The Home Stretch: Cycling Across Australia, Coffs Harbour to Maclean
My latest bicycle touring update from Australia: after cycling over 8,000 miles across the world to Australia from the UK, I’m now on the home stretch. Cycling across Australia. Coffs Harbour to Maclean. 78 miles. I thought I was back in Malaysia this morning. The scenery seemed to have changed overnight, and there just seemed to be banana plantations everywhere. But then I think they call this stretch of coast the banana coast!
There have been loads of roadworks today while upgrading the road to a dual carriageway. It got a bit dicey at times when the road narrowed. It wasn’t a pleasant experience being literally inches away from the wheel of a big truck as it came thundering past! But I survived, and I’m still here.
I saw some baby crocodiles in a creek today. Well, I thought they were crocodiles. They looked like crocodiles from a distance, but after zooming in and taking a picture, it turned out they were lizards!
I’m Staying In Heaven Tonight
Maclean, where I’m staying tonight, is a small town with only one pub, and I’m staying in it! I’m not too sure whether that’s a good decision or not. It would have been rude to go up to my room without having a beer first, as I was in a bar! While in the bar, I got talking to some locals about my trip and played a game of darts with them. After losing at darts (I let them win!) I went and showered.
After showering, I went back down to the bar. (Where else would I go!?) And in the bar was a girl waiting for me. Eye eye, my lucks in tonight! Or maybe not. She was from the local newspaper, the Clarence Valley Review. Hopefully, I’ll appear in that tomorrow, which may boost donations a bit more.
There are only three days left until I finish, so please don’t forget the main reason behind my ride, which is to raise as much money for cancer research charities as possible. You can donate to Cancer Research UK or the Australian National Breast Cancer Foundation. Click on either one to donate. Even the smallest donation helps.
Tour Information
It’s been years since I took this ride, but the memories (and the data) are all archived:
- Photos: See my photos on Flickr
- The route: View my journey around the world
- Videos: Check out my YouTube videos
- Tour page: Ride overview
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Subscribe to my blog and follow me as I continue to travel around on my bike. Plus, as a subscriber, you’ll be among the first to receive news and updates on future tours. If you’re enjoying the ride and want to fuel my next mile, you can always buy me a beer. And, of course, you can always follow me on social media: Facebook, Bluesky, Threads, X, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. I’m also on Flickr, where you’ll find pictures from all my tours, along with regular photo updates that I generally publish each month.
If you want to find out if I’m away touring at the moment and check my location, visit the Where’s Garry page.