As Around The World begins the second leg, and the journey across Australia, you are faced with a surmountable object: as the road moves inland from the sea, it inevitably climbs: and stage 281 hits you in your legs for exactly that reason.
The rollout from Perth Airport in Western Australia does a loop round the railway station that heads south along Kewdale Road, crossing the Tonkin Highway as it does so. The route passes through Welshpool before turning left at Cannington at six miles, then heads out of Perth via Kenwick and Gosnells before crossing the Route 4 Tonkin Highway at fourteen miles.
To that point, you can effectively say the the stage has been flat. But from the moment you pass by Wright Lake on approach to Armadale at fifteen miles, the road starts to kick uphill. At first it’s gentle, but as route 30 enters Wungong Regional Park soon after, so it starts to meander left and right on a series of looping curves: they mark the start of the climb that will take you up a thousand feet before the end of the stage: and in just seven miles too!
Past the junction north to Midgegooroo National Park near Bedfordale at twenty one miles, the climb is relentless, although the road does straighten out a little after the light/right combination of bends at twenty two miles. The finish itself is just after the Road Train Weighing area on Albany Way, heading west at twenty three miles.
Distance: 24 miles / 38 kilometres
Ascent: 1555 feet / 474 metres
RGT Magic Road: LcqzJAIXOUCF
Max elevation: 1204 ft
Min elevation: 19 ft
Total climbing: 1552 ft
Total descent: -423 ft
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