Darkan to Collie 1996

Darkan to Collie, day 10, Thursday 24 October 1996. The morning was cool, clear and sunny with light S-SE winds as it had been in 1987 when I left Darkan, but there was no frost. The winds would help me a bit towards Collie because the road runs WSW for the first half of the journey, then WNW for the rest. This was to be one of those days when a journey that should have been straightforward and not hard became a labour. It happens sometimes. At other times a journey that should have been hard just gets done with little pain.

Collie main street

I left the hotel at 7:59 after pouring oil into the cluster in an attempt to cure the slipping-ratchet problem. The first 5 km out of Darkan are mainly uphill. You just have to put the bike in climbing gear and plod on for 20 minutes or so. When finally the continuous climb stopped I looked back and saw quite a view of the country behind. So I had gained some height. After that, the road just goes up and down, but steeply, not gently undulating like the country further north and east.

I took drink-stops at 1447 (at a bridge over a river) 1463 and 1478. I was really finding the climbing hard as I got closer to Collie. I remembered from 1987 that the last few km into the town gave a good downhill run, but it didn’t seem so easy this time.

A few km out I heard an enormous bang that resonated around the country, and I thought that the Muja power station had come to grief. This would mean no TV or hot shower for me in Collie. That power station supplies most of the southwest of W.A. Then I remembered that the power station is fed by an open-cut coal mine, so they must have been blasting.

I crossed the railway line and rode up the Collie main street. A country driver cut in front of me without signalling and parked a short way ahead. He might have cleaned me up had my years of riding experience not made me apprehensive of that kind of behaviour. Normally his having parked would have given me the opportunity to offer him advice, such as I often offer bad drivers in the city. But I felt strangely subdued and just rode on.

The motel was towards the western end of town, a couple of rows of units up a steep slope beside a fancy restaurant. The reception for the motel was inside the restaurant. I had been told on the telephone that the unit would be $60 – a lot more than average, so I was expecting something better than average. I arrived at 11:38, 1492.5.

The women in reception were friendly and helpful, though busy. The one who checked me in and took my money told me she had put me in Unit 24, which was quiet, being at the end of the row. When I got into it it was pleasant enough, but very ordinary. There were no insect screens and the air-conditioner didn’t have a heat cycle, not that I needed it this day. There was nowhere to hang washing. When I did it later I hung it on a big yellow-flowering bush near my unit. This motel had not been my first choice – another one had looked cheaper and more attractive in the accomodation guide, but it was booked out.

I went down to the shopping centre across the tracks and bought a salad bun and a couple of vanilla slices. While I was buying these two women came in and one of them asked for a vanilla slice. The other one asked “Why are you buying a vanilla slice?” The first one replied “‘Cause I know you gunna wannit later!” The second woman looked at me and smiled. How nice to have someone who anticipates your desires!

I also went into the Chemist to buy some cream for my sore butt. It wasn’t going to stop being sore until I got home and got off the bike, but at least I could make it manageable.

I also went into the newsagent to get postcards and to check the maps for my next, and last, little adventure, which I had been contemplating since Rocky Gully and which was another unmet Challenge. I wanted to go from Collie to Wokalup, thence to Harvey and probably Waroona, the next day, via the back road, the Mornington Mills Road, and I wanted to look in the big new map book and check the road names and junctions on the route and how much of the way would be gravel.

I went back and had my lunch, sleep, etcetera. Then I took a walk around the town, taking the way up the steep hill to the south of the main street. I saw the Anglican church with the ‘italianate tower’ that I recorded in 1987. I couldn’t get in to see the paintings depicted in one of the postcards I had bought. I walked further and had a good view of the tree-covered hills to the south of the town, with the afternoon sun giving them light and shadow and making a lovely, soothing scene that I contemplated for some time.

I tested the wind – it was south-east. Even if it were east the next day it would help me over the hilly, gravelly, unfamiliar part of the ride. It would not help and might even hinder me once I hit the South Western Highway but remembering how flat and easy the road from Pinjarra to Harvey had seemed on the way down I didn’t worry. I decided definitely to go to Waroona the next day, so I went to a telephone and booked the Drakesbrook Motel. This name is not as trendy as it seems – the area was originally called Drakes Brook, before the name Waroona was adopted.

I had another look round the shops and got a couple of Chinese take-away menus for later. Then I went back to the motel and took in my washing which was now in shadow and not likely to dry any more. It was not too damp. I gave the bike a bit more oil.

I went out and got a big meal, duck in plum sauce and combination omelette. Either one alone would have done, but I was worried about running out of strength the next day. I had got into the habit of sucking barley-sugars during each day’s ride.

The day ended pleasantly as usual, watching TV, reading, writing up this log and lounging about. Just before going to bed, as usual I took a walk up and down the street to help me sleep. The main street was dark and cold but not quiet. Bumpkins in noisy cars were drag-racing. A car had been parked, some distance from the kerb, coming out of a side street and jutting into the main street. Its lights were off and no-one was inside. Perhaps it was acting as an obstacle in some game.

Reading at Collie: 1492.5. Km for day: 63. Aggregate: 628. Kpd 62.8. Kph to Collie 17.4.

Darkan to Collie 1996

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