Paul's Touring Blog

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More catching up

I’m caught up to Day 46 58 and our arrival in Sydney. More coming and only 18 6 more days to document. Also, I’ve added this blog to the Table of Contents (There’s also a link in the right panel). Should make it easier to find where you last left off.

Some stats from the trip. I’ll include these in the final post, too:
4,200km, 2,600 miles, 110,000 ft of climbing, 20 days camping, 18 days with Warmshowers hosts, 12 days in motels, 14 others, days with friends or friends of friends (2 of those on the Spirit of Tasmania ferry).

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A good rest, clean clothes, filling breakfast, great conversations; Kerry & Laurie had us all prepared for the day ahead. As Laurie didn’t have to sub today, they also showed us their album of photos from their trip to India — amazing photos and stories to go along with them, especially about the families they met and stayed with. While we wanted to stay and talk more, we did need to get on the road, so we said our thanks and good-byes, and left closer to our “regular” leaving time of 9ish.

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Up early, packed up damp, and got on the bikes at 7 and into town to Blueberries Smoothies and Health bar for coffee and breakfast before our 70ish mile ride to Ballina. Projected temps today were going to be in the 80s, so another reason to get out early. The coffee was a good start, and after a stop at the public restrooms on the way out, we bid Maclean “Taing” (Thanks) and “Slat gun robh ur dhiobrgainn” (Straight be your path)!

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Mixed bag night for me. I started the night off on a loveseat to avoid unpacking my sleeping pad and get to bed faster, but it proved pretty uncomfortable. Half way through the night I put the cushions on the floor and that proved a much better sleeping spot. Dana had a good night in the hammock and we got right to packing up and making breakfast, snapping some daylight pics of the camp spot, and talking with Tom some more. We have a 105+ km (65+ mile) ride in front of us to our next stop in Maclean.

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In the morning, we got to meet Amy’s & Harry’s three adorably cute children, Ferg, Ada, & Edith! We shared breakfast with them while they readied themselves for the day. Ferg was soon to be off to school, and Ada stayed and entertained us with songs and stories while Amy took Ferg to school. Edith isn’t quite there yet as she’s just about 5 months old, but we can imagine she’ll be just as animated and smart.

We hung our clothes out on the line to soak up what the sun could muster and I worked on the bikes, cleaning and lubing them and trying to find the source of the noise in my drivetrain. It was totally quiet — so no idea why it was acting up yesterday.

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We looked at the weather and weren’t exactly thrilled. Quite a number of bands of rain coming and one pretty strong one had come through already. Kristie made us coffee and breakfast and we continued our chats of the night before. Gary had left for work early. We packed the bikes up and waited for a clearing.

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A short storm last night, but the tent stayed firmly on the ground, we stayed dry, and woke up to a sunny Sunday morning. Thanks to the wind & sun, the tent was dry by the time we packed up (and returned the screw stakes to our neighbor!). A short riding day today 31km (19 miles), so Dana used the lack of urgency to get on the bikes to go for a run on the beach. I took the packed bikes to the common kitchen area and worked on the blog.

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Ahhh. Nice dry everything and a place to make coffee and breakfast. We got packed up and on the road a little bit earlier today than our normal start of 9, and 110+ km (70+ miles) and 3000′ of climbing ahead of us today and it was going to be a hot one. We added a little tour of Forster on the way out of town and were treated to a pretty nice trail and wide shoulders for the first part of the morning as we went through Forster’s sister city of Tuncurry.

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One of the good things about the power coming back on last night: we could make coffee in the room. All the hotels (and many of the campgrounds) we’ve visited have coffee, but it’s instant. Good for the caffeine fix, but less satisfying taste and texture wise. Still, the sun was shining and the coffee along with breakfast of yogurt and granola got us going. I put the tent out in the sunshine for one last drying session, and we repacked everything that was scattered around the room — all fully dry now.

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The best way to start a day on a tour — having had a good rest, and having a good breakfast. Having a good breakfast served by a wonderful host is the best. We had them all today, and coffee, of course. We caught Sam just before he left for work, and Tess for school, and El laid out a breakfast spread for us, replete with Vegamite (a very little bit goes a long way!). El and Sam, it turns out, aren’t touring cyclists, but do commute. It’s El’s parents who are the bike tourers and I jotted down their route from the Brisbane area to Newcastle that El told us they used. It included a river crossing where you had to wait for a boat to come along and flag them down for a [possible] ferry across. Dana continued the chat with El while I packed up the tent and clothes.