Bundaberg

Day 363, Sunday 19 August 2018.

We rode from Kingaroy to Bundaberg today, getting a long way from anywhere by taking a minor road to Durong South, then north to Mundubecca. This had the advantage over taking the main highway of being empty roads with no small towns to slow us down, and no speed traps. We did have one cop come past in the other direction, but he paid no attention to us.

We stopped briefly at a historic residence where a highland festival was in full fling, with hundreds of people even though it was at least 80 km from the nearest town. We had a boilup at a truck stop somewhere along this road (photo 1).

At Mundubbeca, one rider headed east, and the rest of us went north planning to have lunch at Eidsvold. There wasn’t a lot open there, so we had a muesli bar and swig of water, and continued on the road through Mount Perry towards Gin Gin. When we found Tunnel Road we discussed whether to follow it; as we had just washed the bikes we were reluctant to get them dirty on the gravel road. We went on to the other end of the road, which was sealed for the first bit. A few km of gravel later, we found the old railway tunnel we were looking for, and rode through it (photo 2). We didn’t see the colony of bats that live in it though.

At South Kolan, shortly before reaching Bundaberg, we were waved over by a cop. It was a license check and breath test, so we had nothing to worry about. The cop was professional but looked tough with his sidearm. I thought about asking him to pose for a Facebook photo, but decided this would be a bad idea!

At Bundaberg, we had booked a three-bedroom luxury apartment for the same price range we’d been paying for cramped motel rooms, so we celebrated by cooking a meal this evening. As I was walking to the supermarket, I was catcalled with a comment about my hair. It seems provincial Queensland hasn’t changed much in the last few decades!

Distance travelled: 431 km. Total distance so far: 47,839 km.