April 2nd til May 10, and May 16th/
kilometer: 1.507
bike days: 17
Brisbane - Beerwah - Noosaville - Pomona - Gympie - Maryborough - Bundaberg - Miriam Vale - Gladstone - Rockhampton - Marlborough - Clearview - Mackay - Broombury - Airlie Beach - Bowen - Ayr - Townsville
After an awesome time in New Zealand and my great hosts in Brisbane, Keith and Suzie, it was time to hit the road again. there are still 9000km to cycle and I want to be in Perth in September.
Due to my bad experience with the traffic in bigger cities I took a train from to Beerwah, which is close to the Australia Zoo, founded by the unforgetable crocodile hunter, Steve Irvine.
www.australiazoo.com.au
I already visited this zoo in 2007, so no reason to go there again. usually the Glass House Mountains are beautiful, but it was bucketing and I did not see anything.
Well, the days were not so exciting, cycling, eating, sleeping..... I used to stay on the Bruce Highway, (A1) which is quite good to cycle. a lot traffic, but the pavement is not as bad as in the hinterland and there is more shoulder.
In Rockhampton I tried to stay at a host from "warmshowers.org", but this went to my first bad experience (after 20 terrific good ) . I always keep my hosts updated about my time of arrival. when I arrived in Rockhampton I sent him a textmessage. he told me that he is currently in a meeting and after over exhausting 100 km, I had been been waiting for over one hour, not to know , when and where to stay. this is one of my few principles and a matter of well-behaved: no one waits for me (uninformed) and if someone let me wait for such a long time (uninformed) , I do not want to have a contact anymore. I decided to go to a caravan park.
My next hosts in Mackay were awesome. Peter and Jacki hosted me for three nights and we had a lot of fun together. Peter is very busy to improve cycling in and around Mackay and has excellent information.
In Airlie Beach I got an invitation to spend two nights in an appartement at the marina.... the biggest luxury I ever had :-) I had three bedrooms, two bathrooms, balcony , kitchen all with equipment from "Miele" for my own. a swimming pool in the courtyard. during my stay there was no reason to leave this accommodation, because in 2007 I already had a sailing and divetrip to the Whitsunday Islands.
I tried to get a dive trip in Bowen, but it did not wok, so I was heading off to Alva Beach.
The divetrip to the
S.S. Yongala was awesome ! two dives and so many fish, turtels, stingray...pics below. really breathtaking, but the divecenter
www.yongaladive.com.au is one of the worst dive-companies, I ever had been diving with. the
check-in was a desaster, because the dive-instructor wanted to see a
medical certificate from me, but did not accepted my current one and told me wrong things about law in Queensland: my medical certificate must not be older than one year and I
should go to a special dive doctor, who is 16km away.... I was totally pissed off, because the cancellation policy of this company says, that you have to pay the full amount (270 AUD) if you make mistakes with your documents.... the next
morning, her collegue told me that I do not need anything. two
signatures on a PADI-form, that was all. the briefing by the dive
instructor on the speed boat, in front of insane loud engines, was the next issue, and third, a grumpy
skipper who made stupid comments about my nationality; after the second
bloody comment, I was fed up with his behaviour and stopped him).
I arrived in Townsville at the bike shop,(
www.thebicyclepedlar.com)from my hosts, Mick and Jenny. I spent six nights at their quite new home, had my own bathroom and we had so much fun together.
My Rohloff was leaking and the importer in Australia, Paul Moir (
Pure Sports Ltd.) whom I already met in NSW, send all parts and tools to Mick. All perfectly organized, when I arrived... wow, what a big help. I hope, Mick will become the official Rohloff-Partner in Townsville :-)
Thank you both for your terrific hospitality and hope to see you again !
I decided, not to cycle to Cairns, because it is quite a circuitous tour and my motivation, to cycle 700km to Cairns and back to Townsville (where the highway to Darwin starts) through boring sugarcane fields, was very low.
I stored my bike and luggage at my hosts and took a rental car to Cairns. more about this trip in the next post !
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| Black Mountains |
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| olive plantations |
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| ISIS ??? |
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| ginger beer brewery in Bundaberg |
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| coal transport in Gladstone |
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| power station in Gladstone |
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| aluminium factory from Rio Tinto |
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| no, I did not go there.... |
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| since I have this sign on my rear, car-drivers are more friendly and respectful ;-) |
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| big load :-) |
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| fellow cyclist from Scotland |
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| so long distances |
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| sunrise in Clearview |
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| good to know! honestly I considered to put sugarcane on my bike ;-) |
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| not only for the kids ;-) |
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| Karsten & Carina from Germany, which supported me with two cans of coke and juice :-) thanky, mates ! |
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| Welcome to "Croc-Land" :-) |
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| my luxury accommodation in Airlie Beach... WOW ! |
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| view from the balcony |
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| early bird... on the road again. |
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| old railway track along the sugarcane fields |
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| Big Mango |
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| was not so bad. lucky guy |
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| gravel pressed into bitumen, very rough. and on the right sight of the white line much smoother, but more dangerous. |
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| I am the "Dyson-devil" ;-) housework at my hosts in Townsville |
awesome evening with my hosts Mick and Jenny (sitting, left to right), Steph and Alex from "tandem-down-under", who I met the fourth time in Australia and Ian, a friend of Mick and Jenny and cyclist as well. so much fun !
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| Bildunterschrift hinzufügen |
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| Good Bye Jenny and Mick and 1000thanks for your great hospitality !! |
Diving at the wreck.
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| turtle |
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| seasnake.. |
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| stingray |
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| the most dangerous animal in Australia: Oppossum ;-) |
