OnYaBike Sydney to Perth 2008

Thursday

Very hot and muggy day in Lancelin, email, rest, phone, website. Morning spent in caffe reading the paper,tea, sandwiches, cake etc etc.

Spent the night at the main caravan park $13.50 for a powered site under a tree at the back of the park. Heavy rain during the early morning got into the zippers of my bivvy bag so escaped to under the awning of the caravan opposite.

During the night a fox got into a minor bit of my gear. Greg, the park handiperson woke me with a fright when he came in intending to do some work on the awning before the owners arrived later. The rain was so torrential he abandoned the idea and went back to his workshop to have a smoke.

Wednesday

Cycled the remaining 25kms into Lancelin this nmorning arriving about 9am. Had a good sit down in the cafe drinking black tea and toasted sandwiches and softdrink and cake! Figured I hadn’t had a treat really since leaving Fremantle. Update the website, email, wash clothes, body. A chance to go to thje local infirmary to get myself checked out for more ticks as I had to pull 4 off this morning who had started to dig themselves in. Will have a few days off at this neat comprehensively equipped little holiday village before tackling the 4km hill to get out of here.Very hot and muggy day just like the build up to the wet season in NT. Slept opppsite the first tee at the local golf course in a rest shelter. Got away early not wanting to encounter any early morning golfers not that there wasn’t much chance of that with the westerly
gale that was blowing.

Tuesday

Up early hard day’s going today as hot and road quite hilly traversing the sand dunes - some pretty steep - road usually good with generous shoulder although ocassonal 5 to 10km stretches with none at all. Camped about 25kms out from Lancelin by the road side. A couple of fierce electrical storms at night afforded a good test for my new’bivvy’ bag. It proved waterproof but a fair bit of comdenstion made the sleeping bag a litte damp but nothing serious. Unlike the tick
plague encountered these last few days. Big brown, sometime yellow leg spotted ticks everwhere. I wondered if they were the sort uninterested in human blood until I found a few comforably attached ready for the big drink. Pulled about 6 ticks off today. Had a good night despite the thunder, lightening and rain.

Monday

Up before sunrise to avoid the dog and the heat. Got onto highway 60 going north. Got as far as the Yanchipp National forest before calling a halt due to the rising temp. Getting quite hot quite early in the day now - have to be careful of the old engine - don’t want it overheating and blowing a valve. Decided to skip the rest of the day as it’s too hot and I haven’t had a full day off for ages. Had a good night’s rest, clear sky no sign of rain.

SundayWoke to an easterly gale that made cycling uncomfortable;  at least not a headwind. Met a man just on leaving the park who was metal detecting the sand pits around the kid’s swings; the theory being, I suppose, that
when you swing high the chances are good any coin in your pocket is likely to fall out. He said the pickings were not good at tis time of the year.

Stopped at Ocean reef boat harbour for a break from the wind and fasting. Too hot to go anywhere by about midday so
went to the movies instead at Joondalup. Saw ‘Max Payne’, the title says more about the emotional experience of enduring the bad dialogue and incredilous script but in the ‘bangs for your buck’ categorgy its value even through to the the very last noisy credit.

Cycled for a couple of hours after still following the coast. Found a hidy hole to camp in in a tiny surbaan park behind a set of ovals off the road heading east to Worrnbull road. Had a reasonable night’s rest drspite the yapping dog in the property next door who was covinced I shouldn’t be there.