Ride The Talk

Well, my trip that day to the reef didn’t materialise so I just veg’d out in Bundaberg for the day. Another disappointment: my promised talk that evening has been abandoned! I don’t know what happened but there is no use worrying about it now. 🙁
The next day saw me on the road by 7:30am as this was to be a big day with predicted hot temperatures and I wanted to get into Agnes Water in the early afternoon. I was soon making good progress. Before very long I found myself near the turnoff to Rosedale. I decided on the 2km detour in order to get something to cool me down – the temperature was really starting to climb! I made it to the general store and splurged on a box of icy poles – next question: could I eat all 8! A: no – not really, but the proprietor suggested putting the excess into my drink bottle which I duly did.
Back on the road with the next stop being the roadhouse at the Miriam Vale turnoff for lunch. The people there were very friendly and, after my re-fuel, I continued on towards Agnes Water where I arrived just after 2pm. I headed for the information centre as I had a contact there that could help with some media exposure – thanks Georgia.
With a couple of photos of me and the bike outside the info centre for good measure, I then went to find myself lodgings and some food to keep me going until dinner. I settled on the Backpackers 1770 in town as it was close to everything and had reasonable rates. It was then that I discovered that, contrary to my expectations, I had a spare day up my sleeve so I quickly booked a daytrip to Lady Musgrave Island – at the southernmost tip of the Great Barrier Reef. This is a coral cay which means that, if it wasn’t for the coral, it would be “Nothing Atoll”! 🙂 It looked like I would get my wish of a trip to the reef.
The bus was to pick me up at 8am so it meant another early night. The next day dawned overcast which was unfortunate but I take what I get and am thankful that I am getting to see the GBR at all. I gulp down my breakfast and get the bus down to the Town of 1770 wherefrom the tour departs. Our journey is on the MV “The Spirit of 1770” – a reasonably large high-speed catamaran-style vessel. Unfortunately the crossing is quite rough that day, so my hastily gulped down breakfast just as hastily comes back up! 🙁
The trip takes about 90 minutes to get out to the island and I am allocated the first island tour. We get out to the island on a glass-bottomed boat and so we get our first view of the reef. The island is built out of coral and the plant-life has been taken there as seeds inside birds and so the island has developed over time with abundant Pisonia forests and bird life. Many turtles also breed on the island though we missed out on seeing any during our walk. We then headed back to the pontoon where a sumptuous lunch was being served.
After lunch, I went on a semi-submersible trip around the lagoon to see the view from below water. Whilst the coral is quite amazing, I was somewhat disappointed with the colours which I thought of as ‘washed-out’. Perhaps bleaching is happening here or maybe the overcast conditions have made for a less than ideal viewing day. Nonetheless, I had a good time and topped it off by snorkelling amongst the coral & tropical fish. Quite an experience!
Fortunately the trip back to the mainland was considerably calmer so my lunch didn’t go the way of breakfast. We arrived back at about 5:45pm after a full day’s adventure. Again I will be getting up early in order to ‘beat the heat’ so it’s an early dinner and off to bed.

My spell with Andy, Clare, Brian, Noreen (& how could I forget little Rosie) in Gympie was truly a lovely experience and has helped to dispel my homesickness on one level (but will make it all the keener on another).
I made it to Maryborough OK but, for some reason, yesterday was a very ‘flat’ day energy-wise. Terrain-wise it was anything but…. (Andy, I followed your directions and got onto the Old Maryborough Rd OK – the problem arose when I noticed a signpost pointing to Corella Rd and took it….which led me back to….Gympie!!!!!! 🙁 – I zigged when I should have zagged.)
After retracing my tyre-marks, I was finally heading in the right direction (but with an extra 8km under my belt!) and Andy’s other directions then made good sense. I got to the highway, turned off at Gunalda but already I noticed a lot of water lying about. I went over a number of bridges awash with water and finally, just before Gundiah, I had to turn back due to over 3 ft of water cutting off the road and was forced back onto the Bruce Hwy. 🙁
You are so right about this road, Andy. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I made it to Maryborough at about 4pm, found a campground and pitched my tent – with a 6pm talk, there was no way I could get to Susan River, where a kind couple, Kim & Connie, had offered me digs, get changed and get back to Maryborough still fresh. The kind fellow at the caravan park is working to ‘go sustainable’ and offered me the unpowered site for nothing. Again, generosity of spirit comes to the fore. My talk went well but to a rather small audience – I can’t understand why they vary so much. Maryborough even featured me in their daily so event advertising wasn’t the issue.
I arose early this morning, packed up my things and headed off towards Childers via Susan River – I stopped in to see Kim & Connie as I was passing anyway and then continued on my way. I made it to Childers in reasonable time and so I made the executive decision to go on to Bundaberg (only another 57km by the back way) – the talk I was supposed to do in Childers was unfortunately cancelled. I got in to Bundaberg, with only a tenacious magpie causing me grief during my ride, at about 5pm – 142km in 6:03 saddle time (I’m a MACHINE!) – this was my biggest day yet.
I hope to go out to the Great Barrier Reef tomorrow – I want to see it before it gets bleached away.

Walk, ride a bike or take public transport to the shops, work or school. Walking and riding can have a positive benefit on your health as well. This will also help you connect with others and help restore the community we seem to be lacking nowadays.

If you must drive, consider car pooling as a way of reducing your personal greenhouse gas contribution. If you rotate who drives, you will also save lots of money.

Another milestone – I am now in Queensland, having decided to cross the border early and catch up with an old school friend.

I left “Chateau Poss” and my kind source of a comfy bed just after 8am bound for Tweed Heads and beyond. I headed back up Friday Hut Rd and then down that steep climb I came up on Friday…but, I stopped so often to take photos, I lost the benefit of the descent – such wonderful countryside!

Saturday was a day of leisure, domestics and discovery in Bellangry (about 17km from Wauchope) – I had a leisurely breakfast with Stuart & Heather and, once my clothes washing was out of the way, I set to repairing punctured tubes and giving my bike a minor service. Stuart then took me up to his shed – he has been converting a Daihatsu Charade to an electric car. I must say the quality of the workmanship was great – very, very neat work. The car itself runs very well and….so quiet – it’s odd to have a vehicle other than a bike move so silently! This thing has oomph as well – Stuart drove me around his property and it is more than capable of climbing quite steep hills – impressive. We managed to while away the day quite easily. I was leaving the next day and Stuart offered to ride with me to the highway.