Tuesday January 10, 2017
I thought today would be the toughest day in terms of temperature and ferries. We caught 3 ferries in all, and timed our arrival into Port Stephens perfectly.The day started at 6:30am as the three of us followed Pete on his morning commute into Newcastle. He dropped us at the Stockton Ferry wharf.
We found a coffee shop in Stockton before heading off to Port Stephens. This was a flat ride with a good shoulder, then we turned off into Marsh Rd for a fantastic, quiet, flat run in towards Port Stephens. We rejoined the main road with 10kms to go and Greg had the first puncture of the day. I’ve never seen tubeless tyres puncture before, but it was spectacular. There was sealant spraying everywhere – what a mess.
We got to the Tea Gardens ferry in time and had lunch over there. Then it was time for the Mungo Brush road which was great with a cooling headwind,, but still bloody hot. Then Andy’s puncture issues began. Today, he only had issues when there was no shade around. It was a nice level run to the 3rd ferry at Bombah Point then another break at the local cafe.
After 10 gentle kms of gravel, we were on a sealed road and rolled into. Bulahdelah at about 4:30pm.
We stayed at the local pub, the Plough Inn. A really friendly pub, full of great staff and patrons. We jumped into the Myall River to cool down, but the heat of the day was to continue all night and get much much worse the next day.
I find people in Sydney very friendly, but out here, it’s another level
