Day 10 (November 12)

A typical view of the long, straight road ahead.

Today was Day 4 since leaving Perth. This ride was 114 km from Corrigin to Wave Rock (4 km east of Hyden). I’m pleasantly surprised that it has taken only four days to get from Perth to Wave Rock. I figured it would probably take at least six days, so we’re making good progress.

We’ve settled into a steady cadence of biking 10 km, then taking a short water and snack break under some shady roadside trees. It’s a good system that keeps us moving, but without burning out prematurely.

The terrain for the past three days has been low rolling hills, endless wheat fields, long, long straight stretches of road, with lots of galah (a type of parrot) fliting amongst the roadside trees and screeching at us as we bike past. It reminds me of a tropical bird exhibit at a zoo, but this is the real deal.

Australian fire danger – one notch higher than you’ve ever seen before!

We arrived at Wave Rock at 3:30 pm today. It’s a tourist area famous for its natural, wave-like granite rock formation (see http://www.waverock.com.au ). We set up our tents in the campground, next to the swimming pool, then went and got a hot/cool shower. It’s amazing how reinvigorated you feel after a shower to wash off the day’s heat and grime. It’s a real morale boost and makes it easier to keep going day after day.

All smiles at Wave Rock

The most impressive of the several balanced rocks at Wave Rock.

We’re going to take a rest day tomorrow (November 13) at Wave Rock so that we can figure out the water logistics for the 300 km remote stretch of gravel road between Wave Rock and Norseman. Mattie has a great plan to have breakfast at the Wave Rock Hotel in Hyden in the morning, where we think we can ask some locals about the possibility of refilling our water bottles at several of the mines that are along the Hyden-Norseman road. We’ll also pop in to the local IGA grocery store and stock up with six days of food.

We won’t have Internet access while we’re on the road to Norseman, so when we get there in five or six days from now, we’ll post an update.

Posted by Scott