I’ve booked the  time off at work. It’s almost 4 weeks – 15th of December to 9th of January.

I’ve also booked the train tickets. There’s good news on that front. The woman I called (you can’t book on-line with a bike) said that she was aware of no restrictions on using bike bags. I told her of my reply from Customer Service, and she went checking. The Luggage Office told her that the only restriction was that the bike had to be enclosed, and that bags are used  all the time (confirming her initial statement the she makes bookings for bagged bikes all the time).

Unfortunately, as last year, the 12:49 service from Coffs to Sydney is restricted to bookings in the previous 2 week window. It was only the upward service that was freed of this stupid restriction. Therefore I did as I had to last year – I booked from Casino to Sydney on the 10:10 service (which is not restricted) and will have to vary the ticket to board at Coffs, two weeks prior to traveling. How ridiculous it is, that people traveling from Coffs to Sydney are restricted in this way! It would be much more customer friendly to allow a modicum of unrestricted bookings on this service for those whose travel needs require using it.

Summary: travel north on Saturday, the 13th; travel back on Saturday the 10th. I’ve written to the Uki Guesthouse, and they seem cycle friendly and helpful, so it looks like I’m staying there and not riding to Murwillumbah.