Uranga to Coffs

We started the day with our muesli and devotions and proclamations and then checked email and packed up. It almost feels like we should say goodbye to people as we have been here three nights! It was long enough to turn the grass yellow under our tent! We will look back at this section of the trip with fond memories. Good campground and neighbors, an amazing boardwalk to the coast, tons of noisy birds, a great ride to the rainforest, kangaroos. A good few days. Had we pushed on we would be in nasty flooded places and have missed probably one of our top riding days and sightseeing days. After breakfast John comes out and does indeed say goodbye and wish us a good ride and his little girl has a very important question for us – she wonders how Santa knew where to find us to give us our presents…. We told her they were waiting for us at home!

This day was a very short ride. We have realized that we are not going to get beyond Grafton because of road closures – and that we can’t get the train past Grafton and that buses won’t take bikes – so Grafton will be our summit. This is fine.. In just a few minutes at the Uranga visitors center, a very nice man went over the top to help us and make all the arrangements for us. He called ahead for us to a bike shop in Grafton who agreed to save bike boxes. He gave us weight limits, dimensions and time tables for the trains. He gave us road closures etc. He told us things to do in Coffs. So off to Coffs Harbor – a main holiday town for Australians.

The ride is pretty uneventful. A short ride on very nice section of the highway –we had a wide shoulder that was nice pavement all the way. We rode into the town on a bike path and made our way to the center of town. Here we found a subway and ate lunch. Larry had walked across the street to find out about the i-center and was gone for about ½ hour which was unsettling – but then he returned having not just asked about it but gone all the way to it and had the info we needed. We ate in a bit of shade as the day had gotten very hot and humid. We then went to a caravan park near the center of town as it is more convenient than the beach and tends to be more mellow. Once we settled in we were on a quest for a couple sites we wanted to see. We did get a cabin tonight as it is so hot and humid and the noise of the pacific highway is unbelievable – the cabin though is a bit disappointing as the AC unit is regulated so it doesn’t really get very cool and the noise doesn’t seem much better – but, we do have what we need to cook so it will wash out.

We headed down the walkway – like a greenway – to the botanical gardens. We spent about an hour there looking at various plants and going to a bird blind and basically trying to see things but stay in the shade. Then we walked the walkway to the beach which was very picturesque. What we were looking for was a petting pond that Coff’s Harbor is known for where porpoises reside. It is advertised as a free thing, with a show you can also attend that costs. We walked a very long way to get there to find the small print … and so we didn’t see any porpoises as we were not inclined to pay the $64 to see them when we have seen them in the wild for free… we weren’t really wanting to see them manipulated and doing tricks… so we walked to the national park out on the point of the coast called Muttonbird Island. The walk there was also long, but the coastal breezes kept us cool and we stopped for a popsicle along the way. The island was very nice. We saw a couple of hawks, walked up the hill of the island to the view point and looked out over the ocean. You could see for a very long ways and we also learned all about the Muttonbird. So we called it a success and started back. By now we were tired and realized we had indeed walked a very long way. We decided to take the road back instead of the walkway as it was shorter and went by the grocery. This was just drudgery but had to be done. By now our legs were tired and we were hot an bothered. We were very glad to get to the grocery and be in the AC.

We purchased our dinner food. Salad and….. kangaroo meet…. And beets. How is that for weird. The salad was great, the beets were great…. The kangaroo – well…. Let’s just say we can now say we tried it… but I don’t know that I would repeat it.

The cabin we were in had a TV and we watched a cooking with Jamie episode which we always find fun. Then we saw a show about a guy who gets dropped off in the wild and finds his way out… that was kind of dumb… we drifted off to sleep knowing tomorrow would be our last riding day – this always has mixed emotions.