Cycle days 17 & 18 Warmun Roadhouse to Halls Creek

May 15, 2024 to May 16, 2024

Wed 15 May = Warmun roadhouse to bushcamp (about ½ way to Halls Creek) = 84km. 1128km cycle toured so far on this trip.

Weather is sunny and temperature is a high of around 31 with an overnight low of 18. Winds are blowing from the east – light in the morning and stronger in the arvo. It was a light cross tailwind if we weren't climbing in amongst the hills!

So we had a good rest day yesterday at Warmun roadhouse – the only down side was that on both nights bats arrived for feeding amongst the trees from about 10pm to about 4am and then they moved on. So all night all you could hear was bat poop landing on the tent and on anything within earshot! Neil cleaned it off the tent inner (as we still are not using our full fly). Spent a lazy day around the pool as that was the only spot we could get good shade for most of the day.

Was pointless getting up at 3am as the bats were still around and the chances of bat poop landing in our muesli was incredibly high so we got up at 4.30am and left just after 6.15am. Not alot of traffic around and it was full daylight so there was no need for lights. Not a breath of wind and it was just gentle climbing with a little down hill but not as much as the up hill. It is not hard to cycle but it is just ongoing. Just after the first long hill we come across roadworks at a one way bridge. Now we have come across a few of these bridges now in WA and they a little strange to deal with as there is no right of way. Both approaches are equal so not sure if it is first come first served and people regulate themselves!!! To me this is a little strange for WA which seams to have alot of checks and balances etc – this approach they have to one way bridges seems more on par with Queensland which has absolutely no regulation or rules in anything!

Anyway back to this roadworks. We are lined up at the traffic lights waiting for the pilot car to come. There are about 4 cars in front of us and the guy controlling the light stops us and said we will have our own pilot escort us. They said they had a problem the other day with a cyclist and put himself at risk and obviously rode where he shouldn't have. We asked if it was the Japanese cyclist a few days ago and they said yes. We assume Yuki english is not the greatest and we also assume after coming through that instead of going on the graded side road Yuki stayed on the sealed section that they were working on as they are building a 2 lane bridge as well as widening the road. So the guy said that he will follow us and when he toots we are to stop and keep to the left as the oncoming traffic and pilot are coming through. We thought righto and off we cycle. It was a nice bit of unsealed road and very firm and compact, a few bumps here and there and at one point one of Neils water bottles bounced of so he fixed that and then I heard a toot so we stopped and I took advantage and grabbed a photo

We had the escort for about 3 1/2km. It looks like the roadworks will continue for a while as we saw them working on the side of the road as we were climbing up the hill preparing to make the side road where everyone will be escorted. As the road through there is narrow and has no shoulder and barely 2 trucks can pass each other!

This is the result once they finish

It is a lovely wide road and shoulder but doesn't last long though!

We continue on and take a coffee break at Mulaks rest area and then continue down to the intersection or turn off to the Bungle Bungles. Our neighbours at Warnum roadhouse returned last night and said the 50km drive to the start of the national park Purnululu is very difficult and has heaps of river crossings and definitely takes the 2 hours! One day we will get there (in our EV SUV with high clearance and a roof top tent - that's the go for us at the moment after we retire from cycle touring Australia!) and hopefully it will still be open.

We had a break at the Ord River

expecting a big river here - like the Murray River!

oh well that is disappointing! This is the north side of the river.

and this is the south side of the river!

We cross over the bridge and Neil finds a wide but rough track down. We have our lunch break under the bridge.

lots of running pools this side of the river

under the bridge itself provides cool shade

you can see how high the river got with the remains of big horizontal branches getting stuck in trees

We then jump in the river with all our clothes on and then get back on the bike and start riding – it is very revitalising and refreshing to do this.

We continue on and the road has alot of up and down now and it is getting warmer. We begin to look for a spot just before 80km mark. But not before we come to a floodway with just a trickle left of water over the road

We finally find a spot that looks promising. It is about 1pm and the wide track goes of the road towards a gate/fence and then there is a track to the left that is wide and a little bit of overgrowth but it has a tree that has potential to give us afternoon shade. So after a lot of umming and ahhhing we settle and have a cuppa and something to eat. If I stand up I can get a nice view - otherwise all I see is long grass!

and for the rest of the afternoon the shade just got longer and about where Neil is is where we pitched the tent around 4pm

It is a good spot as the tree shade lengthens throughout the afternoon and we just keep moving along and following it. Plus we are facing east and the stronger afternoon breeze is still blowing so that is cooling us down a bit.

Tomorrow we get to Halls Creek. Everyone that asks us where we are going ALL have the same opinion (or prejudice depends on how you want to look at it!) about Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing and ALL say the same thing to us - don't stop. And ALL have never done a days exercise in their lives as they would know how ridiculous it is to tell us not to stop at those places! Neil promptly tells them that we have no choice, we have to stop and get supplies and water and need to rest somewhere. But since the caravan park is no longer open we are booked into the Halls Creek Motel for the night.

Thursday 16 May = Bushcamp to Halls creek =81 km. 1209km cycle toured so far on this trip.

Day temperature today is 31 but the night temperature where we camped my thermometer read 15 degrees at 4.45am (Neil forgot to set the alarm - not happy Jan!). I came really close to getting my long sleeve cotton shirt out to keep me warm. But it was ok - just!

Winds have gone back to coming from the south east and so for a section of riding we had a cross headwind but it was ok.

We are staying at Halls Creek Hotel and have a room at $250 - what! the caravan park is closed and we have no choice to stay here. Bushcamping close to a town like this either side is a little risky so we bit the bullet and saw what $200 got us and upgraded to this one so the bikes and gear can come inside with us!

You know some days we have absolutely nothing happen to us wildlife wise and some days its the odd thing here and there but this morning in our first 20km we had 3 things occur!

The first is minor and insignificant to most but we have hardly seen any kangaroos so far on this trip and if we have they are really small wee things and lighter in colour than the ones we see at home. We can hear them in the long grass but hardly ever see them but this morning while climbing what is left of our Mabel hill we were going through a rocky area and I finally saw a big male kangaroo and off course it saw the road train and thought nothing of it but when it saw us it freaked and bounded off!

The second is probably my favourite Australian bird - we saw 3 wedge tail eagles - assuming they were a family as 1 was a bit on the small size. Again just a bit further on from the Kangaroo and still going up that hill we could smell something dead and assumed since there had been recent back burning that the thing that is dead is now also bbq! Next minute we see movement from our left and see a wedgie skulking off as we had disturbed it so all 3 must have been snacking on the dead thing as they didn't go far and stayed in the low lying trees eyeing us off. So I stopped to take some photos.

the 2nd bird and next size down. The younger and smaller one was always near this one and I could never get a clear photo of it

And finally the 3rd event is always a crazy event - we started a cattle stampede! We finally get into some flat area and picked up speed and was going around 18-20km per hour and next minute to our right about 8 cattle bolt and are running through the unfenced paddock keeping up with us. They go for about 500m and I can see a car coming in the opposite direction. Normally I can't stand it when they stampede with us as there is no fence and there isn't a brain between them and they are panicking because they don't know what we are. So I am watching closely and I can see they are getting closer to us which means they are going to bolt and cross the road. So I frantically wave to let the car know that something is amiss and the cattle cross the road but the car must have seen them and had plenty of room to slow and pass by.

And that is it for today. Nothing else happened for the next 60km!

For most of the day the ride was uneventful. The first 10km was gently climbing to the top of Mabel Hill and from there it was a gentle down hill for a bit and then a series of undulations thru floodways and finally the road starts to veer south west so we have a tailwind to take us into Halls Creek.

We get into Halls Creek around lunchtime and we can get into our room straight away. We were originally in a double bed cabin but Neil said it wouldn't fit the bike and all the gear in it. So he upgraded to a bigger room so there is plenty of room for us and all our gear so the bikes can be stored in here with us.

It is luxurious for us!

plenty of room to still move around even with 2 bikes in it!

Neil was like a little kid in a toy store!

I am happy and there is air conditioning although I have to keep it at 24 otherwise it gets too cold for me - just call me a local!

Yeah we turned our bathroom into our laundry drying room!

After a cuppa and a few bickys we walk (a short one!) up to the local IGA to get some supplies for the next leg to Fitzroy Crossing and yip it is like alot of towns - heavily fortified!

The IGA was ok, a few empty shelves but boy we picked up some bargains!

the tea is 5 months out of date, the processed cheese and fruit was just a packaging issue and the spaghetti (tomorrows dinner) was just dented tins and the mixed nuts was again just out of date!

So the prices of fresh food is higher in a place like this - bananas $10kg, apples $7-10kg so we got individual fruit cups for our muesli in the mornings.

Gotta go now as Geelong is playing Gold Coast up in Darwin. So it was meant to be that we are in a hotel with a TV to watch this and it starts our time (WA time) at 5.30pm so I might be able to stay awake for the whole game!!!

Dinner is microwaved meat pies and the rest of a 2L vanilla icecream!

Today's ride: 165 km (102 miles)
Total: 1,209 km (751 miles)

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