As you can see we have now bought a second bike for me to ride. Despite my intention to be ‘sensible’ & get another Honda SL230 like MrsTea’s , the fact that I could buy a lot more motorcycle for the same money saw me looking at Suzuki’s DR-Z250.

Although a bit taller than I would have preferred, this is mitigated by it having an electric starter. Kickstarting tall bikes on steep slopes can be pretty demanding for a little fella like me. It also has a kickstarter, a lot more power than the Honda, & most importantly far superior suspension, fully adjustable front & rear. I have ordered a Ventura pack rack for it & will use the large bag I use on the Thunderbird. I am also modifying the rear grab rail/ lifting handle on  MrsTea’s Honda so I can fit the Ventura pack rack off the Thunderbird to it. Will need to get another bag. The Suzuki is a 2002 model, advertised as having only done 3000kms, which is what the speedo says. However speedo cables can be disconnected, & I suspect this bike has done more. However it seems in mechanically good nick

Buying the Suzuki is essentially an act of faith. Currently I am unable to ride it . Or at least I can only ride it at ‘little old lady with a zimmer frame’ speed, with any contour of the surface on which I’m riding being unrecognisable. The test ride around a suburban housing estate was a very ‘interesting experience. You see I've had a bit of a scare in the past week. Enough to fill most of my waking moments with a sense of dread & anxiety. Several weeks ago I had my 2nd bi-annual eye test  which found my eyes have deteriorated & I needed a new lens prescription. I was also told that I have a cataract forming in my left eye.  I had the new lenses fitted to my glasses about a week ago, & that's when things went pear shaped. It has been an absolutely horrendous week. I have the choice of living in a very imprecise & blurry world (without glasses) or an almost surreal world where depth perception went out the window, my left eye was more blurry than without the glasses, splitting headaches, scary driving experiences etc etc. All through this I have been uncertain if the problem was with my eyes , with the lenses, or with the prescription, or a combo of the three. After planning our trip for so long, to have the sudden possibility  of being unable to see well enough to drive the bus around Australia was a matter of despair to say the least. I have been astounded by the impact that disturbed vision can have. It's obvious to anyone that it would have a major impact on anyone's life, but it's a whole different ballgame to experience it! Thankfully MrsTea & friends were able to say the right things to me, so toward the end of the week I was feeling optimistic that the problem was with the glasses, not with me, & more importantly the situation should be able to be rectified fairly quickly.

I have been to the optometrists again today & have been re-tested & my lenses checked. Todays prescription was 2 diopters different for my left eye, than when tested just a few weeks ago. I believe the first optometrist  hadn't taken the time to be as accurate as he could, (particularly important given the emergence of the cataract). As well as testing my eyes & the lenses, they rechecked the positioning of the various aspects of the multifocal lenses in relation to my pupils. The change in prescription had impacted on the 'levels of focus, meaning if I focused on something with just my left eye, then shut it, & tried to focus on the same thing with my right eye, I needed to move my head up a couple of inches. No wonder with both eyes open the world appears 'odd', not quite right, surreal. I walk around testing myself by touching objects to prove to myself that I can still function. A real spin out!  They are making new lenses, so hopefully in another week I'll be back to normal. I have also been referred to a cataract surgeon because of the ‘rapid change’ between assessments (Ie over 6 weeks). I don’t believe my sight has changed between assessments, but nevertheless I can’t be certain. It is the uncertainty I find most difficult to deal with.

I spent some time today ‘decking out’ the trailer. Now that we have the bikes I can see what space we have available. The bikes take up more of the space than I thought they would. Wouldn’t have wanted the trailer any smaller. Small doors at the front would make tying down the bikes easier (maybe a future project), as it is it’s a bit of a squeeze getting in to tie down the second bike.