Some free time at last!

Yes, it's been a while, with Christmas and so on, since I actually had a day to myself, to do whatever the heck I damn well liked. Of course, there was nothing for it but to ride an imperial century was there? Some people may disagree on that, but I just had to get away from all the chaos of the post-christmas "sales" -- 1,000 people all pushing and shoving, trying to get the one bargain, when there really is, only, the one bargain!

The early morning headwind down the Tweed Coast was pretty intense, as it often is in those parts. There would be no complaint from me, for 'twas a southerly, meaning cooler conditions. The temperature was a relatively "freezing" 23 degrees C as I cruised through the coastal scenery -- even discovering an undeveloped beach -- how long will that last I wonder?





Inland near Billinudgel, and stopping in the absolute wrong place to apply sunscreen. Being swarmed by mosquitoes isn't much fun, but, incredibly, the sunscreen seemed to deter them. Strange, because the insect repellent doesn't. Then it was on to the short, but steep climb of Mt Jerusalem, and beautiful greenery in the process.









The ride home covered Uki (where the cafe was closed), Murwillumbah (a pleasant detour on Baker's Road), Urliup (of course), Bilambil (where the bakery was open) followed by the last 35km of suburbia. 174km total distance for the day all told. In the time between Urliup and Miami (Gold Coast suburb close to home) the temperature rose from 24-30 degrees C. I hate summer.

I'm off to help a family member move house for a couple of days. It's not really the way I want to spend my holiday, but I promised I'd do it, and she'd be struggling without me there. I might even try to get some riding done in Brisbane in some idle early morning moments, but it's doubtful. I don't think there's much there to see. Oh well, roll on 2005. I'm thinking about 25,000km for the year in 2005. Not sure if I'm up to it mentally, but I'll find out one way or another.