Day 30: Grafton to Evan’s Head

A day of three halves.

We tried a new tactic today, getting up early to beat the heat at 7am. It worked too - with a bit of cloud cover helping out too. 

An extrardinary track bike in the coffee shop in Grafton. 650b front wheel, reversed forks, 74x11 gear and a reinforced stem. Motor-paced racer I reckon. Bob reckons it’s a stayer’s bike - but I don’t know what that means.

Then we we’re off on quiet roads, following the river along a narrow but tarmac sealed road. Beautiful, flat cycling. 

We had a fantastic coffee at Botero Café in Maclean, who also roasted their own beans on site. Their food was incredible and they also had a table of LEGO - all in white - to build whilst you caffeinated. Genius. 

 Then, we we’re soon dumped back on to the Pacific Highway, in the midst of the Woolgoolga to Ballina upgrade. That meant just grinding out the k’s in over 30°C, with dusty roadworks all around. Not fun, but we got it down. 

The last ten kilometres were a lot quieter, ending in Evans Head, a sleepy little town that had been invaded by a large number of visitors in a city of tents. We were allocated our 5 metre square, more than adequate for our tents and we headed off for a jump around in the surf.