Riding across Australia, heading up the west coast, solo motorcycle camping adventure S2 Episode 14.

I set off from Margaret River in the morning, making my way north towards Perth, which is known as the most isolated city in the world. With a population of nearly 2 million people, the nearest city to it is Adelaide, with 1.3 million. To drive there direct, it's about 2700 kilometres. I made my way along Caves Road. It seems like most of Margaret River's 250 vineyards and 187 wineries are located along this road. There is one after another. Winery, winery, vineyard, vineyard, winery, vineyard, winery, winery, vineyard, vineyard, vineyard. You get the idea. So, if you're into your grapes, this area would be one to check out. I turned off at the top of the sticky outy bit of the southern part of Western Australia. Well, I've made it to Yellingup, and there's a lot of towns around here that end in up. Basically, in the traditional language, it means place of. Place of meeting, place of animals, place of waterhole, place of plants. So, does that mean back in the day a lot of people around here were yelling? Another great thing about Yellingup, it has some pretty good surf. It's not today. It's blowing northerly. If it's offshore, it's great. So, I will be actually heading into the north towards Perth, so it will be a headwind, but it's not too far. So, going to keep heading north towards Perth, and we're going to go past a really big jetty and some giants. I'd go out there, but it's just going to be... Busselton Jetty is the longest timber pier jetty in the southern hemisphere at 1841 metres. It was built in 1864 to 65, and over its lifetime was extended until about the 1960s, where it reached its current length. The last commercial vessel docked at the jetty in 1971, and the jetty was closed the following year. Now, it has been revived as a tourist attraction. All right, on to the giants. If you didn't know, I do like a maker, craftsmen, people who make stuff, and apparently a guy's made something quite large, or a few things quite large, through here. You do have to track them down. We'll see what these giants are. I'm not sure how far up the walk to find one. Keep looking. The world's leading recycle artist, Thomas Dembeau, created six giants that are placed between Mandurah and Perth. They are all made of recycled material, such as scrap wood, old pallets, twigs and debris. They were created to celebrate the extraordinary beauty and importance of protecting our natural world. So, there are six giants to find in all, and they are not as obvious as you'd think. So, a bit of a hike in. Might let you find the rest if you come through here. I wouldn't want to take away the surprise and adventure. If you're interested in tracking down the giants yourself, you can go to the website. I continued north. The road became larger, turning into a motorway. More traffic, and everything that comes along with the city. I was stopping in Perth to get a few things sorted, as it is the last place to get access to the normal things you take for granted when living in a city. I was also keen to catch up with an old mate, so he gave me an address to go to. I, um, stunned. I was going to stay with a mate in Perth, but due to circumstances, his place is unavailable, but his family own a hotel, and they had spare rooms, and he said, just stay here, and going from camping, and sleeping in the dirt, and my air mattress down to this. It has a washing machine in here, so we'll be cleaning everything again, and yes, a real bed. It will be, oh, I better not soften up, hey? And I went downstairs, and it's quite a fancy IGA with very, very, very good food. They did have an abundance of choice of my normal road food, but with so many other options, well, I've got myself a lamb shank. Heading down to get a shot of the city. As I was in such a great location, facing the city centre on the other side of the Swan River, it seemed like it would be a waste of an opportunity, if I didn't. So, I set up on the bank of the river, and waited for the sun's rays to fade, as the river's namesake glided past. It was also cool to change it up, and take photos of an urban landscape, and try and remember how to take photos at night again. I then went and caught up with my mate. Morning. Time to go find a new tyre, so I can make it back the other side of the country, and hopefully find a new sleeping mat. We'll see. I got an early start to get to the nearest Royal Enfield dealer, which is only a few kilometres down the road. Now to find a tyre that will fit my bike, and last me to the other side of the country. Within about 20 minutes, I had the tyre on, and I was off on the road again. I then made my way into the heart of the city. It's nice to see it's free parking for motorbikes in Perth. It was only a short walk to the outdoor stores, and I was looking for something like that, so I was in the right area. I went inside. They had quite a large range, but not within my budget, so I went next door to see what they had on offer. I finally found one that would get the job done. Always good to see that the bike's still there, and a couple of admirers, probably wondering what kind of bike is that? I made my way out of the city centre, over the river, and back to the hotel. I was able to solve two problems then. New back tyre, and I got two little screws for the helmet. They said I should get between 10,000 and 20,000 km out of the back tyre, so that should get me back to the east coast, which is good. Morning. Well, after getting a new tyre, fixing the helmet, a new sleeping mat, it's time to leave Perth and hit the road again. I'm going to head north. Basically, there's two main ways to get across the country. You can go through the middle, but you'd want to be prepared. I'm going to go north up the coast from here, and then head across the top. So technically, I wonder if that's a loop? It does feel like I'm about to leave civilisation again. There are small towns along the way up the coast, but there are only a couple of places where you can get most things. But depending on what you need, you may be waiting a few days, or even a week, if say I needed to replace a tyre or a part from my bike. But I guess that's part of what makes it an adventure. You have to come up with solutions when things don't go to plan, which reminds me of the saying, it's not an adventure until something goes wrong. There was one stop off I needed to make to an old mate's place I went to school with, and who I hadn't seen for decades. After catching up and getting a photo, it was back on the bike heading north. The big city motorway soon turned into a two-lane road. And just like that, I was back out into the vastness of this country. Just pulled over for a quick break to stretch the legs. There is a little bit of drizzle, but it's not bad. And the landscape is turning more deserty, but green, all that rain. There is one thing here with our gathered tourists, because we do drive on the left here, and they have... I haven't seen these signs anywhere else really, but they've actually got these in different languages as well. Oh, German. Just worked out it's German, isn't it? The first one's German. I actually spent a lot of time in Germany, so Linz means left, so drive on the left. I don't know the other two languages. They must have had a few issues with people being on the wrong side of the road, but I've done that over in the US. Not far, just pulled out and got... So I can see where it happens. Just pulled off the side of the road as I came across one of the whitest sand dunes I've ever seen, and it's moving through the vegetation. I guess over time it just blows and just keeps progressing through the bush. I do like the contrast between the really white-white and the green. I turned off the main road to check out a place I wanted to see for decades. This is the Pinnacles. The Pinnacles are weathered limestone pillars. The raw material for the limestones of the Pinnacles comes from seashells. There are different types of formations. Some look like mushrooms, some like tombstones, and others are tall and thin, which reach heights of up to 3.5 meters. The way that they were formed is subject to debate. There are three theories. One, they formed as a result of a period of extensive dissolving of the rock from weathering. Two, that they were formed through the preservation of tree casts buried in the coastal earth, turning into rock over time. Three, the plants played an active role in the creation of the nutrients from below their root systems, and excess of these nutrients stayed below the roots, forming the Pinnacles. Whichever way it happened, they are an incredible sight to see. Almost otherworldly, as if you were on another planet. How cool are Pinnacles? A very Mars-like landscape. Probably the best national park for motorbike riders, because you get to stay on your bike and go through them. Yeah, that was awesome. So now, well I hadn't planned past now, so I'm gonna head north to see where I get to. I pulled off the main road to get some fuel. Normally the National Highway passes through all the small towns along its route, but on this stretch there are a lot of towns that are a few kilometers down side roads, so you have to plan for food and fuel. I fueled up and also took the opportunity to fill up the reserve jerry cans, as access to fuel becomes more limited the further north you go. As if I decide I want to go and explore somewhere, I don't want to be stopped because I don't have enough fuel with me. I gather this place is known for fishing. It's kind of cool to be able to ride alongside the Indian Ocean, knowing a long way over that horizon. The next landmass is Africa. Not having planned this far ahead, I thought I might see if there were any potential campsites around here, but the tracks turned into sand dunes pretty quickly. I'm sure the locals would know some epic beach camp spots, but I just wasn't stumbling across them. So I continued heading north while it was still daylight. There is a theory that if you see a lot of road trains parked out the front of the service station, then they must have good food, as the truck drivers would know all the best spots on their route. Nearly entered Geraldton, but I had to pull over because I saw this tree. It is, well, laying down. Must have got knocked in a storm and then just kept growing. Apparently this is characteristic of trees in this area, caused by the constant strong southerly winds that burn off growth on the windward side. I pulled into the town of Geraldton. As there wasn't much light left, and it's hard to find free camping near a town, I headed for the nearest caravan park. I arrived at about 4.59pm, but by the time I got to the reception door at 5 on the dot, it had a sign on it saying closed at 5pm. I tried the after hours number, but no answer. A little weird for a caravan park, so I went searching for another. Well, I found a spot. First caravan park was closed. I got there at 5 on it, put the bike parked, and then it was closed at 5 and nobody opened the door. So, found a second one. Sun's already gone down. I'm going to quickly set up a tent to, well, it's easier to set up a tent in the light, so I'm going to try and do that first. Scared the birds. Tent's set up, still some light around. It's the first time I'm going to use this new air mat. It's supposed to be self-inflating. I've put a few breaths in to try and help it get started. We'll see if that works. Might go look at the beach. I was next to a bird ovary, and there was a lot of chirping going on, but I gathered they'd settle down once it was dark. I'd somehow forgotten to resupply my water storage, so I went up the road a couple of kilometers to the service station to stock up again. It's one of the things you don't want to run low on heading north. With that done, it was time to pass out. Please don't disappear. It's not what you think it's gonna be like.