The trip from Coolangatta to Brisbane took me 8 hours, cycling 137km, arriving at 10pm at the house of John and Carolyn Lister. The people where I stayed in Coolangatta, Linda and Arie advised me to take the train from Surfers Paradise to Brisbane, but I wanted to cycle. I started out at 8am in the morning, the first 50km no problem, but then I lost the way, even with my Google navigation system; 8 times Google maps showed the wrong roads - it made Australia's tagline "Where the bloody hell are you?" truer than ever.
Around 6pm it was getting dark and I was just outside of Brisbane, so I called John to say I would be coming late. He asked where I was, and to cut a long story short, he cycled to me and found me somewhere in the suburbs of Brisbane. I thought it was maybe 7km to his house but it was more like 37km to his house! We finally arrived at 10pm, I would never have found his place cycling via roads, highways, footpaths, criss-crossing through Brisbane - I had forgotten that Brisbane is the third biggest city in Australia with a population of 3.8 million people, a little bit more than Golden Bay......
I stayed 2 nights at their lovely place, sorry but I forgot to take a photo - thanks guys for everything it was a really nice and refreshing stay.
Caboolture - wild camping nights
After Brisbane I headed off via Redcliff to Caboolture - time to start wild camping! 10pm in the evening after a good meal, I started to bike around Caboolture to find a spot to put my tent up. After an hour I found a nice hidden spot on the show ground park, looked around to see if it was safe, and put my tent up. I didn't sleep much that night, and 6:30am I was back on the bike. After 3 nights I finally slept well, I got used to it eventually. My last night was with other campers with a small fire, now we are talking the real Australia in the bush!
Garfield Cat Motel just outside of Bundaberg.
Again, the hospitality and friendliness of the people I am meeting is incredible. One couple even gave me a bible when I left in the morning, they had inscribed on the inside page - to help keep me safe along my travels. A fellow cyclist showed me the trick to protect myself from the magpies whilst cycling - so now my helmet is also "magpie proof".
In the land of wonder, the land down under, I have seen some amazing nature along the way - from the crazy "divebombing" magpies, to pelicans, iguanas and even 450yr old trees!
G'day mate, I'll slip an extra shrimp on the barbie for ya!
So the next leg of the journey is well under way - loving Australia, and even more the spontaneous kindness of so many people that I am meeting along the journey! Life is good!
I arrived in Sydney on Friday the 23rd August, caught the ferry to Palm Beach and whilst I had stopped on the roadside to look on the internet for places to camp, a vehicle stopped beside me and a guy asked: "Hey mate, where are you headed?". I told him my story and that I was cycling to Cairns and he said, "Well hop in, you're staying at my place tonight." Ron and Deb from Wamberal - great hosts, really nice people, such incredible hospitality - I ended up staying for 2 nights!
Route from Sydney to Wamberal
Ron and Deb - such nice people!
After Wamberal, I headed to Newcastle, but after about 30kms I had to stop as I had some bike troubles. A cyclist, Steve, stopped to ask what was wrong and to assist me. He also told me there was a much easier route to Newcastle (being a bus driver he knows all the good routes), and decided to cycle with me all the way to ferry, paid my ticket and told the ferry driver to take good care of me! He then cycled 40km back home - wow, amazing - thanks Steve!
Steve - amazing guy
Feeding parakeets at Tea Garden
Feeding kookaburras some kangaroo meat
Brian & Doris you are great guys - thanks for the great talks and hospitality
I got to Nelson Bay just too late to catch the ferry, so I got hold of Brian and Doris who came and picked me up ten minutes later and I stayed at their beautiful home near the beach. Later that afternoon they showed me around, and the wonderful lookout points, and in the morning I got to feed some more birds. Then I took the ferry to the Tea Gardens - I got to feed the parakeets and kookaburras, brilliant!
On Saturday I travelled from Bulahdelah to Taree, there was lots of rain; camped overnight in Taree in such heavy rains, but thank goodness the tent proved to be fully waterproof.
Praise the Lord the rain stopped on Sunday, and with the wind at my back at about 15km per hour, and above all - flat road; this is my lucky day - I have also passed the first 1000km mark, what do you want more!
The trip from Coolangatta to Brisbane took me 8 hours, cycling 137km, arriving at 10pm at the house of John and Carolyn Lister. The people where I stayed in Coolangatta, Linda and Arie advised me to take the train from Surfers Paradise to Brisbane, but I wanted to cycle. I started out at 8am in the morning, the first 50km no problem, but then I lost the way, even with my Google navigation system; 8 times Google maps showed the wrong roads - it made Australia's tagline "Where the bloody hell are you?" truer than ever.
