Day 43 – Sat, 21 Aug to Derby

Posted days 42 & 43 today, I hope you enjoy these posts as much as I have in experiencing and writing them. Let me know what you think, it is great to get feedback.

Well what a big day, I reached the West Coast (well all but), I find out that my newest grandson was actually born on the 17th Aug and not on the 18th, the day I received the text, my Worthington BMW riders group of friends are off on a 2 day ride to Kangaroo Valley, and the Federal Election took place – so much happening…lol.

As you can tell by the title, I am in Derby tonight – and well maybe tomorrow as well. I camped last night at Mary Pool, on the Mary River, there were no showers so when I arrived today I was looking forward to a shower after 2 days of riding in 36C temperatures.

I was up early, again, and packed and then sat by the river and had breakfast – what a simply fabulous way to start the day. The birds singing, the cattle mooing, the breakfast yummy and well I have run out of words ending in “y” and “ing”.

So I hit the road at 7:30am and it was a little cooler this morning – only 25C but it would progressively climb to the 36C by mid morning. I thought I was riding on a plain, but by about 50km W I descended through a pass and left behind the plateau (which I had been on for the past 2 days) and then entered a plain – will this continue or will I drop lower again later. Simply amazing.

The landscape varied from sparse trees to wooded plains. and back again – all very dry with the rivers being sand and gravel beds but with ominous signs indicating water above the roads exceeding 2m. It would be amazing to see this place in the wet, rather than the dry, but it would definitely not be on the motorbike.

I continued onto Fitzroy Crossing – basically an aboriginal community with a white population as well. This had some lovely green grass community areas. It is amazing that with all the dry around, the dry grass and scrub lands the sporting fields, and in FC the community areas, were a lush green colour – no water restrictions in these places.

The road further W became straighter, with km after km of straight roads. There were some roadworks where I travelled about 10km on a purpose built gravel detour whilst the main road was being rebuilt.

I reached the end of the Great Northern Hwy, some 43km S of Derby where I then headed N on the Derby Hwy into Derby itself. I checked into the caravan park, setup camp, showered and I hit the town by 3:30pm. Well hit the town was walking down deserted streets. I will check this out more tomorrow, but having had little to eat, I headed for the pub where I met a miner from down S who was heading for the E. We shared a few drinks, discussed the state of the job market in WA and generally I was vegging out.

I am now writing this blog back at the camp site, a lovely neighbour just gave me a couple of chocolate muffins to have with my cuppa and after 440km I am sitting on the west coast – which means I’ll be heading S from this point on – well maybe a little further W.

Another great day’s riding, made easier by my MP3 player in the GPS. You see I have loaded 100’s of Richard Fidler’s Conversation Hour from the Local ABC web site. What a simply fantastic programme. Not all are to my taste, so I skip those, but so many just seem to be right on the money.

Today I listened to a conversation with Charlie King, an ABC Sports broadcaster in the NT, who had an aboriginal mother and an Irish father, who also is an advocate for the aboriginal community, so appropriate for the areas that I was travelling through. Also Clyde Thomson who is director of the NSW, VIC and TAS Royal Flying Doctor Service, his life and the service – again so appropriate. These were just 2 of the ones I have listened to over the weeks – if you don’t listen to them then check out the podcasts they are extremely enlightening.