(September 28, 2020 - written by Dave) Last night was the first night of the trip in the tent and it was a bit rough. Nancy says the tent is too small, the sleeping pads are too noisy and that I snore. I slept the better of the two of us but also noticed that … Continue reading To the Hunter – Gosford to Cessnock (99k/1,050m)

(September 27, 2020 - written by Dave) We’re off, minus one. Roman ended up not joining us today because his bike is in pieces and he needs a part that won’t arrive until early this week. He’s already ridden this section recently so he didn’t mind hanging back and then next week, using the train … Continue reading Minus One – St Leonards to Gosford (65k/980m)

(July 27, 2020 - written by Dave) No, we’re not on another trip. We are thinking about it, but we are kind of waiting to see how our little state-wide Covid case uptick plays out. We had 12 new cases in our state yesterday. That’s not a lot, but with new daily cases still totalling … Continue reading Mapping a route, before Covid closed everything

(July 4, 2020 - written by Dave) Our original goal for this trip was to reach the Big Banana. We aren’t really “big thing spotters”, but the Big Banana gave us something to shoot for. We were super excited (OK, maybe that was just me) to reach our goal in Coffs Harbour. For sure it … Continue reading Summary – The Big Banana Covid escape tour

(July 1, 2020 - written by Dave) That’s it, we’re done. We made it to Casino and are heading back to Sydney on the train tomorrow. We still have to ride 1 km from our Casino Hotel back to the train station in the morning but I already counted that distance in our mileage totals. … Continue reading Lismore to Casino – Riding into the sunset of this tour (42k/365m)

(June 30, 2020 - written by Dave) Our third night in the YHA was the best one, but to achieve this, I had to be a bit of a grumpy old man. We’ve found that most of the hostels on this trip are full of semi-permanent residents, mostly international travellers. They can’t get home and … Continue reading Byron Bay to Lismore – A ride in the hinterlands (71k/1,144m)

(June 29, 2020 - written by Dave) Byron oh Byron, what to make of you? (hipsters don’t say Byron Bay, it’s just Byron) The official Byron Bay tourist website states the following: Byron Bay is a coastal town located on the far-north coast of NSW, Australia. Home to Australia’s most easterly point and the iconic … Continue reading Day 18-19 – Impressions of Byron Bay

(June 27, 2020 - written by Dave) As noted yesterday, rain was forecast to start this morning at 7AM. If this had happened, it would have been right in the middle of our packing up and I would have been in trouble (for pushing us to camp last night). I’m happy, no make that thrilled, … Continue reading Evans Head to Byron Bay – Ride to the end of the earth (72k/340m)

(June 26, 2020 - written by Dave) We had another quiet night in the Calypso Caravan Park. Our little 1950s apartment worked out swell (I’ve been trying to figure a way of including the word “swell” in a post for weeks – finally!) Our apartment was actually cleaner than we thought it would be and … Continue reading Yamba to Evans Head – Koala proof fence (69k/221m)