Day 3: To Gladstone, Queensland's Toxic Town
From Mt Larcom into Gladstone. About 30km, and the weather has turned nicer. It's almost ideal cycling weather - overcast enough to keep the sun off and the temperatures down, but not raining and not looking likely to. But the road is still fairly damp and there are puddles any time I leave the sealed bits (yes, I'm fussy :) I rocket into Gladstone in about 2.5 hours, averaging between 10 and 15kph, just like every other day so far. My gear is starting to dry out a bit which is nice, so things should start getting lighter. I'm also getting things set up, so I know where stuff is and I'm starting to get an idea of what gear is extra junk that I can probably get rid of.
Arriving in Gladstone is a bit of an experience, first there's the cement and lime works (smells alkali and awful), then a trip across an estuary to the power station (huge, with many power lines leading inland), and over to the left is a giant pile of coal and to the right a collection of chimneys suggesting more industry. The town itself is apparently fairly compact, not that I'd know since I turns up a really steep hill at the first opportunity (there was a sign saying "library carpark", so I decided there was probably a library up there too.
Currently sitting outside the library with my gear spread out a bit, charging the battery and drying stuff off. At 12 I have a computer booked for an hour of (free) internet. Yay civilisation!
No supermarket within sight, and the cafes are pretty ordinary, so I'll have to wait for other riders to arrive before I can wander off and get food. Mind you, at 10:30am I really shouldn't need another meal just yet. Val arrived about 11am and wandered off to look for laundry facilities, then got back at 12 so I could come in and play on the internet.
Wow, 40 minutes to check email and paste in about 4 days of blog posts. Happy days.
Arriving in Gladstone is a bit of an experience, first there's the cement and lime works (smells alkali and awful), then a trip across an estuary to the power station (huge, with many power lines leading inland), and over to the left is a giant pile of coal and to the right a collection of chimneys suggesting more industry. The town itself is apparently fairly compact, not that I'd know since I turns up a really steep hill at the first opportunity (there was a sign saying "library carpark", so I decided there was probably a library up there too.
Currently sitting outside the library with my gear spread out a bit, charging the battery and drying stuff off. At 12 I have a computer booked for an hour of (free) internet. Yay civilisation!
No supermarket within sight, and the cafes are pretty ordinary, so I'll have to wait for other riders to arrive before I can wander off and get food. Mind you, at 10:30am I really shouldn't need another meal just yet. Val arrived about 11am and wandered off to look for laundry facilities, then got back at 12 so I could come in and play on the internet.
Wow, 40 minutes to check email and paste in about 4 days of blog posts. Happy days.
posted by Moz at 12:35 PM
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