I’m on a new quest: to find a peaceful night’s sleep, after too many nights sleeping next to busy highways, train lines or nightclubs. Pedalled west towards the mountains, which were obscured by brown haze from nearby fires or the dust of the cane harvest, and into rainforest. Another bike stand bit the dust — the third to break on this journey.
Forest became farmland as I reached Casino, where the Discovery Holiday Park kindly let me camp for free. Pedalled onto Lismore to see Australia’s largest floating solar farm, and stayed with its volunteer director Nathan in his funky eco-home near Newrybar.
Strange to be on my bike again after time off. The dog I looked after tried to follow me up the street. Cycled back upriver then north to Whiporie to visit Dirt Girl World — the set, the producers and Dirt Girl herself — a kids TV show tackling sustainability education.
Cycled further up the Huon River to Huonville, where I’m grateful to have received a tour of Huonville High School. A few key teachers and students here were able to win funding from a wealthy sheikh in Abu Dhabi to retrofit an old school building into a sustainable energy hub. From solar panels and wind turbines to a pedal-powered cinema — it’s remarkable what they’ve achieved. That night I met lots of seasonal fruit workers camping at a local hostel.
