April 19, 2024
Day 1: Beenleigh to Burleigh Heads
We've always liked visiting Australia. It’s same-same but different to New Zealand. Bigger, busier, hotter, brasher. Wildlife that can kill you. A more brutal political climate. Terrible accents.
And it's easy to get to. The 'ditch' in the journal title is, of course, the Tasman Sea, a relatively narrow stretch of ocean separating the two countries. We didn't leave home until midday yesterday and, two flights later, were on the tarmac at Brisbane airport by 6pm their time. The fact that it took another 2o minutes to find a gate only added to the adventure. Three attempts and a broken gate later, we stepped onto Australian soil. (The young cabin crewie sitting next to us during the drama reckoned this was because ground staff were training a newbie; she's been through this before.)
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Fortunately, our bike bags also showed up at the oversize baggage counter . . . and we had just enough energy to manhandle them out of the airport, onto the Airtrain, then out of Roma St station and to our central city hotel.
That was yesterday. Easy by comparison. This morning, Bruce spends two hours reassembling the bikes (mine is new and there is some swearing at the rear axle and derailleur and kickstand) while I escape to find breakfast supplies at a nearby Woollies.
We ship the bulky bags down to reception, where they're taken off to have their own holiday in the baggage room. The next agenda item is coffee (how could it not be?) before we walk the bikes back to last night's station, managing ticketing and lifts just in time to catch the express to Beenleigh.
We are heading to the Gold Coast, a favourite destination for many Kiwi families. Sun, sand, surf and theme parks are the attraction for most. But not for us this time. Bruce initially muttered about cycling all the way from Brisbane to our Burleigh Heads destination but this was quickly vetoed by a wiser head. The compromise was a train out of the city to an outer suburb, Beenleigh, before beginning the ride (after the inevitable visit to a bike shop for items forbidden on flights, or simply forgotten in the packing process).
The first half of the ride turns out to be less than scenic; we are mostly cycling on paths alongside busy roads, crossing over and under the M1, the Gold Coast Expressway. Creeks and rivers are brown and murky. There's a lot of concrete.
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It's a relief when we're briefly directed off the cycleway because of road works, and taken through quiet suburban streets.
At Coomera, we turn sharp left and head through the waterways. This is more like it: now we can feel the Gold Coast vibes.
It's been a somewhat trying morning and we're flagging, so we stop for a late lunch at Hope Island, a typical Queensland outdoor mall. After a freshly made salad sandwich, we're in a better frame of mind to ride through the rest of the Gold Coast. From this point, we are mostly on wide shared paths, making smooth progress. It's only as we ride through the centre of the city that we're forced onto the road. Gold Coasters are great exercisers so the path is littered with lycra-wearing cyclists, dog walkers, runners, scooter riders . . .and those annoying meanderers who seem to need the whole width of the path to achieve peak meandering.
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The final stretch to Burleigh Heads is on roads. The cycle lane is on the correct side of the road - our left - but is two-way, meaning we meet a disconcerting number of riders heading straight at us on the narrow strip of road allocated to cyclists.
I survive a close call, squeezed between a bus and a car on a busy road where cyclists are left to fend for themselves. But seconds later, Bruce navigates us to the gates of Burleigh Palms, our home for the next three days. He's done a sterling job to get us here.
Evenings are short in sub-tropical Queensland. By 5.30, we've swum in the resort's pool and walked on the beach in dusky gloom. By 6pm, as darkness falls,we are seated at an Italian eatery. By 8pm, the navigator is in bed and I'm left alone to tap out the last paragraphs of this journal.
Today's ride: 64 km (40 miles)
Total: 64 km (40 miles)
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