Journey details: Fremantle – Rottnest Island – Jurien Bay  – Sandy Cape -Geraldton Tuesday 19^th – Sunday 24th May  2021

This week we explored Rottnest Island before starting our trek north up the Indian Ocean Drive on the western coast of W.A. It started badly, sadly, with the theft of Jamie’s e-Bike from the Fremantle caravan park on the morning we departed for a 2-day bike ride around Rottnest Island. It got better however as we headed up along the Indian Ocean Drive with a $50 fill-in bike and explored some lovely coastal trails, enjoyed beachfront camping and some stunning geographical wonders.

Tuesday 18^th and Wednesday 19^th May: The Big Bike Theft Disaster and 30 hours riding around Rotto

The start of Week 6 was not good. We woke at 6am in our Fremantle van park to discover thieves had cut the bike lock on Jamie’s e-Bike and stolen it during the night. After much swearing, calls to security and police, I ran the 5km down to the ferry docks while Jamie rode my bike with our bags and we managed to make our 9am departure. We hired a push bike on Rottnest Island ‘Rotto’ as the locals call it, for Jamie and he re-engaged with lost leg muscles whilst I merrily zipped around on my eBike. Watch the video: 30hrs riding round Rotto for a look at all the beaches and lookouts s we visited. Our three top picks for Rotto go to: 1. Parakeet Bay beach on the North side for swimming, shelter and seclusion (Little Parrakeet next door is pretty nice too) 2. Sunset up at Bathurst Lighthouse, overlooking Pinky’s Beach – they even provide a handy staircase for viewing and 3. Hotel Rottnest for its chill vibe, pro-surfer watching (the RipCurl Rottnest Big wave search was on) and good nosh too (don’t order the cauliflower fritter starter it is a whole cauliflower!). Special mention goes to all the great bike paths around the island (and the funny signs)

Fremantle Chilling.

Wednesday night we were back at Fremantle for sunset at south Beach then dinner at a stellar Asian-fusion restaurant, Ginger and Tonic the Old Synagogue (don’t order the tempura broccoli it is a whole broccoli – de je vu from night before with the cauliflower…what is it about WA veggie dishes?). Top three picks for Fremantle are:1. South Beach Fremantle for sunset or morning swim 2. The Old Synagogue for one of the many bars or Ginger and Tonic restaurant and 3. The bike/running path along to the wharf.

Thursday 20^th and Friday 21^st May: Blazing skies, towering Pinnacles and the world’s oldest lifeforms at Cervantes

After a morning run on Fremantle’s South Beach we hit swanky Cottosloe for a walk along the beach then took the Duke up to Windscreens O’Brien for his new windscreen (it was cracked by a rock from a road train crossing the Nullabor). We also managed to pick up a second hand push bike for Jamie before taking the Indian Ocean drive up to the fancy RAC park in Cervantes for the night where we watched a long lingering, sunset over the beach. We had an equally stunning sunrise the next morning at Nambung National Park (22 kms south) where we watched the sea of limestone Pinnacles come to life in the dawn light. Back at Cervantes we walked around Thetsis Lake to see the collection of Stromatolites, the microbial clumps deemed to be the earliest form of life on the planet. Our top ticks for Cervantes go to: 1. Nambung National Park and the 4km loop drive/walk around thousands of white limestone pillars across the yellow sandy desert 2.RAC Cervantes Holiday park with their very impressive amenities and facilities including a large pool, huge open camp kitchen, games room and lots of picnic tables for watching the sun set and 3. Thetsis Lake with great info boards explaining what the lumpy forms of bacteria in the lake are (Stromatolites).

Friday 21^st and Saturday 22^nd May: White sand dunes, sapphire seas and killer cakes & sunset at Jurien Bay and Sandy Cape

Friday morning, we drove up to Jurien Bay to ride the 14km bike trail called the Turquoise Way but soon discovered that the $50 filler bike we’d bought Jamie had a few issues. It felt like the front brakes were clamped on and it took an almighty effort to pedal so we only managed to do about 5km of the trail – enough to see how pretty it was riding along the genuinely turquoise bay. We supplemented our picnic lunch with perhaps the best tempura battered potato cakes we’ve ever had from the Jurien Bay Fish and Chip shop and headed up to Sandy Cape for  a swim and the night. The Sandy Cape Recreation Park has about 80 sites tucked into the bush and sand dunes of the Beekeeper’s Nature reserve. The big white sand dunes tumble straight into the sea and we watched kids slide down on their boogie boards and climbed up the dunes to watch another blazingly good sunset.   Our top picks for Jurien Bay and Sandy Cape are 1. The Turquoise Way bike trail 2. Killer potato cakes from Jurein Bay and 3. Sandy Cape Recreation reserve for killer sunsets, sand dunes and great roomy camp sites.

Saturday 22^nd May: Wild walks and wind at Green Head and Cliff Head

After a relaxing morning at Sandy Cape we drove 20kms up the road to Green Head to do the three bays walking track along the coast from Anchorage Bay through Dynamite Bay to South Bay. The wind picked up and a storm was brewing so we headed up to Cliff Head just short of Dongarra to stay on Billygoat Bay for the night. Our top ticks for this leg go to 1. Green Head Three Bays Walking Trail 2. Dynamite Bay for its perfect curves and clear waters and 3. The Cliff Head camp areas – three different campgrounds with sandy secluded camp bays.

Sunday 23rd May: Dongara to Geraldton

Up to a far more peaceful morning and the entire campground to ourselves! Drove up to Dongara-Port Denison twin towns and walked out along the groin at Port Denison the bigger part of town with the walkways. Dongara was under a lot of construction so couldn’t venture down their main street so kept heading north to Greenough and the  leaning trees of Greenough (the wind blows consistently in one direction causing them all to virtually succumb and lie down that way) then on up to Geraldton. It was Sunday and Geraldton had a very shut down look about it but a lot of vacant stores suggested Covid had also devastated this town. There are some good cycle/hike trails all around the waterfront and a fantastic optical illusion sphere called Horizons on the beachfront at Beresford worth a visit for a mind-twisting laugh and if you’re looking for a free-camp Moore Lighthouse looks great. No real gourmet eateries to mention as we missed out on a table at the ‘fully booked’ L’Italiano and settled for the Pub. Our top places to tick on this leg are: 1. Port Dennison lookouts and coastal walk 2.Greenough rural town with its historical village and leaning trees 3. Geraldton Horizon’s Sphere .