Not really. The bike is doing great, averaging around 750 to 800 kms per tank full. I’ve realised that if I fill her up in the morning, I can’t ride far enough to empty the tank in one day!! (Unless I ride at night).

I had an extra day in Broome, to rest up myself – and also to give the bike some TLC. New headlight bulb and an oil change. I also gave it a wash at the local jet wash. It looks pretty good at the moment. (Well for what it is anyway).

Meet Sebastian and Susie. A great couple from Germany currently working in Broome, part of their tour of Australia. They took great interest in my trip and would like to do the south Americas sometime. (So would I!).

But what makes them special is that they’re Hong Kong Phooey fans! Fanrific! Thanks for the royal salute on my departure.

I also meet another pair of English and German couples who’s names I didn’t get. Keen fishers who cooked a huge fish they’d caught the first night I was there.

I’m living on the road so don’t have 24/7 news coverage, a TV or radio. I don’t make a habit of reading the papers either. When I have a signal I do a quick look on Facebook, but that’s about all.

Despite this, I couldn’t fall to note the passing of Stephen Sutton. A courageous young man who captured the heart of a nation. Stephen was diagnosed with terminal cancer, but still managed to raise over four million pounds for the teenage cancer charity. £4,000,000!!!!

His journey was blogged like mine, but what different journeys we have had! You can read all about real courage, bravery and inspiration for a nation at http://www.stephensstory.co.uk

His trademark was the “Thumbs Up” picture. I don’t think I really do it justice, but here’s my version. We really are the lucky ones.

I saw a sign and the turnoff for Derby. (Along with another great Boab tree). I there’s a Derby in England, I wonder if they’re alike? I’ve only been to the one in the UK a couple of times, all I can remember is the pink coconut night club and the rollerdrome.

I’d asked a few locals about Derby and they said not go bother going. This would probably be my advice too, for the UK one!!

I safely passed the turnoff and continued on to Broome. The most remote city in Australia.

Looking at this picture you can see why people believed the world was flat. In fact there’s still a flat earth society! Australia has some stunning scenery, including some very long and flat grassy plains.

Riding into the sun each day is pretty tiring, especially the last hour or so as the sun drops low on the horizon. Thankfully I had an overcast day on the run into Broome, which helped to keep the temperature down. 34 degrees in the shade!

Even with the cloud it managed to present me with an acceptable sunset. Alone on that highway, I didn’t see another vehicle for a couple of hours.

Riding into the sunset = brilliant!

Here’s a picture with the bike in it. Normal service has resumed!

No George, it’s Bungle Bungle! Pernululu national park is also known as the Bungle Bungles, which I think is quite fitting for a place where the rocks have rainbow stripes in them!

Continuing the theme of photos without my bike in then, here’s one of the beehive rocks up close. It was overcast when I was there, but when the sun broke through they were quite stunning.

With a long ride on gravel back to the sealed road ahead of me, I had a quick pee before I left. And in case you’re wondering, yes, I was careful with my zippy!!

I wrote up to a strange slapping sound in the national park. I peeped over the edge of my hammock to see a beautiful blue winged kookaburra slapping a fish he’d just caught. I suppose he wanted to make sure it was dead before swallowing it.

I watched as he came back to the same branch 11 times, each time with a new fish. I was thinking what a great fisher he must be. Unfortunately my camera was on the bike, and in getting up to fetch it I scared him off.

As I was packing up I dropped a wrapper into the creek bed. Retrieving it I saw a group of fish in a drying out puddle. Some were already dead, the others squirming around in a desperate fight fire survival. I guess Mr kookaburra wasn’t such a great fisher after all!

Not pleasant to watch, I felt a bit helpless as I could do nothing to save them. Time to ride away and not dwell morbid thoughts!!

Sophie
Latitude:-17.92924
Longitude:122.21043
GPS location Date/Time:05/30/2014 00:05:04 PDT

Message:Random place of interest along my route….

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Sophie

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Ready for Adventure
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So I called into the Pernululu national park. It was recommended by a French lady in Katherine, called Christine. (Or maybe it was the other way around?). Anyway, not to be missed apparently, and since I was passing right by…..

To get there you have 75 kms of 4WD only terrain, with several creek and river crossings. Up to now I’ve stayed on the sealed roads, mostly because that’s been the way I was going – but also because I don’t feel the need to do the dirt! I’m sure there will be plenty of dodgy roads between here and home, so why go out of your way to find them now?

I asked a big 4×4 coming out what the track was like and they said “rough”. Ok then! By this time I’d already decided to go in, if it got too squirmy I’d just turn around. Three were some soft sandy stretches I didn’t like, but after 10k or so I started to find my off road mojo. Until I got to the first river crossing!

Soft sandy banks at each side, unknown depth and no one around to hoik me out if I got stuck. But I figured enough people were passing each day to make it a safe bet, so I just went for it! I was so pleased to make it without incident I stopped to take a photo, and here it is!!