Broome - Perth

	Sunday 7^th August. BROOME Left Perth at 5.45am for a 15 minute drive to the airport. No charge for the bikes. Had a half-hour stopover in Learmonth, (people with hatboxes got on), and arrived in Broome 10.45am. Lucky to find a large taxi-bus to take us to the caravan park. Rae set up the tent while Len put the bikes together. Beautiful view over Roebuck Bay and mangroves. Quite warm. Took Len almost 4 hours to assemble the bikes then we did a tour of the town. Lunched at 4.00pm. Drinks and dinner at a pub near the caravan park where crab races were held - very popular too. Chap at the pub assured us that we were riding South at the right time of the year. In October there are extremely strong southerlies, hence the horizontal trees at Greenough.
Monday 8^th August BROOME A windy night and a windy day. Rae's pillow went down early in the night so had to fashion a pillow from a bag of clothes. Rang Stephen. Aust. lost the 2^nd test by 2 runs! Rode to town on bike path/footpath all the way. Bought a new cheap watch but no pillow to be had so Len's going to try and silicon the holes. Went through the fascinating Broome Historical Museum. After lunch rode to the famous Cable Beach. Broome is a great place for bikes. There are bike paths on every street. Cable Beach is a picture of blue sea, vivid blue sky, and white sand. Saw plenty of tanned seniors with skin like a crocodile! Wonderful bike tracks #!*!! After a paddle at Cable Beach both my tyres were flat. Borrowed a car pump from a Kombi (young German couple) and raced back as fast as we could. Pumped the tyres again at a servo. and got back to the caravan park. There were 5 jacks in the front tyre - double gees as they're called in W.A.

Tuesday 9^th August BROOME to ROEBUCK PLAINS bush camp. 59km The big pack-up and start. Headed out of Broome into a head wind with a few long low hills to contend with. 15km out we saw a sign to a mango winery so we went 1km up the road and tasted delicious mango wine and had a mango smoothie in a beautiful, shady setting with pond and tropical plants. Met a girl on a recumbent cycle going the same way. She has ridden from Darwin. Lunched at Roebuck Roadhouse then continued on in the heat and wind to a roadside stop 25km from the roadhouse (the other end of the grass plains). Birds everywhere and puncture weed too. It's a hot dusty spot without much shade. The best spot taken by a van! But he did offer us water! PS Just out of Broome we met a paraplegic chap pedalling a recumbent with his hands. He's going around Aust. Raising funds. He has a support crew. In bed at 6.30pm - dark.
	Wednesday 10^th August BUSH CAMP to BARN HILL STATION. 75km Started early. Up at dawn and off by 7.15am. Good riding with a tail wind and cloud cover. Reached the turn-off to Barn Hill by 12.30pm then the horror started - 9km of thick red sand!!! There was no way we could ride and pushing was so so hard. After 2km we were fairly done when we were given water and a drink of Coke by people coming out. A short distance further on a huge van came up to us and we asked if he could carry our gear in his big Ford Ute. (known as a Fifth-wheeler). He was only too happy. We eventually managed to get our bikes into the van as well so we held them while bouncing over the corrugated sand. What a lifesaver. Now we'll have to get a lift out somehow. Bought some sausages for the BBQ. People lent us chairs so we could sit with everyone for the BBQ. Magnificent beach. Saw two whales. Len collected water for his collection. Arranged a lift out to the highway with the caravan park manager for 7.30am. Anne arrived on the recumbent at 7.30pm (in the dark). She had ridden the sand. The three wheels kept her upright.
Thursday 11^th August BARN HILL to BUSH CAMP STANLEY 85km Threw bikes into back of 4wheel drive - 10km to the gate. Loaded up and got away just before 8.00am. The wind was side on and kept us cool so we travelled fairly well. Pretty hot later on but saved by the Breeze. What comfort - a shelter, table and seats and toilets. Bumped into workmates of Ron Holland and Ray Gardiner. Shared a campfire with a couple from Tweed Heads so managed to stay up till 7.30pm. Lots of vans stayed o'night with little campfires, some groups of vans too. Some had stayed from the previous night as well.
	Friday 12^th August BUSH CAMP to SANDFIRE ROADHOUSE 107km Up at dawn and off early. Strong cool East breeze which was a little in our face. After about 10km the wind was more behind, then we really motored, averaging 19.9kph doing high 20's a lot of the time over the 5 hours 20 minutes. Had the wind been in our faces we'd still be going instead of showered and relaxing. We both felt much stronger today, handling the heat and physical discomfort much better. The landscape changed from trees and shrubs to very low acacia etc. Nearing Sandfire even the acacia disappeared being replaced by grasses and a rare wattle tree. Birds were less in this area too. More roadkill on this stretch - small reddish roos and the occasional bird of prey. Wined and dined in the roadhouse and stayed in a budget room - $35 - 2 singles and an air conditioner. Rae went to the toilet at 11.30pm and there was a frog on the toilet seat! The roadhouse had ostrich, peacocks, horses, cattle, dogs, geese etc.
Saturday 13^th August SANDFIRE ROADHOUSE to 80 MILE BEACH 54km Very cool morning as we set off in a gentle East wind, but it doesn't take long to warm up. Countryside changed - few trees but many different low bushes and plants, some in flower, as we're on the edge of the Great Sandy Desert. Many birds. Arrived at the turn-off to 80 Mile Beach at 10.15am then we had 10km of gravel road. It had been graded fairly recently so there was only a couple of little patches of sand, mostly corrugations. We had to pick a smooth track. Arrived at 11.00am to a huge caravan park with lots of shady trees. We lunched then sent an e-mail. Len got really frustrated trying to operate the internet. The beach is spectacular as far as the eye can see - white sand, blue water, fishermen, and shell collectors as the beach is famous for its shells. Took photos of the striking sunset. Walked in the moonlight 200 to 300 metres out to the water (low tide and very shallow bay).
	Sunday 14^th August 80 MILE BEACH Rest day. A rest day - full relaxation and preparation for 103km day tomorrow. The first 10km being corrugated dirt and very hard on the shoulders. Met N.Z. motorbike couple last night and enjoyed their company. We walked to the edge of the low tide in daylight. Little crabs were everywhere but the shells were at high water. Inspected Sunday Market goods - jewellery, knitting, crochet, knitted toys, large padded carry bags, ironing board covers, jarrah coasters, embroidered t-shirts, all made by women in their vans while the men go fishing. Some stay there months at a time.
Monday 15^th August 80 MILE BEACH to PARDOO ROADHOUSE 103km Another ton today! Rose at 5.30am to get a good start seeing we had 10km of corrugated dirt to start with. Managed the dirt quite well then once on bitumen we had 80km of good East wind right on our backs. The last 10km when it was starting to get fairly warm a sea breeze came from the North to cool us for the last stretch. Arrived at Pardoo Roadhouse at 1.30pm. Cabin has fridge, air con., and double bed. Len changed and headed straight for the pool but it was too cool for him. The caravan and camping area is well grassed and treed with tables and bbq's. Showered and then did our washing then relaxed.
	Tuesday 16^th August PARDOO ROADHOUSE to DE GREY RIVER 70km A hard day! The bitumen of the last 20km was murderous. It was so rough it vibrated the bikes, rattled our bones and made the seat even harder. Passed the Pardoo River - red water and ghost gums. Lots of ghost gums here too. De Grey River is a wide stretch of water with a well-treed grassy bank providing lots of places for vans and tents (shady), fireplaces too. We were told that the cattle come here to drink at night so I hope they don't walk into our tent. We saw a few different flowering plants and shrubs. Just watching a little dark goanna come down a tree. The group we met on arrival have lent us a table and asked us to help ourselves to their water. Len's working out some way for us to have a wash using water from the river. Kookaburras arrived at dusk. They have the weirdest sound, definitely not a laugh. Lots of vans at this site.