Wednesday, June 29, 2011

27th June - more dirt

Took it wasy on the way from Nanga to Overlander roadhouse as I had only 20 lbs in the rear tyre and couldn't be bothered pumping it up.  Waited until I got to the roadhouse for that.  I met another rider on a KLR650 and had a bit of a chat.  He suggested I do the Holland Track if I get near Hyden (close to where the Wave Rock is located).  He'd had is bike stuck up to the axles due to the rain and mud from the weekend - I was pretty happy I'd missed that.

Instead of taking the bitumen back to Geraldton, I'd checked out some alternatives on the map.  I decided to take the Butcher Track to Murchison, then the Birrangarra-Pindar Road.  All dirt, all good.  The roads were similar to some of the ones we'd done on the tour - wide, gravel, dirt, sand and everything in between - all in very good shape.  I came across a wedge tail eagle standing very proudly next to a dead roo.  Later I would come across a Red 'roo (much bigger than a grey, and the first live one I'd seen all trip), sheep and then followed by a bush chook (Emu).  Plenty of life out here.  the Birrangarra-Pindar road is a part of the Wool Wagon Pathway and had some interesting historical stop to break up the trip.  At one stage I was hoping that I wasn't going to pass another vehicle whilst on the dirt roads.  That got shot when I passed about 3 cars in 20 minutes right at the end of the day.

I hit Geralton right on 5pm, so it was time to make a home somewhere - had all sorts of strife finding a campground.  The visitor centre was closed and nothing was jumping out at me.  Finally found something on the way out of town.  Made camp for the 3rd day in a row!  woohoo!

Just before looking for somewhere to stay, I called in to see the HMAS Sydney II memorial.  645 sailors perished when it was involved in a battle with a German ship.  It's quite a place.





The dome is made of 645 stainless steel seagulls - each one representing a sailor from the HMAS Sydney II.  I want to say it's a 'nice' place, but that's not the right word.  It's well worth visiting.

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