Kalbarri to Perth, October 2005 - Introduction
I had planned to ride from Perth to Kalbarri with my brother, and then ride back on my own. Unfortunately on the second day out, his knee cap started playing up. It was our decision that any further riding, not knowing what was causing it, would be stupid because it could damage it further, even permanently.
Despite carrying all sorts of tools, spares and other equipment, we forgot to bring a spare kneecap, so we exercised our emergency exit plan and had someone pick us up. It took me several hours to disassemble the bikes and trailer, but we made it safely to Kalbarri.
On our first day out of Perth, we stopped for morning tea at my son's house. He was at work, so we had it in his front yard. It was then that I discovered that I had a stowaway on board. Tux the Penguin had decided to come for the trip and was hiding in the rear rack bag.
The Stowaway, shows his face on day one.
Our bikes are both Giants. Mine is a Rincon 25 inch frame pulling a BOB trailer and running Ortleib panniers on the front. I find this tends to counter the weight of the loaded BOB trailer. My brother's bike is a Giant Boulder which used to be mine. I had sold it to him and jokingly said that he could ride it the 600 kms home. Well of course that's what we set out to do. During lunch, Tux stuck his head out again.
I couldn't really leave the poor little tux there in the middle of nowhere, so I put him back on board and he did the entire trip with me. He did give me a warning that there was a house approaching from behind.
There goes part of the house.
Pictures of Kalbarri
Tux finds himself a friend.
I went out for a ride on the road heading east from Kalbarri to do a bit of exploring. Of course Tux went along.
Road to Murchison Station.
Nice blue sky and empty road.
Next - Day One
