Port Macquarie: Chocolate?

August 25, 2015

How was that for a cliffhanger, eh? To recap, I really built up the suspense in my last post which, if you remember, ended with me and Dea stranded in the wilderness with her wrists in so much pain that we simply could not continue cycling together. But then I think I went too far with the suspense-building and didn't write another post for two months, by which time I think you all probably lost interest. Two months was probably too long. A week would have been enough. I guess I'd better try and build the suspense back up.

It was a restless night for the both of us. A great many possible scenarios went through my head. With Dea unable to cycle there was a real question mark as to how we were going to make it the rest of the way to Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast, but there was also the more pressing matter that we were running low on food and water. By morning Dea's wrists had not improved and it was time for me to suggest the plan that I had formulated. Luckily the big town of Port Macquarie was only 25 kilometres away, and I proposed that I leave Dea alone in the tent all day while I cycle there for supplies. I could also try to organise a place for us to stay in Port Macquarie for a few days so that Dea could recover properly. Although leaving Dea alone in the woods all day was not without its risks (she could, for example, have time to build up a considerable lead in the kangaroo-spotting game) it was a plan that we both agreed was suitably cunning.

My solo ride to Port Macquarie was uneventful, although it felt strange to be cycling all alone again after spending so much of my time with Dea. To save time I took the highway most of the way and before I knew it I was in the seaside town, surrounded by pelicans and koala sculptures. I decided to skip the sightseeing for the moment though, and focused on my important tasks. I went to the library and used the free wifi to research common wrist injuries caused by cycling and how to treat them. Unfortunately the universal advice was that the only real treatment was rest, which wasn't really compatible with our ambitions to cycle the world. I also looked for a host on couchsurfing and was finally rewarded when a Danish/Australian couple replied that they'd be happy to host us for a few days. With this happy news I stocked up on food and water and cycled back to the woods.

It was with some relief that I found Dea just where I had left her, and even better news was to follow - she hadn't seen a single kangaroo. And what was more her wrists were feeling a bit better and, after another night in the tent, the next morning she said she felt up to cycling the 25 kilometres to Port Macquarie. We strapped some sponges to her handlebars to try and soften the impact on her wrists, and then along the way she stopped often to adjust the angle of the bars and the brakes, looking for a less painful option. I think it wasn't the most enjoyable 25 kilometres of the trip for Dea, but she made it to Port Macquarie and so when I went into the supermarket again and saw that a certain popular brand of chocolate was on offer I decided to get a little bit to try and make Dea feel better:

We had some time to kill before it was time to go to our hosts' house, and so we watched the pelicans and examined the koala sculptures. The pelicans were particularly interested in the table where the fishermen were gutting their fish, whilst the koala sculptures were just interesting. There were dozens of them all around the town, each with its own unique design.

That night was our first at the home of Sanne and Mark, a very welcoming couple who had just recently settled in Port Macquarie after a four-year motorcycle trip around the world. Despite the slight difference in our mode of powering our bikes we had plenty of common ground to discuss. I was particularly interested in how they found settling down after so long on the road, something I was about to attempt (at least for a few months) myself. “We thought it would be nice” Sanne said, “but it lasted about two months, and then these walls started feeling smaller.”

It would be interesting to see how Dea and I would cope with 'settling down' in Surfers Paradise. But first we still had to get there. After three nights in Port Macquarie Dea declared she'd seen enough koala sculptures to last a lifetime, and was ready to continue...

Mark proving its not only bicycle tourists that can have tall Danish girlfriends

A nice sticker on their bikes promoting their blog

This may be a paradise for surfers, but it is not Surfers Paradise

With Dea's wrists feeling stronger, it was time to keep moving...

26/08/15 – 55km

27/08/15 - 29km

Today's ride: 84 km (52 miles)
Total: 46,699 km (29,000 miles)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	4
Comment on this entry	Comment	0