Well, it's a tough ride! After surviving the monstrous road trains, the huge red ants, the spider under my saddle (Nicole's) and the permanent head wind, we have encountered torrential rain and have given up trying to make our budgwet work and totalling up the kilometres: today have been staying in a Youth hostel at Pemberton to try to recover our strength and our spirits!
579km to date. From Margaret River, we camped wild in two lovely spots but it has been a struggle with a strong head wind for 3 days. In fact, I read today that in the South West corner of West Australia, hot easterlies from the desert are prevallent during this season Why didn't we read this before we set off from Perth? we could have cycled easily the other way round! Also read that rain in the coastal regions are not that rare... ah well! The wind, hilly terrain and not much food (there were no town/shop for over 115km meant that we arrived yesterday in Pemberton pretty exhausted albeit exhilarated by the magnificent karri forest we cycled through. Karri trees belong to the eucalyptus family and can reach over 60 metres, maturing at 250 years.
Pemberton was the centre of the local timber industry, logging now much reduced. Logging commenced around the 1900's and increased when British people arrived after the 1st World War on what was known as group settlements schemes. The new arrivals were faced with practically no resources to transform the forest into pasture. Their strugles to survive make our cycle ride seem like an afternoon jaunt! Pemberton still retains its neat rows of boarded timber bungalow much as it was after the settlement.
Close to Pemberton, one of the giant Karri trees was climbed by a logger with spikes on his boots and a huge leather belt around the tree. The tree was topped, the top 20 or 30 feet chopped off by the logger swinging his axe almost 200 feet from the ground on a make-shift platform of planks he hauled up, and dodging out of the way as the top of th tree toppled to the ground. Horizontal iron spikes less than a metre long were then driven into the tree to from a giant circular staircaise to a fire look-out at the top. it is still there today and we both climbed the 61 metres to get a wonderful view over the tree tops to the coast and its dunes.
Hoping to make the 30km up to Northcliffe tomorrow if the weather improves.
579km to date. From Margaret River, we camped wild in two lovely spots but it has been a struggle with a strong head wind for 3 days. In fact, I read today that in the South West corner of West Australia, hot easterlies from the desert are prevallent during this season Why didn't we read this before we set off from Perth? we could have cycled easily the other way round! Also read that rain in the coastal regions are not that rare... ah well! The wind, hilly terrain and not much food (there were no town/shop for over 115km meant that we arrived yesterday in Pemberton pretty exhausted albeit exhilarated by the magnificent karri forest we cycled through. Karri trees belong to the eucalyptus family and can reach over 60 metres, maturing at 250 years.
Pemberton was the centre of the local timber industry, logging now much reduced. Logging commenced around the 1900's and increased when British people arrived after the 1st World War on what was known as group settlements schemes. The new arrivals were faced with practically no resources to transform the forest into pasture. Their strugles to survive make our cycle ride seem like an afternoon jaunt! Pemberton still retains its neat rows of boarded timber bungalow much as it was after the settlement.
Close to Pemberton, one of the giant Karri trees was climbed by a logger with spikes on his boots and a huge leather belt around the tree. The tree was topped, the top 20 or 30 feet chopped off by the logger swinging his axe almost 200 feet from the ground on a make-shift platform of planks he hauled up, and dodging out of the way as the top of th tree toppled to the ground. Horizontal iron spikes less than a metre long were then driven into the tree to from a giant circular staircaise to a fire look-out at the top. it is still there today and we both climbed the 61 metres to get a wonderful view over the tree tops to the coast and its dunes.
Hoping to make the 30km up to Northcliffe tomorrow if the weather improves.
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