Round Australia by bike - Day 030 - Wooramel to Northampton

Day:	030
Date:	15 June 2008
Start	Wooramel Roadhouse
Finish	Northampton
Daily Distance:	306km
Daily Speed:	n.a.
Relative to Schedule:	-551km
Daily Podcasts:	n.a.
GPS Track	Here
Journal:	I dragged myself out of bed at 1:00am after five hours sleep and was riding by about 1:45am.  There was a bright moon and the sky was clear, although it was the coolest it had been for a long time and I wore an extra thermal top.  The road was reasonably flat and I made good time, stopping briefly at the Overlander Roadhouse at 5:30am.  They were just getting ready to open in preparation for the arrival of the Greyhound bus at 6:00am.  I chatted with the guy opening up while I ate a snack I had brought with me and then headed off before the bus arrived.  I arrived at the Billabong Roadhouse (124km) at 8:00am and ordered the big brekky.  As the sun rose, so did the cross/following wind which made life quite pleasant although the road had rolling hills/sand dunes as it passed through a sandy heath-like area with scrubby vegetation and red soil.  I made good time and was thinking about an earlier finish time when suddenly the sky clouded over and a strong south-westerly change arrived.  In the space of about 30 minutes the wind switched to a strong head/crosswind, it got colder and driving rain began.  The last 80km was much slower because of the wind but also because the road climbed up onto the Kalbarri plateau and the scenery changed to a rural mix of wheat and cattle.  The fields were very green and the hills large and rounded.  With the rain and wind it was very bleak as the road climbed higher and higher, seemingly interminably. I finally reached Northampton at 5:30pm and checked into the town hotel/motel where I later had a buffet dinner.  I didn’t feel too bad considering the tough last 80km, but know I am going to be very tired when I get up very early tomorrow.  I wore two pairs of cycling knicks all day and my chafing problems have lessened.

Round Australia by bike - Day 028 & 029 - Fortescue River to Wooramel

Day:	028 & 029
Date:	13 & 14 June 2008
Start	Fortescue River Roadhouse
Finish	Wooramel Roadhouse
Daily Distance:	636km
Daily Speed:	n.a.
Relative to Schedule:	-576km
Daily Podcasts:	Here & here
GPS Track	Here
Journal:	I woke at midnight after about four hours sleep and, conscious of the big task I had set myself for the day, hastened to get away as quickly as possible.  The skies were clear and the Southern Cross was directly ahead of me as the road set out into the plains.  Straight away, I realized it was going to be difficult to make the 380km target for the day.  Although it wasn’t strong, there was definitely a slight opposing wind and the road seemed to be gradually ascending although it was difficult to tell in the dark   Dawn revealed some remote and awesome scenery.  The spinifex covered red soil plateau which stretched into the distance was broken here and there by mesas and low rocky mountain ranges and hills.  There was little evidence of human activity and the angled dawn sunlight created some fantastic shadows and luminous red rocks in places.  The geology in the Pilbara is very old and the hills and mountains I could see are probably the eroded remains of some once-mighty mountains.  The scenery compensated somewhat fo0r my fatigue, the climbs and the headwinds and I tried to see it in a positive light. I’m gradually refining the art of taking photographs while riding to save time and added a few to my collection here.  Unfortunately the cut-down software on my laptop doesn’t include the means to downsize the picture files for internet display so website pictures may have to wait for my return. I kept the pressure on myself to maintain a good pace but, by the time I reached the Nanutarra Roadhouse (159km) at about 9:00am, the only supply point for the day, I could tell I wasn’t going to make Minilya Roadhouse (a further 227km), my target for the day by their closing time of 8:00pm. So called them and cancelled my room booking.  After a big breakfast at Nanutarra, I bought sandwiches, cakes, drinks, etc., enough to last me 24 hours of solid riding.  The lady at the Roadhouse was very kind and threw in extras and gave me discounts on various things.  I set off into what was becoming a warmish day across the landscape which became flatter and more featureless.  At a rest area I met a family taking a year to travel around Australia with their caravan and they insisted on taking some pictures.  I was envious of their trip and could tell their two boys were excited by it. I pushed on feeling more and more tired, the gradual hills and slight headwind wearing me down.  Later in the day, the road climbed through a series of long red spinifex-covered sand dunes, each about 50 metres high and about a kilometer apart.  I also saw a few emus, one of which kept pace with me while I rode and struggled to take a picture.  Soon after dark, I began to feel very tired and decided that, if I wanted to keep riding through the night I needed to have a quick nap.  I found a spot just off the road, climbed into my tent, without erecting it, and woke two hours later in bright moonlight, dreading the thought of resuming riding.  I forced myself to get up and get going and rode the 50km to Minilya Roadhouse which was now closed and dead quiet.  I found myself a quiet spot and had a sandwich dinner admiring the stars and trying to stay awake when, around 1am, a Greyhound bus going from Perth to Broome arrived and about 12 backpackers got off and shivered in the moonlight.  They just stood there waiting for something and then another Greyhound bus going from Broome to Perth arrived and shortly after yet another, which I assume was from the nearby Coral Coast.  I noticed that the Perth-bound bus was towing a box trailer that my bike could have easily fitted into.  Soon people and drivers swapped buses and they drove off into the night leaving the place as quiet as it had been.  This probably happens every night of the year here. I continued riding but it was becoming a nightmare.  My legs were shot and I was barely making 15kph, on top of which I kept dozing off (there was virtually no traffic) and weaving all over the road.  At some point I passed a sign saying I was leaving the Tropics.  In the end I decided there was no alternative to more sleep and just walked into the grass off the side of the road, making sufficient noise to scare any snakes and climbed into my tent again on what proved to be a particularly hard and stony piece of ground.  I was asleep in no time and woke three hours later as it began to get light. Saturday morning traffic was quite heavy and it felt like the roadtrains were driving right through the tent. I began riding again, feeling relatively refreshed although in pain from some butt chafing that was getting worse.  I crossed the Gascoigne River as I approached Carnarvon and entered an area of banana and other fruit plantations.  At the Carnarvon turn-off (it’s on the ocean 5km from the main highway), the western-most point of my journey, I stopped at a roadhouse about 11:30am and called the Wooramel Roadhouse (119km) my target for the night to book a room.  They said they had a basic cabin, but that they closed at 6pm.  I bought a pie and egg and bacon sandwich which I ate hastily for my breakfast/lunch and set out for Wooramel.  What at first was a tailwind turned into a cool crosswind, but I only had one break on the long straight road which crossed a vast grass and scrub-covered red soil plain that in places has a lot of standing water from recent rains.  I reached Wooramel at 5:30pm and bought a dinner of home-made vegetable pasties, showered and looked forward to sleeping in a bed, even if only for about five hours.

Round Australia by bike - Day 027 - Port Hedland to Fortescue River

Day:	027
Date:	12 June 2008
Start	Port Hedland
Finish	Fortescue River Roadhouse
Daily Distance:	336km
Daily Speed:	n.a.
Relative to Schedule:	-636km
Daily Podcasts:	Here
GPS Track	Here
Journal:	As testament to my stupefied state the previous evening, I didn’t set my alarm correctly and overslept, not waking until midnight.  However, it felt good to get about 7.5 hours sleep.  I rode quietly out of Port Hedland, counting my good fortune at having just got through a level crossing before one of the interminable iron ore trains began crossing.  The road seemed to climb gradually out of town and the wind was a slight head/crosswind, making the cycling a bit laborious under a cloud covered sky.  Away from the town lights it was very dark.  After a couple of hours it began to spit with rain, occasionally getting a bit heavier, but it wasn’t cold. Dawn revealed a fairly barren landscape of tussock grass, red soil and rocks, and some low hills which the road occasionally crossed.  The wind began to swing round to a cross/tailwind and the mainly level road allowed me to make good speed.  The scene looked bleak and not unlike some of the bleaker moorland in the UK, but the temperature was around 16C and it probably doesn’t get much colder this close to the coast.  There was plenty of mining-related traffic on the road and for the whole day signs of mining activity could be seen here and there, such as remote collections of portacabins, drilling rigs, new roads, graders, gas facilities and so on. I reached Roebourne around 10:30am and it turned out to be quite a picturesque old small settlement with some very solid looking old stone houses and other buildings which contrasted with some very modern and large community buildings and sporting facilities.  I found the Post Office and mailed back home some items I had decided I could do without to save weight, including a few clothes, my sleeping mat and tent poles and my space blanket.  From there I rode to a roadhouse at the turn-off to Karratha, a major mining town, hoping to get a late big brekky, but they didn’t have a restaurant and I made do with a couple of pies.  I decided at that time that I would make the Fortescue River Roadhouse, 100km further on, my goal for the day and called them to book a room.  The remainder of the ride was through increasingly hilly country though the wind was still favourable.  At lunch, I also called the Minilya Roadhouse and booked a room for there for tomorrow night, making it a big 380km day.  If the terrain or wind is adverse, I probably won’t make it, but there are no accommodation alternatives within a reasonable distance and I do want to make up time.  They close at 8:00pm and I have promised to call them from the Nanutarra Roadhouse (159km) at breakfast if I don’t think I can make it, although they offered to leave a key in the room door for me if I provide credit card details when I call in the morning. There are a lot of mining-related workers staying at the remote Fortescue River Roadhouse where I arrived around 5:40pm and I was able to get the set evening meal of shepherds pie for dinner which was tasty.  I won’t get much sleep tonight because I need to be on the road before 1:00am to have any hope of making Minilya tomorrow night.

Round Australia by bike - Day 025 & 026 - Roebuck Plains to Port Hedland

Day:	025 & 026
Date:	10 & 11 June 2008
Start	Roebuck Plains Roadhouse
Finish	Port Hedland
Daily Distance:	565km
Daily Speed:	23.4kph
Relative to Schedule:	-641km
Daily Podcasts:	Here
GPS Track	Here
Journal:	As usual, I didn’t get to bed as early as hoped, and ended up with 5.5 hours sleep and a 3:30am departure.  Initial going was good, with clear skies and no wind and I made it my goal to have a break every 60km, which would coincide, in two places, with rest areas where there would be picnic tables and shelters.  The road has a marker every 10km and you find yourself looking for these and anticipating them.  When having a break, I usually just lean the bike up against the kilometer marker and sit on the road or a groundsheet while having a break.  I noticed at one of the 60km markers there were the tracks of a single narrow-tyred bike that had lent up against the same marker.  I bet it was Erik Straarup’s bike from his completed record attempt a month ago. During the morning it gradually got hotter and a tail/crosswind gradually blew up.  At my rest area breaks, I was always immediately visited by grey nomads offering food and drink and wanting to have a chat.  The countryside was an unchanging scene of spinifex, acacia and red dirt, with some gentle undulations.  From occasional higher rises you could see identical countryside stretching out to the horizon, although the Indian Ocean is only about 30km to the west. Around noon some ominous clouds began to form, including a particularly long grey heavy strip.  Rain could be seen falling in a few places and the wind strengthened nd swung around to become a headwind.  I was cursing my luck at encountering headwinds for the second day in a row for the last 100km, and my progress slowed dramatically. I finally reached the Sandfire Roadhouse shortly before 6pm and found out that nothing had changed since I was stranded there with a torn thigh muscle ten months ago.  They were still selling very limited supplies from a portable cabin and none of the buildings had been rebuilt since the fire of Easter 2007.  It had the feel of a very remote outpost.  Some motorbikers, on their way back from the Ulysses meeting in Townsville Just after I had passed through there were gathered around chatting in the gloom while I had a couple of pies for dinner and bought supplies to see me through to the next re-supply point. I left around 7pm for the 280km run to Port Hedland and further, hopefully.  I intended to ride as much of the night and next day as I could manage in an effort to make up some of the time lost earlier in the trip.  However, progress was slow, primarily because I had developed some bad butt chafing which made it difficult to sit on the seta for extended periods (too much information, I know).  I didn’t want to stand up on the pedals for too long, however, in case that caused other injuries.  I messed around for a while stopping every so often to apply creams, change knicks, or try the lambswool cover I had brought with me for the seat.  Nothing seemed to make that much difference and I knew what I really needed was to get off the bike for a while, and get the shorts off.  However, I had made a commitment to myself to ride through the night and did not want to quit.  I kept going, painfully and at a slower pace.  Then it started to rain and I had to stop and weather-proof my gear.  The rain was occasionally heavy and I had some miserable periods.  Around midnight, I reached the closed (for the night Pardoo Roadhouse and found myself a dry telephone box to sit in while I ate some of the sandwiches I had bought at Sandfire, while the residents and guests slept in the buildings and caravans behind me.  It was a gloomy and surreal scene.  The roadhouse driveway was red dirt which had turned into slimy red mud which stuck to everything. I continued on through the darkness and occasional rain, hoping that I could make it to Port Hedland for breakfast.  However, around 4:00am I started to lose my focus and just got off the side of the road, lay the bike down and crawled into my tent without erecting it, put my wet jacket under my head and immediately went to sleep on very hard and stony ground.  I woke up about 90 minutes later, as dawn was breaking, and forced myself to get up, pack up, and start riding again.  The nap had refreshed me and I made good time, with the help of a following breeze, towards Port Hedland.  As I got closer the landscape turned into spinifex pastures with few trees and some low mountains heara and there.  Signs of human activity increased with high tension power lines, rail lines and earthworks gradually becoming more prominent, as did the ubiquitous mining vehicles, red-mud-spattered 4WDs with high flag masts so they could be more easily be seen in heavy equipment areas.  In the last kilometers, there were significant roadworks, which also left me and my bike well-spattered with the red mud.  I reached the Port Hedland Roadhouse around 11:45am and ordered a big brekky with the intention of eating it then heading off to Whim Creek (117km) for the night.  However, I called them while having breakfast and they told me they were fully-booked with miners.  I then decided to stay in Port Hedland and get some much-needed rest.   Prices are crazy here because of the mining boom and I declined the budget motel rate of $199 and paid an exorbitant $140 for a crappy cabin in the campground. I washed out my gear in the hope of minimizing the risk of aggravating chafing and am going to bed early in the hope of starting at midnight and making another attempt to regain some lost ground.

Round Australia by bike - Day 024 - Fitzroy to Roebuck Plains

Day:	024
Date:	9 June 2008
Start	Fitzroy Crossing
Finish	Roebuck Plains Roadhouse
Daily Distance:	361km
Daily Speed:	24.8kph
Relative to Schedule:	-565km
Daily Podcasts:	Here
GPS Track	Here
Journal:	After 6.5 hours sleep, I got up at midnight and was riding by 12:45am.  My motel room was upstairs and descending the external stairway carrying the fully-loaded bike in the dark and trying to do it quietly was a challenge….successfully completed. I was soon out on the dark savannah riding beneath the standard brilliant starlit sky in still and mild conditions.  I knew I had a big day and was determined not to dally and made good time, taking a short break every 60km.  Shortly before dawn, I almost ran into the back of a cow that was standing in the middle of the road.  We both got a big fright.  I then started laughing about the possible outcome when I recalled a training accident I had a couple of years ago on the bike.  I was riding about 15kph up a hill directly into a rising sun that made it almost impossible to see and was keeping well over to the left in case any following vehicles could not see me.  I ran straight into the back of a ute (pick-up), the bike stopped, and I exited over the handlebars straight into the back of the ute.  I imagined that if I had run into the cow I may well have ended up giving it a visual rectal examination! As the sun rose, the usual savannah was revealed, and a tailwind freshened, helping me to make good time towards my first goal for the day, Willare Bridge Roadhouse (230km).  as I neared the roadhouse, the scenery changed a little with a lot more huge dome-like termite mounds evident and a lot more of the weird-looking fat-trunked boab trees, making the landscape, which had also had the undergrowth burnt away look quite alien. I reached Willare at 11:00am and had a breakfast of egg and bacon pie and potato wedges, along with multiple drinks on a day which was becoming quite warm.  From Willare it was another 130km to my target for the day, Roebuck Plains Roadhouse, but conditions had changed and it turned into a very tough afternoon.  The weather was hot (33C), the wind had turned into a headwind and there was a lot more traffic on a road with minimal edge for riding.  My optimism about an early finish evaporated, aand I struggled into the Roadhouse at about 6:00pm after a particularly had last 30km when the wind had become very strong. Fortunately they had a spare cabin, and I checked in, had a quick shower, and then enjoyed a roast pork dinner followed by chocolate cake and ice-cream.  Tomorrow will be a significant day.  It is the same leg and the same day (Day 25…..although I have cycled 300km further to get here this time) on which I tore my quadriceps muscle last year and had to quit my quest.  If I feel OK when I get to Sandfire Roadhouse tomorrow evening, I may ride on through the night in an effort to make up some of the time I lost earlier in the trip.  If not, I’ll stop at Sandfire and try to make up the time later.

Round Australia by bike - Day 023 - Halls Creek to Fitzroy Crossing

Day:	023
Date:	8 June 2008
Start	Halls Creek
Finish	Fitzroy Crossing
Daily Distance:	289km
Daily Speed:	25.8kph
Relative to Schedule:	-646km
Daily Podcasts:	Here & here
GPS Track	Here
Journal:	I got up at 1am and was riding by 1:45am.  I ended up on the wrong road out of town, but started to think something was amiss after a couple of hundred metres, and retraced my steps.  It was again tough staying awake until the sun rose.  I try and have a caffeinated drink in my backpack for a drink around 4:00am and that helps a bit. There was some low cloud, but it was dry and the sky began clearing in the first few hours, although I could see low cloud hanging over the Kimberley Plateau way out to my right.  There was again virtually no traffic and the road was reasonably flat and I made reasonable time. Sunrise brought with it a slight following breeze and showed me to be riding through mostly flat scrub land with brown grass and a lot of bare red earth.  Here and there all day were small plateaus and rocky outcrops to add some features to the landscape and in the far distance mountain ranges could be seen. Tourist traffic built up after 8am and so did the mostly tailwind and I began to make good speed.  I limited myself to a snack stop every 50 or 60km and ate the sandwiches I had bought last night. I reached Fitzroy Crossing at around 2:45pm, about an hour earlier that I had expected and checked into my pre-booked motel.  Everything in town was closed (Sunday) expect for the two roadhouses which hqd a very poor selection of hot food.  Fish and chips again!  I had to walk to the roadhouses from the motel and enjoyed watching a group of aboriginal kids playing kick to kick with an Aussie Rules football on the lawns in front of the Community Centre on what was a beautiful sunny afternoon. I have a big day tomorrow, 360km, so will be getting up at midnight and hoping that the tailwind is still blowing.  Not much phone coverage the next few days so it might be a while before the next report.

Round Australia by bike - Day 022 - Doon Doon to Halls Creek

Day:	022
Date:	7 June 2008
Start	Doon Doon Roadhouse
Finish	Halls Creek
Daily Distance:	271km
Daily Speed:	21.5
Relative to Schedule:	-601km
Daily Podcasts:	n.a.
GPS Track	Here
Journal:	A tough day, despite not being high kilometers.  Firstly, I ended up sleeping on a concrete apron adjacent to the toilet block under a huge steel canopy that provided good weather protection.  I was going to use the BBQ shelter, but some campers decided to use it for a BBQ before I got there.  How unfair!  Anyway, my five hours sleep was interrupted by various visitors to the facilities and by the sound of torrential rain and violent winds at various times.  The latter inspired me to get up and make sure my airing clothing had not been blown to Indonesia. When I did get up at 12:30am it was raining and windy.  I left at 1:30am (takes a little longer to pack up when using the tent and air mattress) in the abysmal weather.  I had visualized that there would be days like this, and I wasn’t disappointed, except for the fact that it was in the Kimberleys in the Dry Season and it’s not supposed to rain. The first 100km to Warmun Roadhouse was particularly hard work into the wind and because I was very sleepy.  Additionally, the road was hilly.  I arrived at Warmun at 7am, having made very slow progress and decided to have a big brekky, which it was.  It rained torrentially while I was there and was still raining hard when I left, much to the amusement of the staff and some local aborigines, not to mention the people looking out of the window of the Greyhound Bus making a scheduled stop at the time. It pretty much rained non-stop for the rest of the day, with varying intensities.  The wind diminished a little, which helped, but with the constant hills, I frequently struggled to keep my speed above 15kph.  The road was covered in puddles and I was very wet, though not cold.  My wet weather gear seems to be doing the job.  I had my lights on all day as did most of the traffic.  I got lots of sympathetic toots and waves.  The scenery, somewhat masked by low cloud, was still impressive with low hills and rocky crags always visible on both sides.  It was cattle station country and there were cattle and horses roaming freely on the road.  There has been a lot of rain in the last 24 hours and the authorities have begun closing some of the gravel roads, including the road into the Bungle Bungles, a nearby spectacular eroded rock mountain range, which I’m sure will annoy a lot of tourists. I finally arrived in Halls Creek, a largely aboriginal town with a sad reputation, where I had managed to pre-book an egregiously over-priced motel room, which I was glad of in the circumstances.  I was very tired towards the end of the day, and am looking forward to getting some uninterrupted (though short!) sleep tonight and another very early start for the 289km to Fitzroy Crossing where I have booked another expensive motel room.  There’s nothing between here and Fitzroy Crossing , but the road is relatively flat and swings towards the east so maybe the winds will be more favourable.  It looks like the rain is clearing.