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Western Australia


I'm now across the border, having had the fridge and all the cupboards and drawers in my van searche... The generators at the roadhouse, on the other side of the border fence. It had never occurred to me than anybody would think Nullarbor was somebody's name but so many thing... One of the information panels here explains that the land that I'm crossing is actually farmland. Th... Eucla is slightly more than a roadhouse. There's also a second motel, and the ruins of an old telegr... The small one-room museum at Eucla contains items from the old telegraph station. The Eucla museum. That's the highway heading West... ... and this is the road to the old telegraph station. I started to walk until I saw a sign saying h... A cable. The van. This is an area of constantly shifting sand dunes. These little plants are trying to grow through th... The old telegraph station, operational until the 1950s but now almost buried in the sand. The telegraph station. While I'm over here investigating the ruins, my laptop in the van is happily uploading yesterday's p... It's raining. this isn't at all the kind of weather I had expected here. Last night it was chilly en... A road user. The same caravan, in the rain. Part of a long ridge running parallel to the coast. Although it's chilly and drizzly, there are still mirages on the road. I think it's quite funny how ... Trees are making a comeback. Little trees. I thought the price of petrol would have started going down again by now but it hasn't. There's no radio reception out here, I found yesterday that my phone isn't really able to play audio... Exapmples of foreign money in the roadhouse bar. The 8th hole, "Brumby's Run", an even simpler 125 metre par 3. The longest hole on the cou... Scrubland. It didn't show any signs of life but I didn't provoke it to find out. So much for the trees. I'm glad to be getting out of that absurd time zone. The funny thing is that I'm now crossing from w... A caravan towing a car? That's a novelty. I think we must be back to satellite communications again. I had to spend most of my remaining cash ... A road train kicking up some dust as it enters the car park. I suppose it still does the job. I'm just enjoying looking at this bend. It will be the last one I see for a while. If anybody wants a steering wheel, I won't be using mine for the next hour and a half. Emus too now? A little while later, I would see a fairly large long-necked bird running around in th... More of this. Non-stop stopping? I had rather thought that all these unfenced unmanned rest areas were 24-hour. I ... Another mirage. Although this road is dead straight, its character does change. There are trees on this bit. I was about to have lunch here but it started to rain again. I think this used to be another telegraph station but there are signs on it saying that it's private... An old telegraph pole. The section of road between where the two vehicles are is another flying doctor runway.... Trees. A big caravan. This thing is one of the old boilers from the roadhouse. People along this road seem to be of the op... The thing on the roof isn't original, it's just a replica, but Balladonia is where a large part of S... Somebody is trying to go right round Australia with this cart and horses, although I think the car b... It looks like the big trees have all died in a fire and new ones are now growing. The burned region extends a long way. For something to do, I measured the distance from here to where the road disappears from view. It wa... Soft red mud. Norseman, the town at the Western end of the Eyre Highway. It's the first proper town since Ceduna, ... Another odd lorry. Norseman. Norseman has a roadhouse next to the main highway. It looks a bit more swish than the one where I st... The reception. This hotel must be busier than it looks. The only rooms left were a very basic backpackers room or t... ... Two more double beds! Strangely-coloured evening light. It looks like Norseman probably isn't what it once was... ... see? Clouds. This is a monument to the camels which were used for hauling vehicles in this region until the 1920s... A sign says that this main street is the width that it is so that it could accommodate the turning c... Norseman clouds. A guide to sizes of beer portions. It's not comprehensive though because I know some pubs use one ca... I think I've actually managed to get jet lag from driving. It feels much later that 8 o'clock. I'm r... A cliff visible through the trees from near the hotel. Part of Lake Cowan, which looks like just damp mud. The road and railway each run across it on raise... A lorry in the rain. It's raining quite hard now. The tracks which I made as I pointlessly manoeuvred my van to the edge ... I don't know why rest areas always seem to have a network of paths weaving through the trees as well... The roadhouse at Widgiemooltha. I'm now entering a region in which gold mining is a major industry. This is a replica of the Golden ... The thing on the right is a phone box. I'm not sure whether the things on the roof are solar panels,... The access road to one of the many gold mines which I have passed. I would have read about the town of Kambalda but I can't get close enough without standing in the pu... Mining equipment. Water flowing off the road. Well, quite. These must have been involved in mining somehow. This is the first time I've worn anything with long sleeves in 35 days.... I've now come to the Superpit, the giant gold mine in Kalgoorlie. Here's some machinery on display. Two one-ton side-tipping trucks of the kind which have been used in mines since 1940. A pump. It doesn't say what this is but I'm now more interested in the view which is just appearing behind i... Two mining vehicles in the Superpit. It's hard to tell how big they are but I bet they're much bigge... Some of the trucks which carry the rock are visible at the top of this picture. Each one holds 225 t... This area used to be known as the Golden Mile. The surface of the land above where this pit is now w... The vehicles here are very gradually removing all the rock from inside the pit, taking it to have it... Zooming in, we can see the area where work is being done, and if we zoom in further... ... we can actually see some people. Kalgoorlie, behind the waste pile. A rock-moving vehicle. It looks like the purpose of the work being done at the moment is to gradually destroy the plateau w... The rain is getting worse. The yellow thing here is an excavator's mouth. Kalgoorlie, seen from the top of the waste pile. I have no idea why somebody has just driven a boat up the gravel road to the top of the waste pile. This whole car park is on top of the pile of waste rock. I've stayed up here four a couple of hours ... That tree looks a bit sad. Strange notice. Kalgoorlie. That isn't a tower with giant vents all around it. The vents are on a small chimney in the foregroun... Kalgoorlie. Kalgoorlie is noted for having a large number of interesting hotels. I'm afraid this is all we're go... The sign says that that pit head is a museum. I had never heard of Chicken Treat before but I've just passed two on this road. When I looked it up... I'm glad I chose to do some proper laundry tonight. The facilities at this motel are free and this b... The roads are rather wet, even though water is pouring off this one down the drainage channel in the... Another splashing vehicle. One more. This hotel's take on salt and pepper squid. Unusually for Australia, this hotel comes with a free breakfast. It's only cereal and tinned fruit b... My plan was to drive about 500 km today and do the final 100 km into Perth tomorrow in time to drop ... I've just refuelled in Coolgardie next to the sign saying that the road towards Perth is closed. Thi... This is the first of several places where a section of road was under water. It's quite scary to dri... According to the radio, this is now officially the wettest January ever recorded in Kalgoorlie and t... Remember Lake cowan, the expanse of damp mud which I saw yesterday? Here it is today looking much mo... Just another lorry. Three-unit road trains would be a much more common sight later today than previo... Oh, look where I am. It's Norseman, the town where I first arrived 43 hours ago. In theory, the Granite and Woodlands Trail is a short cut to Hyden and Wave Rock. The route that I'l... I was surprised while driving along the highway to overtake this vehicle which was driving on the ra... I happen to have stopped for petrol just as my trip counter reaches 3700 km, the point at which I ha... Esperance claims to have been voted as having the best beaches in Australia. The only one I got to s... A ship near Esperance. Esperance. Esperance. My van seems to have found some friends.... Burned trees with farmland behind. Yes, another road. I haven't seen any Galahs for a few days but Ravensthorpe has hundreds of them. See? Although I've driven 675 km today, I'm only 131 km closer to Perth than I was when I started. This i... The bar. The squid here isn't as well presented as in Kalgoorlie, and unusually it comes on a bed of chips. Again, I'm in a very dark place which would be perfect for stargazing if it wasn't for the total clo... I don't know how long this amphibian was sitting next to me at my desk before I noticed it. I tried ... I'm making an early start in order to get this van to Perth on time. The oil level looks fine. At the roadhouse. It looks like something's gone wrong there. This region is known as the Wheatbelt. Starting tomorrow, I'm intending to do a little cycling tour of the South West corner of Western Aus... The inner tube in its box survived as a footrest for longer than I had expected but once the rain st... Here's the other end of the Granite and Woodlands Discovery Trail, the 297 km unpaved shortcut from ... This is Wave Rock. Information boards explain that in the past, the surface of the soil was at the l... A tourist. surfing the wave. On top of the wave. This little wall has been built to channel rainwater from the rock into a reserv... The reservoir and the view. One more picture of the wave. The petrol station in Hyden. These represent malleefowl, a type of bird which lives around here. The metal bird statues look to b... You do get grain silos in Western Australia but you also get a lot of these containers. A road out of Kondinin. I didn't know what a telecentre was when I took the picture. Apparently, it's just a place which off... Apparently, there are a few towns in Australia which compete to see which can have the longest queue... Not very convincing models of a train, a dog and a helicopter. This is an unusual road train. It has two matching units and then a completely different type of tra... A flock of sheep. Old carts in Brookton. You might just be able to see tiny plaques on some of the items. Most of them... ... this. Some hay bales parked outside the last of my 24 petrol stops. Ignoring the partial tanks of fuel at ... Roadworks near Perth Airport. I got a spectacular view across to the city centre from the road desce... My hotel for tonight is also a car hire place, which explains all these similar-looking vehicles.... There's a drive-through coffee shop in the hotel car park. A lot of miners in Australia live in temporary camps during periods when they are working and fly ba... This picture shouldn't have been here. The room has the one of the smallest bins I've ever seen. I've more than filled it already. After 4447 km of driving, I'm at the camper van hire place with 42 minutes to spare and look, there ... I'm back on the bike now. This is the control tower for a railway marshalling yard. Next to the highway is a road train assembly area, which must be where individual lorries are combin... There is still a strong wind from the East, as there has been for days. Without the paniers, which a... The volcano in this playground has a fine mist rising from it but it's hard to see in the photograph... This combined pedestrian and cycle path had buttons to press to cross the road but they don't do any... Perth city centre, in the distance. I won't have far to go to find dinner or breakfast. The hotel is surrounded by fast food outlets. Th... The guest kitchen in the hotel, which actually calls itself a hostel. There's no daylight saving time in Western Australia so by quarter past eight, it's already dark exc... The city skyscrapers against the last of the daylight. I went to those wonderfully dark places Lake King and Border Village and saw nothing in the sky. Now... The star which is sitting almost in the valley of the roof is Alpha Centauri. The one at the top of ... Perth's quiet this morning. I've come for breakfast at Burger King, although here in Australia it actually operates under the na... Perth must have a huge cycling club. This is the third pelaton of riders who've come past here dress... ... and this is the fifth. I've seen this type of ice cream advertised all over Australia but it still strikes me as a very odd... This is nothing special. I just took a picture of it while waiting at the lights, which can take a v... The large building here is called Crown. It looks like a shopping centre but the thumping, pumping n... Tidy hedges. A park. A monument to the man who discovered the Golden Mile, the strip of gold-righ ground which was in the... A pelican. A jump ramp for waterskiers. Central Perth. The pink strip in the foreground is the cycle path and the grey one is for pedestrian... Gym equipment. Tomorrow is Australia Day, which is the anniversary of the arrival of the first British ships and th... A canoeist. Perth. People in the park. Paddlers. The same paddlers but with a different background. Unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough to get a picture of the sky thick with the translucent white wi... The yellow signs all have variations on the message that this cycle lane is closed. The big matrix d... This bit of the park is where an Australian citizenship ceremony is going to be happening tomorrow. South Perth. A bridge across the Kwinana Freeway. The artwork on the railings and in the ground references the Sw... The Kwinana Freeway, with a railway line along the middle and a cycle lane along the far side. View from the bridge. View from the bridge. I've found that it's often easier to just bring my bike into toilets than to have to lock it up outs... The cycle path. That's not the cycle path. A bridge. On this bridge, we're underneath the freeway. I expect this to be the last view of Perth for at least a week. The middle of a motorway seems like a strange place for a railway station. A large hospital. It doesn't look like it's open yet. Suburbs of Perth. Funky streetlights. Two people making some kind of documentary film on the platform of one of the stations. The building on the right is the station. I don't know who the person in the big portrait is. There'... Funny trees. I'm following the cycle lane along the side of the motorway for about 70 km. This is about as intere... I don't know why there's a wall on the left. There isn't one on the other side of the motorway. Whil... I'll be going to Bunbury tomorrow. This cycle lane goes all the way there, although I'll have to lea... Artwork. A strange tree. I don't know who Matthew Skeats was but he was clearly Australian. A lemon tree. I'm not sure I would want to go there. The Indian Ocean. I've never seen it from the ground before. Boats off Mandurah. Mandurah. There's a sailing boat just coming out of a harbour on the right. The rolled-up thing inflates to become a stand-up paddling board. I can now see that it has fins on ... This bowling green is busy. Unfortunately, I couldn't get close enough to the fence to poke the came... I was riding on the narrow shoulder of the road but it wasn't very pleasant. Then I noticed that the... I had several attempts to get the camera to focus on this but it wasn't having it. It looks like a s... Since yesterday, I've seen a lot of towns with names ending in "up". I don't know why such... My motel. The pool is busy on this hot afternoon. I think I've got over my obsession with spa baths now. I declined the option when I was booking this... My motel has a restaurant but it desn't look very appealing, the choice is limited, the menu has no ... The motel at dusk. The pink things are two of the children who are running all over the place. They ... The sign on the right is advertising "PERMApole Long-Lasting Treated Timber". I notice it'... A big drill bit. I don't know whether this church does a barbecue every Sunday morning if if this is something specia... This cash machine has an interesting choice of languages. They don't look like computers to me. Neatly done! It's hard to tell whether that porch roof was meant to slope like that. Horseboxes at the racetrack. Dead trees. Cows. The Kwinana Freeway has now become the Forrest Highway, which doesn't have a separate cycle path. Most of the signs have giant spider webs on them. What's this, the Big Blackboard? I didn't expect there to be a roadhouse on this highway. I was glad there was though. It's another h... I don't know what these plants are but they're well-watered. After "driver fatigue", the police moved on to "speeding". Now it's "seat b... I'm not even sure what that is. It sould be a possum. I don't really know whether I'm meant to be lo... Swans at Australind. Australind. People fishing on jetties. It looks like the wide wooden parts on the right are part of a previous r... Australind. I see that the car and dog washes have now expanded their capabilities. I will be seeing a lot of this flag today. There's a choice of watercourses here. Do you prefer A... ... or B? Two people with an inflatable. Leschenault Inlet at Bunbury. More flags. Pink bunting, for fencing an area off while making it look pretty. Too much? More. Bunbury. Bunbury. The Aborigal flag doesn't feature much in the Australia Day celebrations. The old railway. Just behind me, a man is being cautioned by the police for jumping off the railway ... This type of tree shouldn't have branches down here. Somebody else jumping into the water. They're having a bumpy ride. The pink bunting. The things on the ground on this side of the water are the fireworks for tonight. Both flags. I think the pink ice cream van overtook me earlier. A roundabout statue. An observation tower. Bunbury. There are flags everywhere, including on those blue aprons. I wonder if they always wear those or if... My accommodation. I think it's mainly a motel but there are some grander rooms in the two-storey bui... Oh, it is big! "I've got two fluffy dressing gowns in case one of them goes wrong."... These switches look older than Australia. This building, called the Lodge, has four bedrooms. It looks like the four of us also get to share t... ... and this one. Who's up for the sherry and Mintos experiment? The motel's pool. The entry is not 8 kilometres away. It's right there. This tea service looks as comprehensive as the one I had in that other grand room in Springwood. Thi... I don't think I've had chocolates on my bed yet on this trip. The same restaurant that I showed earlier, with all the flags inside. I went there for dinner. This is the biggest MP's office I've seen yet. People are settling down ready for the fireworks. These two obviously don't want to be too close to ... Food. It's certainly easier to find a place to sit here than it was in Sydney. Leschenault Inlet. More fireworks on a barge. Bunbury. A little train of barrels. Bunbury. They're wearing flags! Bunbury. There has been a strong wind from the South all day. It made the riding hard work at times but it do... A piece of artwork, something to do with disabled people and trains. A band area. When I saw the smoke, I thought there must have been a barbecue over here but it's actually the disc... Bunbury. Bunbury. Bunbury. Bunbury. Bunbury. Bunbury. Bunbury. Bunbury. Backlit hair. Fireworks. Fireworks. Fireworks. Fireworks. This was a spectacular 20 minute continuous firework display. I would say it was better than the one... People lit up by the fireworks. Bunbury fireworks. Bunbury fireworks. People lit up by the fireworks. Bunbury fireworks. It's bright now. Back in my room. You know, I didn't actually turn the heater on. Ships off Bunbury. Bunbury. Bunbury. It looks like this game of cricket has just finished, which is strange because I didn't think they e... A mural on the side of a furniture shop. The local radio station, some flats with flags on and a deco building. Bunbury. Later in the day, I would see a group of people sitting on their porch with a telescope set up. Thei... Bunbury. Another church in Bunbury. Another cricket match which has just finished. This is the way that Google suggested I should go. Unfortunately, the road ends here. The land beyon... There's a traffic jam going the other way on the highway. I didn't see what caused it. A rehabilitated mine site. These routes for power cables must also serve as fire breaks in the forest. Dry fields. A bit more scenery. The sign is nearly right. Wherever there's water, there are people fishing. It looks like Peppermint Grove Beach also has observation tower. I would have found out if I had gon... Just a cow on its farm. These are tuart trees. I think they are the most common type of tree around here but they only grow ... I wasn't very happy that the road had turned to gravel, or that the headwind is still blowing strong... Forrest Beach. I got worried for a moment because I saw a fin and there were people in the water. When I looked aga... There are two fins near the middle of this picture. Forrest Beach. According to the sign, the greatest danger on this beach is from snakes. Forrest Beach. I have parked my bike where it's blocking the vehicle access to the beach. I knew when I did it that... Somebody here is building their own beachfront house. I see they've started with the outdoor seating... I'll be back at work in just over two weeks so I'm enjoying these views while I can... ... and the heat. Well I really don't know what that is. A new housing development around a marina. Another view. This is the MV Astor, which I mentioned earlier. For a long time, I knew that I would be having to c... Busselton pier. Perhaps branches like this are more common than I thought. People jumping off the pier. Busselton. Busselton. Busselton. Busselton. I didn't get an ice cream. The queue was far too long. Wheee! On the pier. The train on the pier. Trainspotting. I don't know what the mounds in the sand are. Busselton. Busselton. It must be quite hard to climb up there. The first of a whole line of picnic and barbecue areas. Busselton. Little wind turbines all along the seafront. This is what I've been looking for. Busselton. Busselton. There is a good quality pedestrian and cycle path running for a considerable fraction of the way fro... A few moments ago, she had the dog pulling her along. Now it doesn't seem so keen. I crossed several river mouths like this. They all have their sandbar on the left so the prevailing ... Houses with sea views. All of the paths here can be used by bikes. Somebody seems to have gone a bit to town with painting ... Gulls. Another pretty beach. The cycle path. I didn't manage to not look at the stones here. The top of that mast looks like it can fold down. Some people in Busselton told me that the section of cycle path across the swamp wasn't quite finish... A water park. Every couple of minutes, the big bucket at the top gets full and tips over, releasing ... Are they going to have a race? I've seen signs for a lot of vineyards in this region but haven't actually seen many vines. Another beautiful view of the sea. I waited to get a version without a car in it but then I preferre... The beach in Dunsborough. Dunsborough doesn't look like most Australian towns. Instead of there being a main shopping street w... Dunsborough. A lawn at my motel. I've been led to believe that the West Australian has a cryptic crossword. In this shop, I found tha... Dunsborough. I considered eating in the tavern but it was very noisy. This place is more peaceful, and has interestingly-shaped beer. I didn't get much of the crossword d... A dog in a ute. Covered vines. These things are getting bigger. Today's road is hillier, twistier and more tree-lined than prevoius days'. The hills and trees both ... The entrance to a vineyard. There's a lot of empty space. There are these slightly twisty trees along the edge of the road... ... and these regimented straight trees behind them. One of two mazes which I passed today. This is an impressive vineyard. Another vineyard, or winery as they're known here. This is an interesting collection of trees. "ROO CROSSING". I'm not sure whether the roos know about it. The road. Trees. I hadn't been intending to come this way but a sign said that I could so I thought I would give it a... With my bags and everything, I'm actually over half way to that weight limit. The view from the bridge. The old railway route. I don't know why this telegraph pole has so many idiots' shoes stuck to it. Margaret River is quite an attractive little town but it's not easy to get much of it in a picture. This seems to be an overly-complicated water bottle refilling machine which takes credit cards. It o... This is where I stopped for lunch. I don't understand the deal with water in this town. There are bottles of water on sale in the fridg... Birds in the road. Even here beyond Busselton and Margaret River, the house numbers are still counting from Bunbury, wh... I'm not sure what the purpose of this shop is. Wow! I had been considering having a whole day off in Augusta but I think I might not bother now. I don't think this is a real oven but it's on the outside of a bakery. Bakeries are common in Austra... The mouth of the Blackwood River in Augusta. One of many boats. My motel, with flags flying proudly in the South wind. The one with a black swan on it is the flag o... My room tonight includes a small garden. Ha! I bet you thought I wasn't going to break my camera this year but I have. It was fine when I too... Don't listen to those naysayers who say "No vacancy". YES VACANCY! This is the first time on this whole trip that I've seen this type of tree being used as a Chrismas ... There's not much open in Augusta. All the cafes are closed. Even the chip shop is closed. It isn't. Augusta's Wall of Faces. The plaque says that they are trying to get pictures of 100 faces and then ... Here's where everybody is: in the restaurant of the large hotel. The window here gives the best view... Even the petrol station is closed. It looks like the chip shop has been having trouble with its suppliers. Augusta in the morning. About 9 km further down the road is a lighthouse and the point where the Sou... I hadn't been able to identify any meaningful information in the number plates elsewhere in Australi... Coffee really is brewing now at the ... Breakfast just the way I like it, with spinach and no beans. It's a bit early in the day to be stopping for a slushie and a Calippo and to do the crossword but I... This is a travelling circus. I saw signs advertising that they were doing something near here yester... It looks like this must be a South African petrol station. The Blackwood River, the one which ends at Augusta. I still haven't come very far but this really is the last shop so I'm stopping again. A purple field. I didn't go down this road. I didn't go down this one either. What I thought was funny was that a road like this gets a street n... Yellow flowers. Trees. I think I might not turn left here. Another interesting tree. The road. Underground rocks exposed in a cutting. This was the first of two "WATER" signs I saw in this region. I assume that it's indicatin... I don't know why there was a plank of wood fixed between these two trees but one of the trees seems ... I gave this cycle lane a few chances but it was hillier than the road, had lots of twigs on it, and ... That must have been quite a flood. It looks from this map like the town of Mannup is centred on something called Higgins Swamp. Danny and Jodie Miller look a bit young to be operating those trucks. This oddly shaped building looks to be part of the sawmill. I'm not sure whether it was the construction of the water tank or the painting of the mural that was... More old machinery on display. That van's got a lot of engines. The sign on the yellow part says "BELL FIREFIGHTER". This appears to be a tax accountant's office, set in its own little garden with a picnic bench just ... Nannup. A very shady cafe. The bowling green, the Nannup Hotel and another marker of the 1982 flood. The place which I've booked for tonight turns out to have a large garden which is open to the public... The garden contains several strange pieces of artwork, all of which are for sale. This one is advert... The motorbike is another one. Yes, it's the same thing again. Sorry. The house. NP - Nannup. The pool. The lounge area. I'm the only guest here tonight so I could sit here if I wanted, and play one of th... All the bedroom doors are open. I would guess that this is the room with the spa bath. My room is si... The roses didn't put up much of a fight so I drank the water. Just a gum tree in the garden. I'm going to Balingup tomorrow so it should be a nice short ride. I don't know how many of these thi... A big spider. The plaque behind it is blank. I haven't seen one of these before. The man running the guesthouse said that this was the best place to eat in Nannup. It's shut. This is the restaurant in the big hotel. You might not believe it but I was unable to finish my meal... The tourist information place is twinkly. Beakfast. Strangely, one of the tables has two globes and a violin on it. I watched green parrots fi... Another of the pieces of art in the garden. This is an advert for wine on the side of a van. It shows that magpies have the same reputation for ... Dogs outside the convenience store, which isn't very convenient as it closes at 5:30 in the evening. Bowlers. The road outside the guesthouse's back entrance. A woman with a shopping basket on wheels. Scenery near Nannup. Scenery. Trees and some rusty equipment. I'm now in a conifer-growing region. Here are some. It looks like the conifers have been harvested off that hillside, leaving the other trees standing. Here are some young ones. A peacock. A peacock trying to hide. They're not very good at it. Vines. Tending to the vines. Tree surgery. The Blackwood River. The Blackwood River. What's been going on here? I wonder why one row of vines doesn't get covered. Looking down into the river from a high point on the road. The river again. I think this is a termite mound but I couldn't see any termites. The river, sparkling in the sunlight. Another deforested hillside. See-through trees. Another mound. There's some barbed wire embedded in the tarmac here. Although this junction is only about 10 km from Balingup, there's no sign to say which road goes the... A farm. Cows. The third of my mudguard struts has just broken. The two which broke while I was in New South Wales ... A tree. The first sign that I'm getting close to my destination town. Perhaps that's the only part of that hillside with the perfect terroir. Fruit pickers. Farmland near Balingup. This claims to be the biggest art and craft gallery in Western Australia. I don't know what these are. Balingup. Incidentally, the man from last night's guesthouse has explained to me that these town nam... This is where I repaired my front mudguard strut with superglue and duct tape. It still feels quite ... Balingup. I stopped here for a pie, a cake and a spearmint milkshake because I don't think I'll get any food t... There are some toilets over here somewhere. I saw them from a distance. The entrance to a park. A church with a tiny bell. Again, the fridge has a problem and the water which was in it has frozen. A little dog outside my room. I think it lives here. The breakfast area in tonight's guesthouse. Some of these eateries are in completey different villages, or on vineyards out in the countryside s... There's a sand timer in the shower here. I assume it's to give you some idea how long you should spe... For the first time on this trip, I've remembered to come outside on a clear night when I'm well away... This petrol station is also a dairy. Crates for fruit. An array of little tractors at an orchard. They have to be small to fit between the rows of trees. I think this is probably the highest house number I've ever seen. These must be numbering from Armad... My camera is even more broken now than it was yesterday. There's only one small corner of the displa... Scenery. The railway line here must be long disused but it hasn't been removed. The rails remain hidden just ... Several of the farms along this road had signs like this, sometimes saying "No work needed"... "Juicy fruit" A pretty house. Scenery. Scenery. Scenery with vines, or possibly some other fruit trees. Scenery. Strange tree. The owner of the bed and breakfast place two nights ago suggested that I should come this way instea... Here's a gnome, standing watch at the Southern extreme of Gnomeville. Gnomes. I don't know how Gnomeville started but now people from all over the world bring gnomes and leave th... This is still just the periphery of Gnomeville. Gnomeville. I don't think anybody is responsible for this place. It looks like it used to be just a roadside res... Seriously, could somebody not spell "gnome"? It's written on pretty much everything here. Some of them are even up the trees. Gnomes. Oh my! This was the last picture my camera managed before giving up completely. You didn't miss much betwee... Remember that shop that I saw on Monday with telescopes in the window? Here's the rest of it. I'm gl... I took this picture to compare the new camera to the old one. It doesn't really work though because ... Statues watching the traffic. There have been a lot of interesting registrations in Western Australia. One in the car park of my m... This place is a bit quieter than last time I saw it. I'm just standing here playing with the camera again while I wait for a smoothie from a juice bar of... ... looks like pesto. Bunbury waterfront. The star on the big flag. More personalised number plates. In Balingup, the standard issue plates were BAL and then a number b... Another smoothie. This is the third place I've stopped for food or drink this evening but I haven't ... I couldn't find today's West Australian so I've bought this week's international Telegraph instead. ... Bunbury. A boxy building under construction. A Hippie van! It's not the one that I brought over here though. Mine was 980SEQ and it was called Ra... For a while, this seemed like the perfect hotel room. It had three of the four main features that I ... Bunbury must be another place with a weak TV signal. The antenna masts on these houses are absurd. M... Something that I don't understand about Australia is why "for sale" signs almost always in... I'm not sure what happens to trains in that shed. I didn't go for a demonstration. It's hard to read because of the notices but it appears that it's Elaine's birthday in Burekup. The first of several cow statues in Brunswick Junction. Of course, "blondes" is a feminine... A dairy in Brunswick Junction. Brunswick Junction. Dogs. Brunswick Junction definitely seems a bit cow-centred. Cows. More. Here are some real ones. I've just found something weird about this camera. If it's zoomed in a lot then when it takes a pict... Motorbikers. There goes mudguard strut number four. I passed several of these waterwheels yesterday but none of them were moving. This one is turning cl... More motorbikers and a passing train. A sleepy camel. It sat down as soon as I arrived and then I watched its eyes close and its neck star... A shady spot for an ice lolly and a couple of drinks in Harvey. The shire administration building in Harvey. I had been wondering whether it was permissible for there to be two big versions of the same object ... This may or may not be the Harvey River Bridge Estate. Farmland. The main railway line runs across behind the trees. This siding branches off, in both directions, an... An outdoor stage at the Memorial Hall in Waroona. Waroona, where I stopped again for a proper lunch. Tractors. I have always assumed that the purpose of the windmills is to extract water from underground borehol... I'm back at the Pinjarra Motel, where I was a week ago, because again all but the most expensive hot... Now another bit has come off the bike. This is the elastic strap over the top of the panier rack, wh... What's all this junk between my motel and the Chinese restaurant next door? The Benguin comes out... he looks around... sees his shadow...... I can now see that it's not just my motel which has a pile of junk outside. Almost every house has o... How can you even have a spare car door? Unexpectedly, I've now found the answer to my question about whether this church has a barbecue ever... I see the big drill has moved. I only have sugar in my coffee when I'm on one of these cycling trips so I think this will be the la... A wind pump in a park in Pinjarra. Looking down into the well below the pump. It's too dark to clearly see what's going on. I think thi... The pump. Pinjarra claims to be famous for its steam trains but I never saw one. This is the closest thing. A large number of motorbikes came through here. I stopped to let the first one pull out but then the... This doesn't look like a good place for trees... ... or boats. I was just reflecting on how this is probably the last open countryside I will see in Australia and ... It looks like these poles are in the middle of the cycle path but it actually deviates to the right ... Fisho? The early stages of a new housing development. I think this vehicle is spraying water onto a pile of sand to stop it blowing away. A power pole being replaced. The only cars around here are parked outside the Chinese restaurant. It must do a good Sunday lunch. Rockingham. Rockingham. Rockingham. In the distance is the bridge to Garden Island. Birds. Things in the distance. Rockingham. A strange way of quoting distances. Rockingham. A shipworks. Yay, another Hippie van. I've seen a lot of cars of this kind of age over the last couple of days. Rockingham. Rockingham. You'll get to see what it's towing soon. Rockingham. Here is is. Each of these squares gives a brief history of one of the families of early settlers. The man has thrown a frisbee but nobody else seems interested in playing. The park behind the beach. Rockingham. Divers. In amongst the histories of the settlers, there's this. A photographer and one of those big freely-turning balls supported on water. More divers heading into the sea. Divers. Divers. Them again. People reading the plaques. Another part of Rockingham. The play areas and picnic areas continue along the coast but are nowhere near as busy as the ones in... A quiet beach. Me, in the sea. The sea. That's strange. This doesn't look like the same ship as the one which was moored there an hour and a... A biplane. Specifically my dog? A gun turret from a ship and a fin from a submarine. This dog is coming ashore dangerously close to the boundary between the two beaches. Quite a granary. Part of a large chemical plant. Dual-gauge railway tracks. Another ship. There are a few barges like this moored offshore here. Beach huts. This is the building of a lifesaving club. It's enormous. These things call themselves solarbikes. I can see big batteries on them but no obvious solar panels... Every time I get a glimpse of the sea, I'm amazed by its colour. An unusually green area. There's that shining sea again. A line of ships. Coogee beach. The sea is so bright it makes the sky look black. I'm clearly getting close to Perth Airport, which will be where I leave Australia. I'm trying to follow a route along the coast but I keep finding the roads closed off. This may perhaps have been a power station once. There's a large substation just next to it. A view. The cycle path through a tunnel of trees. North Coogee. A ship. Ships, dogs, people, even two bikes if you look closely. A hazard on the path. Watching the ships. Bikes. In a park. Strange. Somebody walking on a tightrope. He was having difficulty because the wind is quite gusty. Now he's teaching other people who happened to be passing by. A boat showroom. Judging from the reviews that I read, it seems that the Esplanade is the standard by which all other... Another old car. A ferris wheel. A sturdy drinking fountain. The other end of the Esplanade Hotel. Fremantle. There's another branch of Camera House here. I thought the building which is visible in the side roa... "In the future, please don't chain your bike to mine, or anyone else's for that matter" The lobby of my hotel. The stairs don't lead to the bedrooms; just to a corridor of unmarked doors.... This hotel advertised that it had staterooms, which weren't all that expensive. As it's my birthday,... There is a cloche for the soap though. From the upstairs lift lobby, I can see my bike, the Moon, the very top of a nautical-looking white ... The Moon has waned quickly. It seems like just a few days ago that it was full. I don't have far to go to look for dinner. The "cappuccino strip" is right outside the hot... Cafes. A slightly different view. I chose this pub in the end. From the description on the menu, the lamb sounded perfect. Unfortunate... The Benguin comes out... he looks around... just kidding.... Fremantle. Fremantle. Fremantle. This facade has nothing behind it. An ornate signpost. Passengers heading away from Fremantle ferry terminal. Ferries run from here to Perth, which is abou... I never went to look for the rest of the tall ship. A statue. That's not a tram! The on-board commentary was explaining the meaning of the statue from the previou... The port administration building, with the control tower on top. A ship. Another ship. The mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle station. A strange advert. A big wool store, like the ones I saw Geelong at the start of this trip. The old port signal station. I would guess that this was superceded by the office block which I saw ... Another ship. A bridge over the river. Under the bridge. The same bridge. The Swan River. More shelves of boats. On the right is the forklift for getting them down. What is this, a housing estate or a crossword? I have noticed that dustbins in Australia almost always specify which side should be put facing the ... This system wouldn't be ideal in the climate where I live. It leaves the bins with their lids open s... I know there were quite a few pictures like this of Perth last week but here are some more. A version with a reed bed. Two riverfront houses, and another strange car registration. You can't easily read it in this pictur... A pelican keeping a low profile. It's a funny shape. I think all the swans I've seen in Australia and New Zealand have been black. It will be strange to ... Part of the cycle route along the shore is closed so I've been diverted through this very opulent ne... A road. Another big house, almost opposite the previous one. Flowers. A view of the city. Riverfront houses. The woman on the jetty is pointing things out to her baby. Shells in the sand. A marina. The big boats are at this end. More houses. Aha! I know where I am now. I've seen this bridge before. Just a block of flats. Real trees, a strange sculpture of a tree, and smoke from a distant fire. The big building is an old brewery. The arch bridge behind it is part of a aerial walkway through th... I don't know why the surface of this ramp is so uneven but the handrail copies its shape. This is the same freeway which I rode alongside last week, with the railway in its median strip. I wasn't expecting to see a windmill there. Perth. The bridge over the river includes this little observation platform, where you can stand to watch th... A ferry arriving from Fremantle. A bird just standing with its wings out. People trying to hoist a big flag. A slightly different version. It appears that the hoisting mechanism has to be powered by a car batt... Them again. Perth. Up it goes. Perth. Perth. Perth. This area is surprisingly open. As I approached, this man pulled the barrier across so that the water spraying truck could cross the... It's got that Californian feel to it again. This building is called the Bell Tower but I couldn't understand why... ... until these started playing ... Perth. Alexander Forrest, the explorer, surveyor and politician, who gave his name to the Forrest Highway a... The council offices. Kangaroos. I like this one. There's a tiny fountain under its nose, causing about as much disturbance to the wa... St. George's Cathedral, with a sculpture that looks a bit like a giant lilly. The fountains in front of the council offices are quite cool... ... apart from this one which has got a leak. I had been warned that there is building work going on behind my hotel. I think this is it. Seen through a gap between two other buildings. Outside my hotel. I think this building is the law courts. Somebody must have thought that it needed to have at least ... In my hotel. There are an absurd number of reviews available for this hotel; there are about 20 just... The view from outside my window. The window doesn't open wide enough for me to get my head out to check on the bike, and the block wh... Perth. Forrest Place in the city centre. The building with "COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA" written across the top is the main Post Offi... ... but nowhere selling food. The bridge to the railway station. Inflatable cacti. There are a few small groups of people having hushed conversations. The pair on the left here are pl... A man welding. The lights are on but no-one's home. This place is still serving food for the next seven minutes. It claims to be a traditional British p... Perth. More workmen. These ones are fitting out a new noodle restaurant. Perth. It looks like figures must come out of those windows above the clock and do something at certain tim... The statue is of Percy Button, a street entertainer who was often around here between 1920 and 1950. This is that council building again, now putting on a light show. At the moment, waves of colour are... By the time I got to somewhere with a better view, the whole building was just fading slowly between... This hotel does an unusual breakfast. Breakfast. It appeared that the woman outside with the big roll of stuff delivered it to the croissa... Mercedes College, which I thought was part of the university but is actually a girls' school. The pedestrian crossings are very specific about where you have to walk. After failing to get into the currency museum in Sydney, I've decided to visit the Perth Mint. There... A statue of some early prospectors in the grounds of the Mint. There are two public attractions here: the tour and the gold pouring. The tour is a bit of a misnome... The Mint. Perth. My, what a big bell you have. Yesterday was the first day of the new school year. Here, it looks like a school party is being give... I've now got on a sightseeing bus. My hotel is ahead, the Central Law Court on the left and the Dist... Almost the first thing I got to see from the sightseeing bus was my own bike. The Town Hall. The lamp post on the left has two little black swans, the symbol of Western Australia. The inside of a printworks. Another bike shop. East Perth Station, the terminus for the trains to Adelaide and Sydney. The buildings on the right are the Crown development. I saw last week that the sightseeing bus goes ... A new warning sign has appeared since I rode along there. The Swan River. Construction work. Back in the city centre. A statue of John Septimus Roe, the Surveyor-General of Western Australia, who is responsible for the... Looking ahead to the Barracks Arch. Government House, the official residence of the state governor. This building constantly shows the latest price of the Australian stock market index. This clock has a model of St. George and the dragon above it but I don't think they move. Barracks Arch, all that remains of the barracks which were designed to house retired servicemen. The... The state parliament building. The bus has now brought me to Kings Park, where that aerial walkway which I saw yesterday is. Here a... More of those barkless trees. In the park. It looked like this area was trying to give a timeline of prehistory but it was a bit disjointed. Th... The Broadwalk. The DNA tower appearing through the trees. The DNA tower, named for obvious reasins. The view from the tower. You can just about see Rottnest Island from here. I don't know whether those trees were that tall when the observation tower was built. Kings Park. Kings Park. That's a very specific rule at the bottom. It's a shame they didn't manage to come up with a pictogr... The view from the walkway. A train on the bridge which I crossed yesterday. The arch. A tree. The view from the walkway. The walkway. Let's have a third picture of the Canning Bridge. In the park. Apparently this whole live tree was brought 3000 km from the Kimberley region because it was in the ... People in the park. A memorial. Another view. View. A viewing platform. The viewing platform. Another biplane. View with trees. Sailing boats. The Perth Arena. Perth. Looking into a station on the new railway line, the one which runs along the freeway for most of its... This area, where I saw the water spraying lorry yesterday, is being turned into a new inlet of the r... The Supreme Court, in its gardens. Perth. A different view of these things. The commentary on the bus has just said that Perth has one of the most reliable winds in the world. ... I don't know why so many reviewers were complaining about the rooms in this hotel. I agree that this... Council House is doing something interesting now, while some of the office lights inside are still o... A construction site. I have now found that the ornate clock which I saw yesterday and the one which I saw today are actua... Here's the view looking the other way. I've come out for dinner nearly an hour earlier than yesterday but still this cafe was almost the on... I thought this looked like a tasty little cake but it's so solid that I can hardly cut it. The middl... This is the restaurant of a place which calls itself a Swedish hotel. It has some impressive brasswa... Perth. The bus here is a CAT. It's a free bus service in the city centre. I haven't used it myself. The cit... Central Perth doesn't have mush green space. This is pretty much the only piece apart from the space... A small market. This looks like a fashionable part. His Majesty must have a lot of cars. Perth. There's a lot of building work going on. Perth. This looks like one building with an extension stuck on top but if that is the case then it didn't h... This is outside a cafe. I don't know what it used to be. The little round discs between the top of t... I'm now in among the skyscrapers. Office workers coming down for lunch. This should be the linkway to the convention centre and that new railway station but it's closed off... At the bottom of one of the skyscrapers. I think this is the building of BHP Billiton, the world's largest mining company. Like all state capitals, Perth refers to itself as a capital city, and it really does feel like one.... The share index has been falling for the whole time I've been in Perth. Perth. BankWest's old building. The new one is the tower on the right. A view towards where the new inlet is being constructed. The base of the Exchange Plaza building. I see from the orange sign under the flags that the share i... There's a statue standing in the sand. Another view of London court, the mock Tudor street. There's a cloud! A little while ago, I came out from a covered walkway and thought the sky had gone ... I don't think I had seen flags flying from cranes like this before I came to Australia but they are ... The shopping streets by daylight. A news crew has parked next to my bike. I thought the bike boxes which I used for the flights to and from New Zealand were useful. They stop... The words "CITY OF PERTH" are now scrolling across the building, although the exposure tim... I couldn't decide whether I preferred the previous picture or this one. Remember my ripped tracksuit trousers? It's been two months and three hours since I last wore them s... This bag seems to be just about the right size. I've just noticed that there's pink silly string on the ceiling of my room. I found some of the blue... Roadworks. Actually, the word they use in Australia is "roadwork". The first few times I s... The river. This is working! Cockatoos. Perth. The esplanade. Footpath and cycle path. There's an Italian flag flying next to the sphere at the bottom. I assume it's some kind of war memo... A hairy tree. Another view of the river. A waterskier. A bird. Another bird standing on the waterski jump ramp. The skiers are getting ambitious now. One more. An outdoor cinema screen in the park. An illustration of hopscotch. The rules are on the green sign in the background. Next to the bike shop. Walking with the bike and the suitcase has been much easier than I expected. If I had gone straight ... Oh, I see why this bag was so cheap now. It's only gone about 9 km and the wheel is broken already. You can see the black streak left behind by my wheel as it wears down further. This isn't working now. If I drag the suitcase any further, I'll risk ripping the whole thing open. ... It's not really a wheel any more. The patio area of my hotel. I'm only taking pictures here because I can't find my way out. Perth Airport only has one main runway and a shorter one pointing in a different direction, so I'm n... Probably the last galahs I'll see. Right, I've got a new case. It's almost exactly the same shape as the previous one and cost the same... I have done. If I had been sensible, and not tried to allow as much time as possible in case I wanted to try ridi... I don't know what all this is about. As I was walking along, that police bus slowed down and stopped... It's astroturf! I chose this hotel for tonight because it advertised that it had an airport shuttle bus. I checked w... The last Australian sunlight I'll experience outdoors. A version with a more natural skyline. The Moon, now waxing again. One more sunset picture. It's lucky that I've had to move stuff from one suitcase to the other; it's reminded me that I shoul... Ooh, this camera takes better pictures of stars than the previous one. Here in the suburbs of Perth,... Waiting for the bus to the proper airport. I had been told that the airport would be very busy at th... My luggage has changed again since yesterday. Dome is a local chain of cafes. I went to one in Fremantle and two in central Perth. A split-screen effect. I wasn't intending to take a picture like this but I quite like it. The Dome cafe was in a landside area with lots of busy, comfortable looking food outlets. I went thr... Boiling and chilled water on tap. The only time I have seen that before was in my first couple of we... This lounge is better. It has free newspapers so I can look at the West Australian's cryptic crosswo... Sorry, I couldn't resist a few more pictures. This is the first of my planes. This isn't my plane. I don't know why so many vehicles have been driving over the grass on this airfield. Another plane landing. Perth. Central Perth. I'm just taking pictures now and enjoying the fact that the ground hasn't disappeared under cloud im... Flying over an industrial estate. Fremantle is on the left and Rottnest Island is in the distance on the right. Another view. I never noticed from the ground how much empty space there is behind the Crown casino. Perth. Here's where that new inlet of the river is being dug. The bell tower is at the right-hand edge of t... The old brewery and the footbridge in Kings Park. Boats, the same ones that I saw from the sightseeing bus. The river. Another marina. I don't know what that is. The West coast. A pie chart farm. I think this is the road which runs around the West and North coasts of Australia and is probably ev... Clouds. Unusually, my GPS logger is now working. It rarely does on airliners. An A330 must have an u...