Day 66 – Mon, 13 Sep to Jurien Bay

In essence today was a transit day, well a short one with lots of sightseeing thrown in. I had an easier morning in Geraldton, the pantry was empty so I headed over to Hungry Jacks for a muffin and coffee. A first for the trip, and well as expected not as nourishing as my usual home made one.

I did a shop and then headed out. Today I passed 15,200km for the trip so the heavy work is behind me, lots of smiles back there with some tough roads ahead. But as I have said to friends, I simply set a target for the day and achieve that and don’t worry about the total distance ahead. Much easier travelling that way and succeed in achieving a result each day.

So I continued S through Dorgara/Port Denison (about 75km), a far larger town than expected. Lots of new development in all these towns now, especially as I get closer to Perth. Not long after that I turned off the North West Coastal Hwy which headed inland and I stayed on the road S talking the supposedly more scenic route along the coast.

Well there was beautiful ocean views, with rugged cliffs, but the majority of the time I was riding through sand hills covered in tea trees. The sand was pure white, I guess from the breakdown of limestone that is prevalent along this coast.

There were the occasional fishing huts, made from corrugated iron, and the towns were few and far between. Towns with the names of Green Head, Jurien Bay and Cervantes.  Basically fishing and holiday areas, but surprisingly with what appears to be reasonable sized permanent resident populations. Jurien Bay was the largest where I am based for the night. Sea lions reside on some of the islands off the coast, but I will not be paying them a visit.

After about 240km today I am now only a little over 200km from Perth where I am heading tomorrow. Robyn arrives later in the week for a holiday together, which we are both looking forward to very much.

The thing that has surprised me is the amount of reef offshore down this coast. I had no idea that it was so extensive. No wonder those Dutch merchants of the East Indies Company had so many ships wrecked up the coast. The reefs are sometimes close, but then hundreds of metres off shore, usually with the odd wave breaking over them. So unexpected, it is good to be surprised in your travels.