Perth to Melbourne

[MrTim_imp]

Sorry everyone I was only halfway through my report when a friend came over for the weekend, here is the rest of it!
Quoteosted by Cormanus - 07-04-2014 02:04 PM
Great report and photos Tim. Well done. I hope you enjoy Melbourne.

Tell me, how did you go for fuel across the Nullabor? Did you have to carry extra? I did bring along a 5 litre jerry can, although I didn't have to use it. The longest distance I went between petrol stations was only a bit over 200km. I knew when I left that I probably wouldn't have to use it but I guess it's nice to have that reassurance, especially with the awful fuel gauge on our CBs. Petrol is pretty damn dear though:

(Cheers for the tip Pterodactyl)
Tuesday was entirely on the Eyre Highway, doing long distances like this make you appreciate the small things, stopping to fill up becomes something that makes you scream with excitement inside your helmet. Despite being rugged up it's pretty damn freezing in the mornings as well.
This was the section containing the 90 Mile Straight which, as you can imagine, is pretty straight. I think people who call it the "Nullarboring" perhaps lack a bit of adventure, you see things that prick your interest, the mind wanders to strange places and you can't help but raise a little grin when you realise that you're crossing the continent astride your steel horse.
You'll also see these bad boys everywhere on the Nullarbor, I'd say they outnumber cars (nearly all of which are towing caravans).
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Not too long past the border I bought myself a chicken roll at the Nullarbor road house and pulled over for the night at a car park not far past that.
Another long day on Wednesday but finally crossed the Nullarbor! Although I was stoked to be done with it it did feel a little bit strange to not have every single car and truck wave at you as you ride past.
Port Augusta is the first "big" place I reached after entering SA, after that it was South to Adelaide. This photo was taken just outside of Adelaide.
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I stayed for three nights with an old mate while in Adelaide, as luck would have it one of our favourite bands happened to be playing at a local venue on the Thursday (Finntroll: [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GclKDei5hHU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GclKDei5hHU if you're interested).
I woke up much later than originally planned on the Saturday, this may have had something to do with a big Friday night of beer, whiskey and heavy metal.
I rolled into Mount Gambier early on the Saturday night where I booked myself a room at the pub. Sampling a couple of beverages at a few of the local establishments it seemed to me like a pretty nice little spot, think I might head back there one day.
I did make the mistake of leaving Mount Gambier before dawn on the Sunday, not long after I had a VERY close encounter on a wet road with a large, bouncing marsupial while trying to wipe fog off my visor.
If anyone is after a Fairmont Falcon I did see this one just after the Victorian border, though for some reason I doubt that he's willing to negotiate on price:
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Before too long I was onto the Great Ocean Road and pretty damn excited to tick this one off the "must do list". The road starts off a touch lacklustre but soon enough you come across the mandated stop off at the twelve apostles:
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Not long after that it gets much more Great, with a twisting section with some nice elevation changes through the bush. But just as Great and much more Ocean are the sections around Lorne, really ideal motorcycle stuff. Sadly the surface of the GoR itself is horrible, really deep ruts and even some potholes that are so large that if you hit them on a bike you'd come off. It's pretty disgraceful that a significant tourist attraction and war memorial is kept in such a poor state of repair.
After the GoR the ride became much more "normal", though the road did offer up one last memory for me: a magnificent view of the Melbourne skyline lit up at dusk as I rode across the West Gate bridge to my new home.