(written by Nancy)

We packed up most of our things last night in our room at the hostel so this morning it was a fairly easy departure after we ate the remaining food we had for breakfast. I think we each had four pieces of toast – had to use up the remaining bread as it wouldn’t travel well.

We made our way through the various Noosa suburbs and stopped to pick up a few supplies at a Woolworths in Tewantin. While Dave was in shopping a couple of old guys stopped to look at the bikes and wanted to chat about what we were doing, where we were going, etc. They were both retired but rode their bikes around Noosa. One of the old guys was Harry Short – he said he used to be a racer but had retired a couple of years ago. Dave had come out by this time and they chatted about the bikes, the gearing, a hill on today’s route and all kinds of things – even how he had quit shaving his legs two years ago after shaving them since he was fifteen. The other old fellow said he was a former gold medallist – we didn’t get the details and we have very limited access to the web at the moment so can’t look him up – we’ll try to do that tomorrow.

Noosa coast

We were following the bike map that the tourist information center handed out – it was a good map in that it reflected the contours of the roads correctly but it was a little bit lacking on the names of the roads to turn on so we had quite a bit of map checking to make sure we were on the right roads. We had asked multiple people and different information centers about one of the routes on the map to see if it was paved. No one was particularly knowledgeable about the trails but all of them said looking at the map that they were sure it was paved. That particular route would drop us right into Kin Kin, our destination for the day.

New type of animal sign

We had quiet roads, very little traffic and reached a hill that various people had warned was very steep. It wasn’t too bad really, and half-way up there was a little turn-off for a stand selling fruit and veggies. They had bananas so Dave wanted to stop – we got a nice bunch of 4 lady finger bananas for $2. There was a funny money box to put your coins into as well. We got back on the road and just a little further up the hill we saw the turn off to the route that we wanted to take – Simpson’s Road. It was unsealed after all, but did not look too bad. However, as we made our way around a hill the road got a bit rougher. Then we had to go through a gate and the road ahead looked even rougher. We decided to go a bit further and check it out.

New friend on dirt track

Fruit stand no 2

We checked in with the local pub to see about camping, and they pointed us to the oval behind the pub and gave us the key to the bathrooms – all for $6 per person. We headed around the pub to pick our place and noticed a nice area and some picnic tables near the cricket clubhouse. Some guys were there putting up a new sun shade so we headed over there to set up camp. They were a kick to watch and listen to – not much care for following any safety standards but they got the job done and the sun shade is a nice touch.

Serious bamboo

The camp spot looks good – nice and quiet at the moment, though there are some kids playing nearby who will hopefully go home for dinner soon and it will be a quiet night. We do have a lovely golden retriever who has come to visit as well – he is very sweet. I think he smells the tomato sauce that Dave is cooking for our pasta tonight. We had some left over garlic and got a bottle of red from the pub so that together with some pine nuts will be the sauce for our noodles. Actually also used some of the spices that we have been carrying. Dave threatened to get rid of them unless we used them soon, so I think that means they are saved for now.

Tomorrow we head off to Tin Can Bay, which is supposed to be a nice place along the coast. It looks like it is about 75k or so, with no services between here and there. That is why we took a short day today – this appeared to be the only place around.

Off to eat our lovely pasta with red sauce and have a glass of red – here’s hoping for a restful night!

Not today thanks