DAY 43

A ferry that leaves at 8:30 am forces the boys to get up early. A little after 8 they sit and wait for the ferry to show up together with 10 other old males at the port. They are of the sporty kind and are on their way to Tea Garden to play gold. On the Island it is a golf course, beaches and anything else you would ever want on a summer island. A man speaks to Lasse and his opening line is “Poland? , Germany?”. Lasse answers what better is, “No, Norway”.

The ferry is old but full of traditions. It slowly moves with the small waves from one side to the other. Very easy to fall a sleep, but the boys keeps their eyes open because you might spot dolphins here. Anders stands in the front and speaks to a man about everything and nothing, and about Darwin. It seems like that most of people the boys speaks with tries to scare or warn them about going to Darwin. Hmmmm. The heat and the storms are dangerous, but the boys will not push it to far. The are going to try to get closer and please let them do that. And yes they saw two dolphins, beautiful.

They leave the boat and cycle over a bridge and into a national park. It’s extremely hot for the third day in a row and their water turns into the temperature you drink your tea at. After a bit more than 10 km they stop to have a look at a beach. Huge sandbanks leads towards the ocean. They walk 100 meters and enjoys the view, it is like a small desert as a beach.

Back on the bikes and Anders leads they way, cycling from side to side while he waits for Lasse. Anders turns around and gets goosebumps on his arm! 60 meters behind him a wild dog stands on the road!! The kind of wild dog they previously had been warned about. They can be aggressive so you shouldn’t meet them. The wild dog walks towards Lasse, quietly. Lasse is about 20-30 meters away and Anders, on instinct, yells turnaround. Lasse continues. Anders is thinking “what do I do if it attacks?” Lasse has his own plan. Lasse starts yelling “whaeaeaeaaaaaaaaeeeeeeeea, whaeaaaeea, whaaaaaaaaaeeeee!!!”. Anders have heard more masculine get away shouts before, but for it to be a real situation with potential danger and it was Lasse that screamed, it wasn’t that bad. After another scream the wild dog gets scared and disappears into the forest. Pheeew. What is the odds of the wild dog coming out of the forest, stops in front of Lasse, considers him as todays dinner but sees that Lasse doesn’t have so much food on his body as before and decide to step back instead of challenging him?

“i decided to show him who’s the biggest and strongest” Lasse proudly said to Anders after the situation that had the best possible outcome. A rare situation. So where was the pepper-spray and camera when it all happened? Pepper-spray has not yet been bought, even though the Christmas party season has begun, and camera and phone was in the cycle bag, unfortunately.

After 40 km that include a ferry trip of 45 seconds and 15 km on a dirt road, they arrive in Bulahdelah. Lunch at an old cafe. Bacon, egg, sausages, beans and toast. The man in the register is a bit weird but curious about the tall blond guys. He shows them a map before they leave and let them fill up water on their bottles.

Today’s goal was Forster, but that wont do they found out early. Yesterday was rough and today’s distance have demanded the same amount of energy from the boys. The heat and rational thinking. They switch the target from 110 km to 80 km and points out Pacific Palms as a stopping place. A large and long uphill forces them off the bike. Lasse screams, maybe due to pain, while Anders observes. 18 km left and a clock that is getting closer to 6:00 pm forces Anders to lead on. He needs to reach the caravan park before it closes. He stops and buys one coke, but has to drink it while cycling. Coca Cola in one hand and the other hand on the handlebar he continues forward. He just makes it and sneaks into the kiosk while they are shutting down, grabs soft drinks, milkshake and canned beans and spaghetti. Dinner saved.

The last 3 days have been very hot. Tomorrow the temperature will drop to 23 degrees. More suitable for Norwegian.

PS! They almost forgot: 15 km after lunch this happends. In the opposit direction a car blinks with the lights towards Anders and waves him over. Anders thinks “What is going on?”. It turned out to just be the guy from the restaurant they ate lunch at. He just wanted to hand them two cold beers and chat a bit. Amazing! (this kind of stuff actually happens in real life).

De tre siste dagene har vært enormt varme, i morgen skal temperaturen droppe ned til 23. Passe for nordmenn.

Awesomestralia – a normal life is boring