|
|
LOOPING OZ |
|
By Meredith |
|
|
Meredith’s version Day 1 You would think that leaving the We’d had our Oo-roo
party about three weeks before we actually left because our departure had
been delayed a number of times for a number of reasons. So when we were finally able to leave, even
though it was the late afternoon, it took very little discussion to decide to
head off that day rather than waiting until the next day. We’d been waiting so long that we were
poised like rocks in a sling-shot, ready to take off up North as fast as we
could go. We decided to head down the
All went well until the turn off to Landsborough. We were feeling confident because we’d passed Caboolture, the bikes were running well and we were coping with the lowering temperatures. Alan signaled that we would be turning into Landsborough and I went to open the throttle a bit to comply, only to find that nothing happened! It was broken! Luckily I was able to glide into a truck bay at the intersection. A quick examination found that the little bit at the end of the throttle cable had come off so it wasn’t anchored anymore. Alan was well organized so was able to pull out all the necessary tools, a length of solder and to use the camp stove to weld a new lump on the bottom. While the work was going on we worked out that if worse came to worst then we’d be able to push the bike to the caravan park over the road and wait ‘til morning. It wasn’t yet dark so we were feeling hopeful. Alan had just started getting into it when a battered old Corolla came bouncing across the truck bay towards us. I didn’t think too much of it until the car stopped and out stepped our mate Greg. He’d been on the way home from work and recognized the bike and came over to see what was happening. By this time it was starting to get dark and Greg and I held the torches while Alan welded and filed and crimped and swore. Eventually he got the throttle working pretty well and we were ready to head off. Greg had invited us back to his place at Maleny for tea, a bed and a roaring log fire. After tea Alan and Greg went up to the shed to put the finishing touches to the throttle while I stayed in the house and watched TV with Deb and Fraser. When I later went up to the shed, Greg tried to teach me how to play ‘Halo’ on the X-Box with little success! What a fantastic end to the first day out! The bike had broken down but we’d fixed it, we’d caught up with some old friends, had a delicious tea, great conversation and a warm and comfortable bed. We headed off the next day full of positive omens for the trip to come. Day 2 It had been a very cold night the night before, but we slept snug and headed off into the cool morning air in all our layers. It was a beautiful morning for a ride, wending our way through the back roads to Gympie. At Gympie we decided to take a bit of a back road and head inland down the Burnett Hwy. There seemed to be a lot of caravans on the Bruce Hwy and we figured we could get quieter roads inland. We had a lovely ride out through Kilkivan and Gayndah and eventually stopped at Eidsvold for the night. We had thought to go on a bit further but Eidsvold was a pretty town and had a nice caravan park overlooking the golf course, so we decided to stay. We set up camp and then wandered in to town to get supplies. The town was neat and the people were friendly, and in chatting to them we discovered that they’d had some unusually low temperatures in the recent nights – getting down to zero. Then, as the sun dropped, the temperature dropped. After tea, the only sensible thing to do was to hop into bed to keep warm. The temperature kept dropping and I eventually slept in all my layers. I had on socks, gloves and a singlet and long johns. I also had on my super-duper fleecy liner from my riding jacket and of course my beanie. I then slipped inside my silk liner, then slipped the whole bundle into the thermal liner, pulled the hood over my head, slipped inside my fleecy blanket liner then jammed all that inside the sleeping bag and pulled the hood over my head too. By the time I stuffed myself and all the liners into the sleeping bag I was as warm as toast. As the night wore on I began to cool off and my nose was starting to feel brittle, and to make matters worse, I needed a pee! So out I crawled and did the deed. It was freezing and I was freezing so I dug deep in the bike bags and grabbed the emergency blanket as my last resort. Then I got back in the tent, re-cocooned myself and wrapped the emergency blanket around the entire mound, just for luck. Day 3 That night I slept ok as long as I didn’t move and let little whooshes of cold air in to my nest. The next morning we got up at around 8am to discover that there was still frosty ice on the bikes and the tarp and that the temperature had got to -2 or -3 the night before. No wonder I’d been cold! We broke camp and continued along
the We set up camp at the Cania Gorge Tourist Retreat. There were heaps of caravans and nomads and our tent was the only one. We went off for a lovely walk through an area of the National Park bordering the camping area. The air was cool but we weren’t too worried because we figured that if we survived last night we’d be ok tonight. But then we got to chatting to other people in the camp kitchen and bit by bit pieced together that the night before was -3, that it didn’t start warming up until mid-morning and tonight was expected to be worse! I started getting worried. Then like the night before, the sun went down, but unlike the night before, the temperature didn’t just drop it plummeted. “Call me a whimp!” I said to Alan “But I think we should see if they have any cabins free for the night.” “We’ll be right,” said Alan, “We were ok last night we’ll be ok tonight.” So I let it ride. By “I’m sorry Alan,” I whimpered at 6.30, “You can stay in the tent if you like, but I’m going to see if I can get a cabin with a heater.” So I went up to the office and paid the extra money for a cabin. Alan reluctantly decided to join me because, “You really need two people in the tent to keep it warm,” he said. I turned the two bar heater on high and huddled around it. Once I was warm, I ventured out to get the essentials from the tent. That night I slept well snuggled up in my sleeping bag, and I didn’t need any of the extra layers from the night before. Day 4 The next morning it was still bitterly cold and there was a crust of frosty ice on everything but I was busy enough packing the bikes that I didn’t freeze solid. While we were packing the bikes, the retreat’s pet kangaroo came up to play and started trying to box with us. For some reason it liked me better than Alan and every time I turned my back it would come up and have a go with its back legs. Eventually I shooed it away and it went off to hone its boxing skills on the hammocks suspended between the trees. Once we were packed we tried to start the bikes. My bike started reasonably well because it had been mostly under the tarp, but Alan’s bike wouldn’t even turn over. He thought it might have had a flat battery, but after he left it in the sun for a while he found that it was merely frozen solid! Once thawed a bit he got get it to turn over and finally we were on our way again. In chatting to the other travellers over the last few days we’d found out that the
National Historical Machinery Show was on at Biloela that weekend. Apparently it is only on every two years
and is held in different parts of When we pulled up at the show the line to get in was a good 200m long and apparently it had been much longer all morning. What an amazing show it was. We only stayed for a few hours but it was just delightful to hear the shush-shush and thonk-thonk of the old machinery everywhere. Some great old steam tractors were being driven around the grounds and there was a thick booklet containing the program of events including tractor pulls and heavy horse skills competitions and lots of other things that went a bit over my head! I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many old men in one place before, and I’ve certainly never seen so much old machinery. We headed to Rockhampton for the night only to be advised that there were no camping facilities in town so decided to go on to Yeppoon. We had expected Yeppoon to be a sleepy little fishing town, but discovered that it is an active little metropolis. When we went to locate a camp site we found out that all the sites and caravan parks were full. This was a bit of a worry, so we went to the information place and jagged the last room available in town for the night. I couldn’t believe it. Everywhere we’d been going so far had been full of people. Was it the Biloela machinery show, or was it just Southerners escaping the cold? Time would tell, I guess. The place where we stayed, called Sea Spray, was a self contained unit right on the beach in walking distance to the town center. It was very quaint and reasonably priced, so we were pretty happy with it. Day 5 I was still in fear of the cold so we continued up the coast to Day 6 & 7 In the morning we packed up and headed in to Mackay for an early finish for the day. I am sitting in an internet shop right next to the Central Tourist Park where we are staying. Mackay looks good and Alan has had the chance to d a bit of service on the two bikes while I’ve done the washing. The weather is warmer and we are both wearing shorts – but only because our pants are on the line! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
