April 9 - to Currumbin

Today was a great day of cycling.  It was not a short easy day.  It was a 109 kilometer day with over 600 meters of climbing. Most of the climbing was done as we ascended to the Byron Point Lighthouse.  It is the eastern most point of Australia.  It was a tough climb up to the point but well worth it.  Awesome views of Byron Bay and out into the Pacific Ocean.

    The Byron Bay Lighthouse...

    View from the lighthouse out into the Pacific Ocean.

    Sign leading out to one of the beaches along the biking route.  Notice the warnings for stingers and sharks... 😳

    Major surfing point of Johnson Bay.  Killer waves kept wiping out even the most experienced ones.

    The person on the left was fishing for worms.  As the tide came in he would swirl his bag of dead fish around in the water.  The worms would be tricked and come out of their holes.  He would grab them.  They could be over a  foot long.  Hmmmm, let them eat worms???

And as the journey comes to a close...

Over 1,450 miles pedaled across the eastern edge of Australia.  It was a beautiful experience that seems to have gone by in light speed.  So many places seen, so many experiences had and what a wonderful set of memories.  My Australian hosts, Janice and Simon, did an unbelievable job putting together a trip of a lifetime.  

Thank you, Janice and Simon.

    Hoisting the bike overhead celebration at the beach at Gold Coast....

What next?!

April 8 - to Lennoxhead

Today was the second last day of the tour.  It was just over 100 kilometers with less than 1,000 meters of climbing.   We left camp last out in a small paceline.  We set a pretty fast pace and quickly began passing the other riders.  Several of the riders joined on and we grew the line to eight.  

    A cute sign we came across just out of camp.

We traveled at a brisk pace until we came to a break stop at an aboriginal museum.  We saw these kangaroos just as we exited to road to the museum.

    Kangaroos have become a common sight with almost daily multiple sightings.

We had a great coffee/Coke stop but the aboriginal museum was virtually no more.  It had ironically been supplanted by the Italian heritage museum.  Once again the aborigines have been pushed out by the Western Europeans. 🙁

While we were partaking of Coke/coffee and muffins at a cute little cafe, the skies opened and it began to rain.  We tried to delay our resumption of the ride as long as possible.  But finally headed out into the rain.  It has been really quite nice in that during the trip we have ridden in the rain only a couple of times.  

Further along the ride we came across the worlds largest prawn.  You can certainly see that we are into seafood country now.

We rode and we rode with a crisp pace along beautiful scenery until we came to the town of Lennoxhead.  We were about a couple of kilometers from the camp when we came across a little place that had pizza and beer.  Pizza and beer we said...  What a way to end the day of hard cycling.  So we booked another day by hoisting a couple (maybe more ☺️) pints with a couple of pizzas.

A good day!

April 7 - Rest Day

Today was a great rest day.  We went on a nature walk trail that took us to a secluded point and beach.  The trail was through a tropical rainforest that emptied out onto a cliff.

    The cliff and the little gap we had to climb through to get to the beach.

The trail was a beautiful flavoring of what the Australian rainforests are like.

The trees and vines were all growing together.  There is an unusual tree that starts growing in the branches of another tree and then grows around the original tree.  It is called the Strangler Fig.

    Strangler Figs start off using the tree as a support to get their stability.  Then as they grow around their host tree, they completely encase it and eventually kill it.

 So much for peaceful nature...

Once we got to the beach it was gorgeous.

    The water was peculiarly devoid of swimmers.

    The waves crashed in on the point for a beautiful site.

  There was nary a soul on or in the water.  That was because the lady on the ferry warned us of a particular issue with the waters in this area.  The issue is called SHARKS!  There are a ton of them in the water.  The locals know not to go in the water.  They monitor tagged shark activity in the area.  She says that tracked on large shark who passed in and out of the breakwaters eight times hunting.  Probably looking for a wayward cyclist who thought the water was enticing.  Not this cyclists...  😳

The round trip walk that was supposed to be just a short stretch of the legs turned into almost a 5 mile hike.  And it was a rest day!

Well after such a fine stroll through nature, a fresh lunch of fish and chips at the local fishery, a nap was well needed.

The rest of the rest day was dedicated to you know what... Rest!

Tomorrow begins the last stage of two days for the trip.

April 6 - to Ilucka

Today was the kind of biking days that you should do when you are on a vacation. 😊  

We rode for only 66 kilometers and had only 78 meters of climbing.  Can you believe that, only 78 meters of climbing.  That tells you we are riding along at sea level.  It was such a pleasant ride coasting along and taking in the scenery.  We rode we stopped, we rode we stopped and on and on the day went.

We stopped at coffee shops and bakeries and pubs and anywhere that there was refreshments to be had.  What a wonderful change to our regular endurance agenda.  We saw an even more unique set of flora and fauna than the previous days.  

    This is a big fig tree.  It is massive with a root system that spreads across the ground.  

    Here is the little general store in Lawrence, New South Wales.  We descended upon the little store and it was like Christmas to the owner.  He instantly had a rush of customers and for the first time a que waiting to be checked out.  I got a bacon and cheese sausage roll and a Coke.  It was massive, over a foot long.  We caught a ferry in Lawrence across the river.  

Our next stop was the town of Maclean.  It was a very quaint Scottish heritage town.  The utility poles were all painted with the tartan colors of various Scottish clans.  It was really neat to see the colors and clans.  I got a blueberry muffin at a small bakery that was so good.  It melted in your mouth.  Of course with a Coke...  And then at the next town,Yamba, we stopped at a pastry shop and I got a meat pie, it was chicken and bacon and cheese.   Fabulous!  And of course a Coke!  With all the eating and the light side of distance riding, I became concerned that the input was seriously outweighing the output.  In other words, for the first time I was eating more than I was expending, a first for this trip.  😳

And of course we were treated to a welcome site...

    The ocean awaited us at Yamba.  What a beautiful site to see.  😄

    Here is a different site.  A swimming pool on the beach built into and out of the rocks.

We are having a rest day in Iluka, a ferry ride from Yamba.

We are in the home stretch and will be riding the coast for the last two days of the trip.

April 5 - to Grafton

Today we rode up and finally over the Great Dividing Range.  It was a 130 kilometer day with 1,500 meters of climbing.  But the good part of it was ....  there was 2,600 meters of descent!  Yes, massive downhills.

We started the day in a long paceline.  It was a fairly easy start to the day with a noticeably warmer feel.  We just had daylight savings time kick in this past weekend.  That meant the sun was up higher in the sky at start time.  So much better...  We rode in a well defined peloton for about 10k.  Then we came upon several downhills.  Being back in the peloton meant maintaining restraint and staying in line.  After the first couple of downhills, I could no longer restrain myself.  When I saw a good downhill approaching I veered out of the line and then accelerated.  I took the descent on with full vigor.  That descent and the next one and the next one, etc...  I didn't see the rest of the group for over 60k at the lunch stop.  😄   There were plenty of hills interspersed between the downhills but I took them on with full attack as well.  This was to be the last day of the trip with significant hills to fly down.  So I let the little kid in me out to play.

On one of the downhills I did have a close encounter not of the third kind but of the truck kind.  I was descending at a good clip (well over 50kph) when a logging truck came barreling down behind me.  He was hell bent on passing me even though conditions were not good for him to accomplish this.  As he was passing me a car came around the upcoming switchback turn.  The truck began moving over to make room for the oncoming car.  The problem was that I occupied that space.  At one point his tires were less than a foot from my handlebars.  There was no place for me to go.  I had to hold on to my line for dear life and hope the road would not deteriorate and hold true.  Thank god that it did or I would not be here typing this in.  Very close call...

    As you can see the road drops off quickly at its edge...

Another complicating factor on the downhills:

The face of the stray cattle that were on the road just wandering around.  Could you imagine hitting this at 50-60kph?

We finished the day arriving in Grafton after dropping 2,000 meters of elevation. It was a great day and we have dramatically changed our scenery from the beginning to the end of today.  What a day and what a difference.

    Sunset as seen from our campsite.

    The pub where we had dinner tonight.

Tomorrow we descend a bit further and will be at the ocean!  Can't wait...

April 4 - to Ebor

Today was the first day after the rest day and it was a good one.  Originally the day was to be 109 kilometers with over 2,000 meters of climbing.  But our hosts made the decision to cut out the off-road section that looped through a national park.  That made the day a 79 kilometer day with 1,600 meters of climbing.  Thank goodness they did...  more on this in a bit.

The day started with the fall chill in the air again.  A little crisp as we set out.  But it was manageable.  The road was a bit of rolling hills through grassland at first.

As the day went on we climbed up to the top of the Great Dividing Range.  The topography and landscape dramatically changed.  It went from grassland to deep forest.  

We had our lunch stop just along the Dingo Fence.  What is the Dingo Fence you ask?!  It is a dog proof fence that runs for thousands of kilometers dividing the east from the west along the Great Dividing Range.  It is to keep the wild dogs from invading the grazing lands of the sheep and cattle.  It was originally constructed in the 1890's.  It has been maintained ever since.

    This is the Dingo Fence with a "cattle guard" on the main road.  This cattle guard has a wider gap between steel rails to keep the wild dogs from crossing.

The wild dogs will pack up and take down a full grown cow.

Towards the end of the day we detoured to see the falls at Ebor.  The road we rode today is known as the Waterfall Highway.  It was a beautiful set of falls.

After the falls we met up at a pub for our transportation.  What we did today was ride to Ebor then shuttle bus back to Armidale for the night.  In the morning we will then bus back to the end place for today's ride to commence the day.  There really is very little in Ebor and this worked so much better.

Now back to the story of the national park with which I started this posting.  The ride to the national park was to be a roughly 30k round trip on gravel with a good deal of climbing.  But the benefit of the ride was to be stunning views that you could see for miles and miles.  But as I said earlier, we decided to forego this ride.  We did take the bus through the national park and up to the lookout.  This is what we saw:

    The lookout point was shrouded in clouds and you couldn't see 100 meters.  Thank goodness we didn't cycle 30k on gravel, up hills to see nothing.  Good call by our hosts...  😄

April 3 - Rest Day (and what a rest day it was!)

Today was a FABULOUS day!

A rest day was on the agenda and a rest day it was.  I started the day with a short bike ride up to Armidale (I know, a bike ride on a rest day does not a rest day make).  But it was short with a wondrous objective at its end...  a big brekky (breakfast for the non Aussies).  I ate at the Two Goats Cafe.  And contrary to the last cafe I had brekky at, they even opened early.  I was their first customer for the day.  I had two glorious eggs, sunnyside up on toast with a mound of bacon and just to make up for lost brekkys, a stack of buttermilk pancakes!  And of course smothered in maple syrup...  (Montana Mike, I thought of you when we would make a break and head for a Waffle House on our cross country ride). The smothered in maple syrup took a bit of doing.  They first brought a little dipper of syrup and I told the waitress, that really won't do it, please bring another.  "No Worries" was her response.  That is a common saying around here.  But that was only the first of three requests I made for syrup and the first of three "No Worries".  I told you they were smothered in maple syrup. ☺️

After brekky I found a bike shop open on Sunday, yes a bike shop open on a Sunday!  I got a couple of things sorted out on my bike and referred the happy news of the bike shop back to camp.

Then I found the local farmers market, what a treat.  It was a great flavor of the local community.  There was a lady playing the harp in the center and booths of all kinds in a circle.

    You can see my bike resting its weery wheels...

From there I found the town center and explored a bit more.

    Beautiful old architecture in the town center. 

 

Then I visited one of my newly found riding buddy in the hospital.  He had a bit of a brush with danger but has come out the good side of it.  And his brush shed light for all of us on what each day should mean... everything!!!  Take it as it is, the present or a gift.

Then back to camp for a nap.  Yes a wonderful, fantastic, well deserved nap.  I slept so hard I woke myself up snoring... 😴

Then after nap time it was,  POOL TIME!

Ahhhhh, what a relaxing way to spend a day.

This evening we are having beer, pizza and movie night.  We are going to see the Australian movie, The Castle.  We have been told that now we have experienced the bush and a bit of the outback and Australian culture, we will appreciate this quintessential Australian movie.  Here's to Australia!

And lastly, a motto for everyday...

April 2 - to Armidale

Today was a much better day than yesterday.  Of course anything would have been a better day than yesterday.  A medieval day on the wrack could have been better than yesterday.  😳

But we are talking about today aren't we.  It was a bright and glorious day.  Sun was shining, temps a bit chilly to start but it warmed up fairly quickly.  The mornings air had a different feel to it.  It had a crispness that brought thoughts of fall to mind.  It is kind of strange to be from the northern hemisphere and think of fall in April.  But it is beginning to be fall here.  You can feel it and today we saw some trees who are starting to paint their leaves with the colors of fall, yellows and reds.  

We came upon a church that is known for its ivy covering and explosion of color in fall.

It has been very dry so the colors aren't as vibrant as usual.  But it was idyllic none the less.  There was a rustling of leaves that were being blown about by the wind.  Another wonderful sound of fall.

    Yellow leaves from the trees covered the ground and danced about as the wind picked them up.

The little church was part of an expansive ranch back in the day.  We had our lunch stop right on the grounds of the church.  A local stopped and asked if we wanted to know some of the history of the area.  He told us the sheep ranch was originally a 60,000 acre spread that had over 60,000 head of sheep.  That would be about 100 square mile property.  There is the largest sheep shearing station in Australia located on the grounds.

    The sheep shearing station was a marvel of innovation.  The man said ranches would come from over two days ride just to see it.  It was designed to take advantage of the natural light.  The man talked about the ledger of the property and how it was like a history book.  He said as you read it a whole story would unfold.  You could do a whole miniseries on this property alone from its origins to present day.  He mentioned on entry back in the late 1800's where it references a 250 pound reward for a sheep stealer.  That amount of money back in that times was a huge sum.  His talk was so interesting.

The area we rode through was definitely more arid than most we have seen.  

It still had the look of grassland but much drier with sparse trees.  

The roads we were on today consisted of mostly gravel again.  But not the heavy corrugation as in yesterday.  The wind came up early in the ride with sustained 25 knots.  Gusts came at a much stronger push.  They varied between headwind and cross wind.  The headwind was tough,  the crosswind troubling.  The dry feel of the land and the strong sustained winds brought reminiscent thoughts of west Texas.  Yes, even with the strong headwinds; today was so much better than yesterday.

    Road sign alerting to the potential of koala bears on the road.???

But all in all, it was a great day.   Tomorrow is a well deserved rest day.  One with which I will take full benefit.

One parting though...  As I think back on the day and all that it was; and all that I am experiencing.  That I have been riding through Australia soaking up all its richness and beauty.  And that I have the company of some really great people and the benefits of the hard work of my hosts.  I can only reach one conclusion... I am a very lucky man!

And thank you for coming along with me on my journey.  

April 1 - to Walcha

The best description for today was one from my Australian host when describing something that is not good.  Today was a dog's breakfast.  Meaning it was a very rough day.  

It was not a bad day in scenery or landscape terms.  It was a monster of a day and it was rough.  The day was 109 kilometers with 1,600 meters of climbing.  Nothing really too bad at first glance.  But the devil was in the details.  

We started off with a 5 kilometer climb up Hanging Rock.  

    The view from Hanging Rock lookout.

It is one of the top 3 cycling climbs in Australia.  It really wasn't so bad even though it was an 18%+ type climb.  It was on pavement.  The real trials for the day were after the legs were worn out with Hanging Rock.  We hit the dirt.  And it wasn't just dirt.  It was almost 50 kilometers of soul crushing corrugation that was enough to make a grown man weep.  It was relentless and it was constant hills...  

I went down once when the front wheel hit loose gravel.  The next thing I knew, my forearm hit the gravel and bloodied and my hip sprung a new crop of bruises.  But back on the bike and on with the exuberance of gravel biking. 😠 

It was a painful, exhausting day.  The best and probably only positive thing I can say is ...  today will make all the other days look very good. 

And that is all I can say about today.  It is over and I am exhausted.  So sleep I shall go and dream of softer, easier days.  😴