New South Wales

Mount Panorama Racetrack, Bathurst

So we picked some nice back roads, up through Gundagai and finally arrived at Bathurst. We had always wanted to visit Bathurst, hopefully for race weekend, but this was the first time we had made it to the historic town. We visited the motor racing museum and of course did a couple of laps of the track. It must be the smoothest road in NSW, if not the whole of Australia.

Jane on the Southern Swan

The next day we woke to frost all over the bikes and tent. Jane splashed some water while doing the breakfast dishes and this quickly froze on the table. We checked the forecast and it was for sub zero minimums for all the towns to the north. Surely it should get warmer going north, does at home, but then again we don’t have any elevation. It’s too cold for us, so we headed for the coast along the famous bike road “The Bells Line of Road”.

Steve on the Southern Swan

As mentioned, sailing is another pastime we indulge in, so we were delighted to be dockside when around the world alone, female sailor Jessica Watson arrived. As luck would have it we managed to organise a ride on the old square rigger, Southern Swan, to welcome her home. 

Unfortunately Jessica was running late and we had to return to base due to the owners prior commitments. We had just arrived back when the roar went up as Jessica crossed the finish line at Sydney Heads. We found a good viewing position as she docked at the Opera House. What made this very special for us was that we had owned a yacht of the same design (Sparkman and Stephens 34) for fifteen years. Jane had also sung on the dock as part of David Dick’s welcome home ceremony many years before. David was also a solo, teenage world circumnavigator who completed his voyage on Seaflight, another yacht of the same design.

Jessica is in there somewhere, you just need to look hard!

After Sydney we took another famous bike route, this time the Putty Road. We stayed the night in Singleton and celebrated Jane’s birthday in a great little Indian restaurant in an old house run by a delightful husband and wife. Well recommended.

On the road to Dorrigo

It was still too cold for us inland so we headed back to the coast and visited some of our old sailing haunts of Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbour and Byron Bay. These places made great bases for day rides into the hills. What great bike roads they have in northern NSW. We really enjoyed the caravan park centrally located in the town of Byron Bay. We thought it would be too trendy and full of movie stars, but found some great little eating houses down back allies, that were relatively inexpensive. The walk around the cape was enjoyable, although we hadn’t planned such a long walk and for once we were not carrying any water. We now have a full set of photos to prove we have visited the easternmost, northernmost, westernmost and southernmost points of mainland Australia!

Cape Byron