Charlie's WorldRide out to North Dandalup and Pinjarra
I woke up stupidly early today for no good reason, so I decided to take advantage of the morning.
Firstly, I chatted to some friends in LA (hi Amanda, hi Tim!) and then headed out on my motorbike to have some ‘me’ time before anyone woke up!
I filled up with petrol as I was going to be out for a good while and didn’t want to be worried about running out of juice in the middle of nowhere. The light in the mornings is lovely as the sun is ‘behind’ the beach which makes the sea and sky show the most magnificent blues.
I rode out to the hills via Serpentine, turned up Scrivener Road and made my way onto the dirt. The only problem with being up so early is the kangaroos are still out and I had a few heart in mouth moments as the bounded out of the bush in front of me. One was in the middle of the dirt road and wasn’t showing any signs of moving until I got quite close. Of course, as he moved, all the ones that were hiding around in the bush decided to go as well and I was riding along side them, just bouncing along.
The road eventually comes out at North Dandalup dam – and as the air was so clear, it was possible to see right out over the plain to Mandurah and the Indian Ocean beyond. Very cool.
I headed out further from North Dandalup, down the little dirt roads off Del Park Road, trying to find Oakly Dam, which is supposed to be very pretty, but I managed to take a wrong turn and couldn’t work out how to get back to the right spur road without a map (maps are all stored in my head, which is fine until you go wrong).
I ended up at the Alcoa bauxite conveyer and couldn’t go any further, so I headed for the road and stopped in at the Alcoa lookout, which is a nice picnic area above the (hideous) Pinjarra aluminium refinery. Luckily it is almost totally hidden by trees and I just had the thousands of monarch butterflies and the kookaburra laughs for company.
Charlie's World 
Charlie, it looks like you had the best time, even though you woke up so early. I happen to do that today, and I’m having the best time reading your blog early this morning 🙂
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Hey stranger 🙂 Yeah, its always nice to be out when everyone else is sleeping – it’s like you have a little secret world to yourself. Couple that with heading off into the forest, it’s really peaceful. Next time, I’m packing the tiny camping chair and taking a stove to make myself some billy tea and breakfast. Hope you have a productive day!
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I’ve spent many weekends up that neck of the woods… seeing this makes me want to head up there again..
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Agree – it’s lovely out there, highly recommended. I really need to explore wider and deeper into our state – great for clearing out the city cobwebs and taking in some of the wonders of this great land.
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