One thing I will say about Byron Bay though, the wildlife isn’t so wild. Brush turkeys bring a real pain when it came to food, pinching it and ripping open bags! They’re protected, which for them is a good thing!

But, I managed to get closer to a kookaburra than I’ve ever done before. This fella let me come and take his picture no problem. They’re a lovely looking and sounding bird.

I spent a couple of days spent holed up in Byron Bay, it rained all the time. Last time I went there, it rained solid for 3 days. It’s probably a nice place when it’s not raining! As soon as I got a few km away it stopped. Hey ho.

Moving again today and I managed to get across the border to Queensland. Just across the border, by a few yards! Texas is a great place, it turns out to be a real biker friendly Mecca. Great roads, good hospitality and (at last) it’s starting to get a little warmer. Hurrah!

It’s also nice to be able to say I’ve been to Texas – both of them!

Sod the big pineapple, look at the BIG prawn! It’s huge!! Slightly intimidating, completely pointless and no one even seems to know why???

I bumped into a couple of guys in a Rolls Royce, looking to take some pictures like me. They’d also driven up from Melbourne, how much did they spend in fuel??

Either way, whatever it’s for, the big prawn has certainly made an impression. Whoever made it, and for whatever reason, I salute you!!

So the Ozzie’s are into big things. The big rock, big koala, big banana etc.. On the way to the big prawn (see above) I came across the big pineapple.

Not sure what the window is for, but as a stand alone piece or was quite impressive….. Until I saw the big prawn!!

Australian whit at its finest. What more can I say?

I came across this place called Parkes, twinned with Coventry. Not much of a recommendation in my book! It started to rain about an hour before I got there, and stopped about an hour afterwards. Maybe they’ve got more in common that I realised!

Anyway, suffice to say that the joys of both cities have been sampled. My life is now complete! (And THAT, is British whit at its finest!).

I always wanted to see Wagga Wagga, and the guy that bought the Chair of Despair lives just past there. I called in to see my old girl, and the very nice man Mark who bought her.

He’s done some work since he bought it, and the old girl is looking even better. The shed had a few other stable mates, like an old Triumph, Norton Commando and an Indian too. I’m very happy to see it went to a good home!

I took a couple of spare parts up that I found lurking in the cupboard under the sink. I could have just binned them, but they may be useful to someone down the track. Hopefully this might buy me some good bike karma??

Thanks for lunch, coffee and a chat Mark. I hope you enjoy the outfit as much as I did!

Nice isn’t it? I stopped here to ask the information people about free camping. The sun was just setting and the station looked great. A quick 30km up the road to a free camp spot, arriving just on dark.

Luckily the moon was out and it was light enough to get the tent up. Very relaxing.

The new H&M building in Melbourne, which used to be the old GPO. All road signs with distances to Melbourne were measured to the GPO. I can’t think of a better place to mark the start of my journey.

Ground zero! Look closely and you’ll just be able to make out my bike.

Now that I have my speedo cable fixed, I can state that the official start mileage is 21373 km. (Is there such a word as kilometerage??).

It’s been harder than I thought getting out of Melbourne, lots of “last looks at places” and emotional goodbyes. But that’s it, I’m out of here. Elvis has left the building!

So my speedo cable breaks on the day of departure! Nowhere in Melbourne has one in stock. I’d like to zero the clock to see exactly how far it is, as I don’t think it’s worth coming back to check!

Shout out to A1 motors in Brighton, who took one off their showroom bike.

Cheers guys!