Canberra to Brisbane - Part 1
With a week between a job in Sydney and my next job in Brisbane, it’s time for another ride to Brissy. I took off riding on an early morning with a good meal under my belt and rode to the edge of Sydney where I completed a 1-hour job for a council before riding up to Wiseman’s Ferry where I had a good coffee, took the ferry across the river and rode the interesting picturesque road along the river before navigating into Terrigal for the evening. Had a drink, stood at the beautiful cove beach listening to the waves crash after sunset and had a great meal.
The main beach at Terrigal
The next day, I rode up towards Singleton - stopping on a dirt outcrop and taking the time to relax warming in the sunshine sitting on this table at the start of The Old Great North Road. Really peaceful.
Rode beautiful long flowing roads through green fields stopping at Laguna for much needed fuel for both me and my bike (caffeine for me, octane for the bike) and hit the road.
Riding the Bingleburra Road, I was stunned by the beautiful rolling hills and mountains I'd found myself in, dipping and rising moment by moment over the road, minute by minute over the hills and timelessly as I followed and found every stunning sight on this roller-coaster of natural world pushing and massaging my mind with ever changing and unexpected inspirations of beauty. It really was that amazing and little did I know it was the start of two days of dramatically stunning nature.
I had intended to make it to Gloucester but it was getting late and I didn’t want to risk kangaroos. There was no reason to push, though I knew it meant a bigger ride the next day. Dungog turned out to be calm and peaceful at night and the pub accommodation was comfortable, a good relax for the next day's ride.
I had some work to do on the bike in the morning – I always carry clamping pliers, a leatherman, gaffa tape, rope and other bits and pieces. I spent about an hour adjusting and fixing things on the bike before taking off for the 450km trip. I normally like to ride 200km to 250km each day to take my time and enjoy being where I am at various times, so while 450km in a day is very do-able for me, it means riding past things that I like to take and make moments of, and that's not my style when I ride. As it turned out though, I learned quickly that the road out of Dungog is rough with severe potholes. It was a good choice calling it the previous night despite the long ride for today.
As I rode up towards and past Walcha, the views continued. This is at Mares Run, NSW.
Turning right at Armidale, I rode through the national park towards the coast stopping at the Ebor Falls - a gorgeous rich waterfall.
I rode on at a cracking pace to get to the farm I was staying at before nightfall and after a friendly welcome and happy chat, settled in to a caravan watching the stars come out and listening to the sound of cows casually ripping grass out of the ground to eat. I settled in for the night and slept well.
The next morning I woke to a continuous freakin' cacophony of magnificent birdsong. I heard a few months ago that birds chirping in the morning isn't about them cheerily welcoming the day with a beautiful song, but is an aggressive argument of territorial stakeholding and swagger. I certainly don't sound this pretty when I have a valid argument to be made.
I got up early for the sunrise. It was worth it. Time to keep going and make part 2.