Rob 'n BOB on the BNT
Toowoomba,
Qld - 9
January 2004
Astounding
that it has been a full month since my last update, but for various
reasons I haven't been able to get on to the web ever since. I
hit Biggenden on christmas eve and the library was about to close, just
allowing me time to check mail, but not enough to send any. Then
Kilkivan and Nanango, same thing, on New Year's eve, and their
libraries remained closed till Jan 5, and then a few days ago in
Blackbutt I was able to read e-mail, but for some reason unable to send
any. Now I am in Toowoomba, a 100,000+ town west of Brisbane, and
a few more amenities than all the small communities I keep passing
through.
It's tough when so much time has
passed since the previous installment, because where to begin, without
getting into an exceedingly long and boring tale! Perhaps I'll
keep it a bit more generic, with here and there some detail where
warranted. I've passed through a lot of little mining towns, Mt.
Morgan being one of them, not long after Rockhampton. I checked
into a caravan park and had just pitched my tent, when it started to
pour and what shows up? 
Another BOB trailer - this one
with a
little Aussie flag! John, a bloke from Darwin, had bicycled from
Darwin to Adalaide, via Alice and back also inland through Dubbo and on
his way to Rocky. Although he travelled mainroads, or at least
paved roads exclusively, there was so much in comman that we just kept
talking and talking. I should say: we had a good
yarn! His trailer, being on bitumen only, looked so new still,
compared to my worn and torn specimen. After Mt.Morgan I've been
following old wagon roads, coach roads, and various other types of
track. The progression in the level of road was as follows: first
an occasional track, which became a mailman's route, then wagon road,
coach road, motor road, highway. Not all roads of course make it
through this full progression, and some fall into disrepair, or become
4WD tracks at best. What the guidebooks describe as 4WD tracks
can mean anything from a pretty good, wide gravel road, to almost
undiscernable ruts in the ground, I guess it depends on who wrote the
particular section description. 
I haven't been
plagued by too
much mud, but one memorable section, just before reaching Kroombit Tops
National Park, and there was no way of avoiding it or detouring around
it - there were no other tracks. I spent hours travelling a
section of about 8 kms, which was regularly turned into sticky black
mud. Scrape, push,scrape, push,.......... It became the day
from hell. But then, I ended up at the residence of Neil Rideout,
the trail coordinator for the Kroombit section and I was invited to
stay, had a real bed to sleep in and other than eat a lot of their food
and rest up a bit, I helped them a tiny little bit with some repairs on
their fences and shuttling one of their vehicles when they all went out
mustering cattle the following day. Neil gave me detailed
instructions also on how to get to detour the for bicycles near to
impassible Kroombit Tops section, and as it turned out, I was now
following the OLD National Horse Trail, which was a great trail that
ended up in Cania Gorge, a beautiful valley, where I stayed at a very
pleasant caravan park at the end of the road.
They have a bird
feeding hour late in
the afternoon which attracts hundreds of rainbow lorikeets,
as well as
king parrots and other birds, that come and eat right out out of your
hands. Very entertaining. I spent the next day hiking many of the
short walks in the park, together with me mate, Dave, who was tenting
not far from my site. He's from Brisbane and plays in a band
called "Life in Slippers", just working on their debut CD, and they'll
probably be famous one day, and I can say that I hiked with their lead
guitarist / vocalist!
The track has lead me through a
number of state forests and National Parks, all of guidebook #5 follows
mostly good gravel tracks, and is therefore very popular with
cyclists. Apparently. Not that I saw any. In Mt.
Perry I received my repaired mobile, apparently it needed a new
battery. Too bad that the warranty doesn't cover Australia.
Only in Canada, pity! But good to be able to yak on the mobile
again - it's so much more fun to talk to Gwen from the comforts of my
campsite than from a payphone. And occasionally, when on a high
ridge, in the middle of nowhere, you may get a signal, and such I was
able to call her on her birthday!
So far the most marvellous
campsite I
have stayed at was along the Burnett River. Where the 4WD track
crossed the river there was just room between the rocks to find a level
spot for my tent. This was the FIRST clear running river I've
come across. A river that flowed, and with clean, clear water to
boot, what a treat! When leaving Biggenden on Christmas Day, I
saw my first echidna ...... dead, on the road, poor thing! I hope
that one day I'll see a live one or two. When in Biggenden I
bought some liqueur, called Kara Mia, a Aussie variation on
Kahlua. But it turned out to be virtually undrinkable, only by
adding lots of "cream" (=extra strength full cream milk powder), was I
able to work my way through the bottle over the next several
days. With the occaional variation with some added cinnamon or
ginger it actually wasn't so bad. Perhaps I should buy another
bottle ...... NOT!
On Christmas Day I rode into
Musket
Flat, a community, no a town (!) of 6 residences, and asked at one
house if there was a place where I could pitch my tent in town.
Next thing, I had a supersized stubby in my hands, and was invited to
put the tent in their yard, stay for lunch, dinner, and we drank punch
all afternoon. Richard and Ricki Birt, my generous hosts, had
made 10 liters of fruit punch, and initially only Rich and I were
drinking it. The level didn't seem to go down much until some of
the others started to help out. We went swimming in the local
pool - a cattle dam just behind their house. The kids seemed to greatly
enjoy it, so I went for a refreshing swim in the mud as well, slipping
through the slimy mud when entering and getting out again. Next
morning Richard prepared an egg and toast breakfast for me, and they
would have liked me to stay another day or so, but I felt it was time
to hit the trail again. I'll never forget all the wonderful
people I keep meeting during this adventure trip, it is really
heartwarming.
In Miva, another little community of
a few houses only, I decided to camp at the little picnic area by the
historic car and rail bridge, but when it started to pour and kept
raining on and off all afternoon, I was quickly "rescued" by some
locals who invited me over and have a real bed in the basement and a
few beers and some tucker as well. When I got to Kilkivan, I was
close to the Murgon wine growing region, but it required a detour of
50km out and back again, and I decided against. 
Before the next
little town, Nanango, I camped at the upper watershed of the Brisbane
River, only a trickle at that point, but a beautiful little campsite,
with a nice clean waterwhole. The swimming wasn't great because
of all the weeds in the water along the edges, but once you struggled
through them it was nice and clear in the middle. The next day is
when I called home from atop a ridge, great fun! In Nanango I
celebrated new year's by going for dinner at the RSL, where I
"splurged" on their special for the evening, beef satay for $7.50, with
all you can pile on your plate veggie and salad bar. If all their
customers were of the bicycle touring variety they couldn't survive
very long on help yourself salad bars, because the amount of food I
take in seems to be ever growing and growing! And where does it
all go? Same with all the water I drink during the day, some days
I must drink 10 liters of water and other fluids (soup, tea) or more
and there is no evidence of it at the other end! In Nanango I
treated myself to a couple of massages, first on new year's eve and a
second one on my birthday. My back has been hurting for weeks,
since I overdid it by having to carry BOB across some creeks, and it
isn't often that I hit a community of a size where they have a massage
therapist! The first was a regular massage, the second one a
"Bowen" treatment, more an accupressure type of poking. I think
it's made a difference, although I'll have to be a little more watchful
of the stress I put on my poor (old!) back.
For my birthday
dinner I went to the
one and only local restaurant "Copper Country", just under new
ownership, a Dutchman, who used to work at Harrison Hotsprings!
They have a tiny 3 acre vineyard, but their wines are actually made by
Kingaroy Wines in Kingaroy. Very good stuff, especially their
Shiraz! Big, full bodied, spicy, yummy. Emu Gorge was one
of my next stops, a State Forest camp, nested away in the bottom of Emu
Creek valley, a STEEP descent into, and an equally steep climb out the
next day. But a beautiful spot it was, and well worth the extra
sweat.
I arrived in Withcott
yesterday. Was quite excited about it, not that there is much to
Withcott, but that is where 5 years ago I started my first day ride on
the BNT, and the start of my fascination with the trail and here I am
again! I had lunch at the pub, a few beers and rissoles (isn't
that a much nicer name for meat balls!), then an icecream nextdoor and
then on to the new official BNT camp just below Preston Peak
Winery! I am camped literally below the vineyard
in a little
wooded area beside the road and a well / spring a few hundred meters
down a little track, where I can wash up and fetch water. 
I met
Jenny Rushbrook, one of the BNT Administrators, this morning at the
winery, she arrived just after I had done a full tasting of all their
wines. We had lunch together and HEAPS to talk about. What a
great pleasure to finally meet the person I've been e-mailing with for
many months now! She told me that I'm only the third person to
camp at the new R.M. Williams Reserve so far - it has only been
established since last spring, no, that is fall here! After lunch
Jenny drove me into Toowoomba, where I'm first getting this "off my
chest", and then have to do many more errands. A new pair of
bicycle shoes are in order. I don't know why I thought I'd go
through four pairs of tires, but only one pair of shoes that I've worn
for two years already! A fair bit of "pushbiking" is done by
pushing your bike here, so the soles are virtually done. So far
my equipment hasn't failed me. Only two broken spoke nipples, a
dozen or so punctures, and that's about it. BOB
has kept well
too, no sign of fatigue in any of his joints yet. Contrary to me
old back! The only thing I've chucked is my solar battery
charger, it just wasn't reliably charging and since I've discovered
that I can plug in much more oftern that I had anticipated, a regular
battery charger is more useful. Toowoomba is the HALFWAY POINT of
the trail! Yes, I am half way done, and Melbourne is all downhill
from here, everybody tells me. However, in time I'm not quite
halfway, since the mountainous section is going to take longer than the
previously relatively flat country. It's been getting hillier all
along, and my average number of kilometers per day is going down, I
think, but I haven't really checked this carefully. I have now
ridden 3500 kms, of which 2700 official trail kms. My third set
of tires is waiting for me in Glen Innis, still a couple or so weeks
away.
Alright Mates, Hooroo again!
Hopefully, the next episode will be a little sooner again.
Rob 'n BOB
