sydney to the gold coast by e-trike

[Diamondback]

Rode the 10km or so back out of town and into the hwy again.

Headed towards Kempsy.
Fairly uninteresting road. Not a fan of hwy riding.

Victor got a flat just as we hit the Kempsy turn off.

Pulled into Kempsy around 11:20am
Traveled the 48km so far on only 3.65ah.

I don't think there will be many pictures from day 9, as one hwy
looks much the same as any other. Maybe once we get off it,
there might be something worth photographing.

Decided that we would do a half day and camp at kempsey.
This will save us a 16km backtrack from south west rocks to the hwy in the morning.

Tomorrow will be a fairly easy half day also. Going about 65km to Nambucca heads tomorrow.
I have to do clothes washing tomorrow. I have no clean clothes left after tomorrow.

Then on to Coffs Harbour the day after.

We are camped at the kempsey show grounds.
Nice spot. Only $30 for 3 powered sites. With shower and toilet facilities.

Stats from today.

54.1km
4.22ah
203.96 watt hrs
3.7 wh/km
231.70 human watt hrs
106 Avg human watts
Avg speed 16.4km/h
Max speed 47.4 km/h

Only one pic today. Quick snap of the camp site at the show grounds.

Jason.

 

[jkbrigman]

Noted victor's flat. Have a question for you guys:

Are any of you using SLIME or STAN's, the stuff you put in your tubes to help plug punctures?
What do you think about using such a product now that you are on your journey? Would it help or hinder?

Thanks for posting. You guys are amazing. Wish I were riding with you!

 

[Carlos Dewerchin]

Hi Jason & C°,

You make me really envious reading your daily reports and looking at your wonderful pictures ! I joined only recently the brotherhood of trikers, rather out of necessity. An airplane crash in 2003 left me paralyzed on both my legs. Trough daily exercise I walk again, drive my car and fly airplanes. However I need a walker for safety, and learned to appreciate the stability of a trike for biking. I do 35 to 40 km a day for now, and hope to get stronger in my legs to do gradually more and more.

Reading about your marvellous trip is captivating and encouraging to do better.
Good luck on your trip and keep us posted with your daily reports !

@+
mooniac

 

[Diamondback]

Thanks for the kind words and encouragement Carlos.
Glad to hear you are getting stronger and that you found trikes.


We hadn't (at least I hadn't) consideded using slime.
I have never used it. I have no frame of reference.

Though my understanding is that it makes patching tubes almost
Impossible.

Day 10 begins at 6:15am.

We pack up camp. Have breakfast and ready to move around 7:35am
Victors rear tyre is again flat.

Tony had some bad news from home and may have to
leave the tour early. We will hear more later today if
that's what's going to happen.

Don't know how many pics there will be from day 10, as
this is another HWY run of about 65km to Nambucca heads.

Jason.

 

[Diamondback]

Left camp around 8:05am after fixing Victors flat.

Tony elected to stay back and return the keys to the show ground.
Can't do that before 9am !

Stopped at the diner at clybucca for breakfast at 9:35am.
23.8km on 1.66 ah

Tony has just sent word that he does have to head home.
He is catching a train home today. We will miss him.
The trip won't be the same without him.

Jason.

 

[Diamondback]

Lunch at Macksville around 11:50am. 54km so far today.

Only about 10km to tonight's camp ground.

We Sat by the river and watched the seagulls fight over scraps.

 

[Diamondback]

Pulled into Nambucca heads around 1:30pm.
Staying at the foreshore caravan park. Right on the river.

There isn't much of a shoulder between kempsey and Nambucca heads.
It's pretty much all 100km/h zone too. Most people overtake safely.

Set up tents and doing washing.
We plan to walk into town later and get food for the BBQ.

I will post up stats a little later.

Took a few pics today. Will email them to Abraham shortly.

Jason

 

[Diamondback]

Stats from today.


66.6km
4.94ah
239.60 watt hrs
3.5 wh/km
279.90 human watt hrs
107 avg human watts
Avg speed 17.2 km/h
Max speed 39.8 km/h


Tomorrow will be another 1/2 day of hwy riding.
Then we get off the hwy. (thankfully)

I'm not going to recharge tonight. I can make the
55km or so tomorrow easily enough on the remaining ah.

Jason.

 

[voicecoils]

Day 8 photos and captions

Self portrait in the rain.

Tony in rain gear

Sharyn and Victor in their rain gear

12km till we get off the HWY

Low cloud and black

Here is where we part company with the pacific hwy

32km to go today

North Haven

North haven again

New use for Turnigy battery straps ?
They work very well.

Lake Cathie.

Port Macquarie

Two camels in a field just outside town.

Tents set up. Didn't get a pic before dark.

Day 9 photos and captions

Camp site at kempsey show grounds.

Day 10 photos and captions

Kempsey show ground pavilion. Circa 1887. Only 99 years after white settlement.

Clybucca roadhouse. We had a quick breakfast stop here.

Macksville for lunch.

Lunch

Looking across the river at macksville where we had lunch.

The view from our camp site. Right on the river.

Just after arriving and getting stuff set up.

 

[Diamondback]

Day 11

Woke up at 6am.

A quick check of the radar reveals a crap ton of rain headed this way.
We have decided to wait till the bulk of it passes in an hour or 2 before
packing up and leaving. With today being only about 50km, we can afford to wait.

 

[lynne33]

Hi Jason glad to hear you are getting out and about ,

 

[Diamondback]

We decided to pack up camp before the rain arrives.
It's amazing just how quickly one can pack up when push comes to shove...

We wait for about an hour in the BBQ area and there is no rain.
We decide to just ride out and if we get rain, so be it.

We leave at around 7:45am.
The rain comes around 8:50am.

It rains pretty much all of the way into Coffs Harbour.

We pulled into Coffs Harbour around 11:20am.
Get a cabin at the parkside beach.

No pics from the ride today.
The phone (and hence camera) were stashed in a waterproof pannier.

The weather for the next 5-6 days is supposed to be sunny and mid 20's so nice and warm and more importantly dry.

We hope to get a full day of riding done tomorrow and make it to Grafton. That's about 80km.

Stats from today.

54.6km
5.57ah
260.83 watt hrs
4.7 wh/km
202.20 human watt hrs
110 avg human watts
Avg speed 17.8 km/h
Max speed 55.8 km/h

 

[Diamondback]

Day 12

Woke at 6:15am.
Had a strawberry muesli bar for breakfast.

Today we are hoping to make it to Grafton about 80km away.
We get off the hwy today !
We're heading to Grafton via Glenreigh.

The Sun is actually shining too !

It's still a little cold here though.
It will warm up soon enough.

Less packing up to do this morning because of staying in the cabin.

 

[lynne33]

Great pics and really enjoying the notes have been sharing them with a friend of mine gives him a look at Australia.

Great to see you getting in some of the pics.

 

[Diamondback]

Left the cabin around 7:30am.
We head for the old pacific hwy.
no longer the main route between Sydney and Brisbane, its lots quieter and much more scenic.

Some very challenging and steep roads on the old hwy.
rode through some old little towns.
Happy to see that they are still functioning.
Even years after the new hwy bypassed them all.

Pulled Into glenreagh around 10:40am. We are about half way.
The general store in glenreagh had what looked like a home made
1/4 scale model of the wright flyer !

Very nice.

Left glenreagh around 11:30 after lunch break.
I asked the shop owner if there were many hills between
him and Grafton. He says, "there's a gentle climb out of here"
then it's all downhill". Yeah right !

We spend the afternoon climbing and descending.
Slow climbs, fast blast down. 900 maters ascended today.

Coffs Harbour is at sea level (obviously) as is Grafton.
Glenreagh was around 100M ASL.

The advantage of less traffic and better scenery comes at the cost of more hills.
It's a trade off I'm more than ok to accept.
Some very nice wide open spaces we rode through today.

And apart from the odd logging truck, there really wasn't much in the way of traffic to deal with.

Got to Grafton around 2:35.
Found the visitor info centre to get info on camp sites and maps for tomorrow's leg.

Today's average speed is lower due to all the climbing we had to do. Especially the run from Coffs to Glenreagh.

We will have to decide later tonight if we are having another test day here in Grafton or if we're continuing.

Hoping to be on the Gold Coast by Monday afternoon.
With a rest day, we would have to average 80km per day.
With no rest day, we only have to average about 60km per day


Looks like we have decided on a plan for the next two days.
We are heading to casino on an older route. Not sure if its the old hwy or not.

It's about 100km so we are thinking about doing 2 half days and camp
Somewhere around the half way point. Stealth camp if needs be.


I am about to email pics taken today to viicecoils.
Took many pictures today.


Stats from today.

89.6km
8.21ah
392.10 watt hrs
4.3 wh/km
410.90 human watt hrs
97 avg watts
Avg speed 14.3km/h
Max speed 54.9 km/h

 

[Diamondback]

Day 13

Woke at 6:15am to the sounds of hundreds of parrots flying overhead.

Was still in my tent so didn't get a picture, but they sounded like eastern rosellas.
We see these in Sydney, but not in great numbers.

Relatively warm night too. Only got down to about 11c.
Not much dew on the tent fly. That's a nice bonus.

Today we have decided to ride to a little town half way between Grafton and Casino.
The place is called Whiporie, and it has a general store with camping facilities. And that's about all the town has.

So, the next 2 days look likely to be half day rides,
covering about 50km per day.

Very overcast this morning too.
Hope the forecast is good and we don't see rain today.

 

[Diamondback]

We packed up camp and headed out around 7:45am. As we are leaving the show ground,
I notice that the buildings here are even older than the ones at Dungog.
These are 1882, some 5 years older in fact.

We rode out of Grafton and head for the summerland way.
This is the road we will be traveling along for the next 2 days.

The road takes us along some hilly and winding roads with more ascending then descending.
We started the day around sea level. Where we are camped is about 80m ASL.
I have checked, and Casino is about 26m ASL, so hopefully tomorrow is all about the descents

We pull into Whiporie around 11:45am having covered almost exactly half of the 100km between
Grafton and Casino. The General store (and only store for 50km in ANY direction) has camping
Facilities. Well it's a camping are with a toilet. There's no shower here. But it is FREE

We take a little time to set up camp and relax a little.
The shop has a few animals too. Some goats, a little pony and some huskys.

I wandered off to talk to the pony, he decided to check me out. I was scratching his head.
Seemed to be enjoying the attention. Then he decides he's going to try to eat my jacket !

Spent a little time with the dogs too. Very friendly beasts.

Tomorrow will be another half day of 50km or so to Casino.
Then we will have a day off. Haven't decided where to go after casino yet.
Maybe Kyogle and stay inland longer, or head towards Bangalow and the coast.

Stats from today's ride.

50.4 km
4.63ah
224.03 watt hrs
4.4 wh/km
210.80 human watt hrs
95 avg human watts
Avg speed 15.2 km/h
Max speed 41.4 km/h

 

[Alastor]

Nice road trip there 8) good luck with your adventure , be safe and enjoy

 

[voicecoils]

Day 11 photos and captions

Victor took my trike for a test ride

The cabin were staying in tonight.

Cumulative figures as of Day 11

• 731.30 km since leaving home.
• 74.59 total amp hours used
• 3,539.38 watt hrs total
• 3,496.40 human watt hrs total

Jason's traveled on less then $1 of electricity so far!

Day 12 photos and captions

Grafton 77km. This was after we had already done about 12km.

The Sun ! Haven't seen it for days !

Not sure exactly what I was trying to capture here !

Slowly grinding up another hill !

 

[voicecoils]

Jason has sent me lots of photos for day 12 and day 13 photos are starting to come through too.

I'm still working on uploading and adding the captions to get them on this thread.

 

[voicecoils]

Day 12 continued

TALL trees !

Lots of greenery we rode through today.

Never ending road !

Fog still lifting in the valley

Commercial jet contrail. Most likely headed for Brisbane.

Old church on the side of the road in one of the small towns.

Blue sky ! No clouds in sight.

More blue !

Vic in my mirror.

Look out ! Kangaroos about !

Glenreagh

Giant dingo in glenreagh.

Glenreagh general store.

The wright flyer !

The long and winding road !

35km to go !

Vic and Sharyn behind

More of that wide open space !

15km to go. 69km just traveled !

<-Armidale Grafton ->

Grafton visitor info centre

Crossing the Clarence river.

More of the river.

Camp set up at the show grounds at Grafton.

EDIT all Day 12 photos finally up!

 

[Diamondback]

Day 14 begins.


Day 14.
Woke at 6:15am to the sound of cows mooing !

Significantly colder here last night than any other night on this trip so far.
Not below zero though. Probably close to zero. My guess is around 2c.

Packed up by 7:30am. A little warmer now. The Sun is rising and the crows are skwarking.

Will have a quick bite to eat at the general store where we camped for the night.
Then head off towards Casino.

 

[docnjoj]

The long and winding road !

That's gotta be the straightest winding road I've seen in a while!
I used to be a model builder and that Wright Flyer was way cool! Thanks!
otherDoc

 

[Diamondback]

Stopped at a little roadside rest area for a quick break we are about half way to casino.
Making good time today. 21km covered in 1hr 15mins

 

[Hillhater]

To someone living in city suburbs...there is something very alluring in those open empty country roads ! 8)
....and the dirt roads more so ! :?