Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 022 - Home Hill to Townsville

Day:  022

Date: Thursday, 23 July 2020

Start:  Home Hill

Finish:  Townsville

Daily Kilometres:  102

Total Kilometres:  2434

Weather:  Mostly sunny and mild

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Egg & lettuce sandwich

  Lunch:  Chicken & bacon melt sub

  Dinner:  Southern fried chicken & vegetables, custard danish

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  Early arrival in Townsville giving us plenty of time to leisurely attend to a few chores during the afternoon, including dropping our bikes off for a service, a haircut and beard trim for me, some correspondence for Julie, laundry and some trip planning. 

Lowlight:  Finding Julie had a flat rear tyre as we left our motel accommodation this morning.  We found a glass splinter that had caused a slow leak, replaced the tube and hit the road, more determined than ever to swap our tyres in Townsville to some tried and trusted Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres, as already intended.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

Thunder crashed, lightning flashed and rain poured for a good part of the night.  We heard in the morning that a nearby town had received 93 millimetres of rain overnight.  When we eventually got going, after repairing a flat tyre (see above), there was a lot of standing water evident as we pedalled through Home Hill (and for the rest of the day).

The previous evening we had received an email from a friend, Graham, informing us that Home Hill was his home town and that his family had been pioneering sugar cane farmers in the area, and may be mentioned on a town memorial.  We did a bit of research and worked out where the memorial might be, and visited it on our way out of town.  It was informative, but unfortunately we could not find any specific mention of Graham's family as hoped.

Leaving Home Hill, we crossed the long and historic Burdekin River Bridge before passing through the larger town of Ayr and turning west towards Townsville through cane fields with the imposing Mt Elliot in front of us.  For about one and a half hours we got payback for our tailwind of yesterday as we pushed into a headwind that made for hard and warm work.  We persevered until we reached a roadhouse we had targeted for breakfast and were very pleased to take a break.

From there, the road swung northwards and the headwind abated as we passed along the base of the mountain.  There were long stretches of roadwork, and some sections of alternating single-flow traffic governed by traffic lights required feverish pedalling.  It made for faster travel and we reached our next planned stop, the Alligator Creek Roadhouse, and had a Diet Coke and a few jelly beans.

Then it was just an hour into the city of Townsville where we got an early check-in from the friendly motel lady, unloaded our bikes, showered, and then rode our bikes a few hundred metres to the specialist bike shop where we had booked a service a week ago, arriving 30 minutes ahead of schedule!  After a chat with the friendly proprietor, we left the bikes, and walked down the road to get some lunch followed by a lazy afternoon catching up on some chores (see above).  We have tomorrow off and will collect the bikes early afternoon.

Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 021 - Proserpine to Home Hill

Day:  021

Date: Wednesday, 22 July 2020

Start:  Proserpine

Finish:  Home Hill

Daily Kilometres:  164

Total Kilometres:  2332

Weather:  Cool to mild and overcast all day with periods of rain

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Egg & lettuce sandwich

  Lunch:  Ham, cheese & pickle sandwich/Egg & bacon roll

  Dinner:  Chicken & vegetable pasta, apple crumble

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  Flat ride with a gentle tailwind nearly all day

Lowlight:  Getting to within 15 minutes of our destination and having the heavens open.  Couldn't be bothered to stop and don my rainjacket, so arrived at the motel looking impressively wet.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We were quite apprehensive about today's planned ride of 164km because the weather forecast was for lots of rain.  Periods of rain drumming on the motel roof during the night only increased our concern.

As it turned out, though the roads were wet, it was not raining as we pedalled through the cane fields on our way out of Proserpine around 6:45am.  However, there was heavy low cloud cover and fog shrouded the nearby mountains.  Before long, it did start to spit with rain but not enough to get us very wet.  Pleasingly, the traffic was lighter than we have become used to on the Bruce Highway, and a following breeze and lack of hills also lifted our spirits.  Perhaps the day wasn't going to be as bad as anticipated.

After an hour and a half, we stopped in at a roadhouse and ate some breakfast.  Several customers commented that they had seen us along the way and the clerk was building up the size of a hill we were going to encounter to Julie (which didn't turn out to be big at all).  From the roadhouse we continued to make good time despite occasional light rain.

We pondered our pet hates as we rode, apart from the usual complaint about drivers passing too closely when there is no oncoming traffic and plenty of room to move out.  Mine was the poorly finished expansion joints on the bridges we cross, and there are many each day.  Almost inevitably on the road edge where we have to ride, they are either big bumps or large gaps.  Julie's pet hate is the placement of cat-eyes in the middle of the very narrow road edge which are hard to dodge when traffic is passing.  We might also have added, for today, the cold shower we got whenever passed by an 18-wheeler.

After skirting the regional town of Bowen, I scored a rear tyre puncture around 11am.  It wasn't hard to find.  A large screw had gone completely through the tyre and both sides of the inner tube.  We changed the tube, reinflated the tyre and took a short break before continuing on, not having lost too much time.  Around 1pm, we stopped at a roadhouse and bought some lunch which we ate in an adjacent picnic area.

The last 56km passed quickly and easily through cattle country with some very long straight stretches, though we were hit by some heavier rain just short of Home Hill, our destination (see above).  We arrived at our motel just after 4pm, checked in, and then I rode into the town supermarket and bought our usual microwaveable dinner.

Despite our apprehension and occasional rain, I doubt we'll have an easier 160km (100 miles) on this trip.

Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 020 - Proserpine & Whitsundays

Day:  020

Date: Tuesday, 21 July 2020

Start:  Proserpine

Finish:  Proserpine

Daily Kilometres:  0

Total Kilometres:  2168

Weather:  Mostly overcast, with mild temperatures and a cool breeze

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Quiche

  Lunch:  BBQ with salad, fruit

  Dinner:   Bangers & mash/Chicken parmigiana & vegetables, apple pie

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  See below

Lowlight:  None really

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

For our day off, we walked through the small Proserpine shopping centre, buying some breakfast at a bakery, and caught a 7:45am local bus for the 24km ride to the resort of Airlie Beach.  From the shopping centre, we walked along a pretty path past the lagoon round a point to the marina where we joined a day boat trip through the Whitsunday archipelago to the famed pure white Whitehaven beach.

The scenery on the boat trip which passed a number of islands, as well as circumnavigating the large Whitsunday Island, was spectacular, despite the cloudy weather.  Whitehaven beach itself is a wonder, with the strip of pure white sand bordered by a brilliantly turquoise sea and backed by the dark green of tropical forest-covered mountains with bold rocky outcrops.

The trip also gave us the opportunity to take short bushwalks to some awesome lookouts, as well as strolls along the beach at different points, and a yummy BBQ lunch was provided.  The wind had picked up for the first part of the trip back and some excitement was provided by our skipper playing games (safely) with another excursion boat that was also racing through swell.

We returned to the harbour around 4:30pm, and on our walk back to the town to wait for the bus it began to rain …. good timing.  It was 6:15pm, dark and wet by the time we returned to Proserpine, and we bought some microwaveable dinner at the supermarket on the way back to our motel.

Although the weather wasn't perfect, we had an excellent day, and felt lucky when we heard that trips for the next two days had just been cancelled because of a poor weather forecast.  Of course we will be riding our bikes for the next two days!

Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 019 - Sarina to Proserpine

Day:  019

Date: Monday, 20 July 2020

Start:  Sarina

Finish:  Proserpine

Daily Kilometres:  159

Total Kilometres:  2168

Weather:  Cool early, then warm and partly sunny

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Ham, cheese & tomato sandwich/Chicken & cheese sandwich

  Lunch:  Chicken, cheese & tomato sandwich/Chicken salad roll

  Dinner:  Chicken parmagiana & vegetables, ice cream

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  None really

Lowlight:  None really

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

Our goal for today was to get to Proserpine, 159km away, where we will have a day off tomorrow.  Knowing it was a long way, we set off soon after 6:30am intent on getting as many kilometres as possible under our belt in the morning.

The first 35km to the major regional city of Bowen was very busy with commuter traffic in addition to the usual trucks (but too early for caravans) along the flat road with cane fields either side and a beautiful sunrise lighting up the fields and mountains.  Although we didn't go right into the centre of Bowen, we passed through its suburbs and industrial areas, encountering the usual traffic lights and roundabouts, and on our way out of town, took a breakfast break at a service station.

From Bowen, the road passed through more hilly areas, with the cane fields and cattle pastures backed by green mountains.  The cane harvest was underway, with harvesters, trucks and cane trains active along the way, always giving us something to look at.  The feel was quite tropical, with lush vegetation around farmhouses and in the pockets of forest near the road.  We were working up the hills, and it became sweaty work as the day warmed up, but our fitness levels have improved, and apart from some gasps of relief at the top of the bigger hills, we maintained a good pace.

We took a couple of short breaks along the way and then stopped for lunch at a service station at 1:30pm with just 38km to go.  The elevation profile for the last leg showed gradual downhill, but it missed a couple of long ups, and there were also some sections into a steady headwind that made it a grind.  No matter how far we go each day, the last leg is usually hard work, and today was no different.  Thankfully, the last 15km was dead flat and we were aided in some places by a following breeze.

We reached our motel in the middle of the small sugar town of Proserpine at 3:45pm and checked in for two nights, happy with our day, and looking forward to a day off tomorrow.  Later, we bought microwaveable dinner from the nearby supermarket, did a load of laundry and had an early night.

Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 018 - St Lawrence to Sarina

Day:  018

Date: Sunday, 19 July 2020

Start:  St Lawrence

Finish:  Sarina

Daily Kilometres:  122

Total Kilometres:  2009

Weather:  Mild and overcast all day, with some very light drizzle in the afternoon

Accommodation:  Motel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  None

  Lunch:  Ham, cheese & tomato sandwich/Egg & lettuce sandwich

  Dinner:  Bangers & mash, apple crumble & ice cream

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  None really

Lowlight:  Julie got a rear tyre puncture (our first) after only a few kilometres.  After a lot of stuffing around (we believed the tyre was tubeless and initially tried to repair it as such), we eventually fixed it by replacing the tube, only to find at our lunch stop, fifty kilometres later, that the tyre had lost pressure.  Although we had removed a glass chip earlier, that apparently wasn't the problem.  However, after much tyre examination we still couldn't see a cause and solved the problem by replacing both the tyre and the tube.  Expensive, but there's a limit to how much you can be bothered messing around.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

According to Google, the only store in St Lawrence opened at 7am.  Thus, we timed our departure from the hotel for 7am and rode the short distance to the store, which showed no sign of activity.  A guy across the street leaned out of his window and yelled across to us that the store opened at 7am, but sometimes later.  We decided to wait until 7:15am, as it was nearly three hours to the next store and we didn't have anything for breakfast and only water to drink.  At 7:15am, the guy from across the street opined that the store proprietress had been at a party in a park down the street last night, and might be sleeping it off.  We gave up and rode out of town.

Initially, we had to follow a gravel road back to the highway.  At first, it passed through some beautiful wetlands (we were close to the coast) with lily ponds and lots of birdlife.  Then it passed through bushland and along the way Julie's rear tyre punctured (see above).  It took time to fix it, and that, combined with a later start than planned to try and get supplies, made an early finish to the day less likely.

We got back onto the highway with about 115km to go to Sarina, where we had a room booked.  It was overcast, mild and not too hilly, and we made good time through cattle grazing country.  After an hour or so, the highway came very close to the coast, and we left the highway and paralleled it on a minor road that passed through the very low-key beach village of Clairview.  The sea was calm, with low islands visible in the distance, and the shore was a mix of rocks, sand and mangroves.  Very peaceful.

We returned to the highway and continued riding north, accompanied by lots of caravans and trucks, and dodging dead animals in various states of decay and pungency on the road edge. At Carmila, we stopped at the roadhouse, bought an early lunch, and ate it at a picnic bench.  After we had eaten, I noticed that Julie's rear tyre had lost a lot of pressure, and we spent more time making repairs (see above).

With only 63km to go, we decided to have another break mid-way to Sarina, and continued on through much greener country and many sugar cane plantations.  It was harvest time, and there were harvesters going in some fields, trucks and narrow-gauge sugar cane trains transporting the cut cane, and stubble being burnt.  After our break, the road passed near some misty mountains that seemed to generate a light drizzle which cleared as we neared Sarina.

We reached our motel soon after 3:30pm, so not too late, and later bought some dinner to microwave from a supermarket across the road.  Not everything went to plan today, but we learnt a bit, and were lucky it was a planned short day.

Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 017 - Rockhampton to St Lawrence

Day:  017

Date: Saturday, 18 July 2020

Start:  Rockhampton

Finish:  St Lawrence

Daily Kilometres:  174

Total Kilometres:  1887

Weather:  Cold early, then sunny and warm

Accommodation:  Hotel

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Chicken, cheese & mayo sandwiches

  Lunch:  Chicken salad sandwiches

  Dinner:  Chicken Kiev, chips & salad/Rump steak, chips & salad, apple pie & ice cream

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  Julie's longest ever ride

Lowlight:  The last three hours of a long day when a headwind made life tough.

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We left soon after 6:30am in cold conditions, but not quite as bad as yesterday.  It was going to be a big day to get to our booked hotel in St Lawrence, 174km away, and we were determined to be focused on the task at hand.

The elevation profile, which Julie always checks religiously, showed that we were to gradually climb for the first half of the day, to Marlborough, and gradually descend for the second half.  What the elevation profile didn't tell us was that we would have a light tailwind for the first half, which passed fairly comfortably, and a light headwind for the second half which negated any downhill benefit and made the last part of the afternoon a bit of a grind.

Apart from breakfast at the roadhouse at Yaamba and lunch at the roadhouse at Marlborough, there was pretty much nothing else but brown grass cattle grazing land alternating with lightly timbered forests, and low tree-covered mountains in the near distance on both sides of the road.  The traffic was moderate, but not too bad.  Less trucks than yesterday.  The only excitement of the day occurred when Julie upset a magpie and was dive-bombed a couple of times.

We were very pleased to finally arrive in the tiny village of St Lawrence, and check into our basic room in the very atmospheric old pub.  Corrugated iron everywhere, a long verandah, a long trek to the bathrooms, and a jukebox blaring old tunes to entertain the small number of baby boomers, some staying in the hotel and others camped out the back in their caravans.

After showers, we ate in the pub while planning out our next few days, and were glad to get to bed after a long tiring day.

Round Australia Bike Ride - Day 016 - Mount Larcom to Rockhampton

Day:  016

Date: Friday, 17 July 2020

Start:  Mount Larcom

Finish:  Rockhampton

Daily Kilometres:  88

Total Kilometres:  1713

Weather:  Very cold early, but warm by the afternoon.  Sunny all day.

Accommodation:  Villa unit

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  Apple pie

  Lunch:  Chicken & bacon melt sub

  Dinner:  Chicken pasta bake, vanilla slice

Aches:  Nothing significant

Highlight:  Getting a good deal on a 4.5 star villa unit and stopping early enough to enjoy it.  Julie even got some sunbaking in (trying to remove that bike short tan line 😁).

Lowlight:  None

Pictures: Click here

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

Although we had a very nice cabin for the night, we soon learned that we were within easy earshot of both the highway and rail line.  All night we could hear trucks and freight trains rumbling by, although we are both so tired at the end of each day, it was easy to go back to sleep.

It was a very cold morning and we both froze for the hour of cycling before the sun got some bite.  Then, by soon after 9am, we were down to short-sleeve shirts, and very warm by noon.

We only had a short day's travel to Rockhampton along the very busy Bruce Highway which carries a lot of traffic between the two major regional centres, Gladstone and Rockhampton.  It was mostly flat through grazing country against a backdrop of low mountains to both the west and east.  The road paralleled the rail line, and there seemed to be long trains passing to and fro every 30 or 40 minutes, many carrying coal, but also cattle and containers.  It's a busy part of the world.

We had a brief breakfast stop at a roadhouse at Marmor, then cycled straight through to the city of Rockhampton.  It was surreal after a week of tiny towns to ride into a large town with roundabouts and traffic lights.  We stopped at a Subway for an early lunch and to work out where we would stay for the night.  There was a hotel/motel listed on Google about 35km further on, but it would not answer its phone.  Given there was nothing for a long way after that, we phoned the last motel on the north side of Rockhampton and negotiated a good rate on a villa and an early check-in for a Friday afternoon treat (see above).  On our way out of town we bought some food for dinner and snacks for tomorrow.

We checked into our unit at 1:30pm, and spent a lazy afternoon and evening.