Day 62 – Thu, 9 Sep to Kalbarri

The morning started cool and a little windy. I broke camp and headed back to Denham for the morning. It was a lovely ride, the wind had eased and I took it slow because I had been told by a rider who worked at Monkey Mia that the kangaroos were bad along this stretch of road.

On arrival I went to the visitor centre which is actually a fantastic place as it is the Shark Bay Discovery Centre. Here was information, with audio visual displays on everything associated with the Shark Bay World Heritage area. It had the history, geography, marine and land animals and flora. The area is home of a significant area of sea grass, the largest area in the world and home to many inhabitants including about 10,000 dugongs.

The audio visuals covered a whole range of topics including the history, marine scientists and locals who have lived here. I could have spent even more time here, but after about 1 & 1/2 hours I thought I should hit the road.

I had given up on a 4WD tour of François Peron NP which from all the photographs I had seen is spectacular. But I decided not to venture in there on the bike as there were km of gravel and even worst, heavy sand – I am afraid not for me on this trip.

The run back to the North West Coastal Hwy took me over the territory that I had travelled 2 days ago. I found the trip far more enjoyable this time around then that day. It was obviously the mood that I was in for even the run down the Hwy to Kalbarri was more enjoyable even though the terrain was little different then those 2 days ago.

I stopped at a roadhouse for morning tea and met a Perth couple riding R1200GS and G650GS. We had a chat and discussed things to do and along comes two guys on postie bikes. They had plastic boxes from Bunnings attached to wooden cross bars as panniers and they were wearing WWII German style army helmets. They did get a lot of attention and I asked how they were going. They were Irish and the only comment was slow and sore – you can bet on that. Anyway they were heading N and I continued S.

The road was straight on this ever going coastal plain. The tea trees went out to the horizon in all directions. Closer to the S end of my trip the wild flowers started appearing in greater numbers and I believe that this will continue all the way S. Not too many photos as I still have not replaced the camera and I had exhausted the battery charge on the phone. It was being charged as I rode, off the bike’s accessory plug.

I arrived in Kalbarri late for me (around 4pm) and I have set up camp and now sitting at the picnic table overlooking the river across the road. A really wonderful campground from all appearances and I’ll head back into town tomorrow to check things out and walk along the beach. They have a weekly BBQ tonight, that takes care of dinner.

So all in all a really enjoyable day’s riding, about 380km over the day. Until tomorrow, stay safe and well, bye from me sitting here watching the sun set over the park and river…lol…