Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 009 - Byron Bay to Coomera

Day:  009

Date: Friday, 10 July 2020

Start:  Byron Bay

Finish:  Coomera

Daily Kilometres:  130

Total Kilometres:  929

Weather:  Mild and mostly overcast, with a few periods of light drizzle.

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Spinach & fetta quiches

  Lunch:  Toasted ham, tomato & cheese sandwich/Toasted chicken & avocado sandwich

  Dinner:  Spaghetti & meatballs, rhubarb & apple tart

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  A magic 12km bike path from Cabarita to Kingscliff that ran between the forested dunes on the right and luxury houses on the left, plus some beaches and rivers.

Lowlight:  Rather than ride the 25km coastal bike path through the Gold Coast conurbation, we decided to ride the Gold Coast Highway, because we thought it would be quicker (there were lots of strolling walkers to navigate around on the bike path, and you ride more slowly for safety), and because we are both very familiar with that coastal path anyway.  However, on the highway, the traffic lights, of which there were many, seemed to be deliberately sequenced to stop cyclists at every set.  Probably would have been faster on the bike path.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

The backpacker partiers didn't keep us awake and we headed west out of Byron Bay soon after 7am after a good night's sleep.  About 6km on, we turned north on a recommended minor road that paralleled the freeway, but after 30 minutes and a few hills, the suggested route required us to cross the busy fast-flowing four-lane freeway with limited visibility in one direction.  It was a bit nerve-wracking, and after getting across, we decided it would be better to ride along the freeway than deal with more freeway crossings.  And that's what we did for another hour until it came time to turn back towards the coast.

Suddenly we were on a very quiet rural road passing through cane fields and pastures to Wooyung (just a place on the map) where the road turned north to parallel the coast with forest on both sides and occasional access points through the dunes to the surf beach.  There was very little traffic and it was a lovely ride until we reached the holiday town of Pottsville where we found a bakery to have some breakfast.

From Pottsville, the coastal road became busier, although there was bike path available in places if we chose to use it (not always easier with driveways and side streets to negotiate) until we reached Cabarita beach when the bike path left the road and followed a beautiful course just behind the beach (see above).

At Kingscliff, we crossed the Tweed River and entered the busy city of Tweed Heads.  I made a navigational error at one point and we ended up riding down a long steep hill to reach a dead-end.  Faced with retracing our steps back up the hill, I spied a possible route through some thick undergrowth and down a steep slope that looked a way to reach a road and get us back on course.  After a few tense moments, we had negotiated our way down the slippery hill and were back on course.

We weren't exactly sure where the Queensland border was, and what would be required of us.  We knew that it was due to open to residents of other states at noon, though we had also heard that we needed a printed completed declaration in our possession, and we didn't have one.  It was around noon, and we decided to just follow the recommended cycling route through Tweed Heads, which closely followed the pretty Tweed estuary.  Although we did see some message signs on the highway about 100 metres from our bike path, we never encountered any police or signage, and before we knew it we were in Coolangatta and Queensland.

We stopped at the Greenmount Beach Surf Club for lunch and decided to follow the Gold Coast Highway north rather than the coastal bike path (see above).  Not long after we resumed riding we passed over the main freeway right above where the police had set up the border control.  There were cameramen on the bridge and the queue of vehicles waiting to enter Queensland stretched back as far as we could see.  It was tempting to give the queueing drivers and police a wave.

Apart from the seemingly endless traffic lights on the highway, there were a few hills to negotiate and the climb up the hill behind Burleigh Heads seemed even harder when we were passed at speed and with ease by a food delivery rider on his e-bike.

We detoured off the highway as we approached Surfers Paradise to the Isle of Capri post office and collected two parcels that had been express-mailed to us there after not arriving before we departed Terrigal - some maps for me (thanks, Jenny) and a new Garmin watch for Julie (thanks, Troy).  [Post Office Lady: "I was married to a BYRNES, once"; Dave: "Been married a few times myself" whilst racking my brains for which relative might be a candidate.]  Over a Diet Coke and jelly beans, we decided to aim for a motel about 30km away at Coomera, which I then booked, even though it was already well after 3pm.

We then got back onto the Gold Coast Highway and continued north, mostly on bike path, through Southport, where we passed the start/finish point of the Gold Coast Marathon.  Julie ran it last year, and it would have been held last weekend, but for COVID-19.  As we continued north through Runaway Bay, we frequently saw marathon kilometre markings painted on the road.  At least it was faster and easier on the bike.

I missed a turn at Paradise Point, which cost us a bit more time, and the sun was setting by the time we reached Hope Island where we stopped at a supermarket and bought some microwaveable food for dinner.  It was dark by the time we reached our motel at Coomera at 5:30pm, and although it had been a long day, we didn't feel that tired, and had managed to cross the border and pick up our parcels without incident.  I fear that if the Victorian outbreak of COVID-19 spreads to New South Wales, the border will be quickly closed again, so it's a relief to be across.