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!

Monday April 28, 2014

We left Port Macquarie early as the forecast was for more rain.  It was a lovely sunny morning and quite warm.  We joined the Princes Highway and realized that this section of the highway was built and designed by a New Zealander !! Cycling along on a nice shoulder and we came to a bridge and they take the shoulder away.  Same thing happens when the road is widened to two-lanes, they take the shoulder away.  We found this all the time in NZ, but had not come across it in Australia before now.

One of the things we have been disappointed in is the amount of garbage along the road side, especially glass. We saw a garbage bin today.  It was located in the most oddest of places.  At the top of a hill with absolutely nowhere to be able stop to use it.  It had a large sign above it which said “Please dispose of your rubbish responsibly”.  Ralf and I could not stop laughing.

It rained briefly on the way to Kempsey and we didn\’t take any photos.

We arrived in Kempsey at about 12:30.  We are staying at a warm showers again tonight. Adam and Colette have recently opened a bike shop in Kempsey and it looks awesome. We had lunch and a wander around Kempsey then went back to the shop. We had a lovely evening with them, chatting about their new venture and our trip.

Sunday April 27, 2014

It was a lovely sunrise this morning.

We stopped at this lookout and spotted this storm cloud, I am not sure this photo really shows the depth of the storm cell, but it was a long way out and we figured it would stay behind us.

The road was undulating for the first part and then became hillier as we got into the outskirts of Port Macquarie and even hillier when we got into Port Macquarie.  Next week-end they are holding an Ironman competition in this area.  Those guys are nuts!  It starts with a 2 or 3km swim followed by a 185 km bike ride followed by a full marathon road race.  I will stick to my round the world bicycle trip a much saner thing to do.

This area must be the area for “Big Things”.  We passed the big bowling ball today, but didn’t stop to take a photo as I thought it was just to advertise the lawn bowling club.  I only found out that it was another “Big Thing” when I googled the “Big Axe”.  I will have to pay more attention to the “Big things”.

We arrived in Port Macquarie at around 10:30 and sat down for a second breakfast.  We knew we had about 40 ks to go to get to Kempsey and needed the extra energy:)  As we sat down to eat, the storm cell that we had taken a photo of earlier arrived in Port Macquarie and the heavens opened.  It poured and continued to pour for the next hour.  As I have said before Ralf and I are not made of sugar, but we really don’t like riding in the rain and this was straight down soaking rain.  We sat it out for a bit and then decided that Port Macquarie looked to be a nice place to stay for the night and we booked into a YHA.

Saturday April 26, 2014

We stayed last night in a lovely motel in Taree (Chatham Motel) it was clean and the owner was really helpful.

We left the motel at 8:30 and headed out of Taree to the A1 (motorway).  Australia like Canada has a variety of “Big Things” – road side attractions!  We have posted a few of them like the Giant Lobster in Kingston.  As we were leaving Taree we came across the Big Oyster.  We presumed it was a restaurant prior to becoming a car dealership.

Motorway cycling is the same as motorway driving – fairly boring but quick.  The road had an excellent full-lane for a shoulder which was surprisingly clear of debris.  We cycled the first 45 kms on the highway and then came of at a small Town called Kew.  The people at the Information Centre were very helpful with maps and directions.  But didn’t tell us why there was a ruddy great axe outside of their Information Centre.    Even after “googling” it we are still none the wiser why there is a Big Axe located there. Except it is another one of those “Big” roadside attractions.

We stopped for lunch at a little café and then continued on the scenic route to Bonny Hills.  The problem with the scenic routes are that they are generally narrower roads and the shoulders are variable.  Sometimes the car drivers are considerate and other times they are not.

Ralf and I have often discussed why there aren’t more bike lanes across bridges.  Today we found one, I headed for it, Ralf stayed on the road muttering something like I will never fit.  I got to a point of no return and realized that I couldn’t actually pedal on the bike lane because of the two barriers that protected me from falling into the river on one side and falling into traffic on the other side.  I also could not get off my bike to push it as there was not enough room.  I had to get off my seat and waddle across straddling my bike.  How ridiculous, but even more serious, this pathway is not even big enough for mobility scooters and they have to go on the road.

In Bonny Hills we found this lovely campsite at the top of a hill.  It is reasonably priced and very clean.  We arrived just after 12:15 pm, we could have continued to Port MacQuarrie – another 25 ks, but it is nice to finish early and get some washing done and  on the line etc.  We have great views of the sea and this afternoon we can relax a little.

We chatted for a while to a lovely lady called Carol.  Her grandson Oscar joined us and when she told him what we were doing he asked “Why?”  What a great question, Carol answered – “Because they can.” – Great answer.

Later Carol tried to show me a pod of dolphins, but it was getting dark and I couldn\’t see a thing.

Friday April 25, 2014

I was not really sure why we choose to stay in a motel last night, but thank goodness we did.

We were woken at 3:30 am by hail stones bouncing on the roof of the motel and the cars outside of our door.  Ralf opened the door and hail stones the size of a baseball (cricket ball) came bouncing into the room.  It was a storm that I haven’t seen in years, thunder, lightening and hail stones, it lasted for over half an hour.

Out of the cars in the car park 3 out of the 4 were damaged by the hail.  Most of them had damage to the windshields and/or dents to the roofs of the car.  If we had stayed in the tent, it would have been wrecked.  Maybe all yesterdays issues happened for a reason – if we hadn\’t arrived late in Bulahdelah at the time we did, we would have been in our tent through this storm.

At 5:30am the alarm went of and Ralf and I went over to the cenotaph.  The roads were covered in tree debris and I was surprised to see quite a crowd waiting for the service.  It was a very simple service to commemorate the ANZAC’s landing in Gallipoli.

As the service started it was dark and by the time it finished it was light.  The service was very moving and sincere. The Town’s population is approximately 900 people there were over 150 people at the cenotaph from a babe in arms to the veterans of the second world war.

The Pledge was read by the RSL President:

“To make peace the noble cause for which our comrades dies, we dedicate ourselves.  We believe that war between members of the human race is an evil thing.  We believe that all Nations should work together to secure a better and nobler life for all the world, to try and act on these beliefs”.

Ralf took these two photos in Upper Hutt in New Zealand.  I thought the sentiment and the statue was awesome.  We Will Remember Them.

This is the explanation of the statue.  I hope you can read it.

Friday April 25, 2014

Bulahdelah to Taree

After the service we went back to the room and prepared to leave.  Once again the heavens opened and the forecast for the day was rain and thunderstorms – a severe weather warning was issued for the Hunter area for the day.  We had to decide whether to stay or go, our neighbour in the room next door offered us a lift to Taree.  If we stayed we would have to spend another night in the motel, if we left we would have to spend a night in a motel.  After a discussion and check on the map to see if we would miss anything spectacular on the way we choose to take the lift.

We are now in Taree waiting for the rain to go away and we will carry on to Port MacQuarrie tomorrow.

The Blog is up to date 🙂

Thursday April 24, 2014

Up early and away by 8:00 am to catch the ferry from Nelsons Bay to Tea Gardens.  It was a lovely ride to Nelsons Bay, fairly flat then a couple of hills to get into Nelson Bay.  The temperature at 9:00 was 19 degrees and sunny.  Today was fraught with problems.

Problem number one – no directions at all to the ferry.  We eventually found it and tried to get on the next ferry at 10:15 – was not allowed on this ferry as it is too small to take the bicycles.  The next ferry was at 11:15. We had a two hour wait.

I was chatting to a couple of older guys who I told you see so much from a bike.  Not sure how I missed seeing this coming into Port Stephens.

This is Dutchmans Bay next to Nelson\’s Bay.

Problem number two – everything had to be removed from the bikes and the bikes had to be lifted on to the roof of the boat!! The little green boat is the same kind of boat that we had to lift our bikes on to.

When we got to Tea Garden we headed out towards the Myall Lake National Park.  It was a lovely ride all the way to the next ferry from Bombah Point.

When we crossed the lake on the cable ferry, we carried on the Bombah Point Road towards Bulahdelah, it was a rough gravel road.

Problem number three – 16kms of gravel road really tough on the hands.

Due to our delayed start we got into Bulahdelah at 4:00.  It gets darks by 5:30 now. There didn’t appear to be any camp sites here, so we opted for a motel. We also opted to go to the local pub for dinner.  On our way back we passed the RSL Hall – which had an ANZAC display.  We went in and looked at the display.  A group of volunteers had put together a display of local families that had served at Gallipoli and other wars.  We also found out the dawn service is at 6:00 am at the cenotaph.  The cenotaph is almost next door to the motel.  I plan on getting up early to go to the service.

I wanted to be in a small town to commemorate ANZAC day and I don’t think I could have picked a better town.

Wednesday April 23, 2014

After saying our thank-yous and farewells to Sue and Graeme we headed towards Stockton and Anna Bay.

We discovered there is a ferry from Nelson Bay, we can stay away from the busy Princes Highway for another day, although we still have to get around Newcastle and Stockton.  It seemed to take us forever to get to Stockton and pass the loading docks for the coal and over the bridge on to the more scenic route to Nelsons Bay.

Stockton has a port where Newcastle coal is loaded.  It is a huge port area and there were at least 6 ocean going tanker ships waiting to be loaded.  We thought it quite ironic that this lonely wind turbine – promoting green energy – stood in front of mountains of coal.

Once we were over the bridge at Stockton, we were in a more rural setting with bushland and some small farming areas.  We also passed a large airbase where fighter jets were landing.

We had a quick lunch in Williamstown and carried on towards Anna Bay.  You could buy your own castle here.

There are major road works happening in this area – 4-laning the road from Bob’s Farm to Anna Bay and Nelsons Bay.  The traffic was a bit busy but most cars passed us with some space.

We arrived in Anna Bay to discover there was only a caravan park with no tent sites available.  We were told there was a camping site about 1 km away at One Mile Beach.

We are staying at One Mile Beach at an expensive site with lots of amenities for kids and families and there seems to be hundreds of the little rugrats all over the place.  At the moment they are fairly quiet, hopefully they stay that way.  One of the reasons this place is so popular with families, is this very safe beach just over the dunes from where we were staying.