Energy Efficiency Audits - Wiluna

Sunday 21 July 2009 - Wiluna

The day started early meeting Delia at the Airport, followed by a very quick tour of Kalgoorlie. We then set off for the almost 600km drive to Wiluna. On the way we stopped in to take a look the Ora Banda Pub, but alas it was closed. This didn't matter as I was keen to detour from Menzies by 60km to revisit the sculptures at Lake Ballard. Its a special spot, where around 150 bronze sculptures have be placed, randomly over a salt lake covering a few square kms. It was rather muddy this day, hard to walk on account of being slippery. Lucky we both managed to stay ‘upright’ and mostly mud free.

We stopped at Leonora for a spot of lunch at the local pub, then it was time for the long haul of 306kms not stop. We arrived in Wiluna at around 4pm. I wasn’t actually sure of the directions of how to get to Gunbarrel Laggers (Grapes) where we were staying for the week. The local shop/petrol station gave us direction of about 20kms East out along the Gunbarrel road towards Carnegie Station. Wiluna is the Gateway to both the Gunbarrell Hwy road and the Canning Stock Route. It was exciting to be here again as I’ve toured out this way on a motorbike and sidecar. It was the perfect time of year to head North-East. Oh well, maybe next time soon.

Light was fading fast as we headed East… We were chatting about what we going to eat for dinner. I was a little perplexed as to what food would be available, as for some reason we had to confirm with the accommodation we required food, giving at least 24hours notice. It made me wonder what they would cook. We found our turn-off, light was now a red glow from the west of the grape vines. I was diving and had slowed on the dirt drive to about 60kms, lights on and keeping a eye out for roos. It was about 5.30pm... We needed to have kept more than an eye out, as with in 100 meters of the homestead gate, a young roo decided to place its hopping head in front of he roo-bar. Spat, hard breaking and crunch we had hit the roo. I stopped to check our ute. There was water dripping from a bottle near the radiator, but I couldn't see enough to know it was the coolant or windscreen washing bottle... The ute was not, otherwise damaged. The same couldn't be said for the roo.

I walked back to check the pouch for a 'Joey', none found. Nor was their a heart-beat. I dragged roo off the drive. We returned to ute and drove even slower to camp. Arriving at camp was like at home. Jill was just a loverly host. She is a gem. It was decided that with water dripping out the ute and the lack of light we shouldn't drive the ute over to dinner and her son, would check the ute out tomorrow... It didn't take me a while to grasp the idea that we would need to drive about 10-15kms back the way we came to the Mine Camp we passed for our dinner at the mess! So after showing us our donga's, Jill gave me the keys to her Subi (Forrester) and we were told to reverse park when we arrived. If you have never visited a mine camp, it can be an interesting experience, as was the case tonight. Our 4x4 didn't have mine lights, pole or high-vis striped... We were also the smallest vehicle in the parking bar and as we latter found out, had parked in the spot for the bus.

We went to the bar to purchase our meal tickets $15 each to give to the cook. However they only except cash. At this point I knew were going to face a cash-flow problem, as I was down to my last $30 bucks! We managed to get dinner of roast everything meat and vegies. It was rather nice. We returned to what would be our home for the next 6 nights and I know i slept soundly.

Our time in community working on the Energy Efficiency Audits was very rewarding. We kicked our visit off with a meeting of the community at the rolls of astro-turf. Most people came with their cuppa's and we provided fruit. We spoke of why were here and how we would like to visit everyone to talk to each resident on how they use energy in their home, provide advice on appliance selection, condition and if there was a 'manhole' undertake an inspection of the roof insulation. This community was about go 'live' in about 3 days with the Horizon Power Prepayment Meters. Currently individuals didn't pay for their personal power consumption based on what they used. Instead a fix deduction was paid, regardless of what was used. So if a home was a low energy use home, they would pay the same as a high energy home.

Over the next 5 days, we managed to visit every home (18 homes), attend an all day council meeting and participate in a photo-shoot for 'go-live'. I loved being in community...very kind people. I also purchased my 1st painting :)

Energy Efficiency Audits - Kalgoorlie

KALGOORLIE
I arrived in Kalgoorlie (Kal) after a 7 hour train trip from Perth on a bright and sunny Saturday afternoon 13th June 2009. Kal is around 600k from Perth CBD heading due East and very slightly North. It is the heart of the Western Australian (WA) goldfields. Its been and still is a very important mining area for WA, holds extreme mineral wealth, over 150 years of gold mining history and if you don't believe me about its cultural and historical importance to West Australian, the fact we have named the daily train that services the towns from Perth to Kalgoorlie the "Prospector" says it all about its laconic place in our recent history.

The town itself is a delightful place with old historical builds and pubs on nearly every corner. Alas, maintaining its bygone days, most of these pubs sport 'topless' bar staff of the female kind... Try as I did, I didn't find a pub with 'topless rippling muscles and rock hard abs' bar staff of the male kind... Though the place is riddled with males of wide girth from spending much time frequenting the bars with the 'topless' female bar staff... Not to mention the bordellos that are 'legal' in this town. And by golly 'topless' or bordello employment is a tough way to make a living in this outback town, mostly on account of how unbearably cold it gets. Not just at night, but all day. I swear that an Iceland summer is balmy, compared to a Kalgoorlie winter.

The roads, whilst not paved in gold are very wide. This was because in its early days all item arrived by 'camel trains' which needed to turn around. The town now has a decorated medium strip of plants, trees and astro turf. All cars must park on an angle, which makes for reversing a large 4x4 interesting.

My Saturday arvo was spent collecting a hire vehicle, shopping for food for a community meeting on Monday, finding the community, unpacking and working out how to use a folding ladder, charging a cordless drill, and attending the local basket ball game between the Kalgoorlie Giants and the Rockingham somethings. The Giants won.

Sunday was spent trying to stay warm, over coming hay fever and thinking I was going to die from the cold. I did manage to pack the 4x4 with all my equipment which had arrived at the hotel the day before. I spent my day walking around Kal to get a feel for the place, with its wide streets, tin and wood houses, snappy gums and lay back lifestyle. I'm forever grateful for the work beanie, for which I would have suffered from frostbite without...and for Dome cafe where I worked on my audit report design and updated emails.

I chose to take the train to Kalgoorlie because it gives one the best view of the Avon Valley as it winds itself through the base of the Avon Valley National Park. Only the train passengers, adventurist kayakers or mad mountain bike riders can really get to see this bit of the National Park. There is no public road. Besides the carbon saving by taking the train vs flying are huge. The train trip was not uneventful on account of 6 young men on a 'wild weekend boys only' trip. I suspect the all the beer drinking was to give them courage to venture into wildwest lifestyle. Ignoring them, I watched the last of the Avon Valley forrest fade away into the wheatbelt, salt lakes and latter the woodlands of the goldfields.

I shed a tear or too as I thought of the may times I have camped in these woodlands. My most memorable was on my 1st recumbent bike ride in about 2000, riding from Bonnie Vale (Coolgardie) to Lower Chittering over 8 days. Camping each night in the snappy gums, malley and other unknown gums...

So why was In Kalgoorlie in the middle of our winter? I was about to embark on a Home Energy Efficiency Audit and Behavioural Change Education Program for several Indigenous communities in the Goldfields area. Namely, Kalgoorlie, Wiluna, Laverton and Leonora. I was rather excited about this project, thought will admit a little bit unsure of how it would all unfold.

Before I could embark on this project I needed to sit my physics exam on Thursday 11 July. I was rather stressed about this exam! i liked the unit, topic and everything I had learnt, I just found it rather hard to remember it all. I spent the exam morning at the physio for my shoulder. I had sometime ago returned to swimming and cycling, though there till is some slight pain in the shoulder. So I'm trying to build up my strength in my left arm. I then went to the library at Murdoch to go over my notes before the exam. This paid off well, as a past exam questions I was still 'week' in understanding finally 'clicked' and you guest it, it was one of the questions on the paper. I managed to answer all the questions and within the 1st 10minutes of reading time I knew I had passed and was likely to get at least a Distinction.

Monday 14-18th June 2009
My auditing day stated by getting to the airport to meet my co-auditor, Fred from Synergy on the 7.30am flight. We then had an introduction meeting with the folks from the Goldfields Indigenous Housing Office and arrived at our community meeting at 9.30am.... By 10.30am we now number 4. Fred and I had been joined by only two others for our meeting... Oh well you get that. so the biscuits found a new home at GIHO.

We simply decided to just know on every ones door and ask if they had read my flier delivered last week and were they happy with me undertaking an Energy Efficiency Audit of their home. This plan worked a treat and was the basic plan for the rest of the week. I had a ball! Alas, Fred could only help me for two days and had to fly home...Thanks for your help Fred it was a great couple of days...

Tracey then stepped in to give me a hand for two days and we managed to finish the whole community. Thanks Tracey it was great working with you, thanks matey :)

I spent the rest of the week meeting with a few key stakeholders, starting to build a database from the data I had collected and trying to stay warm! I did visit the Mining Hall of Fame on Saturday where I went underground into an old mine shaft. Very interesting.

I needed to wait for a colleague to fly in on Sunday morning for our long drive to Wiluna...

Uni, Bike accidents, Esperance and WOMADelaide

One of the 'bright' ideas i had for this year was to return to Uni to study physics. I never did it at school and felt it would help me working in the energy industry. I'm not sure I was all together ready for returning to Uni, but I jumped in to this idea as i usually do... with great gusto.

Early February ish (16th Feb) had me stating lectures, tutorials and labs. The following week had me panicking as to what I had dived into! What the hell is a Vector Diagram, who cares what the 3 Newtons laws are, and my god, I can't even work out how to turn on the new graphic calculator...

Fate decided it needed to make me slow down in a thump, quickly and with huge amount of pain. I had been burning the midnight oil a bit trying to undertake work, start uni, maintain my Climate Change work, cycling, swimming and kayaking...Then I decided to apply for a Churchill Fellowship...Then on the day I lodged my application and as I cycling home down a down hill ramp under Canning Hwy, the front experimental suspension forks on my long wheel base recumbent decided at this precise moment to snap.

My left shoulder was the first part of me to hit the concrete ground first. I was later to discover what my speed of deceleration was on account i was now studying physics. This knowledge didn't help with the pain. I was helped out of the bike path by passing cyclist and called my friends Am & John. At the time I thought I just had bad bruising... within 1/2hour I thought I had broken my collarbone. Upon arriving at Swan Districts Hospitable and a few painful hours later I found I had a Lab-lactation of the AC joint. All i knew was it hurt like hell and I'm so glad I have an automatic car.

Drugged for the next few days, I think I managed to attend a uni lab with the help of my friend Am, who not only drove me, but sat through the two hour lab with me. By Saturday of that week I had worked out how to redress myself with only a few tears. Though combing the hair was a challenge, one I sometimes can't even manage with two good arms.

A few months before this prang, I had been asked to present on Climate Change Solutions to householders in Esperance. I decided that 6 days after the accident I could still fly to Esperance and deliver a Climate Change presentation. So on The Tuesday I managed to get my travel bag, laptop and self, with left arm in sling to the domestic airport. I need to say here that Skywest were very helpful and understanding and helped me with my bags. I even had help on the plane with the passengers lifting my laptop in to the overhead locker.

Photos are on the way folks - Esperence is a must see location. My presentation went very well. It was a great night. The next day I drove along the coast, pining for my bike, the sun was out, the day was cool and no wind. The wild Southern Ocean bluer that ever before against the white sands.... What a way to visit the Horizon Power depot before my flight back to Perth.

I arrived in Perth with 3 hours before y flight to Adelaide. Yep this is where my brain says I can still do everything I want to do, even with an arm out of action. I had booked and paid for a trip to WOMADelaide. I was sure it would be fine... So again with arm in sling I headed off with bag and laptop to the QANTAS checking. They too were rather helpful with checking me in...

Once through the security checkin, i sat the airport pub, drinking water! And doing an online physics test of about 30 questions based on motion. Ugh!!! I don't get on well with multi-choice... and it also would have been better if I had actually remembered my calculator...somethings you just can't do on the Blackberry... Oh well there will be other tests, time to catch my flight.

There are times when I'm just 'blown away' as my Mum would say, but peoples kindness. At the airport several people helped me with my luggage and the airport shuttle bus got me to ring my friends to collect me and let them get on the bus to help take my stuff off. As it was rather dark when I arrived, Chris, John and Sandra had set up a overnight bed for me. We set up my tent the next day. And yep its rather painful sleeping in a tent with a lactated shoulder. At this stage in my healing process i couldn't lift any item, nothing! Let alone support my own weight.

WOMADElaide
Its such a great event folks you should try to attend at least once. Too much to expain, so I suggest you just go to the Womadelaide website and attend for 2010.

Back to Barrow

I am writing this several months after my trip... It has been a busy 1/2 year... It started with me returning to Barrow Island for the Turtle Tagging season as a volly. I had a wonderful time. Though it was hot at times... even too hot to swim laps in the 15 metre pool... Then there was the humidity. One day it was 42 degrees and that night we had to work. Whilst the temperature had fallen to about 38 degrees the humidity was about 99%...It was like I was going to melt... carrying my 2litres of water, Turtle Tagging Tool Book, clipboard, and trackline draging stick... Whislt stomping up 2kms of sandy turtle body hole pitted beach at 2am! But i wouldnt want it any other way.

This year I managed to not only see hatchlings, but i got to hold them for a moment. The most exciting experience was when driving back from Mushroom beach at 5am on morning we scared a bird in the road and it dropped its morning meal, of baby turtle. It was covered in red dust, but alive.... so we drove to Yatch Club South Beach to set it free... We can only hope that little hatching is still swimming out there and will one day return to Barrow Island (assuming its a girl) to lay her eggs in about 30-40 years.

The all time highlight was going snorkling for the 1st time with prescription goggles! I was so excitted as i could actually see everythink clearly underwater. I managed to swim around a bit on my own and I swam right up to a male Green Turtle. It is a memory that will stay with me for such a long time. I was so close I could have touch him... Though knowing how strong they are I just stayed still until he noticed me. I also managed to see a 2metre shovehead shark, just laying on the seabed... Magic.

This tour we got to go snorkling twice, then did tours of John Wayne country, Obe's, and Bandicote bay....


It was time to leave Barrow and I flew home on Tuesday 13th January 2009.

Gold Coast - November 2008

In November 2008 I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the Gold Coast, Queensland for the Clean Energy Congress. I then travelled to Brisbane to stay a few days with a friend. I managed to either hire a bike, or borrow my friend Di's and ride around both locations. I've attached a few images from my days on a bike....

Kununurra, Flights and Darwin

We had a couple of days in Kununurra to enjoy ourselves. Saturday 12th July, was a cycling day with out luggage visiting the Diversion Dam, Zebra Rock shop, visit Shoal Air to measure the bikes and get weighed, then coffee - real coffee at Boab Cafe... We then decided we liked the Kununurra show so much, we would go again :) Lots of fun just being still watch others use energy...

Sunday 13th July, friends working for Pacific Hydro meet us at our camping ground for a tour of Lake Argyle. Whilst we could have ridden the 75kms to the lake, we only had one day and would needed to have ridden back!!! The plan was shout my friends lunch, but they bet us to that idea with a great lunch at the Lake Argyle Tourist Park... Back in town we visited the Hootchery for coffee and Rum. We had just enough daylight to walk through 'Hidden Valley" and then climb Kellie's Knob for a wonderful sunset over the town.

Monday 14th July Birgit and Owe were collected by their tour operator for their fly, 4x4 and walk tour of Purnululu National Park. I spent the best part of the morning packing the trailer to post back to Germany, with a bottle of rum!!!... I then spent time a Boab Cafe catching up on my blog, emails and reading a book. I dropped into my work Depot and then road out to Shoal Air to pay for my ticket.... Our last night in town was a BBQ of fish

Tuesday 15th July was an early start 4.30am we were packed and at airport at 5.30am. Paul the pilot was there and the owner Steve turned up to wish a great trip and help load the bikes... We only needed to remove the front wheels... I was given the front seat :) Very kind of Birgit & Owe...

We were airborne by 6.30am and all nicely drugged with Kwells. Paying $1,100 each (including cousin Steve, who wasn't on plane) their is no room for getting or risking getting sick when we were going to be flying at around 1500 feet for 6 hours!!!

We flew over the Ivanhoe Crossing, Parry Creek Road - such a treat to see our cycle path from the air. Then we meet the Cockburn range, Emma Gorge and more. Our path was taking us to the Mitchell Falls which we circled several times, before heading north towards Truscott - where we managed to see the crashed DC3 that my work mate had told me about.. That was a lot of fun, as Paul didn't know it was there and when I said I could see it, he banked the plane on to its wing tip and circled around...Owe was the only one with enough composure to get a photo! We then headed east to Kalumburu Mission, where we landed to refuel and walk into town for a byo lunch in the Mission grounds. Sadly the museum was closed...

The rest of the flight to Darwin was a little less interesting and I think the Kwell's had started to kick in. I did like King George Falls and the flight only makes me want to sail from Broome, Whyndam & Darwin all the more... I'll have to start saving my $2 its not a cheap holiday by boat... but I think the best boat trip one could do...

Landing at Darwin was a hoot. We are in a light aircraft having to land on the same runway as a 747 or bigger... I just loved this image. We managed to unpack the bikes, attache the wheels and air, find a map to my cousin's Iris & Simone's house by about 6pm. Uncal David cooked us a great dinner and our new home for a few days was tents with out flies in the shed... It was great uncal David had set up a light and fan for us... It was like home.


Wednesday 16th July was a wonderful day cycling into Darwin from Alawa along the coast. We road about 42kms and I just fell in love with Darwin. We had coffee at the art gallery/museum. Lunch at Magic Wok so Owe could taste more of our native animals... We road back again, with more coffee and uncal David cooked us a wonderful meal again... So nice.

Thursday 17th July was work day. We bused into town again for coffee with my cycling friend, Sharon. Then we picked up the hire car, bike boxes and packed the bikes down. We then went to the Mendal Street Markets for dinner and walk around.

Friday 18th July was a moving day... I had to say goodbye to Birgit and Owe... They were heading to Kakado and other places and I had to fly home Sunday... I spent the day by going swimming, having lunch with Sharon and visiting the art gallery she once worked at. Very nice. Dinner was again cooked by uncal David :)

19st Saturday uncal David drove me to the air museum to show me the B42 bommer - its huge and well worth seeing. I caught up with Climate Change folk at the Markets, went to town to read, have coffee and wait to have dinner with Sis, Greg and the kids who were flying in tonight. this was great to catch up...

Sunday 20th July Uncal David drove me to the airport with my bike and stuff... I gave him a big hug and hoped I would make it back to Darwin soon. I managed to check all my items in without being charged excess :) Flight home was via Alice and was nice. I arived at Perth to a phone call for Peter, Craig and Cees who meet me at the airport to say hi.... Michelle and Greg had left their combi at airport for me to take home.... That night I put the Ran's back together and went for a ride around the house.... Wonderful trip...

East Kimberley Riding - Friday 4th - 11th July 2008

Anyone who has ever driven, ridden or walked in the East Kimberley will understand the specialness of the place. Its where the rolling hills begin, dotted by big Boabs, wide open views and long winding roads.

Our cycling resumes at Warmun Community about 435kms East of Fitzroy Crossing. I struggled with our decision to catch the bus... Whilst I was more than happy to catch the bus from Fitz to Halls Creek (272kms), I was torn by our limited time and wanting to get off the bus at Halls Creek... by staying on bus we missed riding the 163km uphill bit and the start of the winding & twisting road....but would have more time around Wyndam.... Of course the never abating headwind was a good reminder as to why we were on the bus... Not to mention, our main reason was to return to the dirt Gibb River Rd..

We arrived at Warmun roadhouse at 8.30am, Friday 4th July 2008 with a curt quip from the driver about letting them know we were bringing bikes. Sure, but Grayhound's online booking system doesn't have this option!! I smiled... I was too tired to comment and besides the world was for now a little sideways as I had managed to bend my glasses on the bus whilst trying to sleep... Luck I spent most of my time in my sunnies....

A cuppa, repacking, lunch, visit to art centre and a nap on the green lawn and we were ready to ride at about 2pm ish. We road down the road 32kms and camped just past the Bow River near the driveway for Argyle Diamond Mine (ADM)... I was tempted to call associated working there, but chickened out. Camp was lovely, with a low fire and a 'pink & grey' sky... I enjoyed rolling into my tent that night.... I know what the road ahead held and was so excited.

5th July, Saturday was a 90km ride. Our biggest day... we could have kept riding the day was just perfect! It was added to, by having fresh food again - Oranges are great. We had made Doon Doon Roadhouse by noon, some 61kms, where we rested for 2 hours and cooked our lunch and sleeping on lawn again. The afternoon ride was even better. We were treated to riding through rolling red ridges, afternoon light filled with Kimberley dryness, flowing maliluca & gravellia trees and the wonderful pandanas, mixed through with tall gums. The hills were not hard they made the road interesting and were added to by the wonderful downhill rolling - lots of photos.

We camped at the 24hour stop on the Durham River. There were a few vans, one with a generator to run their light!! Haven't they heard of LED or Fluro? It was a new moon tonight.

6th July Sunday was a big day 83kms with 24kms on dirt. The start of the Gibb River Rd, on El Questro land, south of Wyndham. I wasn't overly happy with El Questro. We arrived at Emma Gorge Resort at about 1pm. It cost us $15 ea to be on their land and then another $8 to walk 4kms (return) to look at the fall that wasn't flowing (we didn't do the walk)... Plus we were expected to ride a further 40kms to stay at the Homestead... for another $15 each. I decided to ignore the rules. We paid the $15ea to be on the land. A tour operator told us the 4x4 road around the Cockburn Range then along King River was in good condition and doable on our bikes... or at least it was 3 years ago.

So we decided we wanted to do this extra dirt road. We left Emma Gorge around 3pm and found an old track off the main road hidden by a few trees. It was a nice spot. The Cockburn Range was right in front of use, towing over our camp and tempting us to ride around it.

F#$@ing Hard 48kms of Riding - Monday 7th July. The 1st 24kms was fine - it was just the rocky, corrugated & dusty Gibb River Road all the way to the Pentecost River crossing. The wrong turn from here didn't help... I managed to get us to ride down a new fence line where it was overgrown, full of potholes, big and very big washouts with huge rock boulders.. If that wasn't enough it was often uphill and hot! We stayed on this track, because I knew that the fence had to meet the fence we were meant to be on.... It was very exciting for me when I finally saw the gate we needed... Birgit and Owe, I think were a bit worried about what lay aheard... but I convinced them it wouldn't or couldn't be that bad :)

The track we were about to ride has a name called "Old Karunjie Raod" Only 4x4. Its about 67kms long, give or take 5kms. The beginning of the track was hard... very hard.... in fact that was the complete opposite of the problem it was in fact sand and bulldust for about 16kms, with hard bits, washouts and corrugations in between when we were lucky. I had to push the bike a lot... at fatter front tyre would have been nice, but I would still have had to push the bike.... What made up for this was the stunning view of the Cockburn Range on our right and at times the Pentacost river so very close... alas this is Salty country so no swimming... I just loved the landscape.. If you are reading this and from overseas, I suggest you go and see the 'flick' Australia as it was filmed in this land...

El Questro owned this land and everywhere we road we were reminded we couldn't camp, with small signs on the track...At least we know we were on the right track. Not very helpful to cyclist. I just ignored it. We found a nice camp spot at the edge of the flood plain.... We could just make out the clay pan beginning, but that was to be tomorrows adventure. The backdrop of our camping spot was again the majestic Cockburn Range, as we sat under spindly Grevillier trees, with the silhouette of a Brahman towards the coast. We didn't light a fire so as not to attract attention of our camp.. We were cooking dinner, writing in our diary's when the most wonderful event of nature occurred. The sky was filled with bats. From horizon of the tidal mangrove flats to the range, the sky was filled. The only sound the beat of their wings and the frequency of their Sonia... Then they were gone... What a treat. We were all so excited...

The absence of the bats was followed by the wind. Easy at first, then we could hear the wind... It continued all night, getting very strong, blowing my tent almost flat... Great it was to be a headwind again.

Tuesday 8th July 2008.... It was about 60kms to Wyndham... Just not sure what kind of condition the road was going to be in. We got up at 4.30am to miss the heat and hopefully the wind. We started our ride for the day across a dry clay pan, following decade old tyre tracks, both corrugated and sandy (at times). We did this into a full on head wind for easily 10kms. Finally we made it to some low hills, trees and more sandy tracks. Birgit fairs best in the sand, Owe with the trailer and I with my too skinny front tyre suffer. I'm also slower on the dirt than the touring bikes, though I know its more comfortable for me.

We arrived at the Boab Prison tree, just before lunch time. This was great, as we were now on more stable ground of corrugated rock, whilst hard work it wasn't sand. We also had the King River on our left to look at. We were now on the King River Road (apparently). My memory from my sidecar trip through here in about 1992, recalled a fast ride across a claypan to Wyndham... I just didn't know where it was and if I would be able to find it. I was very much over the rock corrugations, when a 4x4 stopped to let us know we were 500mtrs way from the turn off for the clay pan to Wyndham. Stocked! It was a hoot to be rolling along at speed... though I nearly came a cropper, when I hit an unexpected patch of sand at about 25km/hour.... I slowed down after that...

We made it to camp by 4.30pm, after I convinced Birgit and Owe that we should shop before setting up camp as the shop was going to close. We washed, set up camp, relaxed and shared a taxi with a couple to have a cooked dinner of fish & chips at the old pub in old Wyndham. Great night. I slept deeply in Wyndham - so pleased I had we around the Cockburn Range and this time on recumbent.

Wednesday 9th July was a wonderfully relaxing day. We didn't need to get to Kununurra until the weekend and it was only roughly 100kms away along the Parry Creek road. Yep why not finish our bike ride on the last dirt road. We took our time and road out to Old Wyndham for a smoothy at the local cafe, suss out some art and make our way out to the Croc farm for feeding time. Enjoyed the croc farm.. One of the guests is 65years old... I'm glad their was a fence between us as he weighed 5 tonnes and was almost 5mtrs long!!!

Lunch was a pie at the local bakery and then we packed and began our wonderful ride in the arvo. We did 8kms on dirt to parry creek farm camping ground. It was nice dirt... rocky, limited corrugations and no sand :) Camping was in a mango grove... We wrote post cards and decided to bugger cooking and order a meal... Our plan was just 50kms the next day so our meal was accompanied with a beer. Very nice


Bugger Cooking all right...at about 2am, Thursday 10th July I was wide awake and very ill... I eventually vomited at about 4am, having gotten up twice to try... I then curled up in sleeping bag and tired to sleep... Birgit and Owe were up at 7am and worried about me... I said I just needed some more time to relax. They went for a walk and I slowly got up and packed. Birgit, the dear had boiled water for me and added red cordial... I eat dry biscuits for food most of the day.

We managed to ride 40kms today. It was a nice simple ride... not at all taxing... which was good as my tummy was still annoyed at the rich food I had tried to make it cope with. We had lunch on the sandy and lawned banks of the Ord river, Birgit was very convinced she had seen a Salty and neither Owe or I were game to confirm by visiting the spot of observation.

We found a great spot for our last night in the bush. Trees and a dry creek bed. We had a fire and chatted until late ish.. about 8.30pm

Friday 11 July was such a great day... Their were two highlights for me... a winding road and wonderful hills.... I could imagine this being the main road to Kununurra in the not so long ago past. Birgit and Owe were taking photos of each other as they road along... good sign they were enjoying the ride. I got our 1st and only flat tyre at turn-off for Black Pool. It was on the front and it was due to the thorns that were all over the road. All our tyres were full of the thorns. I just changed tyres and tubes. At which point 4x4 we had met the day before turned up to our aid. They had told us yesterday the Ivanhoe crossing was low and not running very fast, but today they changed their mind and had turned around to give a hand to get the bikes across.

Birgit decided she didn't want to try. Owe was game and entered the crossing with all his touring load on the bike. i decided to unload my bike into the 4x4 and try to cross. I made it too the 1st island fine, but it was slippery, fast fast water and over my knees. Owe continued on, we couldn't ride, but had to walk the bikes. I didn't make it... my bike was floating away...adn stopping it turning with the current was just too hard for me. I managed to just hold the bike and turn it around, but I couldn't make it back to the 4x4 behind me waiting in case I needed a hand. The owner noticed I needed a hand, removed the thongs and walked out to help me carry the bike back. We loaded it into the 4x4 and crossed.,.... Owe had made it... He was helped the last 100 metres by about 5 guys....

What a buzz... I was so excited we had tried... I so was glad to be in Kununurra! we had made it.

We had lunch at the crossing and then road the wonderful Ivanhoe Farm Road into to town, along paddocks of Maize...It was strange to me as the paddocks should have had sugar, but with the closure of the sugar mill... many of the paddocks were bare... We stopped at the Ivanhoe Farm Cafe for Coffee and frozen mango. We did our shopping, bough fish for a BBQ and set up camp at Kona Waters holiday Park.. We were given a great spot right on the waters edge... very nice. After dinner we taxi into the show grounds. It was show day in Kununurra - fireworks at 8pm. We had a great night - hoot... and were back at camp at 9pm.