Perth to Mullewa
Getting to the starting point was super stressful as the bike took way longer to load than expected plus Transperth had unexpectedly cancelled train services between Mandurah and Rockingham so I became stranded and inevitably late. After some help I arrived in Kings Park ready to go. Thanks to everyone that came down to help me start the journey, it was awesome!
As I was starting later than expected I had to rush to get to my first campsite in Yanchep National Park. It was the first time I’d ridden the bike fully loaded and it took some getting used to. Especially when the cycle paths ended and I had to ride on the road alongside cars. I got in around sundown but couldn’t manage to find the ‘bush camping’ area as indicated by the symbol on my map so I found a nice hidden spot near the golf course. I set up the tent incorrectly three times as it was dark, and similarly the first time I’d tried to assemble it. I settled in for a cold night. I decided to spend the following day at Yanchep reorganising my gear and grabbing a few extra hours of sleep as I was still pretty exhausted from the day before.
After recharging the batteries I set off to Ledge Point as my friend has a holiday house there and said I could stay there a night if I wanted to. It was a fantastic day for cycling and I was happy to set off. I had a late start as I was still getting used to packing up everything efficiently (whilst trying to avoid being seen by the NP gardener mowing some lawn nearby my camp). I stopped at Moore River for lunch and met some nice people there. One guy was completely loving what I was doing and told me that when he was around my age he’d kitesurfed from Perth to Geraldton in four days carrying provisions in a backpack. Gnarly!! I got to the holiday house and was glad to have a warm bed for the night as it’d been pretty cold in the tent. The electric kettle was a novelty too.
The next two days of coastal cycling were excellent as the landscape switched between green pastures, coastal scrub and sand dunes. One night I slept in a drainage culvert beside the road and another was spent in a sea of sand dunes after becoming a bit lost at night. I was pretty used to the traffic, which consisted mainly of cars towing caravans and boats, and I was lucky enough to meet a couple of touring cyclists along the way. One bloke was riding from Darwin to Perth! It’s pretty much the same trip as mine but in reverse, so I spent ages picking his brain about his experiences and how he’d gone living on the road. I had my first stack as I forgot to grab my helmet when I left in the morning and did a u-turn on the road to go pick it up. Towards the conclusion of the u-turn I lost speed, lost balance and forgot to unclip from my pedals. I went over sideways on the bitumen but the panniers took most of the fall. All because I forgot to put my helmet on!
After Leeman I headed inland to Eneabba. I found a honey farm on the way and I witnessed another amazing sunset.
After Eneabba I started to head north on backroads towards Mingenew. I was loving this country, which changed between scrubby nature reserves and rolling green pastures. I saw my first reptiles on the trip – three bobtails, I learnt the joys of soft corrugated gravel roads, and I got to stay on a lovely farm.
The next day I had a feast in Mingenew (great bakery) and made my way to Coalseam Conservation Park. It was one of my bigger days; 85km, but it was all enjoyable. I met some horses that galloped alongside the road to keep up with me and when I got to the end of their paddock they let me feed them over the fence. I felt like a cowboy. The views and scenery at the CP were well worth the diversion. When the stars came out they were the brightest I’d ever seen. It was unreal.
I was heading to Mullewa and planned to have a break as my legs were absolutely spent and my butt hurt. All that stood in my way were massive hills, headwinds, and rack/mudguard issues. The scenery was still amazing but it was hard to enjoy it when I was so exhausted. I got to visit some abandoned town halls on the way which was cool/spooky. Such a shame, they were beautiful buildings. Mullewa is a sleepy little town and I’ve been resting and eating (a lot) here for the last few days. The rest has been great but I’ve got itchy feet again so I’m jumping back on the bike today to head to Wooleen Station where I’ll be volunteering for a week or two on one of their ongoing projects before heading northwest to Karrijini. For every day that I’ve spent on the road I could easily say it has been the best day of cycling of my life, maybe with the exception of the stresses of leaving Perth, and struggling into Mullewa. It’s going to get a lot more rugged now as I move into the Gascoyne/Pilbara regions but I can’t wait to get out there.