Mally's B'day Ride

We had a nice rest day in Narooma where we rented a cabin with our fellow cycle buddies from the UK. It was nice to get out of our wet tents and have some company. We all cooked a nice big dinner and had a good nights sleep in the cozy campervan.

The next morning was Mally's Birthday (Australia time)! The neighboring bakery made Mally a beautiful birthday cake ready to go for our early departure time of 7:30. We left before the guys, but hoped to meet up with them for lunch so we could get some help with the cake. Since it was a little early for cake at that time, I strapped the box onto the back of my bike and we headed on down the road... now Mally could look at the pearly white cake box as she peddaled behind me instead of the typical rear end view which I am sure she gets tired of when she's back there.

Our day began on the undulating Princes Highway... the sun was shining softly in the sky, the air temperature was perfect, and we managed to miss most of the traffic with our early start. By the time we had made it to the first town (about halfway), it was just after 10 and we were both feeling good so we continued pedalling along. We turned off the main road and headed down a side street which meandered along a river and towards the ocean. The scenery was lovely and we finally found a stretch of flat road... ahh... we were sailing right along. The road soon hit the ocean and we weaved past many long sunny beaches with sparkling blue waters dotted with several early afternoon surfers. As we turned towards Bateman's Bay, the road became hilly once again, but most of our climbs were rewarded with scenic ocean views. As we approached Bateman's Bay, the traffic picked up with hoards of weekend beach enthusiasts and our lunchtime appetites began to pick up as well... that cake was starting to sound good.

We pulled along a boardwalk overlooking Bateman's Bay and found a nice shady spot to eat lunch. We had made it a long way and were ready for a break. After a scrumptious lunch, we finally unstrapped the cake from the back of the bike to have a bit of a birthday celebration. Upon opening the box, our cake somehow disappeared and in its place was a large mass of gooey mess... I guess the cake didn't enjoy the warm bumpy ride as much as we did. Fortunately the blob managed to retain most of its yummy taste and Mally and I managed to do quite a number on it since we could not find our cycling friends to give us a hand.

After a long rest, we headed further down the road for the last bit of our journey, away from the busy town of Bateman's Bay towards a remote beach camp where we heard the Kangaroos hung out. The first bit of our ride out of Bateman's Bay was quite busy and when we finally hit our turn off it came as a nice relief. We turned along a quiet road which headed into a national forest and towards the ocean. The temperatures must have dropped at least 15 degrees and the air was full of fresh Eucalypt forest scents... dense forest filled both sides of the street with layers of green - dense shrubs along the ground, topped with short trees and large bushes, followed by the tall Eucalypt treetops above... perfect scenery to end a birthday ride. As we rode along, we passed a sign labeled Mt. Agony Hill... surely this was not for our road we thought as we began to ascend up the street. But as we kept on climbing... we decided that the road sign was in fact meant for us. We climbed and climbed... the whole time thinking "we better see some kangaroos for this!" When we reached the top, our roadway turned to gravel. We tried to ride it, but after Mally got a flat a short ways in, we decided to walk the last couple kilometers to our destination at Pebbly Beach.

Once we arrived, we dropped all our gear and headed to the beach in search of Kangaroos... and a short ways off the shore we found just what we were looking for! Kangaroos in the wild - what a Birthday Present! There were at least 20 kangaroos hanging out and munching on the grass. One even hopped within yards of us in search for some yummier greens. We stood and watched them munch for quite a while until some kangaroo must have made the "lets go" signal and they all hopped away one by one...

Satisfied that we had finally seen wild kangaroos in Australia, we spent the rest of the afternoon lounging on the beautiful beach before heading back to camp to take a couple of cold showers (Brrrr!), set up our tent, and start on dinner. Our camp was nestled snug in the woods with colorful birds chirping about and the sounds of waves making their way to our tent. Certainly a suitable spot for Megan's big day.