Betten On Bike: DAY 55 - 3RD JUNE 2013

Day 55– 3 June 2013 - Coral Bay – Carnarvon

Up at 5am – packed up the van & a quick cup of tea & a piece of toast & we left The Ningaloo Resort at 5.55am in pitch black darkness to drive Walter the 12 kms along Coral Bay Road to the Exmouth / Minilya Road turn-off where today’s ride would start. We arrived at 6.15am and it was still very dark. It was a very heavily overcast sky and quite cold but Walter was keen to get going. I was a little concerned and decided to drive behind him until it was light which was around 6.45am.

Cycling Stats: 225 kms

Cycling Average: 29.13 kms per hour

Cross winds all the way made this another challenging ride for Walter but this was expected as this region is famous for strong winds.

Once again dense low vegetation which changed to sparse low vegetation. We stopped after 70kms to prepare the coffee and when Walter reached where we were parked he said he would like to continue another 16 kms to Minilya Roadhouse. We waited for him there and we had coffee in the rest area there. Then back on the road for the next 40 kms – not much variation in the landscape just grasses, low trees & shrubs. We did see emus in the distance and there was lots of road kill (mainly wallabies).

We arrived in Carnarvon around 2.15 and Walter a half hour later. After a bit of recovery time we drove into Carnarvon – I was keen to see the old Carnarvon Jetty – “The One Mile Jetty’ built in 1897 when the local population pressured the government to develop a port for the town. Carnarvon was the first port in the world which loaded livestock on board ships for transport to markets. It was used to transport wool & livestock produced in the region to Fremantle. The jetty is constructed of heavy old timber boards – very weathered & worn and I really enjoyed my walk to the end of the1.5 km. point It was sunny but a strong wind was blowing so very invigorating. Lots of people were enjoying the afternoon – fishing and walking over the old structure.

Walter & Andrea sat and enjoyed the view over the jetty & the beach and a cup of coffee. Then it was time to buy the groceries and prepare tonight’s dinner.

Back at the camping ground we met a friendly group of travelers who told us about a hot spring we should visit which was 7km past Denham and they also gave us a generous donation for our donations bucket. We so much enjoy meeting people on the way and hearing their stories and sharing ours.