Go West, Young Man! (Part 1 of 4)

Well, the famous quotation only applies in part as I'm no spring chicken but having a mental age of 5 (according to someone near and dear) it sort of fits.  The "Going West" bit is certainly true.

I've previously mentioned that to celebrate our wedding anniversaries, Jennie and I take turns to organise a secret destination.  Most times through misinformation and downright lies, the other party only finds out where we're going on the day of departure.  However, to avoid serious injury injury, it's ok to hint (and it is only a tiny hint) with respect to what clothes to pack.  I don't fancy sucking hospital food through a straw after saying light clothing will be fine whilst booking an Antarctic cruise on a converted icebreaker!

Anyway, it was my turn this year.  The fact that it's also our 40th wedding anniversary brought additional stress, particularly as both Jennie and her female mates have been dropping hints along the lines that "It better be bloody good".... with an unspoken "or else"!

We've been to the eastern side of Australia many times as we like the country and people enormously, but have never been out west where the scenery is spectacular and the population is exceedingly low.  By way of example, WA has an area of just over 2.5 million sq km whereas Texas is just over a quarter of that size.  The telling statistic is that whilst Texas has a population of around 26 million, WA has just 2 million, with half that number being resident in the state capital of Perth.  Consequently, you don't see a lot of people on the roads out that way!  It also ranges from sub-tropical in the south to fully tropical in the north.  Although our anniversary isn't until July, April (autumn) seemed a good time temperature and rain-wise to do the trip.

I really fancied heading out that way and I owe a huge debt to fellow bike blogger Jules in the east of Australia and a neighbour of his for getting me started on the planning process with some great tips.  As it turned out, Jennie only got told the destination 12 hours before we flew out from NZ, although there were some close calls along the way where I was almost discovered!  This isn't a detailed account of all we did in the 3 weeks in WA, but I thought I'd share a very small number of the photos we took en route with a bit of commentary where appropriate. Click to enlarge the photos.

Also, some good news on the blogging front.  The main reason I haven't been blogging regularly is commencing development of an on-line database for IAM advanced motorcycle training, then running it.  It looks like help is at hand for the first part courtesy of one of the newer IAM members who has an I.T background.   Should be able to slip in an occasional post with all this help!

Our route covering around 5000km by road!

Part 1 - South of Perth
Merino sheep are prevalent south of Perth and we visited a working farm to watch sheep being rounded up and shorn at Yallingup.

Australian Kelpie running on the sheep's backs to control them

 

Shearing the sheep in a couple of minutes

The following photo is a close-up of the merino shorn wool.  The fibres are incredibly fine and make high quality garments.  Bikers in NZ in particular use merino clothing layers in both summer and winter as it wicks moisture away from the body.  Even more importantly, the same shirt can be worn for days on end and not smell due to the antibacterial properties of the fibre.  An unashamed plug for NZ-made Icebreaker gear which is the best of the best!!

Ultra-fine antibacterial fibres

Lonely, dead Eucalyptus tree

Natural gigantic stone bridge - see tiny person top left for scale!

Nice-looking buildings on Busselton's 2 km long pier

Margaret River chocolate factory - Jennie in heaven!

Results of a recent big bush fire - very little left standing

Interesting garden art fish at a gallery

The next photo shows part of the 61 metre high Karri tree known as the Gloucester Tree.  It has steel stakes driven into the trunk to aid climbing it with little or no safety aids (shudder).  Look carefully and you'll see some fool scaling the trunk!

  Sooner him than me!!

Wild parrot eating Jennie's apple

Adult kangaroo - they're everywhere

Dawn from the balcony of our accommodation at Lake Beedelup

Kookaburra sitting in an old gum tree, la la....

Awww...  going on an eco-cruise, Nornalup inlet

The next photo shows part of a walkway through the forest canopy, about 40 metres up.  It doesn't appear to be held up by much and sways slightly.  Fantastic bit of engineering.

Valley of the Giants treetop walkway

The photo below is of a Tingle Tree.  With a wonderful name like that, it should be from a fantasy book!

The wonderful-sounding Tingle Tree

The impressive Stirling Range

The photo below was seen in a men's public toilet in the town of Lake Grace.  Aussies (and Kiwis come to that) don't believe in psychologists when you have mates to help!  Lake Grace is situated in a very arid area and we were impressed that the town verges round the railway station were so green.  On closer inspection, it was astroturf - just brilliant!

 

That's what mates are for......

Stunning Eucalyptus tree flowers

Yours truly on the Lake Grace salt pan - just about blinded!

One of the most spectacular sights you'll see anywhere is Wave Rock, a wall of  granite thought to be 2,700 million years old.  The colours come from mineral deposits washing down from above and the shape comes from erosion over the aeons.  An incredible monolith.

The CEO playing it cool

Another view of the rock

From Wave Rock it was back to the state capital of Perth.  We'd covered around 2000 km exploring the south and east of Perth and could have spent at least twice the time that we did in this area.  A fantastic start to our anniversary trip!

Road trip and some great machinery

This isn't a prelude to resuming regular blogging but Jennie and I have just got back from a 6 day autumn road trip and thought I'd share some of the photos whilst I was cataloguing them as it was such a cool time.  Click photos to enlarge.  The trip covered part of the lower half of NZ's north island and it was a great opportunity to catch up with some friends in the region at the same time.

My mates and I did a bike trip late last year over a 160 km long road called Gentle Annie which traverses some pretty wild country at altitudes up to around 3000 ft.  Jennie had never been over it, so it was a great opportunity to put that right.  The small country town of Taihape where we stayed overnight was coincidentally having their annual gumboot-throwing day and it was great fun seeing people of all sizes, shapes and age throw standard-sized gumboots as far as they could.  The record is 67 metres (220 ft) which is pretty impressive.  There was also sheep-racing and racing ride-on lawnmowers.  We love eccentric events like that!

Choose your gumboot!

Letting fly

Entering the Gentle Annie road proper, it was a gorgeous day but you need to take care as it's rare to see more than a handful of vehicles over it's entire length.  Not a place to use as a racetrack, especially with some of the drops into valleys.

Lonely, majestic country

Remnant from the days of horse-drawn coaches

Remote cattle farm sign.  Nowhere in reverse (nearly!)

Beautiful river valley

After traversing Gentle Annie and staying in the lovely Art Deco city of Napier overnight, we headed south to Mount Bruce, which is renowned for its bird life.  It was fantastic to see one of our native parrots, the Kaka, at close range.  Very little fear of humans, but they wouldn't oblige by holding their wings open so that we could get a shot of their bright orange under-wing feathers.  Nonetheless, they still looked great.

The NZ Kaka

There were also trout and giant native eels in one of the streams and in the photo below, some of the eels were close to 6ft long!  

Giant native eels

Bush ferns unfolding at Mt Bruce

We stayed with friends north of Wellington for a couple of days and they took us to the Southward Automotive Museum.  We hadn't been there for over 20 years and it's grown into a world-class "must see" stop for anyone travelling in the lower north island.  Here's a small selection from their fabulous collection.

Not just cars but bikes and lots of other stuff

The next photo believe it or not is actually an unpowered trolley built for an annual race down a steep town street where gravity does all the work.  Most people are happy with a bit of plywood and 4 wheels from a baby pram but not this guy!!!  The answer to the question "Why??" must be "Because he can".  Incredible workmanship.

The ultimate machine for a trolley derby - slight overkill?

Mercedes Gull Wing Roadster  - elegant simplicity

Streamlined Czech Tatra from the 1930's!

Just part of the collection

Stanley steam-engined car

All copper-bodied car!

The ultimate non-skid tread pattern on a vintage car!

Brough Superior sidecar outfit with Austin car engine - worth megadollars

I think the trike below was manufactured in the USA.  Acetylene headlamp, chain drive to the front wheel.  One might imagine that the steering was somewhat heavy! Not sure whether the cylinder head cooling fans were original but in terms of effectiveness, we might be able to reach a conclusion of our own!

Beaten with the Ugly Stick......

The vehicle below is a British Bond Bug which was built in the early 70's. It had a 700cc 4 cylinder motor of very limited horsepower. At the time it was released, it was regarded as a bit of a joke but in these days of the SMART car and other super-compacts, it doesn't look out of place at all and I LOVE it!  I'd love to own one and with a bit of suspension tweaking and a 675 Triumph motor, sigh............. 

Way cool or a big embarrassment???

A Star Wars cockpit long before Star Wars

Early NZ rail dragster with a 28 litre V12 Allison from a P40 fighter

The scooter below is a Triumph Tigress from 1958 and still looks incredibly modern. Available as a 250cc 4 stroke twin or a 175cc single 2 stroke.

Triumph Tigress - very sleek

Triumph's sister company, BSA, produced some clever designs and the photo below shows a standard BSA bicycle (from the 1950's I think) with a small 2 stroke which drives the hub.  The ordinary pedals remain in place which was a wise move because as a kid, I remember someone in our village having one.  He spent more time going purple pedalling trying to start the engine than he ever did being propelled along.

Good idea from BSA, ruined by reliability

V twin Indian, but with a Moto Guzzi configuration
How rare is this???

Rotary-engined Suzuki RE5 from the early 70's

Nice NZ kit car from the 70's based on a VW floor pan and engine

Messerschmitt bubble car first produced in 1955
White car is a Suzuki!!

The vehicle below is a U.S-built contraption from many decades ago. Forward power was provided by lowering the central wheel with a hand-operated lever and no clutch so take-off might have been just a touch rapid!  Similarly, disengaging drive at critical moments may have been a trifle hair-raising; made even worse by the brakes which you can see as blocks which press directly onto the tread of the tyres. Medical insurance was presumably mandatory!

Voted least likely to be a commercial success....

Before we came home, we dropped into the small town of Otaki to look at a Maori church which had been rebuilt a few years ago after it had been virtually destroyed by arson.  The restoration work is stunning.  Traditional Maori decoration lines the church.  The grey vertical panels in the church are woven from strips of the native flax plant and the buff-coloured lining on the roof is comprised of individual stems of a native plant not unlike pampas grass.  Every pew space has a magnificent hand-embroidered kneeling cushion and embroiderers from round the world donated their time to make them - quite moving.  I'm not a religious person, but worshipping in a place like this rebuilt with so much love and natural light must be quite an experience.

Church entrance

Looking away from the altar

So there we are..... a few photos from our travels.  Hope that you enjoyed seeing them - nothing quite like road trips!

For Nick and Angus MacPhail....

This post was written after I said I'd stopped blogging for an indeterminate period, BUT ..........

I got home yesterday to find a wonderful link to the past in the Comments section of my previous post from Nick MacPhail who lives in the Channel Islands between the UK and France.  We've never met but may well have been within a few metres of each other in the days when I drag raced at the same time as his brother Angus - what a small world it is these days!  Angus' bike, Ag's Barra, was featured in a photo I took and put in an earlier post about innovative engineering HERE .  I won't repeat what Nick said as you can read it for yourself in the comments section of the previous post.  It's well worth reading and also, the YouTube link to Angus' fantastic drag bike "Jade Warrior" HERE  is a rare treat.

Yesterday, I accompanied my mate and riding partner Davey Uprichard who lives near Wellington up to Auckland for his IAM advanced riding first assessment ride under the eagle eye of Philip McDaid, Chief Examiner.  It was a real win-win day as in the morning, we were able to spend a few hours at the annual classic race meeting at Pukekohe, just south of Auckland in the company of another great mate and riding partner, Dave Easey from Auckland.  For a country of around 4.5M population, some amazing bikes come out of sheds at this time of the year, many of them startlingly innovative.  So Nick and Angus, this post is for you guys in recognition of your appreciation of both smart and rare engineering! (This is only a very small sample of the bikes that were present, both in the spectator park and in the pits).

Dave, Davey and yours truly at the track

Rare Morini 350 V twin from the early 70's

Laverda Jota 3 cylinder in what looks like a Spondon frame

Flawless vintage Morgan 3-wheeler with Matchless V twin motor

Weston race bike - looks like a speedway engine is fitted into a Norton frame

Beautiful Triumph Trident late 60's factory race replica

Weslake-engined race bike

XR Harley replicas - superb engineering

The photo below is of a Brough Superior lining up on the dummy grid for a vintage race.  All these bikes are raced hard with no concession for age or scarcity.  Given that the price of a Brough at a classic bike auction would probably be greater than the cost of a modern factory-supported superbike, the owner has exceedingly large balls!  He's also to be congratulated for not wrapping it in cotton wool and for sharing it with the rest of the population.

Beautiful Brough Superior

The bike below is one of the rarest bikes you'll find - a desmodromic-valved Manx Norton.  It was built by a Kiwi called Brian Thomas to a design by Doug Hele, who was a legendary designer at both Norton and Triumph.  It was their correspondence and friendship which led to Doug's bike being re-created.  A stunning piece of workmanship.

Desmodromic Manx Norton

The next bike was my personal favourite - a Kreidler 50cc racer from the 70's.  Winner of numerous world championships, the bike produced in the order of 11-15 horsepower at close to 17,000 rpm!  The engineering is simply exquisite and when you realise just how small it is, finding a talented rider with the weight of a 10 year old child must have been a nightmare!

One of the best examples of engineering perfection anywhere

Kreidler front view - mountain bikes have wider wheels!

Flawless Benelli Sei 6 cylinder from the 70's

Another exceptionally rare motorcycle is the bike below.  The Hesketh V twin was produced in the UK by Lord Hesketh who used to be involved with F1 car racing.  Manufactured in the 1980's, it was overpriced, unreliable and soon went out of production.  Nonetheless, still a good example of someone trying to innovate.

A Hesketh V 1000 in perfect condition

My mate Paul zoning in

Those photos end the relatively short stay at the Pukekohe race track.  We said our goodbyes to Dave Easey part-way up the Auckland motorway whilst Davey and I headed north west for a date with the Chief Examiner of the IAM.  Those who have previously read of the stress I went though to pass my tests will remember that the examination criteria are based on UK police rider standards - a daunting task for anyone!  I was enjoying Davey's discomfort and deliberately hadn't filled him in with the details.  If I had to suffer the pangs of apprehension, he bloody well could too - that's mates for you! It's interesting that one of Davey's first actions on arriving at Philip's premises was a rapid visit to the toilet.  You may well think it was a nervous one, but I couldn't possibly comment, hehe!

However, Davey and Philip are both Irishmen from not too far apart and within seconds, had lapsed into accents which took more than a bit to follow - probably to keep me totally in the dark!  After explaining what was going to happen and equipping Davey with a radio, we set off on an assessment ride of well over 100km covering a mixture of motorway, urban, and all forms of countryside riding.  It was my intention to sit out back, sniggering and chilling out but Philip put a stop to that by saying that it would be good observer training for me!

Philip and Davey about to set off

Half-way through the ride, we stopped for the first de-brief.  Philip told a delighted Davey that he was already riding at an advanced level and that the improvement areas were only small, rather than any major errors in technique.  Hardly surprising to me, given that Davey and I have ridden together so much and that I'd trust him with my life.

For the second part of the ride, Philip put me directly behind Davey to take the main observing role, but cunningly being able to watch me at the same time - no pressure then!!!  Because Davey is such a darned good rider, there (regrettably, haha!) wasn't an opportunity to "ping" him for anything major and it was a thoroughly enjoyable ride in a relaxed atmosphere.  Returning to base, there was a full debrief and Philip asked me to complete the formal report with 3 improvement opportunities for Davey to work on.  He was congratulated again on such a great performance, particularly for first time up and invited to join IAM as an Associate.   All that remains is for me to allocate him a mentor in the Wellington area and enjoy hearing about his rapid progress through the forthcoming check rides.

All in all, one of those sublime days - away from home riding bikes for 12 hours in great company, covering almost exactly 500 km and seeing some fabulously rare motorcycles to boot.  Oh, and returning home to local smoked fish and marinated mussels as an entrée and baked sticky ribs as a main course, washed down with good beer.  Real man-food courtesy of Jennie, bless her!!

Sincere thanks too to Philip for giving up his time on a voluntary basis to spread the message about high level safe riding, it's hugely appreciated.