Saturday 19 Jan 2019

I spent an amazing three days at Lynne’s Lazy Acres in Murphy’s Creek. Lynne proved again to be a wonderful warm and generous hostess. We sampled chocolates from her Seatonfire chocolate enterprise, went to Toowoomba for errands and to get my bicycle checked out, we had drinks and dinners together, all in a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere. I also divided the contents of the parcels I’d sent here and mailed them on to various places further south. Lynne’s sister Carrie is staying here for a little while as well, which added to the conviviality. Thank you Lynne, thank you for your great hospitality, thank you for all the treats, the comfortable bed, the great outdoor shower, everything! I so wish you would come and visit us in BC so we can do something for you in return!

The fellow at Johnny Sprockets Bike Shop in Toowoomba declared my bicycle “over the hill”. True, it is a 6-year old machine now, but I take his words with a grain of salt since he also confessed that he rides a new bike every year! I’m not in the same league and my Scalpel can bloody well last me another few years. He did mention he wouldn’t trust the rear tire for too much longer and I must say it had worn a fair bit already since I put it on in Biloela around Xmas time. To be on the safe side I bought a new tire, Maxxis, a solid reputable brand name, so we should be fine from here on. Too bad I had just mailed my new spare tire on to Aberdeen thinking that the old one would last that long. Too bad also that Johnny Sprocket wasn’t able to fix a broken spring in my gear shifter. It still works but it doesn’t click when gearing down. Something I’ll have to get used to and learn to live with I guess.

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I’m almost at Matilda’s Place across the road from the Sutton family, it’s only 8:30 now. I started at 5:15, nice and cool, actually sort of cold initially at 14º. Just having a coffee at the Ma Ma Creek Cafe and there is only minimal telephone reception, so I’m uploading this now, just in case there is zero reception further down.

Just as I was finishing my coffee Bev called and said there is zero water in the waterhole at the old BNT camp site. The trail was moved after the 2011 floods and doesn’t really go by here any longer. But she offered I could stay in their workers cabin since they didn’t have any workers at the moment. So that’s where I overnighted, although I spent most of the time with Bev and John at the house.

This used to be a beautiful waterhole

In the evening we went to the Tenthill pub and had a nice dinner together. And John offered he would drive me up the steep Razorback Road tomorrow. There was a time when I refused those offers and wanted to do it all myself, but I’ve grown out of that. So YES!

Total 48k 3:05h 410m+ 390m-