Day 11 - Monday 16th February

The final day of the ride; Brisbane, according to the road signs, is 82kms from Surfers Paradise, so the distance was never going to be a problem. However I no longer had a route to follow; the Lonely Planet guide's East Coast Explorer route, which I've been following all the way from Sydney, finishes at Surfers Paradise. The Guide recommends getting the train from there to Brisbane, saying that the road is too busy for safe cycling.

In fact, since the LP guide was published, a motorway has been built between Surfers and the Gold Coast and bicycles are not allowed on it.

I had a look on the internet for a suitable safe cycling route to Brisbane and read about a bike route designated "V1" - the "V apparently standing for velo - clearly it was intended to be some kind of "cycling superhighway", it seemed. I couldn't find a map of the route to download but managed to find some reference to where it started which was near where the Gold Coast Highway joined the M1 motorway.

As I rode along the Gold Coast Highway through Surfers and Southport I passed 2 bike shops and in each of them asked if they knew anything about this V1 route and how to get on it. Both told me that they'd never cycled to Brisbane themselves and recommended against it. Neither of them had heard of any bike route going there.

Anyway after a few kms north of Southport, the Gold Coast Highway became a lot quieter, with a good bike lane alongside:

Shortly afterwards I found the first V1 sign - clearly,the route did exist! see below:

For a few kms the route was easy to follow, and clearly signposted. Also for a lot of the way it was delineated by some of the brightest green tarmac I've ever seen:

From the route I got an excellent view of Waterworld, one of several large theme parks in the area - here is the water slide:

But shortly after this I lost the route completely. The bike path ended, there were no signposts, and I couldn't follow the motorway because there was simply no way to get alongside it. Very frustrating. I had to detour for quite a long way, getting lost and had to ask directions several times before anyone could tell me the right way to Brisbane.

Eventually I found the V1 route again:

The route crossed over the Logan river where I took this tranquil looking view (below) - in fact the motorway was immediately behind me and it was anything but peaceful!

Shortly after this the trail went cold again and I had no idea which way to go. I assume someone must have taken at least one signpost, I guess this sort of vandalism happens everywhere.

Aftre a long diversion followed by a stretch on a busy main road without a bike path, I saw another sign:

...which led me back directly alongside the motorway, along this excellent bikepath (see below) -

This didn't last long and the route left the motorway again; at least from here onwards it was reasonably easy to follow, with no shortage of signs:

At last, the skyline of Brisbane started to come into view:
The last few kms into Brisbane were along some of the best bikepaths I've ever experienced - completely segregated from motor traffic and pedestrians, great surfaces, these allowed fast, safe cycling and were clearly very popular and well used by a large community of cycling commuters:

What a pity it hadn't been like this all the way from the Gold Coast. Approaching the city centre, the V1 route crosses the Brisbane River via the new Goodwill bridge which is cycle and pedestrian only and is an attractive design:

And that was it - mission accomplished - I'd travelled by bike all the way from Sydney to Brisbane. I stopped briefly to take a photo of the entrance to Queen St Mall, the central street of Brisbane:

...before travelling north through the city centre to Fortitude Valley, where I had reserved a room in the City Palms Motel -

The total distance covered today was 117.2 kms - probably about 25kms more than I would have done had the V1 route been clearly marked all the way and I hadn't taken any wrong turnings!

Which gives a trip total of 1239 kms.

Only one puncture; no other problem with bike or rider, no accidents, no hassle from any car or lorry drivers, no problems finding decent accommodation or food, and most important of all, dry weather - in fact the trip has gone as well as it could have!

There are plenty more rides in the LP Cycling Australia guide; I hope to do another one next year and if I do, I will definitely post another blog!

A few pictures of the Gold Coast

I spent 3 full days (Friday 13th - Sunday 15th Feb) at Broadbeach, on the Gold Coast just 2km south of Surfers Paradise, relaxing after 10 consecutive days of fairly arduous cycling; I felt that I'd earned a bit of a rest.

As it turned out, the weather would have prevented me from making much progress anyway, because it rained hard most of the time I was there. Not a big problem because there are plenty of indoor things to do there, in particular the casino where I played quite a lot of poker, a huge multiplex cinema where I saw "The Reader" (not bad), and loads of good restaurants and bars to check out.

It was sunny and warm most of the last day I was there and I really wanted to hire some inline skates (I'd left mine in Sydney) but there's nowhere hiring skates on the Gold Coast, I found to my huge disappointment. Pity as the area is dead flat and has loads of good bike paths which would be ideal for skating.

Anyway, the tallest of the many high rise buildings on the Gold Coast is the Q1 Tower, a residential tower completed in 2005. This is the 20th tallest building in the world, and the tallest residential building in the world.

The Q1 Tower is on the left

From the top, the views are simply breathtaking and a trip up there is a must if you are ever visiting the Gold Coast:

Looking South

Looking North

I could easily have spent a lot more time in the Gold Coast; however the rest of the ride still had to be completed and I wanted to spend a few days in Brisbane as well. So it was time to get on the bike again for the final stage of the journey....

Day 10 - Thursday 12th February

Day 10 - Thursday 12th February - I was on the road from Byron Bay shortly after 7am After 6kms the route rejoined the northbound Pacific Highway, a dual carriageway at this stage, with a nice bikepath running alongside away from the traffic. You can see the road in the background:



The bikepath was quite overhung by trees in places, and bore very little sign of regular use. After a few kms the path ended and it was back to the hard shoulder:

Above picture shows cycle path signs well in evidence - in readiness for when the Pacific Highway becomes regularly used by cyclists. That day may still be a while away!

Above - the old general store at Billinudgel, just off the highway - where I took a brief stop for a sandwich that was anything but "gourmet". Note the old style petrol pump at the front.

I made good rapid progress along the flat, well-surfaced highway and was in Tweed Heads, at the border with Queensland, shortly after 10am, after travelling about 70kms.

Above - border marker between NSW and Queensland.

Australian Walk of Fame, Coolangatta

Tweed Heads segues into Coolangatta, the first town in Queensland; the only way you can tell you've gone from one to the other is that the clocks in Queensland are 1 hour behind those in NSW. These twin towns mark the start of the development known as the Gold Coast, which stretches for about 30kms north.

Looking north from Burleigh Heads, shortly after Coolangatta - the skyscrapers of Surfers Paradise are visible from a long way away (above)

Shortly after 2pm I reached Surfers Paradise. I'd been there before and knew what to expect. Yes it's rather tacky, a sort of cross between Las Vegas and Blackpool - but nevertheless great fun, with all the entertainment, bars, restaurants and tourist attractions that anyone could want. And the sun always shines there. Well it wasn't actually shining today - but it was certainly warm enough - and dry!

Above - entrance to Cavill Mall, the centre of Surfers.

I'm definitely going to stay here for a few days. Brisbane is only about 80kms from here so an easy 1 day's journey - and I'm not planning to return to Sydney until Saturday 21st. So I've plenty of time to spare. If I'd known the weather was going to remain dry all this time I could probably have spent a bit longer in some of the places on the way here but since I didn't, I've tried to cover as much distance as possible every day, to leave time to spare in case rain delayed progress further on in the trip.

I checked into the Portobello apartment building in Broadbeach, 2kms south of Surfers but very handy for the casino:

Below is a view from the beach outside the apartment:

Then I put the bike away for a while and went off for a walk around. From the casino there's a monorail link across to the huge Oasis complex, one of many big malls in the Gold Coast area. The following pictures were taken from the monorail and give some idea of the scale of the development here:

And here's one taken from underneath the monorail, showing the casino in the background:

Now to start checking out the bars here - this will take me some time! To start with, here is the "Moo Moo Bar" - I loved the cowhide seats, and the wine list was pretty impressive too!

Total distance covered today (including exploring around Surfers) - 116.9kms. Trip total - 1087kms.

Update 2245hrs - came back to apartment to post blog, was just about to set out again - but it's now raining hard! Can't go out now, I haven't an umbrella! Oh well - I guess it couldn't stay dry for ever, my luck had to run out eventually! Let's see what's on the TV.....

Day 9 - Wedneday 11th February

Day 9 - Wednesday 11th February

I was on the road out of Evans Head, certainly not the most exciting of places, just after 7am. The route soon rejoined the Pacific Highway where I saw this alliterative road sign:

The road is narrow and quite busy in the section leading up to Ballina (40km) - but the hard shoulder felt reasonably safe and the going remained very flat and easy. It was very humid though, rain seemed imminent and I wasn't at all confident of reaching Byron Bay, the day's destination, without getting soaked.

I arrived in Ballina, a pleasant enough town, at around 9am and after a quick photo stop at the "Big Prawn", I found an internet cafe where I enjoyed a good breakfast while checking the latest emails.

The rest of the journey, along the coast road via Lennox Head, was somewhat more undulating and I managed to reach the maximum speed of the trip so far (61.8km/hr - yaaay!) on a particularly long straight downhill. Managed to arrive safely in Byron Bay just before midday and checked into the Dolphin Shore Motel (below).

Then took a ride into the centre of town - it was brightening up now and the beach was getting busy:

Enjoyed a glass of the local beer, Stone Wood, at the Great Northern Hotel, a fine old traditional hotel on the main street (below)

I then took a ride out to the Lighthouse, 3km away, via a very scenic walkway around Watego Beach -

The Cape Byron Lighthouse, situated on the easternmost point of mainland Australia, was built in 1901. Apparently it's the brightest light in the country!

You get a terrific view from the lighthouse, this is looking south along Tallow Beach:

The ride up to the Lighthouse was quite hilly so after this I spent the rest of the day taking it easy. Byron Bay's a fun place, loads of good restaurants and bars, and a very relaxed atmosphere. Being a counter-cultural sort of place, cycling seems quite popular here, the place is full of inexperienced cyclists wobbling around on hire bikes. I still haven't met any cycle tourists though, after 9 days on the road.

Distance covered today - 90.5kms. Total for the trip - 969kms.

Day 8 - Tuesday 10th February

Day 8 - Tuesday 10th February

It’s a week now since I left Sydney, and I am getting pretty used to life on the road. In fact, it’s not a bad way to live, I’ve seen so many things that I’d never have noticed if I’d been travelling by car, stayed in a different place every night but always somewhere new, had some good meals and met lots of very nice friendly people. Of course, the weather has helped enormously and I guess I’ve been very lucky to have had no rain so far. Although it’s been uncomfortably hot all the way, anything’s better than cycling through the rain. Today I was on the road nice and early, at 6.30 am. The temperature was cool, but there was a lot of fog and mist over the river and it seemed rather humid, as though rain was finally approaching. The route ran alongside the mighty Clarence River towards the Pacific coast.

Early morning mist over the Clarence River

I crossed the river on the cable driven ferry at Lawrence, about 25km from Grafton. The going was flat and smooth along a quiet riverbank road and I made good progress, pushing the top gears all the way.

After the river crossing there wasn’t much to see until I reached the coast. I took a brief stop for a drink and a banana at Maclean, a small town on the river (see below) -

As I approached the coastal resort of Yamba, the road went past a number of mangrove swamps (see above). Yamba looked to be a lively place; however there was no time to explore it properly because I needed to get the ferry over to Iluka to begin the next stage of the journey; I arrived at the jetty just in time for the 11am ferry and the next one wasn’t due to leave until 1.45pm.

Pacific beach at Yamba

Ferry across to Iluka


The journey over to Iluka took about 35 minutes. I was hungry by now, having covered about 75kms already, but I soon discovered that Iluka is a very quiet place with very few restaurants. A fairly nondescript barramundi and chips at the bowling club was the best I could find.

The rest of the day’s ride was a fairly uninteresting slog. Not a slog because of the terrain, which continued to be flat, but because of the increasing humidity. It really did feel as though a big storm was on the way and I had to keep drinking masses of fluid at every opportunity to replenish all I was sweating out.
After about 20kms the route rejoined the Pacific Highway, again a single carriageway road at this stage, but with a good wide hard shoulder for cycling on :

The only minor thing of interest on the rest of the route was New Italy, a museum complex and memorial dedicated to a bunch of Italian settlers who’d developed the area in the 1880s.

Pioneer memorial, New Italy

I arrived in Evans Head, the destination for the day, at about 5pm, and checked into the Pacific Motor Inn. Evans Head is a very quiet resort, nothing much going on here. Nowhere seemed to have wifi access (always a bad sign) and there weren’t many restaurants, though I did manage to find a reasonable good Thai where I had a good meal washed down with a wine whose label was somewhat more interesting than the contents:

Total mileage today - 142kms