Week 4: 4 – 10 April

Week 4 mileage

Day 22: Geraldton to Carnarvon 576kms (via awesome lookouts!)
Day 23: Carnarvon to Exmouth (via some beaut detours): 563kms
Day 24-25: Exmouth: 0kms
Day 26: Exmouth to Karratha: 647kms
Day 27: Karratha to Sandfire: 513kms
Day 28: Sandfire to Broome: 322kms

Week 4 mileage: 2,612kms
Total trip mileage: 6,557kms

Happy Monday all

Welcome to the Week 4 blog!

This week has been a crazy one.

Leaving Geraldton at the beginning of the week, I made my way up to Carnarvon. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the right gear to make it out to Shark Bay, but had some great detours on this route. The ride up the West Coast was fantastic. Rode up to a look out (the bike handled it ok thankfully) to snap this beauty – it truly is a vast landscape out here:

Look out on the way to Carnarvon, that's the ocean in the background!

Look out on the way to Carnarvon, that's the ocean in the background!

I also encountered many road trains, they are straining the fuel economy on my bike, as I need to overtake them to stop traffic banking up behind me when people catch up to me. I don't have a lot of wriggle room with my fuel capacity so it's something for me to keep a look out for.

One of the many road trains. Heading up Karratha/Port Hedland way, I have come across some with up to five (5!) trailers on the back. For these, I have to get a run up on my bike and slingshot past them. Fun (sometimes scary) stuff!

One of the many road trains. Heading up Karratha/Port Hedland way, I have come across some with up to five (5!) trailers on the back. For these, I have to get a run up on my bike and slingshot past them. Fun (sometimes scary) stuff!

Carnarvon is a decent sized town (for where I am!) of about 5,000 odd. Arriving later in the evening due to my excessive detouring, I was made to feel very welcome at a local site.

It had been a massive day on the bike for me and I realised I hadn’t eaten! I found an amazing all-you-can-eat diner at the Gateway Hotel, where for $30 you could eat as much as you can. After my fourth heaped plate of food I think the staff were getting concerned I had been lost out in the bush for days – I had yet to shower or clean myself up from the day and felt what I hoped was an appropriate amount of guilt when I examined my shirt and gave myself what I hoped was a discreet whiff; the results of that self-examination were not good.

I reassured them I was of sound mind and ended up having a lovely chat. I recommend dropping in if you ever find yourself up that way! I made it back to base and promptly slept for 10 hours.

Another huge day on the bike followed, with more beautiful landscapes. Today was the day I was to arrive in Exmouth, somewhere I had been looking forward to visiting for a very long time. Hitting the peninsula, the red dirt and never-ending scrub combo transforming to a sea shrub and turquoise ocean panorama was pretty special.

Stopping at a few places on my way to Exmouth, the main takeaways were that amazing contrast in landscape, the interesting termite nests (can be hundreds of years old, and the king and queen of each next can live to 30-odd – who'd have thought) and, unfortunately, the flies. When stopping for a drink, I had to cup my hand to my mouth the breathe and keep a seal on my water bottle – they were everywhere!

My artistic interpretation of my new found friends that have been following me up the West Coast.

My artistic interpretation of my new found friends that have been following me up the West Coast.

One of the huge termite nests en route to Exmouth.

One of the huge termite nests en route to Exmouth.

There had also been some light rain, and the change of smell, from that freshly watered outback smell (though one I am still certainly fond of) to a coastal one was invigorating.

Now, Exmouth itself, what a welcoming, chilled out place. I was so excited to swim with the Whale Sharks, and managed a relaxing beach day beforehand to rest up for the big day. Diving with the Three Islands Whale Shark crew, we headed out for a full day on the water. And what a day it was! These creatures are incredible, very graceful, yet massive! The team on the boat were wonderful, full of knowledge about, and respect for these animals.

Me with one the amazing Whale Sharks. Thanks to Aimee from the Three Islands crew for getting this shot.

Me with one the amazing Whale Sharks. Thanks to Aimee from the Three Islands crew for getting this shot.

After Exmouth, it was time to continue North and make my way to Broome, via Karratha and what would become an unplanned stop! The ride to Karratha was interesting for me, as again, there was some massive infrastructure projects, huge mine sites, and the monster road trains of the Pilbara that had 4-5 trailers behind them!

I was exhausted after navigating this stretch, and after popping down to the pub and having a good chat to a lad behind the bar over a pint, then dealing with the agony of Port Power losing the Showdown, I was spent (physically and emotionally).

The next day was to be the day I reached Broome! However, unfortunately, not all went to plan.

Initially the day started with a cool experience. As I was riding along, I found myself needing to pull over to use the "Bush Toilet".  I had yet to see any dingoes, yet, upon answering Nature's call, I looked up to see two of the inquisitive specimens checking me out. Now, I had been keen to see some dingoes, so understood that they would be unlikely to attack me. Naturally, my mind wandered to who would win a fight between myself and two dingoes. Long story short (I deliberated on this for the next few hours on my bike), I'm quite sure I would – you'll see why when I get around to eventually putting up a photo of the literal suit of armour I'm getting around in. My preference is to never test that conclusion though.

Anyhow, the past few days of riding had been incredibly hot, in the high 30s. This heat, amplified by the road heat and me being in full leather gear, was having an effect on not only me but my bike. After pulling over for fuel a few times, my bike was going into overheating overdrive! Rather than risk pushing my faithful steed too far, I made it to Sandfire Roadhouse before calling it a day.

With cheap campsites out back ($10) and friendly backpacker staff, I was content to set up at the Roadhouse Bar and have a few cans before it cooled down enough for me to set up camp.

I was joined by all sorts of wildlife, as you can see they have clearly laid claim to the place!:

A friendly local - Sandfire Roadhouse, Eighty Mile Beach. 

A friendly local - Sandfire Roadhouse, Eighty Mile Beach. 

Finally, the day arrived to reach the far North-West Coast Mecca that is Broome. A very popular coastal destination, I had heard great things from travellers who had been heading both to and from Broome. This leg would not be without its dramas though. I had miscalculated distances and was resigned to the unfortunate fact that I would need to nurse my bike the required distance between the Roadhouse I found myself and the next petrol station, less run out of fuel. With the weather still crazy hot and the attractive thought of breaking down under the baking sun in full bike gear buzzing around my head, I set off at a leisurely 90kmph pace early in the morning, both to save fuel and dodge some traffic. I had to speed up when cars came up behind me to help their overtaking judgment, holding at 100km to let them pass, and deal with the occasional road train.

This is where the closest thing to a disastrous accident of my trip to date occurred. Not too far from my fuel oasis, a road train came roaring toward me from the opposite direction of travel. With nothing but open road behind me, I saw a car duck out from behind the road train, only to return behind it immediately. Assuming the car had seen me, I continued to bop my head to the revolutionary tunes of Mr West streaming through my headphones, looking forward to treating my bike to a drink and not being resigned to melting under the WA sun.

Suddenly, when only a few hundred metres separated me from the road train, the car that had been behind the road train came slingshotting out from behind, having adopted a similar run up tactic to mine I assume (it seems quite common).

Things happened very quickly, but a combination of a few factors saved me. One, I was already far over to the left of my lane, to help with the constant buffering the road trains give me. Secondly, the road train driver was a good bloke, as many of them have been, and had also begun pulling over to the far left of his lane (many even put their wheels slightly on the dirt to create as much distance between me and them as possible to also help combat the wind battering they give me).

It was too late for the car driver to react, and I'm almost glad they didn't, as if they had locked their wheels who knows what way they would have gone skidding, but what happened next is that myself, the car, and the road train all shared the road for a split second. The car blew past me a metre or so to my right, and the road train carried on (as if it could have stopped at all), although, rather than giving what is often a welcome toot and wave to me, absolute sat on his horn until it faded in my background in what I hope was a big 'F you' to the car driver.

I am very lucky I am only a metre wide on the road, and again, if I was further to the centre or right of lane, I would have had to swerve very hard and I am truly not sure if I would have managed to miss the car or, if I did, manage to not lay the bike down on the road.

After a bit of a shake, I reached my fuel oasis, only 35 odd kms from Broome, yet spent the next hour there calming my nerves and getting some food into me! Spoke to Mum on the phone yet didn't mention this story... was contemplating not sharing it but hey, a lesson learned and an important reminder of a message that both my parents often mentioned when telling us boys to drive (in this case ride) safe – you need to both drive safe yourself and be mindful of the actions of other (sometimes dickheads) on the road!

However, all is well that ends well and I am now parked up in Broome, with a beer in my hand, looking forward to a big rest tonight before exploring all that Broome has to offer over the coming days.

Donation update and call to action

As at time of writing, you kind people have donated $18,819 to the Children's Cancer Foundation. With my matching amount, this means that, as a team, we have pledged $37,638 in the battle against child cancer.

I don't mean to pester, but donations have dropped off a little on the way to the $50,000 goal. I have been starting to pursue strategies to get this ticking over again (and I am on my way there!) but would like to mention that, if you have not yet donated and can consider doing so, the Children's Cancer Foundation, the kids the Foundation supports, and certainly myself, would be most appreciative - you can click through to the donation page here.

Remember, with your donation being matched by me with my personal donations directed toward hospitals, your dollars really are doubled!

If you have already donated, or are simply not in a position to do so, I would ask of you that you consider extending details of my ride and how to donate within your network or to whoever you may think would be interested and are comfortable with contacting. 

Another huge part of my ride is raising awareness, and I would appreciate your assistance with that enormously!

All the best for the week ahead

James