Dolphin in the bay

April 22nd, 2003 at 12:00am

It’s 6pm and already dark, and I’ll be hitting the sack very soon. It was a good day, but a tiring one with A LOT of hills. I must admit that even this morning I was tempted to spend another day at Tin Can Bay, especially after it rained last night and I woke up to having to pack a wet tent. I layed in bed (on the thermarest in my sleeping bag) for an extra half-hour, and finally struggled out of my tent at 6:30am.

I packed up my gear and then cycled 5 minutes down to the marina to see if any dolphins were around. Tin Can Bay is famous for having wild dolphins come in to the marina every day to check out the people and get fed. I was lucky today because’Mystique’ came by – a male dolphin who’s been coming to the bay for the last 7-8 years. You can stand in the water and he comes right up and rubs his head against your hand or your legs. It was cool! To see a dolphin that close and know that he was choosing to be there, not some animal kept in captivity, was amazing. And even better, it was free! Well worth the excursion to Tin Can Bay.

From there I started to ride to Maryborough, first 14 km back on the same road I was on yesterday, and then a right turn and another 60 km to Maryborough. Lots of hills. From the turnoff I found myself on a logging road with far too many logging trucks flying at death speeds. And the hills, I could just FEEL some of them saying,’I am evil. Welcome to my World!’ as I approached. Thankfully it was only 40 km of that and the last 20 km were flat or I would not have made it!

Got to town and was able to set up my tent just before the rain started. Intermittent showers all afternoon. Just the excuse I needed to lay in my tent and rest. I was so tired that I just couldn’t even think. Hunger finally got me some motivation and I cycled down to the supermarket to get some grub.

I’ve just had a long map-studying session, and guess what, I still don’t know exactly where I’m going from here. Need the next map north to get a better idea of what lies ahead. Tomorrow I’m not sure what’s on the agenda, but I desperately need to check email and do laundry so I have reasons to stay. I think I’ll wait and see how I feel in the morning and go from there. Hervey Bay is only 35 km away so that would be an easy day, but if it’s raining in the morning….hmmm. Sleep on it.

Distance: 72.59 km
Time: 3 hour 43 minutes
Avg Speed: 19.4 km/hour

Theres Mystique!

Dont worry Im looking at you too

On the hilly logging road

Entry Filed under: Australia,Cycling,Sunshine Coast