So here you are in Perth with your bike out of customs and quarantine, ready to roll. Ready? A little voice in your head tells you that this looks like the kind of country where insurance could be mandatory (and a wise thing to do?).

Been there, done that. Here's how to get insured in Western Australia (with countrywide coverage).

There are two kinds of Third-Party insurance that you can get: Personal and Property. Personal is compulsory, Property is optional. If you go to the Royal Automobile Club, they will sell you only Property insurance. In order to get insured you need to get your vehicle inspected for road worthiness. What? Of course my bike is road worthy, I've ridden 28000 km to get to Australia! Once you get that inspection, you will get insurance immediately.

In WA you need to call the vehicle examination centre at 1 300 782 713 and ask for an inspection appointment in or around Perth. Perth centres are quite busy and you may not get an appointment until 5 or 6 days later. I got mine at Kelmscott, 35km South of Perth on the next day at 11am.

Whatever the time of your appointment, you need to be there half an hour earlier to pay you examination fee. It's around 65 AUD and they take credit cards.

The examination is very cursory, they will take note of your odometer value, VIN and engine number, check lights (low, high, turn, brake), check the horn and chain tension (why he did that, I don't know). Once it's done, the inspector will go away for a while to complete the paperwork and come back to you with your carnet and a little paper saying that (hopefully) your bike's passed the examination.

Now that you know that your bike is road worthy, you can go to the other side of the building and queue to get insurance. Some employees probably will frown at your request (a bike with carnet is apparently more difficult) but if you are lucky, there will be someone in the office that's used to those requests. In my case, her name was Fiona and the inspector had already told me I may have to talk to her. She took care of everything and after payment (65 AUD again), I was insured for the duration of my carnet.

If you also want third-party property insurance, you can now go to the RAC or to Kings Cross Car Market Online to get it. I didn't.

Done and done, ready to roll!