Dardanup

Perth to Donnybrook, day 1, Monday 23 November 1981. As in 1979 and 1980, I decided to take the morning Australind train and start my ride from Bunbury. My plan required me to ride from Bunbury to Donnybrook as my first night’s stop. This was a distance of only 39 km.

The North Boyanup Road shortcut was not so well known or used in those days and I just followed the south-western highway as it showed on my map, through Dardanup and Boyanup. Now, of course, the former North Boyanup Road has become the main south-western highway. The distance to Donnybrook this way is only 36 km.

The reason for going such a short distance on the first day was that there was no-where to stop between Donnybrook and Greenbushes.  ... Read more

Dardanup is a small town in the South West region of Western Australia. The town is located in the fertile Ferguson valley and is close to the Ferguson River. The area was first settled in 1852 by Thomas Little who named his property Dardanup Park. The word Dardanup is believed to be a variation of the Indigenous Australian word Dudingup the meaning of which is unknown.

Harvey to Donnybrook, day 3, Wednesday 12 October 2005. I made a mistake on this cool sunny morning – I was looking for the back road to Wokalup to save a bit of distance, but couldn’t find it! It must have changed. The realisation began at this point, and was reinforced during the trip, that I must get a new set of maps before doing another trip. My old well-used maps with their memories have to be replaced.

I ended up doing a big round trip through the outskirts of Harvey, pleasant enough in itself on this fresh morning, and coming back to the hotel to go back to the south-western highway by the normal road. This added 5 kilometres to the day’s ride, which I didn’t need.  ... Read more

Bunbury to Noggerup, day 1, Monday 18 September 2000. I left the Bunbury Motel at 8:38 on a cool overcast morning with light WSW winds. The odometer read 36. I was riding due east to get onto the old South Western Highway and head for Dardanup. It was good to ‘break the surly bonds’ of the city and move out into the open country. I reached Dardanup and turned left into Ferguson Road. A sign said that this led to the Ferguson Valley, in the sense that they were trying to encourage tourists in. I rested at 53.

The hill-climbing inevitably began as I left the coastal plain and mounted the scarp. I found the going quite hard because I wasn’t as fit as I normally would have been at the start of a Ride.  … Read more

Donnybrook to Harvey, day 8, Monday 19 October 1998. I left the Donnybrook Motel at 8:40 with a moderate SE breeze that was to help most of the way. I was surprised that the weather had turned around so quickly – after the days of rain with a NW-W-SW regime I expected a day or two of fresh S-SW. It was as though a couple of days had been omitted from the cycle and the easterly trend was already clear.

I passed through Boyanup at 6645 and took a right turn to get onto the Dardanup Road, formerly the South Western Highway. I stopped for a rest at 6649. There was a feeling of a headwind as I headed NW. I passed through Dardanup at 6655, turned right into a headwind, then turned left to get a tailwind as I headed due north.  ... Read more

Donnybrook to Harvey, day 6, Saturday 31 October 1992. This was the start of a spell of strong easterly winds which was to last into the following week. They had been forecast to start on the Friday but fortunately fresh southerlies persisted that long at least. I was heading back north towards Perth and was frustrated not to have the fresh S-SW winds which normally prevail and which had impeded my progress SW from Bunbury. But that’s the way it goes. I decided to bypass Bunbury and go straight to Harvey via Waterloo, by the same route, though in the reverse direction, as Day 3 of the 1991 ride.

I had made no hotel booking the night before. I had decided to make this a free day, just to see how far I felt like going, depending on winds and fitness.  ... Read more

Harvey to Donnybrook, day 3, Wednesday 23 October 1991. This was going to be one of the challenges of the trip. I had decided to bypass Bunbury and go straight to Donnybrook via a short-cut through Waterloo and Dardanup. It looked like about 70 km, and I didn’t know how bad the headwind was going to be. It proved to be steady and moderate SE so that it didn’t help me for the last few km into Donnybrook, where the road turns ESE, as a south-westerly would have done.

Left Harvey at 7.58. Stopped at 22061, 22068 (to look at Brunswick River and pump the tyres, though they didn’t need it) 22077, 22090, 22099 (Boyanup).

When I turned off the SW highway at Waterloo the road went due south, into the headwind.  ... Read more