March 17th, 2011
Bundeena to Shellharbour
Distance: 92km
Total distance: 150km
The alarm woke me up at 6am but I can hear the rain outside so continued sleeping until 8am. Plugged my phone into the AC outlet in the shared toilet, hoping that nobody would be evil enough to steal my phone while I had breakfast and packed my things. I left the camp site at 9.15am. While riding in the national park, I saw quite a number of roadies, of course, they passed me in a second with their ultra lightweight machine. One lady cyclist slowed down and asked me about my tour, wished me luck before disappearing in a few seconds. I also met two touring cyclist! But they were in the opposite direction, one of them had a bob trailer and they are both riding together on upright bikes. Wonder where they came from and where they are heading to but never got a chance to speak! The journey inside the national park took 3 hours since there were quite a number of hills. When I got out of the park, at Otford lookout, it feels like I have ridden for the whole day when I actually just did 32km.
On a side note, while riding in the national park, I came across many rubbish along the side of the road. Things like this you will only notice when riding a bike, not when you’re in a car. The common items I come across were beer bottles, plastic energy drink bottles, shredded tires, rubber boots, lollies wrappers, and gloves. One particular item, however, caught my attention, I saw it in the corner of my eye while riding pass it and was thinking to myself “Wait, is that what I think it is?”. So I turned back to examine that piece of rarity. It was a bad ass Batmobile!!! What’s more a battery-operated one! OMG, which kid is so spoilt that he must throw away a batmobile in the middle of the forest!
Back to the main story, so the journey along the coastal road was quite scenic but full of rolling hills. After a while, I came to this beautiful bridge, almost like a hidden beauty except that it was a well known bridge (that I wasn’t aware of). It’s called the Sea Cliff Bridge and its about half a kilometre long. The view from this bridge was spectacular. I used the pedestrian/bicycle lane which I wasn’t allowed to since I’m not 12 or under but who cares, I was only travelling in a pedestrian speed. Took quite a number of photos here.
I stopped by at Austinmer to have a fish and chips lunch sitting by the beach. What an awesome lunch! For a hungry cyclist at least! The portion was huge too so I took about 30mins to consume the whole meal. The coastal road eventually joins the Princes Highway where they have a wide shoulder also known as bike lane all the way to Shellharbour. I didn’t get to stop by at Wollongong town centre since I needed to get to Shellharbour before dark. I did however stopped by at the sea side just to snap up a few photos.
Along the way, I stopped by at a local shopping centre to shop for food supplies. There at the parking area I met a bunch of kids all fascinated about my trike. They were curious to know how I ride and maneuver so they followed me with their scooter and bmx for 200 metres after I left the shopping centre. Kids are generally curious about trikes. I think the adults do too, but they just don’t show it much.
I reached a caravan park at Shellharbour just in time before they close. The reception staff was nice enough to give me a discount since I am only by myself and travelling with a bike (instead of caravans, campervans or RVs). She gave me a camping spot which is only next to the beach. They only have powered sites so I get to charge my phone and batteries on the camp site itself without feeling paranoid that someone might steal my stuff.
One lady approached me and asked whether I stayed at Bundeena last night because they were there and saw me there last night. I said yes and she was surprised to find that I can still walk after cycling that far! “What an awesome achievement” she said, and that made my day! I had 3G reception at that camp site so I went online on my iPhone for a while before hitting the bed. I was already pretty worn out after a full day of cycling, and the sound of ocean waves made my sleeping experience even better!