Jimmy and Shani's wedding provided an excellent excuse for a holiday so we packed up the bikes and flew to Perth. From the airport it was a 20km ride along the Swan river into central Perth which was a very pleasant way of arriving into a new city.
Kangaroo Sculpture in a park in Perth
The wedding was in the backyard of Shani's parent house in Fremantle and it was excellent. It was perfect conditions and everything was very well done. We had excellent food, including an oyster bar, excellent drink and very friendly company.
James and Shani
The backyard, and marquee
We spent the next day looking around Fremantle before catching a train from Perth to Bunbury, about a 2 hour trip. We arrived late and had a quick look around town before turning in early.
Fish and chips at Fremantle
Fremantle beach.
Rocking out with Bon Scott, former ACDC lead singer who was from Fremantle.
Day 1 from Bunbury was very flat but the first 40km was on the bustling Bussell Highway. Fortunately, it was a pretty good surface with a reasonable verge but cyclists are not common and there are a lot of logging trucks, which are very long and seem to go forever as they thunder past. Once we got off the highway, it was nice riding along shady quiet roads. We stopped for lunch in Busselton, at the world's longest wooden pier which goes 2km into the Indian Ocean. Unfortunately, it was under repair so we couldn't get out very far.
Bussell Highway
Busselton pier
Once we left Busselton we got onto Caves Road which would be the road we'd follow for the next few days. After a quick stop for some wine tasting, we arrived at our accommodation for the night made out of old train carriages. We dumped our bags and headed out to Cape Naturaliste for a swim and a look around.
Meelup beach
Looking towards Cape Naturaliste from Sugarloaf Rock
Sugarloaf Rock
Kelley getting acquainted with the friendly Dunsborough locals. Train carriage in the background.
Day 1 ended up being a very long day after our side trip, about 140km for me and about 115 for Kelley, so not a bad start.
Day 2 was a bit of a shock to the system, with a hill straight up. Caves road was undulating as we travelled along the coast, but not too bad. This was our day of wine and vineyards, only about 65km of riding to Margaret river so we took our time.
Caves Rd, Kelley climbing one of the frequent undulations
Very flash vineyard, including the 'chick on a stick', a golden statue in the middle of the lake
More view from the road
Giant karri (not kauri) tree, another type of eucalyptus!
Margaret River chocolate factory, a welcome break
We demolished a chocolate fondue, before and after photos, taken within a very short time of one another.....
Day 3 to Augusta was also along the touristy Caves Road. It was quite a hot day but luckily for us, most of the ride was through forest so it was quite comfortable. The main problem was sourcing water. Although there were place we could stop along the way, we couldn't drink the water as the tanks hadn't been properly flushed out for years as they always had to keep some for bushfires.
Parked up on the side of the road for a break, grass tree in the foreground.
Karri trees as far as the eye could see. The photo really doesn't do it justice, they are actually quite big trees.
Kelley cruising through the trees
It was always a tough decision to go down to a beach, they were always nice but so often it meant that we'd have to peddle back up a hill. Hamelin Bay was no exception, but it was sure worth it. There were plenty of fishing boats about and some were just coming in to fillet their fish. As always, it attracted quite a number of scavengers....
These giant rays would come right up on the beach where you could touch them or feed them with a few fish heads kindly provided by the local fishermen, as I am below
And after a bit of gentle persuasion, so did Kelley
Jetty remains at Hamelin Bay
After that eventful stop, we had about 25km to go to Augusta but finally we decided to justify the name of the road we'd been travelling on for days, and actually go to one of the caves. We picked Jewell Cave which was rated as one of the better ones and it was quite impressive. Unfortunately my camera is not very good underground and I think was already on its last legs as it stopped working after this (bar a 5 minute window the following night).
There were a few interesting aspects to this cave, some of the highlights are below:
A root of a giant karri tree, it has burrowed right through the limestone, through the cave and further
Unusual ceiling formations, unusual because they seem to defy gravity
The third longest?...one of the longest narrow 'spikes' in the world
Trees above and below, the limescale formation resembling the karri forest above
From the cave it was a short ride into Augusta, the place where two oceans meet, the Indian and the Pacific. I rode out to Cape Leeuwin lighthouse, the official division between the two oceans and the end point of our ride along the coast. From here on, we'd be heading back inland.
Day 4 to Nunnup was always going to be tough and with temperatures in the low 30's it was even harder. The first 20km was fine, along quiet back roads but a couple of sharp hills. Our only chance to refill water was at a store at the 27km mark and from then on it was hard slog along the highway. Fortunately it wasn't too busy but it was hot. Although there we were surrounded by trees, being a main road they were far enough back to not provide shade. The last 15km was particularly tough, we were very low on water and every undulation seemed like a mountain, and there were plenty. We rolled into Nannup absolutely parched and went straight to the pub where we enjoyed a well deserved beer.
We weren't the only ones there though and a slightly odd, bedraggled looking individual soon quizzed us on our progress and made comment on our National Australia bank branded attire. This proved disastrous as the self titled 'Bank robber Dave' proceeded to tell us how he was no longer allowed to bank at NAB as he'd held up a branch once, shared a cell with the 3rd most dangerous criminal in Australia but it was all ok because now he was best friends with his father. Anyway, we got the full low down and he kindly queried where we were lodging that evening, needless to say we said 'umm, not sure yet...', made our excuses and left in a hurry.
Our lodgings at Nannup were quite different, a permanent tent covered by a big marquee which housed sink, microwave, fridge, jug, toaster and generally anything the required dodgy outdoor electrical fittings! These were the last photos my camera took.
Inside the tent
and outside.
Day 5 was our main haul back towards Bunbury, and our first day outside the lonely planet guidebook. We'd managed to quiz the locals and find maps showing good scenic routes that avoided highways so we set off along a river to Balingup, more undulations but a really good ride. We saw plenty of bird life from emus to black cockatoo. From Balingup, there was a 13km stretch along the highway before our next turnoff which was probably the worst ride of the whole trip. It was busy, with big logging trucks, bad surface, hot and uphill and we were very pleased to turn off again onto the back roads to Donnybrook. Again, it was a really nice ride and contained the biggest downhill of the trip which was great fun.
Donnybrook was a really nice little town, famous for apples and it was the start of picking season so we were forced to been to, the surrounding landscape was a dustbowl but the local cricket ground was an oasis of green. Donnybrook's was particularly nice, complete with a brand new white picket fence. We rode out to the local cidery for a well deserved drink and had dinner at the local country club which I was worried I'd be underdressed for (I certainly wasn't) and managed to avoid getting lost in the dark on the way back.
Our last day was a short haul back to Bunbury, in time for one last swim in the stunning Indian Ocean before taking the train back to Perth. We rode out to the airport in a few spits of rain (worst weather of the trip...) and filled in about 5 hours reflecting on a brilliant holiday before a midnight flight back to Melbourne.
