Melbourne to Sydney: Day 8

Yesterday was all about recovery! A day of light walking, heavy eating, and some TLC for 'Bianca' whom had taken a complete battering over the last few days in particular. As a result of the short break, back on the bike today, I felt refreshed and was excited about a scenic day of riding ahead. And what a day it turned out to be!

The first section was another brief stint on the Princess Highway before turning off at Pambula for Merimbula and connecting up with the Sapphire Coast Drive. Between Pambula and Tathra wasn't great for cycling thanks to the poor shoulder and very aggressive traffic. But things got a lot better from Tathra onwards.

Tathra Wharf

Tathra is a beautiful place. It made the news recently her for extremely sad reasons when an experience surf life saver, wife, and aboriginal affairs officer was taken by a shark off this wharf just a week ago. She was swimming with her husband and another group of very experience ocean swimmers at the time...and hearing the devastation in her husbands voice was heart wrenching.

Tathra Beach

I sat on the beach here for a while and tried to wish them well while enjoying such a beautiful place at the same time.

There is a Surf and Bike shop at Tathra and I picked up a couple more  inner tubes after getting my 3^rd puncture earlier. I think the problem has just been not being able to get 80psi into the tube with my travel pump...but grabbed 2 more tubes in case and got some local advice on the road ahead. Out of Tathra...the road quietened down a lot, as it wounds its way through really stunning ecalayptus forest, with barely a flat section to be seen.

 

There were a few sections of farmland vibrant and green that reminded me very much of my home country. But even in New Zealand, logging has reduced low land native forest to about 1%. So seeing this area where in places, the trees run all the way down to the beach, was a thing of beauty, to be respected and appreciated.

This 46 km section between Tathra and Bermagui was just amazing riding. Demanding, beautiful, peaceful all in one. I stopped to talk to a local and former Londoner who was beach combing. He'd fell in love with the place years ago and chosen to retire here. I can see why!

I pulled into Bermagui with the weariness in my muscles second only to the wide grin on my face...what a ride! And while setting up camp, met a bunch of friendly people to swap stories with, including the first tourers I'd come across on the trip, who were riding in the opposite direction. Best day of the trip so far.

Looking towards Batemans Bay

Total Distance: 100km
Route map