Frantic Freeways and Bucolic Cycling Byways

Rest Day Blues

Normally you'd imagine a rest day to be peaceful, pleasant and relaxing. Unfortunately for Peter, this wasn't the case as he woke to find his bike had been stolen. We were camped just inside the fence, adjacent to the main road. It appears likely that someone spotted the bikes, hopped the fence and did a flit with Pete's machine. (If you see a used 56 cm Specialized Comp with an Ultegra groupset and Fulcrum wheels for sale on eBay, let the police in Bunbury know, won't you?) 

So, Pete spent much of the day working out what he was going to do to replace it, eventually sorting out something in Busselton for Tuesday morning. Not a very nice thing to happen only a couple of days into our epic ride, but the saving grace is that he was able to replace it with pretty much like for like and nice and quickly. Had we been out in Lower - or even Upper - Woop Woop it would probably have meant that Pete would either have had to settle for a much lesser machine or, worst case scenario, abandon the tour. 

Di and I did our washing, then took a walk to do some shopping. The round trip was probably about 3 kilometres and I reckon it was farther than Di has walked in total since she injured her hip nine days ago. She was a bit ginger by the time we got back to camp but things are certainly looking up in terms of her getting around generally and, specifically, being able to complete our journey across the continent. 

On the way into town we noticed some lovely roadside plantings of Kangaroo Paws, which were out in flower ...

The rest of the day for us was pretty quiet. A bit of reading and rest filled what was left of the afternoon and then it was early to bed.

Leaving Bunbury

Collis had plotted a route that would initially take us out of town via Ocean Drive, a beautiful road that, as the name suggests, hugs the Indian Ocean. Supposedly that would take us around to the Bussel Highway, which we would then follow south until we could escape on to a quieter road further along. Unfortunately neither my camera, nor my eyes, nor the sensory apparatuses of any of the other riders picked up the missing instruction to TURN L ON WASHINGTON AVE. Can you see it on the board below?

I bet you can't. It should have been just before the "TURN RIGHT ON BUSSEL HWY" entry. We're still not sure what the entry about HUNGRY HOLLOW was all about. (Should the little sign at the bottom right actually read "Delusio"?)

Not to worry. Just a few more kilometres to add to the overall total between Perth and Melbourne. And anyway, we were still just in the warm up stage of the ride. And finally, to be fair, Collis was very careful with his instructions for the rest of the day!

The Frantic Freeway

Once on the Bussel Highway - which was really a freeway for all intents and purposes, in that it is a dual carriageway split by a strip of vegetation with vehicles roaring past frantically at 110 km/h - we rode for about 20 kilometres before exiting onto a lovely side road called Tuart Drive. A silky surface, almost no traffic, no wind ... lovely riding. Then briefly back on the Bussel Highway, which by this time had lost its median strip and narrowed down to one lane each way, before exiting stage left to a series of gorgeous country roads.

Bucolic Cycling Byways

Again, it was pure bliss getting off the main drag. We got on to Queen Elizabeth Avenue, and instantly it was like we were in another world. I tried to shoot a video of an iconic country sawmill as I rode past, but unfortunately it was a disaster so I won't include it. (Part of my motivation sprang from the fact that much of this sort of value-adding has been lost to the Tasmanian forest industry due to four decades of mismanagement.) What I wanted to show was the stockpile of Jarrah logs and the stacks of decking timber that had been created. Also what was really interesting was the huge pile of red sawdust that looked every bit like the red sand dunes of the outback. Jarrah is a timber that is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia, and I sure hope the authorities are managing this wonderful resource properly.

Anyway, to show you a bit of what the countryside was like along Queen Elizabeth Drive, here are a couple of photos I took en route ...

There was also a mixture of forestry happening in the way of plantation timber. Sadly, some of it was in the form of Radiata Pine, but there were also some beautiful eucalyptus plantations which must be intended for sawmilling, judging by the spacing of the trees and statuesque straight trunks ...

Something that both Di and I noticed - and, as we discovered at the lunch stop so too had Kathy - were a type of Grass Tree that we don't see in Tasmania, distinguished by what looks very much like reproductive organs at their tops. Here is an example ...

It was quiet enough along Queen Elizabeth Avenue for me to shoot this little handheld video of Di cycling blissfully along ...

Just before we reached our lunch stop we passed a property farming native flowers ...

Collis and Kathy managed to find a brilliant spot for lunch, which happened to be where a local hall and Country Fire Brigade depot were located. Three of us riders have arrived, and the other four are about to roll in ...

Just across from our lunch spot was a vineyard ...

Scattered around our rest area were wild flowers .that looked like this ..

Jacquei was so taken with the flowers that she put one in behind her ear while enjoying her lunch ...

(Yes, that is a Swiss-styled jersey she's wearing: more of that in a future post.)

All in all, it was a lovely interlude ... until Di's back tyre blew out just before we were about to leave. The bikes were just leaning up against a tree together waiting patiently for us to get back on ...

... when we all heard a loud, unmistakeable POP!

It turned out Di had been riding along with a slash in the tyre, and with the bike sitting in the sun it seems that perhaps the tube had ballooned out into the slit and got pinched and thus punctured. I did a makeshift repair to the tire using a bit of the ruined tube, put a new tube in and we were soon underway again.

Not long after leaving our lunch spot the topography changed significantly, with the terrain changing from very flat (possibly reclaimed swamp) land to rolling hills. After having only about 150 metres of elevation gain in the first ninety or so kilometres we had about another 350 metres in the last thirty. Quite interesting, really. The day ended up being about 115 for most of our peloton, but Di and I actually did 120, just to make double sure that we hadn't missed the turn-off from Ocean Drive to the Busselton Highway!

We're spending the night at Wharncliffe Mill Bush Retreat just outside Margaret River, where a major bonus is that we are away from traffic and should get a very good night's rest before a big day of 140 kilometres to Pemberton tomorrow. 

Finally, it was great to see Pete arrive from Busselton on his new bike. It looks like a pretty sharp machine: I will include a picture of it in the next post. And now it's time for me to hit the hay if I'm going to manage the ride tomorrow.