7th July - Marlborough to St Lawrence

Nigel says..... Watched 'Top Gear' at the pub in Marlborough whilst eating supper last night. Thought about going to a disco, but went back to the motel to watch a film instead - Gordon not up to the bopping.

No bowls in the room, so it was weet-bix in a mug again before setting off on the road north. We decided to buy some pies, cans of Coke and Mars Bars to get us to St Lawrence as we were told that the Toolloomba Creek Roadhouse had closed down, and that there was nothing before St Lawrence.

A flat pedal all the way to St Lawrence. There was a small shoulder for most of the way, but again stretches where we were on the white line. Traffic was light, fortunately. Most truckers are pretty good and give us a wide berth. Some of the caravanners don't realise how wide their vehicles are.

En route met a German couple - they must have been in their 60s - who were on a big cycling trip. They had started in Cairns and were making their way towards Sydney. They were camping and were quite heavily laden. Hans had previously cycled from Melbourne to Alice Springs - quite a trip, and appeared to be a very experienced tourer. They did not know Holland had qualified for the World Cup Final. We wished Germany good luck for their semi final against Spain, but both of us kept our fingers crossed!

Arrived in St Lawrence about 1400hrs. We cycled 85 kilometers (53 miles). We either had a short day today, or we would have had to have cycled about 185 kilometers all up to get to the next place.

St Lawrence is the place that time forgot. It is a picture of the 1950's and is really interesting. Since the rooms are $35 each, we have splashed out and got a room each! Not that it makes that much difference because I can hear Gordon coughing and spluttering next door. Our rooms are small wooden boxes just along from the pub bar with a comfortable bed and ancient furniture. The rooms open out onto the pub veranda where I am writing this blog.

The showers and lavatories are communal. There was no soap supplied with the room, but there were plenty of used bars to choose from in the soap dish. Had a good hot shower. I was a little concerned initially that the corroded bathtub might actually collapse (daylight can be seen around the plug hole), but I then just concentrated on keeping the mouldy shower curtain from wrapping around my legs.

When we arrived, we went down the road to the General Store (large tin hut) and had one of the best burgers I have had in Australia. Tonight is the third State of Origin match between Queensland and New South Wales. I cannot think of a better place to watch the match. Motels are fine, but this place has some character.

Thoughts and comments:

• Lots more roadkill here - mainly wallabies
• You can really smell the roadkill some distance before you get to it - yuck!
• The countryside consisted of bush...bush...cattle...bush...bush...bush...cattle...bush...cattle.
• Tomorrow Gordon is going to have to go "off piste" on a dirt road for about 6 kilometers - or ride an extra 12 kilometers.
• Snack of the day: Cheeseburger - St Lawrence General Store
• Tune of the Day: Billy Idol - Rebel Yell
• Fact of the day: St Lawrence's fortunes reached their zenith in the late 19th and early 20th century with the establishment of the Newport meat processing plant. The plant closed in 1919 due to competition from similar plants in Rockhampton and Brisbane.

Tomorrow Sarina - another pub.

Gordon says ...

I finally have proof that Nigel is, in fact, not a human at all - as I have long suspected. What he actually is, I'm not sure yet.

About 1 hour into today's ride, Nigel is about half a km in front of me on a 5 km dead straight stretch of road (yes, Nigel was in front of me ... now do you believe I'm really sick?) -just a small yellow dot up ahead. In my Sci-fi mirror, I see very bad news coming behind me - giant trucks moving very quickly - so I pull off the road and three triple-jointed monsters belt past me at about 120km/hr, all the same, with hardly any distance between them at all - going so fast I nearly got sucked in behind them. I can see Nigel peddling oblivious, to the right of the white line, and with a bunch of caravans coming towards him - leaving the trucks nowhere to go but right over top of him. The first thing I see is the last truck lock its wheels, and smoke start to billow everywhere, a tyre exploded, and the middle truck fishtailed out to the left, up onto the grass siding, the whole scene now half hidden in smoke and bits of tyre - with caravans slowly appearing, some on the verge, some not. I was absolutely sure Nigel was road-kill, and started to slow down, I think in a state of shock ... then, in among the carnage, I saw a little yellow dot, still peddling the same line he had been 10 seconds before - utterly unaware, it turns out, that anything untoward at all had happened. (Yes, I think he needs to turn his ipod down - marching band music can drown out almost anthing - and yes, I think he needs a mirror, no matter how stupid you look)

Obviously, the only explanation in that Nigel is some kind of spectre, a ghoul that doesn't occupy normal space and time - and that would certainly explain his politics.

The whole event has freaked me out a bit. Intend to cycle tomorrow with a hangover.