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Date: Sat, March 14 1998To: studio@toysatellite.org From: Don Pattenden <dpattenden@pegasus.com.au> Subject: The Sunshine Coast
Hello, I'll have to smarten up though if I really want to maintain my latest target (albeit modest) of 250 km per week. Not that it really matters (I may never come this way again, who knows, so may as well make the most of it) except that I have to do at least that if I want to reach Carnarvon over on the west coast by November. Even there I understand it gets pretty hot and humid by then, but up in the western tropics they tell me, it gets quite unbearable for anything active like bike riding. And I'd hate to have to wait out yet another wet season somewhere. Like Darwin maybe, who knows. For now though I've picked just the right time to be re-commencing my journey and it looks like I'll be in for lots of really ideal weather for the next six or seven months. Crazy thing is though that this computer room is right in the centre of the house, like a gloomy dungeon, with no windows at all. The birds are singing out there, but I can't hear them for the whirring of fans -- one in the computer and one on the ceiling. The sun is shining brightly out there, but not here. Ho hum. You can't have everything. After all, it's a very rare luxury to have a computer in the house where I'm staying, "on tap" as it were. And for that matter I'm very comfortable here; it's been a very pleasant interlude. I've been looked after very well. so perhaps before anything else, I should say something about my host and hostess. They are Richard and Anne Pattenden, but this time they are not relations, well, not directly anyway. Ultimately all Pattendens are related, going back to the original family in Kent in England (in some versions spelt as Pattendyne, or something like that; haven't got the papers in front of me right now. Richard has in fact done a lot of work on his family tree and that's how he first got in touch with me some years ago. At some stage he wrote to every Pattenden he could find in the white pages, Australia wide, and got quite a few replies. He has been able to find links between his branch of the family and various other branches, so far not with ours though. Enough about genealogy, fascinating though it be, for I am once again running out of time, even with a computer on tap. Because the time has now moved right on to 2:30 PM on Monday, the day of my departure. My stuff is all packed and all I have to do is to is load up the bike, after a quick trip across to the computer shop with a floppy disk, to send this (and various other messages I've typed up over the past few days) off. Rush rush rush. The story of my life. Always running out of time, no matter how much I start with. Today, I'm only going as far as Bli Bli - a very modest ride to start with, only 8 km away. What's more I am going to shout myself to a cabin (for $25) so I won't have to put my tent up. Speaking of which, one of the many things I managed to get done while here in Nambour was to find someone (a very interesting old man, with a large & chaotic workshop, on top of a hill near here right next to a koala sanctuary) with the expertise to repair the zip fastner on the insect screen door of my tent -- very much needed in this warmer weather. Now I can sleep with the door open at night and not be bothered with insects. And the local camping gear shop was very very helpful (quite unusual I can tell you) in helping me with my never ending problem with fibreglass poles that keep splitting. In Brisbane I was limitted to 3 nights because the friend of a friend who was putting me up was expecting more visitors, and he was my only contact. So I still had things that needed attention here in Nambour. Got them done though so all in all my stay was very fruitful. And as I said, I've been treated very well. All mod cons, including a swimming pool in the back yard (and a very large property). I'll tell you one thing, I don't want to travel in anther train for a very very long time. Still later - 3:40 PM; in the computer shop. Incidentally though, they're very nice in the this shop; one of the nicest Internet shops I've ever been to. The worst ever was the one in Coffs Harbour "The Happy Planet". They were just awful. Makes such a big difference when people are nice to me, especially in caravan parks - more important really than the standard of the accom. I've been jumping around all over the place, so maybe I'd better give you a few dates so you know exactly what I've been up to since I left Herberton. Oh, first though, I need to explain why I've been in Nambour twice: once en route to Melbourne when I broke my train journey and now when I finally got back here again by pedal power, on my way north. Richard Pattenden you see is a sea captain, so he's away on trips from time to time. If I'd waited til I arrived here on my way north I would have missed him (right now he's somewhere off the coast of north Western Australia in the vicinity of Dampier or there abouts. Turned out to be a good idea anyway, because it cut a couple of hours off my train journey which is not to be sneezed at. Then Richard was good enough to drive me around the vicinity to see the sights. Then they drove me into Chapel Hill in Brisbane, right to the house where I was staying. Important dates:-
[Over the next 3 days managed to get lots done, inc. important shopping, replacing my forehead torch etc. seeing a very nice dentist and arranging an interview with the founder of the yoga school I have been attending for 20 odd years -- Vijay, who was also my original teacher in Melbourne way back in 1970. A very valuable session. Always inspiring. His final words to me were "Enjoy life, that's the key". How true, and how easy to forget.]
Sorry this was so rushed. Better luck next time. Don. |