1997-11-27 Busselton -> Margret River, 68km, 18km/h
Cream cheese, crackers,
jam, yoghurt, and peaches for breakfast. Tea and juice too. Visited
longest wooden pier in Oz (2km) but didn't walk on it. Costed money
and we had cycling to do. Bought puncture-proofing product for
bicycle tires yesterday and spent about 1 hour getting it into the
tires at a gas station. Several problems: valve core remover had a
knurl, but the cores were too tight to twist by hand, so we needed
pliers. Unfortunately, the station didn't have any! (misplaced) In
the end, we used the chain-removing vice on the jack-knife to nold
the core remover. Luckily all each core needed was a 1/4 turn twist
to become unstuck. Then had to squirt the green goop into the
tires. It seems to have kevvlar fibres in it that form balls that
clog up the valve (as well as punctures). Squirted about 50g on the
ground when I squeezed hard to force the fluid. Resorted to the
toothpick on the knife anda popsicle stick that I found on the
ground. I was a bit afraid of damaging the valve, but things seem
to hold thus far. Had lunch and coffee after repairs and left about
13h00.
Backroad is fairly green cattle
country with big trees first, then becomes dry like California,
then gets hilly and quite green (about 30km) like the avant-plateau
suisse. Almost 90% of trucks and cars will wave back to you and a
few even wave first! We saw and photgraphed a bobtailed skink (but
a diffeent color than the blue-tonge) just before the 4km of
highway before Margret River. That bit is stressful and we are
beginning to feel our thighs from the ups and downs. We decided to
camp because the wather seemed fine and we planned to stay a few
days in M.R. Plus Busselton was expensive. Set up camp and walded
to town to eat and stock up for breakfast. Bought more crackers and
cream cheese, a bottle of M.R. wine ($14! expensive!) and ate at a
BYO (Bring Your Own booze) across the street. Extremely good nachos
with a mango salsa (better than Airly Beach!), calimar (cood as
Greece) and a green salad with a flower on top. Ch. put the flower
in her hair. I was somewhat pissed and I made the mistake of trying
to clean an oil spt on my new safari pants with a red paper napkin
and water Result: I now have to tell people that that pink spot is
where the crocodile bit me. Fuck!!! It rained during the night and
our tent entrance flap collapsed under about 2 litres of collected
water and soaked my face throung the door. Next time, close all the
zippers. Weather was fine by morning.