Friday May 2, 2014

The longest ride to date.  David had given us great directions from his house to Coffs Harbour avoiding the Pacific Highway and following a cycle path all the way.  Why don’t the local Council’s advertise these great cycle routes.  We would never have found this path if it hadn’t been for David.

We visited David’s brother’s bicycle shop – a Trek store.  Ralf has a strange noise emanating from his front wheel (bearings).  They should last until we get to Brisbane/England.

David also gave us a great route to follow to Grafton – inland away from the highway.  We knew today was going to be a long day approximately 90 kms but because of the cycle path and the alternative route it turned out to be 107!!.  But, it was a great alternative, we were only on the Pacific Highway for about a kilometre from the bike shop to the Big Banana and that was enough.  Really busy and no shoulder, with traffic passing us at over 100 kph (very scary).  We got of the highway at the Big Banana and climbed to the Seely lookout.

We then followed the back roads up through the banana plantations and in to the rainforest.

It was really amazing.  Ralf had never seen avocados growing on trees.  This tree was full of them, we were good we didn\’t pick any.

We cleared the rainforest and were then into farmland and rural routes.

Unfortunately after about 25kms it started to rain.  On with the jackets and head down and going.  Cycling in the rain is not fun.  As we arrived in Nana Glen we spotted a little café, it was lunch time so we decided to stop.  The only problem was we didn’t want to stop too long and get cold.  The lady behind the counter was very cheerful – “A bit wet for cycling” stating the obvious.  Then she offered us towels to dry ourselves and allowed us to wrap ourselves in the towels to stay warm.  We took our wet jackets of dried ourselves off and wrapped the towels around our shoulders while we had a great lunch. Apparently Russel Crowe (the actor) has a house in Nana Glen – we didn\’t see him.

By the time we had finished our lunch, the rain had stopped.  It did start again a bit later on, but eventually stopped for the last 45 kms.

The terrain was quite hilly, rolling hills rather than steep climbs but there was a lot of them.  One lady at the café assured us it was “relatively flat” after Glenreagh about 45 ks from Grafton.  Never listen to car drivers, they have no clue what flat is to a cyclist.  The last 10 kms into Grafton were “relatively” flat.

We arrived into Grafton at 4:00pm, a long day of cycling.  We checked out a couple of motels, but decided they were too expensive so we headed out to a Big 4 campsite, which turned out not to be a Big 4 anymore but she gave us the discount.  We are staying warm and dry in a lovely room, I cannot describe it as a cabin.

The camp site has been converted into an adult lifestyle living community, with a few “cabins” for tourists.  It is lovely.