Bike To Broome: 21 August 2011

There is a lot happening in Broome at the blockade at Manari 
Road, but there is to be a welcome party at Town Beach with some local musicians for the Bike To Broome crew.  We arrive about 5pm.  The tandems are being ridden into Town Beach.  At 5:10pm my mobile rings.  Barry Nicols from ABC Radio’s Drive program is about to get me on the radio for a chat, after Rick Springfield’s “Jesse’s Girl” from 1981.
it was a quick 5 minute chat, but it is the Drive program and it is being broadcast across Western Australia, so this is good exposure.
it is time for a beer.  The barbecue is cranking up now.  And there are so many people to catch up with.
Renae Williams begins the evening’s formalities by introducing Eddie Roe, an Aboriginal elder and one of Broome’s more prominent anti-gas campaigners.  After Eddie’s speech, I am called to say a few words.  I think I am feeling more emotional than nervous, because it is for these beautiful people here and many more out at the blockade who cannot make it tonight that we have done this bike ride.  I cannot remember all that I spoke about, as it was a totally off the cuff speech, but it must have moved some to tears.  This is a tense and emotional time for the people of Broome. And I am feeling some of their tension and emotion.  I think for the first time many of the crew are starting to feel the deeper reason why we have ridden our bike from Perth to Broome.
I see Christine Elsasser in the crowd, I wave, walk up to her and give her a big hug.  Christine works for Environs Kimberley and is a tireless anti-gas campaigner.  Martin Pritchard walks up and introduces himself.  Martin is the director and spokesperson of Environs Kimberley.  As Martin departs, Shane Hughes walks up.  I am so glad to see Shane.  We have a big hug.  Shane is keen cyclist and a tireless anti-gas campaigner and was to have joined us on the bike ride, but had injured his knee 5 weeks ago and had been in a lot of pain.
It was so good to meet and catch up with so many passionate Broome people: Rod Hartvigsen, Helen Bailey and Nigel Gaunt, Josh Coates, Kandy Curran, and many, many more.
After the barbecue welcome party, we adjourn to Matso’s for a meal and some famous boutique beers.

Team 1 takes over the riding at Sandfire.  Yet again, we have a headwind.  We have got used to this wind, but riding into is tough.
As we ride towards Port Smith between Sandfire and Broome, a truck driver calls out on the radio, “Love what you guys are doing.  You guys are great.  I heard it on the news this morning.”. We all cheer!
The afternoon fades into evening.  The wind has eased, and as the sun goes down, it becomes nearly completely still.  What a beautiful evening.  We pick up speed.  We are all tired, but are going strong.  What amazing spirit everyone has shown.
We are back in the mobile network.  I receive a message from Peter Robertson (The Wilderness Society). He has organized some media for our arrival.  We need to get to Broome by 2pm.  Another change, but no worries.
In what seems like no time at all, we find ourselves at the Port Smith turn off.
The Port Smith road is a soft sand one, so we put the bikes on the bike rack for the drive in.  Team 2 will continue the ride from the turn off.
As we pull up At the caravan park, there is live music.  Peter greets us.  He proudly tells us how he had just won the sand dancing competition earlier this evening. So he should be.  This man is a trooper and a champion.
In the early hours of the morning, Team 2 takes off on their ride to the Roebuck Roadhouse.  Many of us are starting to feel a little sad that we are nearly at the end of our magnificent journey.
As Team 2 rides out the the Roebuck Roadhouse, some of Team 1 go out to the beach for a swim.
Last night I met this big fella called Guy who is from down south. This morning I have the pleasure of a nice chat with him and his lovely wife.  They will today drive out to Broome for our arrival.
I must mention Neil who gave us some lovely damper this morning.  As we are about to leave the caravan park, his parting comment to us, “whatever you do, have fun.”.  Thanks Neil!
Arrived at the Roebuck Roadhouse to marry up with Team 2 for the final 33km to Broome.  A spoke on the back wheel of one of the tandems broke and had to be replaced.
Accompanying the two tandems are Christian on his road bike, I on mine, and Jude on Peter’s road bike.  It is an easy 33km ride and in hardly any time at all, we are approaching the roundabout on Broome Road.  There are banners, lots of people, cameras and video cameras.  I can’t believe it.  
We made it!  We have completed the 2,400km ride from Perth to Broome in 5 days, 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Team 1 left Karratha at 2pm after chatting with tha ABC and GWN.  This is a late start.
Warm day and we have quite a strong headwind.  The traffic has been quite busy around Karratha. But the motorists and road train drivers have been very courteous and nice to us.  The riding is a bit slow, but we are making good time.
After Roebourne the wind had eased a lot.  So has the traffic.  This is great.
it is flat as a pancake out here.  This is great because we are not tiring out too much.
At sunset we come to Sherloch River.  What a beautiful river this is.  A number of caravans have decided to camp here.  We stop to take some photos, enjoy the scenery, and swim in the river. This is a great little camping place, note this for future reference.
Riding in the Pilbara at sunset is a special experience.  We are blessed with a nice display of colourful whispy clouds.
I get on the bike with Sobrane for my shift.  It is starting to get quite dark – but no problems, we love night rising.  It is a pleasant night for riding, it’s not too cold.
Around 80km out of Port Hedland we can see the glow of the town, and minutes later we see a horizontal line of lights.  Very gradually, the line of lights becomes brighter, and the traffic gets heavier. There are plenty of long road trains.  We are in radio contact with the trucks, so we can talk with the drivers to warn them of our slow entourage.
Port Hedland is a big town. A sign tells us that there is a $200 million roadworks program in progress.  
At 11:20pm we finally pull in to our caravan park on Great Northern Highway across the airport. With the airport and the highway, this is a very noisy place.  Team 2 are still asleep. But it is time that they woke up, so tonight there is no need to be quite.  We learn that Team 2 had only gone to bed at 8:30pm, and it is now midnight, so they have not had much sleep.  But there is no need for sympathy tonight, as they had been to a restaurant for dinner.
At about 12:30am Team 2 hits the road.  We will see them again at Sandfire.
Quick dinner (thank you once again Dora and Sue), quick shower, and off to our tents for some much needed sleep.
In the morning after breakfast, we have a reporter from the North West Telegraph doing an interview wit us. My friend Clare rings up during the interview to say that she will be popping in this morning.
It is great to see Clare again.  Thank you, team, for packing up my tent while I catch up with my visitor.
And on the road we get again, to Sandfire to meet up with Team (the sunrise team).
Caught up with Team 2 at Sandfire.  They arrived 20 minutes before we did. They looked in great shape.  
We are not far off Broome now and we are slightly ahead of schedule.  So we had a quick meeting to discuss the plan.  There is to be a welcome party at Town Beach at 5pm on Friday. So this means we will have to take it easy from now till we get to Broome.

At about 1:30pm, after a quick exchange of news and good wishes, Team 1 got on the road.  It was very warm and fairly still.
After riding over 100km, we reached a road sign that read 233km to Nanutarra, our next meet up point.  This was 100km more than the 258 we had planned for this leg of the ride.  At the current average speed of 35km/h we would reach Nanutarra around midnight.  A long day’s riding this was going to be.
We managed to stop at a nice long flat stretch of road at about 9pm to do some star gazing.  We turned off all the vehicle lights.  Joel got his didgeridoo out and played it as we gazed at the constellations above. This was quite a spiritual experience.
The next three pairs of riders then pumped out the last 100km to our destination.  We reached Nanutarra at 12:45am to find Team 2 still sleeping.
Team 2, the sunrise team, set off at 1:30am on their shift to Karratha.
There is no mobile reception at Nanutarra so except for the expensive satellite phone, we have no contact between the teams.
But we managed to pass Team 2 on the way in to Karratha. Stopped to cheer them. Great reception at Karratha for Team 2.
GWN was at Karratha to do an interview and to film Team 2 pull into town.
Everyone is in great spirits!

Perfect day for riding. Cloud cover, still conditions. Once out of the hills of Northampton, it was very good. James and Paul set a new speed record of 66km/h. Beautiful wildflowers about. Nice scenery. Perfect. We were now averaging well over 35km/h.
No mobile reception, until 30km out of Overlander. It’s just after 8pm, texted Christian, who was very surprised at our progress.
Got into Overlander at 8:45pm.
Reheated our dinner that Dora cooked for us. We were very quiet because we didn’t want to wake Team 2, who were not to start their shift till midnight.
At about 11pm Team 2 were nearly ready to ride off from Overlander. 
After exchanging stories, Team 2 were on the road at 11:45pm.
Quite chilly at Overlander.
Good to have a hot shower. 
6 hours sleep in a tent.
Everyone woke up around 6:30am to some great breakfast of cereal and some hot zucchini fritatas that Dora cooked. So good to have Dora de Luca and Sue Hardy on the team.
My phone buzzed. A text message from Christian – they had reached Carnarvon!  At 6:30am!  What a team of champions!  They have some repairs that must be done then ride to Mardathuna Road for the shift change.
Pulled into Carnarvon at 11:15am, replenished supplies, fueled up, then off to Mardathuna Road to meet up with Team 2.  There was a beautiful sea breeze blowing at Carnarvon.
The Team 1 bus finally got to Mardathuna Road at 12:45pm.  Team 2 were camped under some small trees.  it was very warm at Mardathuna Road.  Team 2 were quite weary from the lack of sleep, the midnight to midday riding, and the heat.

Day 1:

Took off from Perth at 11:45am.  Hot day made riding pretty tough. Windy.  Indian Ocean Drive as expected was fairly tough. Windy with up to 30 knot with some drizzle, long uphill climbs made riding very testing. In parts averaging 15km/h uphill and only 35km/h downhill. But we averaged 20, so within expectation.  Got to Jurien at 11:15pm.

Met up with Team 2 at Apex Camp. Rain. Team 2 got on the road at 11:45 into the wind and rain.

Nice to have a cooked meal, beer, shower and bed.

Received a text from Christian jus after 6:30am saying that they were just out of Geraldton. Seriously ahead of schedule!

Got to Geraldton for a quick shop, interview and photos with the Geraldton Guardian. Bought a new bike seat to replace the very uncomfortable one that was causing us numbness.

Met Team 2 at Northampton at 12noon. They had been here since around 9am. Cloudy, gentle breeze, and no rain.

Replaced seat but not without trouble, due to a worn seat post bolt. Leigh bought a bolt from the hardware shop that did the job.

After so much preparation and anticipation, the Bike To Broome non-stop around-the-clock tandem bike ride from Perth to Broome begins today.
The bike ride will begin at the Murray Street Mall in Perth at 11am.
Here is the finalized route:
1. Team 1 Perth to Jurien, arriving 12 midnight Sunday.
2. Team 2 Jurien to Northampton, arriving 12 noon Monday.
3. Team 1 Northhampton to Overlander Roadhouse, arriving 11pm Monday.
4. Team 2 Overlander to Carnarvon, then Mardathuna Road, arriving 11am Tuesday.
5. Team 1 Mardathuna Road to Nanutarra, arriving 12 midnight Wednesday.
6. Team 2 Nanutarra to Karratha, arriving 1pm Wednesday.
7. Team 1 Karratha to Port Hedland, arriving 1am Thursday.
8. Team 2 Port Hedland to Sandfire, change-over at Summering Well Road 44km west of Sandfire at approx 2pm Thursday.
9. Team 1 Sandfire to Port Smith, arriving 2am Friday.
10. Team 2 Port Smith to Broome 168, marry up at Roebuck Roadhouse at 10:30am, then ride together to Broome, arriving 12 noon Friday.

A young lad with a donation.

With one week to go before riding off to Broome, the next 7 days is promising to be a very busy week indeed.

We have a bundle of bike spares to buy, posters to draw, food and drinks to buy, meet our team members at the airport, final fitting and pairing of riding pairs, team jerseys to pick up, hire vehicles to pick up, get all our camping gear together…

Everything is coming together now.

Everyone we have met have been supportive, and people have been so generous with their donations – even the many oil and gas workers we met have been supportive and generous!

We have many challenges ahead, physical, mental, and emotional.  But spirits are high.  It is going to be a great week!

Thank you to Environs Kimberley for allowing us to share this with you.

Media release

August 11, 2011

GOVERNMENT GIVES GREEN LIGHT TO CORAL REEF DESTRUCTION IN THE KIMBERLEY

 Fishing and conservation groups unite

Fishing and Conservation groups have united to express alarm over Federal government plans to allow trawling of an area the size of greater Perth in the pristine Kimberley next month.

Dr Jill St John, Marine Co-ordinator for The Wilderness Society (WA) said the shallow area up to 30m in depth is dotted with coral reefs, as beautiful and significant as those found on the Great Barrier Reef, as well as sponges and seagrass areas.

“Trawling will destroy these pristine areas along with its marine life.

“The Australian Fishery Management Authority’s proposal to allow trawling in the area has upset local fishers as trawling in this area will destroy the local trap and line fishery.

Bob Masters, Broome representative of the local trap and line fishery (Northern Demersal Scale Fishery (NDSF)) says “This 6000 sq km area was never meant to be part of the deep water prawn trawl fishery (North West Slope Trawl Fishery) that trawls offshore areas deeper than 200m.

“The Authority’s own management plan states that no trawling should be done in shallow areas (less than 200m in depth).

”We fish for tropical snappers in this area and our fishery has strict effort quota restrictions to ensure stock sustainability.

“Trawlers have not been allowed into the area since the Taiwanese trawlers were stopped in the 1970s and since then the seabed habitats have regrown and the fish communities have been replenished.”

Grant Barker, of NDSF and based in Darwin, said, “We provide high quality fish for the Australian market and, unlike trawling, don”t destroy their habitat – seafloor communities.”

Dr Jill St John adds, “Trawling destroys coral reefs and sponge gardens that may be hundreds of years old. Trawling also kills high-risk and protected species, such as sea snakes and sharks, as bycatch”.

Martin Pritchard, Director of Environs Kimberley says “This area is currently being considered for the National Marine Reserve Network and trawling is one of three fishing gear types disallowed in the reserve network.”

“Why will this area be opened to trawling before the marine reserve network is finalized?” he asked.

Further comment:

Bob Masters, Broome 0408 923 454

Grant Barker, Darwin 0428 797 490

Dr Jill StJohn, Perth 0423 225 564

Examples of bottom trawling

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VPghE51kB0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zikSzUhUGtA&feature=related

Yesterday was the first time that any of us had ever ridden a tandem bicycle.  Anthony ‘Hab’ Collier, from the WA Tandem Cycling Advisory Council gave us our first and only lesson in tandem riding.

A few interesting things to learn this morning: balance, communication, and trust.  Balance is initially tricky on a tandem, which makes taking off, pedaling and turning a bit more difficult.  Communication is important because the person at the back to a very large extent has to depend on the vision of the person in front.  Trust, because riding a tandem requires both riding pairs to work together effectively.

Leading up to Sunday 21 August, the riding group will have a few opportunities to train together to get more proficient at riding the tandems.  I’m guessing that it won’t take the group too long to get good at this, after all, within minutes we were riding quite well and doing speeds of around 30 km/h.

In the photo are James Campbell, Mariana Galrao, Paul Theseira, Alice Ross, Jenita Enevoldsen, Leigh Burns, Steve Gero, and Guy Sullivan.

Many thanks to the WA Tandem Cycling Advisory Council for the loan of these two tandem bikes.