Right then. Here's a bit more. It might take a couple of posts to get to the end, due to time/motivational constraints.
We left Merimbula after a very cruisy day of breakfast at the rivermouth, swimming and watching the Australians attempt to play cricket. 2 out of 3 ain't bad.
Headed into Mimosa Rocks National Park which was beautiful scenery and roads, and as per usual, the now familiar routine of the epic hill to get out of town. This one wasn't quite of the standard of the ones in and out of Eden, but was a quick reminder of what it's all about. We made it 60km's along the road before deciding to take a dirt road down to to a beach and campsite called Arragunna. It was a 3km dirt road that was really steep and really sketchy rock and gravel down to the beach / campsite. We got down the bottom and did our best to put it out of our minds that we would have to somehow get back up to the road the next day, despite having less than a litre of water between us to get through the night and the next morning.
It was a pretty spot, with a massive Goanna wandering around the campsite, and a good swimming beach to go with it. A swim, a nap on the beach, red curry and rice for dinner from the Trangia then bed, not much wrong with it.
A snapshot of the inevitable unpacking each night. Arragunna campsite:
And here's a little romantic walk we took out to Mimosa Rocks.
We left the next morning up the hill after chatting with a sympathetic family who filled up our water bottles, and ended up having to walk large sections. It was way too steep and unstable to ride up. Pushing 38 odd kg's of bike and gear up a steep unstable road was pretty hard and it was pretty hot to go with it, but in hindsight, it was pretty much just as hard work getting down it - albeit in a different way.
Anyways, we reached the top after about 45mins of walking/riding, took a few moments, smashed a bottle of water each and proceeded on a largely downhill 60km expedition towards Narooma, where we went straight to the 'million dollar view' bar for a well earned beer.
I had hoped these two photo's would show how ragged, hot and sweaty we felt at the top of the dirt road, but it seems not. Good story that one.
We were happily enjoying a couple of Schooner's at the Million Dollar View bar, when a guy that AJ had previously had a brief chat to came up to our table and said "I know i'm wearing a Hawaiian shirt, but i'm not a psycho, I just wanted to offer you a feed and a bed for the night" and so we ended up spending the night with the most awesomely accommodating family you could ever hope to meet. Podge and Jane, and their three kids took us into their home overlooking Narooma for the night, showered us, fed us, (AJ the biggest T-Bone steak you'd ever want to eat, and while they mercilessly called me a lesbian for not eating meat, but bought me some fish on their way home anyway) and plied us with booze, then gave us a bed for the evening.
The kids woke us up pretty early the next morning with the paper and a breakfast order (well trained kids) and then we went off to a secluded beach for a swim before breakfast. We set off into the heat with pretty epic hangovers and a total lack of motivation, but massively thankful for the previous night. Legends (them, not us).
It was pretty hard work most of the day into a sometimes savage headwind, but we ended up at a place called Tomakin, which had a fantastic beach, but not much else besides the filthiest RSL complex you'd ever hope to see.
Here's what a hangover and a headwind does for riding (moderate language warning?!)
The next day, we set off on what we thought would be a cruisy flat ride into Batemans bay, which turned out to be a rather hilly, at times exceptionally rainy 22km's. After seeing the forecast for solid rain for the rest of the day, and possibly the following five days, we made the decision that we would set up camp and hope the rain would pass by the next day. A rainy Sunday in Bateman's bay wasn't really something we'd planned, but we ate the dodgiest fish and chips i've ever eaten, went to the movies and played Uno, so there you have it...
Fish and chips in the rain. Bad memories of that fish.
Set out the next day in the pouring rain, AJ starting to doubt the level of enjoyment that could be provided by five days of solid rain and riding. It pretty much rained for the entire 52km from Batemans Bay to Ulladulla. I felt good, AJ not so much. The afternoon cleared into a 'burn the crap out of your shoulder's if you're me and you're wearing a bluey while riding' kind of day. But we smashed out 108km's to Huskisson near Jervis Bay and again felt that a cold beverage was the order of the evening. We decided given the distance we'd covered that we could afford a couple of days off in Huskisson to relax.
More to come...
