Day 6 Grafton to Kyogle

Today was a little less daunting in the length of ride, and the hills after leaving Coffs yesterday. We left Grafton as the first Pack – way to go Rolex, having had breakfast at the RSL.

We rode today as a tight back, mainly in single file as we were on single lane roads which had a fair bit of traffic. Pack 8 (not late today) kept a good pace and arrived in good time at morning tea at Whiporie with a good spread of foods on, as had been the case all week. The volunteers did a great job in holding back supplies as new packs arrived. Morning tea was in what seemed like an old scout hall – which hadn’t had the toilets cleaned for some years!

We had a good roll after morning tea to lunch, although some were expecting chips at Casino, only to have the standard salad roll fare. Lachlan was staying at Casino that night, as were several other riders, as the accommodation fills up pretty quickly at Kyogle. So Lachlan stayed in casino, and didn’t make the ride onto Kyogle. Rolex had us moving out of morning tea and lunch quickly today, although we nearly left Errol behind, as he had fallen asleep under a tree at lunch. He joined pack 8 over the bridge, and we then had a good ride through to Kyogle, which was fairly flat but good rolling country land, dominated by cattle.

Once at Kyogle in record time well before 3.00pm, we gathered in the rehydration chamber in town. Biscuits still had some technical manoeuvres, as he was getting some repairs to his wheel. We had flattened out on flats since the wet day on Tuesday into Nambucca. The Investor showed great promise when he produced his C02 bottles today for Arnott’s flat – only to be unable to operate the thing! The local bike shops had made some good money on the way up to Queensland, but they were generally reasonably priced, with riders having wheels and spokes repaired to name but a few.

Dinner was at the Kyogle Bowling Club, and whilst plenty to eat was our most average meal of the week. The food was a little bland and too fatty, and certainly not up to the standard of Grafton RSL last night, who had our booking a day late, but were able to knock up a great dinner in less than 2 hours! And we would not have been the wiser if we hadn’t been told, the food was that good.

There were a few shenanigans’ back at the Caravan Park, as the reality set in that we were almost there having rode almost 800 kms and with the hardest riding days behind us. Reg (Johnny) had an unexpected visitor in his tent when he returned from the amenities block, as Conticki had hidden in his tent. There was a short moment of hysteria as Reg thought he may have been in the wrong tent! Then there was a symphony of animal noises before the snoring set in. The riders were in close proximity to each other at this campsite, and it was obvious that people were pretty tired at this stage, with a noticeable increase in the decibels of snoring.
131 kms 5 hours 26 minutes