Tag: rally-2013

The trip down to Augusta was something I was definitely looking forward to. I’d heard it was a good ride meandering through the Margaret River region.

Nearly the entire road has an over hanging canopy and the old giant trees started to appear.

 

A quick visit to this lovely town, now sadly remembered mostly for the 1996 tragedy where a cliff face fell on a group of people watching a surfing carnival. 5 adults and 4 children were killed.

 

Formerly known as Yalingup Caves, were my next stop. I’d been here before but a long time ago.

It started with me negotiating my first real stretch of gravel on my bike. This was something I’ve always been afraid of. This was also the nasty ball bearing gravel and was very much a “tighten your sphincter” moment.

Typing the bike over is easy if a wheel slips. Since the bike weighs in at over 320kg (without extra luggage), picking it up on gravel is almost impossible when you don’t have a decent foothold yourself. Anyway, practice makes perfect I guess. I managged it Ok but I’m still avoiding the damn stuff where possible.

Back to the travelog…

Caves were excellent. However, after 10  minutes I did remember something about then from my last visit: frigging humidity!

That with my high level of fitness (not)
Had me sweating profusely in no time. Not pleasant with all of that safety gear to put back on but well worth it nonetheless.

I did take some photos but they’ll need some work due to the poor lighting.

I managed to catch up with Hope (Ellie’s sister) for a quick cuppa on the way through Busselton.

The kids were at school of course and Jeffro happened to be in Perth (training I think). However, the little whore was there as usual…

 

Well, it changed when I got to Mandurah. I figured I had plenty of time so I went left to Dwellingup and then through the State forest again.

It was a really nice way to start the trip. Over hanging trees, cool (only 19!), and no one else around.

 

Well, it’s almost all sorted. It’s been about 6 months in the planning, but I think I’ve finally got it worked out. I do have to remember though, a plan is just a plan and is subject to change. While I think I have a good estimate for hours/day and KM/day of riding, I’m prepared to go with the flow.

Continue reading “Rob’s Big U-Turn”

Clearly anxiety is setting in. Only a few more days to go and I’m on my trip.

I’m now starting to watch the long range weather forecasts which are indicating a chance of a storm around Ravensthorpe as I’m passing through.

The rain doesn’t bother me, but I’m not looking forward to pitching a tent in a storm. Also, will it just follow me across the Nullabor and spoil the whole trip?

I guess this is part of the adventure. It wouldn’t be worth doing if it was boring.