Theaussiechallenge Post # 71 Greenbushes

Day 92 49 days to go. Distance today 112km total 7050km. It’s 7.30pm Sunday 7/10/2012 Greenbushes Rest Area. It’s my sister Janet’s birthday today happy birthday Love hope you had an awesome day doing cool adventure stuff. We scored a great unplanned rest area stop this arv just oustside of Greenbushes. From Donnybrook it was a stunning ride but hard as it was really hilly Maleny style through the rolling hills of dairy farming country happy happy black and white cows. We were aiming for Bridgetown Caravan Park to charge up the electronics and have a shower but spotted this place 18km short. It has drinking water and a club house a few hundred meters away where’s there’s toilets but best of all I found an outside power point perfect!!!!!! I can do stinky until our next campground. It’s a nice grassy spot here with trees and a small rotunda which I’m siting under now posting you fine folk. Theres another van parked a distance away. Last night we had the rest area by the river at Harvey all to ourselves but We can share :-). It’s a good end to a hard but beautiful day’s ride. We had our first break at Boyanup where I met Tracey and her family from Armadale. We chatted about our challenge, the joys of cycling, and their tripping in the south west. Friendly family full of support for our endeavors and donated $5 thankyou x. The next section was again beautiful through stone fruit groves and vineyards. There’s heaps of boutique wineries and it would be a mecca place if you were into wine tasting. Donnybrook was a cute historical town with lots of visitors savoring the restored buildings and parklands. We had stopped for a short break and was sitting on the footpath people watching, when a fella I met outside the Namatura roadhouse came up to say hi again. He sat beside me in the gutter and had an awesome chat about cycling and his 32 years of being a truckee. He’s a real keen cyclist into time trials and is really curious and encouraging of our challenge. I can’t remember your name mate I’m sorry but I enjoyed our chats heaps. He gave me heads up that the road to Bridgetown was extra hilly so we got underway to tackle the inclines eeek not shi# Sherlock!!!! We had a break at the top of a rise to hoover a mini snickers and some almonds and take in the view looking back over the lush cow country. The wildflowers are continuing to show off and we passed a patch were there were about 50m of freesures in full bloom up the embankment by the road. How incredibly stunning with assorted colors I’ve never seen in our potted varieties back home that are mostly yellow and white. These ones were hues of pinks, purple, white and blue breathtaking stuff my mum would have drooled over. Actually I think she would have been tempted to dig up a few bulbs given half the chance. We were in the National Park area where I saw a sign off to the start of the Mundi Bindi bike trail. I’ve read about this long distance cycle and walk in the Australian Geographic and going on the countryside it would be an awesome experience. I did some more itinerary planning late this arv and we’re now up to Port Augusta. The kms aren’t too crazy and we’ve got 26 days left from there to Brisbane which averages about 125km a day again pretty respectable and very doable particularly given we’ll be two horses bolting in the last few weeks. Crazy to be thinking that far ahead but it’s still one day at a time and today we’re safe and sound albeit a bit weary and thinking food and zzzzzz’s. Cash donations $2072. It’s really chill bill tonight with clear skies and a starry blanket of nighttime delish. Love it!!!! Talk soon x