Up at 6 as I knew that I have a hilly 150km to do today and I needed to get to Wollongong for 4.30. Kieran, who I am staying with tonight (from couch surfing) has very kindly arranged for me to met a reporter who is doing an article on my ride. This will hopefully help me get extra sponsorship for Oxfam and raise awareness. I was going to met the reporter about 4.30-5 so I had a good push ahead.
Left about 7.30 and did the long climb out of Goulburn. It was a highway for the first 40km but then there is a turn off down a lovely country lane to Bundanoon. The road runs parallel to the rail line. There are beautiful yellow flowers all the way alone the side of the road. The story goes that there was a lady which road the train and threw out the seeds as she went along :-)
I stopped off at the biking cafe in Bundanboon. Apparently it is a famous place for cyclists and I did not even know and happened upon it by chance! Chatted with the people in there and had a quick break.
The road to Wollongong was interesting with various funky places on the way (one shop sells "Everything" the other is a "Little piece of Scotland"):
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About 50km from Wollongong there is an awesome pass called the Macquane Pass. It goes down (depending on which way you are traveling of course) for about 10km with amazing views. The pass goes from about 800m to sea level. I had climbed up to about 800m on the Barry Way about 1 week before hand and had not yet reaped the benefits of going down from the 40km climb up on an unsealed road in the wet! I DID TODAY! It was one of the best downers EVER! I hardly touched the breaks and recorded the whole thing on video on my little video recorder - AWESOME. I was on such a high afterward. It was a sealed road and I was going about 50km per hour all the way down :-)
This is a picture of the river and how flooded the field is next to the road - there has been a LOT of rain!
I find it so WRONG that they have Christmas in the Summer here! They should move it to June....
I got into Wollongong for 4 but it took me ages to cross town in the traffic and with a very strong head wind! I got to Kieran's parent's house (Hill Avenue - never a good address for a cyclist to go to) about 5. They have an amazing house with great views and a pool. His parents were putting me up because Kieran has another couch surfer (Alex) staying with him already. His parents where incredibly welcoming and gave me freshly squeezed orange juice :-)
I ended up doing the interview with the journalist over the phone :-) The article will be in the paper on Saturday this week :-)
Kieran took me and Alex for a drive around the main sights of the town: to the light house on the water front and then to the to of Mt Kiera. He was a great host telling us about the area and also his travels etc. He traveled every continent in 1 year.
We all had an awesome meal of lasagna and wine and malt whiskey. Happy Bunny! Chatted with Kieran's mum about cycling etc for ages. She was really lovely and an avid cyclist. Kieran's brother (an Australian national champion at cycling) also arrived later on in the evening and we chatted - mainly about sailing! A fab place to stay and very welcoming friendly people.
Left about 7.30 and did the long climb out of Goulburn. It was a highway for the first 40km but then there is a turn off down a lovely country lane to Bundanoon. The road runs parallel to the rail line. There are beautiful yellow flowers all the way alone the side of the road. The story goes that there was a lady which road the train and threw out the seeds as she went along :-)
I stopped off at the biking cafe in Bundanboon. Apparently it is a famous place for cyclists and I did not even know and happened upon it by chance! Chatted with the people in there and had a quick break.The road to Wollongong was interesting with various funky places on the way (one shop sells "Everything" the other is a "Little piece of Scotland"):
.About 50km from Wollongong there is an awesome pass called the Macquane Pass. It goes down (depending on which way you are traveling of course) for about 10km with amazing views. The pass goes from about 800m to sea level. I had climbed up to about 800m on the Barry Way about 1 week before hand and had not yet reaped the benefits of going down from the 40km climb up on an unsealed road in the wet! I DID TODAY! It was one of the best downers EVER! I hardly touched the breaks and recorded the whole thing on video on my little video recorder - AWESOME. I was on such a high afterward. It was a sealed road and I was going about 50km per hour all the way down :-)
This is a picture of the river and how flooded the field is next to the road - there has been a LOT of rain!
I find it so WRONG that they have Christmas in the Summer here! They should move it to June....I got into Wollongong for 4 but it took me ages to cross town in the traffic and with a very strong head wind! I got to Kieran's parent's house (Hill Avenue - never a good address for a cyclist to go to) about 5. They have an amazing house with great views and a pool. His parents were putting me up because Kieran has another couch surfer (Alex) staying with him already. His parents where incredibly welcoming and gave me freshly squeezed orange juice :-)
I ended up doing the interview with the journalist over the phone :-) The article will be in the paper on Saturday this week :-)Kieran took me and Alex for a drive around the main sights of the town: to the light house on the water front and then to the to of Mt Kiera. He was a great host telling us about the area and also his travels etc. He traveled every continent in 1 year.
We all had an awesome meal of lasagna and wine and malt whiskey. Happy Bunny! Chatted with Kieran's mum about cycling etc for ages. She was really lovely and an avid cyclist. Kieran's brother (an Australian national champion at cycling) also arrived later on in the evening and we chatted - mainly about sailing! A fab place to stay and very welcoming friendly people.
Read it again as there were no new ones to read!!!!
ReplyDeleteWell still no new information and I have read this one 12 times. If you hold your laptop at an angle the lighthouse looks just like the leaning tower of Pisa!
ReplyDelete