46. Balmoral Beach

Work's been pretty busy lately so there was no big ride planned for the weekend. For a change, the weather was also fantastic which warranted a ride to somewhere with some sand and water! 

Here's the view at Balmoral - a short 15km ride from home!

Lunch was at the Bather's Pavilion. The view was great and food was DELICIOUS! 

45. A last minute 1,000km Overnighter

Route: Sydney - Jindabyne - Cathcart - Tantawangalo State Forest - Bega - Ulladalla - Sydney
Distance: 1,065km
Google Map: Click here

Totally unrelated... Saturday morning before the unplanned last minute ride, John (my Mr who's still learning to ride) took me to breakfast at Bills - Surry Hills! Those corn fritters with scrambled eggs and avocado on the side was soooo yummy! And so was the hot chocolate! Definitely worth a try!

And back to business... late morning, T and I both agreed to do an overnighter down in the Snowies. The plan was to clock 1,000km over the weekend.  

12pm - we caught up to change my front brakes. We both thought there was none left but really, it was just rusting like mad and needed a good clean! And because of that, I'm now a proud new owner of a Stanley socket set!!

After some very horrible Sydney traffic, we finally arrived late at Jindabyne. After speaking with the local police officer, we decided not to ride into Thredbo in the dark. There was a fatality earlier this year involving a man and a deer. Last week, he hit one which was as tall as the bonnet of his 4 wheel drive.

Interesting fact: those 4 legged creatures are usually out and about until around 8am in the morning.

After assessing the limited accomodation, we ended up in the Lake Jindabyne motel. It was cheap and clean at $95 per room. Parking was out the front door with the back facing the lake.

Sunday morning, after breakfast, we headed off to Bega. The route we took was via the Snowy Mountains and Tantawangalo state forest. It was mostly dirt heading (with some steep descent) into Bega but a well worth trip! 

In Bega, we headed to the Bega cheese factory for a quick visit and lunch. Boy! Can you smell that cheese from afar! Lunch there was fantastic though! Best steak sandwich I've had... tender and cooked to perfection. All for $10.00!!

We also bought ourselves a little souvenir each - the cutest little cow with magnetic legs. Mine didn't survive past the first 10kms and decide she wanted to return to the wild. T seeing my disappointment, turned us around to find my cow but to no avail. T reluctantly gave his up. 

After that, it was an express trip back home to Sydney with some nice sweepers just after Bega along the Princes Highway and again from Jervis Bay. 

44. And A Little Bit More Dirt

Route: Sydney - Lower Portland - St Albans - Bucketty - Wollombi - Murrays Run Road - The Entrance - Old Pacific Highway - Sydney
Distance: ~380km
Google Map: Click here

Woke up Saturday morning... looked out the window and was greeted by a somewhat cloudy day. As we headed towards Lower Portland, the weather grew more and more sinister... however it wasn't pouring hard enough to ditch dirt for tar!

First dirt destination, Lower Portland to Webbs Creek. The best parts were the several hairpin corners! Great fun! View at the start was amazing too!!

We were soon overtaken by a guy on a yamaha dirt bike whom we later caught up to at the Wiseman's Ferry coffee shop. Had a bit of a chat with him and his mate on the KTM about some of the other fun roads to go exploring on.

After a hearty brekky of sausage and bacon, we continued along to St Albans.

And were presented with some awesome looking cows. I haven't quite seen this pattern before! A white patch in the middle of its body.

As we made our way towards Bucketty on this second section of dirt... the weather got even worst!

But as the weather got worst... the dirt got more fun!

And so did the rest of the day.

The first section of dirt along Murrays Run Road was fairly patchy with a little bit of tar and a little bit of light dirt. I did however get chased by a dog so I rode the bike as fast as I possibly could... I thought it might try to pounce on me... =( It was really quite scary!!

As we continued along, we hit the best part of dirt along Bush Creek Road! It was set in a rainforest with little creeks running perpendicular to the road! It was amazing! The terrain was however quite rough and treacherous with some very slippery section which I suspect was clay... Unfortunately there's no photo here. We were having way too much fun!! =)

We eventually popped out at Yarramalong... where T saw and eagle which decided to take off as I rode by... SPECTACULAR!

T was also electrocuted by fences that were meant to keep the cows in... or perhaps the humans out?

The day ended at The Entrance for lunch and before we knew it, it was time to head back home! And of course, we went via the old pacific highway...  

and stopped at ... 

And after such a brilliant day... it was time to give our bikes some TLC... 

43. Night Out At Bondi Beach

Caught up with a  few people at the regular Wednesday Coffee meet and then headed down to Mongers at Bondi Beach with T, Shah, Ian and Tony to meet with Gene. 

Weather was fantastic, company was great and food was delicious!! 

42. And the Little VTR Survives Dirt Road

Route: Sydney - Berowra Waters - Colo - Upper Colo - Comleroy Road - Kurrajong - Sydney
Distance: ~210km
Google Map: Click here

A quick morning breakfast with T ended up being a 4 hr affair. Sitting in the morning sun enjoying pineapple juice, fruits and bruschetta with bacon, avocado, tomato and balsamic was wayyyy too good to walk away from.

T eventually managed to dragged me off the seat and suggested we do some riding.

As we headed north, we decided to veer off traditional routes and do some exploring...

We took the turn off to Upper Colo and was greeted with some nice flat easy dirt road. We also managed to coax and befriend a very pretty horsie.

As we stopped for more pictures, Steve on the Yamaha dirt bike dropped by to say hello and asked if we were ok. Unfortunately for him, as he took off, the rear of his bike started sliding left and right and it turned out he had a flat rear tyre. We hung around to help him with his bike and eventually, T had to pillion him to get help as there was no reception where we were.

As we went along our merry way down Comleroy Road, all we encountered were four wheel drive. It was a bumpy journey and the most exciting parts where the 15km/hr hairpin turns and the ride through some water! I definitely felt like I was on a mini adventure! And who would have guessed I like dirt roads!

And on the way home, we were greeted by a very very beautiful peacock! What a pleasant day!

41. Impromptu Visit To Hyams Beach

Hyams Beach is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as having the whitest sand in the world and is also one of the most popular beaches in the Jervis Bay vicinity.

With Monday being the last day of the holidays, I really wanted to work on my tan and hence the impromptu visit. It was the expressway down to Hyams beach with breakfast at Hyams Beach Cafe - try their breakfast pot! This was all followed by a very nice and relaxing hour in the sun. 

40. Kiama Blowhole, Fitzroy Falls

Route: Sydney - Scarborough - Kiama - Berry - Fitzroy Falls - Jamberoo - Sydney

Distance: ~340km 

Google Map: Click Here

We started the day at Kiama. This was the first time I'd seen the blowhole and it was quite spectacular! The blowhole will overtime become less and less vigorous due to the continuous erosion of the underground cavity.  

Lunch was at Berry before we made our way to Kangaroo Valley! Very scenic! And there were also some fun twisties along Kangaroo Valley Road and Moss Vale Road. 

The next destination was Fitzroy Falls!! It was very beautiful. However, due to the limited access to the  waterfall, I still much prefer MacKenzie Falls in the Grampians (Victoria). It was however still worth the visit. Also, if you explore a little further, you may encounter a secret little hideout off the walking trail (to twin falls) which would provide a better view of Fitzroy Falls! ;) 

We wrapped up the day at The Old Cheese Factory in Robertson. The local creamy blue was super yummy!!