Last day in Esperance

I decided to spend another day in Esperance. It's such a  nice place here, Violet, Barry and Carol, the YHA people are great, and there is no pressing need to move on. Its very relaxed here with its own brand of security.

It also meant that I could do the various little jobs that I keep meaning to do but never actually get around to. Like replacing Gerty’s back tyre. It was getting pretty bald and there was no reason to keep carting the new one around, so that’s what I spent three hours this morning doing. And lubing her chain, topping up her oil, taping the wheel rims and generally farkling her.

Barry gave me a bit of timber to support her while I took the back wheel off. That was actually a great help as the ground around her is sandy and no matter where I parked her, she kept sinking into the ground.

When I was riding yesterday, I noticed that the footbar was moving a bit. Upon closer inspection, I discovered that one of the four bolts had dropped out, whilst two more were loose. So I nipped them up and will get a replacement for the missing one when I reach Albany. Its not essential, just something that I will do as and when, but when I checked them again today, they were as good as.

This is another reason I like to do my own servicing. I ride this bike all day, everyday, and I’ve got used to her little ways and funny sounds. So when something is amiss, I notice, and when I’ve worked out what it is, I know to keep an eye on it.

I had a good old chat with Barry whilst I was fixing Gert. He and Violet and both maoris from NZ and Carol is their sister in law ( was married to barry’s brother Charlie, who died) Really nice, fun kind people, all three of them. Barry is also a bit of a whiz with cars and he’s got a few parked here which he’s bought from backpackers. But the best one is this scooter which runs on solar power and which he’s fixed up to carry tools and bits of crap around the site.

Having put the postie back into working order again, I rode into town where I bought a few bits that I needed, and immediately met Julie who wanted to know how far I’d ridden and where I was going next. Her husband is a biker but is currently crook with a damaged spine, following a bike smash 22 years ago - exactly the same injury as I have - damaged L3/4/5 vertebrae, only his sounded more serious than mine. Hopefully, they’ll be able to do something for him and he’ll get back to doing whatever it is that he wants to do. Back injuries are shit because they affect everything; standing, sitting, laying down. There is no not moving that bit as it hurts business; your back is central to everything and its such a nasty bugger when something goes wrong with it.

Twighlight Bay is the next bay along from Esperance, and its beautiful. 

I followed the road along the cliff top as far as Observatory Point which is where two French ships, the Recherché and the Esperance  anchored in the deeper water back in 1792. And how incredible that must have been for the french sailors who landed. After months at sea, they finally set foot on land that as white men, was a first. New plants, new land, new everything. And the thing is, with the exception of the road that I'd just ridden along and a town several kilometers back, little had changed, no buildings, so signage, no phone masts or anything. So what I was looking at must have been very much what they looked at 222 years ago. The only difference is I had a camera  and took photos whereas they had to describe through writing.

Hopefully, they didn't really look like this

The coastal geology is more huge granite boulders, rounded and shaped by the ocean, as well as calcified sand and roots making up the top soil. Where it had been worn away by the sea, the rain and the wind, vast segments of fossilised roots have been exposed, and little cave like holes have appeared in the upper layers. 

And the beach is like a mini moonscape as bits of outcrop have been weathered by sea water. 

I’ve always found the sea mesmerising and fascinating, so I spent a couple of hours wandering about, climbing over the rocks and just watching the water crashing over and through them.

me being mesmerised and fascinated

And odd point ( I was going to write climax but I wont in the circumstances) to this afternoon was the man I met at Observatory Point who told me he’d been watching a couple have sex on the nudist beach round the corner and enquired whether I would like him to show me where they were. No thanks, I think I’ll leave them to it. Well would I like to watch him do things to himself then? Er, no thanks, I’ll leave you to that one too. Can’t risk you getting stage fright and getting booed off stage can we? Anyway, I’ve got things to do in town right now in fact; nice meeting you. Bye.

I think Observatory Point must double as a dogging - or maybe dingoing - pickup location. But who are these people and where do they appear from? He  just materialised yet he can’t have seen me from the road because I’d parked Gerty alongside the hedge and not in the main car park. And he was just an ordinary looking bloke who wouldn’t stand out in a crowd, yet he clearly frequented the place and his approach was quite bold, but he was completely unfazed by my disinterest. It was as if he’d walked into a shop and asked for something we didn’t have and he’d been told to try the shop across the street. Maybe  he  propositions everybody the encounters there, working on a scatter approach basis, or maybe I inadvertently give off dogging vibes. Guess I’ll never know. Woof.