TLC for the Big Fella…

I whizzed down the Mitchell Freeway from northern Perth, over the Swan River and arrived at BMW Perth (Auto Classic) just as the doors opened for the days trading…

Downtown Perth, on the banks of the Swan River...

Thorsten of Auto Classic BMW, Perth...

Thorsten, who I had made contact with weeks before, to order a few parts that needed to be replaced after the “Scooter Incident”, greeted me warmly, and helped me unload all the gear that was still on the bike…

Minutes later, he began doing some preliminary checks to see if there wasn’t anything else that might need replacing…

To my dismay, he advised me that the front brake discs had worn below the thickness that BMW specified, and would need replacing…!! Seeing the look on my face, he then said,

“Well you’ve done nearly 114 000 km on this set…!! How much longer were you expecting them to last…??”

I wanted to say, “Just another 60 000 km until I get home…!!” but considering that they would probably be worn to the point of no return somewhere in South America, (and finding parts there would be difficult), I gave him the go ahead to replace them with after-market parts rather than the original BMW discs that cost more than $1500 a set…!!

“Just make sure the Big Fella doesn’t see the packaging…!!” I advised him, “Hopefully he won’t notice the difference…!!”

Thorsten gave me a strange look, glanced back at the bike, (to see if the Big Fella had overheard us, I presume…!!) and then promised to keep it our little secret…!!

Still, at an eye-watering $1 000 a set, I was already in for a much more expensive “minor” service than I had hoped for…!! Then more bad news…!! The discs would only arrive in Perth on Wednesday the 28th…!!

Quick goodbye before I dash off to see about a new passport...

Another BMW technician wandered over to take a gander at the bike, and asked where I was heading…

“Across to Melbourne and on to Sydney…” I replied nonchalantly…

“Well, you won’t make it across the Nullabhor with these tyres, Mate…!!”

“The hits just keep on coming, don’t they…!! First the brake discs, now you reckon I need new tyres…!!”

Might look good parked next to the Big Fella one day...!! And it does have a lot of "R"'s in it anyway...!!

I had ridden just 12 000 km on the current set, and believed that I would put on fresh rubber just before I left Sydney in a few weeks time…

I was pretty sure they were exaggerating, but ordered another set to carry with me just in case… I was not going to let go of the set that was on the bike, and which I believed still had at least six thousand kilometres in them…!!

What was meant to be a quick oil change and some tappet settings, had now turned into a five day affair… This had thrown a huge spanner in the works, and left me stranded without transport, almost 30 kilometres from “home”…

Hearing of my plight, BMW arranged to loan me a bike for the duration of my stay and presented me with the keys to a spanking new R1200R…!!

This stripped down street racer felt so much smaller under me than the Big Fella did, but when I got it onto the open road, I quickly got used to the compact nature of the Black Beast…!!

The first traffic light I pulled off at, had the motorists around me believing I was a stunt rider of some sort…!! I was used to the extra weight the Big Fella shouldered, and the extra throttle it required to get him off the mark… As the lights changed to green, I popped the clutch and worked the throttle in the manner I was so used to…

The front wheel left the tarmac and stayed there halfway across the intersection…!! From then on, I was a lot more conservative with the throttle, that I can you…!!

I rode down to Fremantle, and found the Portuguese Consulate, where I learned that the technician who operated the Biometric machine only worked on Mondays…!! Furthermore, the application for my new passport had to be routed through Lisbon, and would take at least a week to be confirmed…!! The Consul suggested I try Melbourne on my way through to Perth, and they would courier my new passport to wherever I wanted it…

Astride the Pocket Rocket, R1200R Street Racer... Not a bike to be trifled with...!!

Hillary's Boat Harbour, just around the corner from the van Eyk's home... A waterfront development that attracts shoppers and patrons to it's many stores and restaurants

I rode back to John and Michelle’s house, and we went down to Hillary’s Boat Harbour for an afternoon tipple…!!

Michelle and I had discovered that we had both attended Germiston High School, albeit a few years apart, and remembered many of the same people we went to school with…!! Later we met a couple at a local watering hole, and when Michelle mentioned that Kerry had also gone to Germiston High, Kerry turned to me and said,

“Don’t you remember me…?? Kerry van Zyl…!! We were in the same class for two years…!! You had curly black hair and wore glasses…!! You were also the naughtiest boy anybody had ever met…!!”

Her description of me sounded vaguely familiar, especially the last part…!!

We laughed as we remembered the people and the times we had when we were so much younger…!! It had been more than thirty years since I had last seen Kerry…!! She had been blonde then, but had since dyed her hair red, and this had thrown me until she began describing what she had looked like back then…

It is indeed a small world…!! We shared a few beers before heading back to get ready for another round of dinner with other South Africans who the van Eyk’s had befriended during their stay in Perth…

Everywhere you go in Perth, you will either hear a South African accent, or even Afrikaans being spoken, or see someone wearing a Springbok rugby jersey…!! Personally, I think it is time we declared this our 10th Province, and respectfully requested the Australian Government to hand the city and it’s environs over to us…!!

First order of business will be to legislate that free Wifi be available at all hotels…!! Ha…!!

©GBWT 2011