Last good-bye
to Australia before Africa!
Friday
25th Oct.
The stretch From Madura to Coolgardie is 715 kms, it was a very lonely ride,
cool at first but warmed up as the day went on.
I reached Coolgardie at 4.30pm and decided to stay at the local hotel called,
strangely enough, hotel Denver City, firstly because that was the cheapest accommodation
and secondly because I wanted to get a feel of the place.
Coolgardie is a ghost of its former self, you can tell by the huge size of its
town hall and its post office. Gold was discovered here in 1892, and by the
turn of the
century
the population had boomed to 15,000, now it's down to only 1100 inhabitants.
Being Friday night, the bar was full of locals, drinking beer being the only
entertainment as there is nothing else to do here, but I am not much of a beer
drinker or rough talking so I disappeared very quickly for an early night.
Saturday 26th Oct.
I knew I could reach Perth today, only 570 kms away. The temperature was rising
very quickly, around the 35 degrees mark I would guess, but as I got closer
to Perth, it dropped down again.
Perth
is one of the most isolated city in the world, the closest city to it is 3000
kms away, I reached it at 4.00pm and I went straight to my friends Tina and
Yurek Kulski.
Tina is a senior lecturer at the Curtin University of Technology and Yurek is
an associate professor at the Murdoch University in Perth and at the Tokay University
in Japan. I could have, understandably, felt
intimidated
by those very educated people but, instead, they made me so welcome that I had
no trouble to communicate with them. They are the easiest going people that
you can ever meet. Their son Jan, who live in Melbourne, is dating my daughter.
While in Perth, I had the pleasure of visiting the Rosalie primary school. This
school has
been
awarded three times by World Vision for raising the most money in Western Australia
for the 40 hours famine. Well done! I spoke to two classrooms and answered a
lot of questions.
Bruce McGregor, from Auto Classic, was kind enough to let me use his workshop
to service my bike and put a new rear tyre.
He
also brought a wooden palette to the airport for me to pack my bike on, ready
for the flight. Simon Lea, from Dangerous goods management, is organizing all
the paper work for the freighting of the bike to Cape Town. Simon has been very
helpful and did not charge me for the taxes and other fees, so if you need to
send your bike or something else, make sure you contact Simon at simon@dgm-aus.com.au
he will look after you. Greg, his helper, even gave me a lift back home
after I left my bike with them.
I tried
to make the bike as small as possible on the crate by removing the front wheel,
the rearview mirrors and the top of the fairing. All I can do now, is pray that
it will get there in one piece.
For the people who wonder if I am still running,
the answer is yes, I manage to run 4x10kms this week, not sure about next week
though.
Well! this is it, I am flying to Cape Town today, my good friend Yurek is taking
me to the airport. Thank you Tina and Yurek for looking after me, I am sure
that we will meet again, somewhere......
Good-bye Australia.
Click here for more photos
Bonjour à tous
Vendredi 25 Oct.
La route entre Madura et Coolgardie est trés droite avec absolument
rien à voir, donc les 715 kms entre les deux arrêts ne sont pas
trés agréable du tout, voir pénible.
La ville de Coolgardie est une fantome de ce quelle était, on le voit
en regardant la grandeur de sa mairie et de sa poste. En effet, de l'or y
fut découvert en 1882, au début du siécle plus de 15,000
habitants y vivaient, maintenant ils en comptent environ 1100.
J'ai passé la nuit dans un hotel trés simple mais aussi trés
pitoresque et comme c'était vendredi soir, beaucoup de réguliers
étaient là, pour arroser la fin de la semaine, en buvant beaucoup
de bière.
Samedi 26 Oct.
Seulement 570 kms me séparaient de Perth, capital de l'Australie de
l'ouest, la ville la plus isolé du monde car la ville la plus proche
est Adélaide qui est à 3000 kms de là.
La température montait progressivement (35) mais heureusement est descendu
en arrivant à Perth.
Je suis allé directement chez mes amis Tina et Yurek Kulski, tout deux
professeurs à l'Universitée.
Pendant mon séjour à Perth, j ai parlé aux enfants de
l'école Rosalie, une école primaire dans la banlieue, je leur
ai parlé de la pauvretée dans les pays du tier monde et de mon
projet Ride4Kids. Cet école a reçu un award de World Vision
pour avoir collecter le plus d'argent pour les 40 heures de famine.
Bruce McGregor, de BMW, m'a laissé
travailler sur ma moto, dans son atelier, ce qui m'a permis de faire la vidange,
changer le pneu arriere et de monter un nouveau filtre à air.
J'ai aussi préparer ma moto pour le vol en avion jusqu'à Cape
Town. Je l'ai mis sur une palette en bois, en retirant la roue avant de façon
quelle soit plus basse, le plus petit est le volume le moins cher ça
coûte.
Voila, je prend l'avion aujourd'hui pour l'Afrique du Sud.
Aurevoir l'Australie.
Photo ci-dessous
Dernier
coup d'oeil à l'Australie avant l'Afrique!
Will I see the end of it?
La route est longue.
Australian Road Train.
Les camions Australiens.
My friends Tina and Yurek.
Mes amis Tina et Yurek.
Rosalie primary school.
L'école primaire de Rosalie.
The city of Perth.
La ville de Perth.
Preparing the bike for the
flight.
Preparation de la moto pour le vol.
