Greenbushes to Nannup 1983

Greenbushes to Nannup, day 2, Tuesday 22 November 1983. I had breakfast in the dining room, then got ready to leave. I had decided to head for Bridgetown, then turn right and go to Nannup along the Brockman Highway.

I found the going hard because of the effort of the previous day, and not having a sufficient range of gears. There were some good downhill runs but some steep climbs, the one before Bridgetown, Hester’s Hill, being the most challenging, well-known to local bike tourists. After that there is a good downhill run into the town.

I stopped at the corner of Hampton street and Steere Street, bought some drinks at the shop and sat down to rest. I had only done 17 km but it felt like a full day’s riding already. I had to press on, and found that Bridgetown is in a bowl, every road out of it presents a steep climb. I eventually struggled to the top of the first rise and after that it was all up and down, stopping occasionally for a drink.

All roads leading to Nannup rush downhill for the last stretch into the town. I enjoyed this part of the ride. I fetched up again at the old hotel, which at that time had no motel units attached. I booked again into an upstairs room which had French windows opening onto a wide verandah from which I could view the town and on which I could conveniently hang the day’s washing.

After the shower and change I took a walk along the main street and considered what to do next.

The original plan was, as in 1981, to go to Augusta the next day, a run of 90 km. The weather promised to be better than on that occasion, when the last half of the distance had been done into an unseasonal rainstorm with westerly gales. But I simply didn’t feel able to do it. This was going to be another ‘chicken-out’ ride, where the original objectives were given up because I didn’t feel able to pursue them. There were to be more of these over the years.

I checked the map and found the road to Busselton, the Vasse Highway. It was only 60 km, I would be coming down off the scarp and the afternoon prevailing southerly wind would help. After that I could revisit Dunsborough, Yallingup and Meelup. There would be no Augusta or Margaret River this time.

After that decision I felt happier and more relaxed as I looked around the town. Since my last visit here the disastrous floods of January 1982 had occurred. I saw the remnants of flood damage and was astonished by markers showing how high the water had risen. These can still be seen by visitors.

In January 1982 two tropical cyclones, Bruno and Errol, had come unusually far south at the same time. As they neared the southern part of Western Australia they degenerated into rain bearing depressions and joined forces to become one huge depression which bore rain across the whole south-west. The city of Perth had 118 mm of rain over two days in January, giving a record January rainfall. The locality of Bowelling had 270 mm in two days and Dwellingup and Arthur River each had 160 mm in one day.

The Blackwood River swelled and rose. This river runs close to Bridgetown and through Nannup. Particularly in the latter case, the river runs through a deep valley so that there is potential for a huge rise in water level if the amount of water in the river’s catchment is increased by a large amount in a short time. Even the high parts of Nannup had been under water. The place would have been the site of a large temporary lake.

I had a good dinner (soup, scallops, steam pudding and coffee, $7.50 – those were the days!) and slept well.

Greenbushes to Nannup 1983

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