The plan for the day was to have a short ride ending up at the Grafton Museum's courtyard cafe for lunch. We left about 10.15am and I rode with my tandem friends as we took a new road north east out of the camp site. This was quite hilly and I suggested that the tandems should tow me up hill but got no offers. We were also riding with our youngest member's family and he was having a ball. He is a very strong cyclist and a very polite nine year old. On one occasion he passed me on a climb and asked me how I was going as he bombed up the hill. He was closely followed by his mum who was struggling. As she went by she called out, "Who needs a personal trainer when I've got him!"
We finished the ride along the road by the Clarence River back into Grafton and on to the cafe. Here we had a nice two course lunch. I had local fish which was good followed by an enormous fruit salad and yoghurt. During the meal we socialised. Young A got his photo taken with the guide dogs.
A with Willoughby and his Mistress.
The full crew.
After lunch most people drove off and a dozen or so of us pedalled back to camp where we had a big surprise. In our absence another cycling group had moved in and had put up tents anywhere they wanted including our three camp sites. Now there was plenty of room on my site for several tents but I had paid $25.00 a night for the site and would have liked to be asked.
C and C were in a much worse position as somebody had put a tent directly in front of their tent's entrance where they normally put up their picnic table and propped up their bikes. The husband is 77 years old and had Parkinson's Disease he was very upset so I went to see the manager to find out who had given then permission to use our sites. He told me that the new arrivals had been specifically not to camp on our sites which were clearly numbered. He would come and sort it out.
Back with C and C things were getting worse. He was trying to start his car, an elderly Saab with out any success. He wanted to park beside his tent to ease packing up the next day. We called the motoring association but their mechanic had no success in fixing the problem and a tow truck would pick the car up on Monday morning.
The manager had still not come to sort things out and when I mentioned to one of the newcomers that they were being rude by just taking over our sites he said that his tent had been there for a couple of days to which I replied "Bullsh*t" and he told me that I was being rude to him! At this I decided enough was enough and telephoned the manager. I pointed out that when people camped in my back yard at home they always got my permission first and until 10.00am the next day my large clearly marked camp site was my backyard. He agreed and came to sort it out.
Three tents were moved as there was plenty of space elsewhere, apologies given and accepted. Poor C nearly had a fit when the groups leader turned up. It was Tony Abbott, the leader of the Federal Opposition. He leads a ride for charity every year but C is not a fan. Tony's ride is called the Pollie Pedal and account may be found here.
The remnants of the group had a final get together in the Barbecue area and I went to bed early as I wanted to get away early next day.
There was one more incident when about 10.00pm I was rudely awakened by a couple of the Pollies walking back to their tents and right into my little tent. The language I used advised them to have intercourse somewhere else!
End of Part 5
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