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| Stopping to be tourists |
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| Tourist Cyclists! |
All sorted we hastily packed up and after a bit of a false start (we'd forgotten to sign out) we were on our way. Again we faced a fairy decent climb within a couple of kilometres of the start, not as bad as the previous day but still enough to wake me up! On the plus side, the cooler weather had made the flies disappear, which was a welcome relief.
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| Much cooler weather |
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| The sneaky coffee stop |
For the most part it was a fairly cruisy ride once we were over the hill. I felt a bit bad for not doing the unsealed as I suspect there would have been much nicer scenery, however as things turned out, it probably wasn't a bad decision. We were riding on what appeared to be fairly major roads, however the traffic was light and courteous. Our coffee van had made a sneaky stop at the turn off to Hog Bay Road and as always, was well patronised when we rolled by.
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| Mr Carl doing what he does best! |
Actually, we had been hoping the coffee van would make an appearance at the rest stop, since we had inadvertently packed our cups with our luggage and sent it on ahead, but it was not to be. It would have been a good day for a cuppa too, the misty weather was a little on the chilly side and hadn't really cleared since morning. We consoled ourselves with a juice and some fruitcake and spent sometime chatting to our fellow riders.
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| Lush, roadside vegetation |
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| Mr Carl - Photographer |
So after having a relaxing chat and nibble, we all headed off. Shortly after we entered this lovely stretch of road that looked like we were riding through a rainforest! I couldn't believe my eyes (there's not much between KI and the Antarctic but the occasional stray whale) so I had to stop and get a photo. I think I was beginning to get a bit of a reputation as paparazzi nut as I was happily snapping away at anyone who rode past!
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| No more photos! |
Karen and Brett (aka Spiky and Nutella Bob) rode past posing for the camera. Or at least that's how I saw it, Karen since tells me that's her "no don't take a picture of me" hand wave. After a few more snaps, Mr Carl and I took off after the renegade bobs. We soon caught them and decided it was time to do some sportif training!
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| Beginning the Bob's Freight Train |
With Nuttella Bob in the lead, we formed the Bob's freight train (Mr Carl was an honorary Bob), picking up other riders as we motored along. Spiky Bob was still struggling with the notion she had signed herself up for sportiffs, but she hung on for quite a while until Mr Carl took a turn on the front and blew the group apart. If anyone wonders why I'm usually out of breathe when I ride with him, that's why - I'm usually struggling to keep up!
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| Nutella Bob loves hills! |
Having lost the rest of the Bobs, we decided to keep motoring, especially as the sky was getting darker. This plan was working well until a nasty hill about 15km from Parndana, our end point for the day. Mr Carl told me afterward that the hill had a 15% gradient in some places, which isn't very nice at the end of the day. So in the true spirit of bike touring, I stopped to take photos (and breathe, but that wasn't the real reason)! After capturing Nutella Bob struggling his way to the top I thought I really ought to get going and so, with only two scenery stops, I made it to the top. There was a brief discussion as to whether we should wait with Brett for Karen, but with the sky darkening and rain beginning to fall, Mr Carl and I decided that all haste was needed in getting to Parndana.
The next 15km were wet, dreary and a bit miserable, but I'm glad to say they were the only time in the whole trip that we were rained on while riding. We rocked up to Parndana sopping wet, with the rain still falling, albeit tapering off. With this in mind we thought we'd get the tent up quick smart in fairly close proximity to the toilets and food (but not too close, it's a fine line). I think Carl and I got the tent up in record time, at which point it stopped raining. Still, it's nice to know we can hustle when we have to.
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| Dreary, wet and miserable, but still pretty |
Now you think being in camp, our worries would be over. A shower, a hot chocolate, a massage, a nice meal and the day would be done. Well I had all those things (the hot chocolate was so amazing that I'm still suffering withdrawals), but little did I know that our troubles were just beginning.
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| CX practice while sightseeing |
It's probably worth mentioning at this point the awesome job the footy club did providing our meals. I had a brief discussion with one of the ladies involved in the cooking and they had many issues trying to get supplies to feed in excess of 200 people (Parndana's usual population is about 60 apparently). The chicken supplied was originally meant to be whole chickens, but somehow changed to maryland fillets then when the lady rocked up there were breast fillets! Given their plans to cook it on the weber she had been worried it would be dry, however the food was amazing and the footy club was a wonderful venue to host three times the towns population of hungry cyclists!
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| Nutella Bob really likes hills! |
KI's a very good place to get away from it all as there is very little in the way of reception. So for me, who has a habit of checking news and weather fairly regularly, it was a nice break. However the outside world goes on without us and we were reminded of this by Mark, a fire fighter from NSW, gave us an update on the fires that were burning in that state. Mark had a very personal relationship with the fires, not only as a fire fighter but also as someone who lived in the area. The fires had been within 5 km of his house and before leaving for annual tour he had been fighting fires that had destroyed homes.
As the rain came down we all wished we could somehow send it over to the fires, but since we couldn't, we did the next best thing, chucked some change in a bucket to go to the Red Cross to help with the recovery effort.
As we were eating and listening to our companions stories, the rain kept falling. Slowly the room got louder and louder and the rain got heavier and heavier. Suddenly the sky was lit up with the flash of lightning and thunder roared in our ears. At this point in time, everyone was looking nervously at the tents in which we would be sleeping, wondering if they would hold up to the storm that was on top of us.
Parndana footy club saved many people the indignity of a damp rest by offering the use of their giant shed (apparently some bunk beds as well) for all those who were worried. The volunteers we were seated with suggested that moving into the shed would be highly advisable, however Mr Carl and I, being the highly experienced campers that we are, decided to tough it out in our tent. As we snuggled into our sleeping bags, with the rain bucketing down, lightning streaking across the sky and thunder in our ears, I wondered would we survive the night?
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| Do we need one of these to get through the night? |
Strava data for the day
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