September 24, 2022
Day 68: Watheroo to Koojan Salmon Gums
I heard it start raining just after 6. It seemed to stop so I got up a bit after 7 but it was still drizzling in a light mist so I went back to bed until after 8. Then I checked the radar and saw there were showers coming so I packed up while my tent was not too wet. I went across the road to the park and sat at a sheltered picnic table while it rained, eating a brownie I’d bought from the Mingenew bakery yesterday. Finally, around 10, it cleared and I thought I’d better head off.
It was much flatter than the way into Watheroo, which was good cause I didn’t need anything else slowing me up, the wind was doing a good job of that. It was quite pleasant cycling through the fields of wheat or grazing sheep. Occasionally the road passed through casuarina swamp which is probably more ecologically beneficial but not as nice to ride through. It rained again but only for about ten minutes and then I dried out quickly in the wind.
I stopped 7k out of Moora at the Dalaroo nature reserve which has some impressive signs about Carnaby’s cockatoo and wildflowers but also a lot of blue metal (gravel) for the roads, dog poo, rubbish, a big brown snake and a lot of puddles so I didn’t walk through it. I did realise there though, thanks to a message from Dad, that I hadn’t turned on my tracker.
As I’ve gotten further south the soil must be getting better as the trees have got much taller south of Mingenew and I was often riding alongside nice, if narrow, stands of trees on the roadside
I made it into Moora about 12:30. It is a big town with an industrial estate, two supermarkets and a French cafe/ bistro. When I was scoping café’s in Moora last night it said it was still open but when I checked its location today it said closed 1pm on a Saturday. So I hustled across the railway line to arrive at quarter to one. It’s in the old Moora club building and is like walking off the street in Moora into a boutique in Bulimba. They were playing French pop songs and selling all manner of fancy decorative things. They were also still serving coffee so I got a cappuccino and a goats cheese and onion tart. On paper a similar lunch to yesterday but very different in reality. The coffee and tart were both delicious! I also got a piece of cheesecake for dessert which was delightful.
I went across the road to the fairly uninspiring park to eat lunch and realised there was a family whats app chat happening. Jen remembered the French shop in Moora being surprising and having delicious food!
After that, Moora went downhill for me because the caravan park was fully booked, even though there was no one in the tent sites yet. To be fair, it wasn’t a large area that they have but I’m also quite small. And I got swooped by a magpie leaving the caravan park. Luckily Ivan’s brim protects me pretty well from magpies as well as the sun.
Anyway, I decided that seeing as it was still early afternoon I could ride on to one of the two wiki camp sites that didn’t sound all that great. The first someone had had a creepy experience at and the second is supposed to only be for self contained vehicles. I hightailed it out of Moora in a huff so didn’t do it justice. Although I still reckon Jeanne d’Moore would’ve been the highlight no matter how long I stayed.
It was pretty windy. Although it was still flat it took me 50 minutes to get 10k. The road has changed names from the Midlands Road to the Bindoon-Moora road which sounds less important but it has been upgraded to have a shoulder which I haven’t had since before Kalbarri!
The first wiki camps site is the Koojan Salmon Gums reserve which is as nice as it sounds. There’s another caravan here with a totally normal looking couple and a picnic table so I decided to stay here. There’s no toilet though but you can’t have everything I guess.
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It’s largely been cut down for agriculture but this bit is left as it was gazetted for the town of Koojan but the town never developed beyond a post office and railway siding. This is why they say the Carnaby’s cockatoo is endangered cause it has to nest in trees that are at least 120 years old. There still seem to be a fair few screeching around though.
I made dinner early to get into my tent before it was too cold and mosquito plagued. I’m staying in a B&B tomorrow night because I couldn’t find a campsite for tents in Bindoon. After I booked it I found one not on WikiCamps but on a fancy site called hipcamp that clearly the grey nomads don’t use. But anyway, it’s called Bindoon windmill farm so it sounds nice if expensive. That means tonight will hopefully be my last night of camping before Perth. I’ve been thinking about the beginning of the trip as I approach the end. The first night I camped was at Mathieson Rest Area. This is much colder, there’s no dunnies to be stinky and it’s a much more modified landscape. Although for only about 150k out of Perth it’s still very broad scale agriculture and not much sign yet of urban sprawl.
Today's ride: 55 km (34 miles)
Total: 4,690 km (2,912 miles)
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