Wings of feather and aluminium.

30/7/16

First up today we rode to the Rainbow Jungle which boasts the largest walk through aviary in the southern hemisphere. I love birds, so I was pretty keen to get inside.

Here are a few of the inmates:

Now, Rainbow Jungle has a very large range of birds, including my favourites, Macaws. It's well laid out, and very clean, and the walk through aviary is very nice...but...

I did feel a little disappointed that there weren't more birds in the walk through instead of in smaller aviaries around the outside. The smaller aviaries just don't offer these guys the room they need to really enjoy themselves. I understand it's not economically viable to have a 10 acre aviariy, and some birds probably can't cohabit with others, but seeing beautiful Macaws in small aviaries made me feel very sad.

That said, the team at Rainbow Jungle are doing good work breeding birds that are endangered, or whose numbers are dropping, so that's really good news. It's a really good place to visit if you want to see a wide range of Aussie birds up close in one place. I enjoyed my visit and it's well worth a look if you're in Kalbarri.

Now it was time to swap our feathered wings for some aluminium ones, and take a scenic flight around Kalbarri.

On the way to the airport Andrew and I decided to practice our moonwalk moves.

Andrew is much more proficient.

We met Chris from Kalbarri Air Charter at the airport. As a mate said, "Is that the work experience kid flying the plane?" No Pete, Chris is a qualified pilot, even if he does only look twelve years old.

So it was up, up, and away in our little Cessna and off to see the Kalbarri cliffs, Abrolhos Islands, Pink Lake, and then a tour over the gorges on the way home...

Rainbow Jungle from the air.

The cliffs we were on yesterday.

Fishing shacks on The Abrolhos.

Crystal clear water.

Super tubes surf break.

Hutt lagoon, or Pink lake in contrast to the turquoise blue Indian Ocean.

Pink Lake is pink due to the presence of an algae that produces carotenoid. This is a source of beta-carotene which is used in food colouring, supplements, and cosmetics. See, this blog is educational and entertaining at the same time.

Probably Kalbarri's most famous features are the gorges. They are huge and run for miles and miles.

Here are a few random pics...

Chris then rolled the wing over and we turned for home. It was really cool seeing The Abrohlis and the gorges from the air, and something you don't get to do everyday, so notch up another new experience for Simon and Andrew. I'm sure there are more to follow...

Back on the ground safe and sound. A big thank you to Chris from Kalbarri Air Charters for avoiding all the bumps while we were up there. Well done Chris.

Tomorrow we venture further North. An easy 375 km to Denham in Shark Bay, another new experience for me.

Kalbarri here we come.

29/7/16
It's harder to get WI-Fi access on this trip that to get a politician to buy you a drink! As a result I'm a few days behind with the blog, but here goes...

We had a short day's ride today from Northmapton to Kalbarri via Horrock's Beach. It was only around 140 Km.

After a relaxed breakfast in Northampton we made our way to Horrock's Beach for a coffee stop.

The road started out flat and straight, I'm starting to sense a theme here.

Horrock's Beach.

Horrock's is a little gem on the edge of the Indian Ocean, and the coffee was good. Unfortunately the photos the waitress took of Andrew and I didn't work out so well, so here's a photo of "The Odd Couple" bikes outside the Horrock's general Store.



Fishing is a favourite pastime at Horrock's and a few people were wetting lines and launching boats.

This fisher-person caught my eye, but I don't know if she caught much else. 

Dropping the boat in the water for a day's fishing. Good luck.

Offensive beach sign. 

Everyone knows dogs should rule the world.

It was about now that I had one of my "not so good ideas". The beach looks pretty firm, I'll just pop down there on the Guzzi and get Andrew to shoot a pic or two. What could go wrong?

Bogged! Down to the axle and bellied out on the soft beach sand.

As soon as I hit the sand I knew I was in trouble. It was SOFT! All was OK until I tried to turn and the front started to plough in the sand. Then when I tried to go up the sand back to the car park, it was all over. In hindsight it was a bad idea with road tyres, road pressures, and all the luggage on board. It took Andrew, a German tourist with his son, and I to extricate the beached whale. Memories of Morocco came flooding back. Anyway, after a lot of grunting and sweating I was back on the hard stuff. Note to self: Don't do that again.

Our next stop was the Port Gregory Convict Hiring Station. No, I wasn't looking for a job. The Convict Hiring Station was set up in the 1850s and it was where you went if you were a landowner and wanted some cheap labour.

It's located at the foot of some small, rolling hills. It's quite a pleasant location, but I'm sure the convicts that lived there didn't see it that way.

You can read about the station here:

http://www.asha.org.au/pdf/australasian_historical_archaeology/25_04_Gibbs.pdf


Then we were off to do some touristic sight seeing along the coastal cliffs just South of Kalbarri.

Check out the colour and clarity of that water.

Stunning.

Cliffs to rival The Great Australian Bight.

The Natural Bridge.

We were fortunate enough to see two whales making their way North. They were a long way off shore, but it was still pretty amazing to see.

Leaving the whales behind, we then rolled the last few ks to The Palm Resort, our cheap and cheerful motel, for sustenance and sleep.

Tomorrow we swap wheels for wings, and fly like birds...

We're on our way!

28/7/16

Andrew and I hit the road at 7.30 am and left the gray, cloudy, Perth skies behind. Pretty soon the temperature had climbed to 22 degrees and we started to defrost. The warmth in our bones was a good feeling and we were on our 550 kilometre transport section to Northampton, where the real ride starts tomorrow.

The sun is shining. Yay!

I had to stop at Mingenew and partake of a pie for lunch. On our last ride through here I missed out because my greedy mates scoffed the lot before I had a chance to order. You know who your mates are...

It was delicious!

Our next stop was a social visit to Sun City Motorcycles in Geraldton, one of the best motorcycle shops in Australia. Unfortunately Brett (the owner) was away trying to get warm up north as well, but Andrew, Matt, and Fish looked after us, fed us coffee, and updated the gossip on the bike trade.

We rolled into Northampton around 4.00pm where we checked in to the Railway Tavern. The owner, Kelly, plied us with alcohol and provided a few laughs as well. As it was our first night on the road, we thought we;'d be sensible and do a pub crawl of town.

The unremarkable Railway Tavern.

Now while this might sound impressive, there are only three pubs in town. A quick walk around town covered all three pubs and gave us a chance to check out the old buildings as well.

Saint Mary's Church was a nice old building. 

This is the former Sacred Heart Convent.

It's now budget accommodation,

so it's still full of young girls.

Now for the pubs...

The Top Pub, at the top of the hill was the youngster / backpackers pub. It was lively and a bit of fun.

The Middle Pub, was the locals pub. This is where we met Jim, a local "character" who filled us in on all the local gossip, and offered his solutions to worlds problems. he also let us know that the owner of the Railway Tavern was know as Basil Fawlty. 

Then it was back to the Bottom Pub where we had a good feed. I must admit that Basil did spring to mind more than once.

With dinner out of the way our uneventful day was over by 7.00pm and we were stacking up Zs in no time.

Yes, bed by 7.00 pm! Rock and roll, and living the dream.

Tomorrow the fun stuff starts...

It's time to visit my own back yard (and escape this bloody cold, winter weather).

9/7/16

It's been a while since I've posted any riding updates on the blog because all of my rides have only been day trips. Now I'm heading off for a two week ride, and I thought my overseas friends might like to tag along. So here we go...

I'm sitting here listening to rumbling thunder, howling wind, and watching rain pelting down out of a very dark grey sky. The rain has just replaced the hail that was trying it's best to come through the roof a few minutes ago. On top of that, the next door neighbour has a yard full of animals and is out in the cold, building an ark. I've decided that my mate's plan to head north, where it's much warmer, for a quick ride, is a good idea.

So Andrew and I are heading out of Perth for a few weeks of riding in the glorious Northwest sunshine, covering a lot of areas I've never ridden before. We'll experience stunning natural beauty, a lot of history, and a few bars along the way.

The odd couple, my Moto Guzzi Stelvio and Andrew's Harley Davidson Ultra Classic, will roll across about 4,000 kilometres of Western Australian roads starting at the end of the month. We'll pass through the following places, among others, along the way.

A little culture and history in Northampton.

A quick visit to Horrock's Beach, 

and maybe some fish and chips.

A couple of nights in Kalbarri, with a visit to Rainbow Park, the largest walk through aviary in the Southern Hemisphere. 

Denham, Shark Bay, and Monkey Mia. 

Carnarvon. It's a long walk out along the jetty to go fishing. 

Coral Bay. Some people say the fishing is so good here that you don't even need a line, the fish just jump into your arms.

We'll see. 

We'll spend a few nights in Exmouth with one of Andrew's old friends, and maybe visit Ningaloo Reef and the Whale Sharks. 

We'll base ourselves at Tom Price for a few nights,

and take a tour of 

Karijini National Park.

Karijini National Park. 

We'll try and avoid the asbestos at Wittenoom... 

...and check out the mine at Newman. 

With a little luck we'll find a gold nugget like this in Mount Magnet. That would pay for my dream South American trip.

And on the last day we'll probably make a lunch stop in Dowerin for a good old Aussie meat pie.

So that's the plan. Check back at the beginning of August and see what we're up to. At the very least you'll learn about a few good places to buy a beer in the Northwest of Western Australia.