Day 7 - Taree to Tea Gardens

Distance: 117Km's
Pain Factor: 8 out of 10
Magpie attacks: Nil
Cow sightings: Unknown, could not verify if they were cows or houses through the driving rain.
Accommodation Highlight: A heater located in the room to dry our sopping wet clothes! Yay!

http://www.strava.com/activities/191512476

Today was an interesting day, as far as rides from Brisbane to Sydney go. As expected, the start was tough after the epic effort the day before. Looked out the window. Skies overcast but no rain. Old man wind; present and accounted for. Fuck him.

We departed and followed the Pacific Hwy. Again I broke the ride up into section. Nabiac, would have been our destination this evening and it was only 30 odd km's down the road. After a start of around 17km/h average, the diesel engine began to warm up and I was up to the more normal 20 to 25km/h soon enough.

About 15km's out of Nabiac, a dude pulled onto the road on a mountain bike from a property up front. He saw me, stopped, then when I passed he pedaled up behind me, and kind of stayed there all the way to Nabiac. He was using me as a wind block to drag him on. Ordinarily after a few km's I would have told him to pull out and take his turn up front. But this was my ride and I wanted to do it completely unassisted (I even declined offers from Santo to drag behind him for a while). Anyway, I eventually forgot about him and next time I turned round he was gone (presumably found his destination). I had no intention on stopping at Nabiac, but I found Santo at a coffee shop on the side of the road taking a phone call, so stopped.

We agreed to keep on to, and meet up at Bulahdelah - a solid 50Km's down the road. All this time the sky got greyer, and greyer and greyer. Trees and trucks were my respite from the rain. 

Just 5km's out of Bulahdelah it began to rain and I stopped at an emergency truck stop to put the rain jacket and pants on. This thus also meaning I had now used everything I packed in the panniers for the ride. The moment of contentment at my packing prowess lasted about 2 or 3 seconds. I inhaled a banana, I dropped an energy tablet and pushed on. The rain was light but just as I pulled into Bulahdelah the heavens really opened.

We had a decent stop at Bulahdelah as there was much contemplating on whether to push on to Tea Gardens - making Tea Gardens would put us a full day ahead of schedule. This was the cause of our (my) anxst:

Yep, look closely and Bulahdelah and Hawks Nest (Tea Gardens) is under there. Somewhere.

While it rained, the wind was manageable. I felt the energy in me to go on. However, my preference was to stick to the Freeway as the intended route added many kilometers and hills. As a result of our experiences outside of Taree, we were armed with the knowledge of what sometimes constitutes roads in these parts. We made inquiries, consulted Google and yep, dirt road (at least to the Ferry crossing - which would have been a cool moment). We unanimously agreed dirt + rain was not good and we would loose too much time so the freeway it was.

Decision made. We kitted up and pushed on. It was pouring with rain already and I got a good hard long look at what looked like a very pub lodgings in Bulahdelah. I resisted.

 

How heavy did it rain you ask. This heavy...

It bucketed down. I was soaked right through to my bone marrow. I wished I had mud gardens, the rooster tails sprayed right up in my eyes. I couldn't see shit through my glasses. I was sure it was going to hail. I could only imagine what the passing drivers thought as they passed me.


I hit the turn off to Tea Gardens - thinking it would be an easy run downhill to the coast. It wasn't. More hills and undulations with one big sucker right before town. I didn't know where Santo got accommodation so I passed through Team Gardens and onto Hawks Nest; only to find he had accomodation back at Tea Gardens. The local pub again, but accommodation bordering more on motel. This photo doesn't do it justice, but I was a drowned rat when I arrived.

...Let the battle to get everything dry for tomorrow begin!

We must have looked a site each evening - both of us with the legs up against the wall was a daily routine (one of many routines that I am sure kept me going).

 The pub grub was great. I indulged in an apple crumble. We even got talking to a family planning on moving here from Queensland.

This happened again outside. Nice to be inside, but we were that wet on arrival, it wouldn't have mattered if we got caught out in it.

Despite two heavy days in a row, I actually felt pretty good this evening. I must have "pushed through it". Oh and I REALLY felt the legs this morning - I could feel the kilometers in them and what I think was minor muscle tearing in the quad's).

Justin - wet & waterlogged.