Betten On Bike: 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 !!