I rode 4,800km over 54 days, plus 16 rest days, making a riding day average of around 90km.  

Riding from Katherine to Broome was heaps of fun. The highway to Kununurra was more scenic than I was expecting, the Gibb River Road is stunning and Broome is a great destination. 

I was pleased I had taken the dehydrated food but I don’t think it was strictly necessary. It just made it easier to eat vegetables. My bike, with 2.6” tubeless tyres was a good choice, although I do think my surly ogre would’ve made it fine. Water was not an issue with a filter as there were heaps of nice flowing creeks to fill up at. All the caravanners were friendly and generous, I felt like a minor celebrity because I was travelling at a similar speed to a lot of people and everyone noticed me on the road. Obviously the corrugations were tiresome, especially in the eastern half, but it was worth it for the gorges! 

Riding from Broome to Perth is really only worth it if you have a stubborn and goal oriented personality and want to ride all the way  around Australia. If you’re just looking for a nice cycle touring holiday, look elsewhere! 

If you do ride the west coast, I reckon Coral Bay, Hamelin and Kalbarri are all must stop destinations. Exmouth is a bit tricky, unless it’s whale shark season, cause the best parts around it, the canyons, Yardie Creek and Turquoise Bay, would be hard to cycle to. I wouldn’t rate Denham as worth the cycle up. 

It was not logistically as challenging as I thought it might be. I didn’t have to go more than one night without water, and I didn’t filter out of rivers at all. So I only needed to carry ~10 litres. But where I was getting water was roadhouses, endlessly about 100 - 150km apart with generally low scrub between. I didn’t mentally prepare properly, because I thought the Broome - Karratha stretch would be a slog, but really it was the same down to Kalbarri, which is why I was so disappointed in Carnarvon. Also, objectively, I think most people would agree Carnarvon is a bit of a hole. 

I think the time of year was right. If I had’ve been a bit earlier I might not have had such persistent headwinds from coral bay south but it would probably have been colder and wetter so I’m happy with my choice. 

My bike was not the right choice for so much highway riding. It doesn’t fit me as well as my surly, and the tyres were too big and not hardy enough. Also, with the distances, the sealant in my tubeless tyres ran out. I reckon I would’ve changed my tubes on my schwalbe touring tyres less often on my surly than I had to change my tubes/tyres. I remain unconvinced by tubeless tyres for touring. 

But otherwise, my bike ran smoothly from Kununurra, with only that service in Karratha. There’s no guarantee that my old surly would’ve done that, although I’m definitely going to return the surly to road touring service. 

It was lovely that Mum and Dad came over. Not only was it comforting to have a back up option, and handy to take cheat trips, it also made it much less solitary, and it could’ve been a long lonely stretch. 

All in all, I’m stoked to have completed a big chunk of the perimeter of Australia, and to have spent a good amount of time in WA. It’s such a huge state, the previous one or two week trips I’ve done had barely scratched the surface.

There’s still lots to explore over in WA, which I will leave for the Perth - Adelaide leg, and for when I come back to complete the Munda Biddi, which is the most amazing cycle path ever. Go and do it!