2016-11-03 -29 152

Location

In the bush near Coomba, south of Casino, NSW.

Participants

Felix Dance (talk)

Expedition

Well! I'm yet STILL on this somewhat epic 5,900 km and counting cycle tour from Darwin to Melbourne, and I was staying in the rather ridiculous aging hippy town of Nimbin when I discovered this hash. 70 kms south of me that very day, south of 'Casino', nearish Grafton. It was not so far off the road, and in the direction of my travel, so - might as well! Ashamedly, I was planning a full-on rest day in this Nimbonian township, but sacrifices must be made.

I quickly got vaccinated (Nimbin being the anti-vaxx capital of Australia), spent four hours drinking one coffee, then another hour-and-a-half drinking a scooner of beer while reading 'Ignition! - an informal history of the development of hypergolic rocket propellants in the 1950s', and was on my drunken, caffeinated way.

The 70ks to the turnoff was awesome in its spectacular scenery. Rolling hills, sheared mountains, lovely pastures - it had it all.

After Casino (no idea why it's called that), I hit the Summerlands Highway - a paradise of tall eucalypts and vertically winding topography.

To my continuing annoyance, I overshot the turnoff by 3kms and had to backtrack. My stinginess is so visceral for me, I scold myself unendingly for even cycling inefficiencies, no matter how minor.

The sun had set, so time was running out for me to see my way. The 3km Coomba road loomed with tall bushland. I clambered through a gate into the state forest enshrouding the hash. After a couple of ks I had to haul my bike over a barbed wire fence onto a pine plantation service road, cross a creek at speed to stay dry, then haul my pannierless bike back over to the state forest side. 384m to go.

The final stretch was appalling. Thick, spiky bushes blocked my way. It took half-an-hour just to reach the hash, but reach it I did.

There I camped, right on the hash itself (only the third time I've done this), cooking a pasta/chicken thingy for dinner. In the morning I breathlessly continued reading my book on the history of hypergolic rocket propellant development for an hour before exiting the state forest - via a previously unnoticed access road avoiding the spiky bushes. I flicked off about a dozen ticks (NSW is famous for them) while worrying about not having a partner to intimately check my back for ones burrowing into me - I still don't know if I'm clear.

Another two sets of pannier removals, in which I lost almost all of my pannier clip spacers, and I was back on the road to Grafton, from which I write this epistle of my hashing exploits.