What a difference 24 hours can make. Blue skies this morning in Lennox
Head and the gale force winds of the days before had died off. We left
the wet weather gear in the vans, hoping the day's riding would dry off
out our damp leathers along the way.

The road reports were all encouraging and we knew we could at least get
through on our planned route to Grafton, and then it would be a choice
between sticking with our planned ride down Summerland Way through Nana
Glen to CoffsHarbour, or shooting straight down the Pacific Hwy.

Our first challenge for the day came earlier than expected - just 50 kms
down the road in Lismore, Wendy's CVO Dyna developed a critical engine
problem and after 1.5 hours of trying, we could not get it going again.
We suspect that the heavy rain from yesterday was the culprit, but
reluctantly we had to leave the bike behind to be picked up.

Our fantastic van drivers again proved their incredible worth - staying
behind to arrange a tow for the bike, so we could continue moving the
group down the highway - thank you!!

The ride on to Casino, and down to Grafton was beautiful - sunny skies,
no traffic, open road at highway speeds. The group riding formation was
beautiful to watch. All around us, particularly south to Grafton, we
were surrounded by inland seas and could see the signs where the roads
had been flooded just the day before.

Into Grafton we stopped for a late lunch, to hear from the van drivers
that the tow truck had finally arrived and they were on their way
following us. We checked with the local Caltex service station, and the
owner told us that the road we had originally chosen through Nana Glen
was open again - he lived on it and hadn't been able to get home for
three days, but was definitely going home tonight!

Although it is a beautiful road, it is slow riding, and given the time
lost earlier in the day, we decided to shoot straight through on the
Pacific Hwy instead. Our lead van took off ahead of us as we filled the
bikes with petrol, only to call us 10 mins later to say the Pacific Hwy
out of Grafton was under 3 metres of water.

Meredith took off on her bike to confirm the worst - yes, indeed it was
flooded and closed - but there was an alternative high water route out
of town and was able to point the van in the right direction.

In the meantime a Highway Patrol car had joined the group back at Caltex
and confirmed that the high water route was open and we'd have no
problem getting through.

The Pacific Hwy can be a very busy road with trucks and traffic at
times, but with the highway cut north of Ballina, and south of Kemspey,
we had this beautiful wide stretch of tarmac all to ourselves!

We whipped down the highway in no time at all, and as we came in towards
CoffsHarbour, half the group saw a paddock full of kangaroos on the side
of the road.

We arrived at our accommodation for the night - Breakfree Aanuka Resort
- who put on a wonderful welcome. The Resort is right on its own
stretch of beach and the view was spectacular - the sea still boiling
from the storm of the last few days.

We came together as a group for a fantastic pizza and salad dinner night
with the whole restaurant to ourselves.

Tomorrow is the last day we will have to negotiate the flood affected
areas. Our chosen route through Dorrigo has been underwater for the
last few days, but there are several alternative routes, and from then
on it should all be clear!