We woke up this morning to rain.  Not continuously pouring down but still enough rain that we wouldn’t normally bike but we had no reason to stay in Bulahdelah with the thundering Pacific Highway rattling the windows.  So we dressed up in wet weather gear and hit the road.  Luckily it wasn’t raining when we started as it’s always nice to at least start dry.

We cycled a short stretch down the highway and then turned onto The Lakes Way, a pretty B road.  Almost immediately the rain started and the hills started.  Yesterday the ferry captain had warned us about the hills and this morning the motel owner also went into great details about how hard they would be.  We are fit now and the breezed over the hills.  In fact we enjoyed the hills as we haven’t had any hilly topography since way back before Sydney.  The road was good, the traffic light and rain fell down.  We stopped for an early lunch in a bus shelter during a sunny interlude and discussed how good our gear is.  Will loves his Ground Effect gear as it makes all the difference cycling in the rain.

After lunch we started cycling through small villages next to beautiful lakes.  As we approached Pacific Palms the traffic got heavier.  The road then became really narrow along the sand spit that connects Pacific Palm to Forster through Booti Booti National Park.  The rain started pouring down and the drivers seemed less tolerant and more aggressive.  On this narrow stretch of road we saw the two worst driving manoeuvres on this entire trip including a car passing very close trying to squeeze through a gap then forcing another car off the road and another car overtaking coming towards us.  Will had to bellow at a car that was completely ignoring our existence.  This put us in a bad mood and a dislike of Forster.  It wasn’t helped by witnessing a couple having a loud domestic argument outside the supermarket.

Forster is apparently a nice town, but we can’t wait to get out of here.  We checked into a cabin at the caravan park and changed our plans.  We had planned a day off but decided to leave tomorrow morning.

Today was a nice day riding even though it was raining.  The first 50km was pretty and we enjoyed cycling but the last 10km with agro drivers ruined the day and our experience of Forster.

Sorry, but we have no photos of today as pouring rain doesn’t make the most interesting photo.

Highlight of the day:  Enjoying cycling in the rain.