June 6, 2024 to June 8, 2024
Cycle days 34-36 - Port Hedland to Karratha
Cycle day 34 (Thursday 6 June) – Port Hedland to bushcamp 12km past West Peewah River = 93km. 2622km cycle toured so far on this trip.
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Not too sure on how warm it was when we got up this morning at 4.30am but cool enough that we had to put our long sleeves on. Todays high was about 27 degrees which is the norm for the next few days. The wind is still strong and blowing from the east and so we had a cross tailwind but enough to aid us along but not like the other day coming into Port Hedland where it really pushed us along.
As you can see we got up later this morning as we didn't want to ride in the dark through town and out on the shared highway with all the trucks so we thought it better to wait and leave just after day break so people could see us better – we still had our lights on to be seen rather than for us to see! It was nice getting up at that time and we have decided that since it is cooler weather that we would make that our new get up time.
So on the road at 6.15am and OMG it was busy and the shoulder is not the greatest. We rejoined the Great Northern hwy (No. 1)I and everyone is on this highway for 30km before it splits into the Great Northern hwy No. 95 and the Warlu Way or North West Coastal hwy No. 1. The Great Northern hwy goes to the mines and that is where (thankfully) everyone is going while we take the No.1 – coastal route down to Perth.
The 30km before the turnoff was worse than the 40km from Marble Bar Rd. Crikey I didn't think we were going to survive it. The shoulder was incredibly narrow and shitty and full of all manner of crap and the drop off was ... lets just say altitude sickness could be a problem if you had to get of the shoulder as it was a looooooooooooooong drop down! – No exaggeration there! Mine trucks were good and most of the mine cars were ok with us.
Everything in this region is cloaked in red dust – it is everywhere and on everything and nothing escapes not having a red glow
There were 2 rises/bumps in the road where you go up and over the railway line. We had one the day but the train was long gone by the time we got to it and at the top to get a photo of the train. But this morning the first bump in the road belonged to Twiggy (FMG – Fortesque Metals Group) and we were on our way down the bump when we saw the train so there was a wide shoulder on these bumps so we pressed ourselves up against the sides and took photos ...
Neil seems to think that the trains are driverless but this train tooted at us. So I am thinking that since it is on its way to the Ports at Port Hedland that maybe they are like ships and the trains have a land Pilot to navigate coming into ports?
Further on we come to Gina’s lot – Roy Hill. We were fortunate with this one as the train had to stop and the rear of the train had not quite made it thru the tunnel so again we stopped for photos as the shoulder was wide. But what shocked us was how empty the buckets were. Couldn't figure it out as you there was enough room in 1 bucket to have 2 buckets in it and so half the length of the train. What also surprise us was what iron ore in its raw form – it looks like coloured sand!
| Heart | 2 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Happy that we managed to get a sneak peak of what is actually in the trains and as we continue the traffic gets heavier and heavier. We are beginning to wonder where this turn off is. The road is relatively straight but off course of all the 100's of trucks that pass us there is always 1 that mucks up the perfect track record between us and them. Now I am gonna say it – it was the truck drivers fault. I don't know what this person was thinking but I betcha they had a kiniption when they slammed on the brakes and their trailers swerved and wheels came off the ground and nearly tipped over! So for some strange reason there was a corner on this road (it wasn't a sharp one but you definitely could see oncoming traffic whether it be mine ute or truck. For us there was freakishly (and fortunately) a really wide shoulder at that corner so we were as far over as possible for this corner so it trucks overtook us there was no need for them to go over to the other side of the road. There was at least a 1m gap between us and the white line, so plenty of room. Now this truck decided to move over half into the oncoming lane on this corner to give us a wider berth – why? Who knows what this person was thinking as clearly there was a mining ute coming in the opposite direction! So the Truck driver slams on the brake and this alerts us and I see in my rear vision mirror that it is a truck with 2 trailers and there is smoke but hardly any sound (which probably indicates the damn tyres are bold) the cab suddenly slows up, the first trailer goes one way wile the back trailer goes another and tilts and I think OMG – fortunately the mining ute has moved right over into their shoulder so the truck can regain control. All the meanwhile we see this all play out in our mirrors until the truck passes us really slowly, we think trying to recover from what has just happened. At first I think they are slowing down to stop and have a go at us but nope I think the driver was just a little rattled at their inattention to look for oncoming traffic especially on a corner or something was wrong with the truck.
What trucks have to realise is that I don't rely on their judgement for my safety – I rely on their judgement to aid my judgement for me to decide what is safe for me. I think some drivers (not just truck drivers) think they know what is best for my safety and that I don’t know what is best for me! I and I alone decide what I think to be safe for me and by no means is any drivers thinking of bike safety is correct. I think people would be pleasantly surprised as to what they thought is safe and ideal for cycling on the road – actually isn’t! Always ride in a shoulder this is safe – this statement is one of those that is not always correct!
We are not at all phased by what just played out but just think – what the heck was that truck driver thinking – just stupid. We continue on and a 20km we pull over and take a break and put what is usually on the front racks back – as we take them off for when the front light is in use. Neil then puts the solar panels on his trailer and I think his set up is quite good
Oh speaking of Neil – and bed update - can't quite remember if I mentioned the roadkill exped self inflating mattress was a failure. But at Port Hedland the outdoor stores only catered for the 4WD type camper -swags and air mattresses so thick you wonder why they wanna camp if they want to keep their home luxuries with them – anyway so good ole Kmart had this sort of blow up mattress that we though might be good to replace the foam mats, so we got it but that was a monumental fail so that went in the bin! So Neil is still with his bubble mattress and foam mats and he will try at Karratha – but looking online at the stores there – they too tend to cater for the 4WD camping market!
Finally at 30km we see the turnoff and boy it was a deathly silence along this road now! A bit like before the Marble Bar road – just sporadic traffic and it was great and the shoulder is back. It is a smooth one, just like a bike lane but for 1 thing – it has a new type of rumble strips and these are further in the shoulder compared to the usual white painted rumble strips. So a shoulder that is 75cm wide for us only about 35cm is useable as these newer types of rumble strips are just large divots cut out of the bitumen. They are deep as well – really deep that you can see just how deep as Neil is standing in them
No exaggeration there and Neil is not kneeling! LOL really they are just ridiculous and boy did Neil go on like a pork chop about them for hours! They are alot harder for us to cross over them and alot harder on the bike as the divots are servere.
| Heart | 2 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Fortunately to the left of them is nice and smooth for the rest of todays ride, except for when there is a floodway they are using chunky gravels and the shoulder part is not so formed. Also in the photo you can see just how far into the shoulder they are and how much the encroach on the useable shoulder.
The rest of the day is uneventful. The scenery is much the same – low lying shrubs and occasional gum trees when you cross a river or creek. But it doesn't matter if we are a bit out in the open as the traffic won't be that busy at night.
We find a suitable spot on the edge of a flood plain as we have to go down an embankment to get to the clearing with spindly trees for some form of cover!
We manage to get the bikes and trailers down the small embankment by unhitching the trailer and taking it down separately to the bike.
It is a nice spot and we will set up the tent later in the day.
Tomorrow we hope to do a similar day so our day into Karratha is an early one.
Cycle day 35 (Friday 7 June) – bushcamp 12km past West Peewah river to bushcamp 15km before Roebourne = 83km. 2705km cycle toured so far on this trip.
Neil was cold this morning and had to get out his woollen jumper and beanie – it was 11 degrees. I got out with just my merino on and that was enough. Didn't think it was that cold to warrant dragging out my woollen jumper. Neil tends to feel the cold a bit more than me – maybe I have more insulation! But it soon warmed up to a pleasant 28 degrees – sunny as always and clear skies all day. The wind is a little gentler today and blowing from an east south east at first then swinging around to an east north east for most of the day. It was a crosswind at first then swinging into a cross tailwind.
The new start time is good and I like it – just starting on light. However this morning there was heaps of traffic when we started from both directions – not sure what or where everyone was going to! Since we had to come down an embankment yesterday to set up camp we decided it would be best to push the bikes up the embankment to the edge of the road, then the empty trailers hitch them to the bike and then start carting everything up. Not much room for us to move with all the cars coming by as the shoulder is narrow and then the embankment starts.
In the meantime I have finally figured out where my flash is on the camera and managed to get this shot of Neil loading his bike beside the road
Starting out we were only gone a few kilometers and we lost our smooth shoulder (still had the blasted divots) and the road and shoulder became that chunky road again. We decided to ride predominantly on the road today and ducked into the shoulder when absolutely necessary. The shoulder was really hard to ride in as it was rough and the divots were still there but slightly covered by the new chunky road seal, then in some places the new seal covered up the old white paint style rumble strips so it was neigh on impossible to ride in, as shoulders are not quite made the same as the road itself – they don't have the traffic flow going over the seal to flatten the bumps and so can remain very bumpy.
The scenery has changed a bit today and we can see – Neil calls them “iron ore hills” which he is probably correct but in the morning sun they come out with nice shades of reds, oranges and even purples/maroon
Once through this wiggly bit of road that went in and around all these iron ore hills we come out to the plains and we can see black smoke way in the distance. It looked like it was in the same region that we saw yesterday afternoon and wondered if it was something to do with a burn off or something else (as it didn't seem to be moving at all.
Once we finally got to it we could see it was a grass fire and it was fortuitous that we arrived there at the same time as the fire truck did. It had burnt out most of the grass land on the nature strip to the fencing and there were spot fires everywhere but despite the wind they didn't seem to be moving. However there was an NBN relay station there and it looked like spot fires had been around that but there were still a few small fires around that – I assume the fire truck was there for the NBN relay station
I only stopped to take a photo, I didn't exactly want to stop and watch them put it out and sticky beak as to how it would be done – not like there was a major water source nearby!
Anyway we continued on and it wasn't an eventful day – only one incident where I nearly came a cropper on the bike – you remember a few paragraphs back I was having a whinge about the shoulder being impossible to ride in due to the divots ... well there was a quick shout from Neil to get in the shoulder so I quickly pulled into it (a quick shout means that 2 vehicles are going to meet and the one behind us is not going to ease up and the 3 of us are going to be lined up together) my bike crossed over the divots with such force that the bike reacted and I struggled to keep it under control ... next minute I am off the shoulder completely. I am leaning so far to my left so my weight pushes my center of gravity towards the right or road so I don't come off! I managed to pull it off but only after I had managed to break the world record in creative cursing and swearing.
After our 60km break we round a corner and our jaws dropped – bang goes our plans to have a bushcamp at around 20km before Roeburn – the roadside was just completely bare! It looked like the road from Winton to Hughenden in Queensland!
It was like this for about 23km to our campspot. Along the way we did come across a small river but that was too early to bushcamp - you'll like the name Ray!
As we got closer to another series of iron ore hills we came across a flood plain and there was an opening in the fence and this looked promising. It ended up being our spot for tonight.
| Heart | 2 | Comment | 0 | Link |
As you can see there is plenty of room and the 2nd photo looks like we must be near Coober Pedy!
Tomorrow it will be a short day of about 55km to Karratha.
Cycle day 36 (Saturday 8 June) – Bushcamp 15km before Roebourne to Karratha = 62km. 2767km cycle toured on this trip so far.
Early start this morning to try and make it a 1/2 rest day so the alarm went of at 4am. 11.5 degrees outside with all the stars out sparkling away. The day ended up being about 25 degrees so just a tad cooler than normal. The winds blowing from the east south east. So we had a tailish wind for some of the day.
We are staying at the Discover Park and with discount it is $45 powered (they don't have unpowered). They have a backpacker kitchen near the tent area and a bigger kitchen that is only open from 8am to 8.30pm and that is the one we are using as it is cleaner as I am gonna say it but European Backpackers are filthy pigs! Crikey every park that has had a communal kitchen they always leave it in an absolute mess and they always take over the pantry and fridge - hence why we are at the other kitchen - a longer walk but hey we need the exercise!
We didn't know how much traffic we would get today but guestimated that it would get heavier after going through Roebourne. Roebourne was about 15km away and it is a nice looking town - It must have been big when Neil came through last (35 years ago) as he said it had a woolies and campground -it now has neither of these. When you first enter you see the old colonial prison and that looks quite nice - although I would hate to hear the stories and history behind it
We were right about the traffic from Roebourne - it was heavy for all the 37km and it probably was the worst days ride we have ever experienced in our lives. By the time I got to Karratha I was absolutely wild and fed up with the attitude of drivers over all. Basically all day we had the drivers toot and beep at us and come alongside us really close as if to threaten us and intimidate us all because we were riding in the road where they thought we should be riding in the shoulder. I mentioned in the previous day that the shoulder is unridable as it is really too rough and narrow but it is something drivers can't see - all they see is the space in a shoulder that we should be riding in but that so called space is actually shit rough road that we just can't ride in but alas driver ignorance reigns supreme here in Australia. Quite frankly if there was a crash between 2 cars or trucks (unrelated to us on bikes) I would have just ridden right past it and not bothered rendering any assistance to any damn driver that was stuck or injured I was that mad with the drivers today. Cleanaway trucks and some concreting trucks were the no.1 culprits.
Below is a picture of the typical shoulder we have had for 2 days now, not a great photo but really I have labelled what things are - it is more a textural thing these shoulders!
By the time we got to Karratha we both hated the place and everyone in it. Neil was amazed at the amount of cars and where they all came from or lived.
The caravan park is nice and we are here to 2 days. We did all our shopping this afternoon so we don't have to ride the 6km in to the supermarket and 6km back out. I hope I haven't forgotten anything for the next 9 days!
We will be bypassing Coral Bay and taking that day and putting in at Kalbarri as I hadn't put that on our places to go until Neil mentioned it. So there is really nothing to see at Coral Bay that we can't see further down when the road is closer to the ocean and Coral Bay is only over priced, over crowded and over stated!
It should take us 8 cycle days to get to Canarvon and we will take a rest day at Nanutarra roadhouse.
Today's ride: 238 km (148 miles)
Total: 2,767 km (1,718 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 2 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |