The Road to Rockhampton is rocky...and long....and grey.

Day 15 of cycling? Maybe? Something close to that anyway!

After a night of "wild camping" at a rest stop which doesn't have overnight camping (which the lovely ladies in the library rightly said we would be fine to camp at), we arose, as fresh as you can be after a night asleep in the smallest tent in the world, next to a highway and railway line.

We ate a breakfast of cold porridge, cereal bars and the like, and set off ready. I looked out anxiously at the sky, and at the dark, angry clouds, and said I wast going to set off and cycling in a thunder and lightening storm if I could help. Admittedly I think this was much to the dismay of the gents, who felt it would be fine to cycle through it, but my head and heart just wasn't it.

So we pushed our bikes the 20 metres to the cafe and holed up there until the weather made its' mind up....
3 HOURS later, after talking to the tradesmen, also waiting in the cafe for any kind of clearing (2 of whom were from the North West!) and finally the rain cleared up. The lightening had stopped and we had lift off! Onto the highway, we had our first cycling in the rain in Australia experience, which was fine, and stopped for a break in a tiny town called Bajool for some lunch and a little rest, after completing possibly the fastest 35/40 kms we had ever done.

Coming back out onto the highway, the clouds above Rockhampton were dark and moody, lightening bolts splitting the sky, and thunder (or was it huge lorries?) heard in the distance. So 50 metres up the highway, we turned back, as there was no further stopping points between there and 35 kilometres further up the highway in Rockhampton. Back to Bajool, and into the only pub (which served hearty meals of crisps) we had no choice but to wait for the black clouds to disappear away from our destination. So a further hour and a half later we departed, heads down into a strong head wind, and pedalled on.

Moody Sky and a beer garden.

The boys and I entertaining themselves whilst we wait...

Finally we arrived in Rockhampton - the Home of Steak! We were weary, but pleased we had to have made it before nightfall, putting up the tents and heading to the nearest restaurant for award winning steak...and goats cheese on toast for the veggie!

Bye Bye Sheryl and Terry

Please excuse me, as I go along, these posts are going to be rarely in order, and often scattered all over the place - with rides in different orders and events here there and everywhere (however with a little imagination, I am sure you can piece it all together!)

So Day 13 of cycling, including all our breaks here and there, we landed in Gladstone, where Sheryl was due to depart us on a midnight train to Brisbane, then onto Singapore. Using warmshowers.com network, we stayed with the lovely Brad and Anthony in an old convent, where they generously put us up for two nights, and looked after us (which with a huge thunder storm last night we were really grateful for.

Gladstone was nice, very much an industrial town, and after a stroll around on our day off, we chilled and enjoyed the luxury of a sofa (god, it was amazing!) and watched some TV, before eating our final supper with Sheryl for a little while.

She packed up, hugged us all - and she even welled up after we gave her a hand drawn card of some bikes and a kangaroo (it may have been near tears of pity...or she may have had something in her eye). Then Sheryl and Terry left, and now there were three of us.

Shezza...post-getting shezzered

We decided to have a short day, via Mt Larcom. We cycled there, walked 100 metres up the hill, before encountering too many scary things like lizards and spiderwebs, before turning around and heading to the township of Mt Larcom, where we found the "free" campsite, may not be so free after all...so still working on where we are sleeping tonight (and hopefully avoiding another thunderstorm!), before a 80km cycle to the metropolis (or so it will seem to us) of Rockhampton tomorrow.

Celebrating our big walk (!) up a hill...a.k.a celebrating being scaredy cats!

Entertainment on the Road

Life on the road = limited entertainment time. Most nights we are exhausted by 8pm, and in our tents by 9pm (I never promised this trip was going to be rock n roll!) Although we get to relax of an afternoon, this is usually in a campsite. If we are lucky we get to mooch around a town or chill in a campsite pool (I know, it's a hard life!). If not, we are buying some mishmash of food and cooking it and just climbing bed, only to do it all over again. So, as you can imagine entertainment is somewhat limited...until now!

Whilst in Bundaberg, I was in need of a break and some ice cream, so Sheryl and I went to the beautiful Cold Rock Ice Creamery for some smashed ice cream.Tom and Adam went to get Tom a new wheel, due to Tom's ever increasing spoke replacement costs.

All was delicious and we returned to camp. The boys went off sniggering and into the pool...and this is when a true moment of beauty was born (WARNING...You cannot un-see this ):

The start of the ride - day one.

Having never really cycled any large distance in my life, I was pretty apprehensive about how far we could realistically cycle everyday. And after studying my dear friend Google maps, decided that I, for one, else wasn't going to travel all day by bike to end up in Caboolture (which is probably the equivalent of cycling out of Manchester all day to end up in Oldham (you'd be so disappointed wouldn't you?) So with my trusting comrades in town (they soon learnt not to trust me so wholeheartedly) and on a slightly cloudy Sunday morning, we set off on the train into the untold land of Caboolture.

Arriving in Caboolture, and with the wind at our backs, we nervously set off, and within about 30 minutes we relaxed into it. Leaving the bright lights behind us, and about halfway to our first stop of Caloundra, we followed Google maps to a tee...sort of. We were taken off the Steve Irwin Highway, and through some lovely forest to the east of Australia Zoo. We whooped and cheered and smugly rode two abreast, congratulating ourselves on a great adventure as we passed through beautiful landscapes. Crossing the Sunshine Highway, and passing few cars we arrived at a creek, where we settled in for a bit of lunch and a stretch, paddling in the warm shallow water.

Confidently double checking our phone maps for our following directions, a silence decended upon us. The good news? We were only 14 kms from Caloundra. The bad news? That is if we had a boat or we were willing to swim, dragging our bikes behind us.

So, only slightly more subdued, we returned the 10kms back to where we were supposed to turn off, only to be met with what can only very loosely be described as a track. A track that we had to follow for almost 2 hours, consisting of dirt bikers, sand and some nice spiky stones. Quietly we plodded on, playing 20 questions , and mainly trying to avoid punctures, sliding and tantrums.

Relatively unscathed, we finally rejoined the Steve Irwin Highway, and riding felt like silk on the beautiful road. At this point I may add I have never really considered road surfaces, comfy seats, slip streams and padded lucrative pants in such details - real cyclists, I salute you!

We finally rolled into Caloundra about 5pm, convincing a lovely campsite owner to take us know for the night, and wearily settling in for the evening, closing the evening in true Australian style with a BBQ and being in bed by 9.30pm.


Estimated kilometres: 53
Actual kilometres: 83

Prologue

I guess I could start this story anywhere. Tell you about my childhood in Cumbria and Lancashire, living in Spain and Bristol, and travelling through South America. I could tell you about life affirming moments, interesting encounters and the things that changed me and made me who I am. But that's not really relevant to this story.

This story begins in my office with no windows in Bristol, where I was researching our future Australia trip. I read that it is possible to cycle the East Coast of Australia (and subsequently learned it is possible to cycle the whole thing, but I think that is beyond my talents). The idea was born. So roping in 3 other people (who were very willingly roped I may add!), who between us have probably cycled less than 50kms in one sitting, we decided to cycle from Brisbane to Cairns.

1700kms. If you drive it that is. The scenic route is anything from 2000kms upwards. And of course we have decided to do this in the beautiful Queensland spring time...so around 30 degrees upwards.

We are all doing this for a number of different reasons; health, fitness, adventure and the challenge. Above all, is probably the traveller dream: to be able to say you did it differently than everyone else.

Despite what many have asked, we aren't getting sponsored or doing it for charity. BUT if you read this and feel inspired, then do something different and make it count. And if you want to support us, and give us a boost then please feel free to donate to a cause that is close to your heart or just give someone your time - please let us know about it, because some days are going to be long and hard, and that will keep us pedalling!

Thanks for reading, and we hope you enjoy the journey as much as we do!

Love Jane (and Tom and Adam and Sheryl)

And the bikes: Kylie, Colin, Neil and Terry.