Ettalong Beach to Patonga - a cycle through the Brisbane Waters National Park
My wife and I are spending a week at a friend's wonderful apartment at Ettalong Beach. The lounge room windows overlook the beach, a distant island, a few headlands and three windsurfers barrelling across the whitewater in a performance that is part surfing, part ballet.
My plan is to write every morning and hopefully finish my next manuscript, a novel for children titled HA! In the afternoon, I'll cycle to a new destination each day.
Today, I'm heading south to Pearl Beach and Patonga.
I begin with a wind-assisted hurry to Umina. Parts of this area are scornfully labelled 'Blacktown by the sea'. But on a sunny day, with a slight breeze whispering past Barrenjoey Headland, and the Tasman Sea a glorious blue, I'd prefer to label it 'Biarritz for bogans.'
It's a pity today is blowing a nasty southerly and visibility across the water is down to a few hundred metres. No matter. As I cycle past the Central Coast Loan Shop, Liquorland and Wal's Fried Chicken Shop, the afternoon can only improve. I made up that bit about Wal's. I think it was called Stan's.
My, there are quite a few fibro shacks here, with rusted Falcons in the driveway and rising damp adding colour to the fading paint scheme.
And then, I round a corner and cycle up a big hill. To my left, a deserted sweep of sand, a breaking wave and two strategically placed palm trees. To my right, a National Park. Straight ahead? More bloody big hill. Up and up and up and then very quickly down to Pearl Beach. More fibro shacks, only now the car in the driveway is a BMW. Stan's Fried Chicken has been replaced by a cafe and the rising damp hidden by a fetching shade of Tuscan Blue. All very Vaucluse meets Hyams Beach, darling. A lone woman reads a novel on the beach, while a suspicious man in lycra takes photographs of his bicycle.
After a quick cycle around the streets - they're asking how much for that two-bedroom weekender - I cycle up a nasty piece of 16% hill leading back to the main road. Not to be disheartened, I turn sharp left and keep pedalling, very slowly, up another big hill into the Brisbane Waters National Park.
It's a Monday so the only traffic is the occasional delivery van ferrying friands, cup cakes, Portugese custard tarts and Lavazza to the Patonga Cafe. The residents may be paying a small fortune for their beachside retreat, but the Council is certainly not getting enough rate-money to fill these potholes. It's never fun to descend at 50kmh on a wet road, dodging dodgy pot-holes, if you'll pardon the mangling of language while hoping my front fork doesn't... mangle. Five minutes of shuddering later, I cruise into Patonga and admire the two art galleries, the pub, the aforementioned cafe and... be still my beating heart... a caravan park, situated a hot-chip-throw away from the water. Surely this land should be rezoned for swishy apartments and more art galleries? How dare these people enjoy paradise on a pittance! Look, there's one chap now, bearded, in shorts and singlet, fishing! With a stubby in his hand. In broad daylight.
I've always been drawn to towns with names sounding like fart jokes, so Patonga appeals enormously. I cycle every street - all four of them and decide that if I had a cool million... I'd move to Italy, but spend a weekend in Patonga before I flew out.
With the rain starting to close in, I cycle up the hill I raced down earlier, still dodging potholes, but now at the more sensible speed of 10kmh. At the top, I breathe a sigh of relief - downhill all the way to Biarritz. I'm in the mood for Stan's Burger and Chips.
I have recently published an eBook about my bicycle journey across France, including a number of Tour de France mountain climbs.
baguettes and bicycles is a travel adventure, a restaurant safari and a guidebook for those who enjoy slow food, easy cycling and... fast descents.
To purchase this book for $2.99, go to my Amazon page, here.
My plan is to write every morning and hopefully finish my next manuscript, a novel for children titled HA! In the afternoon, I'll cycle to a new destination each day.
Today, I'm heading south to Pearl Beach and Patonga.
I begin with a wind-assisted hurry to Umina. Parts of this area are scornfully labelled 'Blacktown by the sea'. But on a sunny day, with a slight breeze whispering past Barrenjoey Headland, and the Tasman Sea a glorious blue, I'd prefer to label it 'Biarritz for bogans.'
It's a pity today is blowing a nasty southerly and visibility across the water is down to a few hundred metres. No matter. As I cycle past the Central Coast Loan Shop, Liquorland and Wal's Fried Chicken Shop, the afternoon can only improve. I made up that bit about Wal's. I think it was called Stan's.
My, there are quite a few fibro shacks here, with rusted Falcons in the driveway and rising damp adding colour to the fading paint scheme.
After a quick cycle around the streets - they're asking how much for that two-bedroom weekender - I cycle up a nasty piece of 16% hill leading back to the main road. Not to be disheartened, I turn sharp left and keep pedalling, very slowly, up another big hill into the Brisbane Waters National Park.
I've always been drawn to towns with names sounding like fart jokes, so Patonga appeals enormously. I cycle every street - all four of them and decide that if I had a cool million... I'd move to Italy, but spend a weekend in Patonga before I flew out.
With the rain starting to close in, I cycle up the hill I raced down earlier, still dodging potholes, but now at the more sensible speed of 10kmh. At the top, I breathe a sigh of relief - downhill all the way to Biarritz. I'm in the mood for Stan's Burger and Chips.
I have recently published an eBook about my bicycle journey across France, including a number of Tour de France mountain climbs.
baguettes and bicycles is a travel adventure, a restaurant safari and a guidebook for those who enjoy slow food, easy cycling and... fast descents.
To purchase this book for $2.99, go to my Amazon page, here.
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