Back on Gerty

I rode Gerty today! Yaay! First time since arriving in Perth and after the hospital/ flu/ nose fiasco. I was a bit uncomfortable but it was ok and I didn't fall off. And Gerty romped along. Really stonked along, like a determined dog after a scalded cat. 

I didn't go far though, just up to the hospital to collect copies of my scan CDs  which were free because they are medical references for me to take to subsequent doctors should I need to. Got that St George's Hospital and St Helier? Free. They are medical records which I need, and not a nice little earner at £25.00 a pop!!

Them I went down to the beach and sat in the sun for a while, before taking the long route home via Fremantle. I'm moving down there for a few days as I'm a bit over Perth. It's lovely there - a bit like a posh Brighton but without the pier and the crowds.

I bought an excellent map today too. A real detailed geekfest bit of cartography porn.  I've always had a thing about maps and I had hundreds in London, and I can read and reread them for hours. Sad I know but I don't care. This one is of the Kimberley region on northern WA which is where I shall be heading in a few weeks. Lots of rough isolated terrain and spectacular topography! Can't wait!

Then as a special treat, I changed Gerty's oil for her when we got back. I hadn't done it since Penong which was before the Nullarbor, about 2500kms ago, so it was well overdue. However, I had real trouble undoing the sump plug; I just didn't have the strength thanks to my recent medical woes, but I cracked it eventually and without stripping it even slightly. I gave her a bit of a flush through too, because I did feel a bit guilty about having left her full of black soup for so long.

I'm doing an interview thing on BikerFm tonight, talking about my two wheeled travels. 6pm Uk time but 0100 here in a Perth. And - fact of the day - the first person to ride around Australia was a bicycle maker from Perth, Mr Arthur Grady. It took him five and a half bone shaking months in 1924, astride a Douglas. There is a commemorative ride in two Sundays time, but as I really need to get going north, I'll miss it which is a bit of a bummer. But I can't do everything or go everywhere on one trip, so I'll have to catch it another time. Still a bummer though....