The Wine Region, Caves, Bear Phils and Goodbye.
March 16th to 30th.
After staying with Carl and Lucy for a few days I decided to take a week of riding down to the Margaret River wine region, the cave road and loop back to Bunbury. I took the bus to Margaret river due to it being quite an industrial road most of the way and camped at a bush site for $15. The next morning I was woken by Kangaroos near the tent and crows in the trees. I cycled into Augusta along a nice backwoods bike track and found a great wild camp spot not far from the lighthouse at the point where two oceans met. I scored it well as I not only had a good camp spot but showers, toilets, benches and a BBQ. On my route back north along the coast I was helped by an awesome tailwind especially in the afternoon. In these parts the south easterly wind is called the doctor as it comes at 3pm and soothes the west coast all up to Perth.
I pulled into Hamlin Bay to see the dolphins and stingray that hug the waters edge. I wasn't disappointed as a 2 metre Ray came close enough to stroke followed by dolphins 50 yards out. Along the caves road I took a trip underground into Australia's largest cave, the Jewel. It was discovered in the 1930's and had remained untouched for millions of years until it was set up to allow tourists to walk through, down into the depths and along the walkways.
Over the next few days I wild camped along the coast before staying at a hosts in Bunbury. Once back in Perth I visited my friends Amy and Kevin and spent a long weekend eating, chilling and fishing. It was here that I managed to catch a fish that ended up on the bbq and onto my plate. The first time ever I have caught my own dinner. Not quite Bear Gryls but Bear Phils. I returned to Carl and Lucy for my last couple of days and went into Perth city to have a look at the beautiful Kings Park and meet my friend Ben for a beer. So 5 months has come to an end and my journey home has begun. What to do next? I'm working on it. Right now I'm looking out the window of a plane and can see Iran below. I'm not saying that's where I'll go but as the horizon is far and vast then it shows from this view that it's a big world out there.
