Mandurah

Down the Coast to Margret River

Slow to get going

It look me a while to leave South Fremantle. I had a long breakfast in a café which is part of a very up market apartment and housing development on the beach. The places look good, but being so close to the beach they are likely to suffer serious maintenance problems in the future.

All the staff in the café seemed to be from the UK on working holidays. They were very chatty and very efficient.

Seemingly endless Suburbia

I had decided to stick to the coast. The route took me on quiet roads or bike paths. Most of the bike paths are shared footpaths. It is good to see that the local councils see fit to allow bikes of these paths. It is necessary given there are so many bogans on the roads.

Fremantle seems to simply merge into Rockingham. There is suburb after suburb of single story houses with the occasional four to six level apartment block. There is a lot of new construction going on.

Big Industry

Just north of Rockingham I passed the Aloca Aluminum smelter. This is seriously big industry.

Mandurah

It was late when I arrived in Mandurah. Because WA has decided not to have daylight saving it was also dark. I decided to stay in a hotel or motel. I was stunned to find that they nearly all had ‘No Vacancy’ signs.

I finally found a Motel with a vacancy. The manageress told me I was lucky to get a room as they had just had a cancelation. The place was full because of the Iron Man Race the next day.

In the morning I headed down to the Marina area along the roads closed for the race.

I found a nice café and settled in for a long breakfast the turned into lunch. It was a good opportunity to Skype with friends and relatives.

Iron People

I decided to stay in Mandurah and headed to the camping ground which is about 5 klms east of the town.

Two of my neighbours had competed in the Iron Man Race. One was a bloke in his late 30’s. He was a fireman and had done many of these races – full and half races. The full race involves a 2klm swim, 180 klm bike ride and 42 klm run. The ‘half’ is, as you would expect, is half that.

The other was a woman in her late 50’s. She had only done one ‘full’ race, but a number of ‘halfs’. They both said that the hardest part of these races is the training. I can imagine it is. They both said you have to train for long periods on each discipline for at least 4 months before the race. A big issue is controlling your food intake when you stop.

Boring Day and Flat Tyre

The next stop was Binningup. This was not a very interesting ride.

I stopped briefly a café about 30 klms from my destination. A fellow cyclist dropped in travelling north. He turned out to be a young German bloke who had ridden from Melbourne across the Nullabour. He was having a “quiet day and only doing 130klms”.

As I turned onto the road into Binningup, the bike started to wobble. I had a flat tyre. This was hardly surprising given the amount of glass on the road. The only other place I have seen so much glass in in London on a Sunday morning.

I had to walk the last klm or so into the camping ground. By this time the only shop in town was closed. I had an early night.

Fixing a puncture with the Rolhoff is a bit of a pain. There is a locking mechanism that keeps the hub steady. This requires the wheel to be pushed into the frame at a particular angel. If you don’t get the angel right it won’t lock in. It is sods law that it won’t go in went you are nowhere near a bike shop. I think my swearing could be heard in Perth.

Bunbury

With the tyre fixed, I head off to Bunbury.

Just north of Bunbury is a place called Australind. This yet another piece of surburbia.

I decided to stay at a backpackers in Bunbury. The room was small but clean.

Bunbury is a curious mixture of the old and new. It was an old whaling town and is now famous for its dolphin centre and whale watching. There are a number of new building that look completely out of place next to the old stuff.

On reflection I am not sure why I stayed an extra day there.

Busselton and another Flat Tyre

South Bunbury there is yet more suburbia. I tried to stay of the highway, if I could.

For the most part this worked ok. A one point the tarmac road I was on turned to dirt. It then turned to sand. I was impossible to ride on this stuff.

A bloke in a 4WD came towards me. I asked him how much longer the sand lasted. He said “about one klm”. I am going to buy real estate of that bloke. I must have been at least 3 klms. Tough going.

As I rode into Busselton the bike started to wobble again. Another bloody puncture.

I checked into a hotel that had apartment accommodation. I was quiet good – two storey one bed room apartment.

I had noticed a bike shop around the corner. I also had a coffee shop – a good combination. I decided to replace the rear tyre with a knoby. I will need that when I finally get on to the Munda Biddi Trail.

I checked out the Busselton Pier. It is very long

Dunsborough

The ride down the coast to Dunsborough was all bike track. I like that.

The camping ground is about 3 klms south of the town. There a lot of permanent residents. Some of them looked a bit miserable.

I had a couple of beers and a meat pie at Occy’s Brewery Restaurant. The beers were really good. It was freezing in the tent that night.

In the morning I had a very expensive, but very good, breakfast in town. The owner is a Thai girl with the perfect personality for hospitality.

Margaret River

Options for getting from Dunsborough to Margaret River are limited.

I decided to chance the Caves Rd. It is very narrow in parts.

I stopped off at the Checky Monkey Brewery. This is a very popular place. The IPA was very good. The Pilsners was only Ok. You can’t beat the real Czech stuff.

I arrived in Margaret River late in the afternoon. My neighbours in the camping ground were a young couple – she was Canadian and he was from near Albury. He was amazed that I knew of his hamlet – Bungowannah.

I went to the Settlers pub to listen to a live band and watch England play South Africa in the Rugby. I didn’t stay up the watch Australia get beaten by France.

Flickr Link

https://flic.kr/s/aHsk5yDqgZ

Garmin Links

Mandurah

http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/628652108

Binningup

http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/630688026

Bunbury

http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/630912455

Busselton

http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/632524333

Dunsborough