Balingup

Donnybrook to Bridgetown, day 2, Saturday 16 November 1985. I had breakfast in bed and got going as early as I could. This time I was prepared for the climbs that lay ahead, both mentally and with a well-prepared bike with the proper range of gears. The going was still hard but I think I managed to get up the hill after Balingup, and Hester’s hill before Bridgetown, without getting off to trudge. I remember definitely at some time having got up both those hills without having to get off and walk. I took some rest stops along the way, at Kirup and Balingup and after Greenbushes.

I had booked into a motel some way down Hampton Street (which was just the South Western Highway re-named for its passage through Bridgetown) from the centre of Bridgetown where all the old hotels were.  ... Read more

Perth to Greenbushes, day 1, Monday 21 November 1983. As in 1979 – 1981, I decided to take the morning Australind train and start my ride from Bunbury. My plan required me to ride from Bunbury to Greenbushes as my first night’s stop. I was still brooding over the hardships and shortcomings of the 1981 ride and wanted to do a similar thing better. This was the ride that taught me what I should already have known, that a relatively new bike, though already used successfully, has to be fixed up, tested and proved before taking it on a long country trip with hills steeper and longer than those around home.

On this ride I started wearing proper cycling shorts with a crotch-pad, and sensible shoes.  ... Read more

Donnybrook to Nannup, day 2, Tuesday 24 November 1981. I had breakfast in the old hotel dining-room, then got ready to leave. I had been on new road, for me on a bike, ever since leaving Bunbury and turning down the old South-Western Highway instead of the Bussell Highway. This was to continue today. I had decided to head for Balingup, then turn right and go to Nannup.

About 1 km south of Donnybrook the road takes a left and begins a steep climb towards Kirup, then it’s up and down all the way. I don’t remember much of a struggle with that first hill and subsequent hills. Only 2 years later, in 1983, when I encountered that first climb, it was a shock and very hard for me, as though I had never ridden up it before.  … Read more

Balingup is a town located in the South West of Western Australia, 241 kilometres (150 mi) south of the state capital, Perth, and 31 kilometres (19 mi) southeast of the town of Donnybrook, on the South Western Highway. The town takes its name from Balingup Pool, located on the Balingup Brook which flows through the town. The name is said to be derived from the name of Noongar warrior, Balingan.

Bunbury to Greenbushes, day 1, Monday 12 October 1998. I left The Bunbury Motel ($55, Unit 11, nicer than last year, could open a window) at 8.16 on a cool morning with moderate NE-NW winds. The odometer read 6214.

I rested and took a drink at 6234, at Boyanup, then again at Donnybrook, 6249, reached at 10:08. I felt that I was making good speed and the riding seemed easy, due to the tailwind. The 5 km pegs showed that the odometer was reading about right. Calibrating the odometer is an important first-day job. I got up the anticipated hills all right and reached Kirup, 6267, only 23 km from my destination. I felt confident of making it at this stage.  ... Read more

Bridgetown to Donnybrook, day 7, Sunday 18 October 1998. The day was cold and the wind was WSW and moderate to fresh as I rolled away from the Freemasons Hotel at 9:37. I had enjoyed the eat-all-you-want breakfast at the hotel and gone back upstairs for a bit more sleep, having not had enough and still feeling sore.

The wind was mostly helpful, though it never went SSW as I expected it to, and the showers that still came through were lighter. I stopped at the southern Greenbushes turnoff for my drink break, at 6588. I went on and passed the northern Greenbushes turnoff at 6589, reached Balingup at 6598 but went through without stopping.

About 2 kilometres north of Balingup I passed a cyclist on his way into the town.  ... Read more

Donnybrook to Bridgetown, day 4, Friday 18 October 1996. I left Donnybrook at 7:42 on a fine calm morning. This was the fourth day of riding south and I had been lucky so far with the winds. The climbing stretch from Donnybrook developed the low point of the trip in 1991, but this time I was determined to take it easy and not let it get me down. There would be greater difficulties further along the way.

I rested at 1072, before Kirup, then rode through Kirup without stopping. I found the downhill runs tiring in a different way from the uphill climbs – the bike was doing over 50 and I felt tense, but didn’t brake or stop pedalling. Downhill runs don’t usually worry me and I didn’t want to give in to this.  ... Read more

Donnybrook to Bridgetown, day 4, Thursday 24 October 1991. I left Donnybrook at 8.26 on a fine morning with a moderate SE headwind. This was the fourth day of riding south and I had been lucky so far with the winds. I had been down this road before, (1981 as far as Balingup, 1983, 1985, 1987) so I knew what to expect, but it still developed as the low point of the trip.

I kept going up what seemed to be an everlasting hill for 17km before stopping at Kirup for a drink. At that point I felt like giving up the whole venture. But looking at it logically, what could I do but go on? Going back, even downhill with a tailwind, would be demoralising, and I would still have to get home.  ... Read more

Perth to Albany, 12 day 779 km bicycle tour 1987. This Great Ride of 1987 was a major departure from previous rides, those between 1977-1985, and contained the ‘Chesapeake Road’ episode which has become a life metaphor and was referred to in the 1998 ride story (Cottesloe to Windy Harbour).

This ride was not surpassed for total distance and nights on the road until 1996 (Kelmscott to Rocky Gully), and that ride had a lower number of kilometres per day.

This story was originally written into a clone of an Apple IIE computer and printed on a crude early dot-matrix printer. That computer failed in 1989 and the 1987 story was faithfully copied, from a retrieved printout, into an XT computer with a slightly better printer.  ... Read more

Perth to Balingup, day 1, Monday 5 October 1987. Caught the Australind train to Bunbury. Fine, southerly headwind. Speedo read 11111 at Bunbury – the devil’s number. A bad omen? Time would tell.

I left the rail terminal just before 1 and headed down North Boyanup Road. First stop was Donnybrook where I rested a while. The going was hard because you rise steadily as you go down this road. At Kirup I stopped again for a drink and felt confident then that I would reach Balingup, which I did not long after 5pm.

Balingup Guest House: no soap or towels, no lock on the door. Huge German Shepherd, of whom the place smells, wandering about. $15. No food. Had to stumble through the darkened town and knock on the back door of a locked shop to get biscuits and pies and milk for dinner.  ... Read more