September 9, 2022
Day 52: Yalabia Rest Area to Carnarvon
It was cool and not windy this morning at the rest area. I didn’t try to hurry out and left packing my tent til last as it was wet with condensation but the sun didn’t peek over the sand dunes til nearly 7, by which time I was nearly ready to go so I packed it up with a lot of moistures and red dirt on it.
The wind was very low today so I made good time through scrubby sand dunes, until the country levelled out a bit to scrubby plains. There was a bit of water around in puddles from the rain last week.
When I started riding, the southern half of the sky was cloudy and the northern half clear. It was like looking into a different day in my mirror. Eventually the clouds took over.
About 40k out from Carnarvon I noticed my back tyre becoming flat. I tried to plug the hole and made it worse. The tyre turns out to be quite easy to remove so I put some more sealant in, which I think was actually the problem.
My plug fell out so I had to stop again about 20k out. I thought I had just got the plug in when a car pulled up and it was Vicky and Steve who has been camping at Quobba blowholes last night and were heading towards Geraldton.
The plug stayed in to Carnarvon. I did notice the tread is very worn so have arranged to get a new tyre in Geraldton. I thought Carnarvon would be the start of civilisation but it’s not really, I think that might be Geraldton, another 500k south. This state is so massive!
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That was still more than 10k from town so I turned onto the South River Road to get off the highway a bit. The road went along with one side being gum trees lining the river and the other being intense horticulture like I haven’t seen since Kununurra.
Most of the farms had “no work” signs up, the first I’ve seen in a while. I was congratulating myself on avoiding the highway all the way into town when I realised I was still 5k from the centre but at least there was a bike path.
Mum and Dad had booked four nights in a cabin in a caravan park in Carnarvon, mostly to wait for me to get to my next cheat side trip to Denham. Their cabin has two bunk beds and a double bed, how convenient. Dad messaged me the name of the park and as I crossed the road I saw Mum at the washing line behind their cabin. Dad was also coming out to get me as he’d seen me cycling and thought I’d missed the park, but I was just getting to the crossing point.
They took me to their favourite cafe in Carnarvon, and the only one open in the afternoon as it was nearly 2 by then. Apparently it’s a morning town. It’s a coffee, soup and smoothie place. I thought about ordering all three but the guy seemed a bit confused by our order already so I just went with a potato and leek soup and mango and banana smoothie. The soup came with delicious toasted olive bread and we ate it looking at the waterfront estate of Carnarvon.
I went to the sports shop and got some more sealant. They again didn’t have tubes or tyres big enough for my bike. But I did find a camping shop to get a new gas bottle as mine is running low. Its done well from Kununurra but I don’t want to have to have a raw diet. I also topped up on sunscreen and apples from woollies.
Mum and Dad has picked out the Bamboo Wok for dinner which was really a takeaway place with a few tables in a courtyard. They also didn’t have half the items on the menu available but we did get spring rolls and two stir fry vegetable dishes which were tasty, and they even gave us cutlery. No plates though.
Today's ride: 90 km (56 miles)
Total: 3,680 km (2,285 miles)
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