I forgot to mention a few things about yesterday’s ride –
more strange sights along the Nullarbor. The guy I saw pushing the cart on my
way out last week, well I saw his cart pulled up at Nullarbor Roadhouse. No
sign of the crazy dude though. A touring cyclist – crazy. At two places, fellas
pedalling recumbent bicycles enclosed in streamlined fairings, one pink the
other lime green. Yup, crazies.
I saw a biker pulled over on the side of the road ahead so
stopped to check he was OK. He was riding some kind of Yamaha cruiser, I don’t
know them well enough to know which one. By his accent I guess he was German, but
what kind of German tours on anything but a BMW? He told me he had an oil warning
light on so he was just topping up with oil. This guy is miles away from
anywhere and doesn’t seem that bothered by an oil light. He tells me he’s
riding around Australia, started at Sydney, been through Melbourne and was
making his way to Perth. I leave him to
it and I see him again at the next roadhouse where I’m getting something to
eat. He wasted no time in getting to know two girls travelling in a combi van
in the opposite direction – he enlisted one to sit on his bike to keep it
upright while he put even more oil into it! I hope he makes it – I didn’t see
him again.
A few hours down the road, again I see a biker pulled over
on the other side of the road so I stop to check on him too. A rough looking
DRZ400 with long range fuel tank and a milk crate tied to the back as a top
box. Standing beside it is an old Japanese guy eating something I couldn't
identify. He told me he’s biking around Australia. He started in Sydney, had travelled
around the top end and was making his way east back to Sydney. Of these two
guys making it all the way around, my money’s on the DRZ!
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| A bit of a circus to pitch the tent but ready for supper |
Back to my overnight camp – first time I’ve ever bush
camped. I’d ridden down a dirt track that came off a rest stop that was empty
when I came across it, but a couple of hours after dark a truck must have
pulled up in it and left his engine idling for about an hour. I should have
gone further down the track out of earshot. Woke up a few times with my old
bones finding the camping matt a bit hard. Still, I got a fair bit of sleep and
was woken up by the dawn chorus. I planned to get breakfast in Norseman about
an hour & half away so get packed quickly and get going. It turns out that
I’d done such a good job of packing all the camping gear into the drybag back
at home that I couldn’t fit it all back in now! I have to leave the tent out of
the drybag and strap it onto the bike separately. I think I gave the truck driver in the rest stop a bit of a
scare when I emerged from the track fully loaded, rode past him and onto the
highway.
 | |
| Epic selfie fail |
Nothing remarkable on the way to Norseman but as it marks
the end of the Eyre Highway I was glad to see it. Breakfast, organise some
accommodation in Esperance for the night and hit the road. I take in Cape Le
Grand on the way – fabulous white beaches edging some bloody cold ocean!
Esperance is busy – looks like half of this half of WA has
come here for the Easter weekend. The camp sites and caravan parks are busting
at the seams. Out to get some dinner early evening and the hotels are already
heaving. I chatted to a guy who had spent 10 hours driving here with his
family, towing a camper trailer who was here for a week. The irony was that he
lives in Busselton, a favourite Easter destination for people from Perth!
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