Day 33 Leeman to Bush Camp 40 km from Lancelin – 120 km

I was awake very early. I started packing at 5.30 am and went over to camp kitchen for breakfast. Anna came over as did another camper who was a windbag. I did the polite thing and chatted even though I just wanted him to go away. Anna kept her head down and said nothing but laughed about it later.

On the road it was a chilly 8 degrees but there was no wind so I quickly covered the 42 km to Jurien Bay. It is a nice seaside town with an Australian sea lion colony nearby. I had a coffee and toasted sandwich for morning tea.

 View from Grigson Lookout

Quandongs near Grigson Lookout 

Only 26 km to Cervantes which went very quick. Anna was stopping there because she wanted to see “the Pinnacles”. I was continuing on because I wanted knock off more km to make the next 2 days easier. As it happens the turn off to the Pinnacles is 17 km south of Cervantes.

Giant weather vane at Cervantes.  The town is named after a ship that was named for the author of Don Quixote, Miguel Cervantes.

Just before the turn off I spotted a cream canvas hat beside the road. Readers of earlier stages of this blog will be aware I have lost similar hats on at least 2 occasions at Punsand on Cape York and crossing the Pentecost River at El Questro. My record of losing hats is long. Anyway finding the hat made me very happy.

Some of  "the Pinnacles"

As I was feeling good I decided to turn off to the Pinnacles even though it was 6 km off the highway. Another win! I got in for free because I was on a bicycle. Apparently Parks WA thinks that making the effort to cycle in deserves a reward. I was chuffed and really enjoyed the Pinnacles. Unfortunately I couldn’t spend long there but I did do the 1.2 km scenic walk.

Nice Hat!

Afterward I raced back to the highway and resumed the journey towards Perth. I stopped at some sand dunes to get some pictures and had a nice chat with a couple from Busselton in a rest stop.

By 5.00 pm I was getting concerned that I needed to find a campsite. There wasn’t much cover but eventually I found a spot out of sight of the highway.  I set up the tent and made dinner.

I am near the Wangareen Nature Reserve which is an amazing area filled with these Grass-Trees (Xanthorea). There is a stand of these outside my tent.

Just across the road is the Lancelin Military Training Area. Fortunately it was very quiet