Day 3 – Ballina to Main Arm

Wednesday 6th September, 2023

64.9km +885m
Moving 3:44/ Total 7:28

I had sussed out several different route options for this next section (heatmap, streetview, elevation, roadsurface, etc) and eventually settled on this one, mainly because it took us via Federal where we could get food/coffee. And I wasn’t that keen on the traffic on the coast road to Byron Bay. (It looks like there are actually cycle lanes and cycle paths north of Suffolk Park, and from Byron Bay back out to Ewingsdale, so that part would be ok, but I didn’t like the look of the road and traffic volume between Ballina and Suffolk Park.)

So, back out to the big roundabout highway interchange again. We stopped in at the Service Centre for some provisions. Teven Road wasn’t too bad, but we avoided potential traffic by riding about 6km on the quieter North Teven Road. Then we had 8km along Eltham Rd, and despite it looking fairly benign on Streetview, I would never take it again, at least not this time of day during school drop off/get to work manic hour. (We left the Service Centre around 8am, bang on crazy hour.)

Once we got onto Pearces Creek Rd things calmed down a bit – as it wasn’t really a thoroughfare to any schools or workplaces. Under the old railway bridge at Booyung – which will one day hopefully be part of the full Northern Rivers Rail Trail. (Byron Council had apparently just voted to support funding and construction of their section of the Northern Rivers Rail Trail, but from what I’ve read, they’re still hung up about getting a train as well between Byron and Mullumbimby. The Casino to Lismore section opened (in two incremental sections) during 2024.)

We found a recreation reserve at Booyung with a picnic table and a loo.

The next 13km to Federal were hillier, with a gradual climb in elevation, but nice countryside and pretty quiet roads. At Federal, Moonshine Coffee Roasters, next door to the General Store, provided a welcome morning tea break. (Coffee!) 38k down.

Next up was a bit of a tough climb of about 4.5km. Oof. We hit 15% gradient at one point, and I was feeling a bit dizzy by the time we pulled into a lookout with a picnic table/shelter. It’s a bit rundown, but there was a bit of a view to the coast. The ‘artwork’ also gave expression to the area’s hippie subculture. Next stop , down the hill, was Mullumbimby, known for its hippie subculture. Also with the dubious ‘honour’ of being Australia’s Anti-Vaxxer capital. Peace, love and mungbeanz.

The next few k’s of Coolamon Scenic Drive were quite nice:

Then a few ks of downhill run! That was good, but then the last stretch into ‘Mullum’ was bloody awful. I’m not sure where all the traffic materialised from, but it was solid, with impatient drivers. A bus driver did a super-close pass, only to, 100m further on, pull sharply into a school bus bay (where he was clearly going to have a bit of a wait as there were no people there waiting.) So much for the peace and love.

Our moods (thus ruined) were not improved as we rode around the streets looking for a cafe. I navigated us to one I had previewed and earmarked, but it wasn’t open. We found another one, sat down and I went into order, but it had a Vote No sign at the counter (re the upcoming Voice referendum) so I walked out, refusing to eat there. At the place where we did eventually order, I managed to knock over and spill Marc’s beer. Gah.

At least we only had another 8km of riding for the day, with an Airbnb booked at Main Arm. (We could have taken a more direct route out of Mullum, but I had always wanted to check out this loop road out the back of Billinudgel. This was a ‘tour’ after all!) But before getting out of town we had more faffing around. Tandem-portable meals from the supermarket, a few sherbs from the bottle-o, and the loo. Whew.

So only half an hour riding and we were there. And it was peaceful and lovely!