Day: 113km
Ride time: 5hours 55minutes
Today felt like forever. I woke up as the sun rose, which made for a very beautiful morning. This is perhaps one of the simple pleasures I most enjoy on the bike, waking up to a beautiful sun rise, looking through my open tent upon the beauty of the interior landscape. You can see the heat in the distance, creating some type of mirage in the foreground, only to be overtaken by a bright orange band in the sky. The birds become active and the mosquitos disappear for the heat tolerant flies to take over. This is the start of another day.
I stopped at the road house 12 km away to fill up a few drink bottles. I was fortunate a fellow traveler was working behind the counter as he promised to fill my bottles for free. As he finished off what he was doing another worker came to tell me I had to pay for the water, only for the other fella to come back and say it was alright. I didn't want to take advantage of this situation so only had two of my bottles filled, rather than the four I wanted done. It's these type of people that really make for a memorable trip, as such simple small gestures go such a long way.
I bumped into my German friends again as they stayed here at the road house last night. The thought entered that it must of cost quite a bit to stay here, and I also wandered what difference their experience would of been to that of mine sleeping in the bush. We had a good chat, as I had only planned 130 odd km for today giving me ease for the day ahead. It felt great knowing I had a little time up my sleeve. They are heading to the coastal side towards Monkey Mia and Shark Bay. I have heard many great things about these spots yet have decided not to go as it will be close to a 300km detour. It is not only the additional km of riding, but cost and also time. I would probably have to load up in a roadhouse, which would be a very costly procedure. After talking with the Germans I decided to see the Stromatolites which are 30km in along the coastal road. This way I can do it on my existing supplies and not add too much extra time on my trip. This also meant I had about 40km less to cycle today.
I stopped for a short breather at the next roadhouse. This was 40km past the previous one and the last before the Stromatolites. Here I met an older Irish couple who had just cycled up to Monkey Mia. They also stopped at the Stromatolites and did not recommend them to me. The Stromatolites are living organisms that are said to be over two billion years old. They are believed to be the first oxygen producing organisms in the whole world, essentially paving the way for earth as we know it. These are located in only three places in the whole world and one just so happens to be here on the coast of W.A. Naturally I was curious to see such unique life forms yet did have my suspicions they would look no different to a bunch of rocks. The Irish couple informed me exactly that, they appear exactly as rocks scattered along the coast. The down side is they may also be covered by low tide so it depends really on the time I arrive. It is also not possible to swim there.
I decided that I would skip this and just keep heading north. It is a shame to miss so many interesting spots but being solo on the bicycle you are really limited to the amount of places you can see. The Irish couple found the cycling so unbearable they actually had to book a taxi back from Monkey Mia all the way to the main road.
They were very friendly people and were very curious of my journey so far. They started in Perth and have planned to head up to Darwin. They were very happy that they didn't have to pay for a taxi in the end as they managed to score a lift with a road train. They said that because of this good fortune they wanted to treat me to a hamburger. I chose a fish burger instead and enjoyed my first proper lunch since I've left Perth.
After this I rode off with them in the north direction. It was a strong headwind and they were struggling to get through it. I kept on going and managed to get 30km or so before the next roadhouse. I thought this would be ok as it means in an hour and a half I can get there in the morning to reload on my water supplies.
Before I finished for the day I had a screw come off my back rack. This has been causing me trouble or quite some time now. It was actually the sole thing I wanted fixed in Perth, but yet again the person must have been incompetent in his job to not have put a simple lock nut onto the screw. It is hard to tell the difference between a lock nut and standard nut, as I didn't want to screw it off to double check. It is even more reason to just do everything your self when it comes to reassuring safety such as this. I rode for about 25km with one side of the rack hanging lower then the other. This was hard riding as I was trying very carefully to not move the bike side to side, so not to put extra pressure on the carrying rack. The land was open shrubs and was very uninviting for a tent spot. I kept going until I saw a sign saying "Look out spot". I decided in the last minute to go up as I thought it would be secluded enough to set up my tent. I also hoped I have a bit of open space to work on my bike.
It was like heaven. I pulled up and had a full 360 degree view of mostly untouched natural bush land. I had the sea in sight and could also see small rocks along the coast. These may have actually been the Stromatolites. There were also other campers around so it provided some company to enjoy such a beautiful place. This was a feeling close to being in heaven. A fellow camper came up and offered some cold fruit juice. I really can't believe my luck!!
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