June 23rd, 2011
Dunsborough to Bunbury
Distance: 84km
Total distance: 6290km
Today marks the 100th day since I started this tour in Sydney. Interestingly, Dunsborough is the most westerly point in my touring route. Hence technically, I have already ridden across Australia.
Bunbury, the destination for today’s ride, lies about 75km north-east of Dunsborough. The morning saw me reluctantly waking up to a gloomy grey sky and starting my ride in the drizzle. The first hour of riding on Caves Road was stressful. Narrow shoulders on a high traffic road forced me to ride with maximum concentration and anxiety. On countless occasions I had to ride on the unsealed road side to make sure that cars can pass safely.
About 10km to Busselton, I discovered a cycling path that took me all the way to the Busselton Jetty! This cycling path was an absolute blast to ride. Very smooth surface and almost entirely flat throughout. Not to mention far away from the traffic noise and it runs adjacent to a beach.
I soon reached Busselton Jetty. Stretching into the sea at nearly 2km, it is apparently the longest timber jetty in the southern hemisphere. Spent almost 2 hours at the jetty walking and photographing. Due to it’s size, this jetty has unintentionally became the largest artificial reef in Australia. A good spot to view the reef is the underwater observatory located at the end of the jetty. Shame that it’s closed today due to low visibility.
After a quick lunch at Busselton town, I was off again to the busy highway. But here onwards, the shoulder was wide enough for my trike. Somewhere along this highway, I steered into an alternative road that took me through the hauntingly beautiful Tuart Forest. Very few cars use this road, even though it’s length is roughly the same as the main highway. It’s difficult to describe in words the beauty of this forest. There was absolutely no wind at that time, and no sight or sound of any animal activity. Pure silent atmosphere, only the gripping sound of my chain can be heard. Haunting, but a beauty in it’s own right. It was just after the rain, and I was getting a very pleasant scent from the woods. The overall riding experience here was even better than riding the Karri Forest. Possibly because the road here is a lot flatter and straight so more attention can be allocated to enjoying the scenery rather than the road.
The Tuart forest ride lasted for about 15km and I was back on the boring highway again. The highway splits into dual carriageway so that reduces my stress a bit. Still, I found myself riding faster hoping to get to a nice cycling path as I approach Bunbury. Bunbury being a major township, I was confident they must have some pretty decent cycling paths.
The shoulder lane became increasingly littered with broken glass bottles when approaching Bunbury, a common sight in all major cities. I looked up my iPhone GPS and found a turn off into the residential area. So naturally, I took the smaller and quieter road that led me to Ocean Drive, where I found a nice cycling path that runs between the road and the beach.
Somewhere along the cycling path, I was stopped by a curious cyclist. Jose is also a touring cyclist himself, and has recently toured in China for 10 weeks, totaling a distance of about 4000km. He lives here in Bunbury and is now preparing for a bigger tour riding diagonally across the US starting next month. As with any touring cyclist I met, we got along well and he even offered me a place to stay in his house! Once again, I was shocked by the kindness of complete strangers. I followed Jose back to his house and was pleasantly surprised that he had another house just next to his current house. He said building this house was his hobby and it’s still a work in progress in which he started 10 years ago. I was deeply impressed, the double-storey house looks fantastic and professionally built. Definitely looks more than a hobby to me!
Met Jose’s wife, Linda and their dog, Chiko and later in the evening we went for a pizza dinner at the town centre with a couple of their friends. Turns out they were all cycle nuts which was great! On a sidenote, I learnt that Jose toured in China without a camera and a speedometer! Apart from a mobile phone, these two are the only electronics I can’t do without on my tour! Another interesting thing was he knew Hutch, the American cyclist touring with Xu Tan where I met in Esperance!
Here I am, sitting on the top floor in the house of someone I just met a few hours ago, reflecting on the events that happened today. Today, my 100th day of tour, was an absolutely incredible day!