Day 102: The Final Camp

June 25th, 2011

Bunbury to Mandurah
Distance: 107km
Total distance: 6397km

Today is the penultimate day of my tour. Consequently, I had quite an emotional ride in my mind. A large part of me didn’t want this tour to end. Unfortunately, it is a fact of life that all things must come to an end.

My morning began with a breakfast of toast with Jose, Linda, Rachel, and Lucas’s family. The weather was a huge improvement from yesterday’s but some showers were predicted. Somehow I wasn’t very motivated to ride today, perhaps also due to the fact that I knew after tomorrow there won’t be anymore riding. Said my goodbyes to my unexpected Bunbury host, Jose and Linda and off I went, heading towards Mandurah. I fully appreciate their amazing hospitality! It was a new experience for me to spend a night in stranger’s home.

Before leaving, Jose showed me his bling in his garage. I was lost for words. Let the pictures do the talking.

Jose revealed that he and Linda actively compete in time-trials and races until 2 years ago, when they decided they had enough. Linda was once voted as the WA women rider of the year. I was so wrong when I thought they were cycle freaks, they were beyond that! *speechless*

Jose guided me by riding along for the first 9km out of Bunbury. That was very nice of him. He said that if they didn’t have any visitor this weekend he would ride with me all the way to Mandurah!

Before joining the highway, I rode along an estuary which was quiet but the road surface was rough. Noticed a few random cars parked along the estuary and wondered whether this is a secret meeting place of some sort, haha. On the highway, I had a comfortable-sized shoulder to ride on. The highway splits into Forrest Highway and Old Coast Road. Took the latter one for its lighter traffic but at the cost of narrower shoulder. It rained for a bit while I was on Old Coast Road. Mandurah is the second largest city in WA, hence I was anticipating an awesome cycling path about 10km to the town centre. The cycling path did appear but it was less than satisfying. Parts of it were under renovations and there was no proper diversions to them. Riding on the road wasn’t an option considering the heavy city traffic.

The cycling path did manage to take me to the town centre, where I call into the visitor info centre to ask about backpackers accommodation. I was told there weren’t any! Odd, for a big city like this not to have any backpackers hostel. Anyway the next best thing would be caravan parks. Checked-in at the caravan park nearest to the town centre. Looks like I’m back to camping again tonight! The waterfront here reminds me a lot of South Bank back in Brisbane. Recreational park, local tourists, posh apartments, and boats, looks like a nice place to spend a relaxing holiday. Didn’t get a chance to see the town centre better as all the shops were closed by the time I went there. Dinner tonight was a takeaway Fried Kuey Teow from a Malaysian restaurant! Can’t believe tonight is my final night of the tour. Staying in the tent tonight felt really nostalgic as I haven’t been doing so for the past 2 weeks. For now, I’m just going to spend the next hour in my sleeping bag listening to music and play my mind through the events in the past 100 days 🙂