#urunga

19 August 2020 - alphabetical post #21

Upon the completion of my chemotherapy, I took a three month leave of absence from the unceasing and uninspiring grind of work. This would allow Candice and I to undertake a road trip to the upcoming U and V parkruns, both of which required travel to unfamiliar interstate venues.

There are only two parkruns in Australia starting with the letter U: Underwood Park in Queensland and Urunga on the far north coast of New South Wales. There are three V parkruns, two in Queensland and one in South Australia. We could have simply flown to Queensland and remained there for both runs, but I had an unshakeable urge to do a more unorthodox trip. And so it transpired in early March that we hired a campervan with unlimited kilometres and headed north to Urunga, utterly oblivious to the unprecedented Covid-19 upheaval still to come.

It was a long way to Urunga (1,354 km to be precise) and we had two whippets on board, both unused to long distance driving. We put them in safety harnesses on their beds behind us in the van so that they would be unable to roam unchecked and possibly get underfoot.

Our drive to Urunga was unhurried and uneventful, but we were shocked by the unrelenting scenes of bushfire devastation throughout New South Wales. It was upsetting to see the ugly scars wrought on the usually green forests. Seeing the damage with our own eyes gave us a real understanding of the unstoppable maelstrom of fire that had been unleashed upon the unsuspecting land.

I had done my utmost to convince Candice that this road trip would be an unqualified success, but it is fair to say that by the time we reached Urunga, she was somewhat underwhelmed by the experience. The small size of the van was proving unsuitable for us and the dogs. Then upon arrival in Urunga, my delight at finding an unspoiled riverbank camping spot was unfortunately swiftly undone by the unwelcome swarm of sandflies which invaded the van at dusk. The next day we were both covered with umpteen uncomfortable bites. Candice was unamused.

The dawn ushered in a cloudy morning. Candice undertook to mind the dogs while I did the parkrun, which started at the unaccustomed early time of 7.00 a.m. I met the event director, Nathan, and his united band of helpers which included his two daughters clad in the usual volunteers’ high-vis uniforms, but in appropriately small sizes.

53 parkrunners were soon up and running (or walking). Thankfully for this unfit runner, there were no undulations in the course, which was flat except for a slight uptick at one end. The course was only 700 metres from end to end and so it had the unusually high number of seven U-turns. I was unimpressed with my ultimate finishing time of 23:41, but I knew that I would be unlikely to run any faster unless and until the unpleasant side effects of chemotherapy subsided. One upside of the run was that my cap cam worked, showing the course under unbroken cloudy skies - see the video below. After the run, there was an uplifting moment as I posed with Nathan and his daughters for a photo. 

Later we headed off along the unique Urunga boardwalk, which extends one kilometre from the township and follows the Kalang River to its junction with the Bellinger River and then out to the ocean, with unrivalled views inland to the Great Dividing Range. It was unquestionably the highlight of our road trip to that point.

I had underestimated the difficulty of travelling in an untested campervan with two unpredictable whippets. But I remained undaunted. I was unfazed by the massive distance to the next parkrun in Victor Harbor, South Australia. We had six days to get there, so there was no urgency. What could possibly go wrong?

Course ratings - Urunga: 

Course - seven laps of 700m walking path ** 

Surface - concrete ***** 

Setting - parkland next to Kalang River ***** 

Social index - friendly volunteers *****

This post’s U count: 86.

The next post will be brought to U by the letter V.