Finding Giants

June 11, 2025

Today’s plan was to head to Mandurah for a look around, so that’s exactly what we did.  After another morning run along the perfect path in South Perth, we boarded the ferry for the quick five minute choof across the river, then the two minute walk to the train station and hopped on board for the ride to Mandurah. We arrived 50 minutes later and that 50 minute train ride cost us all of $2.52 on just a regular fare. This public transport is awesome and for us, coming from a state that has no passenger rail at all, we are loving the novelty of being able to get around so easily on rails.

We walked into another sunny day and hopped on a bus that would take us from the Mandurah train station, down to the foreshore. The very friendly bus driver was welcoming folk on board and wishing people a “good morning” and “have a lovely day.” Then that friendliness just went up a click when a man pressed the bell to indicate he wanted to stop at the next stop.

“Did you want this stop?” the bus driver asked, as she just passed by the bus stop.

“It’s OK, the next one’s fine,” said the man.

“Sorry,” said the bus driver, “you just need to push the button a bit sooner.”

Then, a gap appeared in the parked cars beside the road.

“I can just drop you here if you like,” offered the bus driver, prepared to just pull over and let him off.

“That’s fine, the next stop’s OK,” reassured the man.

“Well, it’s a lovely day by the foreshore,” said the bus driver. 

She was delightful and it was an exchange that really mirrored what we’d been encountering each day, with plentiful friendly and polite people over here in the West.

We hopped off at the Mandurah foreshore and took care of the immediate essential business, which was to have elevenses. Finding a cafe by the water, we settled in for some toasted rye and jam, and as we enjoyed our morning fare, I smiled at the couple at the next table and their companions. They had with them five little Sheltie dogs, three on leads and two were being pushed in a small dog pram. When their food arrived, the man and woman were brought their own plates with a full breakfast of bacon and eggs and also a small plate with a single sausage. Yes, they had ordered for their dogs as well and the server had placed the dogs’ sausage on the table for them with an equal measure of hospitality. Those little dogs then began the ‘stare down’ as they waited for their sausage brunch to be handed to them. It put a smile on my dial to see both two and four legged patrons duly catered for and happy with their repast! 

Fully fuelled and ready to go, we headed for The Bike Kiosk to hire ourselves some two wheeled steeds to explore the surrounds. Do we go electric, or pure pedal power, that was the question? Nah, we’re still old school, so we opted for a couple of standard mountain bikes that required leg power alone and then set off to find one of the Giants of Mandurah.  Of course, you can guess what happened next, can’t you…yep, of course we got lost! A wrong turn, followed by another wrong turn and many u-turns before we finally found the path and we were on our way. The Giants of Mandurah are created by Thomas Dambo, who makes art from recycled wood. These giants span about a 60km route along the coast, recommend to be visited by car, since they are quite spread out, but there was one within riding distance, so we set off to find him. You can have a look at the whole concept here https://visitmandurah.com/giants-of-mandurah/

It was a great place for a ride, with a path winding along beside the beach, with people passing us walking or riding and giving a smile and a “hello”. Sometimes the path wove beside McMansions, right on the beach, with a real estate value I’m sure is eye watering. It reminded me of a similar ride we did in Victor Harbour, also along a coast path and beside some houses that defined location, location, location. 

The description of the route along this path was “mostly flat”. Well…yes, there were some flat bits, but man-oh-man it also had some roller coaster hills that really put a sting in the legs. More than once the granny gear had to be hurriedly deployed to slog up a steep incline and then a scaredy-cat brake…brake…roll…brake…brake descent down the other side. 

Then, we saw our Giant in the distance, perched high atop a grassy hill, looking out to sea. We dismounted and climbed the steps up to have a closer look. What an amazing creation. It looked incredible and I’m so glad we got the chance to see even one of these fantastic pieces of art.

The ride back once again gave the quads a workout as we huffed and pedalled up those stingy steep slopes and then wheeled back into Mandurah. Again, we took a few wrong turns (no surprise there) and then tootled about the marina and canals. There were fancy rich houses lining the canals, most of them with a boat moored out front. Some even had two boats, a cruiser and a run-about, a bit like an aquatic version of having an SUV and a Hyundai i30 parked in the garage. Oh, how the other half live.

We had to stop when we saw schools of thousands of little fish swimming past in a huge mass. I don’t know what they were, but they were small and blue, a bit like whitebait only a different colour and a cormorant and seagull were having an absolute banquet! We just tootled about and finally stopped with 20km of pedalling in the bag from an utterly delightful ride in the sunshine. 

We hopped on a bus to take us back to the train station, a simple enough task one would think. …Umm…aah…we hopped on the wrong bus and headed in completely the wrong direction! What is it with us and our navigation! We soon realised we were heading  the wrong way, got off, decided to do the 20 minute walk back to Mandurah central and start again! We eventually made it onto the train and settled in for the ride back to Perth, then that quick little ferry ride back across the river and another day of exploring was done. 

It had been tops. Sunshine. A ride in a new place. Some interesting sights to see. Some friendly people. Sen-say-shun-al! Only one more day of exploring before I settle into conference mode, so we are stoked to be having some great experiences and there’s still a little more time left to keep going. What’s around the corner?