Sunday, September 5, 2010

From Cycling to Cyclones.....

We finished the blog yesterday on the hope of sunshine...and we were not disappointed this morning - beautiful blue skies all day.....what we forgot to pray for was blue skies without gale force winds!

Whilst those at home (in Vic) struggled with torrential downpours and floods, the southeast coast of NSW experienced ferocious winds. Most of the night we heard the trees outside blowing and groaning ominously and it became clear by 6.30am that cycling in these winds on the highway would be way too dangerous....a frustrating and disappointing decision but a necessary one as was later confirmed.

Sadly we said goodbye to Chelsea and Chris in Berry after breakfast as they headed back to Sydney by bus and train to fly back to Melbourne....it was great to have the two people who started this campaign with me 6 months ago over dinner in Mont Albert, be a part of the starting team for the Tour - their support and encouragement has been invaluable.

Then we started a different type of adventure from the previous two days of cycling. The winds were amazing and at times it was very difficult to safely navigate the road from Berry to Ulladulla in the 4WD (with trailer on the back). The Princes Hwy was strewn with fallen trees, roofs, fallen road signs, power lines and other debris. At one point we stopped to help other motorists clear a large fallen tree that was blocking the road...the .people in Ulladulla (and apparently also Bateman's Bay) were without power and had emerged from their homes after the winds intermittently dropped late in the morning to assess the damage to their homes, fences, trees and town. We saw the McDonald's carpark full as families celebrated Father's Day there as one of the few places with power early in the day. Strangely as soon as we arrived in Ulladulla the winds dropped and we were able to enjoy the sight of the beautiful harbour, while the residents started putting their homes and town back in order. The extra hours did give us a much needed to chance to make some repairs and repack the trailer (a never ending search for perfection...we are getting close!).

This evening we made a presentation at the Ulladulla Anglican Church which faces the harbour and which had sustained some minor storm damage itself. We were made very welcome and had a good response and feedback afterwards from those present. We were very touched when one young boy came up after the service and donated $5 to the shelter we are supporting....he and his brother had brought the money they had made from doing chores at home to church to give to those who had suffered storm damage but had been so moved about the issue of slavery that they had decided to split their money between the two needs!!

One thing that is also becoming more and more evident as we go along on this ride is the wonderful generosity of people we hadn't previously known who have welcomed us, hosted us, fed us and taken us under their wings. We were blown away (pardon the pun) again tonight by the warm hospitality and care of Ann, Kath, Helen and Fran, 4 amazing women who took in and fed 3 strangers whilst still dealing with storm damage,  power outages and other reduced services with such good humour and grace....especially after having to delay dinner by 90 minutes for us as we finished off at Church and then saw Tim off (another sad goodbye) on the bus back to Melbourne....

It is a strange thing to lose half of our starting team in one day....now it is PJ, Jo and I for what will be the hardest Tour leg in terms of riding until we reach Lakes Entrance where new riders/support crew join us. Just glad for those that started with us and will be happy to see them again on the 18th - way down south of the border......

1 comment:

  1. Hope you all reached Batehaven safely today Thanks for sharing such a lovely night last night... We all enjoyed participating! Keep doing something so positive,and great that you are including and thereby empowering the public along the way. Cheers Fran

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