BMW R1200GSA vs Moto Guzzi Stelvio NTX

Sunday 7 August 2016


Trekking further North. 

We desert Denham and cruise to Carnarvon. I wonder if we'll get anything stolen while we are there?

1/8/16

Yip, yip! It's getting warmer.

Firstly, a big hello to all the people in Russia who are following this blog at he moment. Welcome.

It's only about 400 kilometres to Carnarvon today, but most of it is in a very boring, very long, straight road. When you ride that far in a straight line, through pretty flat country, anything that stands out is interesting.

Things like rocks, birds, clouds, snails, or an animal of any type, are all welcome distractions.

The distractions would be better off the side of the road rather than on it though.

I don't know where mum emu was, but she wasn't doing a very good job of looking after her kids. They were playing in the middle of the road. I would have called emu child services, but I didn't have a signal on my phone. (Sorry about the blurry photo, it was shot from the bike, left handed, at speed, and under brakes, but I'm sure you get the idea that there are three emus in the middle of the road.)

UPDATE: I've just been informed by Nat Fleetwood (The best physiotherapist in the known universe) that the male emu looks after the chicks after they hatch. My sincere apologies to Mrs Emu. Mr Emu, you should be ashamed of yourself.

Our next distraction was Shell Beach, even though it is only 45 kilometres away from Denham. I know this may be hard to believe, but Shell Beach...is a beach...made up of shells. I wonder who thought up the name?

It's a large beach, and the shells are up to nine meters deep in some areas.
No, we didn't dig down to check.

It is quite spectacular, and perfect if you don't like sand on your feet, or in your car. 

I told you it was made up of shells.
Didn't believe me eh? 

Check out the size of this jelly fish.
That's a Aussie fifty cent piece in the bottom right of the photo.

On to Carnarvon...

We rolled into Carnarvon and visited the Tourist Centre and were looked after extremely well. That's something I've noticed on this trip...everyone has been so helpful with information on things to see and do in the towns we've visited. When we found there was a motel that offered a lockup, gated car park, we were sold, and booked immediately. Carnarvon has "a few issues" with crime in the town, and in this case it really is better to be safe than sorry.

We rocked up to The Carnarvon Motel and were greeted at reception by the lovely Clara. Clara was from Hungary, and as Andrew had spent three years in Hungary they got on like a house on fire, chatting about all sorts of things. It was a very welcoming feeling.


Then we went to our room and found a huge room, with two, super comfortable, queen sized beds, and a large bathroom. LUXURY! 


Off we went for a wander around town. It's sad to see a town where all the windows are barred, or have mesh over them to protect them from being broken, but that's Carnarvon.


Back at the hotel, we headed to the bar to settle the dust from the road and met Richard from The Philippines, who was also very friendly and and looked after us extremely well.

As everything had been so good at the motel, we decided to take on the buffet for dinner. 

Now I am sure this was a one off situation, but...the food in the buffet was cold. I ate a couple of chips, and a small piece of fish, and both were cold. The staff were good and immediately tried to rectify the problem, offered to heat something up for us, and even bought out freshly cooked chips and wedges, but the damage had been done. The thought of eating reheated fish and chicken while on the road on a bike didn't sit well with me, or my stomach. We decided to eat elsewhere.

The owner was happy to refund our dinner purchase, but still charged us for our drinks. I said to Andrew on the way out, "If that was me, I'd have given us the drinks on the house to apologise for the dinner issue." Oh well it's his business.

As I wrote above, I'm sure it was a one off problem, and I'm happy to recommend the Carnarvon Motel to anyone passing through town. Apart from out dinner problem, it was excellent, and I'll happily stay there again.

http://www.carnarvonmotel.com.au/

We made our way to The Gascoyne Hotel, or "The Gassy" as the locals call it. It was very busy and that is always a good sign. We placed our food order and about ten minutes later the barman came over, apologised for our meal taking so long, and offered us a round of drinks on the house. I rest my case about customer service and satisfaction. To top it off the food was really good as well.

The Gassy.

We got talking to the other bar person, Lara, who was from Finland. Lara is a twelve year old looking nineteen year old, working her way around Australia. We had a good chat, but I must admit, the dad in me came out and I do worry about these young girls travelling. Bloody hell, I must be old, in the past I would have chatted her up.

Tomorrow we have another short 390 kilometre day to Exmouth, via Coral Bay. I've never been to either, so I'm looking forward to it.

Let the fun continue.

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