12/9/18 Wildflowers

12/09/18 Overcast and cool as I rode north from Perth into gradually reducing traffic, with a few long sections of roadworks.  Easy pleasant riding, feeling good.
My music was still on random.  Perhaps the saddest music I have recorded, came up, Adagio for Strings.  A beautiful piece that nearly brings tears to my eyes every time I hear it.  It fitted right in.  I reckon it lowered my blood pressure a few percent.  (Doesn't always have to be Pink Floyd.)

Again I was happy to be riding a powerful bike, able to pass semis easily.  A small car was travelling near the speed limit (110), but when it passed a semi in a passing lane, it slowed to near 95 as it lumbered up a hill, which blocked another car, which blocked me from passing.  I could have aggressively threaded my way through, but I don't do that.  Eventually I passed the semi and both cars, once past double lines.  Hills don't bother my steed!
The cruise control kept me legal.  Just as well.  Dunno if it was deliberate, but a police car passed, idling behind another car, so hidden from my view.  I was sitting on the limit.  I had my legs resting on my engine bars for a position change at the time, which is illegal.  But the cops didn't turn round to book me, so all well.  Bet they would have if I'd been speeding.

At Dalwallinu I had a pastie & coffee, and chatted to a grey nomad who said he'd seen lots of wreath flowers near Perenjori, which I thought he said was 10km north.  The friendly lady in the info centre said the same thing, but its 110km north.  Evidently the local flowers were small and immature.
So on I went, north.  The skies gradually cleared, the sun came out, the colours brightened, as I left "The Wheatbelt Shire".  It sure is.  Huge tracts of green wheatfields, and ginormous silos and grain stores.  Come to think of it, plenty of big silos since past the Nullarbor.  Easy to see what the major enterprise is here, along with bright yellow fields of canola.

I had to stop and take some shots. These are numbered, so if a knowledgeable person tells me what they are, I can put in their names.

1. Yellow.

 

2. Canola as far as the eye can see.  The picture doesn't do the panorama justice. 

3. Yellow daisy-like flowers in bushes.  Very common.

 

 4. Yellow flowers.

 5. Yellow and orange.

 6. Golden.

 7. Purple bottlebrushes.  (Hakea)

 8. Yellow.  (Hibbertia)

 9. White shrub flowers.

 10. A lone flower.  These usually occur in great spectacular clumps. (Dampiera?)

I ended up with a small ensuite cabin at the Perenjori caravan park.  (Too lazy to pitch a tent.)  Expensive, but free WiFi and laundry.  Snack tea, washed down with a cup of port..

Tomorrow I go looking for wildflowers.  I'd planned to go on to Green Head, but by staying here and delaying that a night, I missed the last "cheap" room, so I'm going straight to Geraldton tomorrow.  Might go via Green Head for a look.

13/09/18 Very leisurely start after a lovely hot shower.  Didn't get away til 10.
Rode out to the location for wreath flowers told me by the information centre lady.  When I got close, it was signposted!

They really didn't want people driving past the carpark here.

Walking behind the bike, MMBear and I found our first ever wreath flowers
(lechenaultia macrantha).  11

 12 Here is a single from the top.

 13 And oblique.

14 Thinking that was a pretty miserable showing, I walked around and found a whole patch of them.

15

Then I rode on toward Morowa, not really knowing where I was going, but happy to get lost.  The day was fine, the displays on the sides of the road were occasional flashes of colour.  But the huge fields were monocultures of wheat or canola. So when I saw a sign to a reserve, I had to look.  The road into Bowgada Nature Reserve was intially rough bitumen, turning to hard packed dirt.

This pic shows the typical carpet of flowers stretching away from the road (behind a handsome bike).  In stopping to take this, I almost sunk the sidestand into soft dirt on the edge.  Whoops.  Just managed to save it from falling over, and found hard stuff to park it.  -It's not as if there was any traffic passing that I'd obstruct.

Definitely in wildflower territory now.  Lots of colour on the sides of roads.  And the flies are very friendly now -since Perenjori at least.  Fortunately I have my special Coober Pedy cream with me, which helps to keep them away.  (All natural ingredients, and doesn't smell too bad.  Just a few dabs in strategic places does the trick.)

Morowa looked a bit dead, so I had lunch at Mingenew (pastie & muesli yoghurt).  Like all the towns, grey nomads galore.
From there I rode into Dongara for a peek.
Where the river meets the sea. 

At Port Denison, I took my first ever stitched photo on my phone, of the beach and marina.  Its almost 270degrees wide.  I think what it actually does is just record video, but make out it's a JPG.  If you view it as a photo it's a jpg, but it can also be viewed on the phone as video.  Here it is reduced in size.

Real holiday area, is Port Denison near the beach.

From there I rode to Geraldton, tootled around a bit, picked up info and maps etc from the information centre, and found my digs, a backpacker place run by the aunt of the lass whose farewell party I went to in Perth.  (Seems ages ago.)
She gave me a 'double' room at a good price.  Since it was cheap, and I'd missed some wildflower areas on my way here, so would have to backtrack, I booked for three nights.  Could even extend it.   This is my first ever backpacker accommodation.  There sure are a lot of rules and regulations that you don't get in motels or cabins!

After a Thai meal (next door) I wandered around looking for a watering hole.  Very quiet on the streets!  Found a pub with a rooftop bar, for a pint of Furphy ale.  Here is the view toward the sea.

Then a bit of Ulysses website fiddling, blogging, and bed.  The accommodation's free WiFi is working pretty well.

Footnotes:
Travelling solo feels pretty good.  No second guessing what the other person wants to do; doesn't matter if I'm fast or slow at something; can travel at whatever speed I want (surprisingly, I'm taking it slow); can ride in a dream without needing to keep an eye on another rider; no competition for facilities, don't have to worry about my snoring...  The downsides are higher accommodation expense; not being able to share experiences with someone; and no nearby rider in case of a mishap.  Usually Michele is on the back.  Despite the aforesaid, I do miss having her there (a bit).
It felt strange tonight having tea by myself, then a beer by myself.

I'm getting more comfortable on the bike with time.  It is running great, and I'm glad I upgraded to the latest model.  Though, fully loaded it's clumsy when standing still or moving slowly.  Amazing how lithe it feels when I take the luggage off for a sightseeing run.  Its a great uncomplaining beast of burden.  :)

14/09/18 Slow start with a nice shower and breakfast talking to a German hitch-hiker who needs work, so he's heading south, even though he came from there.
Walked around Geraldton.  Tried a few quite good second-hand book shops.  Fortunately they didn't have books of authors I collect which I didnt already have.  -I really don't need more gear to carry.  Though I did pick up a small phone-tripod thingie from Hardly Normal.  Rubber-banding my phone to the tripod torch Don gave me, is too cumbersome.  (Though I might rubber-band this new thing to the torch, to get better legs.)  Sometimes I want to be in the shot!

Visited a council art gallery which had a whole lot of objects made from "found items" -basically junk from a guy's shed.  Just goes to show, one shouldn't throw anything out.  Lunch was fish 'n chips in a foam box.  Dearer and not as good as the meal John & I had at Ceduna on a real plate with real cutlery.  This seems to be a touristy place, but somewhat run down.  The local "war memorial" is a plinth, an old tank and an old cannon, both rusting to bits in a forlorn bit of park next to an RSL which doesn't even serve meals.  The town looks a bit unloved in places, progressive in others.

This backpackers has a pod coffee machine.  So instead of buying a coffee out, I bought a couple of packets (Caffitaly) at Woolies, came back and made myself a coffee.  The Woolies choc chip biscuits I bought don't taste as good as I remember.

Time for some drone practice.  The back yard is a decent size, so I had a play.

Outside the back fence, looking at the beach area.  The foreshore is quite nice, with play equipment, toilets etc.

One side of the back yard.

The other side of the back yard and extra toilets in the foreground.  That's my bike to the right of them.

Looking at the backpackers I'm in.  All the bedrooms are upstairs.  Under the trees and elevated room are outside tables.  The shared kitchen is behind them.
There are lounges with big TVs, and free WiFi, which is very fast when the kids aren't watching streamed video or some such.
The building on the right is the Thai place where I had tea last night.  Acceptable, not brilliant.  (What is a Thai place doing serving up chow mein?)

So that's stills from the drone.  It has a 12Mpixel sensor.  Seems pretty good.
I'll try video, but I keep stuffing up recording.  I seem to turn it off when I want it on, and record lots of me manhandling the drone before or after flight.  Grrrr.

This is the front of the backpackers, in the other street.
The entrance is the white door, between the Thai restaurant and a decent second-hand bookshop (whose lady owner rides a MotoGuzzi).  My favourite places on each side.  Karma or what?

At 5.30, it was live music in the street just across the road, in front of a wine & food bar.  These kids were pretty good.  I got there just as they were playing Rider on the Storm.  After that it was a Sting song.  Since I was enjoying it, I felt obliged to buy a drink.  A glass of White Rabbit dark ale seemed appropriate.
I left when they started playing less attractive (to me) music.

It was pretty gusty.  I wondered how my drone would hold up to it, so I took it down the foreshore for a fly.  It did very well against the wind!

Its getting a bit dark, but this is the play area across the road from the backpackers.  I flew it toward the beach, again it held up well.  I took some video, but it ended up being 1.4GB, for not much time.  I seem to recall that one feature of the bigger DJI drones is that they do a better job of compressing video on the fly.  I might have to set it to lower quality.

Tea is canned Heinz stuff and a banana.  This is a backpackers.  People eat cheap here.  :)

5/9/18 To Perth

The last night in Albany was disastrous for me.  Suffering from a bit of a cold, my sleep was continually interrupted by the howling winds.  As usual, John barely stirred.  It rained as we got away, then intermittently during the day.  That wasn't a problem, my dressing too lightly was the problem for me.  Who'd have thought it would only be 8.5C in the middle of the day!  I think the highest I saw was 12C.  So I was bloody cold on the bike.
We'd packed sandwiches for lunch, but I suggested we have a hot meal at the Pemberton pub.  Roast of the day (lamb) and a hot coffee warmed us up.  Then I put more gear on my top at least for the rest of the ride.  Riding among the tall trees was uplifting.  Again, water in pools and puddles everywhere.  Many of the uncropped and ungrazed areas were littered with white funeral lilies.  Eventually the trees became shorter, then scrubbier as we approached the coast.
We made it to Hamelin Bay caravan park, which had been recommended to John by the German motorcyclists we'd crossed paths with a couple of times.
(I reckon John was sucked in because it had 'Bay' in the name.)

Its in a reserve, with cabins and caravans nestled among the trees.
Our cabin was lovely.  No WiFi or mobile, and only bore water, but we reckoned the shower was no harder than at Esperance, which takes the cake so far for hard water.  Having sandwiches with us for tea was handy.  No shops nearby.  (Cheese & biccy & port snack first of course.)

We went for a walk down to the bay (naturally).  Cool and windy!
John haring off into the distance.

Memories of a jetty once heavily used, now all but gone.

Judging by the signboards, the area would be good for snorkelling or scuba diving.

This greedy guy reckoned a few bits of cheese (from my hand) wasn't enough.
He gave a bit of a chortle, and the rest of his family turned up for a handout.
I gave them some muesli and dried cranberries next morning.  Not as good as cheese, but acceptable.

That night, I had a good sleep.  It was quiet as.  The sound I heard intermittently that sounded like rain, we reckon was the airconditioner.

From the caravan park, we rode into Augusta for a quick look and to check our messages.  (I was warmly dressed this time.)  John's brother had died that morning in Melbourne (expected), and communication with the ladies at Mandura we were supposed to stay with, had failed somewhat, so we rode on to Perth via their place for coffee, stopping only for fuel and a bit of lunch.

This is the rear of the ladies' Mandura house which abuts the river.  While we were there, dolphins were putting on a display not far away.

 After a torturous ride through Perth traffic, we got to John's brother's place at Dianella, where we'll stay for an as yet indeterminate time.
I swear Perth is much worse than Adelaide for the amount of traffic, and the snarl on what is supposed to be a 100km/h highway (Kwinana).

7/9/18 Today I had a lovely visit with my old boss in Perth, Eddie and his wife Lily.  I think of them often, but rarely get in touch.  Eddie hasn't changed.  More obsessed with electronic gadgets than I am!  Lunch and a few coffees at their place passed quickly.  I accompanied Eddie to JB HiFi while he swapped a drone which he'd been given by his son (a button had fallen off).  I was impressed by the great salesman (Ben) who helped Eddie (and me with my drone & camera questions). He was friendly, helpful and fairly knowledgeable. Restored my faith in JB (a little).  Eddie now has yet another toy to play with, and I almost did, but the smaller one I had my eye on didn't fold up, so would be a pain to carry on the bike.  The capabilities of the more expensive drones ($1200+) is amazing.  (I'm still tempted.)
Then back to Austin's where the boys watched footy and ate pizza.

The brothers Crowe, outside Austin's house which he built himself.

8/9/18  Sadly, John flies back to Adelaide today.  He has a medical issue he's been told to get sorted sooner rather than later.  He'll get his bike trucked back.  I'm spending the night at Steve & Heather's, the other friends I have in Perth.  It will be good to catch up with them too.
Decision time for me!

After breakfast, farewelled John & Austin and rode to Maddington shopping centre.  Had some lunch and picked up a few things.  Then to Heather & Steve's.  Discussed roads to take north to see wildflowers.  Tea and a lovely bed with my own bathroom.  Got told it was Heather's birthday next day, so of course I had to hang around for the "high tea".

9/9/18 Went to airport with H&S to pick up Mary (of the hearing dog training centre at Verdun), the trainer of their dog who was a companion dog for their daughter.  We all wandered around at Tomato Lake then had a coffee in company with some greyhound owners.  It was a doggy morning.  Dropped Mary back at the airport, then home to prepare for the afternoon tea.  (Well H&S did.)  Steve had done lots of sandwich corners, scones and small quiches.  Sausage rolls and Heather's cheesecake with a bought birthday cake, was more than enough grub for everyone who came.  (I didn't get a group photo.)

Heather had helpers to blow out the candles.

 This cake was lovely.  No, MMBear didn't get any.

Some interesting guests at the high tea, including Adrian, who does video production, including with his drone.  We chewed the fat about drones for a while.  :)

I'd messaged my mate Eddie about when he would be at his unit at Broome, and could he put up a guest for a few days.  His reply was, for a few days, yes.
So if I get to Broome by the 5th October, I can probably spend some time there with Eddie.  Then of course I might as well go on.
So the tentative plan at this stage is to continue north on my own, after staying here at H&S's for a couple more nights.  (They make it pretty comfortable for me here.)  I want to see wildflowers anyway, maybe Kalbarri, Ningaloo Reef, Exmouth.
I plan to go up the Great Northern Highway to Dalwallinu (wreath wildflowers), then toward the coast and up. I'll keep an open mind (well, open for me anyway).
I've been told to telegraph my intentions beforehand rather than afterwards, so I'll keep Michele at least, across my intended targets.
(I've been talked out of taking the Gunbarrel Highway, due to fuel distance, and rough terrain.)

10/9/18 Great sleep meant a slow start.  Internetting, then weakening and visiting a drone shop (DJI at Cannington).  Bought one!  A Spark.  -Not keeping up with Eddie, but hopefully good enough with a cheaper unit than his.  Came back to H&S's to do some reading and battery charging.  Discovered that I should have got a controller and SD card as part of the online special.  Checked my receipt, not only did I pay full price, but the controller was listed on the receipt.  (Though they gave me discount on the extra battery I bought.)  After ringing DJI, getting Melbourne, getting a local call back, I could either collect the controller, or they'd post it.  Yeah right.  Ready to get on the bike, and its on and off pouring outside.  So Steve drove me to the shopping centre.  I did good.  They gave me a larger SD card, a couple of different handy bags (as Ulysses members will have seen at AGMs) and a cap, as apology.  I was also able to swap their freebie belt/arm holder for some rotor protectors (I'll need them more).
So I'm hoping I can get some good aerial footage of wildflowers and stuff.  -Once I figure out how to work this bloody complicated thing!

11/9/18 Lazy day.  Did a fair bit of Internet research on places, and some web updating.  A bit of shopping and refuelled (wrong part of the price cycle!).  Steve drove me to a local huge park.  Walked to high ground to avoid the bog, and test flew the drone. It was great, once I figured out how to get it off the ground.  Very stable, able to withstand wind.  Slow, but that was because it was in beginner mode.  I'm still a beginner.  Unfortunately I reversed the sense of the video on/off, so didn't get useful footage.  But what i saw was pretty good (if large in file size!).

Another party!  I went along with H&S to drinks and nibbles to farewell Tracy & Ben, who are going to Italy for a sea change.  I'd met Tracy's mum at Heather's birthday "high tea".  -I have to stay at the Geraldton Backpackers, where Tracy's aunt reigns.
(Sorry Heather, I cut you off.)

12/9/18  Got away around 9.  Still managed to fit everything, including the new drone.  Put Dalwallinu into the GPS and followed it.  (Steve said that was where I'd find wreath flowers.)

3/9/18 Esperance to Albany

Got away from Esperance about 9.30 after fuelling.
John & I both slept well last night.
Sunny and beaut riding until toward Albany, when the clouds started appearing.  Some wind, not bad.
Can't get over all the water laying around.  Huge shallow lakes in paddocks, big trenches full alongside the highway.  From well before Esperance to Albany.
Unspectacular but nice country.  Low scrubby shrub, banksias, small bushes of white flowers, daisies mostly white and yellow, yellow wattle, huge tracts of green meadow and bright yellow canola, middling size trees and the occasional patch of planted eucalypt forest.  Good quality road.

I went in to the Ravensthorpe caravan park to show John the Kens & Barbies and for a photo op among them for MMBear.  Gone!  Dunno if its political correctness at its worst, or whether the years have taken their toll on the dolls.
When Michele & I stayed there on our way to the Albany Ulysses AGM, we were taken by the display in the gardens of Ken & Barbie dolls in various states of distress.  Stuck in toasters, ovens, mangles, all sorts of torturous situations, along with a few disparaging signs.  Now its just boring bits of garden.  The office was closed, so I couldn't ask what happened to the displays.
At least the nice murals (non Barbie) appear to be still on the ablution block.
We enjoyed that caravan park in something like 2010.

Saw a roo on the road for the first time this trip.  Just sitting there, perhaps soaking up some warmth from the bitumen.  Plenty of time to slow right down and watch him hop into the bush.   Bike says temp got to 21.5C.

Albany
The unit we are staying in is pretty good (Albany Holiday Units).  Friendly, helpful receptionist  Kitchenette etc.  Currently making a dent in some hommus, bics, carrot, pear, port.
The ride here has been great.  Wouldn't be dead for quids.  :)

Walked on the boardwalk onto dusk, then into a fish 'n chip shop for tea.
This area (Middleton Beach) is riddled with holiday units of varying styles, some quite pleasing to look at.

It will be tidy when we leave.  :)

Tue 4/9/18
After our cereal & fruit breakfast (& coffee), we rode to the memorial lookout then the fort museum & Anzac centre.

This is the white-flowered bush we've seen all across the Nullarbor.

 This one is fairly common too.

John at the lookout.

Don't know what this bird is, but pretty colourful (no sun for this shot).

Outside the ammo store.

The Anzac Centre was a sombre reminder of the stupidity of it all.  The sheer numbers of dead and wounded from various countries.  But no-one learns from it all.  The self-important posturing of people like Trump and Putin goes on, with the average guy dragged along for the ride whether they like it or not.
John and I were of like mind.  Memorials to war and sacrifice everywhere, just highlighting man's stupidity.  Where are the memorials to peace or science?

After some shopping and dumping food at the room, we rode along Princess Royal Drive, which is supposed to be scenic.  More like industrial.
Then to Little Beach in Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve.  John was yet again in raptures about the beach.  We chatted to an Albany resident previously from Holland, (down there with her visitors) who said she thought this and Shelley Beach were the best two in Australia.  (Not biassed at all.)
Like Lucky Bay, the sand was ultra-white and squeaked under our feet. 

Same at the next stop, Nanarup.  Despite a reef further out, these two were surfing.

Common practise to drive on the beaches here.

Back to the room for a snack (and port), then tea of chicken, salad & white wine.  Once again a nice day of scenic riding, with the forecast bad weather holding off for us.

31/8/18 Eucla to Esperance

A bit of drizzle along the way, but not too windy on the way out of Eucla.

This delightful young lady at Caiguna servo was a bit shy.
Petrol (91RON) was the same price as the fruit, $2 a litre.
I explained to her that MMBear was a seasoned traveller, accompanying us around Oz.

We spent the night at Balladonia motel.  $155.  Good room. Expensive meals but OK.  A few workers were staying, along with the usual crowd of grey nomads.
Next morning we saw what the workers were up to, pushing the edge of the road back up against the bitumen.  A long road section at 60km/h.
Wind was gone.  A bit of dribble, but very pleasant riding.  John was happy to go at posted speed.
We sat and had thermos coffee outside the Norseman servo.  Chatted to a brother and sister in a car that had been leap-frogging us.  Yet another old biker.  (They waved to us again in Esperance.)

The ride for today was good.  Again, great to be alive and on a bike.
Along the way I reckon I spotted a patch of Sturt Desert Pea, along with various daisy-like flowers, including a beaut multi-coloured clump.  Taller trees, yellow wattles, white-flowered bushes, then the banksias.  We are in WA.

Esperance
Lunch was tinned fish & crackers along the esplanade in Esperance.  Then we went to the motel I'd booked online.  (Great to have the Internet
at night everywhere.  John's Optus let him down a few nights, so he hot-spotted to my phone.)
When I rang, the room price was $129.  I got it online for $107 a night!
On arrival they took $50 off a card in case we hit the mini-bar.  A bit rich.  The supplied bottle of red is only a tiny one.

The motel is huuuuge complex, with heaps of rooms, mostly empty as far as I can see.  The pool isn't heated.  Won't be doing that.

We stripped the bikes off and got back on them to do the beach road loop.
Saw the "Pink Lake" which isn't pink because salinity levels which support a pink algae, have fallen.

Stopped at some beach lookouts.
Very spectacular.  John was most impressed.

There was a Goggomobile in a carpark that was shipped to Perth, and being driven east.

The below 'sportscar' features a 400cc two-stroke engine.  (Petrol + oil premix.)

The guy above was flying a drone over the ocean.  It flew a long way away, behind the lump of island rock (next pic), but he could still see its view and control it.  A bit of wind didn't bother it.  (A Mavic Pro.)  I could see why it cost $1800 compared to my $50 one with very limited ability, which I left behind because its useless in a slight breeze.  (I'm tempted.)

John was in raptures over the beautiful beaches.

We dropped in to the Rotary lookout.  Chatted to yet another ex-biker.
I'm not grumpy, its just that the sun is in my eyes.

Great riding round the loop.  Terrific beaches -with few people around, no-one fishing.   Back to the motel, and John went out and came back with wine and nibbles.  Life's tough!

We walked down to the pizza shop for tea.  Not bad, but not quite up to my local shop's standard (Blackwood Pizza).  We'd run out of port, so John bought a cask on the way back.  (I assured him I'd be able to fit it on my bike.)

Sun 2/9/18 Cereal and coffee in our room for breakfast.
Did the clothes washing, some shopping, then hit the road.
Cape Le Grande National Park.  The entrance booth was unmanned, so people are supposed to pay the entrance fee via machine.  I think we were the only idiots who did.  $7 for old farts or motorcycles.  (Should be cheaper for old farts on motorcycles.)
Stopped at a lookout and had lunch of kabana, crackers, carrot (yes!), fruit and thermos coffee.

Lucky Bay was fantastic.  The caravan park sign said full.  We can see why.
John was in his element again, at a beautiful beach.

At another lookout, we saw this.  After I pointed it out to John, he reckoned they must be talking about my port.  (Look closely.)

The end of the road was bare compared to Lucky Bay.

 

After Cape Le Grand, we thought it was time to visit the brewery we saw a sign to on the way there.  We retraced our path, and couldn't find it.
So we went looking for the brewery sign we saw yesterday, near the Pink Lake.
Rode back there, couldn't find it!  Entered the name of it into Google maps and used that to get there.  (Lucky Bay Brewery.)  Closed!  All at a function in the scout hall for fathers day.
So our feeling is that the roadside signs did exist, we did see them, but they were removed when the respective breweries were closed.  (We were doubting our sanity.)  We rode back on Eleven Mile Rd again (the beach loop) for the scenery.

On the way back through Esperance, we spotted the scout hall, with a Lucky Bay Brewery tent out the front. In we went, and bought a couple of pints.  IPA for John, porter for me. Both very nice.  A couple were providing music inside.  -Not often you see a lady saxophonist.  She alternated between blowing and singing.  :)

Today's riding has been great.  Despite all the travellers we came across giving us doom and gloom on weather here, we had a cool but fine day.  Overcast with occasional sun.  No rain (on us).

Walked to the fish 'n chip shop.  Closed.  Tried the kebab shop.  John's falafel and my lamb kebab hit the spot.  Accommodation is booked (online of course) for Albany tomorrow night.  Time for a port.