Day 1
18 OCT / Sunday
Ate breakfast again at McDs. Then we checked out of the hotel just before the 10 am check out. I have mounted the GPS to my handle bars and use the GPS to find our way to downtown Perth. We climbed the musical instrument, the Bell Tower, located on the Swan River. The Bell Tower is one of the largest musical instruments on earth located in a custom built glass tower to house the bells of Saint Martin in the Fields Church, the parish church of Buckingham Palace in Trafalgar Square, London. These bells date back to before the 14th century. We climbed the glass tower to look over the city of Perth and the Swan River. We then took a class on ringing the bells. When asked what we were in Perth for by the instructor at the Bell Tower, we said biking across Australia..."What?!", "Where's all you stuff?", "You're Crazy", "You'll never cross the Nullarbor". Leaving the Bell Tower we continued to cycle through the city of Perth to King's Park (400 hectares of virgin parkland overlooking downtown and the Swan River). Leaving King's Park we head towards Fremantle Prison. A prison built by it's own prisoners. Fremantle Prison's toilets from the time of opening to the prison's closing were the use of a bucket. The bucket system would be the reason for the closing of the prison. Although other toilet facilities were introduced to the prison, the bucket was still in place until the prison closed in 1991. After an hour tour of Fremantle Prison, we leave Fremantle and head to the Indian Ocean to take our "Starting" photos. I now feel like we have started our journey.

Tonight we are staying in Rockingham at Leisure Inn. Across the street is an indoor mall where we hope to pick up an electrical outlet converter and exchange money at a local bank. For me, I am still learning to ride on the left side of the road. It's hard to remember to look to your right first, then left. Taking a right across an intersection also proves difficult for me to swing wide and not go into the oncoming lane. There has been no trouble with vehicles so far- even a shoulder when we have been on 1 (South Western Highway)

My stomach is in knots as soon as I wake up. I am nervous about riding on the road. I have little experience dealing with cars and traffic. And I wished we had trained more.

Once Billy and I get on the road we cycle around Perth seeing all the major tourist attractions. The Bell Tower, on Swan River, is the first stop. Billy and I climbed to the top, and we took a class on how to ring the bells. The Bell Tower Instructor thinks it’s absurd that we are going to cycle from Perth to Sydney. She walks out of the class and in to the hallway and yells at a coworker, “Hey, come over, these two Americans are riding push bikes from Perth to Sydney, across the Nullarbor, Hah, It can’t be done. That’s all you’re taking. I think your bloody insane.” I was astounded by her enthusiasm. Inspired by words of encouragement Billy and I headed to King’s Park, and then to Fremantle Prison. The tour of the prison was really fun. The guide was fairly knowledgeable and the prison was an interesting site. It closed down because of sanitation laws. This was the last prison where inmates had to poo in a bucket, cell mates shared a bucket. There was no running water in the cells. The inmates dumped these buckets outside in the recreational area of the prison where inmates congregated. The best part of the tour was the artwork on the walls of multiple cells. The inmates were allowed to freely draw and paint on the walls while serving a sentence. Most of the pictures were of nature; trees, forests, outdoors (freedom).

Billy and I got back on the road and headed towards Rockingham. Riding through town is very difficult for me. Weaving through traffic and knowing what to do at stop lights, intersections, and crosswalks. I fell twice today. The second time I fell, my bike was at a complete stop, my left foot was still clipped in, and I leaned a bit too much to the right, I fell over like a half chopped down tree. I yelled a curse word just before I hit the ground, and then “splat”. I’m now laying in the middle of the street, with my bike on top of me. People look at you with a very strange expression on their face. One man acted as if he wanted to come over and help, but then he begins to laugh under his breath. I jumped up as quickly as possible, and ride away trying to act like it doesn’t hurt. It always hurts.

Once the sun begins to set we started looking for a hotel to stay in. We are still on main roads so it’s difficult to stay in the woods. All the land is private property, and there is no where secluded enough to camp. The Swinging Pig (Leisure Inn) was a great motel despite the service. Apparently they don’t get many guests requesting accommodation. The two employees had no idea how to book a room. I think they made up the price as we walked in the door. The club/restaurant in the rear of the motel was very popular. The entire parking lot was full. This is obviously their big money maker.

Billy and I ate at the Red Rooster, or the Dirty Rooster as I call it, for dinner. And then back to the motel for a good nights sleep. I stayed up at watched television, but Billy got sleep.