase to the moon. One night I walked at to the sea at low tide to meet the light of the moon reaching my feet.
Greg runs Astrotours; if you want to know about what's going on in the sky, go on his tour.you will learn a lot and be entertained as well.he also owns 2 old Harleys and a Triumph Rocket

Broome

I got to Broome a few days before staircase to the moon and stayed at Greg's block; camping amongst the vegie patches, they called me the 'garden gnome'. Bumped into Carl who is travelling around Australia on his own. he invites me to go on his 4x4 to Cape LÉveque. we went camping for 3 days. This is the second time I get invited on a 4x4 trip and each time we have bogged the car in sand(Darwin with Isabelle). we tried to get to a beach for sunset and the heavy Toyota loaded with a dingy on the roof was struggling....enough vegetation under the wheels and we managed to get back to camp before dark for a cold beer! It was so windy that we could not go fishing. we visited every community on the beach and camped by the water on the East Coast of the cape. The moon came up with a stair, it was lovely. The next day we visited Bully's camp and talked to jeff, I recommend this camp particularly for fishing.
Sorry I cannot take photo of the moon with my camera...but if you check a website: Broome staircase to the moon'you will see some top shots.

Turkey Creek Road House had ran out of fuel as I was to continue my journey. Fortunatley the local Aboriginal community was kind to sell me some. saved me for waiting days or may be weeks for fuel. In June, Halls Creek had no fuel for 3 weeks!
I travelled to Fitzroy Crossing and stayed at the small caravan park in town. Friendly managers who gave me some lemons and turned the fridge on in the camp kitchen. On the way I happened to see a burning road train, 3mths old truck with a sign warning 'dangerous goods'it was loaded with pumpkins!
Walked along Geikie Gorge, had a beer with Red and made my way to Derby where I stayed with Wendy. We went to Winjana gorge, intended to swim but the hundreds of fresh water crocs were not very inviting...we had a great walk. This is the country of large boababs.

One place I had not seen in my travels was the Bungle Bungle. These amazing formations have been listed a National Park only in the 80's. I stopped at Turkey Creek and booked myself on a 4x4 tour. We were to depart at 5.30am but no vehicle on sight at 6am, I saw the bus in a field near the roadhouse and went over to look for the driver, he was fast asleep on the ground. Had to help him to prepare the bus to get going. there as rubbish and the steering wheel was in pieces, tools all over the ground....he had lost the key so he dismantled everything to connect wires to start the bus. Where was the key? in the lock of the bus side door!!!
we departed with a 2 hrs delay...the driver had a hard night and there was no commentary...fortunately the landscape was so beautiful ....

Back to Katherine for a night and then heading off West. The scenery was nice particularly around Victoria River. Camped at Timber Creek, lots of shade. Before getting to the border I had my last good run of speed on the bike without having to look for any boys in blue behind the bushes ....my kitchen bag was checked for fruit and vegies. I had been aware of the check point and only had muesli. Had to go without honey for a few days as this is a no no to enter WA. Changed the clock, 2 hrs behind....don't know why it gets dark at 5pm!
At kunnunarra I chose the Hidden Valley caravan park. friendly, shady, camp kitchen with fridges. lots of young people working in the fields, picking melons or planting succhinis. I bumped into Peter the cyclist who was hoping to work but disapointed to see the work going to backpackers. I walked to the top of the hill for super views, bought fresh vegies at a farm and flew over the Kimberleys!