Perth is the most isolated big city on Earth, and you can feel it in the way people talk about the rest of Australia as a different country. About two thousand kilometres of desert separate it from Adelaide, and the next nearest city of any size is across the Indian Ocean. The place has always lived by its own rules and its own sunshine, which is claimed to be the most of any Australian capital. The Swan River, broad and slow, loops past the city centre, and Kings Park, a huge area of bushland and gardens on a hill above, gives a clear view of the skyline and the water.
The Swan River Colony was founded in 1829, but it was gold in the 1890s that made Perth rich, and the old buildings in the city centre, and Fremantle's limestone port, date from that boom. Northbridge, just across the rail line, is the lively entertainment quarter, full of restaurants and bars. In the afternoon, the Fremantle Doctor, a cooling southwesterly sea breeze, arrives like clockwork and rescues the city from summer heat, which can pass forty degrees.
Heading north, the Coral Coast Highway, a name used for the long run up toward Geraldton and beyond, begins the real adventure. The road leaves the sprawl and passes through a flat, sandy landscape of banksia woodland, limestone ridges and, in spring, a spectacular display of wildflowers. Wind off the Indian Ocean is the main enemy of motorcyclists, as it often blows hard from the south in summer and is especially strong on the open stretches. Roughly two hundred kilometres north, Cervantes and the Pinnacles Desert, with thousands of limestone spires rising from yellow sand, make a memorable stop. The road continues to Geraldton, about four hundred kilometres from Perth, and on toward Kalbarri and Shark Bay.
There is no problem with services in the city itself, where fuel stations and motorcycle shops are everywhere. North of the suburbs, however, distances between towns grow, so fill up at each opportunity, and carry water. Kangaroos, emus and wandering stock appear on the road at dawn and dusk, so avoid riding in the dark. Remember that sun protection matters all year, and flies in the bush can be a nuisance, so a visor is more than a safety item.