March 24, 2024
On the road again
Harvey to Yarri hut
We’ve had no internet for the past 2 days so the blog is behind. In fact we haven’t seen a person in that time, only 1 wallaby, 1 deer, some fat pigeons and a pile of camel dung. I had no idea what it was but Pete was extremely confident that it was from a camel. He’s very knowledgeable when it comes to identifying excrement.
So with the first week done and dusted here’s a quick update on our fundraising. To date we’ve raised $3593 for cancer council research. A big thank you to everyone who has donated. If you’re still thinking about it here’s the link.
https://www.trybooking.com/au/donate/twogoodblokes
What a night! It was a sumptuous, tender and a supremely satisfying offering. And that was Big Kev’s scotch fillet expertly barbecued by Pete. The show that followed was absolutely top class.
For a small town they have an incredible facility at the Rec hall, one that Bungendore could only dream of. There were about 350 people seated in airconditioning, with great lighting and sound.
Sonia, our AirBNB host was out having a big night with her girlfriends. A group from the wine bar were there, as well as all the girls from the fish and chip shop. The family from the butcher shop were just in front of us; the 3 year old still trying to pull bits of jerky out from between his teeth, and his brother was diligently carving his initials on the chair in front. Only Big Kev was missing, having a prior commitment at an anti-vaxxers rally in Cookerup.
Interval was a complete dogs breakfast. There was only one bar and when the hoards descended they had nothing ready. There were no clean glasses, about 3 bottles of cider and 2 bottles of red. All the rest of the drinks were in the cool room out the back. I’m sure all the volunteers were in watching the show. A near riot ensued, led by the lady in front of me with the Astro girl tattoo on her left shoulder who was already 3 beers in by the fourth song. But in true country fashion everyone pitched in, ferried the drinks to the bar and calm ensued.
The support act was a local guy, Harley from Harvey. He had an incredible voice and was a great acoustic guitarist with a penchant for depressive songs. Very much like JP from The J Waygood Band (bookings available pretty much any time that suits).
Tarryn, with her 4 piece backing band, put on a slick and polished show. For $25 a ticket it must have been heavily subsidised by some WA government regional arts grant. The next show in April is Marina Prior so they don’t muck around.
After another decent night sleep in a comfortable bed and with a bag full of clean laundry, we headed out for coffee and breakfast. We were asked several times how we enjoyed last nights show by people we had never met before. Good solid country friendliness. We headed east out of Harvey on a quiet sealed road, hoping to pick up the trail about 20 kilometre further along from Lake Brockman where we had diverted 2 days ago.
We’ve had perfect weather so far, sunny skies, a cooling breeze and temperatures in the high 20’s (barring the first day). There is no traffic whatsoever. It was an uphill run to Harvey Dam a monstrous construction that holds 56 gigalitres and has enough water to keep the residential lawns of Harvey green for at least 6 months.
From there we spun down the other side losing all our elevation gain and had a long, slow haul up a 5 kilometre hill before rejoining the trail.
What we hadn’t realised was that there was a track diversion in place for a good part of todays section. Where we rejoined the trail we were on the original version. It was OK for a while but then the path was blocked by several large fallen trees. We bush bashed around them but it took forever.
The dreaded pea gravel seems to have disappeared. In its place there was heavy tree litter disguising small logs and rocks making it a slow old affair.
We made Yarra hut by late afternoon and this time we had it all to ourselves.
Today's ride: 46 km (29 miles)
Total: 335 km (208 miles)
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