(written by Nancy)

A nice sleep last night after a very spicy green curry chicken made by Dave for dinner. Perhaps that is the trick to a good night’s sleep… Blue skies again this morning, ducks wandering around the campsite quacking away.

We had a brief ‘discussion’ about proper tent packing methods this morning as we tried to repack the bags after spreading things here and there on the day off. The Hilleberg tent is constructed so that you can leave the inner tent and the rainfly connected so it can be quickly set up as one unit. We also have the footprint for the tent, which is attached to the tent by little pegs that go through loops at various points. Dave has a tendency to want to just keep everything all attached and roll it up together. In my view, this only makes sense where everything is dry, because if anything is wet then the whole thing gets wet when it is rolled up. It is rare that the footprint is dry but I seem to have to convince him that it would be smarter to take off the footprint and roll that up separately and keep the other parts separate to avoid getting them wet. And sometimes when the rainfly is really wet (which it sometimes is from condensation) it seems to make sense to me to separate the inner tent (which shouldn’t be wet) from the wet rainfly and roll that up separately from the wet rainfly. Anyway, we ‘discussed’ it again this morning, hopefully not too loud to wake up the neighbors. We will get it eventually (meaning we will finally do it in my logical way without having to discuss it each time….!)

We got on the Pacific Highway about 4k or so from the campsite. The highway has a very wide shoulder, so while the traffic is a bit loud it is pretty good riding. It was pretty flat and because it is a major freeway any hills were very slight. We had to stop once for Dave to take a scenic break (smallest bladder in the universe, except at night!). We had some great riding until Dave tried to take a side road, thinking that it was a frontage road that would take us off the freeway for a bit. Unfortunately it did not – it ended at someone’s gated driveway! At that point Dave headed over the edge trying to get back down to the highway. As I tried to follow him down the very steep bank he stood down on the shoulder taking pictures instead of trying to help me – a few loud yells later he finally came up to help me down the last bit. I suggested that he not try to be so tricky next time and just stay on the XXXX freeway.

We stopped at Moreland Cottage in Moreland to sample the best scones on the coast. It was a great little place – we sat in the sunny courtyard and had coffee and scones with cream and jam. And they were very good! It was hard to leave but we forced ourselves to get back on the bikes.

We had a great ride from Moreland, benefit from great tailwinds. I think we covered 28k in less than an hour, which is not bad on loaded touring bikes. Certainly the fastest we have gone on this trip so far. At one point we had pulled over to do something and saw this line of furry caterpillars on a suicide mission, heading out to cross the highway. As they got near the road a big truck went by it didn’t hit them but the wind from the truck blew the line into all kinds of disarray. As we left them they seemed to be regrouping to try another shot at crossing. Sadly, I expect they will join the many other little brown spots we see on the roads…

We got off the highway on Bago Road to head directly up to Wauchope. This was a nice road, pretty quiet and through lots of forest. It was a bit hilly and a bit rough in spots but was a nice ride. We made our way into Wauchope and stopped to try to find a caravan park that we thought was here. Unfortunately there is no visitor information center here so we wandered a bit until we finally stopped to check on Google maps where it was supposed to be. Dave rang them and it turned out they were back at the other end of town that we passed through. We debated a bit what to do, as we have a hilly stretch of about 165k ahead that appears to have very little in the way of services and we wanted to do some organizing and planning to get ready for some wild bush camping. As with any decision, it is always better made on a full stomach so we stopped for sustenance (an egg and bacon roll) at the ‘West End Store’ and to discuss what to do. Eventually we decided to blow the budget and stay in a hotel on the end of town where we were – there is a grocery store nearby and we can get everything charged and organized before we head off in the morning on the Oxley Highway toward Walcha.

We have resupplied at the store and picked up a mass of fruit and yogurt to eat for dinner. We will head off at first light tomorrow to see if we can make it at least 80k – we’d like to do this bit in two days, but have packed enough for three days in case the hills really slow us down. We may be out of mobile range as we head through the hills so don’t be surprised if there is a gap in posting for the next couple of days…