Rockingham Road is a major road between Fremantle and Kwinana in the southern suburbs of Perth and is part of Australia’s National Highway 1 between Munster, where it meets Stock Road, and Kwinana.

Cottesloe to Meelup Beach, 6 day bicycle tour, 1977.   This is the first of a series of retrospective bike stories, of rides taken before 1987. (1987 was the first ride to be fully documented in the current format, with distances, speeds, rest stops and so on, moreover written as soon after the event as possible.) This provided not only a record of the ride but a time capsule of the person I was at the time. To write about a ride nearly thirty years after the event is to try to look back on the person I was then and explain the mistakes and stupidities. The earlier rides took place in November-December, which of course meant that I was battling heat or strong south-westerly winds.  … Read more

Cottesloe to Mandurah, day 1, Monday 21 November 1977.   At work before I went on leave, I had been discussing with a workmate the idea of taking a bike ride into the country, and he had mentioned that Meelup Beach would a nice place to cycle to. That idea stuck and I made it my eventual aim.

I left home in Cottesloe at 9.40 on a warm humid morning. I had a 28 inch heavy steel bike with a 3 speed hub gear and back pedal brake, a basket in front with a bottle of water in it, and a bike radio clipped onto the handlebars. I hadn’t done any special maintenance on the bike – at that time if there was nothing broke, I didn’t fix it.  … Read more

Mandurah to Harvey, day 2,Tuesday 22 November 1977.   After a fitful night I went down to the dining room which didn’t change much in the next 20 years or so until the hotel closed. It had big sash windows with shrubs pressing against them, and wallpaper on the walls and the ceiling. There were quite a few other guests. There were several different cereals that you could help yourself to, also toast and tea and coffee, and they came in and took my order for a cooked breakfast as well. It all seemed quite sumptuous, and I always enjoyed it every time I went back to that hotel.

Afterwards I had a shower and prepared to get away. I paid and retrieved my bike from under the fire escape where I had left it.  … Read more

The Mandurah Railway Line is a suburban railway line, running through the south western suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. Partly located in the median of the Kwinana Freeway, the line connects Perth with Western Australia’s second largest city, Mandurah.

Harvey to Bunbury, day 3, Wednesday 23 November 1977.   The morning was mild and windy and showery. The gravel area in front of the farm machinery business had puddles. I had a nice hotel breakfast then paid and got everything together and set off with painful stiffness on the less than 50 kilometre journey to Bunbury. It was a bit earlier than the previous two days. Through the discomfort and tiredness I was excited to think I was going to be cycling into Bunbury, having never been there except by train or in someone’s car.

I passed through Wokalup, 5km down the road. There was a big old hotel, now only a tavern, and Peter’s dairy. A goods train rumbled along the railway track and big trucks came and went from the dairy.  … Read more

Bunbury to Busselton, day 4, Thursday 24 November 1977. I was a bit irritable when I came down to breakfast in the old high-ceilinged hotel dining room, still there. I scowled at the yobs who were still carrying on as they crowded together to wolf their breakfast. Breakfast was nice anyway.

I finally got going a little after 9 o’clock, but took a bit of time to go and visit a part of the town that had sentimental value for me, due to events that had occurred in 1962, 15 years before (yeah, all right, it was October 14 1962 and I was with a girl for the first time).

When I actually started to head out of town my map wasn’t much help so I made the assumption that the road along the coast, Ocean Drive, would get me out of town and heading towards Busselton.  … Read more

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.  … Read more

Capel is a town in the South West region of Western Australia, located 212 kilometres south of Perth and midway between Bunbury and Busselton. Historically, Capel is a farming area; traditional agricultural pursuits include dairy and beef. In recent times, Capel has become popular for hobby farms, and a number of innovative agricultural pursuits have been introduced, including alpacas, viticulture, aquaculture and growing of blue gums. There is also some mining of mineral sands in the Shire, and tourism is increasingly important to the Shire’s economy.

Busselton is a town in the South West region of Western Australia. Founded in 1832 by the Bussell family, Busselton has been one of the fastest growing regions in Australia in the last decade and has a population of approximately 20,000. Busselton is located 220 km south west of Perth, the capital of Western Australia. Busselton has been voted Western Australia’s top tourist town three times in 1995, 1996 and 2005.