Day 10- Albany to Pallinup River, 119km.

Day 11- Pallinup River to Jerramungup, 65km.

So with 75psi in my tires, oil on my chain and sporting a trendy new haircut I left Albany after a rest day. I found a coastal path which took me out of Albany whilst giving me some amazing views of the sun rising over the see. I was stopping every ten metres to take photos, so the morning was slow work but pretty enjoyable. After rejoining the highway I started to see kangaroos, dead ones! They were all in various stages of decomposition and the smell was stomach churning. I had smelt it before, a pungent rotting smell. I think a lot of kangaroos get hit but make a final bounce into the bush before they die. Then muggins comes cycling along with a easterly wind blowing into my face and you get a massive hit of rotting kangaroo but you can't see it! I have come close to being sick at some points. Anyway the rest of the day went along pretty well, I made good progress. The only other thing to mention was the landscape. The road was flat, straight and was flanked either side by bush which you couldn't see through or past. Above you, you had a vast blue sky which stretched in every direction. I couldn't tell if I was at a high or low elevation, you couldn't see any landmarks or pylons, it was like an old 90's driving game which replicates the same landscape over and over again. I found it really disorientating so had to stop thinking about it as I think it was making me a bit stir-crazy. Anyway I pumped out a massive 120km and camped at Pallinup river.

This morning I woke up in a very smelly tent. I hadn't been able to shower the night before and my diet of beans and super noodles (yes mixed together, bloody good grub I tell you) doesn't exactly help. After making some coffee and taking some pictures of the river and the wooden road bridge I got on
my bike hoping to smash out a quick 60k. I started pedalling but my pace was really slow so I plugged into my music to try and get me going. It wasn't working to well so I was trying to keep my self upbeat by dancing exuberantly on my bike. There are two main moves, the cross trainer where you energetically bounce you arms back and forth whilst pedalling and bobbing your head side to side. This actually turned out to be good training for what was coming up. The other move doesn't have a name but its swinging your legs side to side. I was also trying to practice some tecktronic but going no handed was hard with the weight of the bike but what would look better than tectonic on a bike! By now I was waving at every passing vehicle and mooing at every cow I passed, they were totally convinced I was a cow, that's how good my cow noise is! At Pallinup river I was told by a Australian couple that there was a swarm of locusts up ahead. They said I would be fine, just keep my sunglasses on and mouth shut. Soon enough I was using my head dance to side weave flying Locusts. I would get the odd occasional slap of a locust hitting me in the forehead or arm. Its something everyone should experience at least once in their lives. They were heading south west with the wind, b******s! I was heading North East, straight in to them. The birds where going nuts, waiting for vehicles to disturb them from sitting on the road and would quickly dive in to grab them. It was like being in a natural world documentary and who wouldn't want to be in one of them, the only thing that was missing was David Attenboroughs voice.
Going into my third hour my earlier exuberance was draining away. The last 20km was really hard, lots of long uphill gradients, lots of headwind and lots of locusts. I finally reached Jerramungup and in my weakness check-in to a motel. I need the rest and power sockets whilst I try and plan the next couple of days. Whilst writing this I have the TV on, every set of adverts I get a cyclone warning for a cyclone which is working its way south. The forecast for where I am going is not looking good. Tomorrow I need to do 115km but there is 90% change of 10-20mm or rain and a 30km North easterly headwind the day after is 50km/ph winds. I need to come up with a plan incase the winds steal all my energy.

See you on the other side.

Oh, I forgot about the lizard. I saw my first reptile today. It was a big fat lizard with a fat tale. It was making its way across the road (which it blended into unbelievably well) until I came along and started taking pictures of it, as i got closer it stopped crossing and kept opening his mouth in annoyance. It was sat in the in the main driving line of the left hand lane so I tried to scare it over the road by getting closer. It didn't work it just kept opening his tiny mouth at me. Unfortunately I heard a car coming so had to move out of the middle of the road and let fate take its course. I hope it survived but I may of unintentionally been a factor in the death of a lizard today :(