Day 19: Nambour to Landsborough/Steve Irwin's Australian Zoo.
Up at six-ish and pack up ready to start playing with bikes and bamboo poles. Bruce has a workshop so I can drill holes for windmills in all the poles. Plus Beck has a rack for Robyn's bike as well as more bits to fit to hers. Robyn and I manage her new rack after Evan strips the spring-hook off it, and I find stainless bolts to replace the crappy zinc plated steel ones. Then it's more adjustments to give her heel clearance and I'm still out the gate at the scheduled 9am. So is Evan,which is a major acheivement!
9:30 sees us mostly assembled at the showgrounds for an unofficial anti-nuke parade that would almost be Critical Mass except for the car at the front. We do a couple of laps of the town centre then stop at the enviro centre to donate photos for a press release and have a cup of tea. It's after lunchtime now, so we head out to the organic shop a few kilometres from town to shop for staples and eat. A few nasty hills separate town from those shops and my knees do not like it at all. Evan is having the same problem, even though we're both carrying less than we were yesterday. Makes for a grumpy ride.
The locals lead us out of town and through a series of winding, hilly byways that apparently make for a nice ride. I'm not in the mood, I'd rather cruise down a nice busy motorway with lots of traffic, no hills and nice straight lines. A short, easy day is the requirement. By lunchtime (1:30pm) Ev and I are definitely struggling to hold it together, and Valerie has some gripe with Evan after he snapped at her at some point. This will no doubt be talked through at a meeting later, but for now Evan is working on Beck's bike and Cassie is trying to justify her car addiction to me. I'm trying to be patient but... the answer to "can I bring a car on the Cycle Against the Nuclear Cycle" is still "no". After a while Joe talks to me about bush camping a little and it sounds as though other people have talked to him since I did, as he's now focussed on bush and trees. It sounds as though a bit past the zoo is the best plan, so we agree to that and I leave.
Some time later I fill up water bottles at a playground near the Landsborough turnoff, then wander on down to the zoo. As suggested, just past the zoo is a pine plantation so after a photo shoot with one of the locals and a bit of exploring I decide to camp in "Science Area 24".Or near offer, the pines are easier to cook in by virtue of the dead zone underneath them. I cook rice then ring Evan. He's definitely off to his brother's place with Georgie on the train tonight, but will return in the morning. I toss up riding on but haven't seen a map and Valerie wants me to hang round. So I pitch my hammock in the pines and plan to leave early.
Stats: 43.2km, 2:54, 14.86km/h, max 73.6km/h (down the big hill from Eve and Bruce's place), totals 564/38:15. Big stats news for the day is that Evan now has a speedo again so the pressure is off me a little in the stats department.
9:30 sees us mostly assembled at the showgrounds for an unofficial anti-nuke parade that would almost be Critical Mass except for the car at the front. We do a couple of laps of the town centre then stop at the enviro centre to donate photos for a press release and have a cup of tea. It's after lunchtime now, so we head out to the organic shop a few kilometres from town to shop for staples and eat. A few nasty hills separate town from those shops and my knees do not like it at all. Evan is having the same problem, even though we're both carrying less than we were yesterday. Makes for a grumpy ride.
The locals lead us out of town and through a series of winding, hilly byways that apparently make for a nice ride. I'm not in the mood, I'd rather cruise down a nice busy motorway with lots of traffic, no hills and nice straight lines. A short, easy day is the requirement. By lunchtime (1:30pm) Ev and I are definitely struggling to hold it together, and Valerie has some gripe with Evan after he snapped at her at some point. This will no doubt be talked through at a meeting later, but for now Evan is working on Beck's bike and Cassie is trying to justify her car addiction to me. I'm trying to be patient but... the answer to "can I bring a car on the Cycle Against the Nuclear Cycle" is still "no". After a while Joe talks to me about bush camping a little and it sounds as though other people have talked to him since I did, as he's now focussed on bush and trees. It sounds as though a bit past the zoo is the best plan, so we agree to that and I leave.
Some time later I fill up water bottles at a playground near the Landsborough turnoff, then wander on down to the zoo. As suggested, just past the zoo is a pine plantation so after a photo shoot with one of the locals and a bit of exploring I decide to camp in "Science Area 24".Or near offer, the pines are easier to cook in by virtue of the dead zone underneath them. I cook rice then ring Evan. He's definitely off to his brother's place with Georgie on the train tonight, but will return in the morning. I toss up riding on but haven't seen a map and Valerie wants me to hang round. So I pitch my hammock in the pines and plan to leave early.Stats: 43.2km, 2:54, 14.86km/h, max 73.6km/h (down the big hill from Eve and Bruce's place), totals 564/38:15. Big stats news for the day is that Evan now has a speedo again so the pressure is off me a little in the stats department.
posted by Moz at 9:58 AM
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