Day 4 - Friday 6th February

Day 4 - Friday 6th February


Another scorching day was plainly ahead so I made sure of an early start and was on the road by 7.45am, passing through Forster's main street on the way to the bridge over to Tuncurry.



Forster main drag - lined with trees


Once across the estuary, the route continued north on the Lakes Way. The road was pretty busy and the narrow verge didn’t leave much room for safe cycling, so it was a relief when, after 22kms, the route joined the Pacific Highway with its wide verge. After an initial steep climb for about 1km, the road became totally flat for the next 30kms, easy going but somewhat monotonous, apart from 2 wide crossings over the Manning River.
Manning River from Pacific Highway


At 56km I reached Moorland, just before the route was due to turn off the main road. Spotting a petrol station I took the opportunity to stop for a drink and an ice cream, however on leaving I found I had my first flat tyre of the trip.
I quickly changed the tube and searched in my pannier for the compact cycle pump I’d brought with me. I’d borrowed this off a friend at the start of the journey and hadn’t bothered to check it; it turned out to be totally useless. How fortunate that I was at a petrol station, where the attendant was happy to let me use the compressed air machine for free - what a pleasant contrast to England where petrol stations always seem to forbid cyclists from using their compressed air.

The first puncture!

I was on my way again - but without a working pump, I couldn’t afford to have any more punctures! It was disconcerting, therefore, to find that the route turned off shortly afterwards onto a dirt road, which would continue all the way to the evening’s destination, Laurieton - some 30kms away. Hardly the kindest surface for tyres.

Start of the rough stuff

The road started rough and got rougher and rougher - in places it was simply too bumpy to cycle and I had to get off and push. At least it was flat, and pleasantly shaded, and certainly more interesting than the highway. It passed through Crowdy Bay National Park which protects a variety of coastal habitats. There was very little traffic on the route.

The exceptionally bumpy ride that I, my bike, and my luggage were enduring did cause me to feel somewhat vindicated in my choice of computer to bring on the trip with me. Although I’ve never written a blog before, for several years now I’ve always taken a laptop with me whenever I’m on holiday - it saves having to find internet cafes and it’s always useful to be able to save digital photos, as well as the obvious advantages of being able to keep abreast of emails etc.
For the bike tour I realised that one of the new netbooks would be ideal as they all fit easily into a bike pannier. What attracted me to the Dell Mini 9, however, apart from its ultra compact size and low weight, was its 16gB flash drive memory, avoiding the need for a conventional hard disk with all its moving parts. Although a conventional hard drive gives far more storage space, I’m not using this as my main computer so 16gB is perfectly ample. I can’t help wondering whether a hard disk would have survived 30kms of being shaken around in my bike pannier on that rough road. Maybe it would have done. But it was nice to have one thing less to worry about.
By the time I reached Laurieton I felt shaken to pieces, but relieved not to have had another puncture. It was about 4.30pm and the shops were still open so I bought a new bike pump straight away!

Laurieton main drag (yes it's a quiet place!) and the Laurieton Hotel


Laurieton is a small settlement on the coast, by the entrance to Watson Taylors Lake. The towering peak of North Brother mountain provides an impressive backdrop. On arrival I quickly found an agreeable place to stay,, the Laurieton Hotel Motel, where I was in time to enjoy a few beers during their happy hour.

View from main street down to beach/marina

North Brother mountain in the distance

Bridge into Laurieton


The only place in town where I could find wifi access was another motel which didn’t have a restaurant. I like to write and post my blog, and check emails and do all the other internet stuff over dinner, so it was fortunate that Eagle Boys Pizza restaurant was within range of its transmitter. I’m sitting outside there now, enjoying one of their finest meaty feasts, and getting strange looks from the staff who seem to think I’m doing serious work on the computer! At 8.30pm the temperature is a very pleasant 23 degrees.

Distance covered today - 88kms - total so far 402. I’m pretty happy to have averaged 100kms per day in this heat.