Day 31: Sliming our way to Geraldton

Up early again in the morning and hello. Hello hello hello. Olga's rear tyre has only 5psi. Hmmm. And bugger. We put her on the centre stand, rotated the wheel to find the plug and put a big gob of spit on it. Shades of Rotorua. Lots of spittly bubbles. Conundrum. Replug? Pump up and go to tyre repairer? Then Dick remembered that he had a can of slime in his kit. It was only a little hole and the trye was due to be replaced in Perth so it made a lot of sense. The pressure in the can lifted the rear tyre to 35psi and we headed off.

Stopped at the Wooramel Roadhouse for breakfast and then kept heading south. We debated going out to the Denham Peninsula, partly because it was the most westerly part of Oz and also because the road was called The Useless Loop. Common sense won out however and we continued heading south stopping off at the Overlander and Billabong Roadhouses for petrol and a break and arrived in Geraldton in the mid-afternoon. We had a look at the Lonely Planets book and thought that a backpackers called the Foreshore looked ok so - as usual in case they don't like bikers - called in by phone and made a booking. The backpackers was great - a real faded lady but good rooms adequate facilities and a good central location.

Olga's tyre was holding well so we set off and went out for a roam and dinner. Wound up in the Freemasons Hotel (I can hear my dad turning in his grave - well I could if he hadn't been cremated) where we watched Australia thrash the Irish in rugby. It was quite bizarre - in a very old hotel surrounded by aussies watching rugby. I made the mistake of ordering a schooner of Hoergarden (wheat beer) and was stunned to be charged $10.70 per glass. Goodness me! (or something like that!)

I was feeling vegetable-deprived so we went Chinese for dinner expecting to find a vegetable chop suey or something similar but ended up ordering two dishes that were almost identical - both with battered meat/fish and a spicy brown sauce. They tasted great but we were a bit overwhelmed by it all.

Tonight was Saturday night so the place was pretty rowdy that night. Also the bikes were parked in an open area and the back of the hostel so I was a bit nervous about that too. So ... not the greatest of sleeps that night but all was ok.