September 21, 2022
Day 65: Northampton - Ellendale Pool
The tent area at the caravan park was right down on a gully and my tent was really wet with dew this morning. I had scoped out a cafe that opened at 6 yesterday so decided to go there for coffee after packing everything but my tent and hope it dried a little. The cafe advertised award winning vanilla slice so I got one for morning tea.
I took my coffee for a walk to the old railway station. The line through Northampton was the first state government owned railway line in WA. It ran up to near where I camped at the Kalbarri turnoff for about 40 years until the 1950s.
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My tent was drier on the one side that was getting a little bit of sun and breeze but the other sides were all still sopping wet. But there was a big bank of cloud in the east so the sun wasn’t making an appearance soon so I had to pack it up wet and go.
I trundled up the hill out of town, back on the North West Coastal Highway for a few kilometres then turned off to Nabawa.
I’m still not sure where the emphasis is in its pronunciation but I did find out they think it’s based on an Aboriginal word for a far away camp. It did feel far away when after an hour of very pleasant but slow cycling through hills with a headwind I saw a roadsign saying Northampton 10. I started to worry I’d never make my destination. But then the road descended into Chapman Valley proper and flattened out so I made the next 14k to Nabawa in about 40 minutes. Or maybe the sign was a little wrong.
Nabawa is a cute town, it’s got a pub, a school, an unmanned petrol station and is the Chapman Valley shire hub so has the council building, library, and big sports ground.
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The road got a bit busier after Nabawa and there were some road trains from another quarry. Only about 8k further on I reached Nanson. I was already amused by its Main Street being called East Terrace which seemed grandiose for a track, then I passed a sign saying “museum: open Wednesday 8-12 and Saturday.” Someone had put a hand written sign out on the road saying it was the best rural museum in west aust. How could I resist?
If you didn’t know it was a museum, you might think you had walked into a seniors morning tea in a hoarders shed. The volunteers all seemed a bit surprised to see me walk in. There was so much stuff. It was better laid out but not as interesting as the Wyndham museum. Maybe I didn’t read the interesting early info but there was a lot of not that old stuff and really minute detail about families and sporting clubs.
They had done a lot of research into all the men from the Chapman Valley who died in WWI to give them all stories, which was interesting. A lot of them were English born. There was also an extremely well maintained machinery shed full of old tractors and a tiny cottage where the clerk of the roads board lived. Apparently he was quite a catch despite having tiny lodgings.
The Chapman valley shire seemed to be born out of the roads board in the 1960s, and the historical society was born to keep the roads board building when it was slated for demolition.
The museum was also a nice place to eat my vanilla slice. I’d believe it’s the best in WA before I believe the museum.
Nanson had two delightful churches. It was on another railway line but all that remains of it is a falling down bridge in Nanson.
By now it was past 11am. I am unaccustomed to having things to look at during the day, it really eats into my riding time. So I set off again through the valley. It was getting a bit more rural residential and busier when I turned off into another road which delivered me out of the valley without climbing any hills. I don’t really understand how that happened.
I celebrated by getting a lime soft drink and an ice cream at the Moonyooka store and eating them while watching a plane take off from the Geraldton airport. I was only 12k from Geraldton but didn’t go in. I could tell I was close to civilisation though as the road around the airport had bike signs and must be a popular training run. There are three roads running parallel to the coast: the highway, another sealed road and Arthur Road which is half unsealed but quiet.
The wind had swung around to be west/south west which was great until I turned west and had to head up a hill and the flies were all in my face again. But once I got to the top of the hill I was in a wind farm so that was fun.
The road into Ellendale pool unfortunately leaves the highway up on the ridge so it’s going to be a stiff climb out in the morning. The road crosses the Greenough river and it’s a fairly unremarkable burbling stream but there’s a massive waterhole only a few hundred metres up with a cliff on one side. It’s very pretty and quite popular. When the water is over 24 degrees there’s a risk of amoebic meningitis. I doubt it’s that warm cause I don’t think the day temperatures are much above that but I didn’t care to risk it. Also it’s cold.
Today's ride: 105 km (65 miles)
Total: 4,410 km (2,739 miles)
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