Tuesday … Margaret River to Perth

As the Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse was on our way through, I request a ‘tourist stop-over’

Once inside, the guide gives each tourist piece of white cotton cloth to "use" up or down the stairs - smart move, with two handrails made of copper: no sweaty acidic palm/finger prints, and they get a polish at the same time!


That light globe, bottom right hand of pic above, is worth $1,000! Life expectancy is around 6-8 months, and with two in use there is always one in reserve.


Chris was somewhat amazed to see that this tiny electric engine is the only thing powering and turning the lenses above us ... and plugged into? Just your average household powerpoint!


The three original buildings above (each with two chimney stacks) have been restored and are in full use as part of the Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse tourist facility.

This pic will never indicate how HUGE these two spectacular lenses are! Each is worth over $1million!

We wuz here! ;-)

Onwards from the Lighthouse, our planned route of travel was to take a leisurely and scenic ride along the Old Coast Hwy.


To our great disappointment, the scenic Old Coast Highway was virtually non-existent with exception of the first 10kms, the rest of which had been bypassed with a long boring span of three-lane Hwy akin to the Melb/Geelong Fwy! Plainly, a fact Google Maps is yet to catch up with! >:-(

Lunch at Bussellton, such as it was! As we'd had a pretty decent breakfast at Margaret River, we weren't famished but just in need of a top up, before facing the last leg into Perth. We lobbed at a decent looking al fresco style Cafe in 'mainstreet' and perused the Menu - the gourmet pizzas looked the deal, though pizza size/s were not indicated. When the waiter arrived, we asked for the gourmet of choice, but could we have a small ... the only 'small' on offer was from the Kiddie menu, of pineapple and ham!!! And no, we couldn't have the gourmet of choice in a small size!! Barely disguising our disgust at the lack of menu flexibilty, we ordered the gourmet anyway, and proceeded to pick off just the yummy bits - it looked like road kill when we'd finished! ;-)

Perth pre-Easter and peak-hour traffic – a fabulous combination! Fortunately, without incident. Next obstacle – Chris’ brother’s place is in the beautiful but hilly suburb of Nedlands: the house is half way up the street, on the steepest section … of course I’m worried. We come to a stop outside the house and need to wait a few mins until Chris’ sister-in-law arrives home – with the road camber sloping down towards the gutter, I’m nervous about the angle the Beast is leaning on her side stand, even though Chris assures me it’s Ok … bikes unpacked, we carefully maneuver the bikes backwards onto the firmly packed but sandy drive, find an off-cut bit of wood for the side stand and the most worrying bit for me of the afternoon is done!

Now, where’s that stress-relieving beer!!?