Brisbane is bicycle heaven

Brisbane is bicycle heaven

We've finally ousted ourselves from the comfort of Brisbane and we're at the train station awaiting our trolley that will sweep us off almost to Noosa Heads. We said goodbye to our lovely and incredibly gracious hosts, Heather and Lindsay this morning. We thanked them with a big hearty home cooked breakfast of French toast, potato-onion- capsicum scramble, and a heap of fresh fruit salad.

These folks that put us up offered us a great fully furnished basement unit, a wonderful backyard garden to admire, a flock of chickens to visit with, and a menagere of suburban wildlife to be dazzled by. Ohnandvthey had an incredible hot meal waiting for us when we arrived! They are both lively conversationalists as bike advocates and tourers with heaps of local knowledge as well as having quite a bit to say about traveling through many parts of Australia. We were invited to attend a dinner among friends of theirs, their primary source of friendhip stemming from all of their membership in the BBTC or Brisbane Bicycle Touring Club. The best Indian food of our trip was enjoyed whilst discussing gear ratios, past tour foibles, and projected routes. It was supeising to learn that there seem to be quite a few large supported tours being held throughout Australia with upwards of 1000 riders in most of the ones mentioned among the dinner group. When we weren't dining out with worldly cyclists we spent our time in Brizzy riding along her beautiful network of dedicated cycleways, most butting up against the river and running up to 10ks. We discovered a number of cycle shops around the suburbs which gave us a chance to experience the less tourist parts of town. Sadly our hopes of catching a not of the Tour Down Under featuing Lances infamous comeback, were dashed when we discovers that not one sports pub or coffee shop equipped with a television would be playing any coverage. The locals were much more intrigued with the Australian Open which soundly beat out the tour in both Aussie enthsiasm and channel coverage. Before arriving in Brisbane we stayed with Greta and Hugh smack dab in between the Gold Coast and Brisbane city in the little township of Ormeau. We spent 4 glorious days and three restful nights reading, relaxing, eating, and getting to know these two wonderful and quirky people. While there, we were given a tour of Mt. Tambourine and had our first walk in a true tropical forest at Witches Falls - which interestingly was the first park established in Australia in 1890 (or thereabouts).

We've also undergone another series of gear changes, which we like to think of as part of our cycletouring evolution. E. is now part of the front rack and pannier club and is enjoying the freedom to pack more books and snacks. Z. got a proper low rider front rack made for suspension forks which despite being a rigid fork, is working out MUCH better. Consequently we're not using pipe clamps on either of the bikes anymore and the loads seem more balanced and secure.

We are heading up to a WWOOF farm stay outside Rockhampton about 6 days ride from Brizzy. We'll stop in Noosa Heads for a look around and then set off into a few days of hinterland riding.
We hope everyone back home is doing well and we are desperately trying to send some of this hot weather your way!