May 13, 2024
Cycle day 16 - Bow River Rest Area to Warmun Roadhouse/Turkey Creek
Bow River Rest Area to Warnum Roadhouse/Turkey Creek = 28km. 1044km cycle toured so far.
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Temperature today is around 32 degrees with a lovely cool night of 20 degrees. Man we slept well last night due to this cold night!
Winds - easterly light and a cross wind.
$25 unpowered camping at the roadhouse.
Only a short day today just down the road from the rest area. Also we didn't have to get up early and could sleep in. I woke at 4.30am and could see the light beginning to form and just waited until sleepy head woke. Our tent was pitched under the shelter and there was no way to put the pegs in the bitumen so we had to improvise. The back of the tent guy ropes was weighted down with a discarded car battery while the front guy ropes were tied around the concrete seat legs. The feet part of the tent are held out with the winter tent fly and a packed sleeping bag. We had to share 1 of the sleeping bags as one was holding up the tent, this was a problem as Neil likes to "hog" the bag. But otherwise we slept really well - this is probably my best nights sleep so far!
Due to a later start in the morning the flies were swarming around us that we had to get the fly nets out
We left about just after 8am and straight away the shoulder on the road disappeared. So the road narrows considerably but there was not much traffic around at all.
We couldn't believe that there were so many good bushcamps. A great one was 17km down the road at Mistake Creek. It had a wide track to the creek that was flowing well and plenty of clear spots to pitch a tent.
Just further on from this we came across the Japanese touring cyclist that people had told us about. He is going in the opposite direction to us and he started in Melboure and naturally going around Australia in the wrong direction as he has headwinds for the bulk of it.
Just before we got to the roadhouse we came across some horses - don't think they are wild as they were on Mabel Downs land.
Got to the roadhouse about 9.30am and they only have 2 unpowered sites. We are right beside the pool fence so that will offer a little bit of shade but otherwise wewill be in the sun for the bulk of the day so we will hang out at the pool edge near the trees for the shade.
Had a lovely hot shower in a very old shower block. Neil thinks it was the same showers/toilets when he passed through here 35 years ago! Did some handwashing in washtubs stained with calcium as the water is bore water and incredibly hard water as there wasno lather from the soap!
Got to have lunch at a normal time today - 12pm so Neil got a loaf of bread and some hot chips (with no salt as they are always heavy on the salt!)
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While waiting for Neil to check us in I noticed an EV charging station outside
There is one in Kununurra and suppose to be every 200km in WA between SA border and the other border at Kununurra. But it is not quite there yet but the state government is working on it!
As we were packing up after lunch and getting our gear together to come to the pool area I noticed an electric vehicle pull up at the pop up vans at the back of the park and I looked properly this time and knew instantly who they were. I read an ABC article back in Feb/March about a WA family who are going around OZ in an electric vehicle towing a modified and more aerodynamic pop up camper and I wondered if we would encounter them ... well here they are in Warnum Roadhouse!
She approached us and asked us about our cycle touring and we all start chatting and I just mentioned to her that I had read the article in the ABC about them and just thought it great what they were doing.
They were really interesting to listen to and had just come back from attempting to drive into the Bungle Bungles - they couldn't do it -not because of the electric vehicle but the river crossings are still too deep. There clearance is 450mm and the 2nd crossing was deeper than that so they came back to pack up and move onto Kununurra tonight. They said alot of cars were try to do the Bungle Bungle road but the river crossings were just too deep for some to risk it. Apparently the Gibb river road is also still not open due to some of the crossings being too deep at the Kununurra end. As we ride aong we keep getting mixed messages about this Gibbriver road - some say it is open and some say it isn't but there is alot of people hanging around Kununurra and Derb/Broome waiting to do this road and I think there are going to be alot of disappointed people after the first 50 go through at the road will be all churned up and not worth the while driving it!
Anyway back to the EV family. They can get about 290km towing there pop top and they can do a paid quick charge that will take 25 mins or they can plug there car into the roadhouse power point with a 15watt charger (like what caravaners use now) and it is charged to 40% overnight or done completely especially if you are going to have a rest day.
They were so quiet when they left - perfect for early morning departures!
I look forward to hearing how they go but they don't seem to be having any problems - other than some limitations - which all travellers have - even us!
Today's ride: 28 km (17 miles)
Total: 1,044 km (648 miles)
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