Triumphrat

Colby

I had a few days free so I thought I would take a ride down south and further explore this awesome area. I had been down this way before but every time I come back is with a list of places I should have seen or things I shoud have done. Hopefully I can cross a few off this time.

The bike. A bonneville T100 inherited when my dad passed on. Such a nice ride. Superbars I ordered turned up when I got home now fitted.



I live in Perth, western Australia. Frequently referred to as the most isolated capital city in the world. The next state capital is Adelaide in South Australia. A lazy 2500 km's away. Sydney is 4000 km's away.
Bring your Iron butt!!

After a late start I fueled up and ran South for couple of hours before pulling over to stretch the legs.




Back on the bike and rode on to the coastal town of Busselton most famous for its 2 km long wooden jetty. I had seen it before so checked out the Vasse-Wonnerup wetlands instead.



My Camera was flat so I had to use my phone instead




On the banks of the Vasse river.

Colby

Back on the bike and get moving. The late start had me anxious to get to my overnight stop as riding in country W.A (Western Australia) is pretty risk as kangaroos have a nasty habit of freaking out at the light and noise of a vehicle and making a dash for safety at the last second.
They will knock you off your bike no problem at all. I skirted around The town of Bunbury and followed the coast around to an area called Canal rocks.
The coast line in this area is pristine and it is always humbling to check out. The Southern ocean is directly under the Australian continent and that was only 100 clicks away and from here on the coastline takes a massive beating from the huge swells.




The swell was solid with 10 foot waves washing through.


Get washed off the rocks here and it's lights out!!




The West side takes a beating but the east side is nice and sheltered.

Colby

Big sections of the SouthWest are national parks.


Cape Leeuwin is the most southwesterly part of the Australian continent and Cape Naturaliste just above it. On a map of Australia it's the area that juts out a little bit on the bottom

I spent the night in the town of Margaret river. Margaret river is all about winery's,gourmet food and surfing. The area is full of winery's and vineyards, most of which have a restaurant attached. Just about all food is grown in the region and you could easily spend a week day tripping to local attractions and stacking on some kilos. However a nice steak at the Tavern was all I needed. I wasn't disappointed.



Washed down with a couple of icey cold pints. Yum!!

After a night at the local backpackers I rose early and hit the road. First up I thought I would check out the Margaret river main break. The surf break were the Margaret River masters surfing contest was held.



The surf was pumping with Massive waves rolling in.



A few extremely brave or suicidal guys were catching some very heavy waves. I asked a local guy what he thought the wave height was and he said " a solid fifteen feet"



And the rest I thought!!

Colby

Even the roofs of the beach shelters were loaded up with seaweed thrown up by the swell.

Colby

Despite the greenery of the local countryside courtesy of winter rains closer inspection told a different story.



A bush fire had roared through the area last summer on a baking hot day.32 house were destroyed as strong winds pushed a huge forefront over the area. The sad thing is the local fire was lit by government officials as part of a "controlled burn" aimed to reduce fuel load in the area. It's amazing nobody lost there lives.



Read more here if your keen.
http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/...02/3382328.htm

The area is home to 150 caves and I had never taken a look at any. I visited one that extended 84 meters under ground and had board walks over underground lakes. No guides walked you through this cave although others in the area are guided. You pay twelve bucks to the ranger at the entrance and get a couple of torches and a helmet and off you go.
Pretty cool especially as I had the complete cave system to myself.

Hard to take photos in a huge cave especially with a phone. Google Margaret river caves and click images for what they really look like

Looking back to the entrance


Stalagtites or mites?



Wormy looking things



Ok . This is a ride report. Time to grovel back to surface and get on my bike!!

Colby

The main north south road along this section of coast is called Caves road. Obviously after the caves that abound in the area. It is a great road to ride with lots of twists some beautiful scenery especially in the section lined with Forrest. The trees from either side of the road meet above you to provide shade as you ride through. Rolling hills through the Forrest. Riding does'nt get much better than this, but be careful, if you go off the road you are almost guaranteed to be stopped by a tree.





Gotta love a good Forrest!!

Colby

Follow Caves road to its end and you arrive in Hamelin bay. Nothing here but beautiful beaches and a campsite.


Looking across to Hamelin Island



And North along a quite beach.

Colby

More to follow....

Colby

After a quick swim it was back on the bike for the short ride to to the small tourist town of Augusta. A couple of km'sout of town the back end of the Bonnie started feeling a bit squirrelly. I pulled over for a look and sure enough the bloody back tyre was losing air pressure. Crap!! I had a bike shop in Perth fit new bridgestone Battleax's and tubes a couple of months ago. I couldn't spot any tyre damage or signs of a puncture so I decided to ride the last couple of clicks into Augusta while I still had some air. I had a can of goo to inject if needed but I wanted to keep that in reserve for some of the big sections of road ahead.

I limped into Augusta and stopped at the only service station in town. I pumped my tyre out the front and could see on the gauge it was losing pressure straight away. ****.
I went in and spoke to the owner and he sent me round the back. Nothing was to much trouble for these guys and they dropped everything and set to work on my bike.



Mostly they work on dirt bikes or cars but had no issues sorting out the Bonnie although the Staintunes put up a bit of a fight.


Once the tube was out it was'nt hard to spot the problem. The tube had been stuffed into the tyre by the most reputable bike store in Perth and had a fold that never straightened out when the tube was inflated. You can see the split under my spit!!!. If you just dumped the tube on a bench the deformation in the tube was clear from the position it had sat in the last few months. There was also a crazy amount of talc in there as well. So much so that I couldn't help thinking that whoever packed my wheel knew something wasn't right.




Closer inspection revealed the truth. Every tube is good for a range of tyre sizes. See the range in the photo below



The bonneville is just outside this range!! 130/80 from memory. Those shop monkeys had fitted a tube too big for the tyre and dumped a heap of talc into the tube to reduce the rubber on rubber friction as the tube expanded. Well ******** it did'nt work!! Those clowns could have killed me through their negligence. Hard to explain accurately how pissed off this made. I promised to myself that short of flats a long way from home I will spoon and balance my own wheels from now on. I also promised to deal with the clowns from " Tyres for XXXXX" when I got home.

Meanwhile I let the guys get on with their work and enjoyed a pint at the local hotel.



Nice view from the beer garden.

Colby

Next on the agenda was a trip along the Southern coast of W.A , deep into Forrest country. This is all national park. Actually it's several national parks. These link up to form a huge reserve that goes on for hundreds of kilometers. I read that if these parks where a country they would be the 50th biggest country in the world. The whole area is very lightly populated with only a couple of towns and settlements spread throughout. Originally logging camps the main industry is now tourism.



Forrest meets the waters of Walpole inlet



Three Kangaroos eating the grass by the side of the road. Can't see the third? It was a little Joey (baby) in the pouch of the biggest one. It had its head poking out. When bent down to eat junior was having a chow as well from within.



Typical Southwest highway road



One thing I had to do was climb the Gloucester tree. There are several trees in this Forrest which were used as lookout stations for spotting Forrest fires. They were originally selected in the 1930s and 40s on account of there size and location.they were then climbed by forresters and had their crowns lopped off. A spiral staircase of wooden pegs were then driven in to the tree from the ground to the top. Cabins were then built at the tops as shelters for people whose job it was to call in by telegraph the first sign of smoke. Other trees in the area had the same treatment to form a network.

The Gloucester Tree in the Gloucester National Park is only 3kms from the Post Office in Pemberton. The Gloucester Tree was chosen for a fire lookout in 1947, one of a network of lookouts built in the karri forest between 1937 and 1952. The Gloucester Tree was named after the then Governor-General of Australia, His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester, who was visiting Pemberton as the lookout was being built. Today, visitors can climb 61m to see one of the most spectacular views of the Karri forest.




Can you see the cabin at the top?

The Bicentennial Treein the Warren National Park is a 15 minute drive from the Pemberton township. This is one of three fire lookout trees open to the public in the Pemberton area. The Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree lookout was first pegged in 1988 as part of Australia’s bicentennial celebrations. Towering 68 metres above the ground, it is the tallest climbing tree open to the public. You will be rewarded with 360-degree views of old growth karri forest.


Looking out over hundreds of square kilometers of Forrest from the top of the Gloucester tree 61 meters up. Pretty freaky feeling everything sway and creak in the fresh breeze!!