Ten parkruns To The Final Border

I left Discovery Parks Byron Bay just after 6:30 am. The 50-plus-kilometre days were finished, so the plan was a comparatively cruisy 37.6 km along the coast to Pottsville.

After the murals around Byron’s Arts and Industry Estate, I was soon back beside the Pacific Highway. The first session covered 10.8 kilometres and finished at a roadhouse and servo by the Mullumbimby turnoff.

I sat down at the only wooden table with my morning tea and pretty much took over the whole area with my shoes, backpack and everything else.

Two young women came and sat down, which meant I had to gather my stuff into something resembling a reasonable amount of space. A casual question about where they were heading led to a brilliant random conversation.

Madeleine was doing a tandem skydive that day, with Claire providing moral support. I had already seen parachutes in the sky and discovered the jumps were happening just up the road. Skydiving was on my to-do list, while running a marathon was on both of theirs.

So two nursing students from the Gold Coast left that bench knowing about parkrun and the Gold Coast Airport Marathon.

Sorry girls, but that short walk to the servo may have had long-term implications 😆

When I set off again, a Pacific Highway sign put Tweed Heads 50 kilometres away and Brisbane 158.

Ten parkruns to the final border. Just under 32 parkruns to Brisbane.

The second session took me through Brunswick Heads and Ocean Shores. Along the way I found a Gold Coast Runners Club sticker attached to a crash barrier beside the Pacific Highway.

Vandals 😆

At South Golden Beach I stopped at a lovely little place for a delicious fish and chips lunch, then had a quick look at the ocean before starting the final session.

Later in the afternoon, the verge became a problem. I was walking on the road beside a very narrow strip of grass. Sometimes it was short, sometimes it was long, and after meeting my first red-bellied black snake earlier in New South Wales I was not keen to take chances with either.

Up ahead there was a small bushfire, a fire truck and several police officers. A highway patrol car appeared to be driving around looking for whoever had lit it. The officer pulled alongside me and abruptly said, “You can’t walk on the road. It’s illegal.”

I explained that I had walked on the road for most of the way from Perth without a problem. Then I pointed to the lack of a usable verge and asked where I was supposed to walk.

“Anywhere that’s not the road.”

The sarcasm annoyed me, but I also appreciated it. He drove off, leaving me gingerly walking along the grass verge. Until he was out of sight, of course.

As I reached the fire truck, another police officer was getting ready to control the traffic around it. I was half expecting another rebuke. Instead, we had a lovely chat. He was very supportive of what we were doing, and told me his father had benefited from heart-health research.

My theory was that the first officer was simply annoyed at being pulled away from the highway to look for troublesome kids in the sand dunes 😆

From there I continued through Hastings Point and into Pottsville, finishing at Pottsville Beach North Holiday Park, where we stayed that night.

I finished at 5:13 pm with 37.6 kilometres for the day.

The final state border was now tomorrow’s job.

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