DAY 46

A grey large van passes the boys, breaks and stop a bit ahead of them on the highway. The door opens and a man in his forties steps out. He is skinny and happy. He wonders if everything is okay with Anders and Lasse. He himself have cycled some long trips and just wanted to check that everything was okay with the two Norwegians and if they needed anything or wanted a ride. Politely the boys says no but thank you. They appreciated that he cares. The man is impressed by their plans to reach Darwin. It is easy to impress with words and harder by actions.

Saturday 17th december they cycled 111 km fra Kempsey to Coffs Harbour. They wouldn’t have believed that when they got up that morning, since it took a while before they were on their bikes and the heat had returned. They started the day with buying a chocolate bar at a gas station that tasted so shitty Anders gave his half to Lasse, and let him decide wether he would eat it or not. It were supposed to have a lot of proteins and everything you need to perform well, but it tasted horrible.

A highway like A1 along the east coast can be beautiful, not like nature, but beautiful in regard to beautiful engineering and roadwork. The new road has a pricetag of 820 million dollars and is adapted to cyclist. The cyclist has an own lane similar the size of the cars and there is signs everywhere that reminds the drivers to show care and mercy for the cyclists. Not many people cycle on the highway, so it actually seems a bit like overkill, but by all means very nice and better safe than sorry.

The headwind was very strong today. They have not had headwind like this since the two first weeks in South Australia on the huge never ending roads. On a flat distance like today it is the wind that tests the boys. Are they gonna reach the target they set out for the day or are they gonna adjust and settle for a shorter distance? After lunch in Nambucca Heads it is 50 km left and the clock is 3:00 pm. Anders says “yes, it’s only to keep going”when they cycle from McDonalds. At this time Lasse doesn’t know that Anders spent the lunch booking a motel in Coffs Harbour as a reward for 6 days with 100 km per day on average, wet clothes, wounds in the rear end sour muscles. To get all the clothes dry is essential. The wet days have made their butt sour and wounded. Hey we all got our problems, don’t we?

Lasse gets happy when they stop outside Royal Palm Motor Inn Motel, a place that sounds approximately 56 000 times better and nicer than it is. But it is a bed, a tv and a own bathroom. Much more they don’t need. Even their bikes are invited inside. They watch two movies, first Frozen and the Matilda, two movies that are suited for kids but that these two boys manage to enjoy at a age much closer to 30 than 20.

Tomorrow new km awaits on a highway, but how far will only wind and weather decide.

Awesomestralia – a normal life is boring