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11/14/10

I woke up around 7am feeling good and rested and I was excited to go and run the same course I had found the prior morning. I was out the door running by 7:15 am and the weather was nice and I had the feeling that today would get even hotter. I ran the course and all was well and then I decided that I should run it one more time in reverse to see the views in the other direction. This being Sunday morning more people seemed to be out enjoying the trail so I had to dodge a few more people and I was still having issue running on the opposite side of the trail then I would back home. I like found that it took me 23 minutes to do the first loop and then only 20 minutes to do the second loop. I then once again decided to cool off and go for a quick swim in the pool next to the ocean. I was a bit more comfortable today swimming straight and I knocked out a quick ten lengths and was on my way back to the hostel. I stopped at the reception and asked Drew to check on the availability of the other hostel I wanted to head to later that day. She called them up and said it would be fine they had room for me. I knew that I would need to hustle a bit since checkout was 10am and it was almost 9 am. Everything ended up working out very nicely I showered and got ready for the day and packed up my bags and was set to go. The only issue I was having was I did not have enough food to last me a few days and I needed to run to the store to get food to eat at the hostel. I told this to John and he offered me a solution to checkout and put my bags in his room for a while while I biked to the grocery store to get the food I would need for the next few days. I took him up on this and got a bike, helmet, and lock from the front desk and my small rope backpack that I got from this years Brewhouse Triathlon in Duluth. I ended up having the chain fall off twice one time on the way to the store and once on the return. I also had the hole for the ropes on one side of my bag rip off so I had to hold it on the way back and I was a bit bummed since I liked this bag very much for a light bag. I found John on my return and showed him what happened to my bag. He looked at it a bit and he just started to go to work he undid the existing knot and he bunched up some of the material near where it had ripped and using some of his magical sailing knot skills put my bag back in business. I was excited and got a picture of John and his handy knot. I got my bags and said my good byes and John was pretty convinced that I would be back in a few days on my way back to Sydney, I am not so sure I think I will want to get on to the next destination. I went and waited at the bus stop for the bus to take me to Church Point and the ferry which I would need to take to get the the hostel. I ended up waiting in the heat for 40 minutes until the bus number 156 came to pick me up. The ride to the ferry was only about a 20 minute journey once I was on the bus. I arrived at the ferry and was able to get right on a go. This place was stunning and sailboats were everywhere on the horizon. The ferry was smaller then I anticipated but it did the job all the same. I was dropped off at where the hostel was and I knew I had a 15 minute hike up the hill to where the hostel was located. When I arrived at the hostel I was a sweaty mess since I was lugging a 40 pound backpack another normal backpack and my small food bag up the hill in the heat of mid day. Once I got here the little hike was well worth it. The view from the wrap around deck and my room of the harbor below was pretty terrific. I decided I should go for a dip in the bay below to cool of and just have some fun. I enjoyed my little swim and as I was heading back to go up to the hostel I saw Rebbecca who worked at the hostel was about to take a kayak out for a paddle. I asked if I could join her and she was willing to wait for me to get my stuff I needed and sign the waiver form to hire the kayak. Quick information Rebbecca has worked at this hostel for a couple of weeks and she is from Germany and is currently on her gap year between high school and college. She was joined on her two person sit on top kayak by Rafaela who is from the south of France and also over in Australia on her gap year. She was taking a quick little holiday before she starts her new job working as a waitress in Sydney. I was glad to join them and do some paddling and it is always nice to have someone know where to go. We ended up going across the bay to a small swimming beach which was nice and the bay was full of boats and sailboats anchored down and enjoying the nice Sunday. Rebbecca told me that this little beach is usually empty during the week. Next we headed to another nearby bay and that was nice as well but no sand beach at this one mainly just rocks. Our last little adventure was to head out into the bigger bay and once we got around the corner we were in some bigger and stronger waves. We did not go to far down this last way before we turned back and headed in. I went back with the girls and I showered up and changed. I decided that it was time to go for a hike since that is one of the main reasons I came to this hostel. I put on my trail running shoes and headed out on the trail for a nice early evening hike. I took the maps I had of the trails and the basic set up in this National Park. I guess I had not mentioned that this hostel is pretty much located right in a National Park. I did not pay much attention to the maps I figured I would just follow the trail and see where I ended up. The start of the trail the vegetation is that of a rain forest but as you hike up and out a few kilometers it changes to bush vegetation. The trail was nice and a constant climb with an occasional nice overlook of the bay below. The hike was very nice and about 5K to the end of the hike which was a panoramic lookout. Off in the distance you can even see the downtown towers of Sydney which are about 40 kilometers away. When I got to the overlook another hiker was taking in the view and I got him to take a couple of quick pictures of me. I got to chat with him a bit and his name is Marcus and he is originally from Tasmania. I ended up talking with him and walking back down the trail to the road where he had his car parked and then I snapped a picture of him and headed back down the rest of the trail to get back to the hostel. On my way back I spotted some type of lizard or something and a small snake on the trail (I am happy to say I got pictures of both). A great day and I am looking forward to heading out on a few hikes tomorrow and then maybe head to the Blue Mountains in a few days.