Thursday, 1st July, 2004
30 June – historic Charters Towers
Charters Towers’ main street could be the set of a period movie (in fact, it has been) except the buildings are real and people live and work in them. The town is so beautiful it’s no wonder it is an architecture students’ and artists’ mecca.
Our bright shirts and big loaded bike turned heads and before we know it Ross had also become a tourist attraction. When I got back from buying supplies and hunting for accommodation Ross was talking to the mayor, Brian. We ended up staying at Brian’s cattle property just outside town. He is mustering cattle today but we can’t come because our shirts scare the cows too much.
Dinner with Brian’s son Frank and his family tonight while Brian attends to mayoral business. In the meantime I get to indulge my washing fetish.
29 June – Across the Burdekin
Winter has reached Queensland and temperatures drop to single digits at night. Midday sees the mid 20’s again. We start late, but we have only another 50km to reach Charters Towers so no rush.
We meet Jock on the road, a local cyclist who looks like Santa Claus in orange. Jock tells us that the road west is hilly as we are going ‘across the grain of the country’, from creek to creek. We cross many creeks, all bone dry – until we get to the Burdekin River.
The Burdekin does have water in it, but not much by historical standards – the flood markers from past years tower over our heads. 21.7m in 1946.
28 June – an early mark at Mingela
Elaine’s sons warned us that we were in for a climb to cross the Mingela range. But a visit to the Mingela Hotel made it worth it. We stopped for a couple of beers on the sunny verandah and didn’t get any further.
Now the pub doesn’t look like much, and the beds will most likely deposit you on the floor, but publican Ivan is a wonderful cook. Every Sunday Ivan puts on a free lunch which is famous for miles around (we were aiming for it but missed it by a day). He’s been doing free Sunday lunch for five years and says “we’re not doing too badly”.
Ivan cooks us dinner – chicken soup (chunky with homemade stock), succulent meat loaf, stir fried veg and noodles. We take leftovers for lunch. There’s homemade pawpaw and mango jam with breakfast, and even rice milk to satisfy my dairy allergy. Thanks Ivan.
27 June – Elaine to the rescue
Leaving Townsville was incredibly hard – not because Rhonda nailed the doors closed to keep us in as she threatened, or because Karla’s cas Emu was sitting on Ross – but because of the Horrendous Headwind. Now we’re no stranger to headwinds, but this was the mother of all Headwinds and we were quite defeated. By lunch time we had only manages to ride 45km to Woodstock. We were huddled miserably over the bike trying not to get blown away and contemplating camping at the forlorn roadhouse when a car pulled up in front of us. We’d had motorists pulling us over all morning thanks to the huge media coverage in Townsville the previous week. We stood up straighter and tried not to look tired.
That’s how we met Elaine, now a friend for life. We ended up going back to her cattle station for a cup of tea (her family own most of the valley down the road), met five of her grandchildren and had dinner with three of her sons. Elaine lost her husband to a stroke last November but she has a wonderful, close family to help her through. We stayed the night and left with sandwiches.
Saturday, 26th June, 2004
23 to 26 June - laying low in Townsville
Time to rest up, do the washing, conquer a tummy bug and spend quality time with Karla’s cat Emu (don’t tell Misty). Meanwhile Karla and Chris took Argo for a spin so she didn't get lazy. We also managed to spend megabucks fitting out Argo for the trip west with new improved matching luggage and top of the line pannier racks.
But we got spoiled too. Captain Chris invited us to join him and his crew on Chippewa for twilight sailing – a Wednesday night tradition in Townsville. It’s a handicap race, not sure of the placings but we were definitely the last boat home – which in my book means we won the most time out on Townsville’s lovely bay. A lovely prize.
We also got to eat Captain Chris’s homemade pasta and drink his very good wine but we had to walk up a very very big hill to get it. But that’s another story. The road west beckons.
21 and 22 June - Cairns wrap up
We’ve racked up a few kilometres riding around Cairns.
Three things really stand out:
the large number of cyclists on the road,
the aggressive car driving and
the amount of glass in the cycle ways (which are otherwise very good).
A bit of a juxtaposition really.
Cairns also has many bike shops to service the large cycling community. Colin and Chris at Cairns Bicycle works really helped us out by fixing our broken spoke nipple and generally giving Argo a tweak.
With Argo running smoothly, we were free to continue our sight seeing – next stop being the (no bicycles allowed) botanic gardens.
Yes, you guessed it, we are still hunting for a native tamarind. We found lots of tamarinds, but not the native one. Sorry Ange. But how about these great photos of ginger?
Then a lovely relaxing train ride back to Townsville. Argo even had her own ticket.
Four days riding flashed by in just seven hours. Scenery is different when you see it at speed, through glass.
20 - 22 June - tourists in Cairns
Cairns is a major spring point for tourists in FNQ (Far North Queensland), so we couldn't leave without doing something touristy: we took the Skytrain to Kuranda.
The scenery is spectacular as we cruise over the rainforest in a cableway (the tour guide proudly tells us on the bus journey there that it took seven years to get approval to build it).
The trip is perfectly choreographed, and there is even a Japanese "ranger" to tell us about the rainforest plants. Lucky Ross is there to translate the tree names into English for me. 
We also learn about the traditional owners of the area, who we later see performing for the tourists, or throwing spears at kangaroos painted on targets. There are more Americans in Kuranda now than indigenous Australians.
We catch a historic train back to Cairns, complete with wood pannelled carriages pulled by a diesel locomotive painted with Aboriginal designs.
The recorded commentary helpfully tells us when photo opportunities are coming up.
Saturday, 19th June, 2004
June 19 - guest column brought to you by Lenore Evans, Secretary, Cairns Bicycle User Group
The first time I met Ann and Ross was at Coolangatta. They were staying with Linda Carmody who is also a bicycle advocacy buff and who offers support for touring and promotional cyclists. I am so proud of Ross and Ann for attempting this mammoth adventure and hopefully their efforts will give hope to the many people who have had a stroke. I welcome them to my home and wish them well on their journey.
Friday 18 June: Isn't it amazing how they can overcome any little adversity that comes their way and still stay cheerful and obliging. A spoke broke near Gordonvale but they still made it into Cairns in fine style. A couple of beers later and we were all keen to cook a nice fish chowder.
Saturday 19 June: The media are keen to report this couple's extraordinary efforts and already they have had their photograph taken by the Cairns Post newspaper. The photographer was very innovative with the camera taking shots of them looking into their rear vision mirrors. Monday will be the media day with visits to the Cairns Post, ABC Radio, TV and our Deputy Mayor, Councillor Margaret Gill of the Cairns City Council. Tonight Ross and Ann are cooking tea tonight and boy o boy do I like this. Having someone to take over my kitchen, as humble as it is, is like having a holiday. Thanks Ann and Ross. You can stay here any time you like.
June 18 - Cairns or bust
We are a little nervous today as we have another 100km to ride today in hilly country, and our bottoms are almost worn through. We ride through more beautiful rainforests - twisting gullies and hills, and manage to survive roads without shoulders and poor visibility. But we make fantastic progress in the morning and even get to expand our "best of" list again: best icecream, from Shaylee Strawberry Farm, which we buy from a kiosk just north of Babinda. All the creeks have water in them, clear water flows over little boulders and sparkles in the sun. The road is now framed by mountains on both sides. We decide to pull over to admire Pyramid Mountain, Queensland's highest free standing mountain. As we do so something breaks in our wheel: a spoke nipple has sheared off. We have spare spokes but no nipples. We limp the last 30km in to Cairns.
June 17 - riding through the rainforest
Tully looks much better after a good night's sleep - the green grass sparkles with dew and the backpackers are still asleep when we leave. The morning is cold, and we look forward to the sun. Everything is still impossibly green as we ride through alternating pockets of sugar cane and rain forest gullies. The vegetation is lush, wet, and sun dappled - palms, vines, moss covered trees. Each gully has a creek running though it, for the first time there is water in the creeks not just white sand. The bridges over the creek are posted with crocodile warnings "Danger - crocodiles inhabit this area. Attacks can cause injury or death" but we see no crocodiles. Ross offers to take me to a crocodile farm in Cairns.
We reach Innisfail at lunchtime. It is a proud town, with wide streets and grand old buildings - an historic courthouse, an art deco firestation. We cross a bridge over the Johnstone river - which is full of water - and ride through more beautiful rainforest pockets to Flying Fish Point. On the beach a women runs to us and says "my son will be here in 5 minutes in an F-111 at 250m". Sure enough he is - the fly by is spectacular. We stay at a caravan park on the beach, and now we have two more "best of's" to add to our list: best caravan park, and best fish and chips (from the caravan park kiosk - mackeral caught that day, grilled with garlic and lemon juice).
June 16 - the beautiful Green Way
Riding out of Ingham is amazingly beautiful, and so very green. This is the wet tropics. A truckie in the bar warned us last night that we had a mountain to ride over, but with no trailer it was surprisingly easy - or perhaps because after Bulladelah and Byron in NSW it wasn't that big a climb. We pulled over at a beautiful lookout at the top to take a picture of Hinchinbrook Island below. It was the last shot in our disposable camera. Sadly we didn't save it to taka shot at the bottom of the hill when we rode into Cardwell.
Cardwell was so beautiful it could have been a postcard. We stopped to have our lunch in a park adjoining the beach looking out to Hinchinbrook. A real tourist brochure shot - island, clear water, beach, framed by coconut palms bending down to sun speckled grass. Ross tells me again that it is my fault we have no camera.
We ride another 50km to Tully which has the highest rainfall in Australia - 4,100mm a year - but for once the rain does not fall on us.
June 15 - pulling into Ingham Station
A big day today. We said our goodbyes at Karla's just as she arrived home after a long weekend of sailing. On the road was different today - travelling ‘sans BOB' (a.k.a. Beast of Burden - our trailer). We were running lighter but not much faster - headwinds as usual.
Our big break was at Frosty Mango. If you're heading north a stop here is a must - but be careful not to OD like we did. Two double cones is quite sufficient, don't be tempted to have a third. Delicious home made dairy-free ice-cream in fruits like mango, lychee, black sapote, jackfruit, cashew flower and a few others we had not encountered before. They grow their own fruit - but sorry Ange, no native tamarinds (Ange is an artist friend who has asked us to track down a tamarind to paint, they only grow in Queensland and are in season now - but we've had a hot tip that there are some in Cairns). We rolled off with bellies full of five different flavours - a typical cycling approach to diet and healthy eating.
Despite the extra weight, we made it to Ingham before nightfall, not bad for a 110km ride. Kaleen, one of Karla's housemates in Townsville, recommended we stay in the Station Hotel, so we did. Dulcie, the publican, has been in the business for fifty years. "I've tried to keep the place just like my mum had it" she tells us. A wonderful, gracious old Queensland pub - wide verandahs, mosquito netted beds, original 1920's furnishings, a Burmese called Ming, a cockatoo called Squawker and a full bar downstairs.
In the bar we met Noeline, a woman's masters state cycling champion for track and road racing. Trains every day, races all over the state. This year's championships are at Alice Springs and Noeline says she won't be a ‘tail light' in the bunch. Good luck mate.
Tuesday, 15th June, 2004
13 -14 June – getting ready to head North
It’s a long weekend here in Townsville, so we’ve stayed an extra day to avoid the traffic on the road North, which we hear isn’t the most cycle friendly (no shoulders in places). We spent Sunday sight seeing with Cheryl, who organised our hospital visit on Friday, and generally recovering from too much good food and wine on Saturday night. Today we got maps, and tried to get organised for the ride north to Cairns.
It was also a web and bike maintenance opportunity. We even tried swapping positions on the bike – but I am just too short to reach the pedals from the front seat, even with the seat as far down as it will go. Never mind, I much prefer the back anyway – sorry Ross!
Because we have lost a day we’ve decided to try to make Cairns in four days instead of five, and are leaving the trailer, tent, computer and anything else we can live without to pick up on our way back through Townsville before we head West for Mt Isa. Don’t know how we’ll manage without the computer for over a week (we’re back in Townsville on 23 June), but we’ll try to update the journal from a net café in Cairns – so stay tuned (without holding your breath). Hopefully our camera will be in Cairns when we get there, and wasn’t mailed to Canberra by accident.
Saturday, 12th June, 2004
12 June – now we get to see Townsville
Today we got to see beautiful Townsville. The day had a wonderful relaxed start – we even got up after the sun. I can’t remember the last time it was light when we got out of a bed. Relaxed morning buying bike bits and pieces, then off for a guided tour of town courtesy of Jessie. Castle Hill looks over town and out to sea – stunning. We could even see Jessie’s house. Jessie is picking us up soon to go to a BBQ with some friends at her there – we know it’ll be great because we can still remember Jessie’s wonderful cooking at Jane’s 50th birthday party in 2001. Ross and I have come a long way since then.
Karla and flatmate Rhonda took pity on me when I had to make the big decision of what to wear - my yellow shirt, my yellow shirt, or my washed out grey-white shapeless thing? …and opened not just their house but their cupboards. Karla had some great dresses but they didn’t quite work with my cycle shoes, or the cycle tan, so we settled on cargo pants and kimono top. Then Rhonda did my hair. It was wonderful to feel feminine again. Thank you so much.
11 June – working hard before a long weekend
Early start this morning to race into town for a breakfast radio interview, then a tv news shoot. Back home to Karla’s for a quick brekkie while working the phone – another tv station wants to do a shoot after hearing our radio session. Race across town for the shoot, then back to base camp for photos and an interview for a newspaper feature. Gulp down some lunch before the long ride to the hospital – but Jessie to the rescue with an offer of a lift. Meet Cheryl at the hospital and talk to nurses and the stroke team while tv cameras roll and photographers snap away. Is this really us? Back to Karla’s to do the washing and collapse. Can’t tune the tv in so don’t have to make the big decision on which news story to watch. In bed and asleep soon after dark.
PS. Bad news from Brisbane – our camera has been sent to Toowoomba by accident. We’ll have to wait another week and get it sent to Cairns.
10 June – cycle magnets to Townsville
It was hard having to say goodbye to Myra and Frank again, hopefully we will see them on the road again. It was a hard slog out of Ayr – rough road surfaces, headwinds and unwilling legs – but relief was not long coming: a fruit stall 30km out of town (see, I’ve progressed from veggies). The lady who runs the stall makes the most delicious juice from frozen local mango and fresh orange juice. We had two. As we reluctantly pulled out, we met two heavily loaded cyclists just arriving. Vince and Don are from Melbourne, cycling from the Gold Coast to Cape York. Vince has the most amazing trailer he designed and made himself – like a bullet with suspension. Version 2 is in the pipeline, although version 1 looked pretty good to us. After fueling up on mango and orange juice (they also had two) they joined us for the ride to Townsville. We also met up with Nick from Vic and Kelly from Canada doing Great Ocean road to Port Douglas (also at the mango depot), but much faster than us oldies. 20km south of Townsville, our local escort Leone and dad Stan met up with us so were quite a large party. The ride wasn’t hard any more once we had company – or maybe that was the mango.
9 June – coming up for Ayr
Tailwinds, good road surfaces and a fabulous homemade pickle sandwich at Inkerman – what more can a cyclist ask? Pity we had such a short ride today – but a fabulous destination at the end of it. We reached Ayr before lunch at stayed at the Big 4 Caravan Park, compliments of Liz – thanks! Then we caught up with Myra and Frank from Maclean, who are heading north on a two month road trip in a campervan. Myra’s been reading our diary and prepared a counter lunch (beer and sambos) to make sure we felt at home. Then we all went sight seeing, and today’s photos are brought to you courtesy of Myra and Frank as our camera is still in Brisbane getting repaired (waiting on parts to come by six week mule train from Japan). Ayr is amazingly green. Frank tells us that the “rivers of gold” signs advertising Ayr refer to the Artesian water supply, a very high water table, not XXXX. People use sprinklers on their lawns here, which was hard to adjust to. We visited a beautiful beach covered in coconuts, watched a wave surfer do acrobatics on the tide flow, and saw a cane fire glow in the sunset.
Tuesday, 8th June, 2004
8 June – crunching on capsicum in Gumlu
Gumlu is where you go if you’re a fruit picker in capsicum season although we are too early for the capsicum festival in July. It was the second day in a row (and the second time in my life) that I ate a whole capsicum. That’s how nice it was – but not a patch on Nigel’s fruit and veg from Bowen. Nigel’s tomatoes were so good I ate a whole bag. You’d think he’d be glad we’re gone (he doesn’t believe I could eat my way through his whole veggie truck, but he’s only known me a day) but last night over a few wines he was planing to move in with us to start a veggie franchise in Sydney. Nigel would truck Bowen veggies 2,500km to Sydney, because there is just nothing like a Bowen veggie for miles around. He reckons it’ll be a goldmine. Ross says that’s too much writing about veggies, but hey that’s been the theme of the last few days. If you want veggies (and I do), this is the place to be.
Ps. Great news – the repair shop called, our camera is fixed and is being couriered from Brisbane for us to pick up in Townsville on Friday. Just think, now I can photograph the vegetables instead of just writing about them.
Monday, 7th June, 2004
7 June – working holiday
I’m so glad the winds were too strong to go out on a boat at Airlie Beach and we decided to take our extra day in Bowen. Got all our admin done in the morning, organising our media and hospital visits for Townsville, did the washing and maintenance, met with the local paper, and even had time for an hour on the beach and some sightseeing. Back home to Nigel’s in time to do this journal update and cook dinner… but have to sign off now because it’s time to help Nigel pack the beans in packets for tomorrow’s veggie stall sales.
6 June – Blowin’ in Bowen
Leaving Proserpine in the rain we decided we’d be drier without our rain jackets as it was pleasantly warm. A good decision because it was very dry a little up the road. Strong winds today in all directions, including (wait for it) TAIL WINDS. So we made pretty good progress! Just south of Bowen we stopped at a fruit stall – where we not only bought a delicious fruit hit for lunch but met Nigel, who invited us to stay at his house on the beach in Bowen. We stopped at the Big Mango Visitors Centre to kill some time while Nigel finished work at the stall... and got another accommodation offer! I think I like Bowen.
We picked up some groceries and a good bottle of wine and headed over to Nigel’s to cook him dinner. His house is fabulously located – a high house (car underneath, Queensland style) with verandahs and all windows looking straight to the beach across the road. Not a big house, but on a huge block of land complete with giant, ancient mango trees along the drive and coconut palms marking the street boundary.
Saturday, 5th June, 2004
5 June – Proserpine serenade
We packed the tent up early, had a big breakfast of mandarins, farewelled the frogs in the toilet bowl, and hit the road… and the headwinds, cross winds, every which way but gale force winds. Somehow we managed not to go backwards and made it to Proserpine at lunch time just before the visitors centre closed.
The young visitors centre attendant explained she was closing early because she had an appointment to go to. We explained that we were planning to go to Airlie Beach 25km up the road and do a cruise to the islands the next day. But sadly only the big tourist ships were going out, the smaller ones were cancelled because of the weather. Strong wind warnings for the next few days too. We decided to stay in Proserpine. Being told that there was nothing there, the people were older, and Airlie was much more happening reinforced our decision – sounds like our kind of place.
We found a wonderful, sprawling art deco pub in the main street which had a double room on offer, and a beer garden to lock the bike in. Country pubs have a wonderful community feel, everyone knows each other and they are very welcoming, even when you’re dressed funny. This pub had an added bonus: Paul Killingly, ex Ol’55, doing the afternoon entertainment – and very very good it was too. A couple of locals added a few songs, there is some real undiscovered talent here. Somehow Paul saw us on the front cover of Australian Cyclist in the newsagent while on his break, so we got lots of song dedications (and a rendition of bicycle built for two).
4 June – camping in the cane
We left Mackay along Mango Avenue, lined with huge, stately mango trees bigger than the ancient figs in the Sydney Botanic Gardens. Each tree proudly wears a plaque commemorating the war hero it was planted in honour of. Then spectacularly beautiful (and windy) riding on the Alternate Route to Proserpine (that’s what’s officially sign posted) - through the cane paddocks, past the sugar mill and towards the double layer of green treed hills beyond.
We reached our evening stopover at lunchtime, but as there was nothing to keep us there and the cane fields were beckoning, we rode off into…aargh! headwinds!! Our new destination was: wherever we get to. This ended up being Yolboroo, population 6. We camped in the Vella’s cane field next to the community hall.
We learned that the cane farmers have hit hard times because they need $30 per tonne of sugar to break even, and they currently only get $24. It takes 1 acre of cane to make 3 tonnes of sugar – that’s just $72, and they have to pay for fertiliser, repayments on the harvester, and outlay $1,000 every time the tractor blows a tyre. Unfortunately sugar was left out of the free trade agreement with the United States. As our subsidies aren’t as big as theirs, our cane farmers are going down fast – literally, they are leaving their farms to work on the mines where “the money is very good”.
Despite the hard times, we got permission to camp there, and also a bag of mandarins – thanks! This was a definite 5 star camp spot because it was sheltered, had views of the Southern Cross, garbage bin, tap and toilet - with resident frogs. Luckily Possum’s dad John had given me frog orientation a few nights ago, but I still couldn’t help letting the city girl squeaks out when they hopped out of the toilet bowl.
Friday, 4th June, 2004
1 - 3 June – Mackay: cane, culture, coal and more cane
A late start Tuesday, after doing a Radio National interview by phone. Every time we start late we get into trouble with the weather. First it pelted rain (just call us drought breakers) then blew a gale. Riding through cane fields in a gale is not fun – although now it’s over we can appreciate how wildly beautiful it was. We were tired and soggy by the time we limped into Mackay.
The cane comes all the way into town, which is very spread out. You can smell the burnt sugar from the mills, the harvest will start soon. A few meetings in town then back to Joan’s place, our home for the next few days. Thank goodness Joan has a bath tub. Roast dinner then bed time at 8.30.
We spent Wednesday morning meeting with stroke survivors, staff at the Base Hospital and the media, then into town for some meetings, errands and a quick visit to the Regional Gallery. It’s been a while since we had a good dose of art. The gallery is the proud host of an Andy Warhol travelling exhibition, the only regional gallery to have it. But the real star attractions for us were the local exhibitions – a multimedia oral history presentation of real people telling the real story of Mackay, and the Rainbow Cows paintings (abstract photorealism isn’t hard to understand when you see it, but it’s way too hard to explain – so you’ll just have to visit yourself).
We devoted today (Thursday, our last day in town) to being tourists. We did it the easy way, chauffeured by Joan. The nearby Hay Point terminal is the largest coal depot in the world, transferring millions of tons of coal from 2.5km long coal trains to ships waiting at the end of an incredibly long conveyer belt jutting into the ocean. Then back through the cane to have lunch at the Eimeo pub, with fantastic 270 degree ocean views. Ok, time to go shopping again – our turn to cook tonight.
31 May – resting in the sugar cane near Sarina
“Are you sure this is the way to John and Lorraine’s? There are no houses here, just sugar cane”. 15km of sugar cane later we found their house. No need for a fence as they were completely walled in by cane. John (who read about us in Australian cyclist, and had never met us) left the key under the step so we could make ourselves at home until he and Lorraine finished work for the day. We were greeted enthusiastically by Possum, the world’s friendliest and cutest fox terrier and chief of the household. Later that night Possum modelled his custom made wardrobe and even ran around draped by his blanket (it looked very funny because his tail doesn’t stop wagging for a minute). His other trick is getting John and Lorraine to check for dingoes before he goes out after dark.
As well as Possum’s wardrobe, Lorraine has made their best pieces of furniture. A beautiful long coffee table made from a tree sliced longitudinally, a TV cabinet and more. She also makes great chips and crumbed steak! Yum – also great on sandwiches the next day. John grows delicious watermelon and has a huge veggie garden bordering the sugar cane. In their spare time John is a mechanic and Lorraine works the phones for the region’s largest waste management company. “It’s amazing how important rubbish is to some people” she says.
27 to 30 May – the great Australian pub crawl: Yaamba, Marlborough, St Lawrence and Carmilla
There is nothing more satisfying after a hard day’s ride than a refreshing cool beer, especially if it is in a Queensland country pub and it’s a pot of Gold (that’s Queensland speak for a middy of XXXX regular strength). Did we mention that we had drunk more beer since starting this journey than in the fifteen years leading up to it?
It’s wonderful having a yarn to the locals, then retiring to your room with double doors opening on to a great, wide wooden verandah framed by poinsiana trees and a view of the railway line and endless sugar cane. Many of the pubs are over 100 years old, have wonderful high ceilings and are lined with timber. Some cost little more than a campsite to stay in, and even include breakfast. Not a hard choice now that winter is making it’s presence felt at night.
26 May – on the beach
Today we enjoyed our new expanded itinerary again. Time to do washing, go to the post office, and buy groceries for the next leg of the journey. Then we walked down to the beach we’d been admiring from Owen and Kay’s window. It was spectacularly beautiful and we had the whole beach to ourselves. After a refreshing swim we lay under a tree and wondered why all the visitors to the area pay loads of money to go out to Hamilton Island when they could just be here instead.
25 May – Yeppoon: where Gold Coasters go for holidays
After a late start we headed off to Yeppoon but after tired legs and many rests we arrived at the home of Owen, Kay and their girls Ellen and Naomi. Their house is on a hill (of course) with sensational views to the sea. Kay is a Uniting Church minister and Owen describes himself as a “kept man” – which means he does all the cooking, cleaning, washing, shopping and teenager transportation – much more demanding than my desk job.
Time for a shower and change into our clean set of cycling gear (it’s all we have!!) before heading off to dinner with the Gold Coast Stroke Group, who are here on holidays. Owen teased us for looking exactly the same after we changed, so Naomi offered to lend me some jeans. It was very tempting to dress like a teenager again, but we decided to go in “uniform”. Besides, we couldn’t go getting used to wearing something not made of lycra, could we?
It was great to catch up once again with Colin who runs the Gold Coast Stroke group. He was in his element, and in complete control as usual with his booming voice directing all the action. We were amazed to see how many of the group had come – there would have been almost 100 stroke survivors and their partners in the dining room of the Iwasaki Resort. The resort was set up by the Iwasaki Foundation to provide holiday accommodation to those who may not otherwise be able to be there, a fantastic initiative, but sadly not enough to accommodate everyone who wants to go there. Mike who runs the resort (and also the Yeppoon stroke group) works 16 hours a day seven days a week.
23 and 24 May – no beefs in Rocky
Monday started with a ride across town for a morning tea meeting with the local support group. Rocky is known as the “beef capital of Australia” which explains all the enormous statues of bulls dotted around town... Brahman, Santa Gertrude, Droughtmaster.
Our meeting was in the stunning local botanical gardens, continuing over lunch while chatting with David. His life changed after a stroke 21 years ago - at age 13 .The story went from home care to rehabilitation, volunteer work, working at the Sydney Olympics, Arts degree, State title wheelchair basketball rep, full time employment, and now including a masters degree.
Next we dropped down to Different Cycles, where Phil fixed a faulty sender unit on our Cateye bike computer. Then off to the Base Hospital for a chat with some patients before finally racing across town to do an interview with the local ABC.