Sydney to Taree - New Years, Goanas, and roughing it Aussie style
>> 2009-01-05
We've been on the road now for about a week and it's definitely summertime here! Holiday Parks are bustling with activity and finding a space can be a nightmare in the smaller highly sought after tourist towns. We've met about a dozen interesting people along the way and we've been able to hand out a couple more of our cards to interested parties!
We cycled out of Manly as our last post implies we had planned to. It was an absolute madhouse. Wish we'd gotten a picture of the onslaught of families, tan bodies, boogie boards and beach bags of all sizes and impossible dimensions that we snugged up to as we squeezed our way along the queue and onto the ferry. The way they stage payees to board the ferry makes one wonder if every other rider will be seated in the lap of another but somehow once the rush (and I do mean rush as people actually run full tilt onto the boat when the gates are opened to allow boarding to begin) subsides and you board the ferry towards the end of the line you find a surprising amount of room on board, at least inside the cabin. We gathered our wits on the boardwalk at Manly Beach and bid farewell to Sydney. Z. also almost bid farewell to his gloves as they flew off the back of his bike not even 10 feet down the road. Disaster averted and gloves retrieved we set off along the coast. Not long into what we imagined to be our fairly flat Australian tour we encountered our first hill. We both happily passed a huffing, puffing, fairly fit gentleman on his geared mountain bike and flew down the other side feeling quite good about ourselves. Egoic karma would catch up with us later that evening as we had our first free camping OZ experience. We cycled out of the populous areas and hit some lovely windy and shady roads that skirted the coast. A catamaran ferry took us across the gorgeous inlet between Palm Beach and Ettalong beach. We tired early, only about 40kms into our day, and pulled off in a fairly sparsely populated area which had a nice nature reserve with a beautiful new sign that illustrated the reserves wildlife and a nice looking grassy patch. There was no sign posted saying we couldn't camp so we set down our bikes and bags and began to receive the best mosquito lashing of our trip. The bloodsuckers were relentless. In the end Z. almost quit the tour, we moved camp to what seemed like a less infested area, and E. tromped our dinner fixings out next to the road to get some distance from the bugs and Z. The noises after dusk were tremendous. Cicadas and crickets sang, frogs croaked, the brush rustled with life, and we were both struck by the incredible bird calls going on all across the dark forest. It was just like walking into the Nocturnal house at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle! The only critter we encountered that was warm blooded was a mouse that zipped back and forth across a surprisingly steep tent wall. E. gave the little guy a gentle flick to let it know who was boss... and to discourage any further exploration of our tent. The last thing we needed was a gnawed mouse hole in our tent wall letting the mosquitoes in. The morning finally arrived and we hurriedly swept up our things, hastily clapped them onto our bikes and got back on the road as fast as possible - even skipping teeth brushing. We were no match in for the mosquitoes when it came to speed though and we'd been thoroughly barraged before we could get on the road.
As we loosely planned our route through Australia while we lounged in the four star hotel we mapped ourselves out a route that while decidedly longer and more meandering than the highway, would keep us closer to the coast and offer us potentially quieter roads. Today we passed through our first national park which provided us with the quiet roads we were seeking. Not much in the way of views but the road was decent, traffic low, and we got a quick glimpse of a very brown, very shiny, fairly large lizard sunning itself along the road. It skittered off as soon as we circled back to have a closer look but Z. got the distinct impression that prehistoria was lurking just inside the tightly knit trees that lined the roads, and that this would not be the comfortable and safe sheep and cow tour that New Zealand had been. We stopped for a break and a chat with the tourist information booth in The Entrance. We napped under a big pine tree situated right next to a traveling carnival setup, skipping the best of the afternoon heat. Just as we were setting ourselves upright and getting ready to leave we spotted a number of bright yellow boxes attached to a black bike ridden by a svelte and remarkably tan fellow. He was heading for the information site. We cruzed by and said hello after he'd collected his maps. We didn't speak German and he spoke a little english. From what we picked up he was headed to Brisbane and then back to Adelaide all in two weeks time. We snapped a few pictures of his unusual setup and home engineered rack and pannier sets. We only saw him once more on the road that day and both hope he's made it there and back. We ended our day at Munmorah National Recreation Area - Frazer Campground - where there was not a spot left. We asked around and eventually set up our tent very tidily in a communal lawn area and decided to chance an encounter with the rangers. We were prepared to throw down a sob story about "...the heat and our exhaustion and how we couldn't go on and where else could we go on New Years Eve safely on bicycles?" Fortunately we didn't see a single ranger and instead showered, cooked dinner, and spent hours entertained by Kevin and Diana and their troupe of friends and family (of which we cannot recall their names!) who offered us steak, chicken, comfy camp chairs and great commentary on lots of aspects of Australian life. They had a great camping setup complete with a zipper fronted pantry and tents with multiple rooms. We were warmed by their hospitality and hope to get a call from them someday when they wind up traveling in the U.S. again. We strolled to the beach after the sun had set and watched a great fireworks show on the horizon... Could have been the Sydney bridge show, we're not sure. The stars were incredible, we counted satellites and talked about how lucky we were to be standing there. We hit the bedrolls before the turn of midnight but our kamikaze neighbor campers let us know it was the new year by engaging in a "Happy Nudie Year" run through camp after a countdown that culminated with a long blow on an airhorn. We laughed and eventually got back to sleep. In the morning the Nudie Year boys were still imbibing and carrying on. We were out and on the road by half past six. We decided against our original plan of a three hour afternoon break and opted for getting up earlier and finishing our ride at the start of the afternoon heat. Today was day one of operation get up early and it was already paying off. The air was cool and it was plenty light out. We cycled along more good roads with plenty of shade this time due to the early hour. We stopped in Swansea and tried to pick up the next tourist map. We discovered that our road atlas maps were not a good scale for day to day riding and had found Cartoscope maps at the tourism offices that worked much better. In Swansea we also stopped for a coffee and muffin to sustain us for our first longish push since we'd gotten back on the road. Sitting outside consulting our maps as we're want to do over a cup of coffee, we were approached by an entertaining group who offered insight into our tentative route up the coast, teased each other for the benefit of our entertainment, and imparted their own travel stories. Before departing the ensemble invited us to join them in Surfers Paradise when they'd be vacationing there later in the month. Again we were pleasantly surprised by the friendly nature of the folks we were meeting. We pushed on and endured a ridiculous heat that had us gasping and drenched in sweat before eleven. We passed through sleepy towns inland and busy beachward retreats on our way to Nelsons Bay. Once there we were discouraged by the apparent lack of an official camp spot for ourselves after visiting a holiday park we were told there was "nothing left in town". We decided to put ourselves out there and ask some homeowners if we might camp on their lawns... we got 3 no's and with the last no, the fellow pointed us in the direction of more holiday parks to try down the road. It panned out for us and in the end we got a tent site in a great backpackers style place that did wild animal rescue and had among other things, cockatoos, dogs, and a small kangaroo who roamed the tent field and who we were advised, would happily tear through and possibly eat any plastic bags we carelessly left unsecured. We spent our first rest day here and road further into Nelsons Bay where we bought a lotto ticket and daydreamed back and forth about how we'd spend our winnings. We decided we'd fly everyone we loved over here to travel with us, oh and buy a house in Santa Cruz to return to once we all tired of traveling. (Sadly we didn't win). We visited the beach that was a short walk from our camp twice and made a wonderful dinner of bangers and mash in the communal kitchen. It was nice to see big groups of people traveling together, cooking, and playing music outside their tents. It made us both wish we had people here to share our travels with.
We (well Z. really) reluctantly left Nelson Bay, catching a small ferry to Teagardens. Along the way we passed through some very shallow waters, got a nautical chart tour from the ferry captain, and even saw dolphins on our way into port. The morning was overcast and cool as a result. For a moment it threatened to rain and we even threw on our rain gear. Rain gear is futile in this kind of heat though and we were soon braving the little misty droplets bare armed. We were soon on our first bit of unsealed (gravel) road and bouncing along hoping our bikes didn't rattle apart. We crossed a small river on a cable guided river ferry for one dollar each. Z. thought we could ford it ourselves but acquiesced when he realized there was no way he could pick his loaded bike up 2 inches off the ground let along carry it overhead for 20 meters. Once on the other side we lunched outside an Eco resort and met a couple riding Kona Stinky's both with tots in tow. They'd been checking out the local trails and confirmed what we'd heard... the fire road we'd hoped to take all the way to Seal Rocks was too sandy to maneuver - especially with the kind of load we were carrying. We stuck to our reroute plan and set ourselves back onto sealed road. It was a fairly uneventful ride to Bulahdelah and with only 20km left from there we sat back to relax into the last bit of our days ride. About 3km outside town we crossed the highway and headed up. And up. And up. Our last 20km seemed to include passing over not one but TWO small ranges. Our tourist center provided maps failed to provide a topographical overlay and so we found ourselves a bit shocked at this turn of events. We reached the camp and set up only to find no potable water. We went for a swim in the bathwater warm lake and later boiled the same lakes water for our dinner. The black Quinoa we'd picked up in Newtown (a suburb of Sydney) stubbornly would not cook, the vegetables were mush by the time we gave up and neither one of us could really stomach much of the mess. We boiled another pot of water for tea to have with our evening staple of Ginger Snaps but found the steeped tea undrinkable. The lake water must have been brackish. The next few days would prove that water source choice to be unwise as we both wrestled with upset stomachs. That night we awoke to a silver Volvo station wagon wildly driving forward and then reversing almost over our tent. The driver was quite intoxicated and thankfully gave up trying to go wherever she was trying to go but shaken and queasy we both slept our worst night of sleep so far. We left in the morning which couldn't have come soon enough.
We had a beautiful ride through Forster. The water here was an incredible translucent blue and a protected bay gave the city a surface around which to build itself. It was modest and we've both since wished that we'd stayed for a day, taken a dip, and walked the numerous sandbars. We headed inland for a hot and uneventful but nice ride until we ended up in Taree. Our caravan park was situated on the river and we got a great spot under a tree and near the kitchen. We met a great family there who made for lively dinner conversation. We met their smushed face cat and their bearded dragon. We heard wild tales of huge blue tounged skinks and the boys catching water dragons. The family had tons of questions and everyone was quite interested in telling us about their travels in the U.S.. We slept well with the sides of our rainfly open and a light breeze from the river cooling us. An uneventful evening was much needed after the previous nights excitement!
We cycled out of Manly as our last post implies we had planned to. It was an absolute madhouse. Wish we'd gotten a picture of the onslaught of families, tan bodies, boogie boards and beach bags of all sizes and impossible dimensions that we snugged up to as we squeezed our way along the queue and onto the ferry. The way they stage payees to board the ferry makes one wonder if every other rider will be seated in the lap of another but somehow once the rush (and I do mean rush as people actually run full tilt onto the boat when the gates are opened to allow boarding to begin) subsides and you board the ferry towards the end of the line you find a surprising amount of room on board, at least inside the cabin. We gathered our wits on the boardwalk at Manly Beach and bid farewell to Sydney. Z. also almost bid farewell to his gloves as they flew off the back of his bike not even 10 feet down the road. Disaster averted and gloves retrieved we set off along the coast. Not long into what we imagined to be our fairly flat Australian tour we encountered our first hill. We both happily passed a huffing, puffing, fairly fit gentleman on his geared mountain bike and flew down the other side feeling quite good about ourselves. Egoic karma would catch up with us later that evening as we had our first free camping OZ experience. We cycled out of the populous areas and hit some lovely windy and shady roads that skirted the coast. A catamaran ferry took us across the gorgeous inlet between Palm Beach and Ettalong beach. We tired early, only about 40kms into our day, and pulled off in a fairly sparsely populated area which had a nice nature reserve with a beautiful new sign that illustrated the reserves wildlife and a nice looking grassy patch. There was no sign posted saying we couldn't camp so we set down our bikes and bags and began to receive the best mosquito lashing of our trip. The bloodsuckers were relentless. In the end Z. almost quit the tour, we moved camp to what seemed like a less infested area, and E. tromped our dinner fixings out next to the road to get some distance from the bugs and Z. The noises after dusk were tremendous. Cicadas and crickets sang, frogs croaked, the brush rustled with life, and we were both struck by the incredible bird calls going on all across the dark forest. It was just like walking into the Nocturnal house at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle! The only critter we encountered that was warm blooded was a mouse that zipped back and forth across a surprisingly steep tent wall. E. gave the little guy a gentle flick to let it know who was boss... and to discourage any further exploration of our tent. The last thing we needed was a gnawed mouse hole in our tent wall letting the mosquitoes in. The morning finally arrived and we hurriedly swept up our things, hastily clapped them onto our bikes and got back on the road as fast as possible - even skipping teeth brushing. We were no match in for the mosquitoes when it came to speed though and we'd been thoroughly barraged before we could get on the road.
As we loosely planned our route through Australia while we lounged in the four star hotel we mapped ourselves out a route that while decidedly longer and more meandering than the highway, would keep us closer to the coast and offer us potentially quieter roads. Today we passed through our first national park which provided us with the quiet roads we were seeking. Not much in the way of views but the road was decent, traffic low, and we got a quick glimpse of a very brown, very shiny, fairly large lizard sunning itself along the road. It skittered off as soon as we circled back to have a closer look but Z. got the distinct impression that prehistoria was lurking just inside the tightly knit trees that lined the roads, and that this would not be the comfortable and safe sheep and cow tour that New Zealand had been. We stopped for a break and a chat with the tourist information booth in The Entrance. We napped under a big pine tree situated right next to a traveling carnival setup, skipping the best of the afternoon heat. Just as we were setting ourselves upright and getting ready to leave we spotted a number of bright yellow boxes attached to a black bike ridden by a svelte and remarkably tan fellow. He was heading for the information site. We cruzed by and said hello after he'd collected his maps. We didn't speak German and he spoke a little english. From what we picked up he was headed to Brisbane and then back to Adelaide all in two weeks time. We snapped a few pictures of his unusual setup and home engineered rack and pannier sets. We only saw him once more on the road that day and both hope he's made it there and back. We ended our day at Munmorah National Recreation Area - Frazer Campground - where there was not a spot left. We asked around and eventually set up our tent very tidily in a communal lawn area and decided to chance an encounter with the rangers. We were prepared to throw down a sob story about "...the heat and our exhaustion and how we couldn't go on and where else could we go on New Years Eve safely on bicycles?" Fortunately we didn't see a single ranger and instead showered, cooked dinner, and spent hours entertained by Kevin and Diana and their troupe of friends and family (of which we cannot recall their names!) who offered us steak, chicken, comfy camp chairs and great commentary on lots of aspects of Australian life. They had a great camping setup complete with a zipper fronted pantry and tents with multiple rooms. We were warmed by their hospitality and hope to get a call from them someday when they wind up traveling in the U.S. again. We strolled to the beach after the sun had set and watched a great fireworks show on the horizon... Could have been the Sydney bridge show, we're not sure. The stars were incredible, we counted satellites and talked about how lucky we were to be standing there. We hit the bedrolls before the turn of midnight but our kamikaze neighbor campers let us know it was the new year by engaging in a "Happy Nudie Year" run through camp after a countdown that culminated with a long blow on an airhorn. We laughed and eventually got back to sleep. In the morning the Nudie Year boys were still imbibing and carrying on. We were out and on the road by half past six. We decided against our original plan of a three hour afternoon break and opted for getting up earlier and finishing our ride at the start of the afternoon heat. Today was day one of operation get up early and it was already paying off. The air was cool and it was plenty light out. We cycled along more good roads with plenty of shade this time due to the early hour. We stopped in Swansea and tried to pick up the next tourist map. We discovered that our road atlas maps were not a good scale for day to day riding and had found Cartoscope maps at the tourism offices that worked much better. In Swansea we also stopped for a coffee and muffin to sustain us for our first longish push since we'd gotten back on the road. Sitting outside consulting our maps as we're want to do over a cup of coffee, we were approached by an entertaining group who offered insight into our tentative route up the coast, teased each other for the benefit of our entertainment, and imparted their own travel stories. Before departing the ensemble invited us to join them in Surfers Paradise when they'd be vacationing there later in the month. Again we were pleasantly surprised by the friendly nature of the folks we were meeting. We pushed on and endured a ridiculous heat that had us gasping and drenched in sweat before eleven. We passed through sleepy towns inland and busy beachward retreats on our way to Nelsons Bay. Once there we were discouraged by the apparent lack of an official camp spot for ourselves after visiting a holiday park we were told there was "nothing left in town". We decided to put ourselves out there and ask some homeowners if we might camp on their lawns... we got 3 no's and with the last no, the fellow pointed us in the direction of more holiday parks to try down the road. It panned out for us and in the end we got a tent site in a great backpackers style place that did wild animal rescue and had among other things, cockatoos, dogs, and a small kangaroo who roamed the tent field and who we were advised, would happily tear through and possibly eat any plastic bags we carelessly left unsecured. We spent our first rest day here and road further into Nelsons Bay where we bought a lotto ticket and daydreamed back and forth about how we'd spend our winnings. We decided we'd fly everyone we loved over here to travel with us, oh and buy a house in Santa Cruz to return to once we all tired of traveling. (Sadly we didn't win). We visited the beach that was a short walk from our camp twice and made a wonderful dinner of bangers and mash in the communal kitchen. It was nice to see big groups of people traveling together, cooking, and playing music outside their tents. It made us both wish we had people here to share our travels with.
We (well Z. really) reluctantly left Nelson Bay, catching a small ferry to Teagardens. Along the way we passed through some very shallow waters, got a nautical chart tour from the ferry captain, and even saw dolphins on our way into port. The morning was overcast and cool as a result. For a moment it threatened to rain and we even threw on our rain gear. Rain gear is futile in this kind of heat though and we were soon braving the little misty droplets bare armed. We were soon on our first bit of unsealed (gravel) road and bouncing along hoping our bikes didn't rattle apart. We crossed a small river on a cable guided river ferry for one dollar each. Z. thought we could ford it ourselves but acquiesced when he realized there was no way he could pick his loaded bike up 2 inches off the ground let along carry it overhead for 20 meters. Once on the other side we lunched outside an Eco resort and met a couple riding Kona Stinky's both with tots in tow. They'd been checking out the local trails and confirmed what we'd heard... the fire road we'd hoped to take all the way to Seal Rocks was too sandy to maneuver - especially with the kind of load we were carrying. We stuck to our reroute plan and set ourselves back onto sealed road. It was a fairly uneventful ride to Bulahdelah and with only 20km left from there we sat back to relax into the last bit of our days ride. About 3km outside town we crossed the highway and headed up. And up. And up. Our last 20km seemed to include passing over not one but TWO small ranges. Our tourist center provided maps failed to provide a topographical overlay and so we found ourselves a bit shocked at this turn of events. We reached the camp and set up only to find no potable water. We went for a swim in the bathwater warm lake and later boiled the same lakes water for our dinner. The black Quinoa we'd picked up in Newtown (a suburb of Sydney) stubbornly would not cook, the vegetables were mush by the time we gave up and neither one of us could really stomach much of the mess. We boiled another pot of water for tea to have with our evening staple of Ginger Snaps but found the steeped tea undrinkable. The lake water must have been brackish. The next few days would prove that water source choice to be unwise as we both wrestled with upset stomachs. That night we awoke to a silver Volvo station wagon wildly driving forward and then reversing almost over our tent. The driver was quite intoxicated and thankfully gave up trying to go wherever she was trying to go but shaken and queasy we both slept our worst night of sleep so far. We left in the morning which couldn't have come soon enough.
We had a beautiful ride through Forster. The water here was an incredible translucent blue and a protected bay gave the city a surface around which to build itself. It was modest and we've both since wished that we'd stayed for a day, taken a dip, and walked the numerous sandbars. We headed inland for a hot and uneventful but nice ride until we ended up in Taree. Our caravan park was situated on the river and we got a great spot under a tree and near the kitchen. We met a great family there who made for lively dinner conversation. We met their smushed face cat and their bearded dragon. We heard wild tales of huge blue tounged skinks and the boys catching water dragons. The family had tons of questions and everyone was quite interested in telling us about their travels in the U.S.. We slept well with the sides of our rainfly open and a light breeze from the river cooling us. An uneventful evening was much needed after the previous nights excitement!
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