Beautiful Porto Ercole, where we stayed in 2005. This is the view from my room.

My great little BMW. Not as fast as a Ducati, but fast enough on the Autostradas and can climb mountains!!!

I have had some adventures on this bike !! High in the mountains, amongst the deer, landslides, snow and blizzards. In 2006, I rode in across France twice, through Switzerland and all the way down the boot of Italy to Sicily. Never missed a beat ! Cost me $5500, 16 K on the clock, owned by a dentist in Milan. I have since replaced her with a Honda Transalp, a very popular bike in Europe.

Hmm!! What it takes to be happy. Couldn't be happier than people touring on a motorbike through beautiful Europe!

This is Charles and Brid from our 2004 tours. They rode an ST4s brilliantly. Charles has an ST4 in Perth, which he brought out from the USA.

A fresh catch from the fishing boats at Santa Margherita on the north west coast.

Stopped at the famous Futa Pass near Bologna.

This is a fantastic hillclimb with locals doing amazing stuff, which I could not emulate. On one trip we saw at least 500 sportsbikes parked at the cafe at the top, all the riders chatting about everything to do with bikes, and all dressed as though they were about to do a Moto GP! See the road surface - that is normal !! Seldom do you come across potholes. Racetrack surfaces mainly!

Father and son from Townsville at the Piazza in San Gimignano

Father and son just after a great ride through the mountains on their Ducatis.

Our lovely friend Manuela.

She helped out on our Setepmber 2005 trip, when I could not make it. I had come off my bike near Mt Isa, and with 7 broken ribs, was not allowed to fly to Italy in time. The guys thought she was great!

The famous statue of the God Olympus in Florence.

A ceiling painting from about the 15th century I think, in one of the many museums in Florence.