Head West Young (well not quite) Man & Woman – Part 1 – Getting There

I’ve just come home from a fantastic trip to Western Australia.  We are members of the Ulysses Club – a social club for motorcycle enthusiasts with junior members starting at age 40. They held their AGM at Albany last week.  Not many attend the actual meeting, but about 3,000 motorcyclists made the trip for the week long rally. (This was a small one!)

Get yourself a cuppa, as I’ve got lots of holiday snaps to share. 

We rode “Snubby” the modern BMW and sidecar over.  (I’m sure Peg won’t mind that I “borrowed” her photo.) We were loaded to the gunnels with all our camping gear.

It took us a week to get there, we had a week there and then I flew home (never enough holidays accrued at work).  Mick is still on his way home.  He should arrive tomorrow afternoon.

I was especially excited about our first day.  I had arranged to meet fellow  bloggers Peg and Dale in Narromine and then Jodie in Cobar.  We had a lovely morning tea in Narromine, it is amazing how much you can talk to people you have never met before and just hit it off.  All because of blogging.

Peg, me & Dale.

Jodie and Connie popped into the Cobar caravan park to visit. We were spoilt as Jodie brought some bickies, cheese and best of all some of her home made zucchini pickle.  Yummo!  We sat and chatted for about 2 hours and the time just flew.  Connie had a great time playing on the bike.  We forgot to take a photo which was a pity.

It was a pretty special day.  I would have liked to try  and meet some more bloggers, but time just wouldn’t allow.

The scenery travelling across this big wide land of ours is stunning.  People say it is boring, but it changes all the time.  Yes, it is a long way, but never boring.

It was so lush and green in western New South Wales, but was extremely dry from then on.  I never tired of watching the changing sky and took a photo each morning.  They are all so different. We were lucky to have relatively cool weather on the way over, although there was a cross wind most of the way.

The historic buildings in Wilcannia, although mainly derelict, must have been stunning in their day.

You have to take these border photos, just as proof.

We travelled by the Eyre Peninsula and near a little town call Elliston we noticed a sign “Scenic Clifftop Drive”.  It was a 5km gravel loop and had lovely views with sculpture all along the way.  This one entitled “Headlands” was our favourite.

We started to see other bikes from Cobar and after that every time we stopped at a Roadhouse there would be a big group of bikes and we would have to wait our turn in line.  It was all very social.  Apparently this had already been going on for a week before we left home.

At one stage the road goes right next to the Great Australian Bite and the cliffs are stunning.  The water was a gorgeous colour. Aren’t I just the glamour puss in my bike gear (not)!

Another of those must have touristy shots.  We took a similar one when we rode a different bike over in the late 90s.

Of course, we had to visit the old Telegraph Station at Eucla.

The true Nullarbor Plains. Not a tree in sight.

Cocklebiddy Roadhouse at dawn – just before we made a start for the day.  The roadhouses were all excellent, offering camping, accommodation and food.  They did well to cope with the volume of bikes travelling across.

At the end of this straight  there is an S-bend in the road.  For the life of us we couldn’t work out why.  We reckon the grader driver must have fallen asleep or was bored.

We saw lots of 3-trailer road trains and a couple with 4 trailers.  There was a sign near Kalgoorlie advising that the maximum length was 53.5 metres!  Imagine that, longer than an Olympic pool!

The first traffic light in over 2,000 kms and we had to get it!  Norseman, the first “Town” you reach in WA.

Next I’ll show us playing the tourist in WA before getting to Albany.