Day 010, Tuesday, 7 April, 2009

Distance travelled – 65.12 km
Avg speed – 15.94 kph
Max speed – 46.24 kph

Bulahdelah, Pacific Highway, The Lakes Way, Bungwahl, Booti Booti, Forster.

As the elevation profile for today shows our route today was a mix of up and down, up and down and then flat. In fact the first part of the profile is not there as I realised close to the top of the first hill that I had failed to set the GPS to record the previous 5 km, so the profile starts close to the top of the first steep climb.

We decided on The Lakes Way, as it would take us from the highway and away from the trucks. Although we suspect this is by far a hillier route than the highway it did turn out to be reasonably quiet. We had picked up a tourist brochure in Bulahdelah that mentioned the Sugar Creek Toy Workshop just after Bungwahl which we thought would make a good lunch stop. But with the steep climbs we only made it to Bungwahl before we had to stop for some food.

As it turned out the Sugar Creek Toy Workshop was closed so stopping at Bungwahl turned out to be the correct decision.

Our next stop was at a rest area on the shores of Smiths Lake where we met an elderly couple fishing next to their Winnebago. We leant that they had come to this particular spot to snorkel for octopus, which surprised us as we had always associated octopus with the ocean. However, as it was an overcast day they did not have any success, as they could not see the bottom.

From Smiths Lake the road levels out and we were able to make quicker progress with the road following the edge of Wallis Lake before following the sand dunes between Wallis Lake and the ocean.  This area is part of Booti Booti National Park and near Elizabeth Beach there was another NPWS campground that looks well worth a later visit.

As we left Booti Booti we came across a road cyclist on a training run out of Forster, looking at the aero bars we suspect he was a triathlete.  As he rode towards us he waved and then did a U turn to return to Forster. For 5 or so minutes I amused myself trying to chase him down and draft behind him. To my amazement I nearly caught him before the road surface got rougher and I could no longer maintain the momentum.

We arrived at Forster just after 4.00pm. 

On our way into Forster we had our first incident. Denise drew up beside me after I had pulled off to the side of the road for a rest and then promptly fell off her bike. At the time she described it as “stopping suddenly”, either way the result was the same she was on the ground with her bike beside her. By evening her knee had swollen up so it was good that we had both refreshed our first aid certificates before we left. Not having any ice to bring down the swelling Denise watched the news with a cold orange on her knee.

We will report more about Denise’s knees in a future update.

Zoom into the map to see our new location.

Preparing lunch at Bungwahl.

Does anyone know what plant this flower is associated with?

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