Thursday May 8, 2014

We followed the recommended route out of Tweed Heads to Surfers Paradise. The route was primarily on off-road cycle paths following the coast.  We had a couple of turnarounds due to poor signage when the off-road cycle route came to an end and no further signs were there to show us which way to go.

Along this section of bike path we spotted the giant koala.  Very difficult to spot as he was in camouflage garb.  The koala was one of 21 sculptures produced for the \”Animals with Attitude Gold Coast Sculpture Trail\” to raise awareness and funds for the Currimbin Wildlife Hospital\”.

We had lunch in Southport and once again picked up the Old Pacific Highway all the way to Helensvale and the Warner Brothers Studio (Movie World Park).

Robyn had given us a couple of maps from Brisbane Transport and I had picked up an updated Gold Coast Cycling Guide at Southport which showed the V1. The V1 is Veloway 1 from Warner Brothers Studio (Movie World) all the way into Brisbane following dedicated cycle ways – some of road, others on-road but dedicated cycle paths.

We managed to get to the start of the V1 relatively easily and picked up the signage for the V1 straight away.  Yeah we could stay off the motorway – actually we had to stay of the motorway as bicyclists are not allowed.

Then the problems started – the first major roundabout, no signs as to where the V1 continued.  We eventually found another sign and we were off again.  We had to go under the motorway to pick up the V1 and again there were no signs as to which way to go.  This continued for the next 22 kms.  We would head off on the cycle way, see the signs and then they would disappear.  At major intersections there were no signs, but if we carried on up the road for a while we would find them again.  Or, discover we were on the wrong road and had to turnaround, it was incredibly frustrating.

We eventually got in to Beenleigh at about 3:30pm.  Beenleigh was supposed to have a caravan park.  No, it closed down 8 years ago.  We found a motel that had no vacancies.  However, the owner did call another motel which was on our route and they had vacancies.  We had to cycle another 5 kms to get to this motel.

We were both getting tired and very frustrated and this is where Ralf came of his bike.  We were trying to negotiate a big roundabout, I was about to set off when a van came onto the roundabout and indicated that he was going to take the next turnoff (after ours).  I stopped and Ralf ran into the back of me, bounced of my panniers and landed on the road in front of the van.  The van driver checked to see if we were o.k. and then carried on his way.  Ralf was annoyed at me because I had stopped, but as always it is the person that does the rear-ending that is at fault, not the person that has been rear-ended.

We stayed at the McNevin motel, it is on the Old Pacific Highway and parallels the new motorway.  It has a restaurant but the food is very expensive, so we ate our emergency rations of freeze-dried chicken masala, yumm.  We are having breakfast here (room service), as we really can’t start cycling without breakfast and we don’t know where the nearest café is for breakfast.

As we are cycling along we often see road-side crosses.  Most of the time it is only one or two a day, sometimes we don\’t see any at all, then occasionally we see something like this.  Five crosses (a memorial) three with the same family name.  It is very sad to see this kind of thing.  This memorial was set up on the Old Pacific Highway.

As we cycled a couple of days ago we counted a total of 12 crosses, but the highest number of crosses counted in one day was in New Zealand on the A1 coming from Ashburton to Christchurch – 16 in one day, very sad.

Wednesday May 7, 2014

A lovely route today, undulating hills following the Tweed Coast Way for the most part.  We are staying at a warm showers tonight and they had emailed us about this route. After leaving Brunswick Heads we found the Old Pacific Highway and followed it for a short while before finding the Tweed Coast Way.  The Tweed Coast Way took us through some more sugar cane fields and rural farmland area, then followed the coastal road for about 45 kms.  The weather was perfect cycling weather and a bit of a tail wind.

They named a beach after my nephew!

We had to join the Highway for a short while into Tweed Heads and it was very busy with lots of interchanges to negotiate.  I came off the Highway at the first opportunity – Tweed Heads South.  Ralf punched the address into the Garmin and as usual I didn’t trust the route.  I popped into a bike shop for directions – he didn’t know the address because it was in Tweed Heads not Tweed Heads South.  So we followed the directions for the Garmin which turned out to be bang on, even taking us through the short cut to our warm showers host’s house.

We arrived just after 1:00 pm, we had some lunch and settled in.  Kevin and Robyn are experienced touring cyclists and have toured extensively in Europe.  They told us about cycling books that we could get while we were in England which had excellent maps and descriptions of the routes.  Definitely pick these books up when we are there.

We exchanged a lot of information about Canada and Europe, as Kevin and Robyn are going to Canada in June for five months.  We had a lovely time with them.

They took us for a drive before dinner and we walked along the coast path and saw Surfers Paradise from Tweed Heads.  I was expecting a Town similar to Byron Bay not a skyline of high-rises.

Tuesday May 6, 2014

A lovely cycling day today, the weather was perfect and we got to see a lot.  Ralf picked up his bike from the bike shop, excellent service from Transition Cycles and Fitness in Ballina. Ralf is happy that there are no rattles and squeaks on his bike.  Mike gave Ralf the part numbers for the new hubs that he still needs to get done and two bike shops in Brisbane to contact.

We followed a quiet route to Lennox Head and watched the surfers.  This has a right hand turn break for surfers – whatever that means.

We walked up to this lookout, it is one of the areas where people launch themselves off the cliff for hang-gliding.  We didn\’t see any gliders, as it was quite windy.

There were some hills today, but nothing major.

We carried on to Byron Bay and Cape Byron which has the worst roads that we have encountered in Australia.  There were major potholes and ribbed roads, we saw one road crew – sitting around.

We cycled up to the lighthouse, then walked the short route to the most easterly point of Australia.

We also took the tour in the lighthouse.  The “character” of this lighthouse flashed every 15 seconds, one further up the coast flashed every 14 seconds!  Each lighthouse has its own distinct ‘flash’ and the coastal charts tell you which lighthouse you are looking at by the seconds it takes to flash.

The lighthouse keepers cottage is now a cafe and Information Centre.

We had lunch in Byron Bay which was quite a nice town but very busy with lots of surfer dudes and shops.  The route of out of Byron Bay had a nice wide cycle path which we followed for quite a way until we had to join the M1.  The motorway allows cyclists at this point, and provides a wide shoulder for us and crossing points.  I am not sure if we will be allowed on the motorway when we get closer to Brisbane, we will have to wait and see.

We stayed at a campsite tonight, the weather was good and it wasn’t too cold.  We chatted to Lonnie (I hope that is the correct spelling) and Michael who were touring cyclists as well, although not touring at this time.  They had cycled through South America, Chile (Patagonia).  We compared notes with what we carried and bikes etc.  I gave Lonnie my free samples of butt butter, and we recommended the Brooks saddles.  They are expensive but are well worth the extra money spent on them to prevent sadddle sores.

Monday May 5, 2014

We had a lovely relaxing breakfast and then headed to the big camping shop we had spotted on the way into Ballina yesterday.  I need a new KFS set (knife, fork, spoon) and we need to replace our dehydrated food supply.

We took Ralf’s bike into the Trek bike store.  Ralf wanted a quote on the cost of replacing the bearings and had noticed that his back wheel had some loose spokes.  Initially, the mechanic (Mike) said he couldn’t get the work done until Wednesday.  Ralf explained that we were leaving tomorrow and only needed reassurance that it would get us to Brisbane.  The back wheel would probably not get us to Brisbane, with the weight Ralf carries on the back.  Mike generously said he would work on the wheel tonight after the shop was closed. The wheel needs a good service and he will grease the bearings to make sure there is no damage on the front wheel. The bike shop in Sydney was supposed to have given Ralf’s wheels a service, but they said they were fine. It will be ready tomorrow morning at 8:00 am.  Ralf has to pick it up before the store opens. What great service.

A very relaxing day today.  Tomorrow will be a short day to Brunswick Heads, stopping in Lennox Head and Byron Bay – the most easterly point in Australia.

Sunday May 4, 2014

This is the start of our last week of cycling in Australia, we should be in Brisbane by weeks end.

Today’s ride was a highway ride and for the most part not too bad.  There were some areas where the shoulder was none existent but on the whole it was quite a nice ride, although quite windy. We were surprised at the amount of trucks that were on the road.  However, I am sure it would have been busier on a week day.

We stopped at a rest stop called New Italy.  This area was founded by Italian immigrants, The New Italy story began in 1880 when farming families from Beneto in Northern Italy were beguiled by the Marquis de Rays to purchase land and homes in the phantom paradise of La Nouvelle France,  (an imaginary kingdom in the Bismark Archipelago). They eventually found themselves in Australia in this area.  Most of the families only lived in this area for about 8 years, but their descendants built this rest area to commemorate their arrival in Australia.

We passed through the Town of Woodburn and had some lunch.  Woodburn has a very large sugar mill.  This area is primarily sugar cane farming.

On arriving in Ballina, we spotted the Big Prawn and headed for the Information Centre.

The lady at the Information Centre was really helpful, calling the caravan parks and a motel for us to check on prices and availability.  There was supposed to be a hostel/backpackers in Town, but unfortunately it is at Lennox Heads – another 12 ks up the road.

We decided to take a rest day in Ballina and Ralf has decided that our rest days should be spent in a comfortable setting.  Motel tonight, although it does have a communal kitchen and television room.  We think this used to be the Youth Hostel, because of the way it is set up.

Ballina is another seaside coastal town, most of the shops were closed, I am sure in the height of the summer they would all be open.  However, we have tomorrow to have a wander around and explore the Town.  We have spotted a couple of bike shops and camping stores.

Saturday May 3, 2014

A lovely ride from Grafton to Maclean.  David had recommended we cycle up to Casino to avoid the highway and see more of the inland area.  We decided to go back towards the coast as I didn’t want to do another 100 km day.  There wasn\’t anywhere in between Grafton and Casino where we could split the distance and stay the night.  We found a road that paralleled the highway all the way into Maclean.  However, by taking this route it means that we will be on the highway all the way to Ballina tomorrow.  I figure that tomorrow being Sunday it may be a quieter road and not so many transports on the road.

The route today followed the Clarence River for the majority of the way.  As it was along the river valley it was a flat ride, very rural with small cattle farms.  We had to stop and take a photo of this massive tree – it is a Fig Tree. We chatted for a while to the farmer and his wife who lived opposite, they called it a Murphy Fig Tree and said you couldn’t eat the fruit.

To give you some perspective of the size of this tree, here is Ralf amongst its root system.  Even though he is a shadow of his former self, he looks like an elf in this picture.

We had to take the ferry across the Clarence River at Lawrence.  After Lawrence the farmland changed from cattle to sugar cane.

We arrived in Maclean at 11:30 half an hour before it rolled up the sidewalk – all the stores close on a Saturday afternoon.  We have noticed this through out Australia that most of the smaller towns close at noon on Saturdays and closed all day on Sundays.  Fortunately the grocery stores are open.  We sat down for a nice lunch at a small café then continued on to the caravan park.  Although the weather was warm, we decided to stay in a cabin again, because it is getting quite chilly at night.  We settled into the cabin and then went for a walk around the Town.

Every power pole in Maclean is painted with the patterns of a different tartan.  Each year at Easter it holds a Highland festival. I assumed that the Town was founded by a Scott.  That was not the case, although a lot of Scottish people lived in the area at the time (1850’s) the original name was Rocky Mouth.  It changed its name after being surveyed by the Surveyor General who was called Alexander Maclean.

Maclean is a lovely Town located on the Clarence River. We both liked the feel of the Town as soon as we arrived.

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.

Thursday May 1, 2014

Once again I was awake early even though we could have had a lie-in.  I had to call the States to speak to someone at Big Agnes regarding our tent.  The tent zip is coming away at the seams and I had sent them an email and photos of the problem.  They are going to send us a new tent body to replace the damaged one, but we have to pay for international shipping. Phone call made, and a new tent is on the way to Mat’s in Brisbane for a cost of about $50.00 instead of $350.00 for a new tent.  Excellent service from Big Agnes.

We had breakfast, packed up our gear and had time to cycle to the break-wall and back to the cabin before check out at 10:00 am.  The break wall is really cool, people can draw, paint or create whatever they want on the boulders. Some of it is really well done.

There was even one who proposed to his girlfriend – I hope she said yes. I even added my artistic signature!

As we left Nambucca Heads we spotted this Bridge Club, we needed to take a photo of ARRG at an Australian Bridge Club.

We only had a short ride today to our warm showers host.  Our route today took us on the highway and at one point we came off the highway and took a scenic route.  Of course the scenic route was hillier.

We had plenty of time to get here as David had an appointment at 2:00 and wouldn’t be back until 4:00.  Even though we took our time, we still got here by 1:30.  David was very gracious and allowed us in to house, while he went to his appointment. David had sent us an email yesterday inviting us for a BBQ dinner, steak, snags and potato bake.  I had to google what snags were –  they are sausages.

Warm showers hosts are awesome and we have been welcomed everywhere we have been.  David and his brother are going to cycle the Great Divide to raise money for Kids for Cancer in June of this year.  I thought he meant the Great Divide in Australia, but no he meant the Great Divide mountain bike ride from Banff, Alberta to Antelope Wells, New Mexico.  Awesome.

We had a great chat to him about his adventure and his training – good luck David, I hope you don’t get eaten by a grizzly.

Wednesday April 30, 2014

I wake up without an alarm clock at about 6:15 am.  Sometimes it is the change in light in the tent that indicates it is morning, mostly I wake up because of the birds singing. This morning the Kookaburras woke me.  It is a great way to wake up so naturally.

This morning as I wandered over to the tree where my bike was leaning against, I noticed a big male kangaroo not 10 feet away watching me. Graeme had warned us about the males, so I kept the tree between me and the roo and carried on loading the bike.  It decided to ignore me and proceeded to graze, but keeping a watchful eye out on me.

Our ride this morning followed the river again only this time it was on the other bank.  Not so many houses for sale on this side.  We joined the highway at the 20 km point and spent the rest of the ride on the highway.  Again the shoulder was variable and coming into Nambucca Heads was the first time in 5,776 kms that a driver deliberately tried to run us off the road.

It was a narrow stretch of highway and no shoulder, the two cars behind us slowed down and the transport behind them honked his highway horn at them and at us.  As he passed us he didn’t move over at all and drove on the white line.  Ralf was behind me and shouted a warning, it was quite scary but fortunately he wasn’t going very fast because the cars in front hadn’t picked up speed.

I had all these thoughts going through my head:

• I wish I could catch up with him open his door and schmuck him in the mouth (because a 5’ nothing 115 lb English woman can take on a big truck driver);
• Give him the finger;
• Waggle my little finger at him to show him what a little prick he was; and,
• A number of other “road rage” things.

Then I realized that here I am cycling around the world, enjoying life and that poor bugger has to work.  It made me feel a lot better to realize how lucky Ralf and I are to be doing this and doing it together.

The funny thing was where this incident happened the Town were in the process of building a cycle lane and not 100 metres down the road we were able to join a perfectly paved cycle lane all the way into the Town of Nambucca Heads.

The people at the Information Centre were once again very helpful and we were able to find a good campsite.  Again this one didn’t have any facilities but the cabin was reasonably priced so we stayed in a cabin, which had a hot plate, microwave, fridge, kettle and toaster.  We needed to do a load of washing, but shortly after we settled in the heavens opened and it rained all afternoon.  We did take a short walk into the Town and got some groceries, but didn’t see much else of the Town because of the rain.

Tomorrow we have a short day to Boambee, another warmshowers host, just outside of Coffs Harbour.  We don’t have to check out of the cabin until 10:00 am.  We can have a lie-in or get up and have a wander around the Town.  There is some kind of sea-wall with art on it, we may see that before we leave.

Tuesday April 29, 2014

We had a lovely ride to South West Rocks this morning.  We left Adam and Colette at about 10:00 and arrived in South West Rocks at around 12:30.

After we left Kempsey we followed the river and floodplain to South West Rocks. We were absolutely amazed at the amount of houses and farms that were for sale along this 25 km stretch of road.  It almost seemed as if every other house or farm was for sale.  Not sure why there were so many for sale.

It made a change to follow a river and see farmland again as opposed to being amongst the trees and bushland.

We had a bit of a headwind and took it in turns, to be in front. For a change Ralf didn’t have the legs today.  He said he was feeling a little run down and couldn’t get the rhythm.

South West Rocks is a small beach town with a really nice Information Centre in an historic maritime building with a museum attached.  We checked out one campsite in the Town but it was too expensive and didn’t have any facilities (no kitchen at all).  We headed out to the Big 4 towards Trial Bay, which was equally as expensive, but as usual with the Big 4s it had a lot of facilities and a kitchen, with BBQs.   It didn\’t have a hot plate, but it did have a toaster and a kettle.

We were set up by 2:00 and took a walk to Trial Bay Gaol and up to the German Monument.  The German monument was built for the German civilians that died at the gaol during the first world war.

The Gaol was used as a gaol in the early 1900’s and then in 1914 as an internment camp for german civilians who deemed “enemies of the state”.  It was really well laid out and very interesting.

The camp site was a really nice bush-site which was very quiet, there were a few mossies around because we were in a wetland area.  We were in bed early (8:00 pm) and asleep by 8:30pm!