Round Australia by bike - Day 012 - Georgetown to Normanton

Day:	012
Date:	Tuesday, 31 July 2007
Accommodation	Motel in Normanton
Summary	Riding from Georgetown to Normanton
Start Time:	1:20am
Finish Time:	3:20pm
Daily Map Kms:	300
Total Map Kms:	3,158
Map Kms To Go:	11,253
Map Kms ahead (+)/ behind (-) schedule:	-192
Daily Odometer Kms:	306.0
Daily Average Speed:	25.43kph
Weather:	Cool at first.  Warm and sunny later.  Light SE/NE winds.
Nutrition:	Big Brekky for breakfast.  Hamburger, chips and yoghurt for dinner.  Various snacks during the day.
Encounters:	A few kangaroos, a few eagles, and herd of wild boar crossing the road in front of me (having been chased by a wild boar on a previous trip, I did plenty of yelling as I approached and they took off into the bush).
Highlights:	The first three hours riding at night under the full moon on a cloudless and windless night was fantastic.  I only saw two other vehicles and no other lights of any description.  It was like I had the whole world to myself.  The silence was palpable.
Lowlights:	Very sleepy most of the day.
Daily Pictures:	Here
Daily Podcasts:	Here & Here
Journal:	I got up at 12:30am and was on the road by 1:20am.  It was cool but pleasant and I made good time on what seemed like my private bike path through the brilliantly moonlit bush.  The countryside was mildly undulating savannah with occasional grazing cattle, which I had to watch out for on the road. Around dawn I suddenly started feeling very sleepy, the product of two nights with little sleep and had to struggle to keep awake as I rode over the last low mountain range and descended into the little outback town of Croydon (148km) at 7:45am.  I found a roadhouse and ordered breakfast and two cups of coffee, and bought some drinks and snacks to see me through to the next town, Normanton (152km), my target for the day. With a full stomach and the day rapidly warming up, I was soon dozing while pedalling again.  The countryside had flattened out with long straight stretches and light traffic, mainly grey nomads towing caravans.  There were occasional partly dry creeks and stock waterholes that attracted a variety of birdlife.  The temperature rose into the high 20s Centigrade and I distracted myself by listening to the ABC’s morning talkback show where the recently announced Queensland local government amalgamations was getting plenty of air time. I broke the trip into 30km sections, stopping briefly at the end of each for a drink and snack, and although it seemed to take forever, I made reasonable time and got to the Normanton junction (7km south of Normanton), Eugen’s next checkpoint, just before 3:00pm.  I then rode into Normanton, checked into a motel 2kms south of town and rode into town to get some dinner and supplies for tomorrow. I’ll leave very early again, and won’t see any settlements until the Burke & Wills Roadhouse (192km) so need to be reasonably self-sufficient.  I’m hoping to continue onto Cloncurry, another 181km, but it will depend on how I feel and whether I have favourable riding conditions.  Apart from the need for sleep today, I don’t feel too bad,  but don’t know how I’ll go doing another long day tomorrow.  I feel I’m near the edge.

Round Australia by bike - Day 011 - Mount Garnet to Georgetown

Day:	011
Date:	Monday, 30 July 2007
Accommodation	Motel in Georgetown
Summary	Riding from Mount Garnet to Georgetown
Start Time:	4:30am
Finish Time:	3:15pm
Daily Map Kms:	213
Total Map Kms:	2,858
Map Kms To Go:	11,553
Map Kms ahead (+)/ behind (-) schedule:	-148
Daily Odometer Kms:	218.7
Daily Average Speed:	24.67
Weather:	Cold at first, but then sunny and very warm.
Nutrition:	For Brunch, a big brekky.  For dinner, fish & chips, salad and yoghurt.
Encounters:	None really
Highlights:	Early morning riding in still conditions by the light of the full moon was spectacular.
Lowlights:	None really.
Daily Pictures:	Here
Daily Podcasts:	Here
Journal:	I set out at the usual time, very tired from yesterday’s ride and with only five hours sleep.  The prospect of 361km to Croydon was quite daunting and my fatigue made it hard to focus. I’m now in road train country (prime-movers with three trailers up to 50 metres in length) and they travel at all hours.  Although I didn’t see that many for the day, I carefully left the roadway each time one appeared when the road was narrow.  Often the sealed section on these outback roads is only wide enough for one vehicle, and the road trains don’t like to leave the sealed surface because it makes the trailers, particularly the third one, unmanageable. I made steady progress in undulating recently volcanic country.  The Undarra Lava Tubes National Park is nearby and volcanic rocks are in evidence.  Otherwise the countryside is lightly timbered with very brown grass and occasional grazing cows. I stopped for a late breakfast around 10am in Mount Surprise (122km) and rethought my strategy, helped by a voice-mail from Dr Jon expressing concern that I wasn’t managing my nutrition very well.  I decided that I needed to start much earlier each day, say soon after midnight, and stop earlier in the day so that I had time to find a bed, get dinner and buy supplies to see me through until the next town.  If I rode into the evening, I couldn’t be as sure of any of these things. So, with that in mind, I rode to Georgetown (213km) and checked into the motel there, bought supplies, had a very early dinner and did a load of washing (my first for the trip, other than the rinse out of cycling gear most nights).  Although this puts me half a day behind my schedule, if I have luck with winds and the bike, I may be able to get the half day back after Mount Isa. It’s nice to be riding in the outback where traffic is light, the weather clear and sunny, and the bush extending as far as the eye can see.  Hopefully I will make it to Normanton tomorrow afternoon (300km).

Round Australia by bike - Day 010 - Ingham to Mount Garnet

Day:	010
Date:	Sunday, 29 July 2007
Accommodation	Motel in Mount Garnet
Summary	Riding from Ingham to Mount Garnet
Start Time:	4:20am
Finish Time:	7:50pm
Daily Map Kms:	282
Total Map Kms:	2,645
Map Kms To Go:	11,766
Map Kms ahead (+)/ behind (-) schedule:	0
Daily Odometer Kms:	286.9
Daily Average Speed:	21.59
Weather:	Cool and foggy early, warm later and mostly sunny.  NE wind.
Nutrition:	Big brekky for breakfast.  Foot long tuna sub for lunch.  Burger and chips for dinner.
Encounters:	Narrowly missed four cows while descending a hill at speed in the dark tonight.  I suddenly realised there was something on the road just before I reached them and managed to steer between before they realised I was coming and bolted.
Highlights:	Although I was exhausted, the last couple of hours cycling through the bush after sunset with the full moon rising behind me and Venus bright in the sky in front of me was magic.  There wasn’t a breath of wind, just the night sounds of the bush.
Lowlights:	The climb over the Great Divide and across the Atherton Tableland was even harder than I anticipated.
Daily Pictures:	Here
Daily Podcasts:	Here
Journal:	I got away at the usual time and encountered quite a lot of fog along the road, but not enough to make it dangerous.  There was a slight headwind that made travel slower, but little traffic.  I saw a number of cane harvesters working by lights. It was a very pretty dawn and I reached Cardwell, which is right on the coast, at just the right time.  There were several people sitting on the beach just watching the sunrise.  I continued onto Tully, encountering a few hills and had breakfast at a roadhouse.  The ladies behind the counter took a shine to me and gave me a few extra sausages they had left over. The day was warming up and I put some sunscreen on, as has become my habit in the last few days, having managed to get burnt earlier on.  There were long straight road stretches through the cane fields and quite a lot of traffic.  Looming on the left were the mountains I knew I was destined to climb in the afternoon. I reached Innisfail, the next checkpoint of my trip at noon and visited the town centre as required by Eugen’s rules.  After some lunch I headed west, away from the coast, to start my trek across the top of Australia.  The road began climbing steadily as the vegetation changed to dense and lush rainforest.  As the road became steeper I paid less attention to the scenery and was soon bathed in sweat.  It seemed that every crest  revealed another climb.  One sign warned of 5km of 12% grade for one section.  Even when I emerged from the rainforest onto the verdant grassed Atherton Tableland, the road continued to climb steeply.  My granny gear got a real work-out, but I didn’t stop until I reached Milaa Milaa around 4pm (54km from the coast) where I had planned to refuel.  Unfortunately, everything was closed until 5pm, so I continued on with only water for nourishment.  To get back on schedule I needed to get to Mount Garnet for the night and had called ahead at lunchtime to book a room.  However, my progress up the mountains had been so slow that Ravenshoe (highest town in Queensland), 45km short of my target was starting to look attractive. However, I decided that if I didn’t get to Mount Garnet, I would never get back on schedule, so decided to continue regardless of the hour.  The heavy climbing and lack of anything to eat or drink apart from water since lunch began to take its toll and I really started to struggle on the hills.  As I passed through Innot Hot Springs, a very small settlement, with about 20km to go, I noticed the small store was just closing and raced in to get a Mars Bar and Coke to revive.  If I could have had it intravenously, it would have been better. I reached Mount Garnet at 7:50pm where they had kept the roadhouse kitchen open for me and got a burger before going to my room.  I have 360km scheduled for tomorrow.  I had been planning to get a really early start, but don’t think I can afford to miss the sleep, given today’s effort, which was physically the hardest so far of the trip.  The bike didn’t seem to get any worse today, so I’m a little more optimistic.

Round Australia by bike - Day 009 - Ayr to Ingham

Day:	009
Date:	Saturday, 28 July 2007
Accommodation	Motel in Ingham
Summary	Riding from Ayr to Ingham with a planned break in Townsville to fit new tyres.
Start Time:	4:20am
Finish Time:	5:30pm
Daily Map Kms:	201
Total Map Kms:	2,363
Map Kms To Go:	12,048
Map Kms ahead (+)/ behind (-) schedule:	-51
Daily Odometer Kms:	210.0
Daily Average Speed:	24.30
Weather:	Mild at first but warm later.  Mostly sunny. SE to NE winds.
Nutrition:	Big Brekky for breakfast.  Vegetable pastie and sausage roll for lunch.  Fish and chips for dinner.
Encounters:	Met three motor bikers (Brad, Ross & Anthony) from the NSW Northern Rivers district on their way to the Kimberley via Cooktown while having breakfast.  They had seen me on the road yesterday and will probably see me again on their way west after they have been to Cooktown.
Highlights:	A somewhat lazy afternoon during which I had two ice-cream stops in the last 100km.
Lowlights:	Taking three hours to change two tyres in Townsville.  Not only were they extremely hard to get onto the wheel (I had been warned), but twice I managed to break the valves on the tubes while reinflating them and had to repeat the whole operation.
Daily Pictures:	Here
Daily Podcasts:	Here
Journal:	An unsatisfactory day in many respects.  It started OK and I reached Townsville as planned a bit before 9:00am and began trying to find the bike shop to which I had sent replacement tyres.  I had a poor map and ended up doing a tour of Townsville before I found the shop.  Then, due to a number of misadventures (see above), it took me until noon to get on the road again. I decided that I could not make it to Cardwell (164km further on) until well after dark, especially since there was a moderate headwind/crosswind, and I was a bit despondent about the tyre changing fiasco.  Also, there were still some minor clicks coming from the front crank and I wasn’t sure how much worse it might get if I didn’t get it looked at before turning west tomorrow (only one small bike shop in next 5,000km).  My mood was low and I decided a relatively easy afternoon that only left me 51km behind schedule was appropriate. Accordingly, I didn’t push it, although a headwind made it a bit tough and I reached Ingham around 5:30pm and checked into a motel.  From Townsville the countryside had changed from dry to quite lush and the late afternoon sunshine on the green fields with a blue backdrop of the Great Dividing Range to the left was very pleasant. Despite treating myself to an easy afternoon, I am quite pessimistic about my chances now.  I think I may be able to manage it physically, but am starting to worry that bike problems and my lack of mechanical knowledge and ability could be a show-stopper.  Nevertheless, I have resolved not to look for a bike shop before turning west (it would cost me at least a day) and, by tomorrow night, should have crossed the Great Divide and be well into the arid outback.  Fingers crossed the bike holds together.

Round Australia by bike - Day 008 - Mackay to Ayr

Day:	008
Date:	Friday, 27 July 2007
Accommodation	Motel in Ayr
Summary	Riding from Mackay to Ayr
Start Time:	4:20am
Finish Time:	5:40pm
Daily Map Kms:	306
Total Map Kms:	2,162
Map Kms To Go:	12,249
Map Kms ahead (+)/ behind (-) schedule:	0
Daily Odometer Kms:	302.1
Daily Average Speed:	26.68
Weather:	Mild at first but warm later.  Partly cloudy with ESE winds
Nutrition:	Big Brekky for breakfast.  Toasted ham, cheese and tomato sandwiches for lunch.  McDonalds Chicken Caeser Roll and Milkshake for dinner.
Encounters:	None really.
Highlights:	Finishing……again!
Lowlights:	The last 50km was quite a grind.
Daily Pictures:	Here
Daily Podcasts:	Here & Here
Journal:	I set out determinedly, knowing it was going to be a long day even if I didn’t waste time.  Even at 4:30am there was a fair bit of traffic on the road and I saw one cane field being harvested using lights, as I left town. It’s hard to tell in the dark, but the road definitely seemed to be gradually climbing as I headed north.  Being dark, I couldn’t check my speed to confirm the slow pace.  However, the temperature fell and I could start to make out the dark shapes of surrounding mountains.  It was cloudy so there were no stars visible. As dawn broke I was riding through a high valley used for cattle and cane fields and surrounded by forested craggy peaks with wisps of fog cladding some of their slopes.  The road had levelled out a bit and I was now making good time with an occasional following breeze. After about 90km I found a roadhouse and had a quick breakfast before resuming the ride.  The road was now back near sea level and was crossing a vast plain mostly cultivated in sugar cane with high mountains visible to the left and right.  Those to the right were quite possibly some of the islands in the Whitsunday group as I was now close to Proserpine where the turnoff to Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays was to the right. I continued on, trying to maintain a good pace, as the countryside became more arid, with the plan of finding some lunch in Bowen (191km).  As I approached Bowen the ocean came into view again in the distance, although the whole area was not particularly attractive, with arid plains covered with bushes and occasional scraggy trees.  The highway bypassed the town of Bowen and I decided to do likewise.  I also decided to give the roadhouse near the junction a miss as it didn’t look too promising for a lunch selection and kept pedalling.  Of course, I didn’t find anything else for another 35km by which time I was tired and hungry. I was still making good time, but didn’t relish the 70km I still had to go when I finished lunch.  The road comprised long straight stretches through arid plains with occasional grazing Brahmin cattle.  My speed was still OK but I had had enough and was getting very sleepy.  I found another roadhouse with 25km to go and stopped an ice-cream and coffee milk to revive me. I reached Ayr as it was getting dark and easily found the motel where I had booked a room on the road into town. The bike has started developing some minor clicks in the front chainring/crank, which may or may not be a problem.  I have arranged to collect the tyres I had mailed ahead from a bike shop in Townsville first thing tomorrow morning, but they don’t have a mechanic on Saturdays.  I’ll do a web search to see if there are other bike shops I can try.  If I can’t do anything tomorrow, then I’ll keep riding and make a judgment about whether I need to detour into Cairns in the hope of getting someone to look at it first thing on Monday.  This would put me a day behind schedule.

Round Australia by bike - Day 007 - Marlborough to Mackay

Day:	007
Date:	Thursday, 26 July 2007
Accommodation	Motel in Mackay
Summary	Riding from Marlborough to Mackay
Start Time:	4:20am
Finish Time:	3:40pm
Daily Map Kms:	229
Total Map Kms:	1,856
Map Kms To Go:	12,555
Map Kms ahead (+)/ behind (-) schedule:	0
Daily Odometer Kms:	234.4
Daily Average Speed:	25.48
Weather:	Mild temperatures, partly cloudy, ESE breeze.
Nutrition:	Big Brekky for breakfast.  Two pies and a large coffee milk for lunch.  Asian food bar, milkshake and rice dessert for tea.
Encounters:	Nearly met a truck head-on when I zoned out following the white line at the left of the road and looked up to see a truck approaching at high speed on my side of the road as he overtook another.  Missed me by about two feet.
Highlights:	Fabulous early hours on the road with clear starry sky, very little traffic and then a barely perceptible dawning of the day with very low thin head-high mists across the plains.
Lowlights:	General lack of focus and mental fatigue.
Daily Pictures:	Here
Daily Podcasts:	Here & Here
Journal:	I headed out at the usual time (gear still wet again when I put it on), but with no real sustenance because of the lack of available shopping the night before (I usually try to have a large coffee milk and a muesli bar or similar before hitting the road).  I enjoyed the early riding (see above), but after a few hours was getting quite hungry and hadn’t seen any signs of roadhouses or much else by the road.  The countryside was either forest or grazing land with low hills around.  I had hoped there would be a roadhouse at a major intersection but there was nothing.  I thought I might have to ride all of the way to Sarina (192km) before getting something to eat, but then I found a pleasant little roadhouse around 8:15am and enjoyed breakfast sitting outside on their verandah. My schedule for the day only called for getting to Mackay (229km), but I thought I might continue on for a further 55km to a campground.  However, as the morning wore on, I felt very fatigued and not particularly focussed.  I kept pedalling but found it very tedious, and decided that Mackay with an early night would be fine. The ride to Sarina was punctuated with two pleasant surprises which helped pass the time.  Firstly, I came around a corner near a place called Clearview and there was the ocean, translucent, blue and calm (inside the Great Barrier Reef here), stretching out to some low mountainous islands far offshore.  The second bit of luck was a strategically placed home-made ice-cream shop where I enjoyed a waffle cone with scoops of mango and cranberry ice-cream sitting out on their verandah…..superb. I had lunch at another roadhouse and stopped for a vanilla slice in Sarina before a fast last 37km to Mackay with a nice following breeze and smooth road surface with sugar cane fields towering on either side of the road. Mackay is a big city with lots of motels on the road into town, all with “No Vacancy” signs, even at 3:30pm in the afternoon.  I began to think I might have to ride the extra 55km after all, but then found a motel near the centre of town and a big shopping mall and got a room. After a shower I wandered across to the mall, already feeling like an alien in the real world, especially with my nice bike tan (my white hands at the end of my now-bronzed forearms creating a nice effect!).  I bought dinner in the food court there and headed back to the motel looking forward to a very early night.  Tomorrow is scheduled to be a long day (306km) and I hope I wake up a little more motivated than today.

Round Australia by bike - Day 006 - Miriam Vale to Marlborough

Day:	006
Date:	Wednesday, 25 July 2007
Accommodation	Motel in Marlborough
Summary	Riding from Miriam Vale to Marlborough
Start Time:	4:20am
Finish Time:	5:15pm
Daily Map Kms:	276
Total Map Kms:	1,627
Map Kms To Go:	12,784
Map Kms ahead (+)/ behind (-) schedule:	0
Daily Odometer Kms:	277.3
Daily Average Speed:	26.13kph
Weather:	Mild temperatures, partly cloudy with mostly easterly winds.
Nutrition:	Big Brekky for breakfast, foot long tuna sub for lunch and barramundi, chips and salad for dinner.
Encounters:	Chatted with a truck driver while having breakfast.  He does a run from Brisbane to Rockhampton and return and had seen me labouring up a hill yesterday afternoon.  Like me, he is an ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission) listener and said he occasionally phones Macca, who has a famous national Sunday morning program focussing on the Australian bush.  I got the impression he may call Macca this Sunday about our encounter (but I may have misunderstood).
Highlights:	Finishing in daylight.
Lowlights:	Putting on my still very wet knicks, top and socks at 3:30am as I prepared for the day’s riding.  I had washed them out the previous night but couldn’t come up with a good way of drying them (always a problem).
Daily Pictures:	Here
Daily Podcasts:	Here & Here
Journal:	I had a good start to the day, with mainly flat roads, not too much traffic and an occasionally following wind.  I rode 95km without stopping to Mt Larcom where I had the Big Brekky and chatted with a truck driver enjoying the same. After that the road became very busy as it was the only route between two sizeable and growing cities, Gladstone and Rockhampton.  There was often no room to cycle to the side and I felt trucks pass very close on several occasions.  In the worst instance, a semi-trailer carrying an oversize load came up behind me as a truck came the other way.  The former sounded his horn and I headed for the bush (gravel, actually) and just managed to stay vertical. There were more signs of civilization with several new housing developments seemingly stuck in the middle of nowhere.  The road also paralleled a railway track which carried plenty of traffic including some very long coal trains heading for the port at Gladstone (which I didn’t visit as it was off the right some kilometres away).  The scenery was a mix of grazing land and lightly timbered forest.  Everything seemed very brown and dry, despite most creeks carrying some water. My route passed through the busy Rockhampton and I got some lunch at a Subway there before heading off for my last 105km leg to Marlborough.  The traffic was noticeably lighter and had large flat sections through pastoral country interspersed with occasional lightly-timbered low mountain ranges.  In the distance were higher mountains in most directions and it looked like it was raining on some. I reached the only motel in Marlborough where I had booked the last available room by phone earlier in the day.  It’s my most luxurious room yet, though not very expensive.  There’s no take-out food nearby, so I planned to eat in the motel restaurant.  However, the cook never turned up and one of the owners cooked me a meal instead, which was nice of them. Wireless reception is not too good in Marlborough so my aerial is earning its keep tonight, the first time I have needed it. All in all, it was a satisfying day in that I covered plenty of kilometres without feeling as tired as yesterday.  I feel that my legs are stronger in the afternoon but I still lack sufficient sleep.  Given where the towns are, it looks like a shorter day tomorrow and hopefully a long sleep tomorrow night.

Round Australia by bike - Day 005 - Gympie to Miriam Vale

Day:	005
Date:	Tuesday, 24 July 2007
Accommodation	Cheap motel ($35!) in Miriam Vale
Summary	Riding from Gympie to Miriam Vale
Start Time:	4:15am
Finish Time:	6:20pm
Daily Map Kms:	299
Total Map Kms:	1,351
Map Kms To Go:	13,060
Map Kms ahead (+)/ behind (-) schedule:	0
Daily Odometer Kms:	299.3
Daily Average Speed:	24.87
Weather:	Rain at first, partly cloudy later with mild temperatures.
Nutrition:	Big brekky for breakfast.  Pie and pastie for lunch.  Burger with the lot, chips and ice-cream for dinner.
Encounters:	None really.
Highlights:	Finishing for the day
Lowlights:	Starting out in the dark and rain.
Daily Pictures:	Here
Daily Podcasts:	Here & Here
Journal:	I imagine I will have plenty of more days like today.  Fourteen hours of riding with a couple of short breaks in the only towns I passed through, interspersed with long road sections through mainly arid forest. I’m still not getting enough sleep, but survived the day OK, although I did a lot of dreaming about spending the rest of my retirement lying on a couch watching the midday movie and being served with lime milkshakes.  When I wasn’t dreaming about that, I was reassuring myself that I will never have to do anything like this again.  Sounds good! Given the terrain, which was undulating to hilly all day, I don’t think I can ride 300km faster than I did today.  You just can’t maintain a high average speed when you encounter long hills every few kilometres that slow you to 15kph or less.  I have learned to hate the sign that says “Overtaking Lane Ahead” because it almost always means you are about to start climbing again. \ The scenery was quite pleasant, with the arid forest giving way every now and then to agricultural or grazing land.  I saw vineyards and banana, pineapple and sugar cane plantations.  In the distance to the left, and from higher elevations, I could generally see high mountain ranges.  The towns were small and authentic country towns although the tourism industry is obviously also important. Although I am eating plenty of junk food, I am also consuming about 3 litres of flavoured milk a day plus plenty of fruit juice, and actually feel pretty healthy for someone burning so much energy. I toyed with the idea of getting the bike serviced in Rockhampton, which I pass through tomorrow, but have decided that it seems to be OK and I am keeping a close eye on it.  This means it won’t get a service until Karratha, some 6,000km further on, although I will change the tyres in Townsville on the coming weekend.

Round Australia by bike - Day 004 - Burleigh Heads to Gympie

Day:	004
Date:	23 July 2007
Accommodation	Onsite caravan in Gympie
Summary	Riding from Burleigh Heads to Gympie
Start Time:	4:15am
Finish Time:	6:15pm
Daily Map Kms:	257
Total Map Kms:	1,052
Map Kms To Go:	13,359
Map Kms ahead (+)/ behind (-) schedule:	0
Daily Odometer Kms:	290.2
Daily Average Speed:	25.72
Weather:	Mild temperatures, partly cloudy with a few light showers.
Nutrition:	McDonalds for breakfast, two pies for lunch and noodles and an ice-cream for dinner.
Encounters:	As I rode along a bike path next to some small bushy trees, there was a sudden flurry in one and I got hit by a beak just in front of my right ear!
Highlights:	Cresting a big hill in the last of a beautiful sunset and seeing the lights of Gympie in the distance.
Lowlights:	So many to choose from!  Losing my way many times as I tried to negotiate Brisbane.  Stopping for innumerable traffic lights and map checks.  Getting wet multiple times by showers not quite long enough to justify stopping to put a raincoat on.  Finding out the scheduled distance assumed you could ride on freeways, and you could not (my mistake).  Arriving late again.  Finding all motels in Gympie were booked out.  Getting an onsite van at the campground and finding out the hot water was only lukewarm.
Daily Pictures:	Here
Daily Podcasts:	Here & here & here & here
Journal:	I thought it might be a tedious day and it was.  I left as usual before dawn, and enjoyed the initial few kilometres riding through the quiet streets of Surfers Paradise.  However, I soon encountered my first obstacle when following a sign to Brisbane and then found myself on a freeway with a ‘No Bicycles” sign.  I turned off and looked for alternatives, buying a map in an early morning service station.  Even with a map it was hard to work out how to get to Brisbane without going on a freeway.  I just muddled along, stopping frequently to map read and occasionally having to backtrack.  Progress was slow and it took me nearly six hours to travel the supposed 100km to central Brisbane. I found my way across the Storey Bridge, the first of Eugen Schilter’s checkpoints that I must pass, at 10am, dicing with multi-lane fast moving traffic that really got the adrenalin pumping.  I headed north out of Brisbane following signs to the Sunshine Coast, which worked fine for about 15km when the road suddenly turned into a freeway with another “No Bicycles” sign.  I had to start reading the map again and it was difficult to know many times which road to take. I reached the spectacular Glasshouse Mountains area where these small vertical and rocky mountains jut out of the forested countryside, and passed Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo.  From there it wasn’t obvious which way I should go to get to Gympie without returning to the freeway.  I decided on a winding back road on the map but, just before the turn-off, went into a store for a drink and ice-cream and discussed my plans with the lady behind the counter.  She said the road would be a very tough ride and that I would be better to go via the Sunshine Coast, even though it was longer.  My mood plummeted and I recognised that I would probably not reach my goal of Gympie for the night, which was already looking difficult before the latest news.  I had to cross the freeway on my way to the Coast and I was desperately hoping there was no “No Bicycles” sign.  As I followed the signs to Gympie onto the freeway I anxiously scanned every sign, but didn’t find any prohibitions.  My spirits soared.  It was still 90km to go, but I averaged around 33kph and made it in less than three hours, despite a number of solid climbs.  With 30km to go I was getting very tired and desperate to finish.  As usual, I just kept pedalling and I eventually got to central Gympie around 6pm. I couldn’t find a motel with any vacancies (it was now quite dark) and eventually ended up with an onsite van in a caravan park.  Unfortunately, it was some distance from any shops and after checking in, I had to ride off to find some dinner, making it an even later night. Despite only five hours sleep last night, I managed the day OK, but would welcome and early night tomorrow (probably only five hours again tonight).  However, I have a 299km target, although if the road is good and wind is favourable I could be OK.  I feel like I am operating at my limit, especially with the diary, etc., taking more than an hour each night.  However, that was always going to be part of the experience for me, so I’ll persevere for the time being. On the positive side, I didn’t have any bike problems today, and don’t have any significant sore spots, apart from occasionally painful toes.

Round Australia by bike - Day 003 - Woolgoolga to Burleigh Heads

Day:	003
Date:	22 July 2007
Accommodation	Motel in Burleigh Heads
Summary	Riding from Woolgoolga to Burleigh Heads
Start Time:	4:20am
Finish Time:	6:20pm
Daily Map Kms:	299
Total Map Kms:	795
Map Kms To Go:	13,616
Map Kms ahead (+)/ behind (-) schedule:	+13
Daily Odometer Kms:	301
Daily Average Speed:	26.25kph
Weather:	Very cold early, but mild later.  Partly cloudy all day.  Moderate SE wind.
Nutrition:	Big brekky for breakfast.  Salad sandwiches and a lime thickshake for lunch.  Pizza and yoghurt for dinner.
Encounters:	Saw a kangaroo and a family of emus near the road during the morning.  Met a car coming the wrong way up a freeway exit as I crossed it.  I waved furiously at the driver and he realised his mistake.
Highlights:	Pleasant riding through sugar cane fields along the banks of the mighty Clarence River in the morning sunshine.
Lowlights:	Some more gear and light problems in the pre-dawn and freezing darkness at the start of the day’s ride.  Very low motivation around lunchtime in a bleak windswept Ballina with plenty of hilly riding ahead.
Daily Pictures:	Here
Daily Podcasts:	Here & Here & here & here & here & here
Journal:	Today was a day of big mood swings.  After getting away as planned by 4:20am in mild conditions my optimism for the day soon fell foul of more front chainring problems as I climbed a mountain range heading for Grafton.  I found myself fiddling around trying to work out what was happening in the dark, and then couldn’t get my headlights going again for some time when I resumed riding.  To top it off, as I descended the northern side of the mountain range, the temperature dropped precipitously and I went from being hot from the climb to shivering with frozen toes in 10 kilometres.  The delays and hills meant I reached Grafton (56km) 30 minutes later than expected and I decided to have breakfast there and warm up rather than waiting to Maclean (98km) as planned.  I found a roadhouse, ordered the big brekky, and sat there shivering and reading in the local paper about the 75th Anniversary celebrations for the bridge across the Clarence River that were being held this weekend (I saw no evidence).  After the big brekky, I had another look at the front chain-ring and found that there was some lateral free play in the crankshaft, something that has happened several times before on this bike.  I tightened things up and didn’t have any more problems for the day. I left Grafton and followed the large and lazy Clarence River downstream through grazing and sugar cane country, passing many dilapidated old farmhouses and sheds.  The sun came out and my mood improved looking at the pleasant scenery.  After crossing the Clarence after Maclean the route stayed mostly flat and continued through forest country to Ballina.  As I neared Ballina, the winds grew stronger and were occasionally against me.  It also got cooler and I began to regret taking off my rain jacket.  I reached Ballina (191km) about 12:30pm and wasted time riding around the town looking for a sandwich place where I could sit inside. After lunch I headed north out of town and immediately began encountering some significant hills.  To make it more difficult, the traffic was heavy, and I was feeling very tired.  I began questioning what I was doing and began to doubt my ability to finish.  A “silver lining” was the great views obtained from the higher elevations and I could see the ocean, which didn’t look very inviting, in the distance off to the right.  I finally reached a look-out and the end of the big hills and after a rapid descent got onto a freeway which took me, together with a nice following wind, all the way to the Tweed Heads and the Queensland border (284km) in good time, arriving around 5:00pm.  My mood lifted and I began to ponder whether to try for central Brisbane, 100km away, if I was allowed to ride on the freeways in Queensland.  I found the freeway and began riding along it but soon encountered a “No Bicycles” sign and had to exit.  I then wound my way down to the beach and enjoyed a fabulous sunset with views all the way north along the beach to the towers of Surfers Paradise, 20km away. I decided to look for a motel with food nearby and after several failed attempts and some wasted time, found a place at Burleigh Heads at 6:20pm. It was a tough day as I expected to have more frequently in the first five days.  Hopefully it will help build my strength to more comfortably cope with such long days down the track.  Apparently it is not easy to find your way north to Brisbane from here on a bike, so I could be in for some fun and games tomorrow morning as I try to beat the peak hour traffic.

Round Australia by bike - Day 002 - Taree to Woolgoolga

Day:	002
Date:	Saturday, 21 July 2007
Accommodation	Motel in Woolgoolga
Summary	Riding from Taree to Woolgoolga
Start Time:	4:15am
Finish Time:	4:00pm
Daily Map Kms:	268
Total Map Kms:	496
Map Kms To Go:	13,915
Map Kms ahead (+)/ behind (-) schedule:	+25
Daily Odometer Kms:	257.4
Daily Average Speed:	26.3kph
Weather:	Mostly overcast with occasional sun.  Maximum temperature around 15C.  Mostly tailwind with some crosswinds.
Nutrition:	McDonalds for breakfast (again!), salad roll and lime milkshake (a beauty) for lunch and a hamburger with the lot plus chips for dinner.
Encounters:	None really.
Highlights:	Would probably have to be the tailwind.  My guess is that it’s worth 2 to 3 kph over neutral conditions.
Lowlights:	Problems with my front chain ring which meant it was difficult to get my top gears a lot of the time.  However, I did some minor tinkering at lunchtime (I’m no mechanic) and it seemed to work the rest of the day.
Daily Pictures:
Daily Podcasts:	Here & here & here & here & here & here & here & here
Journal:	I got up at 3:30am and was away by 4:15am, riding out through a very quiet and dark Taree.  The roads were wet but there was no rain.  I had an alternating tail- and cross-wind and made good time.  My twin headlights working well and giving me plenty of light.  Traffic was light and I could see occasional stars. I had planned to stop for a cooked breakfast at Kew (51km)  but there was no café open as I passed through around 6:00am.  I decided to continue on as day gradually dawned and I thought of my Terrigal Trotters friends heading out for their regular 6:00am Saturday run. Around 7:30am I reached the Port Macquarie turn-off where there is a large service centre and decided to get breakfast at the McDonalds rather than ride another two hours to Kempsey.  The traffic was building but the roads were good and I enjoyed riding through the forested low hills. Every so often all day the road crossed very big rivers flowing from the nearby Great Divide to the ocean through large flat floodplains predominantly grazed by dairy cattle.  Most rivers had a town where the road crossed.  Between the river valleys were low mountain ranges so I frequently had some climbing to do. I stopped for a quick break at Kempsey (127km), then continued on Macksville (181km) where I had an early lunch outside a café overlooking the Nambucca River.  Very pleasant with the sun shining.  The day was going well and I was making good time with only 58km to go to Coffs Harbour, my target for the day. From Macksville to Coffs Harbour I travelled along one of Australia’s most notorious stretches of road where there is two-way traffic and the road winds through a small mountain range.  There are many accidents along this stretch and little room for cyclists on the edges.  It was busy and the hills were occasionally tough, though mercifully short and I passed through without incident except for being hit by an empty plastic drink bottle thrown from a passing car.  No damage done. Approaching Coffs I passed the forests and mountains where Sharon and I had ridden in the MTB Marathon events just three weeks ago.  I was pleased not to be as tired as I was at the end of that 100km race! In Coffs I stopped for a caramel slice (another of my many culinary weaknesses) and drink at a bakery around 2:30pm.  I was still feeling quite good and could probably have made it to Grafton, 81km further on, by nightfall, but decided to aim for Woolgoolga 25km away.  That would enable me to have dinner watching the NZ vs Australia rugby game scheduled for 5:30pm, and still put me a little ahead of schedule. En route to Woolgoolga I encountered a police roadblock and diversion because of an accident further up the highway.  One of the cheery policemen couldn’t tell me how much extra the detour would add, but said he expected the road to be open in 10-15 minutes so I chose to wait.  He was right and I continued on.  The road must have been blocked for awhile because the oncoming traffic was banked up for many kilometres. I reached Woolgoolga at 4:00pm, found another cheap motel ($49), showered and got a burger from the adjacent service station and watched the rugby while doing my chores. It has been a good day and I’m not nearly as tired or sore as I expected to be on Day 2, and pleased that I’m a little ahead of schedule.  However, I know that I’m enjoying the best of cycling conditions with a tailwind most of the time, good road surfaces and not too many big hills.  Also, I’m still doing less than the required average of 270km per day.  Tomorrow will be a bigger test as I want to get close to the south of Brisbane, meaning about 320km of riding, so that I can get through Brisbane before peak hour on Monday morning. I also have another challenge looming in that I want to get to Townsville next Friday morning rather than the currently-scheduled Saturday morning, so that I can get my bike serviced and put new tyres on (mailed ahead) at the last real bike shop on my route for 5,000km.  To get there, I may have to put in a “super day” some time next week.

Round Australia by bike - Day 001 - Gosford to Taree

Day:	001
Date:	Friday, 20 July 2007
Accommodation	Cheap motel in Taree, NSW
Summary	Riding from Gosford to Taree
Start Time:	5:00am
Finish Time:	3:20pm
Daily Map Kms:	228
Total Map Kms:	228
Map Kms To Go:	14,183
Daily Odometer Kms:	244 (It’s not that inaccurate, so my map kms must have been miscalculated. The NRMA’s website says the distance is 240.3km).
Daily Average Speed:	27.2kph
Weather:	Mostly heavily overcast and cool with occasional light showers and a nice tailwind for most of the day.
Nutrition:	Muesli for breakfast, second breakfast at McDonalds, lunch of two pies and a lime milkshake, and dinner of noodles and a rice dessert.
Encounters:	It was very interesting to meet Eugen Schilter, the current holder of the record for riding around Australia.  What can you say about a guy who left Sydney at 2am, carrying a farewell banner, to ride 80kms, some of it along a very dark and winding mountain road, to see me off.  And then rode back again after riding the first 12km with me!
Highlights:	Being farewelled at 5am on a very cold, windy and pitch dark morning by my friends on the Central Coast.
Lowlights:	Getting very tired very quickly when I hit some hills after lunch at Bulahdelah.
Daily Pictures:	Here
Daily Podcasts:	Here & here
Journal:	All of the preparation meant that, for the second night in a row, I didn’t get much sleep, so I was already feeling tired when I left the apartment to cycle the two kilometres to Adcock Park in Gosford, my “official” departure point.  I had immediate problems when I couldn’t get my twin generator-fed headlights to work then, for no apparent reason, they began working.  I think maybe they need the power to run for a while before they light up. At Adcock Park it was gratifying to see so many of my friends had made the effort to get up so early to see me off (I hope they have reason to come back in 53 days!).  Eugen Schilter joined me for the first 12km before he returned to Sydney and I turned northwards on the F3 Freeway.  It was dark, cool and there was a lot of commuter traffic.  I rode along in the freeway breakdown lane (you’re allowed to do that in NSW and some other States) wondering what on earth I had committed myself to.  One positive was that there was a nice following wind, so I was making good time despite a reasonably heavily-laden bike. I reached Hexham (87km), north of Newcastle, the furthest north I had ventured on my day training rides from home at 8:30am, and crossed the Hunter River and entered new cycling territory.  I find it much more stimulating riding in places I haven’t been before.  Shortly after I stopped for a second breakfast at McDonalds at Raymond Terrace. From there, it was a very easy run to Bulahdelah (171km) with a tailwind along mostly freeway that was relatively flat.  There was less traffic and more scenery – mainly forests, nearby hills and the occasional large river.  No obvious drought around here.  I reached Bulahdelah at noon and stopped at a café for lunch.  I sat outside and soon realised how cold the day was when you are not pedalling.  Given that I was making good time, I began thinking about going further today than originally planned, but soon was reconsidering when I hit the first long hill of the trip and the quads suddenly felt very heavy.  A few more similar hills and I decided that Taree, my scheduled destination would be just fine.  I expect it will take me four or five days to build some of the strength I need if I’m to stick to schedule, but was a bit disappointed at how quickly I tired. I suspect tomorrow could be tough. I reached Taree at 3:20pm and found a cheap ($50) Fawlty Towers-like motel (really a hotel) in the centre of town (I prefer the centre so I can walk to wherever I need for shopping).  After a quick shower I walked into town wearing my cycling long pants and fluoro top, attracting more than a few stares in the main street, but it was too cold to wear the shorts I have.  I had an early dinner in the hope of getting at least 7 hours sleep and an early start, after finishing my diary and other chores.  I experimented with my digital voice recorder, talking while cycling, but haven’t had a chance to check the quality for podcasts, etc., yet.