Riding the Rollercoaster: Margaret River to Walpole

On The Nose

The first few kilometres out of Margaret River heading south were quite pleasant: a short descent into the township of Margaret River from our bushland campground, followed by a gradual climb and a few kilometres of flat riding in still conditions. Now that we're away from the seething masses the traffic has dropped right off, which is a major bonus.

One thing that we've noticed a lot of here in Western Australia that we don't see in Tasmania is a designated bike lane for cyclists at intersections and T-Junctions so that we two-wheelers don't get cut out or boxed in. Here's an example of what I'm talking about ...

That little pink dot you might just be able to make out in the distance is Di leaving me behind yet again.

 Before long we turned east and struck a cold, steady headwind which we had to beat into for the next 40 kilometres. Not so much fun but thankfully Peter joined us before long and we were able to swap turns at the front the rest of the day, which made things a lot easier. 

Lilies

It was such a slog for most of the day that I didn't stop to take many photos but at one point there was a proliferation of lilies alongside the road which I just had to photograph ...

Amazing Adam

Readers might think we are either crazy, stoic, brave or a combination of those traits to set off on this cross-country ride. On this day, thanks to Adam from Melbourne, we had things put into perspective. We met him about 70 kilometres into our ride, just a little way before our lunch stop.

Adam is a Pole who has lived in Melbourne for 13 years. To mark his 50th birthday he decided he should do something momentous, which was to ride home to Melbourne from Perth. The difference between what he is doing and what we are doing is that he is completely self-sufficient. Whereas we are mostly on very lightweight racing bikes and have someone to carry all our gear and supply us with morning tea and a lunch stop each day, Adam is doing it the hard way: he's got something like 45 kilograms of gear on his bike, which in itself weighs about 17 kilograms. Adam is himself a formidable size (he hopes to lose about 15 kilos on his trip) so he is working pretty hard, especially on days like this when the terrain is up and down all the way.

We invited Adam to stop at our lunch stop and I took a photo of him arriving ...

We thought - and so did he - that Adam would probably prop somewhere between where he joined us for lunch and Pemberton, but were gobsmacked to see him roll into the caravan park later in the day. Very impressive effort.

A little way before arriving at Pemberton and the finish of a 135 kilometre day with 1200 metres of elevation gain I stopped to take a couple of photos of trees that I particularly liked the look of ...

We were all pretty pleased to arrive in Pemberton. The long slog into a pretty cool headwind at the start of the day and up and down terrain the rest of the way meant that we were all pretty tired and hungry. I think an early night was had by all.

Fantastic Forests

The country from Pemberton to Walpole is characterised by one over-riding feature: unending, magnificent Karri forests. More of that shortly. 

Heading out of Pemberton we were serenaded by a chorus of Carnaby's black cockatoos. At first I didn't recognise what I was hearing as their call isn't quite the same as our Tasmanian variety of cockatoos. There was no mistaking them as cockatoos when we saw them take to the wing, however. I wasn't able to get a photo but this video portrays just about exactly the spectacle we enjoyed ...

... and you might also enjoy this video of a Carnaby's feeding on a large Banksia flower ...

Sadly, the Carnaby's black cockatoo is listed as endangered. Let's hope that Western Australians are able to ensure that enough habitat is preserved and even restored so that these wonderful birds can survive into the future.

Heading out of Pemberton involved a long, gradual climb which got our legs warmed up nice and quickly, - which was good as it was pretty chilly overnight in the Pemberton Caravan Park, situated as it is in a cool, damp depression. In fact there was a touch of frost on the grass out in the open. Further along we passed some lovely vineyards before a descent into an even colder hollow where a paddock was completely white with a hard frost. 

Before long we'd left the vineyards and farms behind and were into the forest. Much of it was regrowth, but we also passed through sections of National Park where stands of towering trees left me awestruck. It was very hard to capture a sense of the grandeur we were seeing on film but I tried. Here is a vertically stitched photo where I still couldn't fit in the tops of the trees I was photographing ...

There were places along the road where very hot fires had passed through. In some cases the damage to the trees was no more significant than you or I having our leg hairs singed (if you happen, like me, to be a hairy-legged cyclist). In other places, where the trees weren't quite so lofty, more damage had done, but generally, as is the case with most eucalypts after fire has passed through, the trees had burst into leaf again.

Here is another stitched photo, this time of the forest around our lunch stop ...

Peter had leant his nice new bike up against a tree with burnt scrub in the background. I thought it looked pretty good so I took a photo of that as well ...

Taking Stock

After using Google Maps to  look at the day ahead I thought we might have a somewhat easier day that the one before, as it was 15 or so kilometres shorter and looked like having quite a lot less climbing. (What I learned from that exercise is not to trust Google Maps to give an accurate elevation profile if you're riding a bike!) As it turned out the day was quite a lot harder with 1500 metres of ascent - or about 25% more than the previous day - through what I'd definitely call "rolling" terrain. But we seemed to find a rhythm and went quite well and, by the end of the day, I said to the others that it was one of the most enjoyable days of riding I could remember. (There have, of course, been many "most enjoyable days" in the 55 or so years I've been riding a bike.) Not the hardest, not the longest, not the most scenic. Perhaps it was the long swooping - and whooping - descent into Walpole at the end of the day that just topped it all off. Whatever combination of factors - I was left with that joyous feeling that only a great day on the bike can impart.

Here's an image showing the route we covered the past couple of days ...

to put things into perspective however, here is an overview of the ground we've covered since leaving Perth in the context of where we aim to finish up in Melbourne, far to the east ...

We've ridden just over 570 kilometres and are about one-eighth of the way to our ultimate destination. Keep On Truckin', I say! On that note, I hope you'll send lots of good karma our way. Di is fine on the bike (although she can't get up out of the saddle) but off the bike every step is a stab of pain in her damaged hip. It sure isn't healing up as fast as we had both hoped. Nevertheless, she is determined to continue - if she can. That's where the good karma comes in. We need it. Big time. 

When we finish this ride I'm going to insist Di has an X-Ray - whether we have to abandon part way through or not. My wife is a warrior, and has been holding a hip operation at bay for almost a decade, but the fall she had just before we left home might have been the last insult that joint would tolerate. Maybe your good wishes will help her get to the finish line without too much agony. She's loving the riding and is determined to continue, so hopefully we'll be able to go the distance. We are on a rest day; hopefully that will help. We then have another day's riding to Albany, then another rest day before four long days to Esperance. A slight change in the itinerary means that we'll have two rest days there, so hopefully she will be getting around a bit easier by the time we leave there to start the big hike across the Nullarbor. If we get that far there will be no turning back and we'll be committed to twelve consecutive days on the bike, some of them quite long. So give us your best vibes, eh!

Tingle All Over

After the ride from Pemberton to Walpole we had a rest day. Peter had previously passed through Walpole, staying at the whimsically named Tingle All Over YHA. What he had to say about it was so good that Di and I, as well as Dennis, decided to join him there for a couple of nights to have a break from camping - especially as the forecast was for rain, and the caravan park happened to be 2 kilometres out of town. Our stay there was excellent: the well-equipped kitchen allowed us to cook up two excellent communal evening meals and do our washing in relative comfort was a real bonus. I did a bit of bike maintenance that wouldn't have been so easy to carry out at the caravan park, and having a room to ourselves and a spacious guest lounge for Di to do a bit of stretching for her hip was brilliant. Peggy, the proprietor at the hostel was great too. She told me all about the fires that had ravaged the area that we had passed through from Pemberton. Apparently, Walpole had been cut off from the west for three weeks due to the fires. If you are passing through Walpole sometime, we would highly recommend staying at the hostel.