We woke up this morning to rain.  Not continuously pouring down but still enough rain that we wouldn’t normally bike but we had no reason to stay in Bulahdelah with the thundering Pacific Highway rattling the windows.  So we dressed up in wet weather gear and hit the road.  Luckily it wasn’t raining when we started as it’s always nice to at least start dry.

We cycled a short stretch down the highway and then turned onto The Lakes Way, a pretty B road.  Almost immediately the rain started and the hills started.  Yesterday the ferry captain had warned us about the hills and this morning the motel owner also went into great details about how hard they would be.  We are fit now and the breezed over the hills.  In fact we enjoyed the hills as we haven’t had any hilly topography since way back before Sydney.  The road was good, the traffic light and rain fell down.  We stopped for an early lunch in a bus shelter during a sunny interlude and discussed how good our gear is.  Will loves his Ground Effect gear as it makes all the difference cycling in the rain.

After lunch we started cycling through small villages next to beautiful lakes.  As we approached Pacific Palms the traffic got heavier.  The road then became really narrow along the sand spit that connects Pacific Palm to Forster through Booti Booti National Park.  The rain started pouring down and the drivers seemed less tolerant and more aggressive.  On this narrow stretch of road we saw the two worst driving manoeuvres on this entire trip including a car passing very close trying to squeeze through a gap then forcing another car off the road and another car overtaking coming towards us.  Will had to bellow at a car that was completely ignoring our existence.  This put us in a bad mood and a dislike of Forster.  It wasn’t helped by witnessing a couple having a loud domestic argument outside the supermarket.

Forster is apparently a nice town, but we can’t wait to get out of here.  We checked into a cabin at the caravan park and changed our plans.  We had planned a day off but decided to leave tomorrow morning.

Today was a nice day riding even though it was raining.  The first 50km was pretty and we enjoyed cycling but the last 10km with agro drivers ruined the day and our experience of Forster.

Sorry, but we have no photos of today as pouring rain doesn’t make the most interesting photo.

Highlight of the day:  Enjoying cycling in the rain.

Today was a fantastic day biking, but first let’s cover yesterday.

We had Day 50 off in Nelson Bay.  After getting the bike fixed the previous day, it left us with a completely unplanned free day.  We got up and chatted to the couples we met the previous evening.  We then decided to move the tent less than 50m to a more sheltered site where we sat in the sun and relaxed.  The older couple near us invited us for lunch but unfortunately they had cooked a nice frittata that had bacon in it (we are vegetarians).  We headed into town and had lunch, checked out the ferry info and did some groceries.   Later in the afternoon we walked up the hill behind the caravan park to a café (great cake!) and the maritime rescue station.  We looked around their museum and then visited the control tower where we chatted to the volunteers.  They do an amazing job!

Today we rose early to pack up the tent and be at the ferry wharf by 8am.  While waiting for the ferry from Nelson Bay to Tea Gardens, Will had a thought about the mystery click noise on his bike.  Simply tightening the rear carrier fixed the problem.  It sounds obvious but the clicking didn’t sound like it was coming from the back but must have been transmitted through the frame.

The ferry was running a little late and we boarded at 9am.  The ferry is a beautiful old boat with brass and wood.  The trip took an hour and we chatted to a nice couple also on board.  Tea Gardens is a pretty little town in a great location and we had a cup of tea at a café before starting our cycling for the day.  Our route went over an impressive bridge that links Tea Gardens with Hawks Nest then we cycled on the near deserted Mungo Brush Road.  What a great road to cycle on!!!  It passes through the Myall Lakes National Park with great bush, trees, huge sand dunes, and the Bombah Broadwater Lake.  It couldn’t have been better and we arrived at the Bombah Point Ferry, our second ferry for the day.  This ferry is a car barge that transported us across the water that connects the two lakes for only $2 each.  It’s only a distance of about 50m and we pondered the cost of running a ferry verse building a bridge.  Taking the ferry is a nice way to travel.

Talking to the ferry captain, he told us about the Hawknest-Seal Rocks Road.  We had researched this as an option but found it was closed in 2005 and other cyclists had cycled it through sand and swamps.  We found out the road had just been upgraded with countless loads of gravel and was graded and finished last week.  We decided not to take the road as a new gravel road can be hard to cycle on, but for other cyclists following this route, the road will compact and settle and would be best option in the future.

After the ferry, we lunched and again chatted to some people who knew NZ and Wanaka well.  We then cycled the rest of the distance on a good hard packed dirt road to Bulahdelah.  Currently Bulahdelah is on the Pacific Highway but construction of the new mega-bypass is nearly finished.  The town is a hive of activity with the main street being upgraded too.  It will be nice town once all the traffic is diverted.

Highlight of the day:  Taking two ferries and cycling the wonderfully quiet and beautiful Mungo Brush Road.

Us on the ferry to Tea Gardens

Will looking happy

Tea Gardens

We passed some huge sand dunes.

The best biking on Mungo Brush Road

The Bombah Point Ferry

Will on the dirt road part of the day.

Today we cycled from Newcastle, well Stockton really, to beautiful Nelson Bay.  We set off just before 9am and cycled out of the greater Newcastle area on a surprisingly busy road for a Sunday morning.  With a side tailwind and a wide verge we made good time though felt a little rusty after our time off in Newcastle.  After clearing Newcastle we cycled through the first open rural countryside since before Shellharbour and arrived at Williamtown which Will was chuffed about.  Williamtown is home to a RAAF base and headquarters to Australia’s Tactical Fighter group.  We had seen and heard jets on previous days but not today as it’s a weekend.

Will says… “Passing the air force base I couldn’t help thinking of Gary, Tank Commander.  Probably the only friends who will get that joke are Simon and Gill.  Then after thinking of Gary, I started singing an annoying James Blunt song because he was a tank commander.  I couldn’t get it out of my head even though I know tanks have nothing to do with the air force.”

After Williamtown the road continued to be good but was busy with day trippers.  We made good time and arrived in Nelson Bay at lunchtime.

Just before Nelson Bay one of Will’s front panniers leapt off and jammed in the wheel.  We are not sure what made it to detach as it’s never happened before and there didn’t seem any reason to happen now.  Will then found that his front wheel was slightly buckled and by the time we reached the caravan park it was worse.  So after putting up the tent we found a bike repair shop and the friendly owner replaced the spoke, tightened the spokes and balanced the wheel on a jig, all for only $15.  He also tightened the crank as there is a clicking noise.  That didn’t fix the clicking noise and we spent some time trying to work out where it is coming from with no success.  We decided if it’s a problem, it will reveal itself sooner or later.

After getting the bike fixed, we showered and headed into town to look around.  We found a great bar on the waterfront with a good musician playing.  After a beer we did grocery shopping and headed back to the caravan park for a quiet night.  It turned out to be a very entertaining night as we first met two friendly 50 something men, one of whom had just solo paddled the length of the Murray River.  We then chatted to a Gray Nomad who went away and returned with his wife and some wine.  Chatting to them we were then joined by a friendly couple with young kids camping near us.  We all sat around chatting and it turned into a late night with great conversations.  Tomorrow we are having a day off.

Highlight of the day:  Nelson Bay is beautiful, the bike shop was great, and the conversations with friendly people were entertaining.

Warm, sheltered from the wind, and a nice place for lunch!

The Nelson Bay marina

Enjoying a beer in a nice bar with great music.

View from the cafe at the top of the hill next to caravan park.

Yesterday we were having a day off in Newcastle.  Newcastle is a city of about 350,000 and used to be very industrial with the BHP Steel Works that closed in 1999.  It’s still the largest port in the world for exporting coal.  After the loss of the steel works, Newcastle has put a lot of energy and money into rejuvenating itself with great public art, foreshore, free wifi and buses, the Fernleigh Track and many other projects.

We spent the morning doing some website work, laundry, and sorting ourselves out.  We then caught the ferry back across the river to the CBD and had lunch, then walked around.  Later in the afternoon we got tired of exploring so went to the movies (The Other Boy, 7.5/10, highly recommended).  After the movie we caught the ferry back, cooked dinner and went to bed.

Today we intended to carry on cycling up to Stephens Bay but when we woke it was raining.  The rain stopped at about 9am but we’d already decided to stay another day in Newcastle as strong winds are forecast for this afternoon.  We had a leisurely morning and charged up all the devices.  We then set off for town at 11am and caught the free bus.  We travelled on the free bus for a full loop to see the sights of the city and admire the architecture, then got off and walked to the Public Art Gallery.  We first had some lunch in the park then found that the gallery was almost all closed as they are installing a new exhibition.  It’s a shame we didn’t get to look around as the gallery has a good reputation.  We then decided to go to the city museum and again caught the free bus.  The museum was surprisingly good with a large area devoted to the steelworks, coal industry, and working class history of the city.  After the museum we walked along the promenade, had a beer at a busy bar, then caught the ferry back to the caravan park.

We’ve enjoyed Newcastle.  It reminds Will of Dunedin crossed with Sydney and Liverpool.  Newcastle has a great vibe and we are pleased we’ve spent some time here as it’s not a place that’s normally on the tourist map although the city is trying to change this.

Highlight of the days:  Spending time in vibrant Newcastle.

View of Newcastle from Stockton

Newcastle

Jen in Newcastle

Near the art gallery

Newcastle still a working port

The bad weather blew through overnight and this morning was bright and clear with a cool wind.  We set off from Swansea at 9am and biked the first 6km on the highway with a great verge.  On reaching Belmont we turned off the road onto the glorious Fernleigh Track, a rail trail that took us all the way into Newcastle.  This is the flashest rail trail we been on, paved with a centre line, beautiful flora and a nice gradient.  We must have been smiling lots as everybody coming the other way seemed happy and smiled or greeted us as we past.

About half way along the 15km Fernleigh Track, we past another cycle tourist distinguishable by all his panniers.  We all stopped and started chatting.  It turned out Thomas (sp?) has cycled from Cairns and is heading for Melbourne.  He was with two local retired school teachers who were on a day ride showing him around.  They will be touring NZ later this year and we invited them to visit us.  Our blog should be useful for Thomas heading south.

We then carried on the rail trail and diverted to a Dick Smith store so Will could acquire a new Galaxy S4.  When we come to Australia, Will traditionally gets a new laptop or other tech gear and Jen gets a new handbag or clothes.

We carried on without phone guidance (old phone now had no SIM and new phone still in box).  The Fernleigh Track ended in a suburb of Newcastle and we then followed a cycle route marked on the road into town.  We must have missed a turn as we ended up on Bar Beach so we asked a friendly local for directions.  After pointing us in the right direction she even chased after us with a revised route that avoided a hill.  We cycled down the vibrant Darby St and arrived at the river.  We then caught the ferry, after a quick pint, across to Stockton where the caravan park is.

We like Newcastle…more about that tomorrow.

Highlight of the day:  Meeting another cyclist on the fantastic Fernleigh Track.

Jen on the Fernleigh Track. Looks like a mini road only for cyclists and pedestrians.

A great way to arrive in a city.

Old railway tunnel with lights

Bikes waiting to board the ferry while we had a beer.

No, we haven’t miraculously biked from Australia to Wales.  Today we biked to Swansea in NSW.  We left The Entrance on a great cycle lane on the road verge.  The cycle lane is called the Darren Smith Memorial Cycleway and was created after Smith, a local cycle racer, was killed in an accident with a truck.  The wide verge and cycle lane painting made our biking enjoyable and safe on a busy road.

We flew along at 22km per hour and quickly made it to Budgewoi when it started to spit then rain.  Remarkably there were no clouds that looked like rain clouds and sun was shining.  Fortuitously there was a bus shelter just as the rain drops got larger so we rested and waited 10 minutes for the rain to pass.  We then continued on a quieter road and turned into the pocket sized Munmorah State Conservation Area which was a nice quiet area before reaching the Pacific Highway.  The highway was dual carriageway had a mega-wide verge and again we felt very safe.

We made good time and arrived in Swansea before lunch.  We sat on a park bench and pondered our options for this afternoon as we’d arrived early and thought about pushing on to Newcastle.  The clouds were building and the forecast wasn’t good.  We then looked up and were greeted with a big ‘hello’ from a grey nomad couple we’ve met twice before.  The odds of bumping into them three times must be very low and we had a good chat about our progress.

As the weather wasn’t looking good, we decided to stay in Swansea and so we biked to the Caravan Park.  The managers were very friendly and even gave us a complimentary bottle of wine!  It poured down most of the afternoon, our wettest day in the tent.  Somewhat reminiscent of our cycling trip in France, we had nothing to do but drink wine and relax.

Highlights of the day:  Great cycle lanes and hospitality.

Doing the groceries after the rain

Today we biked from Umina to The Entrance.  We started by backtracking to Ettalong then continued on a busy road through Bensville (we thought nephew Ben would like this) and a string of towns.  The towns started to join up and then it seemed like urban biking with lots of roundabouts and traffic lights.  There was a good cycle lane for part of the route and traffic was good to us. We ended up at The Entrance which is a town at the mouth of Lake Tuggerah.

The Entrance has long been a holiday town for Sydney people and looks like it has seen better days.  We set up the wet tent and walked across the bridge to do some groceries.  The day seemed to disappear and we’ve decided to make an earlier start tomorrow to leave more time in the afternoon after biking.  Tomorrow we will bike to Swansea on the outskirts of Newcastle then on Thursday we will bike into Newcastle, the 6^th biggest city in Australia.  We are looking forward to visiting Newcastle as we’ve heard good things about it’s architecture, art and culture.

Highlight of today: The busy traffic was friendly

The Entrance

Yesterday, day 42, was a day off in wonderful Manly.  We slept in after our big night out then had brunch.  We then went for a walk along the Manly promenade and spent some time watching the surfing competition.  After that we walked along the pedestrian Marine Parade to Shelly Beach and climbed the headland.  We found a big rock to sit on and each lunch and we watched the humpback whales cruising up the coast chased by a small flotilla of boats.  We then walked back to motel and relaxed for the rest of the day.  When cycle touring and spending all day outside, it’s nice to occasionally spend time indoors on days off.

Today we left Sydney by cycling from Manly to Palm Beach then caught the ferry to Ettalong.  We started by cycling along the beach then through beach suburbs.  It was slightly frustrating navigating through the streets but we finally found a marked cycle route.  We made our way through the northern beaches with great views of the ocean.  It is Queens Birthday Monday so traffic was heavy on main roads and got very busy as we worked our way up the peninsular.  Fortunately everyone was very patient and relaxed driving which made it OK.  We arrived in Palm Beach which is a nice holiday seaside town on the end of the peninsular.  We then had a very relaxing 2 hour wait on the wharf for the ferry.  The ferry from Palm Beach to Ettalong took 30 minutes and just as we arrive the weather changed and a few spots of rain started falling.  We then biked along the foreshore to the Ocean Beach Holiday Park and quickly set up the tent.  Luckily the rain passed and the evening was OK.

Writing this blog we usually stick to the rule ‘if you haven’t got anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all’.  In this case, the Ocean Beach NRMA Holiday Park is the worst we’ve stayed in.  Reception staff were perfunctory, no kitchen, TV lounge closed at 5pm, shower and toilets were weird with low doors anyone could look over.  We don’t need bouncy pillows, swimming pools and kids clubs.  All we need is somewhere to sit with lights as it gets dark at 5pm….so we went to the pub.

Highlight of the day:  Waiting for the ferry in Palm Beach

Jen eating lunch looking at the whales.

Starting the day cycling along Manly Beach

Palm Beach wharf

Waiting for the ferry at Palm Beach

We made it to Sydney

Today was a truly fantastic day in Sydney.  Our goal today was to get from Cronulla in the south east to Manly in the north east of Sydney.  We didn’t want to cycle through Sydney as that doesn’t sound like fun, so as always planned, we took public transport.

We walked the short distance from the hotel to the Cronulla train station.  We had lots of little questions in our minds.  Things like ‘will our bikes fit on the train with panniers?’; ‘will we have time to load our bikes on the train?’; ‘how does it all work?’.  It couldn’t have been easier!  We arrived at the station, bought our tickets (bikes travel free) and wandered through the mega wide gate to the platform.  A train was waiting to depart in 15 minutes which gave us plenty of time to put the bikes on the train.  They easily rolled on and off and the whole exercise was very easy.

The train went directly to Martin Place in the Sydney CBD.  From there it was a short stroll through the Royal Botanic Gardens to the Opera House.  We pushed our bikes past Circular Quay and took some photos from The Rocks side.  We had a nice lunch then jumped on the Manly Ferry.  Again it was easy getting on and off the ferry and there were even bike racks on the ferry.

We arrived in Manly at 2pm and walked through the bustling pedestrian mall called The Corso to the beach.  Manly beach was a hive of activity with surfers, volleyball, walkers, rollerbladers, runners, bikers, kids, a large surf competition, and lots of youthful fun.  We slowly biked along the beach to our motel, checked in and then headed straight back out to soak up the atmosphere.  We watched the surf competition, strolled and ended up at a cool bar that faced the beach and had big cane chairs, funky music and Moa beer on tap.  After a beer we headed back to the motel, got changed, and then took the ferry back to the city to watch Vivid Sydney.  It was madness as there were lots of people on the ferry and thousands of people packing Opera House and Rocks areas.

Vivid Sydney was spectacular!  Buildings and art installations are lit up with video and effects.  See the video Will took below of the Museum of Contemporary Art building and the Opera House.  After watching the displays we headed to The Rocks area and found a great classic old Australian pub called The Mercantile and had dinner while watching the Lions vs Reds rugby match.  After the match we made our way back through the crowds to the ferry and headed back out to Manly.  Today was a rare late night out on this trip.

Reflecting on the highlight of the day, we had difficulty pinpointing one event.  We enjoyed taking the bikes on the train and ferry, youthful and vibrant Manly, spectacular Vivid Sydney, having a beer in great bars and watching a surf completion.  Today was a memorable day in the great city Sydney, one of our favourites!

Will on the train

Jen on the Manly Ferry

Jen at Vivid Sydney

Sydney Opera House lit by Vivid Sydney

Sydney from the ferry

We can’t imagine a better way for cyclist to arrive in Sydney.  We started the day in Stanwell Park.  It was a bit of a shock to the system as the hill rose straight out of Stanwell Park. It was also nice knowing this was the steepest hill of the day which was over within 30 minutes.  The day’s riding was through the 2^nd oldest national park in the world, Royal National Park.  Almost 95% of the park was burnt during the 1994 bushfires but from the road we couldn’t see any evidence due to the Australian flora’s ability to regenerate.  We cycled through tall trees with very little traffic.  We saw many lycra-clad road cyclists and chatted to them as they overtook us.

By noon we arrived in the pretty harbourside village of Bundeena which is surrounded by the national park.  Although Bundeena is the end of the road and a considerable distance from Sydney by road, it is only a short ferry ride from Cronulla.  We had a two hour wait for the ferry and so we sat on a park bench with a great beach view and ate lunch then chilled.  The ferry was quiet busy with a large Probus group who were very chatty.  The small ferry delivered us to Cronulla with great views of the harbourside homes of the rich and famous.  Our accommodation was then only a few hundred meters from the ferry.

Cycling into a big city is always daunting and usually involves suburbs, industrial and commercial areas and busy roads.  We got to arrive in Sydney by cycling a quiet forest road in a national park to a beautiful beach then a quaint ferry ride.  An amazing way to arrive in Sydney for cyclists!!

Highlight of the day: A national park then ferry ride arrival into Sydney.

Cycling through Royal National Park

Chilling in Bundeena

Bundeena foreshore

Jen on the ferry

Will’s bike on the ferry

Arriving in Cronulla, Sydney

Cronulla Beach