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Date: Thu, 18 Sep 1997To: studio@toysatellite.org From: Don Pattenden <dpattenden@pegasus.com.au> Subject: Grafton; Jacaranda City Hello, I've made it to Grafton and the good news is that I am now well past the half way point i.e. from Sydney to Brisbane. Actually I passed that point shortly after leaving Kemsey and I thought that I had already told you so in a Newsletter I thought that I had sent out from Coffs Harbour but it now appears that something must have gone wrong with that message and it was never sent. All that typing for nothing!!! I was in a quite ghastly shop called "The Happy Planet" but I can tell you this was one far from happy camper!! For one thing they wouldn't let me use my floppy disk but even apart from that the service was just appalling! They didn't have Eudora, so I had to use Netscape which I just hate. They made it quite clear from the outset that I would be charged for the time I was actually sitting at the computer, regardless of whether or not I was successful. And the help they gave me was quite minimal (and condesceding!) I had a feeling about the place just as soon as I walked in the door and I wish now that I had just walked right out again. I paid out good money for nothing (which I could ill afford!!) I've learnt my lesson anyway, from now on if they won't let me use my floppy disk, then it's no deal! They miss out on the business; tough!! And refuse to use Netscape, not never again!!! The message I spent 45 minutes typing just vanished from the screen when I was trying to queue it up for sending. Maybe I clicked the wrong button but even so that just shouldn't happen. It couldn't happen with Eudora - it's almost impossible to lose a message with Eudora. Anyway, I'm using my floppy this time, in a nice little shop in Grafton. A much better deal - they are charging me flat $10 to do everything - download messages and send and they don't seem to be too fussed about the time I take. Can't linger here too long though, cause I've got lots to do. Always happens when I get to a town -- so much to do. It's a nice town though, I like it very much. A great pity I won't be here when the jacaranda blossoms come out in another month or so; must be very spectacular. They certainly like trees here and treat them very respectfully. There are lots of them along all of the streets, everywhere in the city, some of them obviously quite ancient and HUGE. And in some cases the roads have been sealed around the trees. The streets are wide too with lots of parks and many historic buildings (Grafton has a very interesting history going back to the 1830s when it was "discovered" by an escaped convict. And of course, there's the river, the Clarence, which is HUGE! This is BIG RIVER couintry. Apart from being in the Clarence Valley, I'm in the area known as the Northern Rivers. It's also the start of "The Far North Coast". Since leaving Sydney I've progressed through the Central Coast, the Lower North Coast, the Mid North Coast, and now, at last the Far North which takes me right up to the Queensland border, to what they call "the Twin Towns" (Tweed Heads and Coolangatta). I suppose I'd better recap some of the stuff that was in that previous Newsletter since it seems that it has vanished into a black hole somewhere in Cyberspace. Most importantly I wanted to tell you about Hat Head (just north of Kempsey). It was a wonderful place and it definitely goes on my list of "Standouts" along with Coles Bay in Tasmania and Wislons Prom. in Victoria. Don't have time to give you any details (pity) but I really lived it. Nice caravan park there too, with a proper kitchen (which all too few of them have). In fact the ride from Kempsey through Hat Head, Trial Bay, Stuart's Point, Scott's Head was a very enjoyable trip in glorious sunny weather - very relaxed riding with little traffic to bother me. Until of course I rejoined my old friend Highway One - the friend I love to hate! So I escape from it at every opportunity. That particular stretch was quite unpleasant too, narrow with not much shoulder and lots of trucks. And by and large it was like that all the way from there, through Nambucca Heads to Coffs Harbour. I stayed at Nambucca Heads only one night (I wanted to press on) but it was a nice town, not at big as Coffs, but with some very spectacular views. And suddenly I had a strong feeling of being IN THE TROPICS. Travelling at my speed, the changes in both climate and vegetation etc etc have been very gradual, but it was at this point it really struck me - at last I'm entering the tropics; well, the sub tropics anyway. For one thing there were lots and lots of banana farms (and suddenly bananas were getting cheaper which suits me cause I love them; live on them!) Also there were mangroves everywhere. There are mangrove walks you can go in both Nambucca and in Coffs. I must say though that I had a very unsettling time in Coffs Harbour for all sorts of reasons. For one thing I didn't like the Youth Hostel AT ALL!! Wish I had time to spell out the details (but I've recorded them on tape, so I'll tell you anothe time). Money was short too. And I was having problems with split tent poles (a big worry!! - still not completely solved either) So all in all I didn't like Coffs Harbour as much as I liked Port Macquarie. Probably not a fair comparison because of all that was going on. Also I had a friend to show me around in PM. Even so I still think PM is a much nicer city to be in. So's Grafton for that matter. I really like this town!! The Happy Planet left a very bad taste, as did my experience with two different camping shops where I went to get help with my tent poles. In both shops they were very casual and off handed and more or less pushed me out the door - just sold me a piece of fibreglass, and said "Here you are and the best of luck. It's your problem!". In spite of this though, I've been pretty cosy in my little tent and I'm very pleased with it. It's been raining here in Grafton these past couple of days (can't complain though -- there have been weeks and weeks of glorious weather, I've had a good run and anyway they need the rain badly around here) but I've been dry and warm and snug. So much so that I've been sleeping through the alarm and occasionally sleeping right through to first light. My "normal" get up time is around 3 AM or 4 at the latest. This morning I once again slept right through the alarm and had the weirdest dream. I dreamt that my children were still little (Dani is now 33!) and that I was still living with Jann. Very strange dream!! So, after my experience in Coffs Harbour I think I'm turned off hostels for a while. I seem to be be much more at ease in caravan parks, by and large. They're cheaper anyway. I just hope I can solve this problem with the poles. Running out of time now; much finish this soon. But first I wanted to tell you about the pleasant time I had after leaving Coffs Harbour. Several people had advised me to take the "back road" to Grafton, through Coramba and Glenreagh. Very glad I did because the road was relatively quiet and the riding was very pleasant. What's more, it worked out that I was able to camp for free, by the river - the Orara in both Coramba (for one night) and Glenreagh (for five nights). Glenreagh was especially nice - a small town with very friendly people. It was good to be freed of the pressure of money for a while (I had plenty of food with me so that was no worry). It saved my life because I was having a VERY tight fortnight, and would otherwise have run out of money well before the end of the pay cycle. Makes a change too from the coast, the seaside, to be travelling along a river. And as I've said, the Clarence is a HUGE river and it's one of the main appeals of Grafton apart from the Jacarandas. There are lots of parks throughout the city where you can sit and eat lunch and gaze at the river, in both South Grafton and in the central city. It's very rural too, with none of the suburban sprawl that mars Coffs Harbour. Two minutes out of the city and you're going past farms with cows and green paddocks. I think that will have to do for now. They are not hassling me in the shop but I rather think I'll out-stay my welcome if I sit here for much longer. I've been here for two hours already. Anyway, I'm craving for coffee (came here straight after my porridge) so I'm going to cycle back to the caravan park to have some, then think about how I'll spend the afternoon. I'll probably do a bit of sight seeing. As things stand I'm due to depart from here (on my way up the coast, towards Byron Bay) tomorrow, though the weather outlook is not promising. Showers for two days and rain on Sunday. Not encouraging. I'll have to think about it. Hate riding in the wet! And I hate packing up my tent when wet. Oh well, I've had a pretty good run with the weather. Before I go, a big cheerio to Steve and the others in that nice friendly ABC office in Kempsey. Sorry I didn't drop in to see you on my final day -- I wanted to let you see my bike when loaded just to show you how amazing it is that I manage to get up all those hills, but I do, somehow. And thanks again for all you help while I was in Kempsey. I'm out of your area now and listening to Far North Coast radio. Much stronger signal though, on the AM band anyway. Not sure when I'll get another chance to write, but one thing's for sure I'm not going to get bitten again as I was at the awful "Happy Planet".
Bye for now, |