We were within a day's ride from Perth, but hadn't decided whether or not to go all the way or stop somewhere in between. That decision was going to be made later in the day based on weather and what we saw.
First thing though was to head south to Cape Leeuwin, the most southwestern point of Australia and the point where the Great Southern Ocean and the Indian Ocean meet. So we packed the bikes up and walked down Augusta's main street and grabbed some breakfast at a very nice cafe.
Filled up on food we jumped on the bikes and rode south the 20 or so kilometres to the lighthouse at Cape Leeuwin. It was a little windy but it was interesting enough to wander around, take some snaps and look out over the two oceans. Contrary to the myths, we didn't see the line between them. While we were there we saw some seriously bad storms to the north heading east, which sadly was the direction in which we were headed. We spent about half an hour walking around the lighthouse, reading and taking in the view, it's well worth a look. On the way back we took a small detour that took us alongside the river but still lead back to town where we filled up, crossed our fingers and headed towards those storms.
Not too far out of Augusta we turned left onto Caves Road. The looked worth riding on Google Maps and it certainly was. We found ourselves riding through the Leeuwin-naturaliste National Parks, very pretty and plenty of corners without being too challenging. We took a right at Boodjidup Road to take us back out to the Bussel Hwy and were soon at the pretty Margaret River township where we stopped for coffee and to call the family.
Caves Road was too good to stay off, so after a couple of photos of the Margaret River itself we headed west on Walcliffe Road and then right again onto Caves Road. The following section was also very scenic consisting of Vineyards and the cellar doors of many recognisable wine producers. So while the riding was there to be enjoyed, special care was required to avoid half pissed wine tasters turning on and off the road. We continued to the Yalingup turnoff, on towards Dunsborough until we joined back on to the Bussel Hwy and the next stop was Busselton.
Our goal there was to have lunch and see the famous jetty. We found lunch at the Goose from which we had a very handy view of the Jetty, which you can see clearly on the Google Map Satellite photos. Unfortunately they are doing some construction work on it, so bits were missing and we couldn't get on it but that didn't matter too much the food at the Goose made up for it.
We finished lunch about 1pm and it was decision time. Up to now we'd ridden on plenty of wet roads but hadn't been rained on. It seemed like we were following the storm up the coast and it was always just ahead and to the right of us, but it was increasingly looking like we were catching it. After some discussion we decided to go for broke and head straight to Perth some 250 k's away.
Shortly thereafter we got a little wet and I started to rethink the decision, however when we got to the new Kwinana Freeway the rain took a jump to the right and we were back on the dry. We nearly got caught without fuel, looking at signs anticipating the next fuel stop didn't account for the freeway bypassing them completely. Luckily we managed to turn off the freeway at Rockingham, where I was nearly running on dust, and filled up. Heading into Perth on the freeway wasn't too unpleasant and it took us all the way into town.
As we got closer to the city a sense of achievement started to build. We were actually going to make it across the Nullarbor, across Australia, the longish way, in one piece. Recalling the days of heatwave, the thunderstorm, kangaroo smacking, the beautiful scenery and the boring bits while riding alongside the Swan River we really started to get excited, exchanging thumbs up, smiling, pats on the back . We'd done it!
After finding accommodation and unpacking the bikes for the last time we went walking and had a cheap Chinese feed and a beer for dinner to celebrate the end of a 6200 kilometre journey none of us would ever forget.
Tomorrow we had to deliver up our filthy, well ridden Harleys to Bikes Only for their trip home and buy some suitcases to pack all our junk into to get it back east on the plane. But for now, a rest is in order.
Wow, we made it!
