A Whole New World

Right off the bat in Perth we almost had a huge disaster.  Trevor wasn’t thinking as usual and left his laptop in the trolley at the airport.  Upon realizing this, we raced back to the airport and luckily the management had it.  Very close call which could have been devastating given there is a tremendous amount of valuable information on that computer. 

We spent a good 3 full days in Perth before hitting the road.  The down time was spent mainly assembling the bikes, sewing and picking up a few things here and there.  I liked Perth, pretty relaxed and laid back.  I guess a bit reminiscent of Vancouver.  Both are also located in remote corners of huge countries.  Both are situated next to water, and that is quite important to me.  Being next to water is something I like very much.  Perth though has nicer beaches but doesn’t have the mountains like Vancouver. 

So far I am enjoying Western Australia even though the rolling hills and nagging wind can be a bother at times.  It feels like a new world to me with the new flora and fauna around.  I have seen a lot of the world but haven’t done any justice to Oceania.  Unacceptable it has taken me this long, I know. 

With so much wilderness, it is very easy to pitch a tent as there is bush everywhere.  Still a bit paranoid though I will step on a venomous snake or a nasty spider will crawl into my tent.  Probably wasn’t a good idea to watch National Geographic’s World Most Dangerous Animals Australia edition on the plane ride over.  But most animals flee the scene when they see or hear us coming their way.  

  

In random news, we stopped for a break at a roadhouse called Munglinup where this domestic dog was looking for handouts.  He parked himself in front of me while I ate some oats and then after a while became frustrated and left.  Before he strolled away he gave me this look of disappointment and a ‘hmmph’.  Then he lifted his leg and pissed on my front pannier bag.  Cheeky. 

We are now in Esperance which is our last stop at a town that has a large supermarket before the Nullarbor.  This next section of Australia will likely be the toughest and possibly of the entire trip.  No supermarkets until somewhere in South Australia.  Now that is roughing it!

Trevor does his thing assembling the bikes while I pretend to be doing something productive but really am just taking it easy.

Lots of interesting birds here in Western Australia including these which I do not know the name of.

Instead of the arduous task of finding someone to fix our tents, Trevor had the genius idea of just picking up some thread, needles and Velcro and just sewing it ourselves.  After watching a few Youtube videos I quickly learned how to do the back stitch.  Very proud of myself.  Took the better part of a day but we both have Velcro on our tents and they are working fine.  No more creepy crawlies getting into our tents anymore.  Just hope it holds…   

Me, Grant and Holly (a fellow Canadian!) before we cycle east across Australia.  A big thanks to both of them for letting us stay a couple of days at their place.  We cycled around the Big Island of Hawaii with Grant a few years ago.  Good times, except at the end when Trevor crashed racing down Mauna Loa.    

Kind of feels like Canada all over.  Here I am at the starting point of our Australian leg at Kings Park overlooking the Perth central business district. 

The stunning Hamelin Bay.

One of the draws of Hamelin Bay is stingrays are present in the shallow waters.  Pretty cool.

I had this grand plan of swimming from the Indian Ocean to the Southern Ocean but that was a major fail.  We got to Cape Leeuwin only to find out you need to pay an entrance fee to get on the grounds.  We were not keen on paying so we just took this photo.  Turns out though it wouldn’t have been wise getting into the water as it was very choppy and the swells looked pretty rough.  Definitely not a place for swimming. 

I always presumed that Australia was pretty flat.  I was wrong.  Up and down rolling hills galore in the Southern Forests.  Nice scenery but you have to work for it. 

This bird I know, an emu.  It just wandered around aimlessly in this grass field.  

Back in Denmark!  Well, sort of but not really.  Never knew this prior to coming here but there is a Denmark, Western Australia and it is a quaint little town where the forest meets the beach. 

Trevor going back to his 2 litre ice cream binges.  The food situation isn’t the greatest as the price has gone up dramatically.  At times, my jaw has dropped to the ground seeing how much certain things cost.  So I am basically doing a muslei, spaghetti out of a can, bread thing right now.  Coles and Woolworths are our go to supermarkets.  

The flies can get pretty annoying around these parts, constantly in your face and just buzzing around for no reason whatsoever.  So to combat these irritating insects we picked up a couple of mosquito head nets as modeled by Trevor here. 

Before we leave Esperance it is absolutely vital we do a proper stock up and some before hitting the Nullarbor.  A German cyclist we spoke with the other day told us one can get a loaf of bread at a roadhouse for $5.  Ouch.  As Woolworths and Supa IGA were both closed today due to the Australian Day holiday falling on the following Monday, we had some time to burn in Esperance.  So we cycled along the Great Ocean Drive which is a loop of 36km or so passing many pristine beaches.  The one shown here is called Twilight Beach.