I'd thought I'd never hear the words from Andrew, \"Let's just take the main highway.\" But I did this day. We awoke in SWR to the sound of gulls. In fact I'd woken up in the middle of the night to the sound of drunks returning home from a rough night in the pub. The knocked on each door of the hotel looking for their friends and then had a row about the amount of noise they were making. Reminds me of college days and nights. In fact the whole of Australia seems as though it is governed by Frat Boy values.
When we finally got ourselves on the road we had to backtrack 11 kilometers to make it back to the turnoff towards the main highway. All the way we fought the sturdy wind that had blown us home the night before. As we turned onto Highway 1 and the wind blew us down the road, Andy suggested taking the most direct route, on the Highway to Coffs Harbour. At first the road was quiet with a big shoulder, leaving us to appreciate the grassy meadows and hilly gum forests against a big blue cloudless sky. Slowly the wind died and left us pushing ourselves along up and down the hilly terrain.
Complicating matters further the road periodically narrowed, leaving us in the lanes of the increasingly busy highway. Thankfully Macksville came along, where we'd planned a lunch stop. There we sat on the veranda overlooking the river, drinking beer, munching calamari and hanging with the locals. A young couple gave us advice on a route, suggesting we avoid the much-heralded town called Nimbin in favor of the trendy beach station of Byron Bay. Andy really wanted to see the Marijuana museum, but they convinced us otherwise, telling us that the only real attraction was \"feral hippies\" \--and we'd certainly had enough experience with those back in Santa Cruz.
After achieving a mild beer-buzz we decided to get off the big road and head for the hills. We wound around up and down trying to spot a koala or two in the trees. It was nice to be able to concentrate on something other than where your wheels are rolling and how close cars are coming to you for a little while. Our blissful rest from the highway soon came to an end and we were back on bad ol' one again. Andy figured out a way to get off the road once again, though it would take us 6 kilometers instead of three on the main road.
A small price to pay for the peace. There were more than a few surprises on the route. Just a few hundred meters off the road we saw a family of roos boinging along. It was only our second live kangaroo sighting this trip. Another bonus was the view of the coast when we reached Hungry Head. White sands stretched in either direction as far as the eye could see. Just before rejoining the wretched road we stopped for a snack in Uranga, where we almost stopped for the evening. Instead we continued onward, both anxious to see a little urban culture after so many nights in small towns.
The highway was even more bothersome than before, but we had a little stroke of luck. A long new stretch of highway was just about to be opened and we managed to sneak onto it. Two lanes in each direction were reserved only for BikeBrats usage this day. Because it was a Sunday there were no roadworkers to contend with either. After only 5 or so kilometers we were back on the evil road again. The traffic was still bad and the road was worse, shoulder-free as it wound through eucalyptus forests. Both of us were literally run off the road by trucks more than once on this segment.
Finally we found our turnoff to Coffs Harbour and meandered through the suburbs before finally reaching our destination. Riding our bikes through the Palm Court, the central mall, we were disturbed to find the town completely empty. This was supposed to be one of the biggest towns on the coast. It must be pretty big because it had the biggest Ex-Services Club I'd ever seen. Across the street from the club was a men's hairdresser named \"Peter Titcum\" which was next door to the \"New Start for Under Achievers Foundation\" \--giving you some idea of the possibilities in Coffs Harbor. We found a great dinner at the local pub.
A pair of Thais had rented out the \"bistro\" (every pub has one) and were serving simple meals of composed of very fresh ingredients. Hopefully this would be a preview of our times to come in Asia. We washed it down with a beer, of course, and treated ourselves to a free game of pool.