I had such high hopes for sun this morning. My hopes were so high that I didn’t put my shoe covers on! As I left Northcliff (after my free night of camping, as no one ever showed up), it was looking...sort of okay. Well, there was this rainbow, so there was some rain happening. Notice in the photo what is really at the end of a rainbow. It’s not gold...it’s emus!
A pot o’...emus!
Today was only 30kms to Pemberton, but I had a detour I wanted to make. It was the Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree. I came to the turn, and saw it was 3 kilometers to the tree. It was also a dirt road with a lot of hills. Oh well, I had the time.
I made it to the tree (after stopping to put my rain jacket on because, of course, it started to rain). This tree (and two others in the area) were used as fire lookouts. The Bicentennial tree is not the tallest (that award goes to the Gloucester Tree which I will go to tomorrow), but the top platform is still 65 meters up.
The way up the tree is by climbing a spiral rebar “ladder”. I came to climb the tree, so up I went, one very carefully placed step at a time. Reach up, step up, pull up...repeat around the tree. Now, as many of you know, I am not afraid of heights. In fact, I love going up high (Bridge Climb, glider plane, hang gliding, etc). However, even I have to admit, this was a little scary. One slip of the foot or hand...no, no, no, don’t go there!
Spiral rebar ladder
I made it up to the first platform. It was all of 25 meters up. I saw a sign that said, “That was the easy part”. I decided that was good enough. I took photos, then slowly, step by step, backed my way down the ladder. Whew! My heart rate returned to normal as I walked back to Tilmann. So much for that!
Came up this
Okay okay, enough for me.
Seems higher than 25 meters
Good enough view from here
I made my way back to the sealed road, and the 7 or so kilometers into Pemberton. As I was riding, I could see a wall of rain heading my way. I picked up the pace, but got caught just at the Info Bay coming into Pemberton. I pulled in and put my rain pants on.
It was a good downhill ride into Pemberton, but the town actually sits on top of a hill, so I had to go up as I came into the town itself. The first place I saw was a bakery. Of course, I stopped. After all, it was after 12:00...lunch time!
As I ate my spinach and ricotta roll, and vanilla slice, I pondered where to stay. There’s a caravan park, but I didn’t relish a night in my tent in the rain. What I really wanted was dry, warmth, and good WiFi. I opted for the Pemberton Hotel which is a Best Western. At least this one is cheaper than the one in Albany.
At the hotel, when I was checking in, I told the clerk that I had given up on the Munda Biddi. She said there were two guys here last night that had also given up at Northcliff. It wasn’t what they expected (their big complaint was the hills...which was not really my chief complaint). It made me feel justified in giving up myself. If they couldn’t do it...
I must admit the rain is kind of getting to me. The sun is such a tease! The saying: “If you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes.” is absolutely true. However, it’s also, “If you do like the weather, wait five minutes.”
I’m just doing short days now. Actually, it’s not a bad idea. The terrain is still very hilly. It’s nice to not have to hammer out 80kms of up and down.
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