This will be a longer post as today I am man of leisure having arrived at my destination before lunch. I have checked into the caravan park for 2 nights to allow my body some recovery time. This means I have a day and half to occupy myself and I suspect the 20 points of interest listed in the tourist guide to Charter Towers may not use all my time.
It was a cold night but I was comfortable in the tent. The night sky was spectacular - the Milky Way is truly awesome. I slept until almost 6:00 am and despite being in no rush I made breakfast and packed up by 7:30 am. The sun quickly warmed me up. Well the sun and 6 km hill that I started the day with. From then on it was rolling hills, fortunately there were some nice downhills. The surface improved too!
You might suppose cycle touring does not inspire creativity however at times my mind wanders and today I was inspired by the road surface to compose a ditty I think to the tune of "wild thing (you make my heart sing). Brent if you are reading this please put to music. It goes like this:
Rough seal
such a bad deal!
You steal momentum
Rough seal
Such a bad deal
You are a pain in the rectum
Rough Seal
Such a bad deal
You cause negative emotion
Rough seal
Such a bad deal
I apply maximum lotion
For the non-cycling fraternity rough seal bitumen has a gravelly surface that has greater rolling resistance meaning it is harder work for the cyclist. Most of the road from Townsville was rough seal. That combined with wind and hills made yesterday much tougher.
After 35 km I arrived at the Burdekin River - must be amazing to see in flood. I stopped at a roadhouse just past Bivouac Junction for a cup of tea. The sun was beating down, my speedo was saying it was 31 degrees. Now I know that seems nice to frozen Melbournites shivering in 12 degrees but try riding a 50 kg bike up hills repeatly and 31 will seem very hot.
Finally roll into Charters Towers - lovely old gold era buildings everywhere.
The caravan park doesn't have unpowered sites so I pay up for 2 nights of power. They give me a bare patch of grass that is in the sun all afternoon - I had asked for a shady spot. Then I watch as caravans roll up and placed in nice shady spots. I'm paying the same so I'm not happy. Go back to reception and say I'm not happy. No dice! I'm told the caravan sites had concrete slabs which is bulltish! Some do but ones I saw being occupied after me don't. Clearly I am being treated differently because I am on a bike. I say I may not want to stay a 2nd night in this case but get no movement. Too much trouble to move on! Aargh!
I spent some of the afternoon looking around the town. Some nice historic buildings including a band rotunda that Lisa remembers from her school trip to Queensland in 1980?
No comments:
Post a Comment