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Tuggerah Lake this morning

Sometime in the next ten days, and hopefully this coming Thursday, Julie and I will begin cycling north on an anti-clockwise circumnavigation of Australia.  I estimate it will take about five and a half months to cover the 16,500 kilometres and I will be publishing a blog you can access here, for which you can sign-up here.

Tuggerah Lake

We want to get away as soon as possible, both to avoid the worst of the heat in the tropics and deserts of the west, and to be home before Christmas.  However, we can't cross into Queensland, about eight days journey north of Terrigal, until the state government opens the border to recreational travellers.  The Queeensland Premier has promised to announce the opening date this coming Tuesday (30 June).  We are hoping the long-mooted 10 July date is confirmed but the coronavirus spike in Melbourne may derail that plan.  We hope not.

The Entrance channel

We are also waiting on some bike gear needed for the trip, ordered online from Melbourne a week ago and seemingly delayed, to arrive.  It's possible that may also impact our departure date if it doesn't get delivered in time or an alternative can't be found.

The Entrance channel

The bike trip also signals the demise of my plan to be fit enough to run a marathon on the 50th anniversary of my first.  The purpose of this blog was to chronicle my training build-up to achieve this goal, but I never really got going.  Through a combination of physical injury and occasional poor decision-making I never managed to run further than 15 kilometres.  It has been a disappointing and grounding experience and has me wondering whether I will ever be physically capable of running long distances again.  I won't be giving up, but am steeling myself for serial disappointment.

A secondary purpose of the blog was to chronicle my experience of, and observations about, the COVID-19 pandemic.  I would have been avidly consuming all related news and information about the pandemic anyway, but it's been a good discipline for me while locked down to synthesise what I have been reading and convey my thoughts via the blog.

Julie and I took our touring bikes out for a 32km spin north to The Entrance this morning.  My hip flexor is still bothering me a little on bike but it doesn't feel like a show-stopper.  Hopefully, the next time we ride up through The Entrance it will be on fully-loaded bikes at the start of our journey around Australia.