Monday, May 18, 2015

Wollongong to Huskisson Beach Australia

Today I left the hostel early hoping to beat the rain that was in the forecast. The ride was going quickly with not much to see. The main road runs about 10 kilometers or 6 miles inland and to get to the coastal towns you have to ride in and then back out again. I wanted to make it to Ulladulla or maybe even Batemans Bay which would have been a long day. The clouds started to build so I turned off the main road and headed to the coast to find a campground. I stopped at Huskisson Beach and looked around for a place to stay. Nothing cheap in town. I went down the road a little bit and it started to rain harder and harder on me. I am tired of riding in rain so I stopped and checked into one of the places along the beach that I was told was the least expensive one in the area. It cost me $100 Australian or $80 American. I can't afford to be spending that much on a daily basis. I like the backpacker places not just because they are cheap but because they are more fun and social also.

I piled up the miles today and it feels good to ride hard again after so many interruptions to my raiding lately. I am not complaining about the interruptions because I did all of them of my own free will. I just missed my riding is all I am saying. Hello, my name is paparoach and I am addicted to riding.

Not many things along the main road to take pics of and right now it is raining so I am just sitting in my room catching up with the net instead of being out enjoying this nice little slice of Australia. A few birds did stop in to say hello while I was eating dinner. I hope the rain lets up so I can get further down the coast to a cheaper area to stay in. Otherwise, pretty soon I will be selling my body to stay alive until I fly back to the US. Such is the life of a wandering biker.


Sydney to Wollongong Australia

I left the hotel fairly early this morning and headed through Sydney toward Wollongong. Getting out of the busy commuter traffic between downtown and the airport was intense riding as I had to be extra careful with such heavy traffic. I found my way despite many of the key intersections where I needed to turn did not have street signs with names on them. Named intersections are very hit and miss here. I don't know if the signs get stolen or they never put them up but either way it is irritating.

Once I past the airport I rode a bike trail for a while before jumping back on the main road. I took a longer road through a park expecting to find ocean vistas but all it did was make my ride longer and did not have a single decent view for all my extra effort. I ended up back on the main road anyway. I did get a good view at Bld Mountain Lookout. There were a lot of hang gliders sitting around with all their gear moaning that there was not enough wind to fly. Maybe no wind to fly but good view looking south toward Wollongong. After a couple pics and a quick chat with some motorcycle bikers that stopped me to talk, I hit the road again. The views the rest of the way into Wollongong were great. There was even a smooth flat bike trail that ran right along the beach all the way into Wollongong. I enjoyed that ride even though I had to dodge a lot of dog walkers and stuff.

Once in town I checked into a backpackers hostel because rain is predicted. There is five days of rain in the forecast. So much for me riding. I did enjoy all the birds including budgies, lorikeets, parrots and tons of very loud cockatoos which were everywhere and screamed loudly at me as I rode past them all day. Here are some pics