Well, this has been an interesting couple of days I must say, as a lot has happened and we have travelled far. Let’s start at the beginning;
Felix and David had decided that they wanted to leave Orange and we hadn’t been talking alot so the plan was for them to go by themselves. After a quick chat however, we decided to keep sticking together for a bit longer and that’s what we have done.
On tuesday morning therefor, we packed our bags and got going inland. For me, alone on the bike this was quite an adventure, especially since I soon realised that my carrier gave me zero reception when travelling inland.
(I am today using Lebara, which I obviously cannot recommend anyone to ever use if you are planning on going away a bit from the coast and major cities. It’s cheap and works in major cities, but that’s about it. I’m going to change to Boost prepaid, as they are using the Telstra network, with which you are supposed to have reception everywhere.)
The first day, we went from Orange, through rural Australia and many minor cities that seemed to just recently have introduced color TV, heading towards Port Macquire where we were to spend the night. The rural roads were fantastic for a motorbike with many curves and a marvellous scenery wherever you went. The landscape went from a desertlike country to green forrests, to big hills and finally to wet tropical landscape as we neared the coast.
Some time around 10PM we arrived at the vineyard and were told that we could spend the night, which was much appreciated.
We went to sleep and continued the journey the next day after a quick visit to the beach, heading up to Nimbin and Byron Bay.
Day 2 of the journey was both better and worse for two reasons. Better because I could keep my bags in the car, lightening the load on the bike, and we didn’t have to go as far. Worse because the rain was pouring down at times, making it hard to see through the visir of my helmet. This also made me fall in love with the heated grips on my handlebars. Without them, the journey would have been far more uncomfortable. The warnings I’ve gotten regarding the roads down here mostly concern that they get extremely slippery when wet. That turned out not to be a problem however, but I suppose it may depend a bit on your speed. Mine was quite slow on the wet bits, and when stopping completely I could feel the ABS kicking in a bit.
Once clear of the rain, I was expensively introduced to the laws of the road in Australia. Short story – it costs 167 AUD to overtake a vehicle on the left side and if you hold an Australian drivers license, it takes “two points of your license”, whatever that means.
Last night, we arrived at the hippiest hostel I have ever seen up in Nimbin and we’re planning to stay here for a couple of days before moving closer to the coast again.
If you’re curious about the road we travelled, you can see it here
Spotify Song of the day: Dire Straits – Telegraph Road