Newcastle to Kinchela

Well I'm home. It's good to see my room was maintained exactly how I left it. Shit everywhere. The ride up from Newcastle was so dull. 280km on a freeway I've driven dozens of times before, with a speed restriction of 90km. With the 90km/h speed limit my fuel range crept back into the respectable level.

The bike made it! I should never have doubted it. It needs an oil change and a new front tyre quite badly but other than that it seems to be in good order. I don't know how far I went. A long way. I don't think I'd do it again. That is a bit of an insult when talking about travelling Australia. There are people that go round and round and round until they die. It's like they are looking for an escape, either off the island or from their impending demise. I have friends my age who pretend they read this blog that have done it twice. I wouldn't do the Eurovelo 6 again and that makes perfect sense, but to not do another lap of Australia suggests there is something wrong with it.

There is something wrong with it. It's a really long way without much to see. There is a small sized countries worth of stuff in a country that is massive. To go around the outside really means to take a blind path where there are long, long stretches of nothing.

That isn't to say I wouldn't travel Australia again, I just think there is a better path or a more manageable amount. Blindly following the coast isn't the way to go.

When I visited Grandma and she showed me her scrapbooks from one of her 5 trips blindly around the coast, she had a list of likes and dislikes, or best and worst. I can't remember most of her categories so I'll make some up.

Best free camp - Shelley Beach near Albany (Balgal Beach north of Townsville is second)

Worst free camp - Probably Bingal Bay. It wasn't actually free but because there was no space I was put in a driveway for free. The place itself was nice. Otherwise one of those dusty roadside stops.

Best paid camp - the Daintree was nice, in the forest, but Wagait Beach was great, because they gave me dinner and let me sleep in a bed. Fardooleys Bushcamp in Rockhampton was good too, but mostly because the old bloke had built a bar and was giving away his moonshine.

Worst paid camp: Mango camp in Broome. Backpackers in Australia suck.

Friendliest locals - Wagait Beach by a mile.

Unfriendliest locals - Probably Normanton. The people were fairly horrible. Hell's Creek would likely get the award if it wasn't for the White Dogs keeping the locals busy, by my interactions with the locals were quite friendly (one asked me if I wanted to buy a painting)

Favourite region - The south West corner of WA. Lots to see and do and great roads to ride.

Least favourite region - the empty bits.

Most paid for accomodation - camping $35 at Onslow. Hotel in Townsville was $70

Best attraction - swimming with the dolphins and sea lions. Lava Tubes were a distant second but also pretty amazing.

Best national park - hard to choose between Kakadu and Cape Range. Probably Cape Range (ningaloo reef), it was pretty special.

Most overrated place - Litchfield National Park. It was fantastic, but the grey nomads rated it so highly it had no hope of living up to expectations.

Most rich and diverse culture - hahahaha Australia hahahaha

Longest day - 550km day 2 on the Nullarbor.

Shortest Day - around 50km, from Balgal Beach to Bingal Bay I think.

Most road trains - Port Hedland to Karijini

Highest concentration of caravans - Camooweal to Katherine, and then at the tourist information centre at Katherine.

Most highway patrols - from the border to Gundagai (4). Right here is probably second.

Closest call - a bloke cut me off yesterday, but the dumbass towing his caravan up to Wallaman Falls was the closest I came to wiping out.

Best beach - Lucky Bay near Esperance (by a long way)

Best waterfall - Elizabeth Falls

Best gorge - Katherine Gorge

Wild animals spotted - reef shark, sea snake, shit loads of colourful fish, some dull fish, whales, kangaroos, different types of kangaroos, quokka, Emu, cassowary, echidna, koalas, platypus, more kangaroos, dolphins sea lions, dingos, salt and freshwater crocs, every imaginable bird, heaps of snakes, thorny devils, sleepy lizards, reflective hole dwelling spiders x1000000, goannas.

Animals strangely not spotted - (living) (wild) wombat, possum, (wild) camels, brumbies.

Animals I wish I spotted: Frilled neck lizard and a quoll, which I'd have brought home with me.

Most expensive fuel - $2.10 at El Questro (I think)

Cheapest fuel - dunno, I'm not a grey nomad.

Best chicken parmi - Mount Surprise. They are probably second for most unfriendly locals but they know their way around a chicken parmi.

I can't think of any more categories.

So that concludes the trip. I suppose I should go back to work. I'm going to buy another bike. An xsr900. I don't know what I'll do with the Klr. There really isn't any other bike quite like it. I recently learned that when it was first released back in 1987 it was marketed as a triple sport. A road legal dirt bike that can tour long distances. No other bikes really balance that line quite as well.

I think I could make back what I paid for it, but I have a feeling ill regret selling it. I'm much better at riding on the road now but still pretty shit on the dirt.

Anyway, one last photo, the sunrise this morning from my nice, sheet less, rubbish strewn bed.

Thanks for reading, Mum and Matt.

Gundagai to Bowral to Newcastle

I left Gundagai on Saturday. I stumbled across the Dog on the Tuckerbox, which wasn't particularly exciting. The ride to Bowral was the coldest yet.

I stayed with my cousin and her family in Bowral until today. I left this morning for Newcastle. In Sydney I stopped for petrol. While I was paying for it the man in front of me was locked in a stand off with the bloke serving him. He asked for two rissoles and the guy serving him did a strange prance and asked the man to follow him. The man looked at me and said "I didn't think it was that hard" and stood his ground. The bloke behind the counter said "please sir, it will be better if you come up here". The man just repeated what he wanted and wasn't budging. I was served by someone else and they were still having a stand off when I left.

I got through Sydney and on to Newcastle. The GPS took me on a bit of a tour through Newcastle. I know Newcastle so knew it was taking me on a bit of a spiral to my destination, but it took me past the Uni and a couple of places I used to live, so I didn't mind.

Tomorrow I'll plod along at 90 up the coast until home. I have a weird feeling the bike is going to break down. I simply cannot believe it will make it the entire way round.

Echuca to Gundegai

I got away late yesterday, around 11. I went East to Wodonga along these straight long farm lanes. A bloody big brown snake slithered in front of the bike. I wasn't going to be able to avoid it but it kinda jumped out of the way which was impressive for an animal with no legs.

I decided that due to the weather I'd stay west for as long as I can. The Alpine was has a top of 6 degrees and snow so I best avoid it.

Crossing into NSW was just as horrible as I expected. I was zooming along flying past caravans and trucks on the freeway at 110 and then there is a sign saying nsw and suddenly I have to slow down to traffic hazard speeds. Now I'm caught up in the silly buggers trucks play trying to get up hills, stuck in their wake. It feels a little dangerous. Before I could choose when to tangle with the trucks but now I am at their mercy.

It's also really boring. I end up staring off into the distance like I'm a passenger on a train. Then I started wondering why the train was going so slow. I tried to kill time by playing eye spy with myself but I kept getting them straight away and ended up in an argument with myself over whether I can spy air.

There were 3 highway patrols with speed traps in the 200km I rode into nsw as well. I have seen one other speed trap in the entire trip, and that was just North of Brisbane on my second day. The NSW government hates its citizens.  Eventually I turned off and took a twisty road.

I'm now at Gundegai. I'm really sore and tired. This morning will be my last time packing up the tent. Right on time too because the zippier is stuffed and the tent bag is almost ripped being usefulness.

I'm about to get up and get it done. I've found a twisty route off the hwy today for about half the route.

Winchelsea to Echuca

Today was a fun day. The weather cleared enough in the morning for me to pack up without getting too wet. I took off and realised the GPS was taking me to the freeway. I wasn't keen on that so I put the gps in mystery mode (twisty roads) and it took me through hills, down country lanes and through peaceful little villages.

I stopped at Meredith for lunch and thought about setting the gps back to boring mode as it had taken me around 2 and a half hours to go 100km. But I think I'd actually gone a lot further. I missed a couple of turns and the gps does not want me doing U turns so it reroutes me no matter how much longer the alternative is. I discovered this in the top end when I missed a turn about a km from my destinations and it rerouted me 130km.

I met this dog in Meredith

In the end I carried on in mystery mode and really enjoyed the ride. I kinda thought the whole country would be more like today. As I got around Bendigo the weather started to warm up into the double digits and the rain stopped. I had a bit of a Top Gun moment when I came across a rural air strip with a plane taking off along side me. It wasn't exactly a fighter jet. It looked a bit Spruce Goose-ish. But that was fitting as I'm not exactly riding a Ninja. I ended up beating the plane down the runway but I had a rolling start. A little ways down the road it cut across in front of me and turned around. I pulled over to take a video and it came right back towards me. I thought it was going to buzz me and that I might actually be Tom Cruise but then it turned away and sprayed a field.

I arrived in Echuca (pronounced you choo ka) and stopped for supplies. Then I rode out of town and found a spot beside the Murray to camp. It's a ripper spot too. Right on the bend of the river in a clearing.

I pulled out my cooking stuff for what I think will be the last time this trip. The BBQ sauce has exploded everywhere. I used the last of my antibacterial wipes trying to clean it up. Hopefully I don't have to poo because they double as my toilet paper.

This is what cooking looks like for me. Also, I found a chair. 

After I cleaned up I discovered I've lost my knife. I was having potatoes, carrots and rump steak so I really needed my knife. While searching for it I found a pair of scissors that came with my clippers and used them instead. Now I don't know why I ever used anything else. A big pair of scissors would be better than a knife any day if the week!

I'm trying to figure out what route to take to Bowral. The Alpine Way looks tempting but cold. Otherwise I can go through Yass I think, or follow the border to the coast. I'm not looking forward to crossing into nsw where I have to go 90.

Great Ocean Road

I rode the Great Ocean Road today. Unfortunately it rained most of the day. The start of the ride was similar to the coast down from Kalbarri. Lots of places to stop and walk down to a Viewpoint. I stopped at a few of these but then got sick of it.

I eventually got to the 12 Apostles. I walked down and took a photo. The photo was good so I turned around and walked back. There was a bit of a thrill because they were so recognisable but other than recognising them there wasn't much else to do with them.

When I was leaving the car park a group of asian tourists crossed in front of me at the pedestrian crossing and two ladies in the group gave me the filthiest look I've ever received. It was so strange. I was recording so I'll have to try to find the video, but I can't be stuffed now. I think maybe it was Mrs Yamaha and her daughter and they were death staring my Kawasaki.

I rode through some hills in the rain and got to Apollo Bay. From there to Lorne is the really nice bit of the route. Right beneath the cliffs along the water. It would've been nicer than the Port Douglas ride except for the weather. There were also a lot of roadworks where parts of the cliff had collapsed. I thought I was recording this ride but I have a feeling my camera either went flat, ran out of storage or (most likely) broke (like everything else).

From Lorne I could've continued to Torquay but decided to head north. I followed a route up over some hills and it really poured. I was only going 11km to a free camp but when I got there it was a big hole. I kept going and have stopped at Winchelsea. It seems really familiar. I think maybe it's just because the name is almost Kinchela but with a few different and extra letters. It has stopped raining now but I see that it is supposed to be the biggest rain of the year for the next week along the east coast, so I better get used to it.

Kingston to Port Fairy

I'm back in the one true time Zone! GMT +11! In the last 10 days I've had 5 different times. WA time, WA central time (which is 45 minutes ahead of WA time) SA time (another 45 ahead), SA daylights savings (an hour) and eastern daylight savings (half an hour). I'm a bit jetlagged.

Last night was a bit wild weather wise. A few almost storms went through. Lots of wind and rain but no thunder or lightning. The tent held up really well. This morning I waited for it to warm up then checked the weather and realised it wasn't going to happen. 12 degrees was as good as it was going to get so I put on all my warm clothes and left. It rained a little bit today but it was OK to ride in.

I stopped off in Mt Gambier at Umpherston Sinkhole. It is a sinkhole that was once privately owned and the owner grew some lovely English gardens in it. There also used to be a manor house but it was bought by the neighbouring sawmill and torn down so they could expand. I think they really tore it down because it was a really impressive house and it was made from stone, not wood.

I made it to Port Fairy. It is a lovely little town at the entrance to the Moyne River. I think it is also the start of the Great Ocean Road. Or close enough to it. The lady at reception told me the Great Ocean Road is jammed with foreigners who can't drive and it's amazing there aren't more fatalities. So that's something to look forward to. She also told me she would never ever stay in a caravan park. She was strange.

The only other thing to report is that my replacement super expensive noise cancelling headphones have also broken. They are Bose Qc20 if anyone wants to avoid buying a pair. I'm going to start billing them for my time spent emailing them for replacements.

Morgan to Kingston

I managed to get up and away earlyish this morning after struggling to get to sleep last night. That caravan park was noisy. Kids were out playing (screaming) until almost 11pm and then the adults seemed to all go wandering around the park like bored teenagers. They don't seem to realise that my tent isn't double glazed so when they stop and have a conversation 2 metres from me it sounds to me like they are stopped having a conversation 2 metres from me. I did overhear 4 separate conversations as to the purpose of my crash bars. One group thought they were an insurance requirement as I'm a P plater, the other 2 groups thought correctly that they're to protect the radiator and plastics if the bike is dropped and one group strangely decided they must be handles (wtf?).

Anyway I followed the Murray back to the highway south of Adelaide at Murray Bridge. There is always a lot of talk about the water level in the Murray being too low. I prefer to look at it as a tall riverbank problem. I found out the Murray is the third longest navigable river in the world at 2500km with a catchment area 14% of the Australia land mass. That's seriously enormous. It is the 16th longest if you count useless rivers that you can't even drive a boat down the whole way.

I stopped at a lookout called Big Bend. I misread the sign and was expecting a clock. When I was getting back on the bike to leave, I put my headphones in and the music was up to the end of Wish You Were Here. When the song finishes there is the sound of wind and as the whooshing sound was playing an eagle floated up to eye level from somewhere over the cliff. It was as if the whooshing of the song whooshed it right up in front of me. It was an enormous bird. I watched it spiral up into the sky above, hoping it would attack something that wasn't me, then left.

Yeah I didn't get a photo of the eagle. 

I got to Murray Bridge, then continued along past Lake Alexandrina, Lake Albert and Coorong National Park. It was a really nice ride despite it raining off and on. I'm now at Kingston. The big lobster is here. I somehow went right past without noticing it.

Tomorrow I'll head through Mt Gambier and over the Vic border ready to do the Great Ocean Road. Then I'm going home.

Point Lowly to Morgan

This morning I had 27 flies waiting for me on the tent. I counted them. So packing up was a nightmare. My thongs also disappeared through the night. I doubt they blew away, so either they were nicked by a person or an animal. None of those things seem likely so I really don't know what happened to them.


Today was nice and cool and I had a tailwind most of the way. I've taken a wide path around Adelaide and am now camped on the banks of the Murray River in Morgan. I'm at a caravan park, which is a mistake. I wanted to charge stuff but there are so many people jammed in that something will get stolen. I should've just found somewhere in the bush and saved my money. The lady running the place recognised my postcode and asked if I'm from Kempsey. I told her that I don't tell people that and she replied that she understands, she doesn't tell people that she's from Taree either.

I decided to look up the p plate rules in SA. I was a bit shocked to see that p platers are restricted to 100km/h here, which means I've been speeding for quite a distance. On double demerit weekend no less. But upon further investigation, I discovered I'm not actually a P plater here. If you have a full car licence you don't go onto P's after L's here. Getting back to nsw is going to suck.

I'm currently heading towards Umpherston. Then the Great Ocean Road, then I'll be on the home stretch.

Scorched earth

Today was an absolute scorcher. It got up to 42 degrees. I went into Whyalla and the place was pretty dead. Where I'm camped was still cool in the morning but Whyalla was already extremely hot and extremely windy. I got my supplies and high tailed it back Point Lowly. It was only about half an hour before the heat and wind hit here. The flies are so incredibly bad that it is impossible to be outside the tent. At least 25 but often closer to 40 flies tag along, buzzing around my head and getting caught in my hair. The tent, of course, is not a place to escape the heat. So I spent today leaving the tent, jumping in the ocean, returning to the tent until I was too hot and repeating. My skin and hair would completely dry in the ten metre walk from the ocean to the tent. I switched my phone off and put it on charge, and it was still too hot to charge. I ended up wrapping it in a damp cloth to cool it down to charge. That's when it's switched off!

It is now almost 8pm and it is around 31 degrees. It got dark about an hour ago so the flies buggered off and I ventured out to cook dinner. When I finished I got a wet wipe out to do the washing up and by the time I'd gathered the one plate, one fork and one frying pan (which takes longer than it sounds because I forget where I leave stuff) the wet wipe was dry.

Bizarrely, there was an article on news.com.au a few hours ago about the unseasonably hot day in Port Augusta and the sudden plunge in temperature all along the coast as the southerly kicked in. But there hadn't been a sudden plunge in temperature. There still hasn't. They completely bullshitted that article.

Tomorrow is supposed to be cooler so I am outta here. Not going to Adelaide. I think I found and interesting route around it.

Elliston to Point Lowly

Today was easily the hottest day of the trip. Around 40 degrees. Somehow this morning I completely misjudged the weather. It was overcast and windy, so I wore my rain coat over my riding jacket. That came off fairly quickly. I rode across the Eyre Peninsular and up the coast to Point Lowly, just the other side of Whyalla. I was a bit worried it would be full due to the heat and the long weekend, but there is heaps of space.

There is a port a few km away that offloads LPG and brings in crude oil. I think the houses here are probably for workers at that place. Among the houses are "camping reserves" and there is probably more space for camping than what is taken up by houses. There are no shops so I'll be having pasta and peanuts for dinner.

Tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter so I'm staying put here tomorrow. I'm right near the water, I'd be a fool to leave.

From the tent. It's low tide at the moment. 

Eco tour

School holidays started this week and now I'm back in civilisation I'm again confused by the unfriendliness of these big family groups. Oh well.

I left the bogan caravan park in Ceduna yesterday without a destination in mind. I stopped at a rest area and the weather forecast said it would be 35 degrees today, so I checked a map for nearby water.

I had an Eco lodge marked on my map so I called them to see if they had availability on today's tour, which they did. So I rode to Baird Bay to find that it is at the end of 30km of dirt. There are about a dozen houses and the Eco-lodge, plus a little camp ground where I stayed. The main street is dirt and about 200 metres too short, so the beach serves as the remainder of the main street.

I went down the beach this morning for the tour. We put on wetsuits, boarded a little punt and went out to Jones Island, where we went SWIMMING WITH FLIPPING SEA LIONS!

It was amazing. Quite a few were already playing around in the water and when they heard the boat more came down from the island. Several came over to this little patch of clear water where we were and swam around with us. They were very, very similar to dogs. There was a buoy in the water and one kept swimming down and grabbing the anchor to take off with it. They would swim right up and look at my face.

When I got out of the water it definitely wasn't 35 degrees. It was super cold. We went over to the other side of the bay for a look. Two sea lion pups were over there surfing in the waves. Then WE WENT SWIMMING WITH FLIPPING DOLPHINS!

The dolphins were not like dogs, they were like dolphins. They moved quicker and were all around. When they were in groups they swam slower and I could swim along with them for a while. When they broke off individually they'd roll and dive and swim all around. If I lost sight of one I'd just turn around and there'd be another one. Like the sea lions, one of the dolphins came up and looked right in my face. One baby one was full of energy and constantly darted around, showing off. The big ones were huge. Much bigger than me (although not as big as the male sea lions).

Eventually we got back in the boat to go back to the sea lions. The baby dolphin followed the boat over with us on its own. We went in too shallow for it and it turned around and went back to the pod. Apparently they know that dolphin well and it loves the boat.

I didn't go swimming with the sea lions again. It was too cold. I did see a male come down and chase one of the females. The speed was phenomenal. They look so placid when they're playing with us but these two showed they can move. They were like underwater missiles. I'd say torpedoes but torpedoes seem slow.

Anyway after all that we came back to shore and I headed down to Elliston. The family that run the tour place ride bikes and recommended the ride from Elliston to Cleve, so I'll do that tomorrow.

Never in my life have I ever wished I had a gopro more than I did today. If I ever get dementia I'd rather forget everything else before forgetting swimming with sea lions and dolphins. Wearing underpants on my head, pissing in the sink, drinking turpentine and muttering about dolphins and sea lions is how I want to go.

Oh, I also went to Murphy's haystacks. Ages ago this Scottish farmer was banging on to a heap of other farmers about farrowing to improve hay supplies, and he pointed at these enormous haystacks off in the distance and said that that farmer must use harrowing to get such an impressive stacks of hay. The other farmers knew that the haystacks were actually rock formations, hence why they're called haystacks. As rocks they are ok but as haystacks I think they'd be much more fun. If they were dolphins or sea lions that would be best.

This one is a male and is about the size of a bear. 

Murphy's haystacks

This is a Sleepy Lizard. I've seen hundreds of them so I thought it was time to take a photo. 

He wasn't that keen on me taking his photo. 

Nullarbor done

Today I rode 450km exactly. I'm camping up in a stand of trees off the road. I'm the only person here. Places to camp are so plentiful that that isn't surprising, but trees are less plentiful so I thought this little patch of trees would be more popular. I gathered wood for a fire but the wind hasn't died down so I don't think I'll light it. I don't really have enough water to extinguish it and there is a fair chance I'll light the bush on fire. I also no longer have a chair.

It is fairly windy. This morning at the start of the ride I was still in the woodlands and so it was a bit protected. By midday the wind had picked up and the trees had dropped off so it was a bit more gruelling. The wind is coming from the south or south east. For my purposes, it's coming from the front left. That means that when the road trains go past I'm getting hit with blasts of air and then sucked into their wake. The bike automatically corrects the sucking (something about rake and trail I believe) but the air blast is the strongest yet. It really knocks me about. By this afternoon I was slowing down to around 85km/h to go past them.

The only other thing to note is that I rode along the longest straight road in Australia, 147km, which really isn't anything to give a shit about. I was a bit disappointed because it had hills. So it wasn't really straight in three dimensions. It should be the longest cornerless road in Australia.

This is my review of the caltex in Norseman. It's easier to post the review than rewrite how hopeless they were. 

...
This morning I woke up bright and early to the beginning of a beautiful day. Just as I was getting up to start packing it started raining. Big ol' fat rain out of nowhere! I left basically everything on the bike last night. All of it is waterproof but the main bag needs a cover, so I went out and put that on in the rain. The rain stopped straight after I did that. It was just one little rain cloud floating across the blue sky.

I've managed to come 550km today. My biggest day yet. I'd say it will be my biggest day of the trip. That means I've done 1000km in the last 2 days and I have 200 to go tomorrow.

Early on this morning I discovered that the road actually goes along an escarpment. It meandered down the escarpment and followed the coast along the top of the cliffs. There were quite a few lookouts and I stopped at a couple.

I got to the part of the Nullarbor that is actually treeless. It only goes for about 20km. The flat land without trees was actually kinda interesting. It is a curious thing in its own boring way.

After the treeless plain I entered another woodland, like at the other end. I'm camped among the trees about a km back from the road. When I got to this forest the temperature changed really suddenly. I mean, in the space of a couple of hundred metres the temperature went from chilly wind to hot oven wind. About 10km later I'd say the temperature had risen by 10 degrees. I had three layers on all day and now it is evening and I am in shorts and a t-shirt. I remember at uni learning about the air masses and that the boundary between two moves around around here, so I guess I crossed one.

I'm going to probably light a fire tonight and try to take a photo of the stars. I doubt I'll be very successful. The stars are the best I've seen out here. The milky way isn't just a glow, it has texture, like some of the water I've been drinking out here.
...

Well I didn't light a fire but I did take a photo of the stars. They weren't as good as the previous night but I set the camera up and was really shocked when the photo came out great! I took a few, then tried to light up the bike and tent. That took a few goes as well. I think I have a bit to learn but it still came out pretty good. I also need to learn how to process the photos as the stars obviously weren't yellow.

This is probably the best one with the bike and tent in it. 

Today I rode the last 200km to Ceduna. It was still really hot. Apparently it is 36 degrees. So that sudden temperature change yesterday was more like 15 degrees. I knew I wasn't crazy. I rode across the top of Australia and the hottest day has come down the bottom.

It was windy and the flies were shocking. I'm staying in Ceduna tonight then heading down towards Port Lincoln tomorrow.

Esperance to Norseman

I took the bike over to get the new chain and back wheel. It took them a couple of hours. When I loaded it up to leave Esperance I noticed the chain was taught. They put the chain on but didn't set the tension. Honestly is there a bike shop on the planet that can do anything right? If I'd ridden it for a long time like that the best case scenario would be that it snaps and wraps around the front sprocket, causing a shit load of damage. Worst case is it snaps and locks the back wheel, potentially killing me.

I set the tension, wasting another half hour, then left. I've entered the Great Western Woodlands. I didn't know it existed until today. It is the largest temperate forest on earth, almost as big as England. The trees weren't towering monsters. Most of them today were gimlet trees, which branch off near the ground, so an individual tree kind of looks like it's 5 trees. At least they did at 110km/h.

I'm now at Norseman. It is named after the horse that discovered gold here in 1894. It pawed at the ground and got a nugget of gold stuck in its hoof. Further investigations revealed a significant gold reef. Since then 100 tonnes of gold have been mined here.

Tomorrow I'll be starting across the Nullarbor. Nullarbor of course is an Aboriginal word that directly translates as "this word is Latin". In Latin it means "No trees". I expect it to take 3-6 days before I reach Ceduna and will be without internet in that time. There is half a chance I'll do it in 2 days.

This photo is from out near Hyden. I like it. 

Another day in Esperance

It rained last night and a little today. I got up and did one final chain check. I found that although the tight spot is tight, the loose spot is still really loose. So the chain is knackered. Serves me right for not looking after it properly. I rang the bike shop and they said they can get a new chain in tomorrow morning. I'm also getting a new rear tyre. It's had it after not even 6000km. I won't be buying that brand again. The new tyre is basically a road tyre so should last for a long time. I'm really impressed with the bike shop. The last time I had a chain and sprockets replaced it took almost 2 weeks. This bike shop are going to have it done 25 hours after I called them (by 9:30am tomorrow).

Hopefully the weather clears and I can be away tomorrow.

Whistling rock

Lucky Bay and Cape Le Grande

First things first, I've managed to convince myself my chain is too tight. It definitely doesn't seem it, but the whining noise I'm hearing is apparently a sign of a too tight chain. It's very confusing because I ran into a bloke that I previously met all the way back at Karijini, and he was adamant it is too loose. But if there is one thing I know, it's that most people gain confidence through ignorance. So tomorrow I'll loosen it. It was loose way back at Wickepin so it shall be loose again. My only worry is that maybe it's just stuffed.

Anyway, today I went to Lucky Bay. It is hands down the prettiest beach I've seen. It quite possibly is the prettiest beach on earth. The sand is certified as the whitest in Australia. I don't know who does the certification but it is a job I'd like to have.

It is made from quartz, without any calcites, which makes it so pure white. It also squeaks when you walk on it and makes the water seem to glow blue. The sand is really hard, even when dry. I could ride on it without having to pray or clench my bum, but I didn't as I've already got enough chain troubles. When I kicked it up into a pile it looked like a cross between the most delicious ice cream ever and the most delicious mashed potato ever. I didn't taste it but I assume it was like delicious mash flavoured ice cream.

Lucky Bay

Lucky Bay was named Lucky Bay when Mathew Flinders got stuck on his boat close to shore one night in 1802. Usually he'd go out to sea away from the waves but there were too many islands and reefs to navigate. He was in a bit of strife when he came across this bay and sheltered for the night, which proved to be quite fortunate. That night the ships cat, Lucky, fell overboard and drowned, so the bay was named in its honour. That bit about the cat isn't true. The rest is.

After that I stopped at a couple of other bays and coves as well as Le Grande beach. I also went past a mini Stonehenge that someone appears to have built in their backyard. They were charging $10 to go have a look, which quite frankly is outrageous. So I did what people do with the real Stonehenge and took a photo from the road.

Thistle Cove

Frenchman Peak

At Le Grande Beach in perfect beach attire. 

Not a great photo from the road but you can see a bit of fake Stonehenge behind the house. 

Back at camp I went to do a wee. While I was standing at the trough I noticed a bin with a purple bin liner. For some reason this made me think I was in the ladies toilet. Purple bin liners have no business in a men's toilet, after all. Far too nice. It didn't occur to me in that moment that ladies toilets don't have troughs. In a panic I looked around for other evidence of it being a ladies toilet, such as ladies. I was already midstream so I couldn't escape anyway.

To my left, level with the trough, a stall was engaged. I hadn't noticed it when I walked in. There wasn't a sound coming from it, which suggests either someone paused a noisy poo for me, or it was empty. I noticed a crack between the door and the frame and through it I could see someone looking back at me. It. Was. Awkward. We made eye contact. I couldn't see anything but an eye, but for them the crack was closer so their view must've been wider. I stared straight ahead until I was finished and couldn't help worrying of what the toilet watcher thought of my peeing capabilities.

Knowing I was being watched while shaking was even more uncomfortable. I was thinking, am I shaking too much, or not enough? How long do other people shake for? What does this toilet watcher think of me? Because of all this thinking I ended up shaking way too long. Now I'm wondering did it seem like I peered into an occupied toilet stall then started waving my willy around willy nilly. I don't know who was in there but I hope they took it as a compliment.

That has helped me decide to risk the chain and leave tomorrow.

Hyden to Esperance

I spent today riding. Around 400 km. The only really interesting thing was when I was riding up a hill and suddenly a bright yellow aeroplane launched up from behind the hill right in front of me. It was a single propellors plane on its side doing an almost loop. It was really close and really cool. I think maybe it was crop dusting because it flew back across a field and pulled another turn back towards the hill again.

I also tried to take a photo of some sheep in a field. I startled one and the whole lot took off. So I got a photo of a big flock of sheep stampeding.

I must've looked lonely. 

Esperance seems nice. There isn't a whole lot to differentiate these coastal towns. It has an esplanade and a strip of shops. A few petrol stations and a McDonald's. I'm at a redneck caravan park for 2 nights. Tomorrow I'll day trip to Lucky Bay, about 60km away.

The bike was surging again today. Almost as badly as before. There is also a whining noise coming from somewhere that continues when I pull the clutch in. Maybe from the front wheel. I'll oil the chain again and see what happens with the surge. It's got me a bit worried.

Wave Rock 

Hippo's Yawn

The Whale tail in Esperance. 

Panorama from the top of Wave Rock. 

Wave Rock

I stayed up late last night watching the Deadwood movie. It was OK. It has the best final line ever though.

Consequently I got up pretty late. Around 9:30. I put a hell of a lot of oil on my chain, packed up and left. The oil did seem to fix the problem. I guess the rain over the past week had washed the oil away.

I found a different way out to Wave Rock. I went via Pingrup on a route that took me past a lot of lakes. Amazingly, they were all pink! Every one of them!

I stopped for petrol and while filling up I found a lighter. I tend to lose mine a lot so I picked it up and was about to test it out when I realised that could be fatal.

I got to Hyden at about 2pm and came to the caravan park. It is cheaper than I expected and includes entry to Wave Rock. It's only a couple of hundred metres away. I can see the top of it from here. It is an impressive formation but it is overwhelmingly a rock. It's one small section of a huge granite mound.

I took some photos and then went down to the hippos yawn. It is also a rock, with a hole in it. It does in fact look like a hippo yawning. So much so that when I got there it made me yawn. That sounds like I'm saying I thought it was boring, but it actually did make me yawn!

Now I'm back at my camp. The sites have artificial grass on them. I must say, so long as my pegs don't mess it up too much, artificial grass should be compulsory if there isn't real grass around. So much cleaner and more comfortable. I'm about to go up on top of wave rock for sunset. I have no data here and the wifi is atrocious so I can't upload all of my excellent photos.

Whaleworld

I didn't make it to Ravensthorpe. I ended up spending a bit of time at "Whaleworld", which is what one sign reffered to the old whale hunting station as. I like the thought. With that naming convention Dreamworld is where dreams are slaughtered and Seaworld is where sea creatures are tortured, which is essentially accurate.

Anyway, the whale hunting station was decent. I went on a guided tour and discovered that turning a whale into oil was far less complicated than I thought.

First they chased down a whale with their boat. The boat had a steam engine that ran on furnace oil. It burnt a tonne of furnace oil per hour when it was on a chase. They'd shoot the whale with an explosive harpoon and drag it back to the station while keeping the sharks away with shotguns. Then they'd winch it up the ramp and chop it up. They'd chop its head off with a gnarly looking steam saw that I can't believe I didn't take a photo of. The head made really good oil. Then they'd feed the pieces into three giant pressure cookers and cook them for three and a half hours a viola, they'd have whale oil, amongst other things. There was no mention of distilling it so I assume the oil separates itself out. The oil was used for just about everything and this station produced 60% of the world's supply of sperm whale oil.

In the 70s crude oil prices made running the station too expensive so it shut. They'd killed 21000 sperm whales at a rate of 1000 whales per year, which was the requirement to remain profitable. I wanted to suggest that if they continuously killed 1000 whales per year that it would suggest it was a good example of a sustainable industry.

She also said that the sperm whale population has been growing at a rate of 12% per year since 1978 when whaling finished. According to the compound interest calculator, for every ten whales in 1978 there are now 930 whales. In another 40 years that will have grown to 86,500 whales. Just before the turn of the next century those 10 whales will have produced 8 million ravenous sperm whales. They breed like rabbits! I for one am terrified.

I mustn't be calculating that correctly.

This is a pygmy blue whale skeleton. It is 22 metres long. The non-pygmy variety reach 35 metres long. 

Their best boat. It had a top speed of 35km/h.

After Whaleworld I headed for Ravensthorpe. I didn't make it. I'm at Jerramungup. It's not a bad little caravan park and was only $13. I needed a shower and to charge stuff. The weather today was nice and it isn't as cold here as closer to the coast.

The bike has been running like an absolute dog. I tightened the chain back at Wickepin so I'm wondering if I overdid it. It is surging, especially in 3rd gear. It did a similar thing last year and I had to get a new chain. It does look like links are frozen and there are tight spots. I have oiled it again so hopefully that fixes it. I'll also loosen it a little.

I did notice while stopped at roadworks that the bike was hunting for idle, which is when it changes the idle speed constantly. It usually does this when it is warming up. It's been between 5000 and 6000km since the oil change in Katherine so the oil should be good. It may be because the fan was coming on but I doubt it. So I really don't know, which isn't that strange of a position for me to be in. Perhaps it needs some whale oil.

Shelley Beach

This morning was overcast and cold,somewhat ruining this spectacular beach. I spent most of the day reading. Quite a few people came here today. They were either fishing or looking for wildflowers. There are a few orchids which get the old ladies hot and bothered. Two saffas parked up right next to me and had the dumbest conversation about evolution. They were trying to figure out why all the bees decided to get nectar and why the flowers decided to put pollen on the bees legs. They couldn't work it out so they decided it must be wrong. I wanted to tell them that at no point in evolution did anything make a decision to do anything, but that would require talking to them so I left for some peace.

I went for a walk up to the end of a beach but couldn't find an easy way to the next beach. There was a goat path but I'm not a goat. I sat on a rock and watched this guy with a paraglider attempting to take off. He'd get the parachute bit up in the air but I think he couldn't get it to lean forward where he wanted to run. It kept falling over backwards. I was fascinated, mostly because it seemed that when he did take off he'd most likely crash spectacularly. Eventually he gave up.

Not much else to report. The ranger came round but I laid low until he left and he didn't seem interested in collecting money. Also my new mattress has been outstanding! Only took 4 failures to get that right!

I'll head off tomorrow. I'm thinking a big day to Ravensthorpe. Then out to Hyden to wave rock, back to Ravensthorpe and along to Esperance. A day or 2 there, then up and across the Nullarbor. I suppose I should visit Adelaide, then to the Great Ocean Road, then up to the Murray, follow it for a while, then I guess Canberra, maybe stop in at Bowral, go through Sydney as quickly as possible to Newcastle then home.

Not sure how long that'll take but I reckon I'll be home in time to do some work before Christmas.

This is Walpole. 

Peaceful Bay to Shelley Beach

I woke up to clear skies this morning right up until the moment I was about to pull the tent down. Then it rained. Can't be packing away a dry tent. It continued to rain for most of the day while I was riding.

I stopped at the treetop walk not far from where I camped. The treetop walk seems to be the thing to do near Walpole. The trees were mostly Red and Yellow Tingle trees, with a few Karri trees. The Karri trees have the Tingles for height, but the Red Tingle is far mightier. It has a massive trunk that stays massive the whole way up and then splits off into a heap of huge branches (as trees tend to do). The base has a circumference of up to 25 metres!

The treetop walk is 40 metres high and the trees still tower over it. So really it should be called the midtree walk.

That tall one is a Karri, which must be 50 metres tall, which I will point out is 1/20th of a kilometre tall. 

I don't want to bang on too much about trees. They're just really impressive is all. Definitely a have to be there thing.

After that I rode in the rain to Shelley Beach. It is down an excellent dirt road and around a couple of headlands. It was a nice ride in. I got here and the place is perfection. The rain even stopped. Glowing blue water and white sand. You can camp right on the edge of the beach. Even better there was nobody else here. Even better than that is that the ranger comes to collect camping fees, but the ranger didn't come so it's free.

I set up and went into Albany, about 30km away. I got a battery charger for my ecigarette and went to bcf for another mattress. They gave me a different, more expensive mattress as a replacement and so far it is staying up. It's also bigger and thicker while rolling up to nearly as small. So I'm pretty happy with that.

I might stay here for a couple of nights. There is another beach over the next hill I'd like to walk to. If the weather warms up, which it is supposed to do soon, I might never leave.

Busselton to Peaceful Bay

Google said there was a 0% chance of precipitation this morning so I got up in the bitter cold to pack up and leave. I had thrown a fair bit of my stuff out of the tent when it started to rain. If google had said 1%, or any fraction greater than zero, it'd be fair enough, but it said 0%. And it was wrong. Don't be so arrogant google.

I went around to Cape Naturalist lighthouse. It was $5 to get into the "lighthouse precinct". I paid the money. It was a tall round building with a light at the top. It wasn't even good by lighthouse standards.

There was also a viewing platform that was probably the best I've seen. It was made from beautiful hardwood timber. Unfortunately the view was of some scrub.

I went on a nice ride along Cave Rd. I didn't visit any of the caves. I also skipped the town of Margaret River although I did see the river of Margaret River. It was a little trickle.

All day the rain came and went. About 15 minutes on and 15 off. I checked the radar and it reckoned it wasn't raining as well. Sound like google has the radar people on the payroll.

I eventually came to the Karri Forest. Those trees are really something. I believe they're the second tallest growing species after the Californian Redwood. It was impossible to get a sense of the scale but I tried.

I went along a dirt road through the forest but to be honest the trees around the main road were probably more impressive.

After that I went down to Augusta. I went for a ride around and had a late lunch but couldn't see a reason to pay a lot to stay, so I made my way here to Grasstree Hollow. I'm the only person here. There is a van campground called snotty gobble just down the road. The name reminds me of school.

I spent this afternoon setting up in breaks in the rain. Then I tried to get a fire going in the rain. I thought it wouldn't work but it did. I also think I fixed my ecigarette. I couldn't get it to charge because the metal bit has fallen out. I could sort of wiggle the cable and it would charge for a second but as soon as I let go it would stop. So I have glued the cable to it. I don't know how long that will be successful for. I'm sick of stuff breaking.
...

I most definitely didn't fix the ecigarette. It pretends like it's charging. The numbers go up and everything. But it's not charging. I'll have to buy another one when I get to Albany.

Last night it rained quite a bit and continued on into the morning. I waited it out and didn't get away until around midday. I went to Pemberton. On the way I'd noticed a sign for the Bicentennial Tree and the Gloucester Tree. I didn't think much of it but then thought I should go to the tourist information and see which is the best tree to visit.

The person at the tourist information centre was a bit of an enigma. On first viewing she seemed to be a lady based upon the clothes and hair, but then the voice was distinctly male and the conversation sort of was too. At one point she said "f@#& that shit" which I wouldn't really expect from an older lady at a tourist information centre. I definitely felt like I was talking to a bloke. So I'm not sure if there was some transitioning happening and if so which way. I'd guess she was abandoning the male gender. I was wondering if I should ask her her preferred pronoun, but then if she was just a broad shouldered, deep voiced lady or a long haired bloke who likes purple cardigans she might get offended. I ended up deciding she was a lady because the clothes were something she clearly chose and they seemed like ladies clothes to me, although I'm not sure if clothes are allowed to be ladies or men's anymore.

I think the important thing to remember is that it really isn't important. She told me the Gloucester tree is the tree to see and also warned me about moss growing on the road amongst the Karri forests. So I went to the Gloucester tree. It is an old fire lookout. Metal pegs have been hammered into the tree and a hut placed at the top, 50ish metres up, where a bloke who was definitely a bloke would sit and keep an eye out for smoke. I arrived about 30 seconds after a tour bus, which was annoying.

It is possible to climb the tree and one guy did. He looked to be in his 50s and I heard the bus people refer to him as a young man a few times. I wasn't sure whether I wanted to climb it or not, but the decision was made for me when the bus people started climbing 4 or 5 metres up for a photo and getting themselves all congested. I waited for a little while hoping one of them would fall. It really was slippery (and raining) so it would've been dangerous to go up there. I took the safer option and got back on my death machine to zoom through the rain at 110km/h on a moss covered road.

I got to Walpole which seems like a nice little town that doesn't mind gouging the odd tourist. $58 a night to camp, no thanks. I continued on to Peaceful Bay which is a bit more reasonable. The rain has stopped and it is living up to its name. It's really cold though. Tomorrow I should get to Albany quite easily.