DAY 124 - 11TH AUGUST 2013 - RATHDOWNEY TO BRISBANE & THEN SAMFORD

Day 124 – 11 August 2013 – Rathdowney to Brisbane & then Samford

Cycling Stats: 140

Cycling Average:   Again – no recording, because of course today is all about a fun group ride

Well this is it – last day for Walter in his quest to ride around Australia – and he’s just about done it and more fun and excitement as more cyclists are arriving for today’s ride and among them one of our sons, Sebastian. Unfortunately Samuel couldn’t come but will however meet Walter & the group at Samford.

Today Dominic, a Samford Velo cyclist is head support crew. Sadly Dom had a fall a few weeks back and has some cracked ribs so is unable to cycle. The group left and we agreed to meet at Jimboomba around 50kms away for a coffee at Maccas. The first part of the ride was along a fairly quiet stretch of the highway but as we drew closer to Beaudesert (30kms from Rathdowney) the volume of traffic increased significantly. The closer we drew to Brisbane the busier it became on the road.  I stopped 20 kms past Jimboomba and Sebastian joined me in the van for the final sector into Brisbane. It was so busy after the quietness of the country roads we had been on for the past months.

The estimated arrival time in Samford was 2.30pm so I had time to go home first so I did & to met up with Samuel and had a bite of lunch. We had some friends who wanted to meet Walter in Samford which was truly wonderful and I was texting them to let them know the ETA. I left home earlier as I know how fast these guys can cycle especially in a group and yes I saw them at Ferny Grove which is about 10kms outside of Samford and they would arrive around 15 minutes earlier than 2.30pm.  Walter told me that he really enjoyed the fact that his cycling friends had come out to join him for the last few days. He was humbled that they had made the effort to do this and is very grateful to them and the lovely friends who came to John Scott Park to meet us.

Walter was visibly very elated when I saw him ride in – what an achievement. The day didn’t end here. Some of the cyclists and some friends & our boys went for afternoon tea in Samford In the evening we were overwhelmed by the wonderful warm support of the dinner that had been organized to celebrate our return. And celebrate we did !!! Thank you to Dom and Wendy for organizing this & all the Samford folk who came – it was a wonderful welcome home for us !! It was a huge day, huge emotions and the completion of a dream for Walter and for us together an amazing experience which has brought us closer together, as together we have shared an experience of a lifetime. We are also very excited that our fundraising campaign for Alzheimer’s Australia Dementia Research Foundation has been so successful – that is very very gratifying – hopefully the funds raised will make a difference to those suffering from this cruel disease. We thank you all who have donated to the cause – your generosity & kind words of support have been so wonderful to read whilst we were on the road.

Evert, we have dedicated this ride to you and know you would be so very pleased by this and by what has been achieved in these last four months. And that your beloved wife Andrea was able to share part of this epic journey with us from Broome to Perth. Dianna, my niece I also thank – I so much enjoyed your cheerful company on the Katherine to Broome sector.

And now the hard part - to say goodbye to all those who have read my thoughts (sometimes a bit loopy, I know) through this blog. I hope that you have been able to experience and see and feel the beauty and enormity of Australia through my words and photos.  I can honestly say its been a life changing adventure.

Last part is to give you Walter’s amazing cycling statistics for the entire cycling trip around Australia:

Total kilometers cycled:  13,428 kms

Total riding days: 81 days

Average distance cycled per day:  165.78 kms

Average speed overall:  29.5 kms per hour

At Rathdowney and ready for the final day's ride

The peloton at work 

At Park Ridge and traffic volume is increasing

Last day for me too in the trusty campervan - thanks for the photo Gill

Sheer elation on arriving at Samford and the end of the 13,428 kms cycle around Australia - well done Walter

Lovely smiling faces welcomed us home !!!

Thank you Samford for the warm welcome back !!

Good fun !!

Walter spoke of the highlights of our trip, the people we had met and thanked all for their support

Lots of stories to share

Thank you Samford and cake & a kiss - a great ending to our adventure

DAY 123 - 10TH AUGUST 2013 - KYOGLE TO RATHDOWNEY

Day 123 – 10 August 2013 – Kyogle to Rathdowney

Cycling Stats: 85

Cycling Average: no idea – its all about fun today !!

Another beautiful day and we had plenty of time as another cyclist was arriving this morning. Mark had decided to take the train from Brisbane to Kyogle and was set to arrive at 9.28am. As the ride is not a long one the guys would wait for Mark’s train and set off together from the train station.

We all packed up and there was lots of checking of bikes, air to tyres, water bottles to be filled and energy bars to hand out to the guys – Walter has a huge stash of these with him. I could see that there was excitement in the air as today’s ride is a special one which will include the famous very scenic Lions Road – built by local Lions Clubs. It is a very narrow, very winding road with a large number of the most picturesque old one lane rattley timber bridges over beautiful flowing creeks and rivers and flanked all round by the most beautiful mountains. This road is not suitable for caravans but the trusty campervan was right in its element and seemed to love zipping up and around the corners and dancing albeit a bit noisily over the timber bridges. The timbers moved and rumbled, sometimes a little scarily, as I drove over them.

I could tell the guys were really enjoying the day. The first part of the Lions Road had quite a rough surface as I think it was being prepared for a new surface.  Luckily this wasn’t more than a few kilometers. We were all keeping our eyes peeled for a B & B sign as Kurt had, a few years back popped in to this B & B and the friendly owners had provided coffee and home made baked treats and he was keen for us to experience their hospitality and friendly banter.

At last we spotted the sign – everyone was well and truly hanging out for coffee and Hugh makes a great coffee – each one made individually to your liking and we all sure did like !!! The brownies, ginger cake and small cakes were great too.

Walter looked worried and this was because I had noticed quite a squealing noise in one of the wheels as I drove up the driveway. I couldn’t believe it - I asked Greg (the others had all gone up the stairs to the B & B) if he could have a look and you wouldn’t believe it - Greg is a mechanic – what amazing luck and what a coincidence that he was the one I had called out to. Hugh does all his own maintenance work on his cars so they took off together to investigate. Luck again – a stone had become wedged in one of the wheels and was hitting metal as the wheel rotated as the car was being driven.  With the removal of the stone the noise was gone. Thank goodness it wasn’t anything serious. Walter looked relieved as there had been some talk about worn brake pads and we were far away from a place where brake pads could be bought !!!

We all met up at The Lions Road sign and then also drove to The Border Ranges Lookout for a photo. It is here that you can see the train line which to pass over the ranges is constructed as a climbing loop on the New South Wales side of the border. The road is a challenging ride with many long steep climbs and very steep descents and motor cyclists love it and there were quite a few out there on this fine Saturday. We arrived at Rathdowney and met back up with Gill – she had driven the Mt Lindsey Highway as she is towing a caravan so was unable to take the Lions Road route.

Gill and I and of course Sooty her delightful little dog who is a bit of a character set off for a walk up to the look-out and around a few back streets and the main street – this part is a very short walk as Rathdowney only has its hotel, a butcher shop up the road and an Information Centre which sells some local arts & crafts. I commented to the elderly lady at the centre that the crocheted items were beautiful and she told me that the lady who does them is going blind and so she won’t be getting many more items in the future. That was really sad I thought as you could see they had been made with great care and love (that may sound a bit strange but that’s how they looked to me.)

Dinner that evening at the Rathdowney Pub was good.  This was our last night of sleeping in our van – we couldn’t believe that tomorrow would be our last day on the road. Exciting and sad at the same time. The freedom of our nomadic four month adventure ends tomorrow !!!

These 5 are really looking forward to today's ride

Perfect pellaton

Amazing scenery

So very green & lush

Lovely cycling road

Beautiful creek crossings

Some amazing descents

Loving The Lions Road

DAY 122 - 9 AUGUST 2013 - KYOGLE - REST DAY

Day 122 – 9 August 2013 – Kyogle – rest day

Today was a rest day and probably the restiest rest day we have had to date, as we had no plans but to sit in the peaceful setting of Kyogle Showground’s Camping Ground.

The wind had dropped over night and the clear blue sky and warm sun was ideal for sitting and watching the rally car participants arrive and check out the brightly painted high-powered cars. Walter enjoyed a stroll around and he told me that there were various categories / classes of the cars based on whether they were AWD / 4 Wheel Drive and of course the size of the engine and the age of the car People were enjoying catching up with other car owners and sharing stories about their obvious pride and joy rally cars. Walter spent quite some time cruising around the campgrounds telling his story about cycling around Australia and later we saw how generous these people had been as around $250 had been added to our donations bucket.

A large crane came to see to the big spotlights that would light up the Showgrounds for the evenings time trial 1 on 1 rally car competitions. A coffee van set up which we were pretty excited about. The guy was setting up his bed for the night a fold up bed that looked like a massage table and he told me a swag goes over the top. I said if the coffee was good we would be back. He told me his coffee is very very good and yes it was very good.

It was wonderful to see Steve & Gill again and Greg & Kurt, also cycling friends had travelled with them to do the last 2 days of the ride with Walter. Lots of catching up to do and lots of stories about our travels to share. It was certainly wonderful to see some friendly familiar faces and there was lots of laughter and joking about Greg & Kurt sharing the tent and the air mattress we had with us.

Late afternoon and we went over to see all the rally cars and hear the introductions of the crews who would be driving them. There were quite a few father and son combinations and one of the boys was only 16 and as this is an off road sport this is possible. Lovely comaradie and fun and passion for their cars made this all an interesting spectacle – something I hadn’t ever seen and I must say it was very entertaining.

Then it was time to head off to town for our dinner booking at Earth Bistro – the company, food and wine was all very enjoyable. Definitely a great rest day.

The rally cars and lots of activity to watch as we sit in this beautiful location

The lights being readied

All the cars begin to assemble

The action begins

Fantastic to see friendly familiar faces

DAY 121 - 8TH AUGUST 2013 - CASINO TO KYOGLE

Day 121 – 8 August 2013 – Casino to Kyogle

Cycling Stats:  35 kms

Cycling Average:  km per hour – Walter said don’t worry about it so I won’t….

Change of plan – We took a walk down to Casino last night and had dinner and Walter said he would rather leave tomorrow and cycle the short distance to Kyogle.

When I asked him how the ride went Walter said he enjoyed a lovely leisurely ride through predominantly the flat countryside.

On this short journey to Kyogle we travelled along a nicely named road called Summerland Way.  This provides a nice lead for me to mention some of the more interesting and memorable names of some of the places we visited during our 4 month around Australia trip. In no particular order I find these most noteworthy:

‘Useless Loop’ – a road in the mining town of Tom Price in WA (apparently it is aptly named)

‘Nameless Mountain’ – also in Tom Price

‘The Angry Lost Sock’ – a laundry in Harvey in The Margaret River (one of my favourites)

‘Ticklebelly Hill’ in Cleve

‘Tingle All Over Motel’ – in southern WA and a reference to the enormous Tingle Tree which grows here and nowhere else in the world

‘Lunatic Motel’ - in Drake New South Wales

We arrived here in Kyogle and it is a pleasant town flanked by mountains and we settled into The Showgrounds camping ground. It will be busy here over the weekend as there is a big event on – The Border Ranges Rally – ‘A rally for Classics and modern AWDs’. Tomorrow night there will be cars and we will see some action because according to the flyer ‘crews compete head to head around the oval’ at the Showgrounds so a bit of action to look forward to. We are experiencing some quite gusty westerly winds here and hopefully this will die down as the tent room is being blown about something fierce.

We met the manager of The Kyogle Visitors Centre, Malcolm, a very friendly man and he offered Walter an opportunity to take the microphone tomorrow evening to talk about our trip to the Rally crews & spectators, which could assist our fundraising. Malcolm also organized for Walter to make contact with ABC Radio and I spoke to an ABC staff member this afternoon and Walter will also most likely do a radio interview tomorrow morning. So a lovely way to get the word out for the last few days of our trip.

Flat roads - lovely views to the mountain

A farm house of days gone by

An interesting one lane bridge

 

Enjoying the country views (taken with zoom lens)

View down main street of Kyogle - very scenic

Nice murals in Kyogle

DAY 120 - 7TH AUGUST 2013 - TENTERFIELD TO CASINO

Day 120 – 7 August 2013 – Tenterfield to Casino

Cycling Stats:  130 kms

Cycling Average:  28.4 km per hour

Although it was again cold there was no wind and we were in a sunny position in the Showgrounds so it warmed up very quickly and we enjoyed our breakfast of museli (I pour over some boiling water, then add some cold milk and top it with a couple of big dollups of greek yogurt) and a cup of tea sitting in the morning sun.

We both remarked that we will miss sitting out in the open air for our meals as its only a few days now and this huge adventure will be over. While we are looking forward to going home we also know that we will miss the freedom of our life on the road. We are both busy with thoughts of what needs to be done when we get home with regards to our business.

Walter left slightly later today – it was 8.30am and I was only 20 minutes or so behind him. Five kms outside Tenterfield and a sign told me that the elevation was 888 metres and we were traveling through The Great Dividing Range. Anther sign indicated that the Clarence River Catchment was in the vicinity of around an incredible 22,600 kms.

The first section of today’s ride was very winding – turn after turn after turn after turn (one of the most winding roads I have ever travelled on). Unfortunately the surface was rough and in some places as we had been warned, there was no shoulder to speak of. Although in the main the route took us over the range and to Casino which is at only 29 or so metres above sea level there was a couple of quite long steep climbs. The long winding descents had to be taken very conservatively because of the rough bumpy road surface.

We stopped for coffee at Drake and it appears a bit of a hippie town. I saw a number of mature aged guys walking around with very long hair. The local motel is called The Lunatic Motel – very catchy name !!

Lunch was by the roadside overlooking some tranquil pastureland about 45kms further along. The weather is now so much warmer as we near the coast compared to what we have experienced in the past few weeks. In Casino I went to source a choice of caravan park for our 2 nights here. We only have a short journey to Kyogle from here, so tomorrow will be a rest day.

I loved the bare winter trees and the old historic house as I left Tenterfield this morning

The descents were steep and the road narrow

No shoulder to speak of

DAY 119 - 6TH AUGUST 2013 - GLEN INNES TO TENTERFIELD

Day 119 – 6 August 2013 – Glen Innes to Tenterfield

Cycling Stats:  92 kms

Cycling Average:  29.5 km per hour

When we got up it was a very cold morning and quite a bit of frost about. Definitely gloves on and heater on this morning.

Walter thought long and hard and decided to opt for the route along The New England Highway to Casino via Tenterfield.  There was a fair bit of climbing which was to be expected as this is Great Dividing Range region. The toughest section was Bluff Rock which is 10kms south of Tenterfield. The elevation reached around 1020 metres. We arranged to meet at a tiny township called Deep Water which is 51 kms past Tenterfield for our coffee stop and Walter said he was reasonably happy with his choice at this stage of the morning. 

I can’t believe it – coffee plunger no. 3 broke this morning. This was the small one I had bought at an IGA in Corrigin on - I just looked it up, 25the June. Luckily I had already made the coffee and was trying to pull up the filter stick to clean it and I was holding it by the glass at the top as the handle was loose and the glass just broke in my fingers. When I told Walter he said Oh it was very thin glass.  So hopefully as Tenterfield is a largish town I should be able to find one which is a better quality one and this will be No. 4 and just maybe I will have a choice of brand this time.

On leaving Deep Water after our coffee stop this morning I noticed a sign ‘Welcome to Tenterfield Shire – country of Heritage Nature Lifestyle’.

As discussed with Walter when I arrived in Tenterfield I went to the Information Centre to find out if there is a caravan park at a tiny place called Drake about 50 kms further along just in case Walter wants to continue today’s ride. He said he is feeling really good today. There is only a motel there so when he arrived we decided to stay at Tenterfield for the afternoon. We opted to camp at The Showgrounds which is a short walk into town. We took the donations bucket to see if we could get all the coins put through a counting machine in one of the banks. CBA were very friendly and did it for us. We were pleasantly surprised that there was over $190 just in coins. Then Walter wanted to get a haircut which was easily organized at Zesty. The friendly hairdresser said she could do it straight away. Afterwards, afternoon tea & cake at the Courtyard Café in the historic Tenterfield Museum building. We enjoyed a lovely chat with 3 friendly ladies there also enjoying the afternoon sunshine in the café.

Tomorrow is a longer and we believe another fairly tough ride.

Oh yes and I did find a coffee plunger at the local Mitre 10 – I had to explain to the well mannered friendly young lad what a coffee plunger was as he didn’t know if they had any or what they were for. The one I bought is a good quality one which I am 100% sure will do us nicely till we get home and for much much longer !!

Lots of descents - but no shoulders (extra road sections on the sides for cyclists) in parts

Some scenic areas
 (through the windscreen - so a little hazy)

Bluff Rock - the highest elevation we passed through today

 

The lovely ladies we met at Courtyard Cafe at the historical Tenterfield Museum

Beautiful old historical  buildings & beautiful sky in Tenterfield

'I still call Australia Home'  - sure do !!! (Tenterfield is the setting for Peter Allen's famous Aussie song 'Tenterfield Saddler' 

DAY 118 - 5 AUGUST 2013 - INVERELL TO GLEN INNES

Day 118 – 5 August 2013 – Inverell to Glen Innes

Cycling Stats:  66 kms

Cycling Average:  27 km per hour

A bit of a funny day today – Before we took off to walk to the town centre with the bike and the wheel with broken spoke I asked the caravan park operator if it would be OK if we stayed an extra night as we needed to have Walter’s wheel repaired and we presumed it wouldn’t be able to be collected until the afternoon.  Chris was most accommodating and said yes that would be fine.

We also decided to take our very heavily weighted collection bucket with all its coins into town as well, to see if we could get a bank to run all the coins through a counting machine as it is pretty heavy to carry around. When we arrived in town all the banks were closed – the first Monday of August is Bank Holiday so that was a bit sad. – for us, not of course for the bank staff. We arrived at Bikes in Byron and Michael, the owner wasn’t quite sure if he would be able to replace the spoke. There was also a bit of noise in the de-railer that Walter asked him to have a look at. So we decided to go & have a coffee. Walter was a bit worried as he really wanted to get that wheel fixed. So after coffee we went back to see Michael as Walter wanted to ask him about any other bike shops in subsequent towns that we are passing through and if then, maybe a spoke could be ordered beforehand. We arrived and thank goodness - there was a matching spoke and an adjustment had been made to the de-railer  - Michael said he had been able to get onto it straight away so Walter was very happy. Thank you Michael – he didn’t want any payment for the work and we enjoyed a big chat about the roads / local cycling group / races in the area with him.

So - as we are walking back Walter suggested we go to the Information Centre to find out a little more about the options of the routes from Inverell. Talia who assisted us was very friendly & helpful and investigated whether a tiny place called Jackadgery which we may be passing through, had a caravan park for us.  She also handed us a donation and she told us that a family member had suffered from dementia. Walter wanted to push on today after all and head to Glen Innes so we packed up and headed off. It was again a very hilly ride with a really long climb over Waterloo Range.  I stopped at 35 kms to prepare lunch & Walter didn’t take long to arrive. There was also a pretty gusty westerly wind blowing. Arrived in Glen Innes and I located a caravan park and waited for Walter’s call as to where we would be staying that night which is our routine when he arrives at our destination for the day.

We are still not sure which route to take tomorrow. Glen Innes to Casino via Grafton is around 50kms longer but a better wider and safer road (according to Michael from Bikes in Byron) than the other option of going to Casino via Tenterfield which is narrow and very winding. So let’s see – we will have to decide soon !!

Inverell has some rather lovely historical buildings - this is Inverell Art Gallery

Wheel & bike repaired - now to get back on the road (next to Inverell Art Gallery is another beautiful old building The Inverell Town Hall

A view through the windscreen - I take a lot of photos like this as I am driving

Angus beef, pastureland and mountains - what we saw today

Another view on the way to Glen Innes

I enjoy stopping by the roadside to take in the peaceful country views & layers of colours 

DAY 117 - 4 AUGUST 2013 - BINGARA TO INVERELL

Day 117 – 4 August 2013 – Bingara to Inverell

Cycling Stats:  74 kms

Cycling Average:  27.4 km per hour

Once again we had the luxury of a lazy morning as today’s ride is so short – time for scrambled eggs on sourdough toast.

It is a beautiful sunny morning with another brilliant blue sky but very cold. Walter left close to 9am and I only, around 20 minutes later.

We agreed to meet in Delungra is a distance of about 40 kms from Bingara. The countryside is once again rural, pastoral and very picturesque. I stopped once and went for a 20 minute walk along the road as it was very quiet – very little traffic and such a beautiful morning.  

Once I arrived in Delungra I waited for Walter at the rest stop just before the turnoff to Inverell. There were a few couples there who I spoke with about their travels and they had just had their coffee stop. I told them about the shops being closed yesterday at Bingara and that it was tea for us today as we had run out of ground coffee. One of the ladies immediately went into her caravan and handed me a tin of coffee. She said I have a new one and this one is half full – take it. How very friendly and when Walter arrived we all had a big chat and they all put some money into our donations bucket.

 After enjoying our lovely coffee we left for the 34km journey to Inverell.  Lots of wattle in flower so a profusion of bright yellow trees. The road became a little busier but still relatively quiet. I popped up to the look-out just before Inverell as I had time. Inverell has a population of 12,000 and an elevation of 590 metres.

Walter said there were more uphills today so we are definitely getting closer to The Great Dividing Range and we climbed approximately another 300 metres  so we are definitely still heading UP to Queensland. The sign at the lookout had a round dial showing distances to various places and its 300kms to Brisbane.

Walter says he finds it hard to believe that in exactly one week today and it will be his last day of cycling in this epic trip around Australia !!!

Thank you to the lovely friendly operator at Inverell Caravan Park who upon seeing Walter arrive and hearing about what we are doing donated our camping fees to our cause.

Bridge over Gwydir River at Bingara

Kookaburra from afar - for you Andrea....

Again multiple uphills on the Bingara to Delungra Road

Still climbing up that hill....

 

A slight downhill and then.... another climb and another !!

Inverell Court House 1886