Kinchela to Wonglepong

I have finally left. The issue with the oil was easily resolved. It was actually really simple to unscrew the drain plug and plug it with my finger. I lost about 50ml of oil in the process.

I got on the road at 11 this morning and made my way to Mandy's house at Wonglepong. Yes, Wonglepong. It took about 7 hours to do what is ordinarily a 5 hour trip. I took the highway to Coffs Harbour then back roads the rest of the way. Coffs to Grafton was a nice ride.

My Tom Tom app doesn't put many place names on the map, which is annoying. I went through Coffs, Grafton, Casino, Kyogle and Beaudesert.

Not much of interest happened. I saw an incoming Ute lose a drum off the back and tried to signal the driver, but he just waved.

I also felt a strange drop on the back of the bike at one point, like the back wheel had gone over a really deep pothole but without the thump when it would hit the bottom. After that, in Grafton, I noticed the back brake was really weak, which I put down to the amount of weight on the bike (which really isn't much, maybe 30-40kg more than usual).

When I stopped for a pie I noticed this:

That is the strap that was holding my bag on. It had come loose and found its way into the rear wheel.  A piece I'd removed before this photo had found its way into the brake callipers, hence the weak brake.

Luckily it was easy to remove. Even more luckily it had snapped without locking the back wheel up. The rest of the strap was still holding the bag. It is a good way to tighten a strap although probably not worth it.

From Grafton to Wonglepong was a fairly ordinary ride. It threatened to rain the whole way and did rain some of the way. The last 100km should have been fun on a motorbike but it was wet and dark so I had to be really careful. It was up and over this cool mountain.

Tomorrow I'm going to Bribie Island to visit Grandma then Hervey Bay to stay with Martika and Sam.