Seven Days down and four to go!!!!!
well i left in the dark this morning......I left Kew at 5am to try and get to nabiac as soon as possible.
I had a phone call last night from some old friends in Newcastle. They were heading up to Coffs Harbour for the day and wanted me to join them. It felt odd that I was driving back over ground that I had already had to ride over, but the prospect of catching up with the gals was far too exciting.....I haven't seen a couple of these girls in almost 5 years.
It was deathly cold this morning and it took 45mins of reasonably pacey riding to warm me up. Iwas warmed for about 15mins when it started to rain.......fortunately I already had my jacket on because of the cold, so I didn't have a need to stop. Amazingly the rain didn't make me as cold as I would have thought and at around 6.45 the sun started to rise. As I was passing through Coopernook. I pedalled over a rise and was greeted by the top of the sun poking out over the top of Crowdy Bay National Park. I would have stopped to take a pic, but today felt like a race against time as I pedalled as hard as I could through the hills to meet up with the gals.
I took a brief stop at Taree to munch on some vegemite rolls and rest the legs......then I pushed on once more.
I made it to Nabiac at 10.09am, booked into my cabin, threw on some civillian attire and jumped into my awaiting chariot, Amy's 1997 Lancer. It was sooo good to see them that I don't think the smile left me face all day.
We got to Coffs in just under 3hrs and headed straight for the Pet Porpoise Pools. It's a small animal park where they hold daily shows involving Dolphins and Seals. It sounds juvenile, but it was actually quite amazing. In fact there were more adults there then children. I was chosen out of the audience to feed one of the dolphins and after the show the girls went and spoke to one of the trainers and I got to have my picture taken with this seal laying right across my lap. It was the most beautiful animal.......I felt very priviledged that they allowed me to do this,.
The show went for about 1 1/2 hours but we stayed for a good hour or so afterwards as I chatted with one of the trainers. It turns out he was a keen cyclist when he was younger and thought my trip sounded like a trip of a lifetime, and here i was envying his ability to play with dolphins and seals whenever he wanted. I then folllowed him to the the dolphins where he allowed me to play ball with the dolphins and pat them as much as i liked.......It was hard to drag myself away, but i did have to get back to Nabiac.
It was one of the most amazing experiences that I have ever had, it is something I will never forget.
I bid farewell to the girls at about 8pm, and remembering that I had another day cycling ahead of me tomorrow I went straight to bed.
Stats:
Total Km's = 77km
Total Time = 3 hrs and 56 mins
Avg Speed = 19.7km/hr
well i left in the dark this morning......I left Kew at 5am to try and get to nabiac as soon as possible.
I had a phone call last night from some old friends in Newcastle. They were heading up to Coffs Harbour for the day and wanted me to join them. It felt odd that I was driving back over ground that I had already had to ride over, but the prospect of catching up with the gals was far too exciting.....I haven't seen a couple of these girls in almost 5 years.
It was deathly cold this morning and it took 45mins of reasonably pacey riding to warm me up. Iwas warmed for about 15mins when it started to rain.......fortunately I already had my jacket on because of the cold, so I didn't have a need to stop. Amazingly the rain didn't make me as cold as I would have thought and at around 6.45 the sun started to rise. As I was passing through Coopernook. I pedalled over a rise and was greeted by the top of the sun poking out over the top of Crowdy Bay National Park. I would have stopped to take a pic, but today felt like a race against time as I pedalled as hard as I could through the hills to meet up with the gals.
I took a brief stop at Taree to munch on some vegemite rolls and rest the legs......then I pushed on once more.
I made it to Nabiac at 10.09am, booked into my cabin, threw on some civillian attire and jumped into my awaiting chariot, Amy's 1997 Lancer. It was sooo good to see them that I don't think the smile left me face all day.
We got to Coffs in just under 3hrs and headed straight for the Pet Porpoise Pools. It's a small animal park where they hold daily shows involving Dolphins and Seals. It sounds juvenile, but it was actually quite amazing. In fact there were more adults there then children. I was chosen out of the audience to feed one of the dolphins and after the show the girls went and spoke to one of the trainers and I got to have my picture taken with this seal laying right across my lap. It was the most beautiful animal.......I felt very priviledged that they allowed me to do this,.
The show went for about 1 1/2 hours but we stayed for a good hour or so afterwards as I chatted with one of the trainers. It turns out he was a keen cyclist when he was younger and thought my trip sounded like a trip of a lifetime, and here i was envying his ability to play with dolphins and seals whenever he wanted. I then folllowed him to the the dolphins where he allowed me to play ball with the dolphins and pat them as much as i liked.......It was hard to drag myself away, but i did have to get back to Nabiac.
It was one of the most amazing experiences that I have ever had, it is something I will never forget.
I bid farewell to the girls at about 8pm, and remembering that I had another day cycling ahead of me tomorrow I went straight to bed.
Stats:
Total Km's = 77km
Total Time = 3 hrs and 56 mins
Avg Speed = 19.7km/hr
