Start of the climb

Had a great day out attempting the clockwise Hoddles then Kiama coastal. Firstly my plans turned upside down when I realized my camelbak bladder was still in the fridge at home which meant I'd have to ride an unknown loop for an unknown amount of time in knoweresevile with bottles. My bike can only carry one cage so that meant one bottle in the jersey and less of lifes essentials. Being Mr Snake paranoia means 2 bandages and a 1st aid kit take most available space and the phone the rest. So off I went hoping for no flats or mechanicals!

I remember looking at the time 16mins into Foxhound (?) Rd with about 14mins climbing thinking "is that all you've got" and then the real climbs began. This mountain was the biggest mother I've climbed. It reminded me of the Tour de France when they do those climbs that last 5-10km. Anyway, up I went and spent an incredible amount of time in my 36 tooth gear at the back wishing for about a 50 tooth.

At about 22 mins into the climb I entered a really steep pitch under a canopy that was like a north Qld rainforest with moss over all of the rocks. This bit was super steep - similar to climbing "the wall" at Wingello but longer. The only saving grace was it was on narrow tarmac so traction wasn't a problem.

At about 25 min of climbing I came out of the rain forest into open land and the turn into Hoddles track. I could see I was probably only 3/4 of the way to the top of the ridge line and off I went into the next climb.

A couple of km later the road became rough and came to a gate with a sign "private property". WTF?

I rode into the property only to come across some cows all looking at me with that "get out of here or we'll grow horns and charge" look. Being a city boy in the middle of nowhere I started thinking 'dualling banjos' and 'farmers with shotguns' so turned around and headed back.

I rode back to Gerringong, bought some fluids then decided to do the coastal track to Kiama and back.

This track was amazing! Picture rolling grassy hills on the edge of the ocean with sudden 20m cliffs. Some farmer with a ride on mower has mowed a track about 30m from the cliff edge through the knee deep grass for about 10-15km between Gerringong and Kiama!

I found the view so spectacular I kept stopping to take pics then came across my first emu in the wild. I've seen hundreds of them in captivity but was really surprised to see one in the wild and so close to the ocean.

That was pretty much my experience as I turned around, road back to Gerroa then spent the afternoon drinking cocktails overlooking the beach.