RAA Varadero

Left Albany late & took the Stirling Ranges Scenic Route to Jerramungup. A lovely bike road with lots of craggy peaks & more wheat & canola fields ready for harvest.

We saw 25+ emus in one field of wheat as well as a western grey roo.

Ravensthorpe has new buildings standing empty & some lovely locals who aren't happy with big mining companies because of a mine closure after they went to the time & expense of setting up for the influx of workers, only to have the company pull the pin on the mine without warning, to hear the locals tell it.

A dirt road between Ravensthorpe & Hopetoun beckoned. Recommended by the locals as "just done up", almost all tar now" & "good dirt" we set off. This 90 km long road turned out to be freshly graded bulldust & marbles 3" thick over corrugations. We gave in after about 5-6 km.

After an aborted attempt at the dirt road by Neil (Goldwing), Chris (Honda Shadow), Dave (FJR) & Colin & I where no-one came to grief & all was well, we headed back to Ravensthorpe & the highway to Esperance.

More crops, more scrub, boring road then suddenly wind turbines in the distance. Finally Esperance. Once at Esperance we rode the Scenic Ocean Road with beautiful views of aqua water, white sands, sun glimmering on the breaking waves & over 100 islands off the coast in the Bay of Islands. A lovely way to end the day.

On the road today (25th) before 7am. Breakfast at Augusta after riding down Caves road through the Karri forest again to really enjoy their awesome beauty. The rumble of the bike engines as they approached through the Karri trees reverberated in the still morning air, especially Toastie's Road Star.



On to Pemberton to climb the Gloucester Tree. 61 metres to the top. Colin & I climbed to the top level as did a number of other ride members. A few attempted but couldn't complete the climb while others didn't attempt the climb at all. The parrots at the Gloucester Tree were very quiet & sat beautifully for their portraits.

After leaving Pemberton we rode on to Walpole for lunch then on to the Tree Top Walk in the 'Valley of the Giants' Tingle Trees. The Tingle can grow a base circumference of over 20 metres which is approximately 7 metres diameter. The Tree Top Walk which is 40 metres at its highest point, was above the canopy when it was built but Tingle trees grow tall & it is now among the leaves. Colin & Dave decided it was fun to get the suspended walkways bouncing & swinging. Jack yelled out to them & they thought he was the ranger till they turned & saw him. Looks on faces were priceless.

We continued into the Ancients Walk when we came down from the tree tops. There were Tingles that were burned many decades ago still with small areas of leaf growth where bits of bark & sapwood survived the fires. Some of these ancient trees have hollow bases so wide that I couldn't touch either side while standing in the tree base with outstretched arms. When inside it is almost soundproofed with very little outside sounds able to be heard inside the tree.

!00 km to ride before parking up for the night in Albany. What a confusing place to get lost in. Thank goodness for GPS on some of the bikes. Maps were not accurate enough.

First on the agenda today was to go to Cape Naturaliste. On the way we stopped off at Ngilgi Caves. Ngilgi is a good dreamtime spirit. Most caves were thought to contain bad spirits because they were dark but Ngilgi is a rare one that was good because some light got in.

It is a very winding cave that is on many levels. It is more vertical than horizontal which means many stairs down & then up again. It is also a single access cave which gives it extremely high humidity & carbon dioxide levels making breathing a little difficult for some. It also keeps the temperature at an even 20 degC year round. We were 35 metres deep at 'Cupids Point' & the amphitheatre was like something out of a scifi film.

After Ngilgi Cave we continued on to Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse. It is not very tall but because it is built on a very high bluff it still carries its light beams far out to sea. A very informative tour followed. They have the first 'non slip' stairs ever built in the southern hemisphere, guaranteed to last 600 years. They are made out of 1" square blocks of 3" thick teak from India.

While there we saw a number of whales breaching, 2 shingle back blue tongues & a goanna. There were also NZ fur seals & dolphins.

Next stop was Cape Leeuwin, named after the dutch ship that first recorded it. On the way to Cape Leeuwin we passed through the magical Karri forest. We were on a winding road with magnificent tall Karri trees on either side, sunlight filtering through to very little undergrowth. It was like a scene out of Lord of the Rings. All that was missing were the Hobbits & the Elven Folk.

As we continued on we came upon a young emu that was sitting on the side of the road looking a little disorientated. As there was another car there who said they would report it to the ranger we continued on our way.

Once at Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse we had a bit of time before the tour so we watched for whales again & saw some breaching way out to sea. There were also 2 large pods of dolphins right at the waters edge, surfing & playing tag.

This lighthouse is much taller than the first & even the guide was puffing & out of breath by the time we reached the top. It was built in 1895 from locally quarried stone. There were 22 ships lost on Cape Leeuwin before the lighthouse was built & only one since. That ship was owned by the same company who built & lost the Titanic 2 years later.

Another short, easy day with a late start. Breakfast at 8.30am, on the road by 9am.

A very boring bypass around Perth & Fremantle out to Mandurah before getting on to a more interesting road which took us to Lake Clifton. Here we found a lovely little winery who kindly gave us bottles of wine & jars of preserves to raffle or auction as a fundraiser. So many people have been so generous on our ride.

The thrombolites at Lake Clifton were so much better, more abundant & healthier looking than the stromatolites & thrombolites at Lake Thetis.

A fuel up at Bunbury saw us meet up with 25 postie bike riders who call themselves the 'Male Bags' as well as their support crew. They are riding from Perth to Melbourne & some had seriously modified seating on their bikes. I have never seen a postie with such elaborate backrests.

On the road again to Busselton for lunch where we ate at 'Jesters', renowned for their pies. It is well deserved too. We saw the Busselton 1 km long jetty but didn't walk it. On to Margaret River where we have a free day tomorrow.

A free day to veg out. Up late, breakfast at 8. Wander down to the beach then the shops. Buy a telstra dongle for the Nullabor then 'rob a bank' to pay for the 'local call' to telstra to activate it. I don't want to get caught unable to blog again, catching up is too time consuming. It is much slower than Virgin but at least it should work where Virgin won't.

King tiger prawns & fresh bread rolls sitting on the beach for lunch followed by a leisurely walk along the sand.

Catch up on a bit of blogging before dinner at the Indi. Then back to pack for tomorrow & finally finish the blog up to date before bed.

WA took pity on us for the heat it had been giving us so it turned the thermostat way too low for todays run (21st).

We rode through lots more wheatfields then turned on to the Indian Ocean Highway.

We called in at Cervantes for morning tea at the seashell cafe then visited the stromatolites at Lake Thetis.

The stromatolytes grow best in water that is at least 1 1/2 times saltier than sea water. They are built by ancient cyanobacteria that are still continuing to this day in a few places around the world. The WA coast is one of the best areas to see them.

We then rode on to the Pinnacles. Possibly the most surreal things you will ever see. In great expanses of white lime sand & coastal scrub is a large patch of yellow/orange sand with thousands of rocks jutting out of the sand at all angles & amazing shapes.

From the Pinnacles to near Yanchep we came across Xantheria (grass trees, black boys). They were thick on the ground with some taller by far than Colin, so they had to be hundreds of years old.

There were also brilliant white, huge sand dunes appearing amongst the coastal scrub well inland from the beach.

We got in to Scarborough in plenty of time for the bike service which gives us a full free day for tomorrow in Perth.

An easy days ride today (20th) after yesterdays epic hot one.The weather was kind with cooler temperatures, almost no wind & only a tiny bit of misty drizzle just out of Northampton, near Kalbarri.

After leaving Carnarvon we went into the same arid coastal landscape.

Once we neared the Kalbarri turnoff we hit the wheatfields with long stretches of golden wheat waiting for harvest. As we neared Kalbarri the landscape changed again to low coastal scrub.

Also near the Kalbarri turnoff we saw numerous goats, 2 big red kangaroos& very few cattle or birds, except crows, which are everywhere over here.

Kalbarri is a beautiful little coastal town with very friendly people. We met a lovely lady who adored our bikes. Max gave her a ride on his BMW then discovered he had a tyre losing air due to a broken valve stem. The RAC rescued him from his plight.

Great sweepers out of Kalbarri that everyone enjoyed.

The Geraldton police put on a sausage sizzle for us which raised some more funds for the Foundation. Thanks to them for the effort they put in.

After finishing with the police Neil, Colin & I went to the Geraldton museum to see the Batavia & the HMAS Sydney displays. We then rode up to the HMAS Sydney Memorial lookout. It is very well done & a lot of care & thought has obviously gone into the design & maintenance of it.

4.30am out of bed for a 5am start to beat the heat today (19th) on a long, hot 863 km day.

A huge breakfast selection could not be done justice at that hour but we had the option to pack our own crib for the day which most of us did.

Our nice cool start soon warmed up by our first stop at Roebourne. There were some historic buildings that looked interesting but not open at that hour of the morning.

More mesas & rocky outcrops gradually gave way to ridges of sandhills spreading out for many km, each with a flat valley 1 km or more wide before the next sandhill ridge.

At the Fortescue River stop there was a police helicopter that landed. The roadhouse owner said that usually meant the road would be closed for the flying doctor to land. The road is used as an airstrip as there is no land suitable to maintain a year round airstrip in the kind of weather they get in that region during the wet. Thankfully there was no flying doctor & no-one knew what the chopper landed for while we were there.

The temperature topped 46 deg C today & our bike gear really proved its worth. After crossing the Tropic of Capricorn heading south it actually got hotter.

Today we have seen 4 wedge tail eagles, 2 on the ground, 3 emus crossing the road near the roadside stop, 2 mobs of feral goats, 6 black kites feasting on roadkill & numerous wandering cattle on the roadside.

Roadside stops have been calculated to enable bikes with smaller capacity fuel tanks to get a refuel between regular available fuel stops. These have been shown to definately be necessary & also serve as a reminder to those who don't need fuel to stop & have a welcome break in the heat.

A 6.30am start today (18th) for a hot 600 km day. We arrived at Port Hedland after an almost uneventful ride. As we were nearing Port Hedland we counted 16 large willy-willys & we were blown from one side of the road almost onto the dirt edge on the other side when we were hit by a willy-willy. It also pushed the bike behind us across the road as well. It was unexpected & very strong. One moment we were leaning into the wind to the right then suddenly we had to lean to the left to combat the complete reversal of wind direction.

Craig had the dubious honour of the tutu award today for dropping his KTM bike on his wife's foot on Cable Beach yesterday.

We met a roadtrain today where there were roadworks reducing the road width to single lane with red pindan edges. What a dusty ride that was. Roadtrains slow down for no-one

Two free days (16th & 17th) with Querida in Broome. We went car shopping first up followed by a trip to Gantheume Point with astounding rock formations, dinosaur footprints in the rocks & Brahminy kites with young chicks nesting in the lighthouse tower.

We then drove to Broome Port for lunch in the Port Restaurant then back to our room to get ready for the sunset camel ride on Cable Beach. It was a very pleasant ride & sunset was spectacular, especially when seen from the back of a camel at the beach.

On our 2nd rest day we were picked up for a tour to Willys Creek Pearl Farm.

Tom the tour guide/driver was terrific with lots of local knowledge & a character to boot. We learned about seeding pearl oysters then went out in the boat to the pearl farm, back to the shop for a lesson on good & bad pearls then a chopper ride over the farm & the north end of Cable Beach with Querida.

Again back to the resort, this time to change for the Xavier Rudd concert with Querida. I am a fan of didge music & his music was inspiring. An extremely enjoyable day ending with a goodbye to Querida as we had an early start the following morning.