After waking up on the first day of 2015 with a drier mouth than one would hope, the bike already safely disassembled and boxed up and the bags packed, I set flight to Brisbane for my big adventure.
Zooming far above the Eastern Seaboard of Australia, I was struck that being in a plane is going to be a damn sight more comfortable than performing the return trip on two wheels.
My god this blog is already the most self-indulgent bullshit I've ever written, please forgive me.
After touching down and anxiously confirming that Virgin have in fact not left my bike in Sydney and I wouldn't have to walk home, I dragged the bike box out into the obscene Brisbane heat and set to assembling my rolling home. This took longer that I would have liked but I eventually pushed off at 1pm amid frantic checks that I haven't left anything behind. This would become a recurring theme.
The day's course followed bike paths and secondary roads including following a gorgeous creek and beautiful hyper-Aystralian country roads.
Even with 3 litres in as many hours and multiple magnesium hydration tablets, a cracking headache settled in and the too-familiar twitches that signal incoming cramps set in and would make themselves at home for the rest of the day. I was also reminded where I was after riding over the bazillionth cane toad/brown snake corpse.
Following petrol station/McDonald's-hopping, I reached the base of Mount Tamborine at 6pm and resigned myself to a well-earned Wagyu burger. It was beginning to get dark and the previous hour's riding included keeping an eye out for a clearing to camp. With the knowledge that I had to go over the mountain at some point and a renewed chip-fueled vigour, I hunkered down for another hour of brutal uphill and made it to Tamborine Mountain Camping Park.
With a headache like firecrackers searing my brain, sunburned and covered in sedimentary layers of sweat, salt and road grit, I was overwhelmed with a sense of 'it'll do'. Just as I found a site and unfurled my tent, the sweetest kid on earth toddled up to me and asked me if I'd like to borrow his headlamp to assist setting up camp in the dark . I almost wept. After calling mum and refusing to give her exclusive scoops on the days adventure for fear of cannabalising blog views, the final smile of the day came as I reviewed Strava (the app that records distance, maps, calories, elevation, etc). Because it was the first day of the year, I had set about 40 records for almost every segment between Brisbane Airport and Tamborine.
I type this over a scrumptious big breakkie the next morning, having risen early and devoured the rest of the mountain. The plan for the day is to head overland to the Gold Coast and see how far I can make it down the coastline before hopefully camping on the beach around Brunswick Heads.
Thanks for reading!
