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Showing posts from April, 2014

Munda Biddi trail preparation and pre/post trip notes

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A lot goes into planning for a trip such as the Munda Biddi bike ride, especially when you have to consider the requirements of a group. I normally do all of this on my own, spending weeks and months reading up on various blogs, travel books and studying maps. This time I enlisted the aid of the group participants to help research accommodation and assist with the route plans

Munda Biddi - Finishing ride to Bunbury. Train to Perth and ride to airport.

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Mark had to have some major renovations on his bike, as he wanted it in good repair for his return to Siberia. The cassette and chain was replaced as well as a general service. We also enjoyed a sausage sizzle hosted by the local Lions club. Funny, no one was around until we arrived, then a horde of people came over for a feed.

Munda Biddi - Nglang Boodja camp to Collie

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It was quite cool this morning. With only 50km or so to cover we were not in a hurry to leave early. The birds were quite loud with their competitive singing and the sun was streaming in quite brightly, so  an actual sleep in wasn't possible.  

Munda Biddi - Donnybrook to Nglang Boodja Camp

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We left Donnybrook at 9:00am today, we had some time up our sleeve and the owner of the hotel consumed a bit of it, as he loves to have a chat, and was quite engaging. He was having a challenging time renovating the hotel and juggling an almost capacity loading of the accommodation. He bought the place as a sideline to a farm but now finds the farm a sideline to his tourism enterprise.

Munda Biddi - Hewer Sleepers camp to Donnybrook

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This ride was memorable for its dangerous diversion onto Vernon Road. If you ever do this track my advice is to find an alternative to Vernon Road. It is a dirt road running by the forest  with steep roller hills on pea gravel corrugations. My bike handled them well, but even so you are flying by the seat of your pants as the whole machine and your body is working overtime to keep in a balanced state. Not at all pleasurable, when it goes on for kilometres and it somewhat tarnished the general experience of this day. I was grateful that the Loctite and straps were doing their job holding the rack and panniers in place.

Munda Biddi - Donnelly Mill to Hewer Sleepers camp

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At 8:00am, we are all packed and ready to go and sitting in the general store reviewing the day ahead. We could not resist starting the day with scones, jam and cream, along with that ubiquitous kickstarter beverage: coffee.