I have a confession to make. I am actually writing this entry AFTER reading Tom and Mereki’s accounts of the two days to follow. Why? Because sometimes life can be completely unpredictable. We decided to make a rule for our blogs on the east coast, whereby every blog must be up before midnight the following day, to ensure our readers don’t suffer from MyPOWER blog feast and famine. The idea was going swimmingly, and we started to get into a blog writing, road cycling, media meeting, schools visiting daily routine. Our daily schedule, although extremely busy, was starting to work its way into a comfortable rhythm as we bee-lined it down the east coast to meet our many commitments in Brisbane. You’ll learn why our rhythm has been broken when you read the 3rd and 4th.
The plan for today was quite simple on paper, but proved to be a bit more challenging than expected. As per usual, I woke to see Tom ‘The BUS Man’ Gray scanning the map to Gympie and beyond (he was aptly tagged as MyPOWER’s Christopher ColomBUS due to his regular and extensive musings over the road ahead in our ‘Free Camps’ book). His recommendation for our daily schedule sounded quite reasonable. The plan was to ride 30km to Gympie before breakfast, find somewhere there with power to write some journal entries, have something to eat, and then continue on to Coolum, where we would hopefully find a place to camp for free and thereby prevent the double digits in our bank account from creeping into single ones overnight.
The plan started out well, and we arrived in Gympie ready to start writing blogs. One would think that riding our bikes would mean you miss very little in the way of scenery and memories of a town or place on the journey. I thought that as well before I left, but am not so sure all of a sudden, particularly since reaching the east coast. Sticking pretty close to the major roads due to time and energy constraints, we are being succumbed to some serious cases of déjà vu. I can’t remember the details of the ride, or the town of Gympie for that matter, because to be quite honest I have had many rides through towns on the east coast which seemingly aren’t much different to the one that came before. Every ‘new town’ since we started the southward pedal seems to greet us with the same golden arches, the same male chicken that crows every morning at sunrise, the same sandwich place that you would expect to find underground waiting for a train... you get my point. I could be anywhere, and would rather be anywhere else. After all, isn’t not knowing what your next meal will taste like (or look like!) half the fun of travelling somewhere new?
All of this stands in great contrast to the family owned businesses we have become so fond of visiting in the outback and remote regions of Australia – places where you know the life story of the store owner before you have even paid for your meal. We bypass the options currently before us and look for a more local source of sustenance, only to find they are shrinking in abundance as we near the busy city centre. Living sustainably in a big city can be a tough gig at the best of times. It definitely takes some adjusting to, and can be particularly tough when you are new to a place.
However, once you are grounded somewhere it is easy to take the simple steps towards supporting more sustainable food sources and growing your own. The best way to start is by visiting www.farmersmarkets.org.au to find out where you can by your LOCAL AND SEASONAL PRODUCE. Once you have, tick it off on our challenge! The next step is to start growing your own. You would be surprised how little time it takes to grow your own fruit and vegetables. Once established it takes hardly any more effort than the fortnightly lawn mowing ritual, and the rewards are way higher – unless of course grass clippings are a family favourite at the dinner table. Check out another one of our actions in the challenge section, REPLACE UNUSED LAWN AREAS WITH A FOOD FOREST, to find out more.
The day ended with a tough pedal into Coolum, no luck at the council caravan park, and an offer of showers and accommodation from a complete stranger that was just too good to refuse (considering we were about to pedal to a day rest area to hang out with the mosquitoes!). Thank you so much to Steve and Leoni for putting us up for the night after what was a very tough day in the mobile office. Tomorrow proved to be even tougher, but I’m not supposed to know that yet!
Quote of the Day:
“In Rome you long for the country; in the country - oh inconstant! - you praise the distant city to the stars.” - Horace, Satires
Matt
matt@mypower.org.au