Mullum to Murwillumbah

2 July – Day 57 : Mullum to Murwillumbah

The rain didn’t let up until well after mid day. There were a few breaks in the cloud and even a little sun for a short bit.

Heading up toward Main Arm and over Mt Jerusalem Nation Park put us straight back into the cloud. The gravel road was well made. Progress was fine. That is until we got to the flooded rivers. The most significant river crossing of the trip so far and lots of them.

Dropping the bike in water is a problem but not the end of the world. Getting washed off the cause way and down the river is a much bigger concern!

Flooded cause ways.

How deep is this going to get?

That was always the question as you powered through the fast moving water. The water was up to the boxes on several occasions and part way up the boxes on a few more.

450mm on the marker and more importantly moving damn fast.

Gee, that got the heart racing. I had to ride across leaning up stream to stop being tipped over.

We are wet! We ended up pushing the bikes through the next crossing one at a time as it was ever worse. We figured the two of us on foot would be more able to resist getting washed over and then washed down stream.

The flooding got worse as we got further down into the low lands off the mountains. Fortunately the crossing we pushed the bikes through was the last ford and the subsequent crossings were bridged. In some cases the water was still over the bridge but not too badly.

My leathers are saturated. My boots were holding several kilos of water each it felt like but I was warm thanks to the really good thermals and wool I had on.

The weather is mean to be on the improve. I can see some stars now as I write this.

What an amazing afternoon. We didn’t have to go far from civilisation for this adventure!

Here’s a taste of the afternoon.