24th June - On my own...

For the few free days in Freo I've just been bumming around.  First day was to get all my gear washed.  Had to wash my jacket and pants twice and they're still not really clean - maybe they won't be ever again.  After that I went for a ride in to town - determined to have a feed and a beer at the Little Creature Brewery. The beer went down a treat and so did the food - highly recommended.  After that, I reckon I deserved a cleansing ale at The Sail and Anchor - a craft beer pub.  They do some ripper dark beers - their bock and stout are awesome.  Whilst looking for a park, I had a bit of a fright as someone had run up behind me at the traffic lights and grabbed me - it was one of the blokes from the tour.  It was good to catch up with the Nowra boys for one last chin wag.

The next day I rode in to Perth to get the bike serviced.  After dropping off the bike I jumped on a bus for the CBD, but got off about 10 stops too early.  It wasn't a bad day, so Id didn't mind the walk - I hadn't done of anything but ride for the past 3 weeks.  Did some window shopping and found a good coffee (at last!) so I was happy.

After riding back in to Freo I caught up with Gav and Fiona for a few beers and later, some salt and pepper squid.  Life's pretty hard here in Freo.  Again, finished off with a cleansing stout at the Sail and Anchor - I could make a habit of this - does two times make a habit?

OK, so it's the 24th.  Up at 6am trying to stuff the genie back in the bottle - how did I bring all this stuff here - but it won't fit now?  Caught up with Gav and Fiona at Gino's for a later brekky.  Ripper feed - high;y recommended.

I decide to just hit the bitumen for the trip up to Geraldton for no other reason than to wear out my rear tyre before heading back to Perth for a new one.  I headed up the coast and came across Lancelin back beach.  I rode up to it and took a few pics.

Taking off fron Lancelin, the wind started to pick up.  It actually turned into one of the worst days of riding I've ever had.  In one instant the bike was being ripped to the left, and at the same time my head was being ripped to the right.  I'm sure the only reason I didn't lose my helmet altogether is because of the chinstrap.  Riding into Dongara (about 80 kms from Geraldton) I pulled the pin and called it a day.  Decided on a motel due to the thunderstorm I could see ahead - I don't care if that makes me a wuss or not - at least I'll be a dry wuss!