Well, it’s certainly been a minute – sorry for the absence. First it was delays with border closures due to Covid-19 and then it was Cyclone Seroja that hit Steep Point, WA the day we were meant to start our ride. And just this afternoon Perth announced a 3-day lockdown – fortunately we had already left and didn’t get caught up in the latest covid kerfuffle.
With deeps sighs of relief, we have made it to Geraldton for the night. We thought nothing could have made the stress of getting on the road dissipate more than just getting to Geraldton, until we were greeted wit the most beautiful sunset.
Looking back on the past 3 weeks, there have been some huge ups and downs. Everything from the excitement of rolling out of Brisbane after all the months of planning, then to feel like everything was crashing down around us with mass border closures to Queenslanders while in Jindabyne. And then to finally settle on what felt like Game Plan version 6, which saw us spend more time in Victoria waiting out our 14 days before sprinting across South Australia into Western Australia and on to Perth.
We managed to play tourist a bit, both on and off the bikes. We spent a few days in the Barossa, cycling through the vineyards in the morning and wine tasting in the afternoon – highly recommend a visit to Chateau Tanunda. On our final night in Tanunda, we celebrated Theresa’s birthday at 1918, wrapping up what she called the “Luxury Leg” our trip west before flying back to Queensland the next morning. But not without a stop at Maggie Beer’s first!
Riding through the Barossa
Chateau Tanunda Birthday Dinner at 1918 Craig in Maggie’s Kitchen
After saying our farewells at the Adelaide Airport, we continued on towards WA along the Great Australian Bight and across the Nullarbor Plain. We crossed into WA at Eucla where we were hoping to a least see a “Welcome to Western Australia” sign, but no such luck – just a WA quarantine station and police to check our G2G passes. A quick check of our details, fridge and pantry and we were good to go – a pretty anticlimactic entrance really. A quick trip out to old telegraph station at Eucla reminded us we were now in the land of the flies, so we didn’t stick around long and made our way onto Australia’s Longest Straight Road – 90 Miles Straight (146.6kms).
Esperance welcomed us with turquoise waters and sunny skies – we really wish we’d had a few more days exploring on our bikes, but alas we had to push on to Perth.
We ended up spending a few more days in Perth than expected due to road closures up north after the cyclone. A huge thank you to Ben and his family for hosting our stay and letting us take over their dining table while we replanned our ever-changing itinerary. Spending the extra time in Perth was actually a blessing, allowing us to regroup and see more of Perth and the surrounding areas – we even convinced Ben to join us on a ride.
