283 Miles / 455 KM
Today was a cycle and a hike and then another cycle! Did not realise I was climbing two mountains today!!
I woke up super early at Cradle Mountain, hoping to be on the road in good time. I was awake at 6, but didn’t leave till 7.30 as my motivation was non existent. 2 coffees and some breakfast later I was hitting the downhill out of Cradle Mountain. I had to backtrack 3km back to the main road and then headed west towards the coast!
My first stop of the day was going to be in Tullah. it was 50km away but mostly downhill. And downhill it was! My watch recorded a fastest speed of 65km p/h today! I had put my faith in my bike, my tyres, my brakes, the road, and vigilante drivers!
3 hours later I arrive in Tullah after a nice ride this morning. It 10.30 and I find a little coffee/snack shop – seems to be the only place in Tullah open! And it’s right by the trailhead for Mt Farrell. After the best tasting beef pie and a bottle of coke I was all fuelled up and ready to hike a mountain!
Almost forgot to mention, this little place had a pet Llama…
The hike up Mt Farrell took 2.5 hours return. The trail was a total surprise! Totally underestimated as a hike! It was awesome, and I only saw 3 people on the trail! I do love to find the trails less travelled! The views from the top were incredible over Lake Herbert and over the little village of Tullah. Over to the West you could see Cradle Mountain and Barn Bluff! The weather was stunning today and so clear you could see for miles! I know I’m about to be hit by some shit weather so I am soaking it all in right now. The last 1km of the hike to the summit was a little overgrown and required some ‘bush whacking’ and I did see 3 black snakes- pretty sure they were Tiger Snakes! The views from the summit were a little covered with trees so I actually preferred the views about 0.5-1km before! But it’s always worth the climb to the top. The snakes weren’t gonna stop me from hiking the last few hundred metres! I didn’t stay at the summit long though- figured it was snake territory and if I gave them peace and quiet they would leave me alone too!
After the hike I was pretty exhausted! I stopped by the little cafe again before hitting the road. When the dude who ran the coffee shop said “You’re biking up Black Mountain..” I thought he was joking about there being another mountain to conquer today! My 4G on my phone wasn’t working so I wasn’t able to check my maps till a bit later. Yep he was right… 450 metres of uphill in 3.5km. I walked the entire hill/mountain! Wow! My legs weren’t expecting that. But what goes up comes back down and once at the top it took me just 6 minutes to get down 5km and arrive in the small mining village of Rosebery! I check into the caravan park that I’m staying at, grab food from the IGA, and hit my bed… my body is exhausted! Tomorrow will be an easier day… maybe!
