Albany to Prorongurup 1993

Albany to Porongurup, day 1, Wednesday 20 October 1993. Cloudy, cool, ENE headwind as I left the motel at 8:38. I went round the great roundabout and headed up the Chester Pass Road towards the Porongurup Range looming in the distance. The odometer seemed to be reading quite precisely, checking it against the 5km posts beside the road.

Porongurup Range

I passed through pleasant wooded country and rested for the first time at 27342. As I approached the mountains I was climbing steadily but it was manageable. I rested again at 27358 and reached the Porongurup Road turnoff at 27363. The road became hilly. After a downhill run to the Karribank Motel (now the Karribank Retreat) I reached it at 11:40, 27372.

I booked in, dumped the heavy luggage and went back to the Bolganup Road turnoff, 27373, to climb the Porongurup Range. It was a 3km uphill ride to the ‘tree-in-the-rock’ picnic area, 27376. I looked at the map and started up the walk trail that took in three peaks – Hayward’s peak, Nancy’s peak and Morgan’s lookout. There were an old and a young woman ahead of me. The young woman had what seemed to be a violin in a case. When they reached the tree-in-the-rock (a large karri tree which had been growing out of the solid granite for centuries, gradually swelling and splitting it) the young one took her fiddle out of its case and the older woman left her to get on with her experience of playing a fiddle in the forest. The music wasn’t very lively or tuneful so, after examining the tree-in-the-rock, I proceeded up the path.

The climb was quite steep and the forest and flowers made it very pleasant. Eventually I saw a big granite peak looming up on the left. It looked quite awesome, and I thought that must be it, the first peak. There didn’t seem to be any easy way up onto it so I kept walking, to find that there was an even higher one that could be scrambled up, revealing the highest of all, the true Hayward’s peak, accessible by a difficult climb through a gully partly blocked by a fallen tree. Finally I stood on this peak and enjoyed the view, including Twin Peaks, Nancy’s and Morgan’s. It was now possible to walk down to the first lump of rock I had passed on my way up, which gave a clearer view to the north.

When I returned to the walk track I decided to try for Nancy’s peak instead of going straight back down. I went quite a long way but eventually the path became difficult to find because of fallen trees and overgrowth. I was worried about getting lost and also didn’t want to have insufficient strength for the unknown challenges of the next day. I walked back to the picnic area, enjoyed the easy downhill run back to Karribank, did some shopping for the next day’s food and drinks, made ‘phone calls, showered, changed and had dinner in the big old-fashioned dining room with its pot-bellied stove. Dinner was $20, rather overpriced, though pleasant enough.

I spent the evening in my cabin listening to the radio, studying maps, reading and stitching up some tears in the bag.

Reading at end of day: 27380. Day’s ride: 54 km. Aggregate: 64. km/FRD: 54. Average speed, Albany to Karribank: 15.3 km/hour.

Albany to Prorongurup 1993

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