September 3, 2022
Day 47: Giralia to Bullara (+cheat side trip to exmouth)
I woke up just before 6, and it wasn’t too windy or raining. So I hustled out. By which I mean I started riding by 7:10.
The rain had made the dirt road sticky and I got lots of dirt flung onto the back of my legs.
The wind wasn’t too strong, I was doing about 16k an hour, which felt a big improvement on yesterday! It was also quite clear.
As you’d expect on the sand dunes, there’s only shrubs and low trees in the creeks. After some undulations over the sand dunes, the road seemed to drop down.
I’m not sure where that elevation came from but I wasn’t complaining as the westerly wind was picking up. I could see the turn off for Bullara coming for ages as traffic was streaming out. I rode in about 10, and found Mum and Dad had just talked to reception about somewhere to leave my bike and some stuff so I could fit in the car.
Bullara is huge. I thought Giralia was an operation but this is at least five times as big and the cafe was heaving. They’ve converted the shearing shed to the cafe here. We had a coffee and I had a scone with jam and cream. Another tough day.
I have decided I have done enough cycling to not feel bad about getting a lift up to exmouth. And the road wasn’t great for cycling, with no shoulder. I think it will be like that south as well but at least I avoided this bit.
We went to the visitors centre where they’ve got a big display on the history of Exmouth, which was basically:
- the Dutch mapped it in the 1600s
- some Croatians got shipwrecked in the 1880s and the two that didn’t eat poisonous beans got saved by the Yinikurtira who sounded like lovely people
- who then got displaced and probably murdered by pastoralists in the early 20th century
- the Americans set up a base in WWII to be closer to the Asian battlefields than Freemantle but it was too cyclone and drought prone
- in the 1960s, the Americans again wanted a base, this time for very low frequency communication with satellites so they then built the entire town of Exmouth in a few years. most Australians lived in the caravan park for years while they built houses.
- when the Americans left in the 1990s it transitioned to a tourist town and everyone went back to living in caravans
Also it got destroyed by a cyclone in 1999.
There was also an aquarium with amazing fish and a display on the cave fauna in the Cape Range.
I saw my friend from the turn off Rest Area yesterday, as well as Vicky and Steve. We had lunch at the visitors centre cafe then headed up Charles Knife Road which had amazing views of the canyons in the Cape Range.
I would not have bothered riding up there but it was way more amazing than I’d thought it would be.
Back at Bullara, we’re staying in fairly small rooms in the shearing lodge but have access to basically another whole house with a kitchen and very comfy couches. I was able to spread my damp things around the room, do laundry and hang my tent on the line, although it then rained again in a few heavy showers.
I won scrabble due to the potentially dubious rule that you get points added if you finish first but I’m claiming it.
Today's ride: 35 km (22 miles)
Total: 3,375 km (2,096 miles)
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