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Journal: |
I got up at 3:30am after about 5.5 hours sleep. I ended up
going to bed later than planned because I couldn’t get my files
e-mailed to Sharon. I think there may be an incompatibility
between my very small notebook and the wireless modem I use which
seems to time out the connection when I try to send large files.
Very frustrating.
Anyway, I got onto the road about 4:15am
in cool conditions with a light tailwind. It was very dark, of
course, as the road wound through hilly timbered country, but there
was less traffic, which was good. I made reasonable time and
as dawn broke I reached Kempsey (76km) aided speedwise by a large
farm dog that burst out of the underbrush and had two good attempts
at my let ankle. Rather than stop at Kempsey on continued on
through what was now river-flats grazing country to Macksville
(120km) where I had a “big brekky. I’m trying to be very
disciplined in my approach this time, especially in the more settled
areas where there are lots of enticing opportunities for snack
stops. I’m telling myself that every minute wasted on the road
is a minute less sleep. I plan to cover about 100km before
breakfast and another 100km before lunch, each limited to 30
minutes. In between, I’ll stop every 30km or so (less
frequently early in the day) for a 5-10 minute break and a drink and
snack from what I am carrying, So far so good. It’s
amazing how much time you can lose looking for a better bakery in
town if you don’t see what you like on the highway.
After
breakfast I continued on through mostly forested hilly country on a
narrow winding and busy road which made life interesting. The
short sharp hills also took a toll on my tired body, but I just kept
plodding along. I reached Coffs Harbour soon after noon.
It’s a large resort town and business centre, fringed by steep green
hills, some covered with banana plantations. I resolved that,
if I could see a store likely to sell iPods, I would buy one, but I
wasn’t going to leave the highway. As fortune would have it, I
spied a very large electrical retailer (Harvey Norman) as I left
town, parked my unlocked bike out the front and raced in and bought
an iPod from a bemused sales girl. A short hilly ride, some of
which gave great views over a sparkling blue ocean, the first time I
had seen the sea since starting, brought me to Woolgoolga where I
stopped for a salad sandwich (yes, you heard correctly!) and a
milkshake for lunch. The road then turned northwards away from
the coast for the 56km to Grafton, which proved to be a challenge.
A strong westerly wind was often a headwind, and the hills were
large and the legs tired. I made slow progress. On the
plus side, it was beautiful lightly timbered country and later in
the day, the sun shone through the trees dappling the road on a
lovely late afternoon.
I reached Grafton at dusk and the
road flattened, as it followed the wide slow moving Clarence River
eastwards, and my speed picked up as the sun set and a full moon
shone on a still very busy road, often with little room for
cyclists. I reached Tyndale, my target for the day around 6pm,
but didn’t like the look of the very large, but almost totally dark
motel devoid of any sign of habitation or guests. The clincher
was that there didn’t seem to be anywhere to get food. I
decided to continue on another 15km to Maclean. As I reached
the outskirts I passed an isolated service station and decided to
buy a few snacks, just in case there was no food available in town.
Just as well, because there wasn’t although the motel was very nice
and cheaply priced. My dinner comprised chocolate and some
flavoured milk. I’ll ride the 93km to Ballina first thing and
get a big brekky.
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