Palm Beach-Ettalong-The Entrance-Swansea-Newcastle

116km, Ferry-Bike.

After a good night sleep with the Palm Beach B&B all to my self I woke to yet another glorious morning, I have been trying to get away each day a little earlier and was up and ready to go at around 8am with the thought of getting on the 9am ferry.

Rudi from the B&B offered breakfast and coffee before I left so I ended up sitting down chatting with him again for a while before I eventually got out the door, by this stage I was just going to miss the 9am ferry, not a major problem as it gave me a chance to have a better look around Palm Beach without it being dark.

I rolled down to the east side of the hill and slowly made my way around to the ferry side, the next ferry would be at 10:30, so it gave me a good chance to look around the area I found my way to a section of beach called Summer Bay and found that they were preparing for filming of the TV show Home and Away. Now i'm far from a fan of the show and had no idea it was filmed around here until told, but still found it interesting to see non the less.

Cast and crew preparing for filming on the set of Home and Away. Summer Bay, Palm beach.

A beautiful morning in Palm Beach.

Soon the ferry arrived and I was on my way to Ettalong, after a pretty layed back 10km ferry ride I was back on the bike and heading for Newcastle, following the coast road to The Entrance and Lake Munmorah before getting onto the Pacific Highway. I find riding on the highway pretty good as long as there is a reasonable shoulder, but as I have discovered before, the closer I get to a bigger built up city the traffic starts to get a little dicey and you have to ride a little more defensively.

By the last 20 or so kilometers my left knee had started playing up a little meaning I had to slow down a little to look after it, I eventually made it into Newcastle just before dark after a long day in the saddle and made my way to the local YHA for the night.

Blue section is on Palm Beach-Ettalong ferry.