Circumnavigation of Oz take 2

In Coral bay for elevensies, seen heaps of wildlife, from 6 foot emus, to little mice sized buggers that hop across the road like a kangaroo. So far I have taken out a finch, and a pink and grey galah that really took a liking to my helmet. It didn't survive.

Lots of cattle, but they tend to just stay put.
 

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My girlfriend and I did a bike trip around Australia in 1980. I remember one night when we pitched our tent in the bush just off the road somewhere in Northern Territory. It was a pitch black night with no moon, so we couldn't see a thing but could hear cattle smashing through the bush and mooing during the night. We were a bit concerned that a bloody great bull could trample our tent. So we didn't get much sleep because we were too busy listening for any hooves coming too close for comfort. After that we just slept under the stars without the tent. It never rained anyway, so why bother with it? We could then sit up and look around if we heard anything approaching, and it gave us a better chance of getting out of their way if they came wandering through our camp. With no tent over us, we also discovered the amazing clear night sky (no light pollution in the outback). Someone should build a celestial observatory out there.
 
We were off road near Coral Bay one time and camped in the sandhills next to the bay.. middle of the night we heard these strange sounds.. snuffling, shuffling noises.. opened the tent to find a herd of sheep all around the tent.. weird, but back snoozeville pretty easily..
 
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Did you walk out to the end of the jetty at Carnarvon?

Edit: I just googled it and they're removing most of the jetty because it's fucked. It was still reasonably intact when I was there in 1980 and we did the 2 mile return walk out to the end and back.
 
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Dellortoman said:
Did you walk out to the end of the jetty at Carnarvon?

Edit: I just googled it and they're removing most of the jetty because it's fucked. It was still reasonably intact when I was there in 1980 and we did the 2 mile return walk out to the end and back.
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Historic wooden jetties are a sore point in WA. Busselton manages to get the funding to keep theirs intact but Carnarvon's was wrecked in the last cyclone and no funding provided for repairs, Esperance Shire agreed to take over maintenance on theirs and then did fuck all resulting in parts rotting and falling into the bay, the rest pulled down despite huge community uproar and then getting replaced with a steel and concrete POS.
 
Carnarvon to Geraldton is very straight and very flat, till you get to the Kalbarri turnoff, then it's rolling hills and farming country. Big fields of canola. Heaps of rain here lately, so the desert is full of flowers. Every colour and type imaginable.
 

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I think you'll have to do a second loop. This one is going by too fast and it will be disappointing not to check in on your progress posts once you've returned
 
Davo said:
..in the rear view mirror.

What a shithole.
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Geraldton was once a great motorcycle ride destination back in the 1970s when they hosted rounds of 'Round the Houses Motorcycle road races". Fantastic weekends long before the RTA became parasites on the West Oz landscape. Perth to Geraldton started with a twisty bit thru Chittering Valley then it was flat out from one Pub to the next, chin on the tank slipstreaming your mates' bikes past miles and miles wheat/pastoral scenes, long before the coastal highway was built.
Great fish n chip shops in Geraldton, get out to the Abrolhos if you ever get a chance. Sunday sessions at the Batavia were very memorable.😀
 
Now the only reason to go there is to either get on a boat and head west to the islands or to fill the tank and keep driving.

I agree, it used to be a great town. I used to head there often with the guys, lots of diving, fishing and drinking. Now it is a huge suburbia way too big and with an alohol and drug fueled indigenous violence and crime rate through the roof.

Sign of the times, our population is already way too big for the planet and sadly only going to get worse.
 
Yeah well, it poured raining, got smashed. All my wet weather planning goes out the window when you get hosed, the wind is howling, and it's 10 degrees. In Jurien Bay now, thawing out. Did better than the other guys though, my waterproof heated gloves definitely worth the investment .

Got lost, took a wrong turn, found an excellent bakery for elevensies, got lost again, ran out of fuel, got fuel and a burger, made it to Ian Boyd's place to look at the Vincent's finally. Hell of a day. 100 km/h headwind turned into a tailwind for the final part into Jurien Bay. Yep, feels weird when you're doing 120, and there is no wind.
 
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