Busselton to Cottesloe 1977

Busselton to Bunbury, day 6, Saturday 26 November 1977.   I slept well again and enjoyed another breakfast delivered to my room. I left Busselton by the same way as I had come in, not knowing at that time about the other way through Wonnerup.

The road wasn’t hard, the wind was favourable and the day was mild, but as I pedalled on I decided I couldn’t face going back home the way I had come, and at that time I had never ridden even close to 100 km in one day, and believed that the 100 km from Bunbury to Mandurah, up the old coast road, was just not feasible. It probably wouldn’t have been on that heavy bike.

Even in 1979, there was nothing for 50km between Australind and Lake Clifton and I don’t think there was any accommodation at Lake Clifton in those days. I had no accommodation guide anyway. So I conceived the idea of just putting the whole thing on the Australind train from Bunbury and riding back to Perth by train.

I stopped at Colroy’s at Capel again, just for a quick drink this time. I reached Bunbury in plenty of time to catch the train. Until 1984 the Bunbury train station was right in the centre of town, opposite the Rose Hotel. I bought my ticket and paid for the bike and saw it safely taken into the luggage room. I left my bag with most of the luggage there too. I went into the toilet to change into my bathers and I remember a spent .22 cartridge case sitting on the window-sill. Then I took a towel and trudged up Wellington Street to the beach, and had a soothing swim.

Afterwards I changed back into warm clothes, had a pie or something from a little shop on the platform and waited for the train to roll in. Before it left I peered into the luggage compartment and was reassured by the sight of my old bike hanging from the hooks.

During the slow journey back to Perth – it took three and a half hours in those days – I looked out of the window and felt guilty as I saw the grass being bent by a fresh south-westerly wind that would have blown me home. The train stopped at Yarloop, about a kilometre from the main road, so I had never seen the town on the way down.

At last the train reached Perth and I humped bike and luggage to the appropriate platform and caught the TransPerth train back to Cottesloe. The backs of my hands were quite brown and wrinkled from long days in the riding position. I had the old buffalo handlebars on that bike, not the racing drops I was to have on all subsequent bikes.

It was not late and I managed to contact Janet and Lesley who were on their way to a folk concert in Fremantle. I arranged to meet them there. They had saved me a seat and as I approached them I made a gesture of strain, like holding out my hands as though they were stiff from riding a bike for six days. They weren’t very impressed. Didn’t think it was such a big deal.

I had been through a life-changing experience and here I was in this normal world with happy young people looking forward to their concert. The hard struggles, the discomforts, the endless roads stretching before me, were all in a private universe in my head and nothing to do with the world around me.

Charles A Pierce

Other Days on this Tour:

1. Cottesloe to Meelup Beach Tour 1977
2. Cottesloe to Mandurah 1977
3. Mandurah to Harvey 1977
4. Harvey to Bunbury 1977
5. Bunbury to Busselton 1977
6. Busselton to Cottesloe 1977 (This post)
7. Busselton to Meelup Beach and Return 1977

Places Mentioned in this Post:

Related posts:

1. Bunbury to Busselton 1977
2. Busselton to Cottesloe 1983
3. Busselton to Cottesloe 1984
4. Cottesloe to Mandurah 1977
5. Busselton to Cottesloe 1978

Tags: Australind Express, Bunbury, Busselton, Cottesloe, Fremantle, Perth, Yarloop