8 September 2010-New chains on, and we are rocking. Didn't get out of Kalgoorlie till 1100. Got to Merreden at 1600. It is only three more hours to Perth, but the critters come out in about two, and my best description of a kangaroo would be "a dumb deer." So we stopped for the night. Came back from dinner in the motel restaurant to find my MC cover off, and half of the windscreen snapped off. And this is a small country town! Back to reality. Just very glad it didn't happen before now. So surgery tomorrow with duct tape. I refuse to let it get me down. Everything else has been too marvelous. Sue talked with Reg, her Dad, and he and Shirley have invited us for soup at noon, so that is where we will be, one last stop before ending in Bruce and Di's garage, the start point.

One thing I have been meaning to mention but keep forgetting to is the incredible number and variety of birdlife - birds as small as your thumb, and as large as a woman standing; water birds with long skinny legs, land birds, carrion eating birds, seed eaters, eagles, crows, flocks of pink and grey galahs, flocks of white silver crested cockatoos, parakeets, emus, magpies, kookaburras, willy-wagtails - and on seemingly ad finatum. And it seems they all love to sing, so the air is filled with music more than it is quiet. In the states Sue tunes in the Australian Open, not to watch the tennis, but just to hear the birds. I understand "why" a lot more now.

7 September 2010-Several days postings today, as I had no IN access on the Nullarbor.

7 September 2010-Change of plan. The better part of valor was to head to Kalgoorlie, the place with the nearest Suzuki MC shop, and get new chains. The Man upstairs and I made a deal - we get to Kal without throwing a chain and ripping open our crankcase, and we would fork out the extra for another day's stay and two new chains. Ray Moore, the owner of the bike shop says it was the torrential rain out of Ceduna that destroyed the integrity of the chains and allowed them to stretch as much as they did as rapidly as they did. He helped us get fixed up with lodging, and a vehicle, and promises to be working on the bikes first things in the morning. Hope to get a good way down the road toward Perth tomorrow afternoon, and home by Thursday. Sue says she needs a perm. Kal is a mining town, and still has the feel of a Wild West kind of place. My kind of town. They have the worlds largest open pit gold mine here. Hope to get out to get a picture before the rain comes, as it apparently has of a mind to again. September showers bring October flowers....

6 September 2010-527 km to Balladonia. A good day to cross the rest of the Nullarbor – blue sky, lots of low cumulous clouds, fair amount of sun., not much traffic. Just before Balladonia we encountered many MCs heading east, reportedly on the way to Alice. One very worrisome thing – the chains on both bikes were very loose. Sprockets looked okay. Tightened the chains by moving the rear wheels back, Sue’s as far as possible, mine almost all the way. Each time we have stopped for service we have enquired about replacing the chains, and each time we were told they were okay for us to make it home. Hope that is correct. Back to Western Time, so we added another 45 minutes. It is nice to sit in front of the motel room in the sun. Still no G3 access. The Nullarbor is indeed an empty place.

5 September 2010-The wind had calmed to its usual state, only traces of rain were predicted, there was a modicum of sun, so it was a very good day to start across the Nullarbor. We stopped for breakfast (bacon, eggs, and toast), as is our custom, after about two hours of riding, and while there met Howard, from New South Wales, riding a Honda Shadow, on his way to Perth. He is a semi-retired cabbie who has been riding for 18 months. This is his first long trip. He asked if he could tag along with us, and we were glad for the company. The Plain is an amazingly empty place. We have been through lots of isolated places, but this one takes the cake for emptiness. For a good part of the first 500 km the road is very close to the top of the limestone cliffs that make up the Great Australian Bight. Good picture opportunity. We stopped at Border Village, immediately east of the West Australian border, and set our clocks back 45 minutes to WA/SA Border Time. There is village, just petrol station, restaurant, motel complex, but there is a very nice non-denominational chapel set up in one of the rooms. No G3 internet access – the only place on our whole trip where that has been the case.

4 September 2010-A planned rest day, and a good choice that. There is an actual gale blowing outside. We took a long walk downtown, and the trees waved their mighty hellos as they came back up from being bent nearly half way over. Found the church, but no mass there this weekend.

3 September 2010-We swam to Ceduna today. Heavy rain and thunderstorms had been forecast for the NE. Since we were heading SW we figured we would be okay, and could tolerate the smaller amount of rain forecast for our route. We left at 0745 and at 0749 it started to spit a bit. After an hour we had one 15 minute heavy downpour, but then broke into clear skies with sunshine, and only some high grey clouds to the SW. Then lightening in the NE, No worries, right? Then it started in the SW. Then it started just in front of us. And behind us. And then someone opened the spigot. One could barely see the road, much less what may have been coming down it, except for sheets of water. We were lucky enough to be able to pull off the road into the small town of Kimba. We went into the coffee shop. Sue asked to use the toilet, and they told her, “Sorry, it has been flooded out!” The rain had apparently been as heavy there for the preceding six hours. Again, luckily, the public out toilets were just next door and a dash through the maelstrom. After an hour the roar of the downfall lessened to a light sprinkle, and we decided to try it again. This time we really lucked out, for the rest of the day was spent without rain, and riding through beautiful thousands of acres of farmland, beautifully green with young grain, and dotted ever so often with a few hundred sheep. Our motel had sheltered covering for the MCs, and it is good that it did because the rain returned with a vengeance during the night.