An Australian lap attempt.....anti clockwise

[Hoot]

I hope your wet bikes are not covered in salt...…. quick find a hose...…….what no hose...….

[OnHellas]

A good few weeks ago when we were in the Lichfield National Park we met Mark and Diane. They’d given us a contact number and said to look them up when we got to Perth....yes they do live here, and they answered the phone. It wasn’t a call us first so we can escape scenario.

They had been on a 2 month journey on their bikes, a KTM690 and a Kawasaki KLR250. Unfortunately the trip ended 600km short of them getting home as the little bike lunched its engine. Properly lunched it.

They invited us to their house for lunch. Now I don’t want to fall into racial stereotyping, but we had BBQ’d sausages and chicken.
Sitting and chatting about bikes and travels, experiences and dreams, soon saw 6 hours wiz by and we were off to our apartment.
Which is really nice, has locked parking and is right next to a railway station. Handy for getting in and out of the city. And hearing train horns and the bloody bells each time the level crossing barriers come down....and they come down a lot. Bugger!

Jobs. As ever we had a list of jobs to do. New rear tyres, bike checks, new visors, washing, cleaning etc. As I’ve said before, it’s all glamour this travel lark.

We’ve (take that as Sarah) also ordered some camping chairs which should arrive today. Hopefully they make camping even more enjoyable.....hahaha.
Hopefully they’ll not just be more crap to carry!!!

Yesterday we met up with Kay and Grub again. Lunch, a couple of cold ones and lots of laughs. They’ve been good to us and a constant source of entertainment and laughter, friends of the road for sure. They are stopping for a while to work for a couple of months before firing up the bus and carrying on.

The centre of Perth is spacious, clean and uncrowded. Well it was yesterday. Old buildings stand shoulder to shoulder with tall glass office blocks. A real contrast. There were quite a few homeless people sitting/laying about which is never nice to see, and the buskers.....how loud does it need to be????

The plan for today...repack the bikes, collect the new chairs from the Post Office and have an afternoon out with our local guides. Mark and Diane.
We shall be collected at 3pm.

As usual, I’ll let you know how we get on.

Two happy people, two happy bikes.

[OnHellas]

Plans and dreams.

Plans can always be changed.
Dreams don’t have to become reality.

Now, at the beginning of this trip the rough plan, which sounds easy when you say it quickly, was.....A lap of Australia, then New Zealand followed possibly by USA and Canada with South America tagged on the end......but Plans can change.

A few weeks ago we had another idea.
Russia. Ride west across Russia and back to Europe.
We’ve found that people have shipped their vehicles from down here to South Korea and then taken a ferry to Vladivostok.
It’s then about 10,000km to Finland.....A new dream perhaps.....

I’ve looked in to Visas and temporary import procedures, it’s doable I think.
A bit more ‘out there’ than the USA. We’re in the right area, sort of, to have a go.

Any thoughts?
Any experiences?

[Hoot]

In answer to your question, I have no experience and no advice. The only thing I can say is "do it". that would be an adventure to top all others I think.

[OnHellas]

The city lights of Perth from Kings Park. Pic 1 and 2.
Looking out over the Swan River. Pic 3

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[OnHellas]

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Nice old country store/petrol station.
The road in to today’s campsite. A working farm.

[OnHellas]

The order was placed the other day and we collected them from the allotted Post Office in Perth this morning.
Our camping comfort will be greatly enhanced. Apparently!

Anyway, I put the chairs together, even I can put up a Helinox. These are the sunset model. Very nice.
The local birds like them too, I’d just put the second one up and hadn’t even sat in it when.......still, at least it’s clear which is mine!

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Some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue.
Today...... statue!

[Hoot]

So after years of telling you how good they are you’ve finally got a helinox. It takes time but eventually you get it!
All I can say is “well done Sarah”, her advice is obviously heeded!

[OnHellas]

Mark and Diane picked us up bang on 3pm.
We went for a walk, and a beer, along the beach at Cotesloe. The Golden Triangle as it’s known locally, a very desirable area and not a cheap postcode by all accounts.
We had a great few hours of chat, fish and chips and a stroll around Kings Park. That’s where the lights of Perth photos were taken.
It was soon 9 o’clock and we were back in our apartment.....with a gift not to be opened until morning.

Coco Pops!!! Coco Pops!!! The king of cereals. What a gift, they had found it a bit strange that we sometimes eat cereal for dinner, or lunch.

Anyway, cheers guys, they didn’t last long, although they made it to Margaret River and our chosen campsite.

[OnHellas]

I even made use of the amazing fun activity from the Coco Pop box, of course.

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