Day 6 - Sunday 8th February

Day6 - Sunday 8th February -

Managed to get a really early start today and was on the road just after 7am. It was nice and cool, the Belmore River road was flat, and the going was good and quick. The 25kms to Gladstone, where I grabbed a quick breakfast (chocolate bar and banana) were covered in just under an hour.

Early morning overlooking the Macleay River, at Gladstone

I saw a few small groups of cyclists out training; all dressed in lycra on road bikes, they were obviously taking advantage of this good flat road for their Sunday morning run. However, 6 days into the trip, I have yet to see another cycle tourist! Bit of a disappointment really, I'd hoped to meet other people doing the East Coast route as detailed in the Lonely Planet Cycling Australia Guide, which I'm (mostly) following.

After another 20km the route rejoined the Pacific Highway, which is 2-way traffic along this stretch, though with a decent wide hard shoulder (see above photo).

The flat terrain continued and by about 1130 am I reached Macksville, a small, historic town on the Nambucca River with some decent old hotels - below is the Star:

Above is a view of the bridge over the Nambucca River, looking south towards Macksville.

15 km north of Macksville is Nambucca Heads, an attractive small town with beaches on the river and the ocean -

It's a popular retirement destination and was full of old people who seemed to be enjoying themselves. I was the youngest person in the excellent restaurant where I had lunch. It was a BYO and I didn't have any alcohol with me, not having realised it wasn't licensed. However almost immediately some other diners offered me some of their wine, how friendly of them I thought.

Back on the Pacific Highway again, I took a brief detour through Urunga, it was very hot by now so I didn't stop. The Highway then became a dual carriageway again and signs relating to cyclists started to appear everywhere:

Although it's always gratifying to see an awareness of cyclist safety issues, I couldn't help wondering what the point of all this signage was, on a major dual carriageway which would probably often go a whole week without a single cyclist on it!

About 8km before Coffs Harbour the route left the highway and joined an off-road bike path which was was pleasantly shaded:

I reached Coffs Harbour at about 5pm having covered 147kms. Although a much longer distance than yesterday, it was much easier, owing to it being flat most of the way, and on sealed roads.

Within a few minutes I'd ckecked into the Toreador Motel and was cooling down in the pool:

I then took a ride out to the harbour, which is 3 hilly kms from the town centre. I'd intended to eat at one of the nicer restaurants there but found that most of them were shut, it being Sunday. After a photo of the beach I rode back into town, left the bike at the motel, and found a pretty decent Italian restaurant close by.

View over Park Beach, Coffs Harbour.

Distance for the day, including the ride out to the harbour and back - 155kms. Total for the trip - 647kms. Well over half way there now!