The most western point on the mainland on latitude 25 degrees south, restricted access to Bernier and Dorre islands, serious fishing country, “no-lore”, decades of wool, a fruit bowl, space exploration, a solar farm and a tourist haven.

The ferocious southerly October to February trade winds that wrecked countless ships off the Western Australian coast gave us an easy ride into our penultimate stop, Wooramel Roadhouse. Subject to the whim of the tourist seasons…both of them….on and off, the roadhouse is typical of many road side stops across the continent, dictated by the car. However, as the nature of transport evolves so too must the architecture of the road.

A northerly blew as we approached, perhaps that should have been a signifier that yet again our expectations were to be blown apart. The rest of our time there, the prevailing southerly blew. Feel good mining, wind and tidal power.  The town has a feeling of impermanence, and the pull of the place is palpable.

We've just finished our week at Stop #20: Wooramel Roadhouse and so NOW are on our final cycling leg into Carnarvon, the Western Australian fruit bowl. We only have 124 kms to go before we have officially crossed the continent and a great attempt at following Latitude 25. If you can't get to the finish line we understand, so instead you can virtually cheer us on as we have set up a live tracker for you to follow along!!
Click through to the blog post and press the big "LIVE TRACKER" button or go to https://www.thegrandsection.com/ and use the button on the Homepage to follow along online!

Towering Palms and Gums, like so many other sites throughout the trip are the markers of (white fella) inhabitation both past and present. Pushing through days of 40 degree heat, and a persistent hot headwind, the ‘markers’ gave us a goal to pedal for. What we would come to find is brave, bold, a bit stupid and completely inspiring. A cattle property without any cattle.

Surrounded by open cut mines, with the protective ring of ‘rehabilitated’ earth and small signs urging caution, Meekatharra still has significant deposits of gold, copper and ore to be dug. Meanwhile decade old gaping pits leave locals scratching their heads as to how to utilize these monumental sized constructions to leverage tourism, the scale of modern ruins. The administrative centre of the region, Meekatharra is certainly not for the meek.

Littered in history and holes, it almost feels as if no piece of ground has been left untouched. Rusty cans, glass and broken prospector dreams litter the landscape. Manmade mesas and hills rise high above the Mulgas. Behind a clump of Acacias is a century old brick cricket pitch, overgrown. To the unknowing eye, simply, a landscape of ‘nothing’.
One thing to consider: Gold exists in greater abundance in Australia than any other place in the world

Ride in, dusty and lunch hungry. Time turns back 1.5 hours so the pre-prepared lunches don’t come out for another hour, delayed further by a drop in internet and EFTPOS services. Camp dogs and dust clouds from ever cycling windowless cars. Lunch when it does come is a surprisingly tasty burger, the only hot and filling option. It’s the off week for fresh food, a couple of sad carrots for dinner. Nothing unusual. 

PERMIT REQUIRED, PERMIT REQUIRED says the map at the CLC (Central Land Council). In reality permits are not required and the ongoing battle between community and Policy is fought somewhere in the tangle of red tape. The small indigenous community is only 117km from Alice Springs, down a ‘dead-end’ road, at the edge of the sand hill country and nestled into the red face of the James range. A once strong town caught metaphorically and literally in-between a rock and a hard place.