Wanted: A good home for 'Norman'

It's been a little while, but it's finally time to post a sad but necessary message. Norman has to go. He's been outfitted with a brand new Staintune exhaust and had a good shine, and he's now waiting for his new home. He's looking and sounding wonderful, and going even better now with the exhaust! So if there's anyone out there who fancies a really reliable, fabulous condition bike with bags of charm and history that's ready to take you (and a loved one) anywhere you could want to go, let us know here and i can arrange for you to come and have a look. He's currently in mum and dad's garage in Geelong but we can arrange to meet you halfway or something like that if you're too far away. I have him advertised for 5800.00, but I'm willing to move on that for the right person and a RWC can be arranged easily too. The link to bikesales is here:

http://www.bikesales.com.au/private/details/honda-vt750c-shadow-classic-chain-drive-1997-12354341?__Ns=p_IsPoa_Int32|0||p_RankSort_Int32|1||p_HasPhotos_Int32|1||p_Make_String|0||p_Model_String|0||p_YearMade_Int32|1||p_PriceSort_Decimal|1||p_PhotoCount_Int32|1&__Nne=15&__Qpb=1&__sid=1211D4733E42&__N=1432%20604%201429%201626%201428%204294967259%204294962253%2082

Comes with all the luggage, and a bike cover too. Make sure to get the word around so we can re-home him soon! I'm sure he's bored in the garage with no one to talk to.

Jeremy: Hay Races!

It feels like a kind of peak to the whole trip to actually be here at the hay races after deciding we were going to try and make it here back when we were in alice springs. What a day! It's just after the last race, and I'm not going to lie, it's been a really hot day and beer has been easier to come by than water, if you catch my drift. So, I decided a blog post was due before it got too late for me to concentrate, although to be honest I may have left it too late!
I rode down to hay this morning in the heat, so that we could leave straight from here to shepparton in the morning. Not a great start, I was covered in sweat before we even got to the race course! It was nice to try the bike out at speed without bridget or any luggage on the back though.
We didn't do too badly with the betting, we finished 16 dollars up by my reckoning. We sweltered away in the heat, but have had a wonderful day. Lots if laughing and merryment, and I'm pretty sure bridget got a fair bit of drawing done which you might get to see tomorrow! In the meantime here's a few photos of us with our gracious hosts ed and rachael, and the field here at hay race course.

Jeremy: Trucks to Port Macdonnell

We're all rugged up here for the night, and glad we managed to get the tent set up and the bike under a tarp before the rain started. I think i'm going to have to give the front of the bike another clean tomorrow morning, the insect guts coverage is substantial.
Getting used to the feeling of 100kph for an extended period of time isn't as easy as I thought, what with the very large logging trucks blowing you about like a paper plane (i've started arranging us on the road with a little more room which seems to help) and the constant splatter and pop of insects impacting the visor on your helmet (as well as you shins, your hands, the crooks of you arm etc...) It's an interesting place to be. It makes all the little stops you make for a break seem that much more restful and interesting. We stopped to see a huge windfarm today, very interesting! It was a lovely day today weather wise too, the stop at nelson was particularly sunny and scenic with lots of lovely birds for bridget to draw and lovely water for paddling in.
The bike seems to be handling the whole thing very well, although a little more range would be good. We very nearly ran out again today before we got to portland although i kept it to myself (it wasn't even as close as yesterday so no need to worry bridget with it). I think 2 people and all our stuff for camping seems to be taking it's toll on the fuel consumption a bit. it's good to have made it to south australia at least, it seems like a good milestone.
Port MacDonnell seems like a nice quiet wee spot, with lovely beaches.
So, tomorrow to kingstone? or all the way to adelaide? Of maybe we'll just wait here until the weather gets a little better? I think the best part of this decision is that it doesn't matter! Yay for holidays!

Jeremy: First night, sorted.

All my fears about Norman the Honda Shadow 750 not being able to.take the strain appear to have been unfounded. It's a really torquey bike, and only in 5th gear up a really steep hill at less the 90kph did it struggle, and even then help was only a down-shift away. The suspension seemed to cope fine as well, with us only hitting the bottom twice and only on very bumpy stretches of road. All of that with Bridget riding pillion, me driving, a completely stuffed gear sack and roll bag on the luggage rack and two completely loaded panniers with sleeping bags strapped to them and everything else (hopefully) that we need for camping for at least 3 weeks. I even fit my pocket trumpet in there! Just having a nice cup of tea in the wye river caravan park now. So, geelong to wye river no problem. It's early days yet, and we haven't been that far really, but so far so good anyway!

Organising

I'm actually doing very little organizing at the moment, I think I should step up and do something. We've decided we're leaving next Monday. The plan is that we're having an Australian wedding party on Saturday, clean up Sunday, then leave Monday. We would have left it a bit longer but my mum is over for the Aussie wedding and she and her partner are coming along with us for our first night on the road (they'll be in a car though!) and their time schedule is quite tight as they fly out of Sydney on Friday.


It's a bit of a family joke that my mum is coming on our first night of honeymoon with us. Poor Jeremy, the day he decided to try and propose was Christmas Eve last year. Last winter in Northern Ireland was the coldest I can remember, it was about -5C outside and frozen snow on the ground. Jeremy kept trying to get me to go places with him, to try and get me on my own so he could ask the question, "Do you want to come for a drive with me to the wine shop Bridget?" he'd ask. "No,  not really, it's cold." I'd reply. My mum would then say "Oh I will!" So off Jeremy went for a drive with my mum to the wine shop.
Later, "Would you like to go for a walk with me Bridget?" "No, it's freezing and I've got the fire lit here." My mum - "Oh I will!" Jeremy despairing, left the house and rang my brother, who was in on the plan, for suggestions. He came back and asked, "William needs me to go and pick something up from The Bay Tree (my mum and brother's restaurant) do you want to come?" My mum jumps in and says, "Oh I need something from the Bay Tree, I'll come!" immediately with a look of frustration Jeremy phones William, William straight away phones my mum, "Look mum, this is something Jeremy and Bridget really need to do alone!" My mum suspiciously immediately retracts her desire to go to the Bay Tree and I realise, knowingly, I just have to go along with whatever Jeremy needs me to do. Sure enough he knelt in the snow and I got a ring.


I am pleased my mum and her partner are coming for the first day driving, it takes the pressure off the big scary start. We're going to stay the first night at Wye River, a gorgeous beach town where we've been many times with Jeremy's family and where a few years back I took my mum and she loves it. Then the next day we will say goodbye to my mum and Jeremy and I will head on to Warnambool and she will head back to Ireland.


I haven't really thought much about what I'm bringing with me. Jeremy has been researching motorbike tour sites. I'm going to have to put a bit more effort into this. I know I need a good sketchbook and some spare 2B pencil leads, I want to bring a skirt or two since my bum isn't used to being so confined in tight jeans, a spare pair of shoes/sandals to wear instead of bike boots. I'm thinking 5 pairs of undies which I can just wash as we go, about three singlet tops, a longer sleeved thing, a jumper, a jacket, a couple of light scarves (I think it'll get cold at night and in the mornings) 3 or 4 pairs of socks, I think I'll bring a nightie so I don't sleep in a singlet thus leaving the singlet not fit for day wear (although maybe it wouldn't bother me) oh I can't think about the rest now, my cousin has just sent me a brilliant video of our Irish wedding and I want to show Jeremy, so off I go....


if anyone has any hints and tips about what to bring I'd love to hear!

All Geared Up

Without planning it we popped into the bike shop on Mercer Street in Geelong again today. Josh, the guy who had served us before, was there again and looked after us very well. He made sure all my gear fitted well and put up with my severe lack of knowledge. He even brought this helmet down from the store and I fell in love with it! I never thought I could even like let along love a motorbike helmet!

It is quite pretty isn't it?! It cost $20 more than the plain black one, so we'll just have to do without lunch one day on our trip to make up for it. As my friend Alison says 'prettiness prevails!'

We also found a decent leather jacket with protective pads and removable lining. It fits extremely snugly and will take a bit of getting used to. I feel slightly corseted in it and a bit helpless due to all the padding on the arms I can't move too well. I feel like a robot, a corseted robot.

I also got biking jeans since my skirt isn't very suitable attire! I don't think I've worn jeans for about 10 years. They feel very tight but I think I'm quite liking the look, not very me, but still, it's nice to look normal every now and again. We got good gloves to protect my hands (there is a horrible ad on the side of the road on the way to Melbourne showing a motorbiker's hands after a crash without wearing gloves, not too nice) and now all we need are protective boots. Hopefully I'll enjoy all this motorbiking malarky after all this expenditure!

I think tomorrow we may be getting Norman and then we can go on a wee wizz around. My first try! I think Jeremy is looking forward to being on a bike again. I'm scared, but looking forward to wearing my gorgeous helmet!

To Get to Here Pt.2

Yep, all that stuff that Bridget wrote about below, that's what happened. It's all good now though, apparently i've emerged from said accident unscathed and with no cool scars to show for it. The being hit by a car thing, not the marriage.

I went and saw Norman this morning. He is a 1998 Honda Shadow 750, Green and Cream as mentioned before. He's in the workshop getting baffles put in the exhaust so it can pass roadworthy (It was too loud before), and getting a new chain and new sprockets installed. Hopefully it won't make him too quiet, i'd much rather everyone else could hear us when we're on the freeway, because you're hard enough to see already! Don't want it to be too noisy either though because it will just make the whole journey unpleasant, and also you look like a bit of a douche...

So we're still managing to keep the whole thing on a reasonable budget thus far, still have to actually try and fit all our gear into the luggage which came with the bike, and make sure that we even have all the gear that we need! We managed to get a bike which came with all that we need to go. Luggage rack, seat with backrest for Bridget, Saddlebags and tall gearsack and a windscreen. It even has some highway pegs too. So hopefully after all this work is done it won't need anything else before we go. Fingers crossed anyway...

Bridget has been very good trying protective gear on, although i must say that the majority of the gear isn't particularly stylish and she's quite picky about what she's even willing to try on in the privacy of a changing room, let alone wear out in public. Leather has never really been her look, but I'm sure we'll get her into something suitable eventually.

We'll be picking the bike up early next week, so we'll get some photos and stuff up as soon as we can, including some of us both on the bike hopefully. Maybe even a video? We'll also post a bit more of a plan of where we are actually going, because that might be handy.

We going to go on a couple of short trips next week and the week after to try and ease Bridget in to being on the back. Sure, the longest trip i've done was only about 4 hours in one day so it'll be an adventure for me as much as her. Soooooo excited though!

I managed to find one sneaky photo still up from Norman's original for sale ad, just a teaser for next week...

To Get To Today

I am Bridget, I'm going to write in green. Jeremy will write in a different colour, I'm thinking maybe blue, but I could be wrong. I'm from Northern Ireland, Jeremy is from Australia. We met about 6 years ago in Australia and about a month ago we got married in Northern Ireland. 


Now we've moved back to Australia after two years in Belfast and we're going to have a party with our friends and family here. After that party, sometime in about 3 weeks, we're going to go on our honeymoon.




Jeremy has been interested in motorbikes for a while now. I wasn't too pleased about this interest to start with. I'm still not altogether happy, and all those safety ads with their horrible photos don't help. But this trip was still all my idea. Mind you, Jeremy would hardly have been able to suggest it, so it had to be from me.


I sent him a text about 4 months before the wedding, something along the lines of 'hi lovely, what do you think about motorbiking to alice springs for our honeymoon?' I've never had a quicker reply!


It all seems to be working out quite well, he's organising the whole thing, which only seems fair since I organised the wedding. At the moment we've been looking for protective clothing for me, something which causes my family much amusement. I don't think anyone can quite imagine me in motorbike leathers and neither can I. Jeremy is being very patient with my irrational whims about it - no animal print - no sparkly bits - no bikery pictures or swirls on the helmet - no girly pink stuff. We still haven't actually bought anything yet.


The first time we went to look in the bike shops was the day after we flew into Melbourne. It wasn't the best start to this adventure. I was trying on jackets and jeans, surprisingly I was quite getting into it, Jeremy remembered the parking meter and said he'd go feed it. Jet lagged and confused he ran out in front of a car, screech of brakes, dent in bonnet, gasp of crowd, roll off the car,  onto the ground and up onto his feet again. Amazingly he was ok and probably doesn't appreciate me telling this story, but I feel it is part of our adventure and since he is all fine, just bruised and embarrassed, there is no harm.


Oh, and we've also nearly bought a bike, but since I can't tell you much more than it's green and cream and called Norman I'll leave that for Jeremy.




Wedding photo by Kat Mervyn.