Not quite cycling 150 kilometres: But we made it ten

August 4, 2015

I slept well and felt good when I woke in the morning. The Italians had left at six a.m. without a sound. I stayed in bed in the morning and made myself useful writing some blog posts. I got really into the writing and didn’t stop for ages until I realised that I really needed to get up and pee. But Dea was in the bathroom. She took ages. I needed to pee so bad I thought my bladder was going to burst. Simone was laughing at me as I jumped around the living room. But then Dea finally came out of the bathroom and I could go in and pee and it was alright.

We went to the library to use the Internet, before going back to Simone’s apartment and making pasta for lunch. Then we finally packed up and said goodbye to Simone who had been a wonderful host and we left. But we went to Woolworths and did some shopping, and then, with the day already very much getting away from us, we went to the Blue Pool. Bermagui’s primary attraction, the Blue Pool is basically a swimming pool made of concrete right next to the sea. It fills with seawater at high tides and then you can swim in it. It also attracts a variety of interesting crustaceans and marine life – Simone had shown us some incredible photos of brightly coloured creatures that had been taken at the Blue Pool.

There were a lot of dark clouds in the sky and a few spots of rain but when we arrived at the Blue Pool we saw an incredible sight. A huge bright rainbow arched across the sky in front of us, touching the ocean at both ends. It was the most complete and spectacular rainbow I’d ever seen. A second, fainter rainbow curved over it. With the rocks and the cliffs and the vast ocean this was just a remarkable sight. It was like nothing either of us had ever seen before. And just when I was thinking that this bike trip and this moment together could literally not possibly get any better Dea whooped and pointed out to sea and said “Look Chris” and I did look and there was a whale out there, under the rainbow, occasionally coming up and breaching the surface and spraying up water. It was just an amazing, magical moment.

I went down the steps to the Blue Pool, which wasn’t very blue at all - in fact the water was crystal clear. It was so clear, in fact, that I didn’t even notice where the dry steps ended and the water level began until I’d gone too far and stepped down and got my shoes wet. Perhaps it was my turn for the L plate. It was very cold but we both wanted to swim in it anyway, and went and got changed. Dea had put on her bikini and everything, but once she came down to the water she declared it was too cold and ran away to get changed back into her clothes again. “Aren’t you supposed to be from Scandanavia?!” I shouted after her. I dived in myself. The water was ice cold. I scrambled around for a few seconds, before splashing my way back to the steps and leaping out. Owwww!!! Was that ever an adrenaline rush!

It was now late and spitting with rain and we considered going back to Simone’s, but having packed everything back onto the bikes it was almost more effort to take it all back up to her apartment and we wanted to make some progress, so we cycled quickly out of Bermagui on a bike path along the coast. We made it as far as Camel Rock, a slightly famous rock next to a beach about ten kilometres north of town which from certain angles has a passing resemblance to, yes you’ve guessed it, a camel. It was really nice on this beach, with lots of interesting rocks and seashells and a beautiful sunset for us to enjoy before setting up camp out of sight in the trees nearby. A romantic walk under the stars followed and life was so good that when I saw a shooting star I couldn’t think of anything else to wish for, and so I just wished to see another shooting star. But I didn’t.

Today's ride: 10 km (6 miles)
Total: 45,688 km (28,372 miles)

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