Didn't start too well, I was only about 20 metres in when the Garmin started yelling at me. I was heading down the Kep Track. Already getting lost & I'm not even out of Mundaring! The first section was gentle down hill. Bliss. Lots of other people about. Easy peasy I'm thinking! The weight wasn't a problem with the handling, & the gears were working well. Even if I did only have 6 of them. Then came the hills. Bottom gear was just right, but you had to get some weight over the front to keep the front wheel down on the steepest bits. Once you lost momentum, it's time to start pushing. Just no way to get going again. Traction wasn't a problem. Tyres were great. I started to hear some knocking from the front, so when I balked at a ridiculously steep bit I checked it out. The head race was very loose. While I was fixing that a couple arrived with a friend. Their friend lost momentum, couldn't unclip, & fell in a hole. Shortly after that was the touring route option. Despite all the recent pushing, I didn't wimp out. I got caught up in a mountain bike race. Fortunately they were heading in the opposite direction, so they didn't show me up. I then met a guy out biking with his 2 kids. He asked if I was doing the Munda Biddi (the panniers are a giveaway). We had a good chat. He has some outrageous plan to do it in a few days. 100-200km a day, not carrying any gear as he was going to have support at each stop. Mental! Then I ran out of water! I'd only taken 2 litres, thinking it's 40k & I only use 1.5L on a 65k road ride in similar weather. Rookie mistake. There was still 20km to go. So while passing a farm on the planned burn diversion, I called in & asked if I could fill up my water bottle. Even that ran out about 2km before the hut. Note. Take all the water, and suffer the weight penalty. After that, it got a lot more quiet. I didn't see anyone else, & the riding wasn't so hard. A few bumps (the panniers make a racket), but for all the complaints about pea gravel, it really wasn't that bad. Soft in parts, & slow going, but achievable. The last few kms seemed to take for ever. I stopped for a 'comfort break' & just enjoyed the silence. Then a jet flew over & spoiled that. Saw lots of flowers, & some red tailed black cockatoos. Then it was the hut. And to my surprise, there was no one there :-) So I set the tent up inside. Just as I'd finished the couple I saw earlier turned up, minus their friend. Apparently he'd had enough by Pickering Brook & went home. They stayed for a bit, offered me some food & headed off to get picked up further down. I made a nice coffee, but now I can hear people coming! Well, I was not expecting that. A guy on a fully kitted up 'bike packing' setup with frame & bar bag, and following behind was his son (about 3) on a balance bike. The balance bike had its own top tube bag. They headed over to the bushes, where they "usually go" & set up camp. Time for some rice, woohoo! It's starting to get cold. The Dad came over for a chat, & the kid says "did you ride round the world?", not quite. It turns out his dad did a Trans continental type race from Canada to Mexico border (transdivide?). 14 hour days, & the clock doesn't stop. You sleep, you lose time. He said "nice when you finish". He was admiring my bike, so I was telling him about the gears not being compatible with the shifters. He noticed the shifters were SRAM not Shimano. "Yeah, you can't mix & match" Doh! At least he was impressed I'd owned it from new. Just as the sun was going down Ian turned up, doing a training run from Jarrahdale for his attempt at an end to end in 5 weeks. He said he started an older lady Laura, but she'd said keep going & I'll see you at the hut. A couple of hours behind him? It's going to be dark before she gets here. "She's got a light" he said. Oh, that's ok then :-/ It started to get cold, so I jumped into my sleeping bag, Ian set off walking back to find Laura. He returned triumphantly with his riding partner around 9:30