Tizzas Trek

Broome to Kunnunarra
 
Checked the bike over for problems after the falls, all seems good. Carried out the routine maintainance (check fluid levels, tyre pressures, lube the chain & check tension) & packed the bike for the first of the big stretches east. Have to add here that the temperature is a sweltering 42 degrees in the shade, starting to understand why all the locals reckon I'm crazy starting this trip at this time of year... So with the camelback filled with ice & water I waved farewell to Broome, a bit sad to leave my new friends but full of excitement for the journey ahead.
 
First stop Derby, home of the second largest tides in the world & also the fabulous Mowanjum Art Gallery. An amazing piece of architecture built in the shape of a Wandjina head, housing so many beautiful pieces of art. Check it out at:- www.mowanjumarts.com Had a great conversation with the curators & some of the Indigenous Artists about their gallery, local culture & health issues. One of the artists there has a sister on dialysis, seems most Aboriginal people I meet have at least one relative on the machine...
Had a great Saturday night out in Derby listening to one of the local Aboriginal Bands, the place was raging, pretty sure I was the only one in the room with blonde hair! Slept that night in a 'Donger', like a shipping container with a door & a window cut in & luckily an air conditioner.
 
Back on the road pretty early, wearing more gear than I do to go skiing... kidney belt, motorcross boots, kevlar pants, knee/shin guards, armoured gore tex jacket, gloves, helmet & the ice filled camelback...all in weighing about 15 kilos and the temperature has risen out here to 44 degrees today! Rode all day into a strong headwind & rolled into Fitzroy Crossing with about half a litre left in the tank! Checked out Geike Gorge, a beautiful river carved through an ancient coral reef. Lots of crocs, so no swimming here!
 
So all fuelled up & on to Halls Creek, visions of John Jarrett in Wolf Creek preventing me from making any pitstops along the way, would hate to break down out here, so desolate & like being in a fan forced oven with a hair dryer pointed at you! Must say though, some incredible scenery, it seems to change completely every 50kms or so. Arrived in Halls Creek in good shape, did some exploring on the dirt roads & visited the local Aboriginal Clinic to discuss their health issues. Same story, they need more support with kidney disease. Also chatted with some of the local mob who always love to ask about Uncle Jimmy & always seem to have a story about the first time they heard him sing or the time they met him somewhere, it's nice to be out here under the banner of the Jimmy Little Foundation, I'm welcomed everywhere I go...
 
A good sleep & back on the road to Warmun, also called Turkey Creek. Pulled into their community, got permission to go in & headed to the Warmun Art Gallery. What a great place, very unique art indeed. Had a great chat with the artists who thought it would be a good idea to paint a collaborative piece for the Foundation Auction at the end of the trip..Fantastic!  One of the nicest things of this trip is going into all the amazing art galleries, a source of not only air conditioned comfort but a wealth of knowledge of the local people, their land & their stories. Check out www.warmunart.com
Also popped into the local clinic, had a long chat with the RAN, Keith Barton who talked about the need for a reliable supply of fresh food & diet education. It seems the only real cure for kidney disease is prevention...
 
So back into the heat for some of the most spectacular scenery of the Kimberley, the amazing East Kimberley Ranges. Rolled into the beautiful town of Kununarra right on sunset, so much water here, a great place to spend a couple of days...

Distance travelled so far...1532kms
Most Memorable Memories...Seeing a wrecked van behind an even more wrecked water buffalo by the side of the highway, the incredible heat, great chats with lovely people.

Broome to Cape Leveque & back...
 
So had a look at the map & decided to head up the Dampier Peninsular to its northernmost point, Cape Leveque, which looked like a good spot to officially begin the Two-wheel Trek. This meant riding through 100kms or so on a dirt road to Beagle Bay. No worries for a bloke who has just ridden across the country...or so I thought. My God, the soft red pindan sand sure looks beautiful but is like riding on talcum powder. After struggling for the first 70kms, I hit a really soft patch & realised it was time for my first fall. Luckily I had slowed right down, I layed the bike down and executed a perfect forward roll...With slightly bruised pride & dripping with sweat in the 42 degree heat I picked up the bike & continued on, a bit shaken but OK.
 
First stop was Beagle Bay, a lovely community & home to an amazing old Catholic Church which was built by hand from local rock by Missionaries early last century. Lots of history here, it was the Mission where lots of kids of the stolen generation from the Kimberley where brought to be educated. Check out http://northwest.ceo.wa.edu.au/beagleBay.htm
Then on to Kooljamon at Cape Leveque, one of the most remote & beautiful places I have been to in Australia. Under an old lighthouse I set up camp, exhausted & sore but happy to have begun the trip.
 
Woke up to the most incredible view, rich red rocks, white sand & beautiful turquoise ocean, perfect for a swim to wash off all that red dirt.
Met a young Aboriginal fella on the beach called JJ who invited me back to to go out with his mob, the Djaridjin people, to spear fish & hunt mud crab. Top idea, I reckon, so rode about 40kms on the soft sand to Lombardina, only getting thrown off the bike twice on the way there! But it was so worth it, we piled into the old Landcruiser with a few families & headed off through crazy bush tracks to the most beautiful estuary. Tide was running so we jumped in & speared a couple of fish, took them back to the women who were starting to cook & JJ & I went into the mangroves to get muddies! Yahoo! Walked about 4 kms into the mangroves, didn't see another soul, got eaten by sandflies, collected enough crabs for a meal & headed back to the fire for lunch.
 
While we enjoyed a big meal of fish, crabs, corned beef, potatoes, pumpkin & damper the older ones told me about their land & their lives. They asked me about Uncle Jimmy and we all swapped stories over black billy tea. Then the best bit of the day...Grandma got the little ones to sing me their songs from school...So beautiful, songs about their country and all the animals in it, all in beautiful harmonies. Brought a tear to the eye...One of the nicer days I have spent in this life...
 
Spent the next couple of days looking around, swimming & trying to find relief from the 40 degree heat, then headed back down the crazy Beagle Bay Road to Broome, managing to stay on the bike the whole way! (Although I did go pretty slow!)
 
Got to meet a friend of Uncle Jimmy's, Mark Bin Bakar, a wonderful fellow who performs as Mary G, Black Queen of the Kimberley. For those of you who haven't heard of him/her, check out www.maryg.net. So spent a great afternoon with Mark & his wife Tania, chatting over cups of tea & learning all about the Aboriginal people of the west, especially about the stolen generation. Mary G does a national radio show on wednesday nights & invited me to come on the show for a chat. We had so much fun on air & it was a great feeling to be going out across the country on Indigeneous Radio. What a fantastic start to the Trek!


GETTING STARTED
 
Broome, WA
 
And what a great place to begin the Two wheel Trek. The people of Broome have been so incredibly supportive in helping me to put this fundraiser together, so many people donating their time & services. Big thanks to my cousin Lisa Bellamy & her dog Piglet for putting me up for the three weeks it took to pull it all together, it was so good to have a place to call home so far away from home. So it was time to go to work! Liasing with the Foundation regarding all the logistics of doing charity fundraising, organising press interviews, publicity shots, organising artwork, stickers & business cards printed up most importantly getting the bike serviced & preparing it for the epic journey ahead.
But in between a thousand emails & a million phone calls I also got to enjoy all that Broome has to offer, riding my bike on to Cable Beach, swimming at Gantheume Point in the beautiful turquoise water of the Indian Ocean, listening to the wonderful music of the Pigram Brothers who play every thursday night on the deck of an old Pearl Lugger, Mango beer at Matsos, watching the staircase to the moon in Roebuck Bay & enjoying a great doco about this area called 'Sisters, pearls & mission girls' at Sun Cinemas, the oldest outdoor cinema in Australia. I was also lucky enough to be in town to catch the Waifs in their first gig of their current world tour.
Thanks heaps to Kelly at Chinatown Music who introduced me to the media folk in town, especially Vanessa Mills at ABC Radio Kimberley who really got the ball rolling with the first radio interview of the trip. Thanks also to Bill at Linneys Pearls who made the first donation of the trip, a big fat cheque & a beautiful pair of pearls, one black, one white, (very symbolic indeed...) for the auction at the end of the trip.
So here I go...it's all started...6420kms to go!!

Tizza (Steve) Taylor