AS LONG AS IT TAKES............: 12/25/16

I felt more than a little sad to be leaving Tenterfield as I had enjoyed my time wandering around the historic little town learning all about a few of the great characters of Australia's history.As is usual in most country towns the people were very friendly and none more so than James who,with his wife,own the Peter Allen Motor Lodge where I stayed for those few days.James is an avid cyclist and was very interested in my trip,my bike and my trailer set-up.I gave him the grand tour of all my gear and explained the why's and wherefores of all the gear and how it is used.We spent some time discussing races and the Tour Down Under,Australia's premier road stage race held around Adelaide in South Australia every January.He said that as it was kind of on my way that maybe I should detour from my route and check it out.It was the first time I had though of that but dismissed the idea pretty much immediately.

Early morning outside Tenterfield

It was then that he told me his wife was,at one time,a triathlete who had raced for around ten years.She loved the sport but sadly couldn't race anymore.I asked why,immediately regretting the question when he explained that a couple of years before while they were on a training ride,she had mentioned that she had a headache.About two minutes later.he said,she had fallen off her bike and was lying on the road motionless.It seems she had developed a blood clot in her brain stem and it rendered her partially paralysed.To this day she couldn't walk without her walker and her whole left side including her face would never be the same again.I guess the easiest way to describe it was,she had a stroke.

A little later that day I met her as she was shuffling through the motel carpark and we had a little chat about my trip and her days as a triathlete.Here was a woman who had finished Ironman Bussleton and Ironman Australia in fine times, now finding it a struggle to walk across a parking lot.It just didn't seem fair and I thought again about the death of Craig Percival a few short weeks ago and how we really should try to make the most of our lives while we can.She actually asked me if I would like to spend Christmas with them but I said that I would have to move on in a few days as I was already,far,far behind schedule.They are a lovely couple and the "mates rates" at the motel were very appreciated as I think they both kind of understood what my trip was all about.I finally told James,after yet another day hiding from the storms,that he should kick me out and while he didn't do that he did make sure that he was around to say goobey and wish me luck.

That mornings ride out of Tenterfield was awesome.Originally I had planned to ride to the next major town of Glen Innes but after checking out the elevations on my favourite mapping website, Ride With GPS , I realised that if I went an alternated route I would start to drop down the other side of the Great Dividing Range instead of climbing for another day.It was a no-brainer and it wasn't long before I was freewheeling down the mountains towards the little Queensland town of Texas some 140 kilometres away.A very ambitious goal considering the low mileage I had managed thus far on my trip.

After two days of storms this was a nice sign

The first 50k through ever descending rolling hills went pretty quickly and I was enjoying the morning when I came upon a group of people on the side of the highway who clearly weren't enjoying their day at all.I could see the group from a distance running on and off the highway into the bush behind a truck and the weird thing was that they each seemed to be wearing the same outfits,overalls and a dark shroud over their heads.As climbed the small hill where they were stopped I could see another truck off to the side of the road listing at a very steep angle.The boxes scattered around the ground next to the truck gave it away and my guess was confirmed when I rode up to one lady and asked what had happened.It seemed that they were bee-keepers and were in the process of moving a bunch of hives when their truck got bogged in the road,sodden from the previous two days rain.The truck had shed a fair bit of it's load and there were angry bees everywhere.I was advised that it was probably a good idea to get going before I became the centre of the little buggers attention.I didn't need to be told twice and made my way up the rest of the climb to be greeted by nothing but what looked like a long downhill before me. I stopped by the side of the road as it followed a ridge downward and had breakfast while checking out the view of the farmland far below.Down and down and down I rode speeding along as the heat of the day grew.At this rate I thought I would be in Texas by 2pm and was in great spirits as I turned at the bottom of the ridge to join the Dumaresq Valley and follow the river of the same name ever downward for the next 20 kilometres.

Looking back to the Great Dividing Range.Long downhill morning.

One little highlight of the day was helping out a little soul who was wandering around where he shouldn't have been.As I came flying down one of the long descents I spied,of all things,a little turtle sitting in the middle of my lane.I slowed down,turned around and rode back to put him in a safer place but not before seeing a car miss squashing him by inches.I picked him up and put him on the side of the road ( in the direction he was heading I hoped ).I waited to see of he was going to poke his head out and perhaps wander off but he kept himself tucked into the safety of his little shell house and just peeked out at me from inside.I could relate as I often retreat to the safety of the indoors,away from the world and prying eyes,often not poking me head out for days at a time.My good deed done,I was off again for the ride down the valley towards Texas.

At just over 80kilometres into the day I felt a little off and rolled to a stop at a shady spot on the side of the highway.I lay my bike and trailer down and sat on the ground and immediately though " I am going to be sick!" With that though still in my head I started to projectile vomit what must have bee close to a litre of fluid.I thought " Christ that was impressive" and continued vomiting until my breakfast had also come up and my stomach was empty.I lay there for about twenty minutes wondering what the hell was going on as I tried to get some fluids in.It was already starting to heat up and everything by way of my nutrition was now keeping the flies happily busy a few feet away.

My little friend peeking out from under his shell

    The town of Bonshaw was around 30 kilometres away and I set off with the goal of making it to there where I could have a rest and eat something.The road had flattened out and was now passing through a wide agricultural valley with very little in the way of shade and as it started to heat up I felt worse.I did stop for about thirty minutes and have a dip in a river that I crossed which helped a lot but I knew that now it was going to be a long day.

   I made it to the tiny hamlet of Bonshaw around 2pm,parked my bike and lay down on the long bench that stretched the length of the little country store, cum gas station, cum bottle shop. cum hairdressers.About ten minutes had passed before a little old lady came out and asked if I was okay.I said I would be fine in a while and I got up,went into the store and bought the only things that appealed to me at the time,a Coke and a Mars Bar.Once I started to cool down I realised that I had covered 110kilometres for the day and all things considered was pretty proud of myself even though by anybody's standards,for a seasoned cycle tourist, that isn't a long ride.While I was there I chatted to all the customers as they came and went and slowly but surely I started to feel better.By 3pm I bought another coke,ate a tin of tuna and a banana and was off again into what was now the blazing heat of the day.

   I figured that I would be in Texas,another 30 kilometres away by 5pm which would mean a lazy 15 kilometres per hour.How wrong I was!As soon as I rode off the heat overwhelmed me and I started to suffer.For the next four hours I rode slowly from shady spot to shady spot where I would lie down and try to lower my heartrate.Sometimes I rode 4 kilometres before a break and sometimes I rode to the next shady spot a few hundred metres up the road.Twice, the only way I could get up a hill without spiking my heart-rate was to walk.I had been in this situation before when I lived in Port Douglas in Far North Queensland when,on a particularly hot day I passed out on my bike and it took me two hours to ride the 16 kilometres home.This was twice that length and I was struggling.Now I could have camped anywhere on the side of the road but I was now dangerously close to running out of water and wasn't very well.Cramping had set in on both legs and I wanted to get close to town in case I was really sick.

About to begin the last long descent of the Great Dividing Range

   At just before 7pm,almost 12hrs and 141 kilometres after leaving Tenterfield, I pulled into the rest area I had been trying so hard to reach all day.That final 30 kilometres had taken me four hours to ride and I was feeling very,very sick.I rode up to a nice patch of grass under a tree and lay down for the next 30 minutes.

   I was brought back into some vague form of consciousness by a guy who was parked in his caravan not far from me. He asked me if I was okay and I just said that I was really heat stressed and very dehydrated.He went over to his caravan and brought back a cold bottle of water and said if you need to fill up all your bottle just come and see me.I thanked him profusely as,out here,water is a precious gift,something that was not lost on me.I would have loved to relax and just lie there but I could see that there were some storms coming and in my fuzzy state I hastily put up my tent and covered it and all my gear with my two tarps.I grabbed some of my awesome Mee Goreng noodles and rushed off to the park shelter to cook myself dinner as the storm approached.

    By the time I had finished my noodles it was dark and all I could do was crawl into my little tent and lie there as the rain tapped lightly on my tarp, a light accompaniment to the crashing thunder claps of the storm now drifting past the town.My longest day thus far was done but I really hoped that the days experiences were to be the exception and not the norm.

Camp in Texas just before the storm

The next morning I decided to hang out at the rest area in Texas and recover from the previous days illness.I hadn't slept well at all and was still feeling fried so I figured I should go check out the town and get something to eat.It was already hot as I rolled into the small main street of Texas and I was beginning to think I might be out of luck as it seemed that 8:30am was a little early for the population but thankfully one café was open.I locked my bike up and went in,asking if I could plug my computer in while I ate and thankfully the young girl behind the counter said yes.For the next two hours I tried to eat my way through one of the largest "Big Breakfasts" I have ever seen.I knew that I needed to eat but also knew I must have really stressed myself out the day before because just eating breakfast had me sweating and feeling a little light headed.I did manage to get some writing done and did my usual obsessing over the road ahead online.

Welcome to Texas

Texas itself is like so many small country towns that are ever so slowly dying.The population of around 700 in town is mainly employed by the farms and associated industry such as the large feedlot just outside of town which employs a large percentage of the population.Again it is the Grey Nomads who provide a lot of the revenue for the local,businesses but if the ridiculously low house prices are any indication people are not in a hurry to move here.In Texas the average price for one, two bedroom apartment in Sydney will net you around five,two bedroom houses on a decent patches of land here in town.Just crazy!I heard a story of a lady who bought the old church in the town of Bonshaw and converted it into a two bedroom house for $50.000AUS, a third of what it would cost in Texas so I guess location matters in the bush as well.

The rest of the day was spent lying the river next to the rest area,sleeping and chatting to the other folks camped out with me.It was a fun day but I was never really able to get away from the heat of the day until finally, just as the sun started to set,that the weather turned cool as a strong wind blew through camp dropping the temperature dramatically as a different weather system passed overhead.