Thursday 28 Jan
Difficulty- Shanna (very tired) 6, Sam 3.
Distance- 54km
Weather- Mostly overcast, 35C, Late storm.
Grafton (ten k's past) to Woombah
The morning began with the roar of another truck's engine and we awoke long before our alarm at 5 am. We lay and listened to the trucks for awhile, not because we enjoyed the noise, but because we couldn't yet be bothered packing our gear and making breakfast. Lethargically we scraped together some breakfast; bits of bread, some oats and protein mixed in cold water, and just before 7 am we pulled out of the little old town we never knew the name of, mounted our trusty steeds and pushed off into the distance.
Much to our pleasant surprise the riding was surprisingly easy, and the hills we had envisioned never really materialised. As we travelled we watched the river slowly meander it's way between the town's, and marveled at some of the grand, and often dillapidated houses which sat upon its banks. Some of these once great (and still gorgeous) buildings sat so close to the highway that there window panes would rattle as the trucks screamed past, and we silently wondered how their inhabitants were able to ignore the deafening roar.
Despite the clouds we realised we were being burnt, so once again we applied another layer of sunscreen to our greasy, sweaty bodies before we arrived around lunchtime in Woombah.
We pulled into the Woombah caravan park, located in some beautiful woods not far from the Pacific highway. It was quiet, had a great pool, BBQ area and the lady even gave us her only key to the games shed so we could use the fridge and watch a DVD while we stayed.
We enjoyed a luxurious, restful afternoon – floating in the pool, talking, listening to our little stereo while we cooked a BBQ. The lady running the place sold us a packet of sausages, an onion, two potatoes and four eggs for $4.90. She leant us some tomato sauce and we already had our own bread. It was time to cook up a feast!
As we enjoyed ourselves in the pool we hoped that this was how we would spend much of our trip – riding from one place to the next in the morning, and spending the afternoon relaxing – often swimming we hope!
As we watched a movie late in the afternoon the rain began to fall. We ran down to our campsite to pack our things into the panniers and make sure they were closed properly. As we did, Shanna struck on the idea of using the game shed to store our things – after all, we had the key and the lady had said we were the only ones using it. So we ran our bikes up in the rain and felt happy that they were safe and dry.
Back down in our tent the storm was getting worse. Thunder and lightening surrounded us and the humidity was stifling – it looked like it was going to get a lot worse! The rain began bucketing down and with the sides of the tent zipped most of the way up to stop rain getting in 'it was like a sauna'! Shanna remarked. So Sam struck on an idea – why not take our tent and set it up in the shed?
So another couple of trips through the rain saw us run all our things up to the shed. The shed had a gate door so it meant we were able to get some air circulating without letting in the rain, which bucketed down all night. It was still a hot, sticky night though. And despite being exhausted, Shanna found sleep hard to come by (meaning she would still be a sooky bubba the next day...)
Difficulty- Shanna (very tired) 6, Sam 3.
Distance- 54km
Weather- Mostly overcast, 35C, Late storm.
Grafton (ten k's past) to Woombah
The morning began with the roar of another truck's engine and we awoke long before our alarm at 5 am. We lay and listened to the trucks for awhile, not because we enjoyed the noise, but because we couldn't yet be bothered packing our gear and making breakfast. Lethargically we scraped together some breakfast; bits of bread, some oats and protein mixed in cold water, and just before 7 am we pulled out of the little old town we never knew the name of, mounted our trusty steeds and pushed off into the distance.
Much to our pleasant surprise the riding was surprisingly easy, and the hills we had envisioned never really materialised. As we travelled we watched the river slowly meander it's way between the town's, and marveled at some of the grand, and often dillapidated houses which sat upon its banks. Some of these once great (and still gorgeous) buildings sat so close to the highway that there window panes would rattle as the trucks screamed past, and we silently wondered how their inhabitants were able to ignore the deafening roar.
Despite the clouds we realised we were being burnt, so once again we applied another layer of sunscreen to our greasy, sweaty bodies before we arrived around lunchtime in Woombah.
We pulled into the Woombah caravan park, located in some beautiful woods not far from the Pacific highway. It was quiet, had a great pool, BBQ area and the lady even gave us her only key to the games shed so we could use the fridge and watch a DVD while we stayed.
We enjoyed a luxurious, restful afternoon – floating in the pool, talking, listening to our little stereo while we cooked a BBQ. The lady running the place sold us a packet of sausages, an onion, two potatoes and four eggs for $4.90. She leant us some tomato sauce and we already had our own bread. It was time to cook up a feast!
As we enjoyed ourselves in the pool we hoped that this was how we would spend much of our trip – riding from one place to the next in the morning, and spending the afternoon relaxing – often swimming we hope!
As we watched a movie late in the afternoon the rain began to fall. We ran down to our campsite to pack our things into the panniers and make sure they were closed properly. As we did, Shanna struck on the idea of using the game shed to store our things – after all, we had the key and the lady had said we were the only ones using it. So we ran our bikes up in the rain and felt happy that they were safe and dry.
Back down in our tent the storm was getting worse. Thunder and lightening surrounded us and the humidity was stifling – it looked like it was going to get a lot worse! The rain began bucketing down and with the sides of the tent zipped most of the way up to stop rain getting in 'it was like a sauna'! Shanna remarked. So Sam struck on an idea – why not take our tent and set it up in the shed?
So another couple of trips through the rain saw us run all our things up to the shed. The shed had a gate door so it meant we were able to get some air circulating without letting in the rain, which bucketed down all night. It was still a hot, sticky night though. And despite being exhausted, Shanna found sleep hard to come by (meaning she would still be a sooky bubba the next day...)
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