Hamelin Pool to Kalbarri

I'm back in the land of the internet. After I left Denham yesterday I had a fairly horrible ride back to Hamelin Pool. It was a roaring headwind.

I narrowly missed a snake that was crossing the road. I can't remember the word mum used when she swerved around a snake and cause the bloke in the car behind to crash into a bridge. Drifted, maybe? I drifted around the snake which on a motorbike didn't require leaving my lane.

Then a bloody big lizard scuttled across in front of me and I was sure I hit its tail. I looked in the mirror and couldn't see it on the road so I thought maybe it had flicked up somewhere onto the bike. I stuck my legs out while I peered around trying to see if it was in the crash bars or wedged on the skid plate. Maybe I missed it or maybe I couldn't see it in the mirror.

Then I came around a corner to find an encoming 4wd towing a caravan driving half off the road. The driver was driving with his wrists over the top of the steering wheel holding a device that he was focusing on. If he had drifted into my lane instead of off the road he probably wouldn't have noticed and I'd possibly be dead.

As it was I again watched in the mirror as he veered sharply back on the road then disappeared in the cloud of dust he kicked up. I considered turning around because it looked like he may have lost control when he was coming back onto the road, but I thought stuff him. He wasn't a young man so I can only imagine he was sharing a change.org petition on the facebook or googling how to download a cloud.

I stopped in at Shell Beach on the way back. It is named after Lady Michelle Beechworth. Not really. It is a beach made from shells. The sign there informed me that the shell blocks are bound together when rainwater collects CO2 as it falls making it slightly acidic, which then dissolves some of the calcium in the shells to make calcium carbonate which binds the shells together. Most of the beach was really compacted.

I also learned that Hamelin Pool is really salty because there is a sandbar that blocks most of the tide, so water flows in and evaporates. There is also bugger all rain.

Today I woke up and really wasn't feeling it. It was a combination of a poor night's sleep, the chore of packing up and the insects. My tent was full of ants. Hundreds of them. They weren't big enough to come through the screen. I discovered a small hole in the floor of the tent. It looks like the ants had eaten through it. I know that sounds ridiculous, but in Katherine the ants ate about half of my plastic bag that I had my rubbish in.

Then I got up and discovered that I'd left my boots outside and a spider had built a web in one of them. With no place to buy new boots I had no choice but to risk my life checking if the spider had departed. It had. I found it later on my Jerry Can which was promptly flung across the camp ground.

But worst of all was the flies. They were relentless. Dozens of them while I'm trying to do stuff. I was getting really cross with them but there was nothing I could do. It was relief to finally get going.

I made my way to south, not intending to come all the way to Kalbarri. Two of the petrol stations I'd marked on my map didn't exist but I had enough to get to Kalbarri so I pushed on. I ran out of petrol for what I believe is the 6th time this trip. Because the gaps between stations aren't large (assuming the petrol stations exist) I didn't fill my Jerry can. I was 3.2km from the petrol station in Kalbarri.

Coming in to Kalbarri you climb up a big hill and then down the other side to the town nestling up against the sea. 3.2km from the petrol station is the top of that hill. I rolled down it for over a kilometre and saw the ranch that I was planning on staying at. I took the corner fast so I didn't lose momentum, then the next corner and rolled to a stop in the parking lot. I checked in and the lady gave me some petrol.

I'm yet to run out of petrol more than 5km from a petrol station. Really, instead of the jerry can I just need a small jar of fuel. For the record, today I put 98 octane fuel in and got 242km. 241km not counting the kilometre I rolled. My worst mileage yet. I'm not wasting my money on 98 anymore.

It looks like there is a bit to do around Kalbarri and the coastal road south looks interesting. The weather is much cooler and today I was actually cold while riding. I'm sleeping in tomorrow.