Cycle Day 50 - Geraldton to Port Denison - Far too much luggage

June 28, 2024

Cycle Day 50 - Geraldton to Port Denison

Cycle Day 50 - Geraldton to Port Denison = 74km. 3972km cycle toured so far on this trip.

Dongara tourist Park- $31.50 with discount for unpowered

Well it was a completely relaxing day yesterday unfortunately stuck in our very comfortable cabin - in fact too comfortable that it was very hard to leave it this morning ... I secretly wished there was a forecasted torrential storm and absolutely no one was allowed to be on the roads and hence we would be stuck in this unfortunately comfortable cabin ... alas there was no such public warning! Here are a few photos

the bikes eventually came inside and we left them in the lounge

full kitchen with an oven that we heated our lasanga and apple pies in, sandwich press for our garlic bread and an electric frying pan for our rice stirfry .... we haven't eaten like this since we left home!

Thursday we had really heavy squally showers all day and one lot even produced small hail

We did monitor (on Elders) the rainfall for Geraldton and it wasn't much only what they forecasted and the totals between Wednesday and Thursday is what they predicted - a total of 40mm BUT listen to this - we were so glad we opted to come to here (Geraldton) and not Kalbarri - they got 125mm over the 2 days! We dodged a bullet there!

looking happy that we weren't in Kalbarri!

Between showers we did manage to get outside and walk down to the beach about 100m from the caravan park entrance - we got there but a long shower came through so we had to seek shelter outside the public toilets (yeah I know Sharon you can unscrew your nose we didn't have to seek refuge in them just under the eaves!)

We did use our time constructively while in the cabin - we sorted out our route to Perth (which by the way is now under revision after todays ride!), we worked out where we are going to stay and booked it, we worked out which train line to use to get through to Fremantle and then which one to get across to the East after we leave Rottnest Island, we also, actually it is more I have decided how we will celebrate our 27th anniversary and told Neil this is what we are doing but more on that later in case I or Neil chicken out!

So this morning we heard quite a few heavy showers early before day break and we remember seeing this on the forecast and by 8.20am we were ready to go as the last of the big showers had passed and it was blowing a north westerly and we wanted to utilise that tailwind. It was easy getting out of Geraldton and we took a detour around to see the Point Moore lighthouse which was behind the caravan park but we couldn't get to it yesterday.

We rejoined that yucky road we have been on since Carnarvon - the no.1 highway which is now called Brand Highway and it is worse than ever. It was really hard going for the whole day.

We also remembered that after rain while riding through town we would get serious vehicle spray - so our right sides were slightly damp. Most did there best when passing us to not create so much spray - but that is part in parcel with riding a bike so we were glad we kept our raincoats on.

Once out of Geraldton we go into flat farm land with the sandunes to our right

And also once out of Geraldton the traffic was bumper to bumper both ways for most of the day. To quote Neil "it was horrendous"

I think the problem with this highway since Carnarvon is that it is heavily used by Perth people and locals all the time. But there are very few overtaking lanes so traffic banks up very quickly - not because of us but they have made this highway the same speed limit as the rest of the highways in WA - 110km but if you are towing over a certain weight your speed limit is 100km (so that would be all trucks) and we all know caravaners sit on anywhere between 80-90km so this all adds to the banking up of traffic and long lines of traffic as especially today with the traffic heavy both ways there was no way anyone could over take so this made it extremely hard on us riding as we had absolutely no shoulder and it we did it was only about 20cm wide, it was a bonus if it got to 30cm wide.

To make matters even harder for us - the winds today were coming from the west or our right which affects us (east winds don't affect us at all) when handling the bikes - so oncoming traffic we get their drag front on and traffic going with us we get their drag by pulling us in so you have to be mindful after a truck passes that the bike will pull in and you have to counteract that and doing that in a shoulder that is 10-20cm wide is very hard - hence the change of path going to Perth. We will not continue on this road tomorrow or go down the coast road we will now try going inland more. The increase in traffic is due to school hols which starts now - so tomorrow is going to be just as bad and the Indian Pacific Drive is closed at the start of it and the detour is to Eneabba which is another 80km on that road and then across to the coast road which will be just as busy due to holiday makers moving about. So we just thought it probably would be safer and nicer for us to take a quieter inland road. Neil is currently working on it at the moment - I hope he is successful.

On a happier note after a slog on the road - our tailwind lasted until 40km and then the last 35km was into a headwind! We got to Dongara and picked up supplies from the IGA and there was an Op shop so I sent Neil in there to get me a reflective vest (my raincoat is purple which is a tad too dark and now I will be riding in my black merino vest so I just wanted something that is a bit brighter since no one in WA can drive appropriately!) So he finds one and funny enough he comes back with a bloody shopping bag so I knew he has got himself something! Yip a woollen jumper and a black long sleeve cotton shirt for riding as he will throw away his red shirt, as well as my reflective vest which we will share until we find a 2nd one - so whoever is at back will wear it! I then went in and got a new cycle shirt -long sleeve and have thrown away one of my shirts used for cycling and will throw the next one away once at Perth.

Happily we ride off for Port Denison - 7km away on the coast. We set up camp and have a long hot shower and heat up our leftover lasanga from last night and have a cuppa while wearing all our warm clothing!

After dinner we walked down and along the beach for a bit as you can see by what Neil is wearing it is not the same as Cable Beach in Broome!

We are looking toasty! and I did buy a beanie while in Geraldton!

Not sure where we will be tomorrow but Neil has announced that he has got us to Perth! You will have to come back tomorrow to see where we are!

Today's ride: 74 km (46 miles)
Total: 3,972 km (2,467 miles)

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