Day 34 - Essence of Coddiwomple

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Morton National Park to ???  73km

After such an excellent Nature Fix day yesterday, we are happy to hit the road this morning.  It's raining a bit, but the fires of peri-menopause keep me plenty warm.  The terrible flooding of coastal NSW has made the approach to Sydney a bit tricky.  Not just the road closures, but also the accommodation, even camping is scarce.  So we set out without an end destination in mind, aware that the roads, if open, will be damaged and muddy.

Rainy start in Bundanoon

Of course, not 1km out of Morton NP we must now ascend Constuition Hill, not even Kerstin can make it all the way to the top!  But pushing still gets us there, eventually.  I am reminded that a few weeks ago I was complaining that there is always a big uphill right before our final destination, and I made a plea to the universe for a campground that I could literally roll into.  I suspect this is a case of be careful what you wish for.

The kilometres roll by as we travel through the rich side of town, Exeter, Werai and Moss Vale, we are an ususal sight amongst the shiny, fancy cars and gated estates.  We randomly find a cycle trail from Moss Vale to Burradoo and our timing is perfect, the flood waters have receded and only like, 10% of the trail is under mud/water.  The appeal of the International Cricket Hall of Fame in Bowral doesn't pull us off the back roads, a decision we regret as the back roads take us up another massively steep hill and then down the other side, so a pointless bit of climbing there, should have gone to visit Bradman.

Lunch break!  And real bread, I love real bread.  Sure we are eating sandwiches by the side of the road, just sitting in the grass communing with the bugs.  But the sun comes out for the first time today, drying all the mud splattered up my back from riding through multiple puddles.  Life is good.

We look at the map, measure the energy in our legs and decide that Bargo is our final destination today, Google says there is a caravan park, 18kms and we can have a shower.  This is where Coddiwomple comes through for us.  The caravan park is full, so is the hotel and the motel.  And, to be honest Bargo gave us a bad feeling.  We get out the map again...

There it is, Thirlmere Lakes NP, thirteen more kms and we can wild camp by the lake.  We pull up in time for sunset (mosquitos), friendly locals showing the full to beyond capacity Lake to their kids, some young yabby fishers.  People share their knowledge of the lakes with us, they were completely dry two years ago, the kids record yabby catch is 22 and they always throw them back, I suspect the thrill is in the chase.

By twilight the lakes are ours alone, well along with the mosquito hoards, the frog orchestra and the stealthy hunting bats.  This unknown destination was well worth it.



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