Monday January 9, 2017
Well the day finally arrived and we headed off at 6:45am after a heart starter at Maggio’s cafe up the road. The plan was to get to Palm Beach in time for the 9am ferry to Ettalong. We had to first contend with tradie peak hour through Mosman and the Northern Beaches.I’m no lover of hills and catching the ferry is much easier than the only alternative – the Pacific Highway. We’re going to steer clear of that road as much as we can, so this way we can dodge it until day 3.
Today is forecast to be 37 degrees and we’ll stay at Pete Evan’s place near Newcastle. Pete was my tent buddy from the Tibet trip last September. Hopefully there’s no hangovers tomorrow. Andy and Pete are legends in the drinking stakes so fingers crossed !
We met Andy and Fiona at the coffee shop near the ferry and headed to the wharf soon after. Just as dog’s sniff each other’s bums, cyclists lift each other’s bikes to check weight. I lifted Andy’s bike and dislodged his old pump which fell gracefully into the water, never to be seen again. Great start.
The morning went well as we made our way through the Central Coast and up to The Entrance for lunch – at the local pie Shop. Yum. Then back on the bikes through Budgewoi and Munmorah into the cooling seabreeze. It may have been a headwind, but it was welcome as the temperature nudged 37 degrees.. Andy managed to puncture twice, but we were happy to wait in the shade and cool down.
The 15kms on the old Pacific Hwy into Swansea was the worst – a boring, undulating and hot road. We stopped in Belmont to get the beer and wine for tonight’s meal and then it was off to Pete’s place and the pool overlooking the lake – pure bliss.
Overall, it was a tough day but we didn’t push it, knowing that we had 120kms tomorrow to get to Bulahdelah.
