12th to 14th October 2017

Geraldton – Not a lazy morning, as we had to take the bikes to get the tyres sorted. A new rear for me, the original street tyre (it’s all they could get), and a tube in Will’s just for safety to get home. He’ll need new tyres too. So after Keith cooked us an awesome breakfast, we dropped the bikes, picked up Annie, and Keith took us out to Coalseam, Mingenew and Port Denison, where we had lunch. A quick tour of Geraldton, then home. It was a great day, again, with less drinks, a relaxing movie, and a great sleep.

 

 

On the way to Coalseam, it is beautiful country. Mostly farming, and a few small mines, with these little pockets of amazing landscapes.

 

 

Not too many flowers at Coalseam this year, but it’s still a nice spot. We checked out the Mingenew pub, which is for sale. Thought about buying it for a whole 10 seconds. Work, or adventure? Easy choice.

Geraldton to Dongara 65kms

None of us sleep in too much these days, we’re all of that age and we’ve been trained. So Keith made us another amazing breakfast, then we all went for a better look around town. This place has grown so much over our time, and now stretches about 20kms along the coast. It’s looking pretty good, and has lots of interesting history. One of the newer historical sites, is the HMAS Sydney II, memorial. It is beautifully done, and honours the 645 sailors who lost their lives when it was sunk, by the German raider Kormerant in November 1941.

 

 

One of those wonderful sites, that touch your heart, and help to keep things in perspective. Well worth a visit.

 

 

The Lady Waiting, is a significantly emotional sculpture. The views from the Hill are pretty good, and on a bright sunny day, would be spectacular.

Finally, it was time to move on, so we got sorted and loaded up. It felt a bit funny, as we were only going 65kms down the road to stop at Anne and Mrs P’s (these two are part of my “Mixed Grill” of a family). They have a little farm, near Dongara, and we love stopping here. Four dogs, a couple of cats, chickens, ducks and a nice glimpse of the ocean. It’s quiet, and relaxing, and we love catching up with them. We had another great night, drinking all Anne’s home brew, and Mrs P cooked us a delicious lamb roast. We had great conversations about life, health and what’s next for us all, then another great sleep.

 

 

Keith donated us another mascot, so we tested him to see how he would fit in. Yep, he’s a Dick, Dikachu! You’re in, Pikachu, we choose you! 

 

 

Hawthorn house, it’s a nice little spot. Quiet and relaxing, and we love catching up with Willie and Anne. Always a good visit.

Dongara to Home 460kms -Day 47 (157 on tour)

Our final day! Wow, it’s hard to believe. A full circuit of Australia on motorbikes. Is it true? It was going to be a pretty big day, so Will cooked us breakie, (I don’t think I’ll be eating eggs and bacon for a while, 3 in a row, oh dear) and after some more chatting and cuddling the doggies, we loaded and said good bye. So good to see these two. Mum and daughter, living happily together, making it work, taking care of each other. They are great.

 

 

Second last fuel up for the journey, and Pikachu is keeping my travel snacks for me. But I’m watching him, mascots are renowned for stealing snacks.

It was an amazingly gorgeous day for our last one, and we really couldn’t believe our luck. After fuelling up in Dongara, we headed off to get on the Indian Ocean Drive, which takes you pretty close to the coast, all the way, passing the small shack villages of Cliffhead, Grays, and then onto Leeman. It is a beautiful drive on a sunny day. Lots of ocean views, big sand dunes, and opportunities to camp. We rode on to Jurien Bay, thinking we’d stop there, but felt good, so carried on to Lancelin to have a pie and cold drink. We did make a few stops to clean the bug splatter off our visors, and to snap a few pics, but mostly we just enjoyed the ride before hitting the big city.

 

 

The bluest of skies, and even more blue ocean. Fantastic day. A serious CSI incident on my visor, and a pretty good pie at Lancelin, and we are almost done.

These days, the city, and the traffic, starts way out near Yanchep, so it’s all business from here on. Just one stop to refuel, so we’d make it home, then we hit the freeway. The rat race! It’s Saturday and still busy. Don’t miss this. But, we had a good, safe, run through to Mandurah, and it did feel pretty good to pull into our driveway, see our newly finished gates (Thanks Grant), and realise we’d just completed a 21, 553km journey around Australia and New Zealand. It will take us a little while to fully process that, but it feels pretty good. So much to see, so many great people to meet, and so much fun to be had out there. It’s a great country.

 

 

I really don’t like the freeways, but it wasn’t too bad today. It’s getting to be a big city, but once on the south side, it was smooth riding to our Travel Home Base. It really did feel great to ride back up the driveway, after 6 months, a zillion visits to friends and family, and thousands of kilometres. Wow! Did we really do that?