2020 - the year of travel restrictions. Here in Western Australia we are fairing better than most and our government has gone from restricting us to our home region to now extolling us to "wander out yonder" and go see the regions. So that's pretty much what I have done. WA is divided into 9 administrative regions and last week Sandra and I set of on a trip we've named the 9 Regions Run.

Commencing from our home in Narrogin in Wheatbelt Region, we loaded up the HD Roadking and headed north west to Boddington in peel Region. Having panned an 800 km day it felt crazy to be heading west when we needed to go east to complete the day but if we left Peel region until the run home we knew we were likely to miss it. We left home around 8.45am and ran all day trying with no success to make up the 45 minutes. Weather conditions were fine and not too cold for Sandra tucked up on the back were her new backrest pad from ken Stone Motor trimmers in Albany has transformed the Roadking from a painful ride to a comfortable one.

We stopped for a photo in front of the Boddington Shire building where there is a very impressive steel sculpture glaring at the passers by. Many of the towns we have ridden through have very elaborate welcome signs (see the Jerramungup photo) although many of them have forgotten to put in any parking space to enable travellers to take a photo in front of the sign - here's a tip for those shires - if you make it easy for us to photograph your signs more people are likely to hear about your towns.

On to our next region, we took the Lower Hotham road and ran south to Collie thereby crossing into the South West Region. By now the sun was out properly and we were enjoying near perfect riding conditions along gently winding WA roads amongst lush green farmland where ewes & lambs grazed peacefully (until the HD broke the silence of course). The Harley is a great bike for WA as it's still fun to ride at the state speed limit of 110 km/hour.

After fuelling up in Collie we took the Duranillin turn off toward Kojonup and kept rolling along as we were running that 45 minutes late still. While now in as bit of a hurry we made time for a quick stop at Lake Towerinning where the locals were burning off and the water level was higher than I expected. The lake is a great destination for and overnight stay or a spot of skiing if you're into that. We took some pic's, had a snack and climbed back on the bike to run east to Kojonup.

Kojonup is on the Albany Highway and is comfortably situated within the Great Southern Region. While it was now about lunchtime we had to get a move on as we still had around 600km to go to Esperance. Taking the Broomehill road out of town the farmland looked well watered and the crops appear to be shaping up well. There were still a few sweeping bends to enjoy although the road surface was becoming rougher.

Entering Broomehill from the west I recalled the Tieline Road headed almost directly east from town and would likely be a bit shorter than taking the Google Maps directions to go through Gnowangerup. I also believed the Tieline was less likely to be patrolled by Mr Plod which would likely make it more, er, relaxing to ride along.

The plan worked well and we ran almost dead straight along the full length of the sealed section of the Tieline pulling up for a Wild Hog stop at Mindarabin wheat bin. it was here that Sandra said "has lunch been cancelled Honey?" The answer of course was yes and we were glad she had packed some trail mix which of course is all one really needs.

The Tieline turns to gravel at Mindarabin but it's still the shortest run to Ongerup so we turned the HD onto the gravel and away we went - not very rough so we could cruise at 100kmh easily enough. Running now through Mallee Fowl country, we didn't see any of the birds as we rejoined the highway just east of Ongerup.

A left turn took us through Needilup. I had first worked at Needilup as an 18 year old driving trucks for a farmer there. Later in about 2007 I revisited the area to set up a project planting trees and farming on 8 farms we purchased for and English company. Although the previous world wide crash ended that project, we could still see the lines of paddock trees as we topped the hill just west of Needilup.

On to the Jerramungup Roadhouse where we spend a lot of time (and money!) in 2007/08 we were happy to meet Olga again (sorry I had forgotten your name Olga) and finally stopped for fuel and some fast food. The HD had been using a bit more fuel on the Tieline due to the 'more relaxed' way we were riding it...

As I recall it's about 300km from Jerramungup to Esperance and after we had taken a few minute to take photos at the very elaborate Jerramungup Sign, we commence the 300km run at about 3.10pm. It was beginning to look like we would be riding in the dark again - I was hoping to avoid that this trip.

Ravensthorpe had developed a bit since I was last there, must be a few years now. There is a big roundabout at the eastern edge of town and of course I had to stop for a photo at the big lollipop for Harper and Stephen.

Roadworks as we left town only momentarily slowed us down before I dialled up maximin legal speed on the cruise control through the sweeping bends east of town and past the old mine.

This is a lonely stretch of road although I have travelled it a lot of times and some of the work I have done in the region makes it all feel less foreign than it did in my 20s. I noted by now the crops were looking better than I had expected, in fact the only late/under performing crops I have really noticed were around Mindarabin (mainly to the west) where they must have missed a few rain events.

Keeping up the pace now I was glad when we passed the Munglinup servo still in daylight with only around 90km to go.

We were nearly at the old Koolena tree farm by the time darkness finally set in. My headlight must have been aiming too high as nearly every vehicle approaching (even several trucks) thought it would be a good idea to flash me with their big spotlights. As if riding a bike out there just after dusk isn't dangerous enough! At least I was glad they were well safe inside their metal boxes behind their bull bars!

I've done quite a lot of night riding and so far my success rate for arriving in 1 piece (2 with Sandra?) is 100% and I'm glad to report I didn't ruin my percentage that night.

About 835km for our first riding day, into the motel where we Enjoyed room service dinner in front of the heater. A great day's ride - 5 Regions in one day! Arrived safe and Sandra was only really uncomfortable (cold) for the last 100km. Not a bad result. Now, grab some sleep and do it all again tomorrow...