Day 5 Nelson Bay- Jenolan Caves –Blue Mountains-Sydney 427 km

A long day but only 427 km. I decided to leave at 06.15 just in case, because the route had a few ferry crossings and the road had more bends than you could point a stick at. In the end, I was glad I left early as around mid-morning it started to rain and the roads became very slippery. The mountain area North West of Sydney enjoys a cooler climate and has trees which shed their leaves like they do in cool climates. Autumn has just started and the trees have a variety of colours which is something I have not seen for many years. Of course with that goes the fact that those leaves are all over the road which makes the total very slippery. As mentioned before I am a coward when it comes to riding down mountain roads in the wet; add rotting leaves to it and you can double the "coward-ness" stakes.

Meanwhile, the route followed the magnificent Hawkesbury River and roads I have often read about in motorcycle magazines. Everywhere there are warning signs for motorcyclists and just about all eating places have a motorcycle themed décor. The famous Wisemans Ferry was on the route and so was the Sackville Ferry. Not much fun waiting in line with rain pelting down. From there the route went up into the Blue Mountains to over 1250 meters high. The rain, strong winds and a temperature of 15 degrees made it feel like a European autumn. I didn't bother about lunch or anything, just a coffee and kept going until I reached Lithgow. The instruction sheet showed me that there was still 100 km to go via mountain roads passing the town of Oberon. I had been on this route before and knew that it was extremely twisty. In fact, no articulated trucks or caravans are allowed on the road to the Jenolan Caves as they would not be able to make the tight bends. Hmm, 100 km to go showed on the GPS. I changed programs and put in the direct destination of the Jenolan Caves and saw the reading of 45 km. Ok, that was going to be the way. The road took me high up into the sky and soon I was riding in the clouds with the temperature dropping even lower. This road had hardly any traffic and was littered with leaves and sticks. At 2.30 I reached the caves in the driving rain... but - no one there. A few minutes later the route markers arrived. The shortcut had saved me a lot of time. Later I heard that on the proposed route a large tree had fallen across the road only just missing a rider and giving the next rider just enough time to stop. The rest had to return to Lithgow and follow the same route as I had done.