August 18, 2025
Day 9: Nglang Boodja to Donnybrook
Today was reliving my first day on the Munda Biddi three years almost to a T but with more friends and more anxiety about a big trip coming up, instead of the warm glow of a successfully completed trip.
We had said we’d leave at 9 so I didn’t get up til 7 and still managed to be late out. I did make a delicious apple and cinnamon porridge though. Jimmy wasn’t feeling that well so was last out. I was feeling sluggish on the hill out of the hut. The trail passes through a random little forest stay/cabin establishment that looked even less utilised than last time.
Once we got to the top of the hill, it was very weedy with lots of shrubs across the path at various heights. I caught up to Maggie just before we came out of the forest into farmland.
There was a roller coaster section of good dirt roads and I caught sight of Ben’s rabbit hat and took off without thinking, like a greyhound, to try and catch them. I only did cause they stopped at a corner. As I was pushing it up the roller coaster hills I remembered there were more hills to come and regretted my decisions. But still we all rolled further down the valley then ground back up, on paved roads, until a bit of unnecessary single track through the crooked brook forest. There are some early wildflowers out.
We pushed on up another hill on a good dirt road before a glorious descent into Boyanup. It was already a strung out town and seems to have sprung up an entire new estate since I was last here. The bakery was heaving. Jimmy turned up not long after us and seemed to be feeling fine. The pies and pasties were average but the cakes were delicious.
After stuffing our faces, we rolled back to the park to sit in the sun and dry our tents for a while.
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The park was the same one I was sitting in last time when I met another cyclist, potentially called Matt, who I cycled with on and off for a few days.
After about 12ks we crossed the highway then got back onto more typical Munda Biddi track - windy, hilly, pea gravelly. Sam was back to being unhappy at the circuitous route, including taking three sides of a big paddock. We rolled into Donnybrook at school leaving time and it was traffic chaos. We found Sam, Joe and Noah at the train station but Ben and Jimmy had ridden the highway to get into town and were already at the hostel. We rolled in and met the very accommodating Lynne who gave us three rooms between us and we can bring the bikes in. Apparently the hostel can cater to 100 apple and avocado pickers but there’s only 30 here at the moment. We did washing and hung out at the bar in the hostel on the couches before going out for a surprisingly good eggplant parmigiana at the Donnybrook Hotel.
the hostel has zero sound proofing so it must be chaotic in full season but hopefully people are not too rowdy on a Monday night
Today's ride: 48 km (30 miles)
Total: 435 km (270 miles)
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