Nasty sticky fingers

August 5, 2021

Kingaroy to Wooroolin

Packing was an extra challenge this morning because yesterday some sinister scallywag used their nasty sticky fingers to spirit one of Roger's front panniers away while it was innocently sitting on the bike at the shopping centre. Sad as this was, at least the pannier was empty, in very worn condition, and most importantly EMPTY! Even better, the bike itself was locked and Stickyfingers didn't damage it in any way. I hope the thief needed the pannier more than we did, and will be pricked by their guilty conscience whenever they use it.

Kingaroy is peanut-growing country. The peanut silos provided the backdrop for our departure on the Kingaroy Kilkiven Rail Trail.

The start of the trail is a bit messy, given that it's just a random road at the old railway station. This seemed a much more fitting spot for the 'official' start photo.

We've booked the school bus from Kilkiven to Gympie on Monday afternoon, so we have 5 days cycling to travel the 90ish km of the KKRT. Even for us, that's going slow.

There were glimpses of spring on the trail. The wind, however, spoke strongly of winter.

"Let's take a detour" we said, "and go out to Gordonbrook Dam for lunch."

Forgetting of course that dams by their nature are at the bottom of valleys. One cycles down to the dam, has lunch, and then has to cycle UP and out again with a full tummy.

The dam was nice: water glittered in the sun; pelicans paddled warily on the other side; and little birds cheeped at us, asking for lunch. Apart from the very cold wind and the up to get back to the rail trail, we really enjoyed our lunch.

There wasn't a lot of water in the dam. The pelicans seemed happy though.

We're camped in the free camp in Wooroolin now, making the most of the hot showers. There's not a lot in Wooroolin although opposite our camp are the Wooroolin wetlands, which I'll explore tomorrow to see if they actually contain any 'wet'. Wooroolin is also the highest point of the rail trail, so we have high (descending) expectations of tomorrow. In the meantime we're skulking around Wooroolin filling our water bottles from the Fire Station because there's not a tap to be found in the free camping area, and trying to stay warm because the night is forecast to be very cold.

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Today's ride: 35 km (22 miles)
Total: 183 km (114 miles)

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Mike AylingHi Catherine

Pannier theft -I have never heard of that before.
It would be difficult riding with one front pannier.
How did your re-arrange the load?

Mike
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3 years ago

Titanium PenguinTo Mike AylingSurprisingly we fitted everything in amongst the other panniers - we must be getting more efficient with packing. I think the theft was purely opportunistic hence why the very basic bike lock kept the bike safe. Roger reports that the bike was somewhat uneven and wobbly to ride: we'll try to get another pannier next time we're in a town big enough to have a bike shop.
All good fun! And now we're paranoid about leaving anything unattended!
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3 years ago

Lednar De NallohIt's a shame Flo and her pumpkin scones are not around Kingaroy anymore, would have loved some of them. I'm Randal Dutchy from the other site, I kept seeing updates to your journal but nothing new was there, now I realise the new posts are from the top, ha ha, that tricked me. Stay safe on those roads
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3 years ago

Titanium PenguinTo Lednar De NallohHaha yes I got tired of scrolling to the bottom on longer journals so mine is in reverse order.
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3 years ago