My name is Peter, I am married to Steph and we have three kids, Marie, 13, Graham, 12, and Faye 10.  We live in a suburb just north of Perth in Western Australia and would be honored if you would be guests at our home for as long as you need to."

A few more emails were exchanged, and on Friday, Dec 15^th, we arrived at the Malone’s doorstep. Our plan was to meet the family, stay for a few days, and be off before Christmas. As fate would have it, we did not leave until the first of January of the New Year.

L to R: Graham, Faye, Marie, Steph, and Peter

Friday night was typical of most of our encounters – A nice dinner with the family, sharing stories and experiences. Saturday was spent hanging around the house, watching TV and relaxing. That evening however was to be our first experience with what Australians call "Hot Night". This is where "the gang" (some 20+ friends/family) go to someone’s house for dinner – in this case, the Malone’s were hosting the event. The host provides the basics: bread, rice, salad, napkins, cutlery, and access to the liquor cabinet. Each guest brings a hot dish (lasagna, prawns in garlic, chicken stir-fry, broccoli covered in cheese, etc.), and beer/wine/liquor of their choice.  The food is all placed on a large table, and the buffet is now ready for self-service.

This night started as one would expect, but shortly before the deserts came out, a bizarre transformation began. The television was turned on, some music videos were playing on the DVD, and Steph’s sister Linda picked up a microphone (where’d that come from?) and started belting out a tune – not just humming along, we’re talking an all out performance. What TRULLY amazed me was that it wasn’t some classic rock song, but a tune by Anastia, an artist popular with Linda’s teenage neices and nephews. Within a few minutes, it was a battle between the mothers and the teenagers for who would sing next, and which popular tune it would be. Peter’s daughter Marie was very impressive, and spent a lot of the evening on the mic. As the night progressed (in synch with alcohol consumption), the guys even got into the routine. By midnight the living room had fully transformed into a nightclub dance floor – Family life in Australia seemed slightly different to that back in New York. Who would have thought that karaoke could be so much fun?!?

L to R: Anne, Marie, Margaret, Peter, Faye, and Lauraine (front)

One of the many tasks to complete in Perth was to replace the cylinder head gaskets on my bike. The intense heat of the north was enough to cause the aged-worn gaskets to leak. Everyone assured me this was an easy job to do myself, but I was looking for some experienced help. Failing this, I was going to have the local dealer do the work. At this point I was lucky to meet Tim Wood, a local R100GS/PD rider, aircraft engineer, and great guy who had a few weeks off from work and was looking for a project.  Tim had dropped us a line on the internet previous to our arriving in Perth.

Monday morning I went to the shop to buy the head gaskets, barrel gaskets, and push rod seals. Bruce at Munich Motors (non-dealer BMW specialist) gave me a few pointers, insured me that Tim and I could do the job ourselves, and even loosened the manifold rings for me to take away that tricky part of the job. Makes sense, no? My mechanic Phil back home at Lindners told me I would learn a lot about m/c repairs – I now know just enough to be dangerous!

Tuesday afternoon, Erin and I rode over to Tim’s house for a thorough cleaning of the bike – Tim somehow managed to get the bike cleaner than when I bought it! We left the bike in Tim’s garage, and I returned on the next morning to begin the actual work. We opened the valve cover on the right cylinder (really bad leak), and as we went to loosen the nuts off the head studs, found the top-forward one was loose. For an instant, we contemplated tightening it back up, figuring it may be the cause of the oil leak. As we were prepared to do the whole job anyway, we decided to press on and complete the job. The heads came off, the valves and seats were examined, the barrel was slid away from the engine, and the remaining seals were replaced. We left around 7:00pm, and when I returned the following morning, I found that Tim had continued working on the bike for a few more hours.

Tim and Barbara

Since the bike was now totally opened, I decided to open and clean the carbs, replace the throttle cables, and replace other worn/dried rubber parts. We put the bike back together on Thursday afternoon, and after I left, Tim even did the valve adjustments.

The next evening, Erin and I returned to Tim’s for dinner with his wife Barbara, and her mother Margaret. Margaret shared a story about moving from Johannesburg to Cairo (both in Africa), when her husband got a transfer working with British Airways. At the time, the trip took multiple fuel stops, and 4 nights – sleeping in hotels or tents, based on location – Barbara was born a couple of years later in Cairo. They’ve since lived in the Middle East and SE Asia.

Prior to dinner, Tim and I went to see why there was some oil weeping from the cylinder heads. Tim thought the heads had "settled" over night, and recommended we re-torque the stud nuts. This should have been a 15-minute job. To make an already long story short, we found the top-forward stud loose – just as it was days before. This meant the stud had stripped from the engine case, and we needed some professional help. Obviously, the stud was stripped before we did the work, and it would now have to be done all over again. Doesn’t it just figure that it was the Friday night before Xmas? Munich Motors was closed for the holidays, and we knew most machine shops would also be closed for the holiday week. With nothing more we could do for the moment, we headed upstairs for dinner.

Wednesday morning, Dec 27^th, I called Motts Motorcycles, the local BMW dealer. Brian, the service manager was sympathetic to my problem, and although short staffed, he told me to bring the bike into the shop on Friday. He said if Tim and I pulled off the head (again) they would repair the stripped stud with a helicoil, and we could put the bike back together in the shop – EXCELLENT! Since we had some free time, Peter and I did a major service to Erin’s bike. We found Erin’s valve shims needed replacement, and Randall the mechanic at Motts replaced them for us. He also gave both bikes a good lookover, fixing bits where needed. We spent 2 days at the shop and got charged for 3 hours labor and 2 gaskets – we were very happy!

We departed on January 1^st, and Marie Malone finally got her room back ;-)   We were on our way south to Margaret River, and Tim and Barbara joined us for the first half, spending the night together in Bunburry. We arrived in Margaret River two days later, an area popular for it’s many vineyards, horse farms and beautiful landscapes. We spent the following week working our way down around the bottom of the coast, visiting many national parks, climbing a 61 meter high tree, and doing a little bush camping.

On Tuesday, January 9^th, we arrived in Esperance on the eastern border of Western Australia. Esperance is a cute little vacation town, famous for its beautiful white sand beaches. On the way into town, we met Ian McIntyre, a retired farmer who recently sold his sailboat and bought a red F650 – similar to Erin’s bike. Ian escorted us to our caravan park, and spent the next couple of days showing us the sites of his town.

We also caught up with our friend Andreas Fick, a German motorbike traveler we first met in Bangkok, then again in Sydney. His Yamaha TT600 was in the shop waiting for new piston rings, so he spent a few days on my back seat. Andreas enjoys riding his bike on the roads less traveled, staying in the bush for 10-14 days at a time, carrying his own food and water in with him.

L to R:  Chris, Ian, Bonnie (below), Erin, and Andreas

While in Esperance we planned to go and see Cape Le Grande, a beautiful spot in one of the national parks. We knew there was beach access to the park, and that Andreas would coerce us into taking the "road less traveled". In preparation, we left our luggage at the campsite. Ian led us to the beach access, and after inspecting the sand, decided to go for it. We started off a little tentatively, but after the first kilometer, we got the hang of it. Twenty-four kilometers later, we reached the cape and back entrance to the park. The bays and coves in this area were spectacular! At the end of the day, we took the beach route back to town – the main road would have been an extra 40 kms ;-) Thanks Ian and Andreas, it was a blast!

Our last night in Esperance the 3 of us (Erin, Andreas, and I) had a terrific lamb dinner at Ian’s house. Ian’s wife Ruth almost had a heart attack just before dinner when she learned Andreas was a trained chef – not to worry though, the dinner was fantastic! After dinner, we bid farewell to Ian, Ruth, and Andreas.