September 1, 2015
Two vicious dogs decided to attack us: I didn't think it was normal
Despite the wonderful hospitality offered by Stephen and Jacky we stayed only one night with them and continued the next morning. Dea seemed to have made a complete recovery and our goal of Surfers Paradise was only a week or so away from us now. After such a long journey the end felt tantalisingly close and it seemed like nothing could stop us now. Or at least it did until two vicious dogs decided to attack us a mere fifteen minutes after we had resumed cycling under the morning sun.
I spotted the brutal animals first. We were passing a farmhouse and these two dogs suddenly came bounding towards us. They were menacing, snarling beasts and they really meant business. They weren't barking, they weren't out to scare us away - they were out to destroy us. “Hurry Dea!” I cried out, but she seemed oblivious to the imminent peril that was bearing down upon us. The property was surrounded by fence posts, but there was critically no fence between them to stop the dogs' rapid progress towards us. In fact the dogs were linked to one another by a chain which, presumably, had also been connected to something else until a few moments earlier when the sight of two such tempting targets as Dea and I had pedalled past. Now the chain swayed wildly between them as they neared the edge of their plot. They were just a short leap away from us. All hope was gone. We could not outrun them now. We were surely doomed to a gruesome fate. The dogs leapt past one of the fence posts towards the road. One went to the left of it, one to the right and then suddenly by some miracle the chain between them caught on the post and the two dogs were yanked back as if in a cartoon, their snarling faces a sudden mixture of surprise and disappointment.
Having taken the opportunity while the dogs were still in shock to make good our getaway we celebrated our survival in the town of Macksville where we sat by the river and talked to a great number of old people who were out enjoying the sunshine. Then Dea further celebrated her survival in a peculiar way and ate a flower, which I have to say I didn't think was normal. But she did.
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In Macksville we crossed the river and took Rodeo Drive out of town where we met a slightly strange woman with 12 cows, who told us that she used to have 2300 cows, which is rather a lot of cows to lose. Then we went on the highway for 15 kilometres which would have been a lot more pleasant if some thoughtful soul hadn't put barriers in the middle of the shoulder, then we took a much smaller road out to a place with the silly name of Hungry Head. I liked this road very much, because I saw eight kangaroos and Dea didn't see any.
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We ended the day by cycling on a most lovely road, one of the most lovely of all. It was narrow and had no traffic, and it was also flat and by a river, which made it feel like a European cycle path. Trees along it bursted with purple blossom and horses nodded at us as we passed, our two shadows stretching out in front of us as we cycled through a most pleasant evening. And beyond this idyllic setting we continued further, until we were back in the woods, a thick and lush forest where we made camp and watched fireflies in the dark.
Today's ride: 73 km (45 miles)
Total: 46,881 km (29,113 miles)
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