Ravensthorpe

I left Esperance this morning and set off towards Albany. I can really see how easy it is to accidentally get stuck when travelling; you find a nice place, meet nice people and the temptation grows to stay put. And that’s fine of course but if you’re not careful, you end up getting into a rut just like the one you left to go travelling. So I forced myself out and onwards. It was only a short ride, just 190 kms to Ravensthorpe

It’s been overcast all day but with a warm wind blowing. I even got splattered with rain as I moved westwards, but nothing serious. Gerty seems to have enjoyed her few days off too and is quite perky with her new back tyre and oil top up.

I stopped at a lake called Lake Monjingup just outside Esperance. It's quite weird how after the Nullarbor and  the outback and all their dryness, I’m now seeing ponds and lakes with a decent amount of water in them. A few crazy trees were sticking out of the water and sand, having lost the battle with the wet stuff, giving the place a bit of a post  apocalyptic look. 

There was some of that Banksia stuff too, one of those plants that needs fire to split its seed pods open and release the seeds as they are so hard. When they do pop, they look like frogs mouths but these were still firmly shut.

Most of today’s route was through pastureland or wheatfields. Not especially interesting and not much shelter from the strong wind that is still blowing in from the Nullarbor.  It was blustery too rather than steady and that always tires me out. It sort of beats you up as you ride. 

I arrived in Ravensthorpe at about 1530 hrs and accidentally stumbled across a great free camp spot, complete with a strong Telstra phone and Optus wifi signal. That doesn’t happen very often, but it was a bit early to set up camp, so I went into town for a look around. 

A nice little place which suffered from closure of the goldmines back in the 1930s.  But look at this - a funky glass statue creation outside the police station! 

Can you imagine that in London? it would have been long nicked or smashed or both. I mean we used to have to chain the Station Christmas tree to the railings on the steps into the nick every year in Lambeth because the locals would try and have it away. And it was huge, but they still tried to steal it every year. And when they couldn't, they'd set fire to it instead. I didn't reckon much on their police car though.

Ravensthorpe did hang on for a while though, with the railway line linking it to Hopetoun on the coast being used to transport wheat instead. There’s a nice little story about the wheat load being too heavy for the train to haul it up and over the hills than lay between here and the coast so the engine would drag half the train up to the top of the hills, uncouple, return for the remaining half, drag that up there, link them up again and then coast down to Hopetoun and the ships that would take it away. A different version of ‘coast to coast’ I guess.

As I rode around, I spotted a sign for a camel farm, and some camel roadsigns.  Not like the effeminate versions on the Nullarbor but real camely signs.

How cool - a real live camel farm so I had to go and find that. And even better, it lay up Dromedary Drive! Ha ha! What a great name. 

But alas, much to my disappointment it was shut although I did see a couple of camels casting disdainful  and condescending glances towards me from the yard.  

Camels are a bit like cats; the really do not give a stuff about anything or anything unless it benefits them, and then only if they feel like it. It was a shame it was closed though, especially as the sign said it was open. So I left........with the hump.

But it was time to camp so off I went, back to my free camp. A couple of vans were already there from earlier, so I ducked in behind them and some bushes and stuck up the new lightweight tent. Then I got stung by a bee; bloody thing. I hope it doesn't swell up like the wasp sting did last week.

The weather is getting a bit autumnal now, which means that its quite dewy in the mornings and that makes it difficult in the swag because there’s only room for me and I have to get changed outside it.  And that scares the roos and its not fun putting on bike gear in the wet. But at least with a small tent, I’ve got a bit more room and I use the swag as a mattress.

And there was the usual evening backdrop to admire as I got sorted.I even managed to cook some grub before it got dark too; I’m getting quite domesticated for a tramp.