My Ride to Wodonga March 2015
I thought you might be interested in our ride of 11,500 km from Perth to Wodonga and back in March 2015 to go to the Ulysses motorbike clubs AGM. There were lots of our other biker friends there, nearly 2,800 in all. I have been to five AGM now, Albany, Mildura, Maryborough, Alice Springs and now Wodonga. Actually I flew with daddy with two friends to Brisbane and we hired bikes for our Maryborough trip. We are nearly ready to go off to Launceston in Tasmania because the AGM is there this year
This ride was very exciting as we normally ride with friends in a group, but this time it was just daddy Ken, me and the road.
Daddy planned the trip so we could visit one of his clients in Parks, NSW, on the way. To make it a round trip we went to Wodonga via Broken Hill and came back around the Victorian and South Australian coastline via Kangaroo Island.
I have written a story about the trip and added some photos daddy took along the way for you to look at and to see what fun I had and all the nice people I met.
We got a bit delayed leaving Perth on a Thursday because of some late business but got to Coolgardie on the first night. The next morning daddy woke me early and it was a long day. We stopped at Norseman, Balladonia, Caiguna, (where I always have my photo taken with the little gnomes), Mundrabilla, and then over the border to stop for the night at the Nullarbor Road House. It was daylight saving in South Australia so it stayed light quite late, although it made leaving the next morning later because kangaroos and motorbikes are not good together.
From the Nullarbor we stopped at Ceduna, saw the “big ant” at Poochera and the “big parrot” at Kimba. I met a nice new friend there called Elliot. I meet lots of new friends on my travels. We carried on to Port Augusta, up through Horrocks Pass and detoured a bit to stop at Melrose for our sleep. Up early next morning and headed through Orroroo, (looked at the big old gum tree) Peterborough for fuel and on over another border to Broken Hill. Daddy Ken took some time out to visit Silverton but I didn’t see Mad Max anywhere. Lots of people at the pub because it was Sunday lunchtime. We rode around Broken Hill a bit and then headed off east. Dad wanted to make it to Cobar before dark so we quickly passed through Wilcannia only stopping for fuel.
Cobar was good to see as it was just getting into dusk and boy, there were lots and lots of goats each side of the road, some with really big horns. Daddy said the goats seemed more intelligent than the kangaroos as they just looked as we passed by. I think they may have been scared of me!
Being Monday, daddy wanted to get to Parks. We had a quick look at Cobar which is a very nice town with a big deep mine, a bit like the Kalgoorlie super pit and you can go up to a big lookout like you can there. Next we saw Nyngan, I think they made a film about Nyngan, and then Narromine. Dad wanted to get to Parks as early as possible so we missed Dubbo, will see it on another trip. At Parks I saw the big “Dish” and our friends and clients for a business meeting. Fairly late in the day we decided to see how far we could go towards Wodonga before dark. We passed through Forbes, West Wyalong, had our first rain on the way to Temora and down to Cootamundra to see the “Dons” Birth Place. With the time approaching 7.00pm daddy decided Gundagai was the limit for this day. I was glad, because that’s where the “Dog on The Tucker Box” lives, so I knew I was going to catch up with him and say hi.
It was Tuesday and Gundagai is a very nice town. Daddy took me to see the dog. He didn’t have much to say though. He might sit on a box, but I sit on a Boxer (that’s what they call the BMW motor). In Gundagai there is Dad and Dave, Mum and Mable. Daddy says you know when people are really getting old when they tell you they listened to Dad and Dave on the wireless. He also said the Adventures of Hop Harrigan was pretty good too. In Gundagai I saw Rusconi’s Marble Masterpiece. There are so many wonderful things to see on my travels.
From here the day got a bit exciting. Dad didn’t want to go straight to Wodonga down the Hume Highway so we rode across to Tumut with the plan to take the Snowy Mountain Highway up to Mt. Selwyn turn off and then cut across through Cabramurra to Corryong, and down to Wodonga in what would take about 4 hours. Big clouds were forming over the mountains and even though it was very warm in Tumut, daddy put on our wet weather gear. That was very lucky because as we started up the mountain it started raining. The views were spectacular but daddy had to keep his eyes on the road as the rain got very heavy. We were taking it slow but the locals think it is Bathurst and went flying past. We made it to Black Perry Lookout and stopped for a break and photo. A nice lady took one of me and Daddy. Now this is when the real excitement of the day started. After crossing along a high ridge line we finally came to the Mt. Selwyn turn off. It was now getting to mid-afternoon. Dad was happy because the rain had stopped although he was wondering if he had made the right move as we passed through the ski ticket booths that were closed for the season. As we descended down on a steep winding valley road we entered thick fog. I could hardly see my tail. Dad was a bit worried because he said if we came off and got stuck for the night he only had my dog biscuits to eat. Hands off old man. Down, down we went, then up, up we came, every now and again a set of lights would appear out of the foggy gloom and car and caravan would pass by. Just before Cabramurra, the road forks, one going through the mountains to Khancoban, the other following down the Tumut River Valley. With a mental toss of the coin, dad chose the latter, the Goat Ridge Road. The name about explains it all.
The fact is, whenever you go down a hill, you have to come up a hill. Also, when they make roads in mountains, they are very windy, so we spent the next 30 kilometres going down and up and round and round, left and right. The fog had lifted and now we only had light drizzle to contend with. We were in fact in the Tumut 2 Hydro Power Station Precinct, right over the top of it, but don’t tell anybody because I don’t think I am actually allowed in there. Very slowly we finally made our way down to flat ground. Now I must explain that Daddy is not one of these GPS softies, he uses ‘he-man’ maps only, so it is always interesting to see where we come too.
Our next fork in the road took us to a little place called Tooma and then to Tintaldra in Victoria, just over the Murray River which is the border to New South Wales, my fourth state in six days. He-man maps are OK, but, Victorian road signs and directions leave a bit to be desired. I think we were on the Murray River Road and Daddy’s logic was if we keep the river on the right hand side of us we would finally get to Wodonga. The time now was about four o’clock in the afternoon so it was lucky they have daylight saving in March. The Murray River Road is a nice biker road that winds its way along the river across undulating fields and river flats and passes through lots of small towns. With a wrong turn off the Murray River Road we ended up in a little town called Bethanga, which overlooks Lake Hume and the Albury and Wodonga town sites. We were nearly there. To cross Lake Hume you have to use a lovely big long bridge. My Daddy loves looking at bridges because he is an engineer and they like things like that. By the time we got to the Wodonga registration centre it was five thirty and the centre was closed for the day. Luckily we could get a temporary camping pass at the campsite for our Ulysses adventure to start the next day. I was very tired and it was time for a nice long sleep with my daddy.
Over the next few days from Wednesday to Saturday Morning, Daddy Ken and I caught up with lots of other Ulysses members at the AGM. There was about 2800 members camping onsite or staying in the towns of Wodonga and Albury. They are the softies. We did a ride to Omeo along the Great Alpine Road. I had ridden the other way along this road about 3 years ago. It is a very cold at minus 1 degree and very twisty roads through the mountains up to Omeo and it’s the same coming back along the Omeo highway to Wodonga. It was good training for our ride home along the Alpine Way. During the week I also saw Wagga Wagga and a big submarine in Holbrook. I wonder how they got it there. AGM’s are great for their grand parades. Lots and lots of bike riding through the city with lots of people waving and clapping. I get lots of laughs when people see me sitting up on the tank. I am only allowed to do that when I am in a parade. This year I met another doggy friend who was riding in a side car.
Just after lunchtime on Saturday Daddy had the bike packed up for our trip home. He was very happy as the day way nice and fine and warm. We had planned to ride up to Cooma and camp overnight if it was getting too late and dark. The ride to Cooma is through Corryong, cross over the border back into New South Wales, and then up the exciting windy Alpine Way to Thredbo and Jindabyne. The views are really beautiful and Jindabyne has a great big lake. I didn’t get to go to Mount Kosciuszko because it is a national park. When we got to Cooma it was still light so daddy decided to head for Merimbula to stop for the night. Between Cooma and Merimbula we made a stop on Brown Mountain at a little lookout where daddy told me he and mummy stopped on their last road trip together the year before she died. Dad and I miss mummy. It was getting quite dark when we got to Merimbula because it was nearly eight o clock and the office was closed. The nice people at the caravan park let us in though and daddy put up the tent. We then rode down town for a late dinner. All the people thought I was cute and daddy and I very smart for riding so far. Dad always says if it wasn’t for me, no one would ever talk to him.
Sunday morning we packed up early and had breakfast at a nice restaurant in town and met lots of people, especially a nice lady and gentleman who look after pets when people go away on holidays. Because we had a long ride yesterday, today’s ride was not going to be as long to where we planned to camp the night so we could take our time. This road is called the Princess Highway and goes all the way from Sydney to Port Augusta in South Australia. It name has changed in places but daddy said we would ride along it quite often in our journey.
The highway is a very scenic ride with lots of trees because it goes through forests, national parks and crosses rivers and is sometimes near the coast. We visited the town Eden and then across the border again into Victoria. Wow, I’m doing lots of border crossings aren’t I. The next towns we passed through before stopping for lunch were Cann River and Orbost, which are lovely historical towns. Dad carried on to the nice town of Lakes Entrance for our lunch stop, I was hungry by now. Lakes Entrance is right on the sea and it has lots of fishing boats there. I was here before when I went to Mildura with dad and his Ulysses friends and its one of daddy’s favourite places, so he took some photos of me on the foreshore. From Lakes Entrance we rode to a bigger town called Sale, passing through lots of farmlands and little towns. Because it was Sunday the traffic was getting fairly heavy with everyone out for a Sunday drive. We had planned to camp at a little town called Toora which is on the South Gippsland Highway because daddy had the idea to follow as close as possible to the Australian coast until Kangaroo Island in South Australia. Just outside of Sale, we saw a sign about an historic swing bridge. What did I say before about bridges? We made an instant detour and came across a lovely big bridge that sits on piles in the middle of the river and can be made to turn all the way around in a big circle. In the old days a man would turn a big handle and turn the bridge so it was across the river for the people to cross, or turn it around so boats could go past. Nowadays they have a motor and every Sunday at 3 and 4 o’clock they turn the bridge around for display. We were really lucky to be at the right time to see the bridge work and I also meet lots of nice tourists. From Sale we rode on to Toora for a nice Sunday night sleep.
It’s good when you are on holidays because you don’t get Mondayitis. Today was going to be a big ride with lots to see. Daddy wanted to get across to the other side of Port Phillip and camp somewhere on the Great Ocean Road. To get there daddy said we would be going on a ferry boat. We were to go on a few ferry boats in the coming days of our trip.
The town of Toora has a big wind farm. It’s not really a farm but they have twelve big towers that have big propellers on top that turn in the wind. The propellers turn a machine that’s makes electricity. Daddy calls it clean renewable energy and it will be very important in the future. I have seen wind farms in lots of places, especially windy areas. We had breakfast in a town called Foster and then rode through lovely country across to the towns of Inverloch and Cape Paterson which are on the scenic coastal road near the sea, and then to the town Wonthaggi. Wonthaggi was where they used to mine underground for coal and has a lot of interesting places to see. We didn’t have very much time because our next stop was Phillip Island but daddy said we will come back next year.
To go to and from Phillip Island you have to go over a very nice big bridge. I think dad was very excited to see Phillip Island. It is the goal of every motorbike fanatic to go there to watch the Australian GP race. One day daddy and I will do this but this will do for now. We stopped at the information centre to buy some nice presents for my nieces and nephew and I got to meet Wayne Gardner, Mick Doohan and Casey Stoner, great Australian motorbike racers. We rode around the island and saw The Nobbies and Penguin Centre, although of course I was not able to go in. We also rode to the island town of Cowes and did a walk along the Cowes jetty before visiting the Grand Prix Circuit for a photo. It was now afternoon and time to head off to catch the Sorrento Ferry. The countryside was very flat as we rode around a big bay area called Western Port on the way to the Mornington Peninsular. As we got closer to the town of Sorrento, the traffic got very busy and there were lots and lots of houses, so I knew we were back in an area where lots of people live. At Sorrento there is a place where you buy a ticket and wait for the ferry boat to come to take you to a town called Queenscliff. We were the only motorbike in the big queue of lots of cars and were told to go to the front. It was good waiting for the ferry because I got to talk to lots of people. The ferry ride was really smooth and daddy and I stayed with the bike. Lot of the other people when upstairs to feed their faces. Daddy said this was a lot better than trying to ride through Melbourne traffic on a Monday afternoon. It was about 4-30 in the afternoon when we got to Queenscliff. Queenscliff has lots of historical buildings and old museums. I think we will spend a fair bit of time here next year as well. Daddy looked at his map and worked out if we hurried we could get to Aireys Inlet to camp for the night. On the way to that place we passed Bells Beach which is famous for its surfing. It would have been good to go there because the surfing championships were on but it was now getting dark and I needed my beauty sleep. We had a nice evening at Aireys Inlet when we met a family that had just moved from Geelong to live in this nice little town on the coast but still close enough for them to work in the big city. In the morning daddy took to me to see the big lighthouse that is in the town.
Aireys Inlet is on the Great Ocean Road. When we rode to Mildura we came along this this road the other way so it was good to see what it would be like going west. Just a little way from Aireys Inlet is a Memorial and a big arch over the road. This memorial is for the three thousand returned soldiers and sailors from the First World War who built the Great Ocean Road in the years after the war. My dad read to me that “The Great Ocean Road” is the largest enduring war memorial in the world. I think it always good to find out new things about our history. At the memorial I met some nice Chinese tourists. We were to meet lots of tourist on our travels today.
We rode along the very winding Great Ocean Road and passed through lots of little beach side towns. I think it would be nice to live here and run along the beach each day. I sure the psycho spaniel would like it too. After about an hour we got to a lovely town called Apollo Bay. Dad had been really wanting to stop here because he remembered they have the best bakery ever. Yum, it was still there so we stopped for breakfast. I shared a nice lamb pie with dad while he talked to some locals and also met up with some Ulysses members that were also travelling along the Ocean Road. There were lots of road works being done on the Great Ocean Road and after Apollo Bay the road goes away from the coast and into a forest and the road was very hilly with some good views. It was a bit stop start though because of the road works. We passed by the twelve Apostles visitors facility because I’m not allowed in there and carried on to our next stop at the seaside town of Port Campbell so I could have a drink and wee. Port Campbell is very close to lots of things to see along the rugged limestone cliffs. Daddy stopped at the landmarks called the Arch and at the London Bridge to take some photos.
After Port Campbell the road goes inland and meets up with the Princess Highway, that’s the big long road I told you about before. That road took us through a big town called Warrnambool and then onto Port Fairy. We didn’t stop at those places because dad wanted to get to Portland so we could head to South Australia. It was now afternoon and we wanted to get to a town called Robe for our sleepies that night
On the map, daddy had seen that we could keep close to the coast if we left take Princess Highway and travelled from Portland across to Nelson, and then on to Port MacDonnell which is over the Victorian Boarder and in South Australia. After Nelson we crossed the border and turned toward Port MacDonnell. Port MacDonnell has a big jetty that goes way out, I think they do lots of fishing there because I saw lots of boats.
We rode along a really nice road from Port McDonnell up to a lovely big lake called the Blue Lake and I got a photo taken looking over it. Daddy said we will come back next year and have a good look around so we rode around Mount Gambier for a bit before refuelling and heading off down the Princess Highway down to Millicent and turned off on to the Southern Ports Highway down to Beachport and then quickly onto Robe for our nights stop and dinner. Daddy had not had fish and chips for some time so guess what we had for tea. Yummy local fresh fish and chips from the nice shop in town.
Robe is a really nice town on the coast and our chalet that we had for the night was really nice. I think it was one of the best places we had stayed in on the trip and the owners also liked doggies and let me stay inside. I met their doggie the next day just before we left. The zip on daddy’s bike jacket had decided to fail so we went to the hardware store and brought some Velcro and lots safety pins and while we had breakfast dad did some repairs. They were pretty good because they lasted the rest of our trip home. I think we will stay here on out trip to Tasmania and it will be nice to share the town with my friends.
We left Robe a bit later than we wanted due to jacket repairs and headed off to Kingstone SE. I not too sure why they put the SE on the name but I am sure daddy will find out. I saw a nice lighthouse in the town, a nice big jetty and just as we left town a really big scary crayfish. It was only a big pretend one so I wasn’t really scared at all. We have lots of big things in Australia don’t we. One day I think it would good to make a photo album with me and all the big things like the parrot at Kimba and the big ant at Poochera. The road from Kingstone SE is the Princess Highway again and it goes along the coastal area called the Coorong. It is long, straight and flat with only one place to stop until the next big town, Meningie. That place is called Salt Creek, and is a little road house. Daddy brought a coffee and I had a drink of water. It’s important to drink lots of water when you travel so you don’t get dehydrated.
To add a bit of adventure to our day, daddy took the road from Meningie across to Narrung where there is a ferry to take you across the entrance to Lake Albert. We reached the ferry crossing and met a nice lady who was in charge of sailing the boat across the water. Actually the ferry is a barge and it has a long cable attached to it and a winch on the barge pulls you across. On our trip we were the only ones crossing so daddy had a nice long chat with the lady captain while I stretched my legs. It gets a bit cramped sometimes on the back of the bike. The ladies husband had a bike also and was going to take a camping ride with some mates so she asked daddy and me lots of questions about how we travel and what we take. I think I should write a book on that because lots of people ask the very same thing, and I’m an expert now.
After crossing the water at Narrung we headed back to the Princess Highway for a bit and then turned towards a town called Wellington as we headed towards Goolwa. We soon came upon another river crossing. In fact it was the crossing across the mouth of the great Murray River and another one of those cable barges like before, but I think it was bigger. There were a lot more cars crossing this river as well so there was a big queue. Being a motorbike, we did not have to wait much because we were easy to fit on the barge. The road through Wellington was the Langhorne Creek Road which goes to Strathalbyn. We stopped there for afternoon tea and spent time speaking to the nice bakery owner and her customers.
As we headed towards Goolwa the sky was starting to get quite dark with some big clouds. Daddy was thinking it might rain so we should hurry a bit and get to the Kangaroo Island Ferry place. On the way to Goolwa we passed through nice flat farm country and a couple of small towns. Goolwa is a fairly big town but we only stopped to take a couple of photos, yes, you guessed it, the Hindmarsh Island Bridge, from the Goolwa wharf where they have an old boat on display. We did a quick trip over the bridge to look at some posh houses on a channel development but not as nice as ours in Mandurah.
At this stage the weather was beginning to look really bad. Dad stopped to get into the wet weather gear and put my jumper on as it was getting cold. Lucky, because as we got on the road again heading for Victor Harbor, it started to rain and blow quite heavily, making the ride quite difficult for the old man, but not as bad as the Mount Selwyn Roads. Now Daddy was having second thoughts about going to Cape Jarvis to catch the ferry. He thought he had better stop in Victor Harbor and phone a local caravan park to see if they had accommodation for us to stay the night and perhaps go over in the morning. We had come all this way and a bit of rain was not going to stop us getting there, even if it was a day late. From our last trip, we knew Victor harbor streets a bit and daddy thought there may be a phone at the island jetty. It was better still when we got there as we found the Visitors Information Centre. Being just 4-30 in the afternoon it was still open so I told dad we should go in to get the low down. Lucky we did as a very nice lady told us we need to buy ferry ticks from them before you can catch the boat to the island. If you don’t, you may miss out at the boat port. The lady was also kind enough to ring lots of places on the island to see if there was anywhere for daddy and me to stay so we didn’t need to put up the tent. Luckily, the hotel at Parndana said they had just the place and it was to an OK standard for a dog like me. We booked onto the last 7-00pm ferry from Cape Jarvis which by now it was 5.00pm leaving only had an hour and half after we fuelled up to meet the boarding time of 6-30pm.
With the rain still tumbling down and being quite dark on slippery roads, daddy took it quite easy on the unfamiliar roads. I was also quite hilly as we got nearer to the ferry landing the road was fairly steep in places. We arrived at the port fairly wet and just in time to see the ferry arriving from the island, plenty of time left to get our boarding passes. The ferry had lots of big trailers on board and a tuck, daddy calls them a prime mover, from the landing side drives on and pulls them off. After all the cars and trailers are off the ferry, the prime movers couple up to new trailers on this side and put them on the ferry. I think that is very cleaver because they don’t have to take whole trailer and truck over to the island because they do the same over there. That’s how they get the provisions to all the people at Kangaroo Island.
When we rode on board the big ferry, a nice man showed us where to park and then he tied our bike down to the deck. Daddy and I when up to the top deck and they have a nice cabin where I was allowed to sit out of the cold. They also have a cabin for all the people who want to drink and eat, but I am not allowed in there. It took about an hour of smooth sailing to get to the island and by that time it was very dark. When the ferry parks, the big back doors lower down and the trucks come for the trailers and the seamen direct the cars off the boat. From the boat we travelled through a couple of streets of Penneshaw until we were on the road to Parndana which is about 80 kilometres away. Kangaroo Island is not like Rottnest Island at all. It’s very hilly and very big and in the dark it was a bit scary, especially as little possums kept running across the road in front of the bike, and bits of branches from the trees were dropping down on us and the locals all went zooming by at speeds well above the limit. At 9-00pm we arrived at the hotel and found we had a great family apartment just for daddy and me with a big yard to play in, just for me. Wow, that was a big long exciting day and I was soon asleep dreaming of riding in a Kangaroo pouch.
The next day was the day before Easter Friday and we set off early to explore some of the island. A lot of the roads are only gravel, daddy called it pea gravel and said it is quite dangerous to drive on, even for those tin tops (that is what I call motor cars). We therefore kept to the bitumen, and there was a nice road that went nearly all around the island. We saw Kingscote and meet a nice Ulysses member and his wife who live on the island. Daddy and me explored what we could in a day and had an early night ready for the ride to Port Augusta the next day. We had to get up early to catch the ferry plus dad wanted us to have a look at American River Township and Penneshaw Town in the daylight.
It was Easter Friday when I woke up and it was raining and very windy again. We rode off towards Penneshaw in the wind and drizzle, taking the turn off to American River for a few photos before getting to the ferry port. While we waited for the boat I was watching the big waves on the ocean. When we saw the ferry it was going up and down quite a lot. The boat tied up at the special place for the cars to come off and for all those waiting to drive on. A lot of people getting off the boat were Chinese tourists coming for the Easter holidays and boy, did they look a bit green. I think daddy was a bit worried too that it could be a bit rough for his stomach but don’t tell him I told you that. The trip was very rough and we sat on the upper deck in the wind and spray, it was good fun. A few other people sat with us as well. The bike had been tied down safely and after the boat crossing we were soon back on the mainland and heading off on the rest of our adventure.
Daddy had planned the trip for the day to go from Cape Jarvis up to Port Augusta. That’s the stop before you really start the trip back. Pa calls it the ride across the paddock. We had ridden the road from Adelaide to Port Augusta before and it is very boring so Papa did not want to do it again. We had seen some nice country places on the map north of the city and that’s the way we were going to go. From Cape Jarvis you ride through some nice hilly and windy roads and also come close to the ocean at places. Near Adelaide we got onto a nice new freeway that allowed us to bypass lots of traffic, though most was heading south for Easter. After we passed Adelaide we turned off the freeway at a place called Two Wells and started heading inland and zig zagged our way along quiet country roads. There were lots of nice little towns to see and some big ones. There was Balaklava and Blyth before we reached the nice town of Clare. I was there when we came back from Darwin last year. After a rest stop in Clare it was back on the bike and away towards Gladstone. Daddy missed a turn off to the Horrocks Highway and we ended up in a town called Brinkworth and the road became all gravel so he knew something was wrong. We got back on the right road eventually but we don’t really care because we always love seeing new places. Once again we passed through big and small towns and spent a bit of time riding around the old town of Gladstone and then on to Laura where I saw a big statue of a man called C J Dennis. Daddy said he was read poems from C J Dennis when he was a little boy in school from a book called “The Sentimental Bloke” and that he should get a copy and read them to me. Daddy likes to see things that remind him of when he was young.
We were now riding towards some big hills that are called Southern Flinders Ranges. I remember that on our Alice trip we rode all the way up to the Flinders Ranges way up north of Port Augusta. It was getting later in the afternoon when we rode into the town of Melrose. You may remember that we camped there on night three of our adventure. That meant we had done a full circle through South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria, not bad for a little dog and her old dad. Pretty soon we were going down the steep and windy Horrocks pass and back down onto the Princess Highway. Do you remember how I said the Princess Highway was a very long road? By late in the afternoon we got to Port Augusta and stopped the caravan park that we had stayed before. We got a nice cabin and I had a nice walk, play and then a big sleep.
Dad told me that we had a very long ride today, all the way to Nullarbor Roadhouse over 900 kilometres away by the roads we were taking, which of course were roads we had not ridden before. Our first town for a photo stop was actually the city of Whyalla. It has a very old history and they call it the “Steel City” because it had steelworks and shipbuilding industries. Daddy learn all about Whyalla when he was at school because the big Pilbara mines had not been started in those days. Daddy was surprised to see how big Whyalla was and all the industry that was there. I saw a big war ship, the HMAS Whyalla that was built there a long time ago. After some more sightseeing and photos, we were off to Cowell where Daddy said we would have some breakfast. I have been to Cowell twice before, once when we were riding to the east and once when we were riding home. Just near Cowell is Lucky Bay and a boat ferry like the one to Kangaroo Island would go from there to Wallaroo across the Spencer Gulf, but unfortunately it is no longer sailing.
In Cowell we had breakfast at the café but as we were leaving, I saw some ladies and children at the old Institute Hall. They were having a fun raising event and selling scones with jam and cream. They all saw me and started making a big fuss with daddy about how cute and brave I was and how clever he was to take me along. All the ladies talk to my dad and he calls me his chick magnet. I nice lady named Johanna Sampson gave pa and me a lovely card with an emu on it. It was one of her own because she is an artist who travels Australia drawing the wonderful wildlife and scenery our country has.
Cowell is on what they call the Eyre Peninsula and we have ridden along its top road and its bottom road so today we rode across its centre road to Elliston and then on to the nice town of Streaky Bay. Just outside Streaky Bay is a memorial water hole that the explorer Eyre used on his trip across Australia. My daddy told me he played John Eyre in a parents day play at primary school. From here we travelled up the coast to reach Ceduna for a late lunch. After lunch it was on the bike again to ride into a falling sun as we made it through Penong towards the Nullarbor and the roadhouse we would sleep the night. I saw an old dingo on the side of the road about 100 kilometres from the roadhouse but we didn’t stop to say hello.
It was our second last day on the road after all this time. Once again Daddy said we had a long day ahead. We were off to Esperance and that was 1100 kilometres of riding. Now that we were getting towards Western Australia the daylight was lasting a bit longer as the clock was going backwards. It was a nice long ride to Border Village with a stop along the way to see the rugged coastline of the Australian Bight. After the boarder we pushed on towards Norseman with quick stops at Caiguna and Balladonia. After a rest at Norseman we headed for Esperance. It was mid-afternoon with 200 kilometres to go and rain clouds where starting to gather. By the time we got to Grass Patch it was drizzling so Papa put on his wet weather gear and made sure I was warm and not getting wet. As we approached Esperance it was starting to get late and dark with the rain. I wasn’t scared because daddy is a safe rider and will not speed. We had booked into the Pink Lake caravan park because they like dogs and the other people in the park were very nice. Daddy put up the tent and after tea we had a long sleep.
It was Easter Monday on our last day and we had a ride of 750 kilometres that would take us through Hyden and then through lots of country towns as we got closer to Perth. Our good friend Lionel rode up to Hyden to meet us which is about half way. I like my friend Lionel, he’s 78 years old and still rides a big bike and gives me lots of cuddles. We arrived back home after a nice ride through the afternoon and the traffic was not too bad for the last day of the Easter holiday. When Daddy checked the Speedo we had ridden 11,416 kilometres and had been away for 19 days. Daddy and I had a great adventure and we had made lots of new friends and hopefully I will see lots of them on our next adventure to Tasmania.
All the best from Daddy Ken and me and always stay happy.
Lots of licks
