30/8/18 Ceduna to Eucla

Light rain as we left Ceduna around 8.30am.  Little traffic.  The majority of vehicles were holidayers, mostly a 4WD pulling a medium size caravan (again).  If all the grey nomads all stayed home, I reckon we'd have a glut of fuel!
We passed two signs warning of roos, wombats & camels, then one that added emus.  Phew!  Despite all that, I only saw one dead baby wombat, and one dead roo, which had an eagle eying it off until John rode past.  Then signs warning of stray sheep and cattle (didn't see any).  It was pretty windy.

The grass and crops are still green now, but clearly toward and after Ceduna, the crops are short and sparse.  The bottle shop guy reckoned the rain has come too late, but previous years have been good, so farmers shouldn't grizzle too much.

Head of the Bight
We went in here to see whales.  We brought MMBear.
John was impressed by the white sand dunes, so he took this photo.  Unfortunately you can hardly see the dunes (behind me).
No, MMBear doesn't travel sitting on that bag.

The walk to the viewing area.  ($12 entrance fee for seniors.)

No that isn't a flying bug in the pic, its a whale (so John says).

The walk down to the 'boardwalk' viewing platform.  Wheelchair friendly.  The dark bit centre left, is a mother and calf.  My first ever view of a whale in the sea.

Hard to see, but there are 3 pairs of whales in this photo.

Here is the closest pair, 100 to 200 metres away.  Soon after it looked a bit confusing, until I worked out that another pair had joined them, presumably for the calves to interact with each other, but still next to their mothers.  The calves were on the inside flanked by mums.

This whale was on its own just having fun.  A male?  First the tail...

 then the head.

 This gorgeous little guy crossed the boardwalk in front of us, and slowly meandered into the scrub.  There were quite a few different birds too.  The swallows were numerous and graceful as always.

We didn't see any sea lions.

The rugged cliffs.  Reminded me of the 12 apostles area of the Great Ocean Road.

The tourist centre and entrance to the park.  Before we exited, we sat down and had an icecream.  I chose an ice-crusted one, thinking it would be a bit healthier than the sweet creamy one.  I think the outside was solid sugar!

Two guys were riding across the centre on these.  The German tourist was on the 1150GS, the ex-Germany Perth guy was on the R100RT outfit.  Both old bikes.  More gutsy than us on our new, reliable bikes, on sealed roads.

Its a mystery.

John on the boardwalk.

 Two fat guys in the carpark, one very small.

Was it worth a look?  Sure, especially as I hadn't seen whales before.  (John had.)  Hard to say, but my guess is we saw around 10 pairs.  They mostly kept moving to our right (West), though some just stayed frolicking in the same spot.  They were really a bit far away, especially for photos with just a phone lacking a zoom lens.  Those tourists with the huge zoom cameras would have got memorable shots.  I took some phone video, but of course the whales always did something spectacular just as I stopped filming.

The day was dry, but blustery.  I imagine its windy at that place most of the time.

We rode off, and a few k's down the road, I realised I'd done the same trick I did in Tasmania some years back.  Forgotten to put on my glasses.  In Tassie I'd ridden over them so they were in bits.  This time I rode back to find them on the ground with just a bent arm, probably when they fell off my bike in the wind while I was putting on my helmet.  I really should be more careful!

Onward to Eucla.

We rode in to one of the cliff lookouts.

No, my name isn't Cliff Edges.

Rugged.

Made it to Eucla.

Looks lonely outside our Eucla motel room, but by after dark, there were quite a few vehicles there.

The room was old but good.  Our roast lamb was expensive at $28, but very nice.  My Coopers Pale Ale stubby was perhaps the dearest I've had at $9.

Next morning we rode off in drizzle.  It stayed cool but we saw some sun.  Hot mass-produced pies for lunch at Caiguna.  I've forgotten the brand, but we enjoyed them.  

Sadly in another moment of carelessness, I moved my bike from the petrol pump straight over my earbuds which I'd unknowingly dropped.  They were graunched and grubby, but still worked.  (I do carry a spare set, but they aren't quite as good sounding as my old reliable first pair of Etymotics.)

Onwards from there to Balladonia where we had a drink and tea.  The highest price room we've had.  Perfectly adequate.

The riding has been pretty good.  Though we've had drizzle and overcast skies, the winds weren't as bad as forecast.  We both agree that a bit of cool drizzle is preferable to blazing heat.  The main disadvantage of an overcast sky, is that the scenery isn't highlighted by the sun.

We haven't tented yet, and my feeling is that its nicer folding up a wet bike cover in the morning (its rained most nights), than folding up a wet tent, especially while its raining.

There's been a lot of roadkill on the side of the road, but no live animals to be seen.  Mostly roos, but lots of unidentifiable small lumps of meat (which were probably roo).  The crows and eagles are doing very well, thank you.

It was pleasing to start seeing one of my crazy favourites, galahs.  And a few Murray Magpies.  Crows predominate though.  After the treeless plain, the vegetation becomes low trees and mallee, with saltbush understory.  More birds then.

We passed a few big semis carrying hay, presumably bound for NSW or thereabouts.  It would be pretty expensive by the time it got there!  What amazed me was that they weren't covered.  Not even a top tarp.  With rain on the way and during overnight stops, that hay will be very heavy to unload.  Maybe its that NSW needs the water too?

As usual I often listened to music while riding (when not talking to John over the intercom).  For me its a rock-around-Oz ride.  A bit hard in very windy sections, but today was fine.  I don't know what mode my Samsung player app is in, but its been playing random songs, which I thought was OK.  I make it a challenge to guess who the artist is, as fast as I can.  Though that's tough when its a song I hardly ever listen to.  I don't know what algorithm the player is using, but I'm pretty much over Barbara Streisand, and there has been too much Bee Gees!  It's not just alphabetic, cos I've had some Yes.  And I think its hoovered up all the audio files on my phone.  Yesterday I was a bit confused when I heard a salesman talk to me about my bike, and when I checked my incoming calls, he wasn't there.  Today when I heard another phone message, I realised that the player was playing old message bank telephone audio clips!

Anyway, if I don't get some Pink Floyd come up soon, I'll have to take control of the program.

I'm loving my (new) motorbike.  And John is loving his.
We are happy little vegemites cruising along on the fairly good roads, with little traffic and big vistas in front.  Dressed for it, a bit of rain doesn't bother us.  I've been a bit more lightly dressed now, with the afternoons getting warmer.  If I'm feeling a bit cool, I turn on the heated handgrips and heated seat to compensate.  Luxury.  :)
We've cleaned up the port now. :(  John is quietly snoring.  Think I'll join him. 

28/8/18 Kimba to Ceduna

On the road again after fueling up.  John is using less fuel than me, but takes the more expensive 95RON.
John felt the need for coffee.  Kyancutta was almost bare.  Shop and post office closed. So we headed into Minnipa, which neither of us had seen.

The coffee here was pretty weak:

The pub across the road -maybe Tuesday mornings are a bit slow?

All these towns seem to be doing it tough.  Well past their heyday.


The road to Ceduna was devoid of dead roos.  Maybe someone cleans them up?
It was a lovely ride, except for the blowy section toward Ceduna.  A strong north wind, which made crossing semis on the other side of the road 'interesting', and the bike had a fair lean on it at times.  It was good to see the green everywhere.  Healthy looking crops, uncropped areas grassy, puddles by the side of the road (puddles a bit further east than Kimba).

I feel sorry for the semis, some of them triples.  They want to travel at or near the speed limit, 110km/h around here, and keep having to pass grey nomad caravans traveling at 90 to save fuel.   We can zip around anything pretty quickly on our largish bikes, but its a different story for a big semi to pass anything.  Can be a bit dangerous.  They must get very frustrated.

In Ceduna we went to the beach and ate our lunch snack, tin of fish, biscuits, fruit, then went to the bakery for a coffee.  After john's frustration with the coffee at Minnipa, we bought a thermos -a bit crappy, I should have brought mine, stupidly was saving space.  So we'll use my coffee drippers to start with a thermos of fairly decent coffee, to save money and disappointment (and the temptation to add a cake to a bakery-bought coffee).

Ceduna jetty.  No fisher people!  Must be the wrong time of day.

We sat on this seat at the end of the jetty...

admiring this view, as the sun sank (naturally the pic doesn't do it justice).  The serenity of the place was lovely.

We walked in from our cheap motel ($79/night) to the foreshore pub for drinks and meal.  We started off at outside seating with this picturesque view on dusk:

 But the mozzies drove us inside.    Definitely doing it tough!

We might have to cut back on the expensive meals.   But hang on, a local told us on Wednesdays they do a good meal at the sailing club.  -Maybe later we'll cut back.
We walked back to the motel.  John is now having a cup of tea.  I'll ask him if he wants port with that.  -He says yes...

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Wed 29/8/18 Leisurely breakfast of cereal and coffee in room.
Walked into town for a gander, along the foreshore to the sailing club.  All locked up and bare, scruffy with some rubbish lying around, no sign of a menu for tonight.  Fair way from home.  Back past the fish 'n chip shop and pizza joint.   Reckon it'll be fish 'n chips for tea.
Wandered through the hotel's huge bottle shop for a look.  Chatted there to a talkative attendant who grew up in Minnipa.  His grandfather built the old rooms on the hotel in the photo earlier!  Those days it was a thriving town with a huge pub always busy.  His mum used to tell the kids to hurry up on a Friday night, or they wouldn't get a seat in the pub.  How times have changed.  Now almost a ghost town.
We asked about the booze policy since customers have to show ID to buy takeaway alcohol.  He said there aren't any real restrictions, except that they can't sell port!  (I couldn't live in Ceduna.)  When they were shifting 5 pallets of cask port a week, the licensing board stepped in and banned sale of all port as takeaway.  He said it was mainly blowins from up north who were the problem drinkers, ending up in hospital.

Back to the room for a snack lunch and coffee.  Below is our bikes outside our budget room in a motel that is huge and mostly empty.  The amount of accommodation in Ceduna is staggering.  It looks like the grey nomads are filling up the caravan parks, not the motels.

Its dull and blustery outside, so instead of riding round the town sightseeing, we've decided to bludge in the room until tea time.  John is snoring quietly as I type this, still getting over a bug.

We walked to the fish shop for tea.  Great fish, salad & chips for $13.50.
Then to the Foreshore Hotel for a drink.  Again fairly busy, mostly old grey haired nomads (like us).  They deserve good business (despite John not liking his meal there) because it seems to be the cleanest, most modern, professional, place in town.

A bit too late in the day, but here is a view of the sunset, looking a bit worrying with occasional lightning.  -That's black cloud above the pink.

27/8/18 Home to Kimba

We finally left for our round Oz journey. Here is me outside my place at a disgusting hour for a retired bloke..

The bike is heavily loaded, and we are taking tents in case we get stuck with no accommodation somewhere.

So I ride to John's and we leave from there, headed for Pt Augusta.
A refuel and lunch there, and we head off for Kimba

Once we hit the Kimba turnoff, the traffic lightens (not that it was an issue), and the dead kangaroo count soars.
Not only kangaroos, we passed an upturned ute with some caravanners helping out.  We figured a couple of old guys on bikes would only get in the way, so kept going.  Soon we passed a copper screaming toward the crash site.  We assume the driver either fell asleep, or avoided a roo by driving off the road and overturning the vehicle.

As happened last time to Michele & I at the Kimba pub, the room price ends up being more than they quoted.  They blame an old website (again), but its hard to see the relevance with a verbal quote over the phone.  To keep John happy, we were each treated a drink.  I think we gained, on balance.

While john is having a snooze, I take MMBear to see the silo art.
Its very spectacular, and is great on dusk, when two strategically placed floodlights make it look like the homestead lights are on inside.  (Been here before.)

We'll be eating at the pub.  Fish sounds good.  For afters we can sample some of the port I brought along, from a 10L cask, memento of our trip to Rutherglen.
(Did I mention I'm loaded up?)  We are both tired.  The ride was not too long, at around 480km, but we are old guys, and not used to it.

My fish and chips were a bit greasy. After a look at the silos (John was napping when I went the previous arvo), we headed off before 9.

In 2018, John invites Ken on a no-real-plan plan, round Australia motorbike trip.

Along for the ride is Mini Me Bear, who is the mini me of Peter Thoeming the motorcycle magazine editor.  This is MMBear's last Ulysses event at home before the ride.  Here seen sitting with his friends.   (It was actually an Adelaide Branch Sunday ride lunch at Ken's place.)

The ride will hopefully be tracked using Bubbler & Spotwalla.

Click here for the map.  If that doesn't work, try the Google map.

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Unfortunately the start date has slipped. John's brother in Melbourne is in a bad way.
Never mind, the date isn't critical,

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