COASTAL ESCAPE CYCLE TOUR - Day 6 - Huskisson, NSW

Huskisson, NSW

Huskisson, NSW

Not only is Huskisson a pretty little coastal town situated on the shoreline of Jervis Bay, it fairly rocks on weekends which makes it a real fun town to be in and I am only happy that we were there on a weekend to witness and partake in the revelry of the  people really enjoying themselves to the music streaming out of a number of venues in the main street. Being 186 km from Sydney and 207 km from Canberra, places it in the ideal situation for attracting people from both cities seeking extended weekend recreation.

By the quality of the tourist boats in the harbour, it obviously attracts tourists and why not as it is Australia's most northerly fur seal colony, has it's own pod of dolphins, a large sheltered creek to accommodate the recreational and fishing craft and a launching pad to watch Southern Right whales frolicking in the pristine waters of the bay whilst migrating. 

Sandholme www.sandholme.com.au/ was our accommodation for a number of our group including myself for the two nights that we were here and I have to say I felt both privileged and humbled at the same time at the way  we were welcomed and treated. Nothing was too much trouble and the attention to the finest detail didn't escape my attention either. For example each morning we were treated to a bespoke breakfast for which we had to order the night before. It was beautifully cooked the exact way I wanted it from a large choice. There was nothing one could have wanted that wasn't catered for. I actually felt scruffy and out of place, turning up for breakfast in my cycling gear, not that it offended our hosts, far from it, they were totally relaxed and made us feel at home no matter what we wore.

Another nice touch was when we arrived home from having dinner, there was a carafe of port accompanied by an array of chocolates for our pleasure whilst we played a game of pool.

I couldn't recommend Sandholme highly enough. it was superb.

Huskisson to Hyams Beach, NSW

For an embedded "Ride with GPS" map please open  http://ridewithgps.com/routes/7847324

As the next day was a non touring day, well, cycling anyway, I wasn't going to ride, however, as our accommodation was a reasonable distance from the centre of town I thought that if I have to ride to town perhaps I should look at doing a little more. It was a pleasant ride out through Vincentia and through Jervis Bay National Park which was all dirt riding including some challenging single track. At the other end of the park, our group split with the majority returning to Huskisson and a few electing to ride to Hyams Beach which is supposed to have the whitest sand in the world which is a big claim but I would suggest that there is scientific proof to back it up.

Hyams Beach, NSW

Hyams Beach, NSW

It has such a beautiful view to the east that it would make a brilliant location to shoot a movie.

After coffee we made our way back to Huskisson and I was very pleased I made the decision to ride.

AN EVER GROWING LIST OF CYCLING MAPS WITH JIMMY BEE CAN BE FOUND BY OPENING THE FOLLOWING LINK:  http://jimmyb9.blogspot.com.au/

Cheers and safe riding,

  Jimmy Bee  

COASTAL ESCAPE CYCLE TOUR - Day 5 - Nowra to Huskisson, NSW

Map courtesy of Ride with GPS

This was a huge day, not in the sense of riding but it also included a cruise around Jervis Bay with Dolphin Wild Cruises.... http://www.dolphinwild.com.au/ . Before I elaborate on the cruise, lets start at the beginning in Nowra.

Nowra with a population of nearly 35,000, is situated on the banks of the Shoalhaven River some 160 km south of Sydney. The first winner of the Melbourne Cup, Australia's premier thoroughbred race meeting, was Archer, trained in the district and went on to win the 2nd Melbourne Cup as well. Arthur Boyd, a famous Australian artist, also lived in the district and the list of famous inhabitants goes on and on. 

Our accommodation at the Park Haven Motor Lodge was good, probably not up to Sebel Harbourside standards but comfortable none the less. After breakfast which was served in our rooms, we embarked on a ride from Nowra to Myola where we had to board a ferry by 12.45 pm to take us to Huskisson, otherwise we may have missed our cruise departure.

You would be forgiven, if you thought you were in Finland or dreaming as it looks pretty authenic

Not all travel is on a sealed road

Serene

The ride initially took us along the river for approximately 10 km before making a sharp right hand turn heading overland to Callala Bay and then on to Callala Beach, where we stopped to have some refreshments. 

We stopped at a cafe adjacent to Callala Beach which had a great little deck, large enough to accommodate our group perfectly. Our ride notes recommended stopping here and buying some lunch before boarding the ferry a little further along at Myola. Of interest here was that management gave us a sample of their dry fried chips (fries) which were quite tasty and probably were more healthy eating than the usual fried chips. Having a group of 18 hungry cyclists descend upon a lonely little cafe unexpectedly probably helps their daily profit quite nicely.

  It was at the end of these steps that we boarded a small ferry which took us to Huskisson.

I took the above photograph of the sea birds as we emerged from the creek to enter Jervis Bay.

Our first glimpse of Huskisson, a small coastal town in which we were to spend the next two days and to me was one of the highlights of the tour.

I couldn't help taking this sneaky photograph of one of our group relaxing on the wharf whilst awaiting to board the Dolphin Wild Cruise boat, dolphinwildcruises.com.au/

Similar to the boat we cruised on.....plenty of grunt!

Jervis Bay, looking east.

The above photographs were taken as we cruised along the northern escarpment of Jervis Bay. There are some quite remarkable formations, colours and caves caused by the elements eroding sandstone.

Hyams Beach. The dark change of colour in the water is sea grass.

We certainly got our money's worth, the tour of Jervis Bay was slick, professional and educational added to a heady mix of adrenaline and adventure as the four large outboard motors made mixing it with the large waves coming in through the heads look like child's play. One moment we were ploughing through the waves and the next, airborne. There was a gentle side to the boat as well as it nonchalantly glided through a pod of local dolphins playing and feeding. These beautiful wild mammals certainly love the lime light as they graciously performed for us as if in repertory.

The temperature out on the bay was quite cool as we cut through the spray and I was pleased that I put my hand up when offered a storm jacket at the beginning of the tour. The tour gave us  some insight into the vast Jervis Bay ecological systems at play.The sandy beaches bordering the exquisite crystal clear water is said to have the whitest sand in the world. One wonders at the force of nature as the wind and wave motion, over time, sculptured patterns in beautiful colours on the cliffs and over time, burrowed and moulded the caves so easily seen from our boat. 

To learn more about Jervis Bay, open the following link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jervis_Bay

AN EVER GROWING LIST OF CYCLING MAPS WITH JIMMY BEE CAN BE FOUND BY OPENING THE FOLLOWING LINK:  http://jimmyb9.blogspot.com.au/

Cheers and safe riding,

  Jimmy Bee  

COASTAL ESCAPE CYCLE TOUR - Day 4 - Gerringong to Nowra, NSW

Before I take you along for the next part of the tour, I have to tell you about our culinary exercise last night. Four of our party fancied having steak for dinner and after some vigorous inquiries, we found ourselves at Cronin's Hotel. We were very pleasantly surprised as the quality of the steak was superb, cooked to our individual liking, the vegetables tasted as though they were freshly cooked and the bottle of red that accompanied the steak was very nice as well. When in a strange town, it always pays to make inquiries with the locals.

A nice  panorama of Gerringong taken from the south head, uploaded by "Not Tarts" in 2011. (Wiki Media Commons)

There's nothing quite like a heart starter first thing in the morning to get the blood flowing and that is exactly how the morning started, a 7% gradient climb up a  hill. Everybody must have had a good night's sleep because I don't remember passing any cyclists walking.

Gerringong cemetery

What drew my attention in the above shot, was the trees on the top of the hill. They reminded me of a line of nuns marching off to morning prayers. It's unusual to find a cemetery high on a hill, playing sentinel over a bay with a high escarpment. Another thing that caught my eye was the juxtaposition of the cemetery with all of it's starkness and severity in marked contrast to the smooth line of the beautiful emerald green hill which lay opposite.

The first leg of the ride, taking us to Berry, didn't cause us any grief even though we were warned that some of the roads were narrow with very little shoulder and had a fairly constant stream of traffic.

It seemed to take no time at all to ride to Berry,  http://berry.org.au/ a quaint rural town nestled in the hinterland behind Seven Mile Beach. Incidentally, it was here that Charles Kingsford-Smith in 1933, used this strip of beach to take off on the first commercial flight to New Zealand. On reaching Berry, the group split in order to search out a suitable cafe to relax in prior to riding the next leg to Nowra and as there are quite a few cafes and bakeries in town this didn't prove to be a difficult task.

Berry district

The above photograph is typical of the lay of the land in these parts with it's undulating terrain. great for grazing cattle and the operation of dairies. I believe the area was known for it's red cedar but that era has long gone.

Due to it's location, only 145 odd kilometers south of Sydney, it makes the ideal place to set up a hobby farm, quiet, not far inland of the coast and as the town is of a reasonable size with it's hotel, restaurants, antique shops and galleries it amply caters for the city person wanting somewhere to retreat to on weekends and holidays

View of the Shoalhaven River from the Two Figs Winery.

The entrance toTwo Figs Winery.

From Berry to the Two Figs Winery  https://www.facebook.com/TwoFigsWinery is a quiet, relaxing rural ride with little traffic to contend with and as such, it was quite easy to slip into a rhythm, increase the speed a notch or two and just sit back and enjoy the ride. This cost me a stint in the sin bin from our leader for breaking ranks and doing my own thing......rightly so too because riders doing their own thing can cause chaos when riding in a group of 18.

Nowra bridge- Photo courtesy of Wiki Media Commons -grahamec

Marriott Park, Nowra. Photo courtesy of Wiki Media Commons--grahamec

On the last leg, the road became a lot busier as we made our way through Bomaderry on the outskirts of Nowra,  to our accommodation, the Park Haven Motor Lodge,  www.parkhavenmotorlodge.com.au 

It was good planning on our tour operator's part to make a diversion and head into the hinterland because when riding along a painted seascape day in and day out as we were doing, everything tends to merge and it loses it's impact, where as, by throwing in a day of rural riding everything is brought back into perspective.

Gerringong to Nowra, NSW (Map courtesy of Ride with GPS, http://ridewithgps.com/

LIST OF CYCLING MAPS WITH JIMMY BEE:  http://jimmyb9.blogspot.com.au/

Cheers and safe riding,

  Jimmy Bee   

COASTAL ESCAPE CYCLE TOUR - Day 3 - Kiama to Gerringong, NSW

Kiama is famous for it's Blowhole but seasons and weather play a large part and under the right conditions, the spray can reach heights of 25 meters. To gain a better understanding of what causes this phenomenon please open the following link, http://www.kiama.com.au/blowhole .

Today is a rest day from cycling and we were given two options on how we were to spend the day of which the first option was to potter around Kiama for the day and then take the train to Gerringong. The second option was to walk the 11 km kiama Coastal Path with our bikes being transported along with our suitcases to our next accommodation.

The start

Goats were put on earth to do this sort of thing, not cyclists.

9 hardy souls including myself decided on taking the walk. It was a lovely walk with perfect weather and on a personal basis I found it to be the biggest highlight of the tour. Being coastal, it followed the contours of the land and afforded some of the most spectacular views which helped enormously in distracting the mind from the task of walking up and down hills.

Another distraction.... the yellows and oranges of the lichen on the rocks and the vibrant purple of wildflowers in the field.

A pod of dolphins chasing a shoal of bait fish. In the right season, this could just as easily have been Southern Right Whales http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_right_whale

The athletic - this lady was literally running up this hill.

and then there was the one rose amongst the thorns.

We're nearing the end, I can see Gerringong in the distance.

The Finish.....Clockwise: "As beers go this ain't too bad", "Is he joking?", "One more and I'll slide right off this chair"

On reaching Gerringong, I knew I had just walked 11 km but didn't feel in any way stretched but  I have to say that I really appreciated that first cold beer of the day, made even better by knowing that it was being paid for by Australian Cycling Holidays www.australiancyclingholidays.com.au/. No! I didn't get that wrong, our touring company paid for the first drink at the end of each day's ride.....nice touch huh?

For more detailed information on this walk, please open the following link, http://www.visitnsw.com/destinations/south-coast/kiama-area/kiama-coast-walk

LIST OF CYCLING MAPS WITH JIMMY BEE:  http://jimmyb9.blogspot.com.au/

Cheers and safe riding,

  Jimmy Bee   

COASTAL ESCAPE CYCLE TOUR - Day 2 - Wollongong to Kiama, NSW

On leaving our hotel en-route to Flagstaff Hill, this was the first view that captured my attention. As you can see, it was slightly overcast and the light was just right to capture this seascape. Nice contrast of colours, surf rolling in with the two lighthouses in the background and a hill of beautiful, vibrant green grass.

Who would have thought that a city like Wollongong visitwollongong.com.au/ could be so picturesque. It would have been nice to have had more time to spend exploring the outer areas surrounding this great city but alas this has to take place at another time as Kiama beckons.

Before we actually left Wollongong, our tour operator had recommended that we visit the largest Buddist Temple in the Southern Hemisphere Nan Tien www.nantien.org.au/en which translates to Paradise of the South.

Disappointingly, on the way  to the temple, I once again struck problems with my gears and I was not a happy chappy, however, I am not going to dwell on this matter as Emma, our tour operator organised for the bike to be replaced at the temple and from that time on, I experienced no problems at all and I was very happy with the performance of the new bike.

I have spent a reasonable amount of time in various parts of Asia over the years and I would have to say this is one of the most impressive  temples of it's kind that I have seen. Absolutely magnificent gardens and it is well worth climbing the many steps to view the interior of the temple.

Shellharbour, NSW

As with the previous day, we passed through a myriad of coastal villages and beaches all displaying a uniqueness in their own right but we had to make a decision on a lunch stop and this was Shellharbour, a pretty, tidy town with an old fashioned feel about it. This was an ideal lunch stop as there were many premises that catered to the hungry tourist. Some of our group bought take away and consumed their lunch on the foreshore whilst others availed themselves of one of the many cafes.

Minnamurra, NSW

This whole coastline is just full of photo opportunities but every now and then, one outstanding opportunity pops up and you automatically stop and snap it. it is rare to be able to ride following the contours of a coastline  so closely for so long but that is exactly what this Illawarra region offers you. One minute you are riding along a very ordinary cycle path and the next you are looking at a panoramic view straight off one of the better calendars you see for sale in bookshops, etc.

Kiama, NSW

We hadn't ridden more than a few kilometers when the above panorama came into view and I made this the last snap of the day as I knew we were nearing the outskirts of Kiama and we had a few hills to take our attention prior to arriving at our destination.

The hills didn't faze us too much, our accommodation at the Sebel Harbourside Hotel was easy enough to locate and now it was just a matter of having showers, finding the bar and settling in for a night of conviviality and relaxation.

A lovely surprise was waiting for me when I booked in, a $50 voucher from Australian Cycling Holidays to compensate for the inconvenience experienced with the bike. Thanks Emma, it was appreciated and as it affected the whole group, it was used in buying some wine for all to enjoy.

Map of the ride from Wollongong to Kiama, NSW

LIST OF CYCLING MAPS WITH JIMMY BEE:  http://jimmyb9.blogspot.com.au/

Cheers and safe riding,

  Jimmy Bee