Perth - "biking" with Jim Cairns

These interesting and unexpected experiences keep coming up in Perth.. is it the trip itself, or is it because I am actually in one spot for longer than a sleep in the tent..

So, if you have seen on my Facebook page about the group "Against the Grain", you will know I met up with these amazing men who are organizing a journey on quad bikes to re-visit their motorcycle accident sites that left them disabled.

Jim, who rides a hand cycle regularly, was keen to get me out and try it.  I did!

Thursday afternoon I met Jim at his friend Peter's house to borrow a bike.

Peter (left), is not part of the Against the Grain group, but he is a hand cycler (is that a word?), of which Jim tells me has won a couple competitions with this bike I am riding.

The gears and brakes are nearly the same as I am used to, however they have an extra job of actually powering the bike as well..

Okay boys, you can explain it as much as you want, but I think just get Sherri Jo on the road and I'll work it out by trial and error.

This is really a good experience!  Number one, I am so impressed to see how these men live as well!  So independent!  I love their passion for cycling, and so happy they invited to me experience it!

Number 2, Sherri Jo has been missing the gym for quite a while now, and looking forward to a decent work out.  However!  My arms have always been the weakest part of me in the gym, so go easy on me!

We went onto the bike track and a really nice hill.. how fun!!

Then over the bridge to enjoy the river and a great view of Perth..

 All new to me, being at ground level, slowly pushing all my body weight using my arms in a circular motion over the bridge... and a new feeling, you see how the front tire is only inches from my head a the same level?  Every bit of dirt, sand and water hits me square in the eyes!

We wind up cycling around 20 km's.  My arms were buggered near the end as you can imagine, but it so happens that the big hill I enjoyed going down at the beginning is the same hill I have to cycle up at the END!

Jim said if I can't do this hill, then I won't be able to motorcycle around the world.  Well I better do it then!

Jim helped me get my gears right and we go.. starts off okay!  But he does stay right beside me, and as I get slower and slower and slower, he had many many words of encouragement to keep me from giving up.  I don't think even if I did rowing in the gym it would use the same muscles.

What is hilarious to me, that only a few hours earlier, I was on the back of a Harley screaming my head off we were going so fast, and today I was struggling at snails pace!!

If we had sound recorded this event, you would have bet money that I was having a baby!! (No, not the screaming... just the serious huffing and puffing)

It was a long haul, but we made it!!

Jim said he had other able-bodied riders get out and walk the bike up to the top, so that made me feel better.. not sure if it was the truth, but I'll take it anyway..

So, what are we up to, interesting and unexpected experience number 4, just for Perth!  Thank you to Jim and the boys for allowing me this experience.  Again, it's a window into a world I have never known before.. and ironic as my own father has recently had both legs amputated and he is adjusting to a new life without use of his legs.

It's a whole new perspective when you get to see things from their angle, if only for even an hour or two.

If I haven't mentioned before, their website is http://www.theridemovie.org/

They need your support in completing their journey starting in August - Perth to Adelaide!

Day 10 - Margaret River to Perth!! - 280 km

I made it to Perth!   A long time goal achieved, and arriving successfully was a good feeling!

Margaret River was very cold in the morning, clocking in at 1 degree when I left..  Like I said earlier, it didn't do much for me, and I was VERY READY to just get myself to Perth.  It was an amazing and exhausting 10 days.. set up as my test run before leaving the country, and learn anything I needed to add, or get rid of, as well as see how I went with the bike and camping..

I do have a little pile of things I want to send back, wish I could ditch more... I would like to travel light on one hand, but on the other, all that I have to live on for the next year or more, including my home and my bed.. is strapped to the bike!

Heading north from Margaret was a pretty drive and then stopped at Bunbury.. No good reason, just curious what it was like.. very much reminded me of Florida.  Lots of shops, palm trees, and overcrowded!!

Quickly moved on, but wasn't liking the highway much, so I took a more inland road the rest of the way..

Nice, easy going road, nobody in a hurry and if they were, plenty of passing lanes.

I got close to Perth and called my friend Robert, who I have never met before, but who offered me a place to throw my "bumroll", while in Perth as well as borrowing his mailing address for my mail to be forwarded to (Including my Australian Passport with Russian Visa inside - yay!!!)

It was wonderful after that journey to be met with a place to go and a smile...

A couple years ago, Robert (a recent import to Perth from Manchester UK), rode his push bike across America.. he wanted to "pay it forward" for the generosity people showed him on his journey, which is such a nice thing to do.  I am looking forward to paying it forward to travelers once I get home to Adelaide as well!

In the meantime, I am very lucky and grateful to have a place to stay here, while I get my bike sorted out and a wonderful tour guide and host to boot!  Plus he makes a mean English sandwich!! (of which I was told if I didn't like it, I was out the door... ;-) !!!  I like it, I like it!!!

Day 9 - Walpole to Margaret River - 277 km

Not much accomplished today...  after leaving Walpole, it was all forest.  Forest, Forest and more Forest... love love love the fresh air!!!  But!  Deep dark windy curves all day long!!  Very slow way to travel compared to the long straight roads I had gotten used to..

Wanted to check out Margaret River, had heard to much about it.. Again pulled into town just in time before sunset, found a really nice park and set up camp.

Too many people... too fussy and pretentious for me.. but the good news, I had my best meal to date!!

So happy to walk into the town hotel and got an absolutely big, gorgeous spinach salad with pumpkin, sundried tomato's, pinenuts and cheese... mmmmmmmm!!!!  My body thanks me...  So good!

No photos to submit today...  not sure why, I think I just had "I've gotta get out of here" on my mind and didn't think much about taking pictures... So, I've borrowed the his one from the travel website..

 wish I had taken a photo of that salad, I might like to refer to it when I am in Russia!!  Ha ;-)

Day 6 - Balledonia to Esperance = 391 km

More rain.. and newly added wind!  Each day is adding a little more and more challenge.

Interesting how on the bike I really notice all the road surface changes.  Each time they do a patch of road, the mix is different and you get bitumen that is fine and smooth and then onto a patch with big fat rocks (my bike doesn't like these ones so well)

Of coarse a natural arch in the road for rain run off.  I think because of the skinny tires, and the weight on my bike, it is often quite a struggle not to let the road "drag" me off into the gutter.  Depending on what section of road I am on, this can be a big struggle for quite a distance.

At my next desperate toilet break, thought I might check tire pressure... seems they are going well, given the work out I am giving those poor tires!

Wish I could say the same for that dag gone side stand!

Not good when I can not put the stand down and I really NEED to get that stand down.. like now!

Started off trying to park by the toilet, the surface looks totally fine in this photo, but the slightest angle won't let me park the bike!  I eventually work it out at most stops.. or like yesterday I went to 3 different public toilets that were all located on a slight hill, and I could not park the bike at any of them - bugger!

Anyway, when I was at this stop pictured here, I watched a big 3 trailer road train passing by, and next to him was a man on a Harley screaming past the road train!~  He was so loud and fast my jaw dropped at the sight of it!  I thought, deary me, if anyone ends up as road kill, it would be him!

Very pretty around here, until I get to Norseman.. which is officially the end of the Nullabor crossing, and here we make a decision to turn south to explore the south coast of West Australia, or head straight to Perth.  I chose south of coarse!

I pulled in for fuel at Norseman, and after trying to get my side stand down at 2 different pumps, the Harley man that passed earlier was sitting there watching me struggle and having a chuckle I think.

He was VERY TALL, and beard down to his belly, with a big dark "Dryazabone" long coat on, black sunglasses on and his Harley was all black as well.

"What's the problem love?"  I told him, he came over to hold the bike from tipping over so I could get the stand down.  Wowee!  The smell of alcohol was intense!  Please don't light a cigarettte!

He and the boys had gone for a camp at Fraser's Range the night before, got pissed and were heading home.. but he got bored waiting on the others, which is why he went past the Roadtrain like a bulllet, and was waiting on the curb.

Then the whole gang pulled in.  A real Outlaw gang.. They surrounded me and the bike.. "What's that your riding love?"  A KTM..  "Oh yeah"  They all look at each other and laugh..

I was ready to get on to Esperance.  I headed south and the change in direction was throwing me a bit with a southwesterly.  And the landscape was really boring and dull... I wasn't enjoying my first taste of West Australia much..

Was happy to pull into Esperance, went straight to the Seafront caravan park I punched in to my gps.  Checked in and set up camp...

Just in time to enjoy a sunset on the ocean...

Day 5 - Eucla to Balledonia - 513 km!!

Big day, hey??  I felt a bit guilty for having the hotel treat, that I wanted an early start and accomplish some k's.

The landscape changed so much during that ride.. however, it rained most of the day!  See, I knew I had it lucky Nullabor day!!

It was a new test of what Sherri Jo can do.  Haven't ridden much in the rain before, and now that I am, I have a bike packed up with heaps of gear... and no windshield to soften the blow.

I was up for the challenge though, wasn't bad at all really.  I do love my Rukka gear, and it literally kept me completely dry.  Really impressed with that.  And my handwarmers, did an excellent job keeping my hands warm.. not sure if I would cope riding in cold rain without those heated hand grips.  Also much credit to Innotesco and Rukka again for the gloves they sponsored me with.  Completely dry hands as well!

A really good little test.  My waterproof bag is actually waterproof - I was wondering!  Now I know!  (Can't say the same for my waterproof tent however!, but that's okay, the spray water protectant is on my list of little fix ups to do in Perth..)

I again had trouble getting photos, so I hope I can paint a little mental picture of a beautiful mystical magical day on the land.  Rainbows, big bad clouds of all shades of colors.. watching them roll in from so far away and how that makes the barren land and sparce trees stand out amongst those colors.  So many little forests of dead trees.. what would come to mind when I passed them is that they must be the "ghosts of Christmas past"...  Or another way to put in comparison, it was like I was walking down an aisle in a Cathedral, and all the elders since time began where watching me pass by.

To unshamefully prove how the mind plays when riding along all day.. here is an even worse example of how I entertained myself.

I know this is a mental thing, but I noticed myself singing Christmas songs in my head several times along the trip.. why???  No idea!!! might be related to my other mental glitch of singing Zippity Do Da - a lot!  To entertain myself!??  This is a real worry!  Especially when I then started singing Zippity Do Da, but changed the first letter (except for vowels)  For instance, start with "B"  Bippity Boo Ba, Bippity Bay! My Oh My what a wonderful Day!!.... Dippity Do Da... Gippity Goo Ga... Tippity Too Ta...  Rippity Roo Ra.. etc

Okay, that' enough.. I finally made it to Balledonia, just in time as it was starting to get dark, and the kanga's were out.

Here is a little skippy I met at the Roadhouse, who has a Joey in her pouch.. Joey was cute as a button!  But when I went to it's picture, Joey popped back inside, and it was Mum who is sucking the thumb!!!  Glad to find after a long day that I'm not the only crazy one out there!  ;-)

Day 4 - Nundroo to Eucla 342 km

A hyped up day across the Nullabor... I have heard so much about this Nullabor place.. It's flat, dry, no trees for days on end.. people die out there..  Make sure you take plenty of spare fuel and water.

Out of that amazing Roadhouse dirt patch I camped on at Nundroo and nervously headed into the Nullabor zone..  I noticed while riding through Yalata Aboriginal land that it didn't take long for those trees to disappear, but had not yet gone in to the "Nullabor".   Along came the Nullabor Hotel/Motel, a last chance to top up the fuel, and I better have my lunch early, because God only knows when I might have a meal again.. there's NOTHING out there!!

Well I have to say, once I left the Roadhouse, it just got better.  I could look at it as a scary lonely long road, or I can look at how amazing and uniquely beautiful it was.. and off I went!  I was really really lucky I think.. being June and winter, I would have expected wind and rain.. But what I got was a beautiful sunny day without wind - absolutely perfect for me to ride across this day!!!

I was worried about doing this ever since I knew I was going to Perth on my bike.. and it was so wonderful I can't wait to do it again...

The one little gripe I have is still my bike and the side stand.  So many times I wanted to stop and take photos, but the soft grade on the road is steep enough not to take the bike off the pavement, and there is no stopping on the pavement with a possibility of a road train passing me up and knocking me over.

(The boys here in Perth are hopefully going to sort that stand out for me tomorrow... but not being able to stop when I wanted kept me from many photo opportunities along the way)

Finally found this side of road park, and after many attempts to get the side stand down, I found the right angle in a patch of dirt and succeeded...  sheweee!  I needed that break for more reasons than one!  ;-)

Of which I also took the opportunity to see if the whales are here yet..

Nope, didn't see any... kind of glad I didn't.  After a couple seasons of swimming with the whales in Tonga, it would be hard just to watch them swim past without the urge to jump in the water and swim with them! (not legal in Australia.. which is a good thing)

Anyway!!  I treated myself to the hotel once I got to Eucla.  No tent tonight!  I had a bed, a shower and MY OWN bathroom!

Ordered a good meal, snapper chips and fresh salad they grow there at the hotel.  Still no phone reception, but I didn't care, I was proud of my first few days and it was time for a reward...

Day 3 - Wudinna to Nundroo 358 km

Was a gorgeous day riding.. was warned not to stay at Nundroo, but Penong was too early to stop.  I knew I had good weather and riding conditions, and wanted to take advantage of that.

Pulled into Nundroo and totally understood the warning.. But!  Beggars can't be choosers when your goals are merely to get from one Roadhouse to the next!!

Because it looked a bit unsafe, I asked the lady for the price of a room..$90 !!!  No way!! They are disgusting!  You know,  I bet half those rooms were finally filled up on that Thursday night.  So, if they are making $90 a room, and I see the fancy cars the owners of the hotel drive, you'd think they'd invest at least a little in their business??... So I paid my $8 for a camp site.. She then came out to tell me she forgot to offer the backpackers room which might be safer, for an additional $2.  I went and had a look, but it was musty smelly nasty.  I didn't even want my sleeping bag to touch those beds!  So I stuck with my little tent, and very glad I did..I was the only camper for a while, and was quite concerned... until finally a lone camper came in to join me.  Another really nice couple from Perth.  I got a huge kick out of watching the 2 of them perfectly position their satellite tv dish!!

Listened to Road Train's pass by all night long.  It would seem to be so quiet out there. Yet off in the distance you hear the squeeling of what sounds to me like jett engines... Even as far off the road as I am camped, the earth below me vibrates as they violently pass by.





I quite often notice huge blood splatters on the road and no dead animals in site.  Now I know why, those guys wouldn't break for a roo, and when they plow through the poor thing, the kangaroo's body must just explode and desintegrate!

Needless to say, didn't sleep much...