I toyed with the idea of freighting my bike back home but the cost  & potential for damage scared me of so ridin' home was the go. I put the bike into The Bike Garage in Wangaratta for them to give it a check over & as much as any thing to calm my fear of being stranded on the Nullarbor broken down & unhappy. They did a good job & I give Todd & his crew the thumbs up. Perth was good but after a few days I was keen to get back on the road/saddle again, note no aversion to placing my arse on the seat again for 1/2 a week. Post me & I will give you the secret if you like. Picked the bike up on the Tues after Easter & headed out to the Perth hills (low rises) on a beautiful WA day.

Stopped in York for a coffee & bite to eat & got to Southern X again, I wanted to get further rather than stay i the same place again but my desire to not have to wipe kanga's of my visor in the evening stopped me. Same caravan park & pub meal was all good & of again in the morning determined not to stay in the same place as I stopped on the way lover was strong.

Coolgardie town hall 

I met a cool couple at Norseman who were from Bundaberg Qld & were on the trip around the coast planning to arrive back in Bundy for the start of the wet later in the year. They were traveling very light on a nice cruisy looking Moto Guzzi, the passenger lady (my assumption, could be wrong) thought I would look better with no jeans under my leather chaps. Told here she would probably get a bit of that in Perth but she may have to pay for it, like I said a cool couple, probably well into their fifties if not beyond. I kept forging on to try to avoid Madura Pass again but as it happened the day got the better of me & I ended in Cocklebiddy & met some rather different travelers.

Heres the long straight again

And more beautiful sunsets

These guys had traveled from Mackay & Wollongong to Perth on these gyro copters & were on their way home when I caught up with them here.

 Had a few beers with them while eating another over priced fish & chips at the servo for the evening meal. It rained that night & was still raining in the morning. Any how I set off Into the miserable weather with a little bit of side ways back  wheel movement as I left the Cocklebiddy servo, a reminder to be a bit more careful dicing with the big road users etc. It rained most of the the day, but I put my rain suit on & stayed dry from the ankles up & reasonably warm. I stopped at the Nullarbor roadhouse for some lunch & got talking to a truckie who told me it was wet from there to the east as far as he had traveled that day, oh well at least I was dry.

Nullarbor road house! its flat this way, East

And its flat this way, West

These shots were taken on the way over when it was dry. I met a very cool young Harley pilot here on the way home on this wet day, he was traveling to Melb to visit his young brother. I was only just comfortable & well dressed (as you can be in the pissing rain) but this guy was really living the dream, can't remember the Harley model but he said it was '98, it had a nice long fork rake & lots of black, but the ting that struck me most was that he was wearing only dessert boots (black ripple soles) jeans (none of these pussy Kevlar jobbies like mine) a leather brando style jacket,  an open face helmet with mask  & only fingerless gloves. He made me feel like a real wanka in my rain suit & bog standard Sportsta. Any how he was a real nice bloke & we rode together for a while.

They have big truck crossing this big plain

I took this pic on the way over in the dry weather.

I plugged on to Ceduna that night but my Hog traveling mate left me when I stopped to talk with a group of blind cyclists who had just pulled in to an abandoned road house just before Ceduna. These guys were the ones I saw at Southern X on my way over. They were two Tandem bikes with a sighted rider on the front  & the blind guys on the back, they were doing about 200k's plus a day. Fark  I was only doin 7 - 800 & I could see!!!. I didn't quite get to Ceduna for fear of Kanga's again so parked at Penong for the night. Next stop Pt Agutta again, I should have got some pics of the approach to the vista of the Flinders Ranges from the Eyre Highway cos it is quite spectacular. I headed through the ranges, using Horrock Pass, and wouldn't you believe it the 1st real windy bit of road on the whole 8,000k trip & there are a couple of ancient touristas doing 40ks & probably scared the will fall of the road. Should have turned around   & done it again as it is quite short.

I did a sort of cross country trek through Burra to Morgan o the River Murray  &did what I planned not to do, which was to ride from Burr to Morgan in the twilight to dark. I missed all the wild life. Great Motel in Morgan. The Colonial just as you enter Morgan from Burra is excellent. Headed off to Renmark for brekky at the Bakery & Patissrie in the Main St  & on again for Mildura & home. On the East side of Mildura I his swarms of locusts which really plastered my bike with shit that I am still trying to remove after 3 washes & polishes. I got home on Saturday night & apparently just got in after a big thunderstorm, but it had left a big lump of cool air in the Rutherglen Wodonga region which caused a thick fog to form in the dark of the last 30k's of my run home back to Albury.

Top stuff. Keep it coming.

Thats it, I got home.

Some of these photos are coming in the correct size some not I can't work it out.

Sunset at Southern Cross on the way home

Yes Pt Wakefield, that was on the wet day, its a long time since I went up there from my days living in Adelaide its good for travel to/from Adelaide now with all that dual carriage way.

good photos and info hope to do it myself one day once the kids grow up.

Fantasic story and great pics thanks for sharin..

It would be great to do a trip to Cape York with a group. The plan would be to all (say six riders) buy some s/h dirt bikes all the same for spares commonality, spend a few months riding them & working on them to make them reliable. Then one or more drive a fwd up to cairns with a trailer carrying the bikes then off you go with the fwd as back up cos it would be good to have a good supply of food & cold beverages. Could take it in turns driving the fwd & carry their bike on the trailer.
Maybe its a mad idea but it would be great fun & really you cannot have too much fun before you go off to the big flat track in the clouds

Hey Dermie, there are a couple of guys doing this commercially out of Cairns. We did a weekend trip with Roy Cunda (King of the Cape, apparently he has the fastest time from the cape to Cairns) You can go from Cairns up or fly into Bamaga and ride down. He has the bikes, the cook, the backup for your gear, knowhow in fixin the bikes, and he knows where to go, camp sights, fishin, etc. We did the trip from Cairns to Cape Trib as seen on getaway, went with 2 good mates and my son, would definitley go with Roy again. Gr8 value for money I reckon. I can understand wanting to do it solo, but I reckon u might miss a lot. Maybe 

Oh Yeah +1 with Rocker on the idea of a ride report thread. That was good readin.

Sounds like the costs havnt changed much over the last 4 years. At $5000ish its gunna be the cheapest way of doin it. If ur woried about going with the wrong dickheads, get enough of your own to book the trip out. Yeah right. When we did our trip there was 10 guys going. Once you ask for the deposits they drop like flies. Very envious hope to do this trip one day with my 3 boys. Our trip was sand hills, rock hills, loose mud, fast hard packed dirt and a couple of river crossings (bike off and push across, about 700mm deep) Awesome fun 

Oh and if ur bum cheeks need hardening up for the trip. Try riding a pushbike every day, worked for me

I bought that via the internet through Bikers Gear Australia in Phillip Island. It cost just under $200.00 plus postage, it is good, perhaps not great, but really good value for money. I do like the style, the plastic/kevlar removablee protection inserts & the removabl quilted liner. So value for money is probably really good but it may not compete with the $500- $900 level of jacket. I have got a pair of boots from them that are not really very good & a pair of leather chaps that I would rate with the jacket, good value for money. They may rate better when I get them fitted better, i.e. get the belt shortened.

The good thing about them is tha u can give them a call to inquire about the fit, style etc.