This may be the last post for about 10 days or so as Merry arrives on Monday 15th and we are spending a week touring the Margaret River, south of Perth
I’m in Perth now staying with my old mate Gordon Roberts. Gordon rode with me in my trip to Nepal, India and Bhutan.
AZULO has performed magnificently but I need new tyres and the speedo and GPS fixed. This will all be done next week whilst Merry and I have a good break.
Kalgoorlie – the final word
I forgot to mention in the last post something I found amusing. I hope you do too!
This is how the 19th Century Kalgoorlie Politicians solved the difficult problem of the “unsavoury behaviour” in what is now Hay Street, Kalgoorlie.
Broockman Street, Kalgoorlie, in the late 19th Century had some 30 brothels. As you can imagine, it must have been hopping!

Photo – The last “old” brothel in Kalgoorlie
The “gentle” people of Kalgoorlie wanted them closed down yet the politicians and many more including 99% of the miners felt they provided a very important service to the town!
Broockman street had a “good” and “bad” end so the solution was simple…. just change the name of the bad end…. Hey presto, problem solved.
So, they split Broockman street in two and re-named the “bad” end Hay Street. A notice appeared in the newspaper saying there were now no brothels in Broockman Street!
Esperance
Esperance is a pleasant seaside town with magnificent beaches in a beautiful setting.
It’s hard to avoid references to the early seafarers who sailed past in the late 18th Century
Esperance was named after the French Ship L’Esperance.

In 1792, two French ships, L’Esperance and Recherche nearly foundered amongst the many islands and reefs here. The ships were saved by the lookout, “Monsieur Le Grande” who at the last minute spotted a channel.
Esperance, as said above was named after the ship.
The nearby peninsula, now a National Park was named Le Grand and the whole archipelago named Recherche Archipelago.
Whilst I’m boring you with some potted history, I found this story in the museum interesting
Matthew Flinders, who was the first person to circumnavigate Australia, passed by Esperance twice. In 1803, he too had a near disaster.
He only managed to save the ship by cutting the ropes on two anchors which were lost until 1969.

In 1969 the two anchors were discovered and salvaged.
The home made wooden aeroplane in the photo above was used to search for the anchors. it was a sort of “submarine”. The plane was lowered in the water, a diver hung onto it and they were then dragged along the sea bottom by a boat. It apparently speeded up the search!
The anchors once recovered, were spirited away from Esperance. One is in Canberra and the other in Adelaide. Poor Esperance got the aeroplane submarine and nothing else!
Enough of that!
Esperance and the whole coastline is extremely beautiful. The beaches are stunning. Some, like “Lucky Bay” have “OMO white” sand and the sea appears a bright turquoise colour. The photos don’t do them justice. Lucky Bay by the way is in the Le Grand National Park some 40 k away and was named by Matthew Flinders who stopped there after his near death experience.
Lucky Bay has Kangaroos on the beach at certain times of the day. Unfortunately I was there at the wrong time. No Kangaroos!


On my way to Lucky Bay I saw a very strange site….


Yes, Stonehenge!
It’s a full sized replica of what Stonehenge looked like 5000 years ago! The stone was quarried nearby. I’m not sure quite why anyone would think of rebuilding Stonehenge but someone has!
I stayed at and Airbnb which was excellent but I made a bit of a fool of myself. I tipped over the bike as I was about to leave. The family kindly helped me lift it. It’s much too heavy for me but the two kids of Fiona and Brendon, my hosts, made Azulo look like it was made of feathers! I must be getting old and feeble.
Photo : Charming Airbnb owners Fiona nada Brendon

Albany
The 450 ride to Albany was rather boring.
Unfortunately the weather was bad in Albany and I once again got soaked a few times and had to dodge the many showers. At times like this I wish I was in a car!
Albany is in a magnificent setting in King George Sound. It’s Western Australia’s oldest town, founded in 1826.
The little ship Amity sailed from Sydney in 1826 with a few soldiers and convicts and set up the settlement. They didn’t want the French to get there first!
This is a replica of the Amity in the photo below

The most impressive thing in Albany is the Anzac Memorial and Museum. The ships taking the Australian and New Zealand Corps and their thousands of horses to Egypt in 1914 sailed from here. This was the last Port of call for those poor soldiers (and horses)
Here are some photos but as you see the weather wasn’t very kind to me!
All the ships lined up in the Sound. It must have been an impressive sight



I love this sculpture of an Anzac giving his horse water.

A very beautiful and emotional statue

The old Guard House

Below – The Anzac Memorial ….Typical…why are monuments always under repair when I’m there!. This is an impressive monument to the Anzacs,

Other things I saw in Albany in between heavy showers…
The Gaol House

The Whaling station. It was closed in 1978



The Gap…This is a very impressive structure over a gap in the cliffs.

Again, the pictures don’t do justice to this

There is one other piece of interesting history here…..
Australia’s very own pirate – Black Jack Anderson
This story fascinated me. My brother in law Cam told me about it, There’s a book on it and it’s apparently all true…. but there is nothing on him to be found here, although the people in the museum know about him.
I think Albany is missing a magnificent tourist opportunity!
Black Jack Anderson was a big Negro Whaler from Massachusetts who in the early 1830’s found himself in Albany. He killed someone in a brawl in the pub and ran away stealing the whale boat.
He set himself up on nearby Middle Island and over some 10 years terrorised the passing ships. He was very cruel but must have had charisma as he kept several Aboriginal “wives” and even a white woman. He made a lot of money which has never been found.
Eventually he was killed by his own men.
Why does Albany fail to cash in on this amazing story! It beats me! Sorry, no photos.
Off to Perth …the final leg of “stage 1″of this trip
I left Albany to ride the 400 easy kilometres to Perth. It was a good ride and the weather had improved.
Unfortunately I had a “senior moment” at the petrol station…. I filled up Azulo with diesel. Ugh….. My feeble defence is that there was not caution sign on the pump gun.
I managed to borrow a hose and bucket and siphoned out all 30 litres of diesel, not a pleasant taste. I then filled up and continued the journey.
So now I’m having a couple of days off in Perth before Merry arrives. I’m excited about her arrival.
Gordon is a terrific host. We had nine holes at a superb Gold Resort, Joondalup…lots of wine…bacon and eggs and more!
Photo -Joondalup Golf Resort

Some company on the course. Gordon and friend


Some “Cockies” in Gordon’s garden

Sian, Gordon’s daughter with Jack and Gordon looking on.

Bye for now…. If I get time (and Wi-Fi) I’ll put some photos up of the Margaret River and district.
The journey continues again on Tuesday 23 May!
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