Last day of the East Coast Cycling Journey

Wow! I made it, the final destination Cairns has been reached! Over 2,300 km of cycling to get here and 31 days of riding and I’m DONE! What an awesome feeling! No more trucks, buses, or caravans, no more bad roads, no more hills, no more dead kangaroo stench, no more attacking dogs, no more raging heat rash from head to toe, no more headwinds, no more honking idiots, no more caravan parks, no more peeing in sugar cane fields, no more magpies or snakes, and no more V drinks and glucose tabs!!! I am so happy it’s over, and it’s such a great feeling to look at a map and see how far I’ve come.

I had a good day for my final day of this leg of cycling and was thrilled that there was no rain but enough cloud to keep the heat rash away. Seemed to be an easy day despite 90 km, but I’m sure it’s because I was at the end and so had unlimited energy just to get here. And now I am here in a really nice motel room complete with living area and kitchen that I managed to get at a standby rate. And I deserve it at the end of a long journey full of dirty backpackers and cheap caravan parks! It’s been a fantastic challenge and has tried me in various ways but now that it’s over I’m looking forward to a good rest.

And what can I say about cycling in Australia? Well I guess it just depends on what you’re looking for. Personally I think I enjoyed cycling in Asia much better because (1) the distances are smaller, (2) there is much more to see along the way, (3) the culture is more interesting, and (4) everything is about 10 times cheaper. In Australia there just isn’t that much to see and the distances are huge and it’s an expensive country to travel in. Plus I found the locals in Asia to be much friendlier to me as a cyclist than the Australians. Cycling on your own in Oz can be quite isolating and lonely because there just isn’t anyone else out there. That’s just my opinion based on my experience anyway.

And to everyone I met along the way who thought I was crazy and stupid to even consider doing this on my own and who tried to instill their fears on me instead of offering me encouragement and support ? Hey, I MADE IT!! There. Have a think about that the next time you see a girl on a bike, and hopefully next time you’ll just say YOU GO GIRL. And to that annoying Australian man with a big fat beer belly who I met at Mt. Warning and who was absolutely convinced that I would just never make it, well I’d love to watch him eat those words now ’cause I’m here mate!!!!

Resting up tonight over a few beers and will figure out what to do with my time in Cairns tomorrow.

Distance: 87.67 km
Time: 4 hr 4 minutes
Avg Speed: 21.5 km/hr

Is that rock real?? Royal National Park NSW

Spread the work Aussies! Royal National Park

Great weekend Evan and friends, thanks!!

Add comment June 1st, 2003