Cyclemoon - Special towns

Cyclemoon - Roadside scenery

Cycle moon - Food

Food is the most important factor in enjoyment of a cycle tour and we ate well.  Despite all our activity, losing any body weight was impossible with the high protein food I'd packed and all the treats along the way...

MORE TO COME

Emma and Gilbert's Cycle Moon 10th - 22nd April 2011

With a wedding that began with a bicycle ride, a cycle moon was a logical way to continue to celebrate our auspicious occasion and to ensure that I had found a cycle companion to follow me to the ends of the earth.

Riding out of Brisbane City

A couple of days after the wedding and laden with left over baked tea part treats, we farewelled family and caught the train to Ipswich to launch off on our trusty bikes (well, mine was trusty and well-tested and Gilbert became acquainted with Dad's)  beyond the urban sprawl of greater Brisbane.

Over the next 9.5 days (we didn't get going from Ipswich until well after midday) and almost 600km, we cycle southwest, over several mountain ranges and through vegetation which started out agricultural, briefly became wet rainforest and lush pastures and gradually dried out to the almost desert of the Pilaga Scrub, with faded colours of cypress, wattle, ironbark and brigalow.  We passed through ghost towns, dying towns, vibrant regional hubs with all the culinary delights hungry cyclists could wish for (especially vegetarian ones).  We hit one unwelcoming town where heads turned and stared silently (I could almost hear the slow slide guitar of a western movie) and the cafe woman greeted us with as much interest as she showed in her figure.  The highlight town was a stunning, restored Art Deco gem, Bingara, that we already have plans to return to.

Names we pedalled through included many aboriginal:

• Boonah - Bloodwood tree
• Bukkulla
• Bingara (?) - creek or shallow water
• Narrabri - forked waters

And then drove (yes, we cheated at the end due to lack of time)  through:

• Piliga (or Billarga) - swamp oak
• Bugaldie - Blossoms destroyed by opossums
• Coonabarabran- Inquisitive person (that was the town with the head-turners and the more polite definition) or more directly translated from poo - an earlier meaning "bowdlerised" to peculiar odour
• Warrumbungle - crooked mountains

 It was refreshing after the manic planning of a wedding, a house full of people and the big event (all of which were special) to be just the two of us, our bikes and the big outdoors with daily simple decisions of where to eat and sleep and plenty of pedalling time for lapping up the scenery, pondering and daydreaming.  The hardest thing was getting going early enough in the morning to arrive at our daily destination before nightfall.  We failed at the latter consistently (something I've never done before) but managed a couple of early starts. 

Thanks to generous wedding gifts from our family and friends, we were, at times, able to indulge in real beds, decadent breakfasts, cakes and thickshakes, posh dinners, siesta-inducing lunches and a bus home at the end.  The ability to have frills on our otherwise down-to-earth honeymoon made it all the more special.

For more photos, visit:
Stage 1 - Brisbane to Amiens
Stage 2 - Amiens to Inverell

A summary of our route:
Day 1 - train to Ipswich and 55km ride to and around Boonah (stayed in Motel)
Day 2 - Wild Camp on start of climb to Carr's Lookout (with cows)
Day 3 - 44/66km to east of Stanthorpe (stayed with friend Jonathan)
Day 4 - Rest day and fine tuning of gear and bikes in Stanthorpe and exhibition opening at art gallery
Day 5 - 18km - to Dragonweyr via winery to stay with friends Adrian and Esme
Day 6 - 88km to Glenlyon Lake - campground
Day 7 - 81.5km to Ashford to take over the hotel
Day 8 - 56 km to Inverell through rain (motel)
Day 9 - 113.3km to Glacial Valley near Rocky Creek (camped)
Day 10 - 74.5km to Narrabri (campground)
Total 580km (8.5 riding days)

Day 11 - Narrabri errands and drive to Warrumbungles through Pillaga Scrub
Day 12 - Drive and walk through Warrumbungles, aboriginal relics in Pillaga and stayed at Pillaga Pottery
Day 13 - Drive to Moree to catch bus home -
Total driving in 2 days 500km - does that undo all the good of our riding from Brisbane?

Summit of walk in Warrumbungles.  Our legs ached for days after the 1000 step climb.

Marney Forest Limes

With the temptation of seeing Elizabeth and Paul's farm, spending some more time with the lovely Flower family and being in the midst of amotorhead car rally, Uwe and I decided to have a rest day after only 1.5 days of riding (very hilly, though).

After a lazy breakfast with the family, Paul took us out to the property first in their ancient Volvo, with working dogs eminating a strong odour from the back and then in the back tray of the Landcruiser ute mostly swept free of evidence from the last passengers - a couple of cows.

The Flower Farm (or Marney's Forest), has been managed organically for some time and has recently received organic certification. Land not used for crops or cattle has been left to regenerate and it has done a surprisingly efficient job. A hillside bare in Paul's childhood is now a substantial young forest.

Our work for the day (though not under great pressure) was to work along the rows of organic Tahitian limes on the east-facing slopes of the upper farm and pick the fruit for the next delivery to Food Connect in Brisbane. It was surprising to see how the fertility of the trees varied so much - some with branches weighed right down to the ground and others with little to pick. Recent frosts had turned many limes golden on one side making them difficult to sell in the mainstream market but fine for more open-minded Food Connect subscribers.

The lime grove is circled by dingo fencing to protect its grazers and weed controllers (young emus and self-shedding sheep) from these native hazards. The sheep were elusive but the emus were very inquisitive, especially with grain around (see photo above). Emus are extremely efficient eaters of broad-leafed weeds and the sheep of the fast-growing grass, normally controlled by toxic Roundup. And they fertilise as they go!

Back at the grand old family home in Kyogle, we revived ourselves with the divine Marney Forest lime cordial, destined to be a hit through Food Connect and health food stores, and later set to work hand polishing each lime with a cloth, ready for shipment. It was nice to know that the limes we picked would be enjoyed by many of my friends when they collect their fruit boxes next week.

Across the range to Kyogle

For a description of the ride to Bellingen until I find the time to indulge in writing about the beautiful trip, go to the cycle touring summary at wetpaint

On the road again

I'm back in Australia safe and sound and happy to be home despite still having strong wanderlust. My bike survived the two flights home, thanks to the meticulous packing by Walnut Creek Robert and beautiful box decorating by Jennifer, Irby and Victoria.

When I discovered last month that I couldn't extend my stay in north America, I decided that if work was still quiet (it is), I'd extend my adventurings on my own home turf by cycling in an area I'd always meant to - northern New South Wales. This coincided perfectly with Uwe's arrival. A German cyclist, who I met briefly at the hostel near Jasper, Uwe wanted to cycle from Brisbane to Sydney on his brief visit to Australia. What better excuse than to play local guide to an equally fit cycle tourer ...and he might provide some diversion for the territorial, nesting magpies along the road!

I've got just over a week before I want to be home in Brisbane and hope to reach beloved Bellingen, near Coffs Harbour before I have to turn around.