Jewel, Giant and Lake Caves

The best way to survive a hot day is to go underground! These caves werent as huge as the ones at Jenolan, but well worth the visit, as usual.

The giant cave was one of the self-guided ones. You get your helmet and flashlight, and into the abyss you go. Merrily. Lake Cave is a bit special as it got a small lake on the bottom, thriving with pretty unique life, only found in this cave.

Giant cave did become really an experience, as the path through the chambers become harsher and tighter. I say that caves are the perfect place to combine fear of height and claustrophobia. And when the flashlight went off... and didnt turn on, it was nerving. Luckily the helmet had a dim backup lamp, onwards. This happened after climbing up a few ladders in confined space, and crawling through some cracks...

A bit further the only things found were a warning sign and a rope descending into the darkness. Only twenty meters or so down... say ten to be sure;)

Jewel cave was quite nice, but pales in comparison to Giant and Lake.

Just riding

Some places seem not to be the place to camp, or some railroads are not so often used...

A month on the road

The first month went by real quick - it just whizzled by! Some random notions of the trop so far:

-Accomodation is expensive! My original thought was to camp two nights out of three, but now it seems I try to avoid motels etc as much as reasonable. Hostels may be a solution, when weather gets bad.

-People are friendly, as usual.

-Time zones just mix things up, in combination of daylight savings... Its easier to just rise up with the sun. And go to sleep soon after dusk!

-South west of Australia looks so far to be my favorite part.

-Four weeks on the bike and approx. 8000km so far.

Big trees

Somethings are just different around here, trees as prime example. Some of them can reach 70m, if given time and not too many bushfires. The tree top walk was an experience, this must be the angle of Tarzan where he sees the world. Slept in a bush camp near Three Tops at Stirling Range, some 'roos came just after dusk to the field for their dinner. Other group hopped further on, against the sunset. I'm impressed of the South-West area, nice hilly area, with excellent wines! And trees growing on top of rocks.

Birdie birdy bird

While wandering around Albany in search of coffee, I was suddenly surrounded by birds!

Huoltopäivä

Ensimmäiset 7500km tulivat täyteen ja työnsin pyörän huoltoon. Ketjut menivät suoraan roskiin ja eturataskin oli kulunut sirkkeliksi. Muilta osin kaikki olikin kunnossa, uudet öljyt ja tulpat kehiin ja ei kun kovaa ajoa!

Ostin luonnollisesti toisenlaisen voitelutuotteen uusille ketjuille, jos vaikka sillä kestäisivät? Vanha oli Shellin Advanced MC chain oil, joka tunnustettiin laatutuotteeksi huollossakin, mutta nyt on vahamaisempaa Hondan tököttiä laukussa. Näyttää epäilyttävästi Bel-Rayn tuotteelta uus-brandättynä...

Myös ajohousut pääsivät pesuun, tänään ei paljoa ajella (varjossa +37 C).

About travelling

On the other day I had a thought: Travelling around and meeting new people is pretty much like going into a pub, sitting down on bar and you'll never know who you'll meet. Or you don't meet anyone, everything's possible.

Sitting at the bar is, I guess, a signal that you're there and would not mind chatting. So people with similar needs gather around and may tell each other all sort of tall or short stories.

After being on the road for a while, it's nice to talk awhile with strangers, to fill the social need. And most of the other travellers are alike in this. And the chances are that you'll never see these people again, so the guard is lower than usually.

So a pub is instant travelling!