Day 48 - Tewantin

Another rainy night and morning. It’s still nice for a change though.

Mixed emotions today. The birthday of my nephew who passed away in 2024, the tragedy of 911 in the USA and my mother-in-laws birthday.

Graham, Peter, Brett and I had been volunteered to help erect the marquee for tomorrow nights shindig.

Jodie and Casey live in Cooroy, about 17 kms from the caravan park. I indicated I’d ride there today. I told this to Jodie yesterday so she gave me her address. She was very insistent that I ensure I plotted the street name in Cooroy, not Doonan because the same street name exists in both locations.

I plotted this in Waze to get an idea of where it was then I created a course in my cycling app, that also gives me turn by turn guidance.

Off I went, a little bit apprehensive given we are in a strange place. Up a main road then a detour onto a sealed road that cars could not access. It soon became obvious this was a Soap Box/HillTrolley course that for all intents and purposes looked like Mt Panorama.

Up it went, round a bend, then up again, then round another bend, and up again. This went on for some time. My legs were screaming at me to stop……but I persisted. I was so looking forward to coming down it on the return journey.

Still more up. For the cycling fraternity, a gain of 237m over a distance of nearly 13 kms, is not a walk or ride in the park.

I finally found some downhill for relief, but of course what goes down sometimes comes up.

Anyway, I finally arrived at my destination……so I thought. I was looking for number 177, but the street numbers ran out at 171. I rang Jodie’and told her the intersection I was at……she laughed and proceeded to tell me I was about 20 mins BY CAR from her place. I’d just endured screaming pain in my legs for 45 minutes so I wasn’t in a fit state to ride another hour at least scaling more horrendous hills.

Peter borrowed Casey’s Ute and came to the rescue. I’m pretty sure Peter was secretly very excited about this because it got him out of the hard work erecting the marquee.

Needless to say I was the joke of the day.

Marquee up, a few beers and a bite to eat and it’s home time.

I’m pretty sure I heard the gasps of despair from my legs when I announced I was riding home. The Strava app profile looked somewhat tame compared to the ride earlier to the complete wrong location. Not the case though. More ascent than descent again.

I managed to find my way back. Cooled off, had a shower and a rest.

Next thing I know, the other Perth peoples started arriving. Terri, Steph and Karen first, followed by Mitch, Kat and Harvey and Elyce and Zali.

Much the same as yesterday’s welcome at the markets, greetings and hugs and laughter. I’m sure other guests were quite dumbfounded at all the commotion.

So then it was on…..drinks, nanny hugs firstly for Anne from both Zali and Harvey then for the other pseudo Nannie’s.

Right behind our vans is a permanent caravan that produces awesome pizzas on a Tuesday and Friday night. We all pigged out and drank and watched and listened to a brilliant YouTube playlist on a tv mounted on the pizza van wall.

Tonight also sees the Dockers fighting for their place in history. As I type Gail, Peter, Julie, Steph, Karen Terri are watching the game in the girls cabin.

I’m shattered so I’ve headed back to the van early..

Although not “Bush Chook” we had a beer for you Ben ❤️❤️❤️Read more