Last night we were welcomed into the home of another of my work colleagues, Cath on the Gold Coast. We enjoyed a delicious home cooked roast and great company. Thanks Cath. Setting off later than we had hoped, we made our way back to yesterday’s destination at the Queensland/New South Wales border where we would start today’s ride from. Sitting atop my trusty stead ‘Blackadder’ at Point Danger, it was immediately confirmed that I would have a terrific tailwind and I would hopefully have a quick ride through to Ballina.
Our first concern was whether I could ride the M1 (Pacific Motorway) or would I need to weave my way through the South Tweed, Chinderah, Kingscliff and Pottsville before being able to return to the Pacific Highway further down the coast. As it happened, I made an early turn and found myself entering the M1 and to my great relief saw the good old cyclist motif painted on the road shoulder and none of those big prohibited signs. Relief turned to joy when I entered the motorway proper as the north westerly winds, which were driving down the coast, were being channelled along the motorway. Immediately, I was achieving great speeds of between 30 to 45 kilometres per hour and covering a great distance in a short time. Grant had gone ahead and located a rest stop and no sooner had he contacted me, I was arriving at the said spot for our one and only stop approximately 30km south of Tweed.
After our standard morning tea of a toasted sandwich, we were off again. We decided it would be worthwhile to send Grant off to check out the coastal towns including Byron Bay and to meet up in Ballina. This has not been our normal way of doing things; however, with clear shoulders along the M1 and further down the Pacific Highway, we decided that an opportunity had presented for Grant to check out this section of the Northern NSW coast and it would be silly to lose that opportunity. My route was now very clear, continue down the M1/Highway and roll into Ballina where we would stay tonight.
After such a good tailwind, I rolled into Ballina at 12:10pm and made my way to the Ramada Hotel and Suites Ballina. Emma from Amputees NSW had discussed our objective in supporting youth connected to the Amp Camp program with Ben the manager of Ramada and our accommodation was kindly donated for tonight. What a wonderful location the Ramada sits on.
As I sit here writing, we are looking down over the mouth of the Richmond River watching the dolphins breach and dive as they chase fish along the river bank. The sun is setting and there is a beautiful golden glow across the upper Richmond River as it disappears into the distance. Tonight, we are catching up with Emma from Amputees NSW for dinner. Emma has come to Ballina to welcome us and it just so happens that she can catch up with her family whilst here.
As our journey has now brought us into NSW, we shift our attention to the Amputee Association of NSW who are now our hosts for the final 800km to Sydney. Again, thank you to the team from Amputees and Family Support Group Queensland for all their assistance as we travelled through their state. Please continue to support their objective in raising funds for twenty young people to attend Amp Camp in 2018 and you can donate to them via the links on our home page.
We now put out the call for people to back the Amputees NSW team as they also try to raise funds in support of Amp Camp. Donations to Amputees NSW can be made via the following address, http://ozcrowd.com/campaign/3959 or through visiting their website http://www.amputeesnsw.org.au/
Tomorrow we will be heading to Grafton and hoping for another day of great weather and supportive winds. Sydney here we come!!
Until tomorrow,
Mike and Grant
Glad Grant had the opportunity to see Byran Bay! And how blessed to have your accomodation donated! It looks like an amazing place to stay.