I got to Wickepin and not much was going on. It is a one street town with a pub and a newsagent/cafe with an assortment of rural businesses. There is a big shed whose occupants will fix anything (according to the sign), a "rural supplies store" that has big bags of compost and pet food in the window, and a "clip and oddment" store. I don't know what they sell.
I pulled up at the newsagent for lunch and across the road was A.B Facey's house. It was bigger and nicer than I remember from the books. I'm rereading it but haven't got up to the part where he's in this house. I asked the lady at the post office about it and she told me she has the key. I asked her for a look and she gave me the key and I went over to have a look around. It was a pretty nice house. Maybe he was a bit fortunate. Although when the depression hit he had to essentially pack his stuff and walk away from it.
After that I went on the heritage trail. It was a really nice ride in the afternoon sun, but there wasn't much heritage remaining. A tiny slither of the Inkie Pinkie school remains. That's the school where he was enrolled to fill out the numbers, but never attended as he was busy being treated like shit.
The next spot was the old house his uncle built when they first moved out here. It was half still there. That was cool. In the book they were deep in the bush and slowly built this place up while they cleared the bush. They survived on possums that they'd sell for the skins. The fact that it has survived is amazing as it was made of branches. The road goes right next to it.
Just up the road was the site of a little town called Gillimanning. It is no more. Apart from a memorial there is nothing to hint that a town ever existed there.
The heritage trail looped back on a dirt road. I went straight past two farms from the book and backtracked to find them. There was nothing to mark the significance of them. They were just fields.
I went to the final spot and discovered that I'd gone to the 7th spot on the wildflower trail. The 7th spot on my trail was where the house originally stood. It was a ways to the south so I'll go there tomorrow. FYI the 7th spot on the wildflower trail is a flower-less cemetery.
I'm now at the Wickepin hotel. I blew my new mattress up and it went down quicker than the last one. I'm going to have to find a bcf. Hopefully I can make them feel bad and give me a good mattress as a replacement. They must know these mattresses are garbage.
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My new sleeping bag is as good as my mattress is terrible. So warm and big!
Today was the best day of riding I've had. My gps found an excellent route along back roads and country lanes, through forests and over hills. It wasn't too twisty and not too hilly, but the landscape was spectacular. This must be the prettiest part of Australia.
I'm now at Busselton. There are a series of church campsites side by side along the beach just out of town. There is a Mormon, Catholic, and Anglican camp as well as an ominous sounding camp for the "ministry of abundant life". That last one sounds like it comes with complimentary koolaid.
I thought the Mormon one might be full of wives, the Catholic one full of kids (because of their views on contraception, not for the priests), the Anglican one full of bitter, man hating divorcees. Abundant Life, ironically, I assume to have an abundance of death. So I'm at Camp Grace. It is just Christian. I like the way the different denominations have come together in the spirit of cooperation to carve out a little tax haven for themselves.
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| This isn't related to anything. It's a guy on facebook who is doing a ride from Rockhampton to Perth who has made my packing look tame. |
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